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Hey, there!

I booked an ACX job the other day for a PFH rate that was well above what most people make to read audiobooks. More than triple.

And I had already offered the client a 50/50 royalty split, because it was a really popular title on Amazon (top half a percent – I mean really popular).

He declined. And in asking him why, I found out that authors are being told some very interesting things by their coaches about how to work with voice talent.

Want to know what they are learning? Continue Reading →

Hey, there!

A day doesn’t go by that I don’t some a version of this question:

“I’m trying to figure out what VO I’d be good at. Can you listen to my voice and tell me?”

Or a statement like: “I think I’m going to be best at commercials and animation. I’ve got that kind of voice.”

Sentences like that make me sad. Here’s why. Continue Reading →

Hey, there!

Something occurred to me a while back. It seems pretty simple, but it seems to escape a lot of artists.

What’s the concept?

Acting is acting is acting. VO, on-camera, stage, whatever.

Simple, right? Apparently not. Continue Reading →

Hey there!

You’ve no doubt heard me prattle on about storytelling, and how important it is to your VO career to develop and hone your storytelling skills.

It’s essential.

So, every so often, I like to roll out items from this list from Emma Coats, who used to work at Pixar as a story artist, and who serially tweeted Pixar’s 22 Rules of Storytelling.

I’ve been sharing with you one per week for the last 22 weeks, along with how you can apply each rule to your VO artistry.

Today, the final rule. Rule 22… Continue Reading →

Hey, there!

I always ask potential students why they want to be a voice over talent. There are two reasons given that give me pause:

“People have always told me I have a great voice.”

…and:

“I love making up funny voices/doing impressions.”

Actually, these aren’t the best of reasons. Not bad, but not great. Here’s why. Continue Reading →

Hey there!

I was producing a remote demo session with one of my lovely Pro clients, Mark Avis, connected via Zoom (that’s how I connect with demo clients not in Los Angeles), laying down the voice tracks for his commercial demo. He was running Audacity at his end, locally recording the raw voice tracks, and sending me the raw WAV files.

About 5 minutes into the session, after I’d watched a few of his first takes, I noticed him doing something that wasn’t serving him.

What he was doing was negatively affecting his performance at the beginning of each one of his takes. It’s a bad habit many of us have when we’re recording – and it’s totally worth breaking. Watch the video below in which Mark was sharing his computer’s screen with me, and you’ll see what I mean (and how to solve the problem). Continue Reading →

Hey, there!

Short and sweet: I’ll never forget the day that AARP called and said they’d like to feature me in an article. About entrepreneurs over 50.

And they wanted to know all about my acting, VO, storytelling coaching, Rehearsal® Pro and how I accomplished all that…to help other actors, despite being over 50.

Here’s the article and below, the video (which they shot here in LA just before we launched the Rehearsal® Pro IndieGoGo campaign):

If you think “It’s too late for me…” (one of our Believe 2018 limiting beliefs, destroyed and replaced by our journeyers), think again.

Hope this helps.

David