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My Big Voice Got Me Cursed Out (As A Kid)

BIPOC Voiceover Talent, Black Sounding Voiceover, Testimonials, voiceover, Voiceover Career, voices

My voice has been a gift to me throughout my adult life. But in my teenage years, it was a curse. Literally. At least it provoked cursing towards me.

I always had a big, heavy voice, even as a small child. Pre-teen I used it to pretend to be an adult on the phone. But as I came of age I realized that it was a great tool to meet girls. Yes! Go figure. A boy trying to impress girls. So I would lay it on thick. They seemed to like it a lot when I called on the phone but you know who didn’t like it? Their dads.

Throughout my teens I was aggressively confronted about my grown man-sounding voice by very protective, and rightfully so, dads who thought I was at least ten years older than I actually was. I heard some words directed at me that I wouldn’t repeat even in the company of a child, much less at a child.

One incident stands out where having a big voice that sounded grown really played against me. I was interested in a girl named Natalia. She was beautiful and I was introduced to her by my brother. I went up to Natalia’s school and she gave me her number and told me when a good time to call was. So I called that day at the time that she told me to call. Maybe she didn’t realize that her crazy father would be home at that time but I was certainly in for a surprise. When he picked up and heard me speak, thinking that I was in my twenties trying to entice his teenage daughter, he exploded into an expletive-laden rant that would make a sailor blush.

But I can laugh about it today. Today those fathers have probably heard my voice on their TVs and radios. And I don’t blame them for watching over their daughters. As a grown person now who has 7 nieces, I would definitely discourage these runny nose boys from calling any of them and to focus on the books. Maybe if he makes a future for himself as a successful voice actor, then I will approve.

I thought of this and poked fun of it in a recent post on my youtube channel. Check it out if you want a good laugh. Thanks to my good friend Jeff Person for playing the father. We had fun with this video.

What Makes A Great Voiceover Website? w/ VoiceActorWebsites.com Team

About Voice Over, Blog, Interviews & Insight, Technology & Voiceover, Testimonials, Vlogging, voiceover, Voiceover Career, voices

The New Year is often the time when businesses begin new marketing initiatives. Voiceover actors are no different. When I started thinking about a new website for my new branding, I looked towards other successful voiceover talents for who they used. I worked well with my old web developer but wanted someone who had a fresh vision for my website. I wanted someone who also had a deep understanding for my particular business. I notice that many talent had branding by VoiceActorWebsites.com including Issa Lopez, who I am friends with. Issa connected me with Joe Davis’s number.

Joe actually knew who I was. We had met before at VO Atlanta and after seeing his face online, I vaguely remembered. But the fact that he did remember meeting me was a testament to the fact that Joe knows the voiceover industry. We talked for a while on the phone and I explained to him what I was looking to do with my site. While on the phone he did a quick audit of my site and immediately identified some things that would benefit the site and my branding. It was impressive to say the least and I was pretty convinced of his ability to deliver. We spoke a few days later where he gave me a more complete rundown of his recommendations.

Joe connected me with two of his project managers, Alex Sanchez and Karin Barth. I only corresponded with Alex briefly but Karin mostly handled my case. Karin immediately understood my vision as well. She had taken a look at my then website and saw the diversity in my work and how my new branding would reflect that. Karin showed me a number of possibilities, from custom made sites to various templates. I had an opportunity to pick several and review with her how they would work best for me. The process all in all took a few weeks.

When I caught up with the team in Orlando, they were working at Alex’s house. I sat down with Joe, Karin, Alex and one of their newest teammates, Lo-An Schoeman. We discussed what it was that made this team so popular.

Transcript

It’s a new year and you’ve been thinking about all new branding, new demos, new marketing, new business cards. Wait! Does anyone actually still use business cards? New website! And who are you gonna call for that new website anyway? No! Not ghostbusters. Voiceactorwebsites.com.

Dane: I’m Dane Reid, The Voiceover Guy. I am here with the team from voice actor websites. Guys! (Team Introduces Themselves) (Dane) And I don’t have any labs that fit five people.

So my own website was starting to look, well, old. So I wanted a new one. So I started searching online and saw my homie Issa Lopez’s website and decided to call her and ask her where she got hers made. She told me “voiceActorWebsites.com. So I went to their website and found a contact and call Joe Davis on the phone. Joe connected me with Alex. Alex connected me with Karen and “BAM!!” I had a new website. Recently I sat down with the team to find out how they’ve won the hearts of so many voice actors.

