Every once in a while, I get a quick missive from a friend of mine who runs a top VO studio. You might remember the blog I wrote based on a tip from “JJ”, that got a lot of responses when — as a voice seeker — he asked specifically for a “pirate voice”, and got mostly nothing of the sort. (Embarrassingly True Story)
Here’s his latest postcard, and it’s enough to make you roll your eyes:
“We put out a bid for a European accent; since we have no one that fits the bill via our usual channels we posted the job on the P2P sites.
We received 15 responses and of those only 3 or 4 were eliminated, pretty good odds.
But here’s where the train came off the tracks. Of the 11 people left, several had no way for us to listen in and direct, no phone patch, no speaker phone, nothing.
I fully realize that the majority of clients on the P2P sites do not bother being involved in the VO session but holy cow, wouldn’t a talent want to be prepared?…especially since a phone patch can be as simple as slipping an earbud plugged into a smartphone under the cup of your headphones. Okay, off soapbox now, but I really believe the VO industry is taking giant steps in reverse these days.”
Another great tip for a phone patch: Skype. It takes a little tweaking (for some not much — depending on how you have your studio wired) to be able to talk into the same mic that powers the audio on Skype. Call your client, and let them listen to you WHILE you record on your DAW. Easy!
CourVO
