919-779-1476
  • Home
  • Production
  • Video
  • About RG
  • Blog
  • Contact

ROWELL GORMON

V O I C E O V E R S

919-779-1476
  • Home
  • Production
  • Video
  • About RG
  • Blog
  • Contact

Hitting the Voiceover Trail (you can’t get there the way I did)

March 14, 2019 by Rowell Gormon

It’s an honest question. I get it a lot.

“How do I get into voiceovers?”

Usually, the person wants a Secret Formula…wants to know how I did it…wants to know how to follow the same path I did.  The thing of it is:  you can’t follow that path.  It simply doesn’t exist anymore.

Broken Roads

The first thing I used to tell these people (back when I knew everything) was, “Get a part time job at your local radio station.”  My start was a 250 watt AM station in a small Indiana town, which (until they added FM) could barely reach the city limits.  Places like that do still exist, but now they’re usually just outlets for syndicated programs with someone else doing all the talking.  Even if you did manage to find a station that’d let you do much on the air, chances are you’d be stuck in a rigid format that frowns on any individual personality.

Voiceover’s “Poison Pill”

But let’s say you did find a local station that’d let you keep that mic open for more than ten seconds at a time.  Chances are, you’d be learning and developing skills alright… the wrong ones.  For one thing, you’d likely be tempted to sound like the other radio DJs you’ve heard all your life, and who are on the air with you now.  Trouble is, that DJ sound is exactly what voice seekers don’t want anymore.  They avoid it like the plague.  Send out a voice audition with what we used to derisively call the “Ron Radio” sound, and you probably won’t be heard past slating your name.  Even if you’re not yukking it up like a DJ, chances are you’ll be considered “too announcer-y“.  It doesn’t matter how nice your voice sounds.

Writing Your Own Ticket

Unlike my experience, you also won’t find yourself in a position to develop your own style by creating your own material.  It didn’t take long for me to figure out I’d never make it as a Disc Jockey.  But I did enjoy running what they used to call a “tight board”, turning the various elements of an air shift (commercials, Public Service Announcements, time & temp, and the music) into one smooth audio flow.  After a few wrong turns I was finally able to see a more likely radio future in the production room.  Doing commercials and little comedy bits for the “real announcers”, I was able to use all the character voices I’d gleaned from years of watching Bugs Bunny and Yogi Bear and Bullwinkle.  Not just funny voices.  Characters.  Eventually (very eventually), I got hired by a radio station who wanted a production guy who could “think like [Stan] Freberg and keep it clean”.  There I found a like-minded mentor who showed me how to adapt my writing skills into creating good, engaging, and entertaining advertising copy.  Within a year, I started picking up local Addy Awards.  Part of my secret was being able to write material for myself I already knew I was good at.  The other part was luck in having advertisers who let me do it.  You may not be able to rely on your own word-smithing to give you an edge.

So What Am I Supposed To Do?

Chances are, you can’t get away with doing what I did.  Heck, I wouldn’t be able to get away with it myself.  Radio stations don’t have time to train you, they want you to hit the ground running.  And formats are so rigid today, the kinds of stuff I created would never get on the air.  And studios?  They don’t have time to un-train you!

Parallel Highways

Have you ever been driving down an Interstate and notice an old two-lane road running alongside?  It’s an older way to get somewhere, but not exactly the same route or even end point.  There are still ways you can adapt the things I did to get into voice work.  Not everyone has the same experience, but here are some parallels.

  1. Find A Place To Stink. Comedian George Burns lamented the end of Vaudeville because, he said, it left “no place to be bad”.  Touring the circuit, performers were able to learn what worked and what didn’t, until their talents were polished and their individual styles emerged.  You may not have local radio, but there are podcasts, local theatre, or even just fooling around with the record button on your phone.  Learn to listen to yourself.  Compare what you hear to the sound and style of national (not local) commercials.  Don’t imitate those voices.  Find a way to do your own version of those styles.
  2. Find a Mentor. Sure,  you probably won’t have anyone like the guys who took me under their creative wings at the radio stations.  But you can find teachers online, maybe even where you live, who’ll guide you to finding your own voice (or voices).  I’m not talking about the people who want to sign you up for an instant voice demo after a $2,000.00 weekend seminar…I’m talking about someone who’ll work with you, one-on-one.  If you don’t have stage fright (or even if you do), get involved in community theatre.  You’ll learn how to use your voice in the context of a character (straight or comic). See what you can learn from various directors.  It’s likely you’ll have several mentors shaping you before you’re ready to “show yourself”.
  3. Learn what you’re good at. You may be able to do a great Homer Simpson but guess what.  That  job’s already taken.  Perhaps you can sound like Morgan Freeman or whoever the celebrity-du-jour is for producers.  But unless you’re a great impressionist, just develop your own way of adapting those styles.  It’ll happen over time.  And it will take time.

What A Long, Strange Trip It’s Been

So, yeah.  You probably won’t get anywhere in your voiceover career by trying to do it the way I did it.  But that’s because this is now…and you’re you.  I’m still at it because I’ve tried to keep learning and adapting as styles and market demands change (and they’ll always be changing).  Once you get the hang of reading the signs, I bet you’ll find the “road rise up to meet you”…instead of coming to a dead end.  I’d be interested to hear what routes you’ve discovered.

— over and out —

Filed Under: Demos, General, Getting Started, Production Jobs, Stories From The Biz, Voice Jobs, Writing Jobs Tagged With: finding a style, getting started in voices, radio, studios, theatre

The Demo Player That Thinks It’s iTunes

July 9, 2013 by Rowell

Sample Image of the
ZamPlayer, used elsewhere on this site.