Dane: So this is a very unique interview because this is the first time that I’ve ever interviewed 4 people. This is the most number of friends that I have in life by the way.

Alex: 4 at a time

Dane: (laughs) 4 at a time. That sounds like a different kind of video Alex. (Laughs) As you can tell this team has a whole lot of fun. And if you’ve looked at any of the websites that voice actors have, this team is responsible for a lot of those websites. And so aside from all the fun that they have, they have a lot of talent, and so I want to thank all of you guys. Usually what I do is one single

handshake but if we can get maybe a “Goooo Team”

[Laughter]

Dane: On the count of 3

Joe: Who’s on top?

[Laughter]

Dane: I’m in the building with the Voice Actor Website Team. Obviously you guys have great chemistry. I can tell already. How did this whole voice actor website team and thing come together? Who wants to answer? Just raise your hand like we’re in school or something because I have to pass this mic.

[Laughter]

Joe: It started out with just me and actually it was thanks to Dan Leonard. He, 10 years ago maybe, asked me to help him with some of his marketing. I did and then I wound up getting invited on Voiceover Body Shop which was back then east/west audio body shop. EWABS and I thought it was gonna be something fun and interesting. And didn’t really know where I was gonna go and voice actors started calling. So I said “alright so there’s something here.” and I spent about a year year and a half learning about the voice-over industry. I got to a point where I felt I knew close to as much about voice-over as I did about marketing and web development and at that point started a new company. Karin came on board and then Alex and then Lo-An. We actually have an even larger team then this today.

Dane: and they couldn’t fit in this shot. This my maximum and we’re not doing this again.

[Laughter]

I worked closely with Karen to get my website done. Karen is a fellow insomniac who worked diligently throughout the night and who was probably really surprised the first time she sent me a message at 3 a.m. and I answered so quickly.

Karin: I’ve been on for about 4 or 5 years now. And Joe is one of my closest friends. And he wanted to scale the business. So I went to onferences with him and for about a year I learned about the industry and saw what it was all about. I met people and networked, fell in love with it. The community is amazing.

Dane: What’s your story Alex? Talk to me Alex.

Alex: okay we’re getting serious here. Well I’m a project manager and I’m doing sales as well. I’ve been able to grow in that position and learn a lot about voiceover but also about the business. It’s been a great learning experience to me.

Dane: What’s your role?

Lo-An: My role is and alsoa project manager and I’m the newest member to the team. I’ve been for six months now. I also met Joe through a mutual friend. I’m in college for my marketing degree so Joe was gracious enough to give me a job.

Dane: Who are some of the people that jumped on board early on in adopting voice actor websites?

Joe: Dan Leonard was actually the first voice actor I ever met. Melissa Exelberth, Paul Strikweda from Nethervoice, Debbie Irwin.

And later the list goes on to include people like Jay Michael Collins, Christi Bowen, Sophia Cruz, Dave Clarke and Me. Did I shamelessly mention my own website yet?

Dane: What are the distinguishing aspects of what you guys do versus doing it yourself or getting someone who does websites but maybe doesn’t necessarily specialize in voice actor websites?

Karin: We’ve worked with a lot of different people in industry. Casting agents, producers.. We’ve gotten a lot of points of view from other people. You know what they think is important and obviously just going to conferences and hearing about the different needs of the industry. Knowing all about it gives us a unique view into what is needed.

Joe: At its core every voiceover site should give talent seekers the ability to hear you and hire you. Those are the two most important things. But then there’s all kinds of subtleties for example making your demos downloadable. So a lot of time you don’t think of doing that but producers and casting directors a lot of them don’t make a decision the first time they listen to something. Or they think “oh that person would be good for this other project that I’m working on” so they want to save your mp3. It might seem silly to not think of making your demo downloadable but it’s something that I’d say more than the half of people that we see their site, don’t have that.

Dane: So if someone, for example, wants a new voice actor websites, what is the process?

Alex: Typically what we do is we send a Google form to gather ideas on the design and colors they want to use. And then that becomes kind of like the starting point for the conversation where the project manager comes in. And the project manager will work to assign the designer that fits best for the project and then the whole process unfolds that way. It’s a very collaborative process.

Dane: So about how long does the process take? Let’s say if I wanted a three-page website. I mean, what would be the standard?

Lo-An: I think that’s like dependent on the voice actor. Because sometimes they have all the content that they want to put on their site and ready to go, and you know, have a site launch in 2 to 3 weeks. So it just depends on what they’re willing to get us.

Alex: so it’s basically self-paced in that way and then the client provides the content and we turn that into a website. So it’s dependent on that open line of communication.

