Atlanta Voice Over Archives

Political Voice Over Commercials And The Effect Of Being Neutral

Demos, Political Voice Over Talent, voiceover, Voiceover Career

Political Voice Over matters. Because we, as voiceover talent speak for the people. Turn on the TV. Take a look outside. Depending on where you are you may see calm or you may see mayhem. And unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know that what federal and local leaders decide for us has a substantial impact on our daily lives. This is a time where being neutral is impossible. Covid 19 and the effects that it has had on our economy will affect everyone. And the racial tensions in the United States are boiling over AGAIN! We all have a voice in this. So what do you do if you are a voice-over talent asked to do voiceover that hurts or hinders the causes that you stand for?

I’ve never understood how people could vote against their own interests. Yet tens of millions of Americans do it all the time. I guess I don’t understand them because I completely comprehend cause and effect. Candidate A says that beer is banned and you are a beer drinker. Yet you voice a commercial for that candidate? He is also against microphones that cost below $2500 because lobbyists and his donors are expensive mic manufacturers. So now you can’t crack open a brew when you want to and he has demanded that you get these super expensive mics. How do you stay neutral enough to do political voice over ads for Candidate A? I can’t.

Candidate A is hurting me and my business. And even if I attend AA meetings (I don’t actually consume alcohol) and earn enough money from doing political voice over for his ads to buy that Neuman U87, I know that he is simultaneously hurting my industry and all the best parties that I attend. This changes life as I know it. And even if I benefit in the short term, I lose overall.

Voicing Commercials for Politicians that Align with my Values

I recently completed my Political Voice Over demo. I decided to do one because I am passionate about the effects that all politics and policies have on our daily lives. I was born to take the side of the less powerful. My family came to the United States as immigrants in the 1960’s. Most of my grandmother’s sons served in the armed forces before they returned to buy homes and had families. It was important for them to educate their children well and be part of what happens in the neighborhood to its people.

My father and uncle were always a part of some action committee, political office, or school position. Both of my parents served as PTA president at my school at some time. When I faced repeated harassment and bullying and physical assault, which included being choked once, by the NYPD, my father knew what Captain to go see at the precinct.

Because my father was a vocal member of the community board and worked with the police in some cases, he spoke with the person in charge after an officer put his hands on his teenage son (who was just walking home.) Still, the policies on a citywide level prevented any action from being taken against the assailants. Effectively, my voice was silenced. So when I think about the voice over work I do, I think about having a voice first, and what I am representing.

Who Am I Voicing This Ad For? Know Your Candidate

I consider that the candidate that I am endorsing might actually win and take an anti-immigrant stance, or encourage the use of the police as a militant arm of indiscriminate racism. I consider that that candidate may win and take a public health or environmental stance that can harm communities that lack the resources to fight back. I consider that when Candidate A pays me for that political voice over, I’m gonna have to pay it back in the form higher taxes on the middle class and poor, to the benefit of his rich donors. There is no benign effect. It will come back on me.

Recently I was asked to do political voice over work for a national figure that seemingly supports the same police tactics that terrorized me as a child. I was honored that my talent was considered good enough for the national stage, but I had to decline. I asked a fellow African American if he would be interested in the referral because he voices ads for both sides of the aisle. I have also been asked to do political voice over for pro second amendment rights in a state that borders the one I grew up in. Understanding how guns get into the hands of criminals and the harm that is caused with those guns, I had to also decline. Cause and effect matter to me. I help them win and they make me lose.

What I Stand For

There are causes that represent other groups that have little to no immediate effect on me. But I stand for them because it is the right thing to do. I have a unique opportunity to be in a position where I may be called on to be a voice for the voiceless, to be the strident messenger for the silenced, and to communicate the narrative of the muted. Sometimes those people look like me and speak like me, but can’t speak up like me.

Check Out My Political Voice Over Demo Here

Political

Dedicated to the memory of my brother Julian who died suddenly in late May. Born and raised in the UK, he was passionate about British and global politics. We never missed a chance to trade political barbs with one another. Brexit was his Achilles heel.

Radio Imaging- Setting Up A New Radio Station

Uncategorized

Radio Imaging IS the reason I started doing voiceover. I absolutely love it. Especially Hip Hop and Urban AC Radio Imaging. I admired the big voice guys I would hear on Atlanta radio who would break out of character and say funny and outrageous stuff. As a recent college graduate at the time, I knew I could do what they did. I had the big voice. I had the humor. I could tell great stories. Years later, I’m a talent, accumulating more and more stations. 2019 was a very successful year for me in Imaging with the help of being signed to the Mix Group. But I’m always humbled by new stations regardless of where they are in the world or how large or small they are.

Transcript

I’m working on a brand new radio station. I am setting up a radio station and so I want to talk a little bit about getting started with a brand new radio station I’m Dane Reid the voice-over guy check me out.

So my agent hit me up and said okay Dane we got this new radio station for you I’m always excited about a new station I love radio imaging so this is a really great opportunity for me once all the paperwork was signed they take care of all that stuff on the back end I immediately got in contact with the program director I wanted to know a couple of things I wanted to know.