What if the voice style a producer is listening for is actually Segment Number Five in my sixty-second Demo? What if the producer stops listening after Segment Number Three? Is a problem. …for BOTH of us!

Not anymore.

Enter VoiceZam, a new type of audio player created by my friend, Bob Merkel, and now in use on www.voices2go.com. It allows listeners to zero in on just the part of any demo they want, without having to play the demos in their original order. Like iTunes, it can start at Segment One and play through, or start anywhere else and skip around and/or repeat or go back, INSTANTLY. Short Segments or the whole demo can be downloaded just as easily.

The player is set at one default (changeable by you)…in my case: Commercial. But the drop-down menu reveals all the other demos on offer, from Narration to Character to Audiobooks and E-Learning. VoiceZam’s player lets me upload as many different categories as I want to show off, but lets the listener pick and choose ONLY what he/or/she is listening for.

Added bonus: I can label each Segment in each demo just the way I want, so as to better match the type of voice being searched for. And updating & swapping out segments is so easy, even I can do it.

Once you get the hang of the player, it’s tempting to click around and see what other “buried treasure” you might have missed listening the old fashioned way. That’s just what I’m hoping my potential clients will do.

Best of all, the player is built to play instantly on any device….well…any desktop, laptop, tablet, smartphone, dumbphone, or Dick Tracy Wrist Radio. Bob still isn’t sure it’ll show up on your old-style digital watch, though. There’s more to say about the player, but it’s being said much better on the VoiceZam.com website. Don’t even get me started on the feature that lets you track who’s listening in, and for which segments, and for how long!!!

On a personal note: Bob is a delight to work with, taking hands-on ownership of any question, any potential problem. In my own case, he even went into his software “baby” and created a player skin color to match my website theme…and later created a catagory in the drop-down so I could also show off my Audio Production skills to potential clients. Not only that, but recently, he took note of numerous complaints about the cost of the service. Did he do a Steve Jobs and say “take it or leave it”? No. He did a “Bob Merkel”, and cut the cost in half.

I don’t know about you, but that’s the kind of customer response a “warm & friendly voice” talent appreciates.

— over and out —

Filed Under: Demos, General, Production Jobs, Stories From The Biz, Voice Jobs Tagged With: Voice Demos, voiceovers

…why would you WANT to sell a ‘fridge to an Eskimo?

February 14, 2013 by Rowell

I understand.  People say you have a great voice.  They’re probably right.  You’ve practiced and practiced until you’re able to sound like all those great DJs you hear on the radio.  Or you’ve finally perfected your “Homer Simpson”.  Or maybe you’ve looked at all those quickie voiceover audition posts and can now sound like Morgan Freeman.  Time to make a demo and cash in, right?  Well…maybe.

Or – second scenario – you’ve been at this for years.  You know the ropes.  You’re a voiceover veteran and you know your own “cast of characters” inside out.  You’ll be able to wow ’em with that classic demo of yours until your voice changes with age.  Uhm…possibly.

 

Finding and booking voice work is hard enough.  Even so, I marvel at my ability to make something hard…even harder.  Too often, I keep putting out what I know I’ve done well in the past…or a laboured imitation of what I think sells today…instead of focusing on something that’s actually in demand at the moment!  …and in a way that’s totally mine, something unavailable from anyone else (even Morgan Freeman, if it comes to that).

More often than not, I’m trying to sell refrigerators to Eskimos, or worse yet, trying to sell fake snow to someone who already has loads of the real thing available.

That embarassing point becomes even more ludicrous as I now notice I’ve had the benefit of plain advice practically handed to me, gift-wrapped!  More than once!  Just this week, a studio I’ve been happily associated with for years sent out a request for examples of specific types of voices, styles, and characters they’d been asked for by their clients.  I compared what they wanted to what I had on my on Commercial Demo.  By their list, I didn’t flunk out…but I was a lot further off than I want to be.  And I remember another studio asking for the same type of specific stuff a few years ago.  I didn’t follow up.  I guess I figured my “vintage ice cubes” would still sell well enough.

Maybe you’re smart enough to have figured this out on your own.  Good on ya.  If not, maybe it’s time to start thinking more about what the buyers are interested in buying…instead of what you’re interested in selling.

Guess what I’m going to be working on in the next few weeks.

— over and out —

 

Filed Under: Demos, General, Getting Started, Stories From The Biz, Voice Jobs Tagged With: booking jobs, demos, voiceovers

Categories

  • Animation Projects
  • Demos
  • General
  • Getting Started
  • Imagination
  • Live Performance
  • On Camera Jobs
  • Production Jobs
  • Stories From The Biz
  • Uncategorized
  • Voice Jobs
  • Writing Jobs

Archives

  • March 2019
  • December 2015
  • May 2015
  • October 2014
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • February 2013
  • December 2012
  • October 2012
  • August 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011
  • October 2011
  • September 2011
  • August 2011
  • July 2011
  • June 2011
  • May 2011
  • April 2011
  • March 2011
  • February 2011
  • January 2011
  • December 2010
  • October 2010
  • September 2010
  • August 2010
  • July 2010
  • June 2010
  • May 2010
  • April 2010
  • March 2010
  • September 2009
  • August 2009
  • May 2009
  • February 2009
  • January 2009
  • December 2008
  • November 2008
  • October 2008
  • September 2008
  • August 2008
  • July 2008
  • June 2008
  • May 2008
  • April 2008
  • March 2008
  • February 2008
  • January 2008

© 2023 Rowell Gormon – Male Voice Over Artist // Voice over site by Voice Actor Websites