Teds rise from homelessness was not without challenges. He struggled with alcohol and drug addiction which threatened his overnight success. Other issues with his family plagued him. But media tabloid Entertainment Tonight and the Dr. Phil showed invested in Teds abilities and followed him through several failed bouts of rehab. Today, Ted Williams is clean and sober.

Since starting a business in 2005, DaneReidMedia.com has had the same look. The design was timeless and very visually appealing. It was professional but still designed to give you a feel for Dane Reid “The Personality” behind the voice.

But over the years Dane Reid Media has grown to be a trusted source in voice over and advertising. Dane Reid has voiced thousands of Commercials, Narrations, DJ Drops and more. So it is only fitting that the site grows with it. The old site was static and had few updates. It was built in a time that we needed a web designer in order to make updates. With a modern platform, we can now keep you up to date with the newest news and blog pieces. The new site will serve as a resource for aspiring voice talents and potential and returning clients.

In addition is a more organized demo section. The demos on the new site are now categorized. No longer do potential clients have to wade through demos that don’t match their search criteria. Now when you desire a video, you go straight to videos and  likewise with general market commercials and others.

Our new look is still visually appealing and has more pictures than ever before. The Gallery has more up to 100 photos. We have added information about the company, terms of service, services, client reviews and info on our pro studio gear.

The site still has a personal touch. But now is more welcoming to our high end clients too. We welcome you to explore the new face of Dane Reid Media.

It seems GREAT being a full time or even a part time Voice Over Talent. People tell you all the time that you have a great voice and you should make money off of it. Don’t quit your Day Job!!! Seriously, DON’T!!! It is a process to reach a point that you will actually make money. Pay attention because this is the crash course. The first thing I suggest you do is listen to voice over in all forms of media. We are everywhere. Find a talent that you hear all the time that you think you sound like. Ask someone else who will be honest with you if you sound like this person. Practice their lines and pay attention to the way they say things.
Becoming a voice talent is expensive, so here is a suggested 1st purchase. Purchase an mp3 voice recorder that records radio too. Record commercials with it and then record your own voice. This will help you practice. Do this for a few months before you embarass yourself in front of professionals. (lol) (For some people I recommend taking voice over classes. These classes cost between $400 and $1000.)
After a few MONTHS of practice, it may be time to record a demo. Look for a studio in your area that will record your demo and has access to scripts and stock music. My 1st demo was at a rate of $85 hr for 4 hours; you do the math. After your demo is complete, market it to every studio, station, business and production company in your area. Good luck!!! It’s a tough sell. You will have to do free work to build up your resume. But build it. I recommend interning with a radio or tv station in the production dept. They will teach you a lot. Being able to produce commercials for radio or tv is key to making more demos and more money. Surround yourself with other voice over talent or keep in contact with a talent and ask advice. Hopefully you will find one that is not just trying to sell you his book.
My final piece of advice is to invest in a home studio. A pretty decent starter studio will run you about $1000.00. You will definitely want to upgrade later to get a better sound. This process can be lengthy and may never materialize into success. But if you have a TRUE TALENT and REAL PASSION, go at it. Good Luck.

The truth is that I often avoid answering because there are so many people who know nothing about voice over talents. Many have no idea that it’s even a profession. They certainly never give thought to that voice that virtually guides their every purchase through life. So explaining to them that it is a real job can be difficult.

Often I get “So that’s a profession? How do you get into that?” to which I have to give my entire bio. Its not like kids grow up saying they want to be a VO talent when they are in elementary school. No, they want to be doctors, lawyers and teachers. These are professions that they see everyday. They are the professionals that visit their schools on career day. And so they grow up to be the adults that befriend voice talent  and come to have an odd curiosity/frascination about our careers draped in anonymity.  After all, we are likely to be the only voice talent they know.

And after that initial conversation about voice over work, they totally get it. Sometimes they get it more than we do. Too often do I get calls from aspiring talent who just lost their jobs in “marketing” who tell me they were referred to me by…. “Guess Who?” My voice over friend becomes an expert on voice over. They call me sometimes and say “I heard a commercial on the radio and you could have done that better. You have a much better voice.” I really love it when they become your career adviser. “Have you tried being the voice of Oprah’s new network?” And of course there is this one, “I heard you on the radio this afternoon. Why did your voice sound like that?” That’s probably because it wasn’t me.