What their old sound was like? I wanted to know the format of the station. I wanted to know what the morning show and evening drive was like, because all of those things are gonna play into the way that I image the station. I am the official voice and I’m the branding voice for that station and so it was very important that I get what they want right and so I asked a bunch of questions. I asked what they liked most about my demo and what the program director told me was that he really liked the energy that I put in. I had smile, things like that, right.

So I listened back to my own demo and I try to mimic what I’m copying myself to make sure that I captured the true essence of what they wanted what they saw on what they expect for the imaging so they send you a packet and the packet has like 15 pages attached to it and so I’ve been working on that all weekend because I’m about to go out of town and I want to make sure that I get it right to make sure that you get it right you want to make sure that you read the lines multiple times in multiple ways unless it’s a line that I just know that I absolutely nailed it. So I may say “let’s keep it moving” right? “let’s keep it moving” or “let’s keep it moving” (all said differently), right? So they have different vibes to them. And I also look to see what section so they may be you know talking to consumers some of it requires voice acting some of it just requires the big voice.

Some of it just all depends. I’m not gonna give the same kind of energy to “here’s a slow jam” and to “here’s the quiet storm” as I’m gonna give to “the Saturday night party” you know saying so you just have to be very thoughtful about those kinds of things when you are setting up or a station additionally I listen to the station because that’s also very important again it’s all about a vibe about capturing that vibe and recreating it and sending it back to the station because for a year two years three years and hopefully many more years to come I’ll be the voice of this station so I just wanted to give a quick video about radio imaging and I’m Dane Reid the voice-over guy. Subscribe to my blog subscribe to my youtube and I’ll check you guys out later. I’m Dane Reid. I’m gone peace

[Music]

Wanna Hear Some of What I Do?

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If you’re interested in booking me, hit up Omar at the Mix Group (786) 286-4003 or omar@themixgroup.com or hit me up and I’ll introduce you to him.

I Used To Steal Software and Plugins For Voiceover

audio, Studio, Technology & Voiceover, The Studio, voiceover, Voiceover Career

I used to steal software and plugins for voiceover. I started my career with Cubase LE which came as free software with my Emu 1616 audio interface. As I realized the limitations of that software, I wanted to grow but I didn’t have the money to grow. But having friends in audio engineering, I found out that there were ways to get what was called cracked software.

My first cracked software was a Cubase SX. There was a company that was famous for cracking audio software called and I used to find their software either online or through a friend who had it. Cubase 2.1 was how I really learned to produce commercials. But a DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) is only as good as the plugins. So for that, I had to find more cracked software.

Free Plugins? Or Digital Piracy?

The hot plugins of the day were waves plugins. Waves were really good and really expensive. Of everyone that I knew who did audio, maybe only one of them actually bought any of the waves plugins legally. Waves plugins could run 10k for a bundle. Being who I am I had to have the best bundles. I had the waves platinum, mercury and gold bundles at some time in history.

As my career grew, I never really considered buying the actual plugins. They were still out of my reach in price. Plus, what was the point? I was getting them for free. Free beats cheap any day. So I perfected my skills with free software and even upgraded as more cracked software replaced the older versions. I went from Cubase SX to Cubase 2.1. Then I moved on to several Nuendo versions for a few years. Meanwhile, voiceover and commercial orders piled on. I had a nice workflow.

I never shorted on hardware though. I bought my first Neuman for $1500. UA LA 610 for $1400. I owned several computers. A Mac and a PC and a PC laptop. I had travel gear and swapped out several audio interfaces at that time.

The Day It All Went Bad!

So what happened? Well, one morning I got up to do my work. I had several commercials in the pipeline for the day. I fired up my computer and my trusty Emu and then started Nuendo and BAM. Nothing. It wouldn’t start. I tried it again and still nothing. So I restarted the computer hoping that would help. Nothing again. I tried a few times and no result. I was in a bad position.

I called a friend and fellow talent to ask if I could come to his house and record this work and he asked me what had happened. I told him. And his response was something I didn’t expect. He said to me “Why don’t you just buy the software?” I had never thought to actually buy the software. So I did. I bought my first version of Cubase, which was Cubase 5. It cost me $300 at Guitar Center. I came home that morning with my dongle and installed the software and BAM…. Nothing!!

At this point, I’m even more panicked. Installing and getting up and running was much easier with cracked software. So I called Steinberg to help me. I went over several things troubleshooting with the tech before I finally had to admit to the tech that I previously installed unauthorized software. He went silent for a second, and in a judgemental tone said “Well then you have to wipe your entire computer clean and reinstall windows to install Cubase properly.

You can imagine my horror. But I had work to do and the day was coming to a close by now. I got off the phone, backed up as many of my files as I could, and wiped my hard drive. I realized that I had to change at this moment. I did put the plugins back on the computer because I needed them at that moment but over time I began to buy them. I didn’t buy all of them but I bought some.

Pay The Money. It Will Pay You Back!