Joe: It also depends partially on where some of these in their career. Are they just starting out? Have they been doing this for 20 years or somewhere in between. Because they’re gonna have a different body of work and probably we’ve been goal for the site. Also, the two basic types of sites that voice actors have are either an extension of the business card, meaning they’ve had some sort of prior interaction with the person that they’re sending the site to and you’re sending them there to hear you. And the other is more of an SEO driven site, where you haven’t interacted with the person before and you’re trying to get them there based on the search that they did and have them listen to you and hire you. So the the first type of site, the extension of the business card, it could be one page, two page, five page site. I wouldn’t do, you know 500 pages, but probably betweeen one and five pages will be average. An SEO site, the bigger the better. Google is, at its core, kind of a

relevancy engine and a popularity contest. And so the relevancy engine portion of it is, the more relevant your result is to a searchers intent, the more likely you’ll come up. Meaning, if someone is searching for pharmaceutical commercial voiceover and you have a website about voiceover, is it relevant? Yeah, that’s good. Could it be more relevant? Absolutely! So then let’s say you have it broken up into the different genres. If you do a page for commercial, a page for corporate narration, a page for ivr, a page for e-learning, Google looks at that and says “the site’s about voiceover and it’s about commercial, is it relevant? Yes! But could it be even more relevant? Yeah. So then now let’s say you have a tertiary level of navigation where commercial’s broken up into kids commercials, and automotive commercials, and pharmaceutical commercials. And each one of those pages has audio content and text content and supports that narrative that you are voice actor that does commercial work and whatever that subgenres is, in this case pharmaceutical voiceover. So, Google looks at that and says “Wow!” It’s about

voiceover, it’s about commercial and it’s about pharmaceutical. It becomes perhaps the most relevant result on the internet.

Hanging out with the team from voice actor websites, I learned so much about how Google serves up information about your website. It’s so important to your business. It’s certainly important to mine.

Dane: What do you guys think it is that makes this whole thing work?

Alex: At least for me my experience, working for the company, sets it apart as an experience. Because the personal connections that we built

with our clients or with each other is what really makes us a success. Because people see us as people and we’re a small business as well. So we understand that when clients are investing in the websites, they’re also small businesses. So we come with that experience and we make friendships.

Karin: And we make awesome friends.

Alex: Yeah. We make awesome friends. And we see them conference and it’s like a reunion. It’s really special and I think it speaks to the VO community. There’s something unique about it. Very special!

Dane: I teared up. Guys you have incredible energy and just seeing the team together…. Because I’m used to talking to Karin on the phone at 2:00 in the morning. She like “what are you doing up?” But yeah I mean just to seeing you guys here together and working together…. When I came you were on your laptop’s. It looked like you’re watching YouTube, not working. [Laughter] So one last question. Obviously, here’s the answer. It’s quite easy. Where do we find you guys if you want a voice actor website?

Everyone at once: Voice Actor Websites dot com

Dane: I’m Dan Reid the voice of a guy with the voice actor website guys and girls. I’m gone

[Music]

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

The Making Of A Narration Demo With Gabrielle Nistico

About Voice Over, Blog, Demos, Interviews & Insight

Demo production is both an art and a science. It’s a combination of matching the voice and personality of the talent along with the trends in voiceover production. To do that, not only do you need a producer that knows what are the current trends in voiceover (things like the 6 second commercial), that person also needs to know, or at least have a feel for you as a talent.

My Demo Producer Pick

It had been too many years since I had updated my demos. When I sent out my last set of demos to various production companies, clients and agents, I had almost always received positive feedback. But among people who knew me, including myself, I had always felt that my demo was a bit stiff. It didn’t truly reflect me as a person. So when I decided to do a new narration demo I wanted someone who knew me as a person as well as having great experience and insight into the world of voiceover. So I picked Gabrielle Nistico.

Relationships Matter

Gabby and I have known each other for years. She knows my background. She knows my voice and every time we speak it’s always fun. She teases me. We’re both New Yorkers so she gets me and she sees a lot of my crazy social media post and follows me on my adventures. Oh, and she gives great hugs too. While not every talent and their producer will have this kind of relationship, it’s important that there is some kind of relationship beyond “ok, when I press record, say this line kid”. Why is this important? Because the scripts she picked out have to be tailored toward me personally to get the best reads.