But I laugh, because it never fails. After meeting me, everyone becomes more aware of what I as a voice over talent does.

There is nothing more important for your career as your sound. Building the right voice over studio is essential because when you start auditioning, prospective clients are not only comparing your abilities but also how your audio sounds. Some clients are real experts on background acoustics and signals and other technical stuff that is above my pay grade. You have to make a good impression on them and the clients who are on the lower scale of technology. For me this starts with a great mic that really accents your voice.

Finding a great mic wasn’t easy. My first mic was a gift. It was a Rode NT1A. It sounded good to me at the time but I had not explored many other mics. But in my comparisons with other talents, I could hear the difference. I started to get microphone envy. So I visited guitar center and played around with some things. Lesson 1) Play around with some things. I checked out a few set ups and had a few mics in mind. The next thing I tried was research. Lesson 2) Research. I found out what other talents were using. Ultimately I found the mic I love at the price I could afford. At around $1000 I purchased the Neuman TLM-103. Its a great voice over mic.

But the debaters couldn’t settle with that. While I have had rave reviews on my sound for years, there have been a few trouble makers who have attempted to stir my boat. One guy with lesser production and voice over abilities said that my mic had too little bottom end and was made for a woman. I laughed as I listened to his work with his sennheiser 416. By the way, that’s a great mic, but for some people, not even a great mic can save them. But the mis-educated gentlemen was smelling his own smoke, while ignoring the nuances of the production in it’s entirety. Great sound comes from several sources. It involves the mic, pre-amp, software plug-ins and most importantly, it starts within you. To produce a great sound, the two things you must have are a great voice and passion.

The next debate is always, Mac vs P.C. I have to again take this back to my roots in voice over. My brother was an engineer and advised me to get a mac mini to start. I trusted his opinion and was heading that route. But a friend and professional in engineering, graphic design and cinematography, James, steered me in another direction. At the time I had never recorded myself. In fact James did much of my recording and even designed my website. He used a PC for everything. It was a rather unimpressive PC at that. He took me to websites he designed and played work that he engineered for big talents and asked me this one simple question “Did I create that on a Mac, or a PC?” I shook my head at the $300 PC that he had created tons of great work from. From there I knew the answer. Neither one was better than the other. They both are more than capable of creating the same things. It comes down to what you feel comfortable with. Both Mac and PC come with their issues. When building a voice over studio, just make sure you have a computer.

I start off with a template that lays out all of my tracks. I record with 15 standard tracks. 2 regular voice tracks that I alternate and stack my voice on. 2 sound effects tracks. 3 music tracks and 8 voice tracks with all my most used special effects plug ins. If I need more tracks I can always add them.

Even mixing is standard for me. I mix every commercial with the same standard mix. Sometimes I play around to get a new sound. Once I find that sound, I save it in the template.

Producing 60 second club commercials usually takes me a few hours but I have done it in as little as 45 min thanks to this system. But generally I like to take time with each commercial I deliver to my client. A lot of money is riding on the right radio ad so you can never slack off.

I’ve seen plenty of people purchase radio and get disappointing results. Then they blame the radio station and never come back. Even worse is when they blame the commercials and never come back to the producer. I assure you, Dane Reid Media produces some of the best commercials out.

So if it’s not the radio and it’s not the producers fault, who else is to blame? It’s gotta be yours then. It’s yours for not understanding how radio buying works. Radio buys are simple and complicated all at the same time. Here are a couple of  basic pointers.

1)      Know your audience. Make sure that the station you are advertising with is the station that reaches your target demographic.

2)      Know the right placements. Certain times of day and night get better results than others. These ad placements are more expensive but will give you the best returns. It is probably worth it to spend the money.

3)      Come with some cash. Be prepared to spend some good money at the station to get the best placements

4)      And most importantly, Frequency!! Frequency!! Frequency!!! Without frequency you might as well never advertise on any medium. People have so many outlets to view and listen to that they have been conditioned to tune out advertisements. So the key to advertising is to keep putting it in their faces. There was a study that I heard years ago that said that a consumer needed to hear an ad 20 times before they were compelled to buy a product. Keep that in mind when purchasing radio.

If you need more ideas on buying radio, please feel free to ask via the contact page. I have lots of suggestions that the station won’t tell you.