Over the years I replaced Cubase 5 with Cubase 7 Artist. I also bought Cubase 8 Elements for my mobile rig and then upgraded to Cubase LE AI Elements 9.5. I also bought Cubase Artists 9 for my desktop home studio. That version made all of my 32-bit plugins obsolete so now I had to buy all new plugins. That’s when I bought the Apollo Twin and then the Apollo Arrow with all the plugins for those machines. Now, I can’t steal plugins. I buy them. I also fell in love and buy the Izotope plugins. I have several of those bundles for mixing and mastering. I continue to buy software and plugins for voiceover. For Christmas, I bought UAD’s Manley VoxBox and Valley People Dyna-Mite.

Where To Find Free Software

You don’t even have to steal software and plugins. For plugins, there are literally thousands of free ones online. All you have to do is google free audio plugins. For a DAW everyone knows about Audacity which is free but you can also download a free version of Mixpad which seems better than Audacity.

In my opinion, I get the fact that starting a business or learning a new craft is very expensive, but with free software and plugins for voiceover available now, don’t steal. Don’t steal anything actually. People work hard designing this software and they deserve to make a profit for their efforts. I left some links in the description for Mixpad and Audacity.

If you liked this video blog, please subscribe to either my youtube or this page. Leave comments.

And if you need software and plugins for voiceover or music production, my Rep at Sweetwater is Jason Koons 260-432-8176 ext 1389. Give him a call

5 Things I HATE About Being A Voiceover Talent

About Voice Over, Blog, voiceover, Voiceover Auditions, voices

On the surface of things, I may seem like the luckiest guy in the world. I’m a digital nomad who makes a living with my God-given talent, my voice. My voice has allowed me to travel all over the world, freedom to decide how I spend my days and has set me in the company of some pretty famous and interesting people. And my work is heard literally by millions of people every day. There are so many reasons Why I Love Being A Voiceover Talent. So what could a guy with so many great fortunes have to complain about when it comes to being a Voiceover Talent? Here’s my list.

Always Interviewing
When I think about the things that I don’t like about being a voiceover talent, most of it comes down to the business aspects of the job. But there is one thing that relates directly to the job itself and that’s auditioning. Imagine that you have an advanced college degree in something and you have years of experience in the field. Now imagine that every day you go into work and before you put in 8 hours you have to interview for the job you’ve held for years each time in order to even start work. That’s what auditioning is like. It’s like a job interview every day. It’s maddening for me.

I have heard of talents who literally audition for work all day every day. This is what they do until they nail the job. For me auditioning is frustrating. Literally, you are competing against sometimes hundreds of people for one position. And certainly, I have landed many pretty spectacular jobs from auditioning but the process can sometimes feel like a time-waster. Instead, I have based my business in voiceover in marketing my voice and cultivating relationships with clients. But still, auditioning remains a part of what I do.

Who Do I Trust?
Shady managers, agents, producers, websites, and coaches all prey on talent in the voiceover industry. Some of us know who they are. Some of us don’t. The voiceover industry can be a very lucrative field even if you’ve never stood behind the mic. Many people know that and make money legitimately from it. But there is a growing population of people who lack experience and worse, morals, who are guiding others’ careers. They have everything from profit-sharing schemes of talents entire income, to quickly made demos for talent who obviously are not ready to make one. As these snake oil salesmen penetrate the mainstream of the voiceover industry, it’s tougher to tell who is who as many reputable people are befriended by them. As a voice talent, knowing who to trust to help grow your business is becoming as cloudy as Manhattan smog in the early 80’s.

The Pressure To Perform
When you think performing in voiceover, you may immediately think about copy interpretation and executing the right voice or character. But no! The real pressure for a VO professional is to be what Marc Scott calls a VOprenuer. Day in and day out marketing of your voice. For someone who entered into this profession because of their talent, this can be difficult.

There are no guarantees in life but starting any business has a unique set of risks. There is uncertainty about the future of the industry as a whole and then there is a person’s individual uncertainty about competing in that industry. There are questions and doubts about how will you retire from this industry? How will I provide insurance for myself and family? There is also the everyday questions of “where will the next job come from?” In any small business, what you kill is what you eat.

Dealing With Scissors
I probably came into voiceover at a time when rates for VO services were at an all-time low. But that money was still great money for me. But for the professionals who enjoyed even bigger checks for many years before I arrived on the scene, these checks were barely enough to pay for their 7 Series BMW’s. I was an undercutter. 14 years later I struggled to pay off my Acura in 24 months with these rates. Well, the scissors are out again and this time they keep cutting. Rates are getting lower.

Websites who promise new talent work and at the same time promise clients extremely low rates have big budgets to help them rate at the top of google searches. These websites are corporate-minded, not individually concerned and so they have invaded the industry from multiple angles in an attempt to make talent and agents mere low waged hourly-like employees. This is, of course, a fight that as the talent we must push back on both collectively and as individuals.

Fortunately, we have groups like GVAA, The Voiceover Agents Alliance and the Union helping to maintain fair rates.