The Right Scripts

The producer has a bunch of scripts. They could randomly throw some scripts at the talent and that would be the end of that but it’s important that they can visualize the way the talent will interpret and project that copy before it is recorded. That helps them pick better scripts. Gabby knew both how I read things and how I say things normally. That helped. Bigly! Having knowledge of my background in education helped in choosing one particular script on my demo and another which we later decided to table was chosen because of my background with live announcing (I decided to create a dedicated live announce demo instead produced by Jean Francois Donaldson)

Talk But Also Listen

Short of having been to your demo producers house, finding a demo producer could leave you scratching your head. I know experienced talent who still play the guessing game as to who to produce their demos with. Firstly I recommend having conversations with demo producers who are recommended by industry professionals. Talk to them about their dogs, their favorite ice cream and their philosophies about the voiceover industry. Ask a lot of questions but also listen to hear whether they ask a lot of questions about who you are. Wait to see if they ask if you have a website or any work you’ve already done. A good producer will want to research you as well.

Not A Production Demo

Listen to a producers samples of past work carefully. Has the producer worked with voices like yours before? Are the demos overproduced? Remember that this is a voiceover demonstration of your voice, not a demo showcasing great overbearing production. And remember to take into account that the demo has to be a true representation of the work that you really perform as a talent. Don’t get stuck with a demo that you can’t reproduce in real life scenarios.

Your Producer Cares About The Next Step

Bonus points should be given to a demo producer if they also ask about how you are going to market your demo. Of course they may have additional services that help you at extra cost but it also shows that they have a vested interest in the final product with their name on it. Gabby offers complete voiceover career coaching so she stands by her work. For me that means I’m not getting trapped in a demo mill where I get coaching for a few weeks and then a demo whether I’m ready or not. (Tip for new professionals) I of course have been in the voiceover industry for many years so I know many producers but if you are new you probably don’t. But a voiceover demo takes time. First, extensive coaching and evaluation should be done, then a demo if the talent is shown to be ready. But I digress.

The Final Product

I got my demo back from Gabby within a week. Before listening I dialed back my excitement to allow myself to objectively critique the demo. It’s my voice and ultimately my project that represents me and so I couldn’t allow neither the pressure now the excitement to skew my opinion of the demo. Ultimately after listening, we decided to make some changes mostly to the arrangement of the pieces. Most people in the industry will advise you to put your best demo clip first. So we agreed to change the order around based on what I thought was the best. Also I allowed a few professionals to take a listen and give feedback which I factored into re-arranging. Working together Gabby and I came up with an order that we both felt truly told a story. It’s my story. It’s partly who I am and what I offer the voiceover world. Take a listen.

To Book My Professional Voiceover Services

Jeffrey Umberger
Voiceover Agent
404-372-1680
jeffrey@umbergeragency.com

Or please go to my contact page at https://danereidmedia.com/contact/

twitter.com/danereid

linkedin at https://www.linkedin.com/in/danereid/

Atlanta Voiceover Vet Dane Reid Airs New Voiceover Youtube Series

About Voice Over, Blog

Voice Over Talents aren’t used to being seen, but as of last week, Dane Reid will have a new video in a series that fills a void in the voice over community.

For close to 10 year this New York native and voice over professional has made his living by being heard and not seen; Something opposite of what we were taught as children. But when he is seen out in public and networks within Atlanta and elsewhere, he is usually asked the same few questions about his curious profession. Most often he is first asked “How did you get into that? which is followed by “You do have a nice voice.” and then “I’ve been told I should do voiceovers.

With so much curiosity surrounding his job, he decided to produce a series of Youtube videos about voice over. Certainly the idea is not new, but what Dane brings to it is a fresh fun energy. Many Youtube videos made by voice actors today lack entertainment value, scripting, viewer engagement or cutouts in the scenes. Dane Reid sought to change that and still allow viewers to follow a real life voice actor throughout his day.
Additionally Reid journeys to other cities towns and countries in search of voice work. Viewers watch him do auditions, commercials and even interview some the industries big voice over Superstars who share their stories and knowledge.
Shows air on Tuesdays at 7am online and his blog can be read and watched at his website DaneReidMedia.com by clicking the banners. With so many voice over newbies and aspiring talents, this new blog and channel are a must see.
Dane Reid Media
646-504-1376 Studio #
P.O. BOX 640055
Altanta, Ga 30364
or
Agency
Umberger Agency
1562 Steele Drive, N.W.
Atlanta, Georgia 30309
404-372-1680
jeffrey@umbergeragency.com
Social Networks
Twitter.com/danereid
Facebook.com/DaneReidMedia
google.com/+DaneReidVoiceOver