Billing- I Am Not A F$%king Collection Agency
Whether I’m fighting with Paypal over a chargeback scheme by a customer or calling a client several times a day to collect on an overdue invoice, the part that I dislike about my job is being a collection agency. It’s probably the most disliked part of any business. Comcast wishes they didn’t have to have a collections division either. But unlike Comcast, I deliver the work with quality, on time and with great customer service. So I deserve to be paid on time. Unfortunately, that’s not the case.

Many people are not content trying to drive the rates to almost nothing. They want to make sure that they actually get it for nothing. Others feel as if the interest is accruing on the money they owe me in their accounts so they should delay delay delay. This is extremely inconvenient because meanwhile, this puts me in the position that Comcast is calling me (I’m kidding.) Either way, I tire from having to collect money that is a given that should be simply paid to me.

I’ve added safeguards to ensure that I’m paid. I collect money from certain categories of clients before the work is performed. I also use services that confirm that the work was sent to and received by new customers. And I’ve reduced the number of clients who I accept PayPal from (Because PayPal doesn’t support it’s service providers). At the end of the day, the best way to get paid is to get paid upfront and avoid frustration.

Final Thought
Truthfully, I was having a bit of fun writing and recording this vlog. Some of it was a bit exaggerated. All in all the benefits of being a voiceover talent for me are greater than those things that drive me crazy about being a Voiceover Talent. It’s a great job to have. And had to give advice to anyone who is frustrated with voiceover or who is discouraged from continuing, I’d simply advise them to have fun. Release the pressure. Learn as much as you can. Just do it. It’s worth it.

I Am NOT A Voiceover Expert!! Here’s Why!

About Voice Over, Uncategorized, Vlogging, voiceover, Voiceover Career

I am not a Voiceover Expert. I am a student. I taught a class yesterday called “Intro to Voiceover” to a group of excited students who knew nothing about voiceover. Most of them were local Atlanta actors who wanted to break into the business or to wet their beak. But the first thing that I told them is that I myself, even after 15 years, am a student of voiceover. The second thing that I told themwas “this is an intro course and after this, you’ll need extensive training and coaching to really get into the business and I will recommend others who specialize in guiding your career.”

See here’s the thing. It’s not that I don’t know what I’m doing, but it’s that I know that every day I am learning and in order to keep learning and grow my voiceover business, I need to keep the humility of a student. The other thing that I know is that many people in the industry with a cell phone camera bill themselves as a voiceover expert. Some of this is driven by the ability to sell courses, classes and advice to new students. Some of it is ego-driven and done for likes among peers. A friend who does a lot of great coaching and demo production once confided in me that there is more money in voiceover coaching and demo producing than there is in voiceover itself. I think that’s telling and a warning as to how students should invest their money in growing their businesses.

My Interviews

I do interviews as a way to learn valuable information from long-established and well-respected voiceover experts. I started it also to meet people in our industry and to watch them first hand conduct their businesses. Joe Loesch taught me to wake up every morning, get dressed and go to work in work clothes as I would for a corporate job. Dave Fennoy taught me to give every character a past, present and future. Anne Ganguzza taught me the value of consistency in marketing. And Joe Cipriano reminded me that relationships in business will help propel you forward faster. These are things that I may have taken longer to learn, but listening to voiceover experts whose opinions I value, helped put these things in perspective.

Why I Vlog

I love motivating people to be their best as I love being motivated by others. It cost money to buy equipment and travel to people’s homes wherever they may be. But I enjoy doing it. It pays when people recognize me and thank them for helping jumpstart their careers, but private lessons are a minuscule part of what I do. And after several lessons with me, I refer students to other coaches. That seems counterintuitive, but my focus is on continuous learning and advancing education. As for actual profit from vlogging, I make none. No ad dollars. No endorsements and no courses to sell. In full disclosure, my content is a form of advertising my business, but I mostly do this because I truly just love content.

Learning then Teaching

One of the biggest themes in my life has been learning and teaching. I am an avid learner. I grew up in a book store in New York that my father owned and learning was the central theme of my life. At a certain age, I realized that I had a passion for teaching people what I had learned. I eventually went on to work in the school system for 5 years. So, I love to impart information. In addition to wanting to share what I have learned in voiceover, I wanted to present that info in a fun way, in a way that you don’t see enough of online in our industry.

Telling Voiceover Stories

I wanted to fill a void that wasn’t being filled. There is plenty of advice in the voiceover industry. There are plenty of experts of varying levels doing podcasts, Youtube, Facebook Live shows and IGTV and I love a lot of that existing content. Some of the shows I enjoy are Ask Dave Fennoy and VO Buzz Weekly. But what I thought that I could do differently was to tell stories. I watch a lot of youtube videos from creators and enjoy the travel stories, the tech stories and the human stories that are told through video and narration. As a voice guy, I have always had a passion for verbally telling those stories. With a Panasonic GH4 in hand, I can tell those stories now cinematically as well as with my voice.

How I Got Started In Voiceover

About Voice Over, Blog, Children Books, Uncategorized, Voiceover Career

When people ask me how I got started in voiceover, I know what they are really asking; How to get started in voiceover and more importantly, how do they get started in voiceover? I also realize that they are listening for an easy answer. Since noticing that, I ask whether or not they are interested in doing voiceover, and from there, that shapes the way I answer the question. I either explain that their path in 2019 will be different from my path in 2004 or I tell them the actual story of my journey.

If the question is truly ” How I got started in voiceover ” then the real answer is long and complex. It started with my professor in College, Bill Clark mentioning to me that I should do voiceover. It was really early in the days of the internet and little info was available about…… really anything. I search the local newspaper, found nothing and quickly gave up. But as time went on and I graduated with a major in mass media, the word voiceover continued to resonate in my mind.

Fast forward a few years and I was working in the Fulton County Georgia School system. It was a job I enjoyed but it was never meant to be permanent. Voiceover seemed to continue to come up and I kept hearing big voice radio imaging guys like Mitch Faulkner, Pat Garrett, Mike Johnson, and others. I would imitate them and frequently said “I could do that”

But the catalyst to me actually getting started was being in New Orleans with my dad in the lobby of our hotel when I began thinking seriously about doing voiceover. I was still with the school system but what Bill Clark had advised me to do years prior was heavy on my spirit. At that moment, I concluded my thoughts when just shortly after, my homie Dolvett called me from Atlanta and said immediately upon me answering the phone, “Yo, I don’t know why I was thinking about this but, I think you should do voiceover”. I had never spoken to him about this prior.

When I returned to Atlanta, I got to the much-matured internet of 2004 and called the first voiceover talent I could find here in Atlanta. I wish I remembered her name, but she advised me to get a demo and send it out. She also told me a great studio that did demos. (That’s not advice I would give an aspiring voiceover talent today. Go get training first) So, I followed her advice. I called the studio and scheduled a time to record.

The studio session, much to the surprise of the engineers went so well that they gave me my demo free. The owner told me that I was the first aspiring voiceover talent, out of hundreds, to record with them who he actually thought had a future in the business and so he wanted to pay it forward by helping to launch my career. I was excited. I sent that demo around to different studios and agents and landed my first voiceover job on local radio playing a robot in a health product commercial. It paid me $75. I was also signed to a local agency, Arlene Wilson Management.

That year for Christmas, my then-girlfriend bought me my first microphone, the Rode NT1A. I, of course, had to buy an audio interface to go with it so I purchased the Emu 1616, which at the time was cutting edge technology. The Emu came with multiple recording programs, which included Cubase LE, which I became so accustomed to that it made Cubase my lifelong DAW. I worked this set up for 6 months when I found one regular client who paid me weekly which afforded me the ability to buy the TLM 103 microphone.

Throughout my early career, I attempted many things to make money in voiceover. I started a very expensive voiceover ringtone website which I profited only $6 before Apple’s Iphone killed the ringtone business. I sold my bible verse call-back tones to a company in Canada. But I also began doing radio commercials for local nightclubs, a skill I learned from a mentor in radio imaging named “Postman.” In 2006, I stopped working in the school system to do voiceover full-time.

By 2008 I published my first audiobook called “Dana The Procrastinator.” It was a physical hardcover book combined with a CD which was produced by my brother Omari and voiced by yours truly. Dana the Procrastinator was loosely based on my lifelong struggle with procrastination. It combined my two favorite pastimes, voiceover and writing. The book was great for me but was short-lived. I visited schools and bookstores from Atlanta to New York speaking and conducting workshops. Being an author even took me to Jamaica where I read to children at the Jamaican Public Library. But by 2009, the sales came to almost a halt and I was struggling financially.

At the end of 2009, I had lost the girlfriend who had encouraged me in my career up until then. While tough, it was the motivation I needed to push me to succeed and make bolder moves. As an introvert, I was forced to leave the house to find what I no longer had socially. My girlfriend was my crutch and I had to encounter other human beings which made me go out more. This meant using my business as a reason to attend more functions and meet more people. A new network could help make me more successful. While I lost love, I expanded my network. From there I began traveling outside of Georgia to find work. This was the formula which proved to be fruitful.

I’ve done a lot of things since 2010 keep my business going and growing. Training and educating myself to understand the voiceover industry has been helpful. Additionally, I have broadened the types of voiceover that I do. I’ve taken on much more narration work in the past few years. I started blogging and interviewing established voiceover talent to increase my own visibility in the industry. Also, I wanted to learn from other pros.

I have grown greatly over the years from how I got started in voiceover. My journey will not translate the same way into your journey if you are just getting started. The industry has changed. Technology has changed. The world has changed. My hope is that even if voiceover itself no longer exist 15 years from now, that I can be comfortable from the work I have done in this industry. And that I continue to be proud of that work.

#voiceover-career #african-american-voiceover-talent #How-to-get-started

Conversation With Self About Business and Life 2019

About Voice Over

Sometimes I sit around thinking to myself “What can I do better?” If you are in business for yourself you have probably read a ton of self-help books and marketing books etc. I remember asking a friend more than 10 years ago “What should I do about my business?” I felt like there was nothing I could do to improve it. He replied to me “Have you done everything you can think of to boost your business?” To me, this indicated not only that I needed to dig deeper and plan more, but also that I needed to exhaust all possibilities and take a risk. As the new year started and I watched others on social media plot out their year, I borrowed some of their ideas and formulated some of my own. I believe that being in business is a balance between professional and personal success. If you fail in one, it makes the other harder to excel in. With that, here are 19 things to Make A Successful 2019 for me that may benefit you too.

Study- Learn as Much as you can about whatever your business or craft is. I’m a voiceover talent. I realize that every day the competition for my job becomes more fierce. Everyone with a voice is trying to enter into this arena. My advantage is that I’ve been here for 15 years. But no-one should rest on their laurels. Whether it’s more classes, conferences, or understanding the trends in my industry, I need to study regularly.
Practice- Perfect practice makes perfect. We’ve all heard practice makes perfect. Well practicing wrong makes things worse. Understanding that right way and focusing on doing that daily is the path to success. Things like vocal training, warm-ups, cold reads, and varied reads will continue to make me a better talent.
Communicate- Stay in contact with your customers. Use reminders and CRM. Last year I improved my sales simply by using a CRM. I had never done that before. The ability to remember who to contact and when helped me tremendously. I invested in Cloze. For me it tracks my calls to customers, reminds me to call them or email them and tells me what our last communications were. I use it keep up with the projects and auditions I’ve done. At $160 per year, it’s worth every penny.
Track and Review- Metrics help you realize if you are going in the right direction. While Cloze helped me keep track of customers, it was important to track sales and projects. There are a ton of software out there. A few are Wavesapp (which is free), Freshbooks (which comes with tons of perks), Quickbooks, Square and Invoice2Go.
Compete- Best yourself and others. Have fun with it. I’m the type of person who hopes we all win. But after you have tracked your metrics for this month, figure out what you did right and do it even better.
Don’t be hard on yourself. There are factors that you can’t control. Work within the perimeter of things you can control. Beating yourself up is only gonna make you emotionally distracted.
Advertise- Explore your advertising channels both free and paid. Marketing is everything. People have to know who you are and remember you at the exact moment they need your services. There are lots of free ways to advertise but don’t be afraid to throw some money at it. It will return.
Find an expert– You may not know everything you need to know about business or even your business. Find someone who does. Use their services. There may be aspects of things that you are missing.
Don’t be the smartest person in the room.- There are a lot of brilliant people out there. Share ideas. Respect others expertise and take note.
Surround yourself with winners. It’s contagious
Take a risk. Have a plan B,C,D,E & F for when you fail. But one of them will work. Don’t become emotionally attached to the way you win. Just focus on the result.
Keep a routine, especially when you figure out what works.- Get up at the same time every morning. Eat breakfast or drink your coffee at the same time every day. Get dressed for work even if you work from home. This will help you with organization and make your work flow easier.
Ask yourself (Have I done everything I can do?) Be creative
Balance your work and personal life. Work hard and have fun harder-er
Discuss your business with family and friends and what they do. Throughout my career, I have landed a bunch of opportunities from referrals of friends and family. When they remember what I do, they send me work if they have it or see it out in the wild. But also, I let all of them know that voiceover is everywhere, including in the companies that they presently work for. From HR training materials to internal advertisements, opportunities for my services are there.
Keep optimal health. Eat better, sleep well, exercise. Breath.- I recently started drinking more water and it has made a big difference. When all things are working optimally, my work ethic is on point. I often wake up tired, and that affects my bottom line.
Delegate- Don’t try to master everything at once. Allow others with expertise in things that may be helpful to you to contribute their part.
Don’t procrastinate– The time is now. Don’t stand in your own way. This is a big problem of mine. Perhaps its an agent of fear. I don’t know. Perhaps it’s my carefree relaxed nature. But recognizing it as a fault and overcoming it will add a few digits to my account. Also, purchasing a copy of my children’s book “Dana The Procrastinator” will also add a few pennies too.
Take a vacation- As many people who follow me on social media know, I have no problem globetrotting. It’s a lifestyle. But honestly, I would be a total failure if I didn’t do it. Travelling gives me something to look forward to outside of work. I started my year off in Dubai. I have several Latin American destinations in mind for 2019 along with my probably first trip to Africa. Reward yourself. Give yourself a mental health break.

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Uncle Roy Yokelsons 10th Annual VO BBQ

About Voice Over, Blog, Interviews & Insight, Voiceover Events

Every year for the past 10 year, Roy Yokelson’s opened up his home to host the unofficial-official VO-BBQ. It started 10 years ago with a small gathering of Roy’s voiceover friends. And if you know Roy Yokelson, he makes friends quite easily.

Roy had no idea I was coming to the New York Metro. Quite honestly neither did I, but the wind blew in and blew me with it and I’m so glad it did. It was my first VO BBQ. I had seen the pictures and videos from previous years and knew it was bound to full of fun and some of my favorite people. The annual gathering brought out some of the best in voiceover like Cliff Zellman, Peter Bishop, Jenn Ifer Platt, Mara Junot, Bob Souer, Scott Chambers, Jordan Reynolds, Andy Danish, Paul Strikwerda, George Whittam, Anne Ganguzza and that’s not even scratching the surface. Additionally Roy sells T-Shirts which he donates the proceeds from to children’s charities.

If you’ve enjoyed this videoand interview of Roy Yokelsons VO BBQ, please subscribe to this page for more. Also check out my blog and video with Rudy Gaskins entitled “Rudy Gaskins- The Right Guy For The Voice Arts Awards” as the 2nd Annual Voice Arts Awards are nearing in L.A. Click Here To Watch & Read
Dane Reid is a Voice Over Talent, Radio Commercial Producer and Imager, Voice Over Youtube Channel Producer at http://Youtube.com/DaneReidMedia , Children’s Book Author, Entrepenuer & And Avid Global Traveler

Rudy Gaskins- The Right Guy For The Voice Arts Awards

About Voice Over, Blog, Interviews & Insight, Voiceover Events

Movie Stars have them. Broadway actors have one too. SAG has theirs and countless performing arts hold theirs. But voiceover talent have never broken ground to have their own awards program. In spite of the many contributions the voice actor has made to movies and advertising, audiobooks and video games, and other niche areas of voice acting, few are celebrated for their work. Yes, the Academy Awards and other have a few awards that are handed out for animation and best selling audiobooks but what about the rest of us who aren’t in Shrek or who aren’t the President of the United States (President Obama has a Best Spoken Word Album Grammy for narrating his own book.) In steps in Rudy Gaskins with the Voice Arts Awards.

Rudy Gaskins has spent the past twenty plus years in advertising and television imaging, re-imagining and developing his own and the ideas of others. Having worked with big names like the late great Peter Jennings, and veteran news anchors like Diane Sawyer, as well as years with Court TV, the Food Network, The Olympics and others, Rudy is no stranger to proposing and executing big ideas. But he is not a voice actor. So what fuels his passion to step in and create an awards show for voice actors? I sat down with him to find out.
I of course knew who Rudy was dating back many years. In establishing and growing my voiceover career I stumbled on his ad agency “Push Creative” many years back. His wife Joan Baker’s book “Secrets of Voiceover Success” came out in early 2005 just months after I recorded my first voiceover demo. And continued googling of voiceover information and updates in later years lead me to their organization of SOVAS. So I was no stranger to their work or reputation. SOVAS when I looked it up, seemed to want to establish standards in voiceover. At least that’s how I looked at it. They also brought programs like “That’s Voiceover” which made it’s debut in 2007. But it was the event last year that really caught my eye that combined the new “Voice Arts Awards” with “That’s Voiceover” which offered the opportunity for voice talent and actors to audition with The Travel Channel for a web series. As an avid globetrotter, I couldn’t pass up that opportunity.

Dane Reid Voice Arts Awards — Dane Reid Enjoying Thats Voiceover- Making The Crowd Laugh

The two events brought out voiceover stars from all over the country and also brought out the criticism. Questions regarding Rudy’s authority and authenticity swirled and divided voice actors who chimed in. Many feelings of the events supporters were hurt in the VO community, mostly by others who neither witnessed nor contributed to the event or by those who may have felt shut out. The Voice Arts Awards were described as an “awards for and by voiceover’s self crowned elite” and denounced as a pay to play event because of the cost to enter the awards, and to submit your name for consideration to win. This criticism seemed to ignore the tremendous cost of the venue (which was impressively grand), the designing and manufacturing of the award (which was finely and thoughtfully crafted by a renowned company) and the overall cost of putting on such an evening. Getting James Earl Jones there along with other big name celebrities may have had some cost associated with it, if for nothing else than hotel and transportation. Still the detractors studied carefully each word on the SOVAS websites to carefully tune their critiques.
But from my observation in being at the events, I witnessed the start of something that had great potential. In watching it unfold, I saw a Rudy Gaskins who was more so proud of the people who attended and were awarded then he was of himself for pulling off such a feat. In interviewing him, I found a confidence in him that not only could he repeatedly pull off the Voice Arts Awards simultaneously with That’s Voiceover, but he could continuously make the events bigger with each year. I grew to trust in his word that the Voice Arts Awards was born out his passion and appreciation for the Voice Over Artist. No, the VAA are not perfect. Certainly I’d like to see categories added for Radio Imaging and e-learning and other niches that go un-celebrated. But it’s a darn good start. And Rudy and SOVAS is thoughtful in incorporating the fine details to make it all feel right…. for those who want to feel right to begin with.

If you’ve enjoyed this video, please subscribe to this page for more. Also check out my guest blog and video (as I blogged from the tallest building in Hong Kong) on Voice Over Herald this month entitled “The World Needs Voiceover & So Do I.” Its a personal look at what I’ve learned about voice over in my last few years of traveling the world. Click Here For That Blog.
Dane Reid is a Voice Over Talent, Radio Commercial Producer and Imager, Voice Over Youtube Channel Producer at http://Youtube.com/DaneReidMedia , Children’s Book Author, Entrepenuer & And Avid Global Traveler

More Than A Voiceover Guy – Why Poop Is Bigger Than Plosives

About Voice Over, Blog

When I tell people that I’m a voiceover guy they have a hard time putting me in a box. They can’t figure out my financial status because they have no idea “what that pays.” They don’t know my social circle or habits, and wonder what makes me tick. They have no idea how to stereotype me…. And I love it. Over the years I have kept in touch with many people through social media and it has allowed me to mold an image of what people think of me. And blogging has helped add to the image of who Dane Reid is.

Before Jan 2015, here are the things I would’ve wanted you to know 1)I’m passionate about civil and social justice. 2)My Sennheiser 416 and I spend a good amount of time traveling the country and abroad at a whim. And 3)I poke fun at the fact that in spite of having involved myself with scores of women, I still can’t find “The One.” Of course there are other things that you can derive from my social media profile but these are pretty much the big ones. Oh, and of course, did I mention that I’m a voiceover guy. Of course I did; A voiceover guy with a superman complex.
Having the ability to write my own story has made me believe that I can accomplish anything and that I will win in any scenario. In ways, I feel superhuman sometimes. I have bad experiences of course but things always turn out well so I take that for granted. But January 2015 has been quite interesting and even slightly humbling. And it has reminded me that I’m not superhuman, I’m just human.
Like everyone else I started the year off with a set of goals. When I set goals I am unwavering in getting them done. Mine are to go farther in my voiceover career. I had already set the stage for some of my initiatives late last year and was in full swing by the beginning of 2015. I’d been in a series of meetings with people who have track records of starting and running successful businesses who were interested in some of my ideas. Big things were on the horizon for 2015. Nothing could go wrong. Right? Until something went wrong early in the month.

Voiceover Guy In Ditch — My Car Stuck In The Mud

On a routine drive back from my mother’s house, I slid off the road and ended up with my car stuck in a mud ditch. I was physically fine. But what just happened? I consider myself an exceptional driver, someone so confident in a car that I have often pushed the boundaries of what a person should even attempt in a vehicle. High speeds, amazing accident avoidance incidents, outrageous maneuvers and even out running law enforcement are all on my driving resume. So how could this happen to ME? It was low speed. I’m familiar with the road. And, did I mention that I had just heard myself on the radio just a few minutes before this all transpired? But at the end of the day, AAA arrived and pulled me out of the ditch and I was back on the road with no damage to car and only slight damage to my ego.
With the hydroplaning incident behind me, I was back to normal life. I’m the voice over guy driven to make amazing things happen in the new year. With one bad incident already having happened, I figured to have exceeded my limit for the year. But life had other plans.
On January 22 I had a full day planned. 5:30 a.m. gym. 7 a.m. back home, shower then microphone work. At 10 a.m. I was out running errands. But by 2 p.m. I was feeling a bit of pain in my stomach. By 4 p.m. I was in a meeting consulting a client on a project in West Africa. But by this point I was in increased pain. I was doubled over as I walked and had to cut the meeting short. The moment I got home I knew that I couldn’t continue. I had to go to the hospital. I got a ride there from a close friend. When I arrived at the hospital I was triaged. The wait was a few hours long and when I got to the examination room the ER doctor suspected an appendicitis. He CT scanned me and confirmed and recommended surgery. I wasn’t convinced. So I checked with my primary health physician, Google, for a second opinion. Dr. Goog agreed I needed surgery. “A Laparoscopic appendectomy would take little out of my busy schedule.”

Doing Voiceover — Voicing Some Lines After First Surgery

I received the surgery overnight and was released by midday Friday in time to deliver some lines to a station I do radio imaging for. But aside from a few minutes behind the mic, the rest of the day was easy going. I just laid on the couch. My mother even came by to keep me company and brought some good ‘ole chicken soup.
But just hours down the line I was back in the hospital in the worst pain of my life. I was begging for them to knock me unconscious because their strongest meds we’re working. They scanned me again. My intestines became twisted in the process of the first surgery. The blood supply was being cut off and I needed emergency surgery to correct it or face my last day on earth. For a week following, I was laid up in the hospital. Half of the time I was so drugged up I couldn’t stay awake long enough to read my first name much less a conversational read for any auditions I received. My clients were mostly understanding that the guy who gives them commercials was challenged just to get out of bed or walk down the hospital hall. In there, no-one cared about pop filters or plosives, they were just concerned that I could poop. I never knew that pooping was a major accomplishment that people would clap for. But in the hospital, flatulence and defecation trump a great voice and being heard on the radio.
Sometime in my week’s stay a nurse did ask me what I do for a living and I told her. She was so fascinated that she told another nurse who also found my career choice interesting. But they still seemed more excited when I first passed gas. I never felt like a voiceover guy, one of the cool kids or Superman in this experience. I just felt so human, like everyone else, instead. And for the first time, passing gas was more exciting than hearing my own voice playing in my car.