For Voice Over Clients

This post is the second installment in this series written for people and businesses who have the need to hire professional voiceover talent. This series discusses the contrast between what services and qualities a full-time voiceover talent can offer versus a part-time voice talent. You can read Part 1 of this series, “Benefits of Hiring a Full-Time Voiceover Talent“

Being a Full-Time Voiceover Talent Can Lead to Sweet Success

After over 25 years as a professional actress and two decades as a full-time voiceover talent, I’m fortunate enough to have reached a pretty sweet spot of success. The “sweet spot” to which I’m referring is not defined by fancy cars and frequent trips to the Bahamas (although I certainly wouldn’t mind that), but rather by personal freedom, quality service to my clients and the peace and satisfaction I feel in doing what I love to do as my career.

It’s the level where I can work with a support team of key people, rather than wearing all the necessary hats myself, as a solo-preneur. Having a great team makes it possible for me to keep my total focus on doing what I do best: Using my voice to record a variety of voice-over projects for my clients.

Because I have the ability to focus primarily on my strengths, it’s a big WIN for my clients.

The budget necessary to fully delegate the many tasks involved in running a VO business is usually only available to someone who is able to devote their full-time attention to their career. This generally excludes those just starting out, and part-timers. It takes years to build a business to the point of it being able to sustain a full-time workflow, week after week.

My Secret Ingredient = An Effective Team

Anyone new to the voiceover business soon discovers it takes a lot more than a microphone and a memorable voice to reach the rank of full-time voiceover talent and maintain a successful business. There’s the project management, bookkeeping, invoicing, marketing, branding, technology upgrading, editing and a slew of other day-to-day tasks besides just recording your voice that need to get done. My secret weapon, to combat the overwhelm and fatigue that can set in trying to do it all, is my fabulous TEAM!

My husband acts as my business manager, (how lucky am I to keep it in the family)! He markets my business from behind the scenes, completing or delegating tasks as needed, handling invoicing and account receivables, troubleshooting all computer tech issues that come up… If it’s something that I’m NOT good at dealing with or that I just DON’T WANNA deal with, it’s on his plate!  On occasion, he’s even been spotted in the voice booth when a male voice was needed in a pinch. This is really an ideal situation and is probably fairly unique in the VO talent community.

I also have a part-time administrative assistant who helps out on a weekly basis with computer tasks, database updating, social media connections and various repetitive administrative chores.

For items that need some extra special expertise or management, we’re able to outsource to a few trusted companies that we work with for website design and any tricky web maintenance issues, special project marketing work (like email newsletters and postal mailers), SEO assistance, content creation and other miscellaneous tasks.

While I have delegated many of the marketing tasks to my team, I still monitor everything that happens in the marketing of my business, and make sure that I put my personal stamp on whatever is going out. I review the changes to the website, social media posts, email blasts, edit and revise blog posts and make sure my true voice is heard loud and clear in all of my branding.

And as “grown-ups” we all have personal, parental, and household tasks that add that extra helping to our daily To Do lists. I try to delegate as many of those chores as I can. I make my income standing behind a microphone, being a busy full-time voiceover talent. It’s really not a good use of my time to clean my house, run errands or mow the lawn (unless I really enjoy doing those things).

Just listing all of those tasks makes my head spin a little. The idea of having to do all of THAT would leave me breathless before I even got started and make it difficult to serve my clients effectively.

When There’s Too Much to Do, You Do What Matters Most

Part-time voiceover professionals, who can’t yet afford to hire employees (or aren’t comfortable delegating tasks) are stuck doing all the necessary busywork themselves, and it can truly be exhausting.

Especially in the past ten years, as internet marketing and technology have exploded, I’ve noticed the need to delegate more tasks than I used to,  and be more specialized and disciplined in how I spend my time each day.

All of this technology driven “busy-ness” has forced me to simplify. These days, I focus on doing primarily three things in my business:

1.  Record – As a voiceover artist, recording is and must be my number one priority. And while auditions do take up a small portion of this recording time, most of the scripts I record are for paid jobs. Because I have the solid momentum of repeat and referral business, auditions are a smaller part of the equation than for part-timers or those just getting started in the VO business.

2. Edit Audio Files –  I still edit most of my audio files, however, I’m outsourcing more of my editing lately. This helps to free up additional recording time. I’m also trying to book more live ISDN sessions and I even have a couple of situations where my clients are able to edit audio files themselves, and I just provide raw unedited audio at a reduced fee from what I normally charge.

3. Communicate with Clients and Prospects to line up projects, schedule sessions and deliver finished audio – This is necessary for ME to do and not something that I would ever delegate. Clients need to be able to interact with me directly throughout all phases of a project. So, I make sure I’m easily available and accessible. I like being the one over-seeing the quality of everything that goes out, to make sure my standards are always met and my client’s expectations are hopefully exceeded.

Clients benefit from having my sole focus and attention on them and their projects. Instead of being scattered in a dozen directions related to running my business, my time is spent recording, editing and communicating with clients. Not only does this ensure I’m constantly energized and eager to hit the recording studio every day, but it also means that I’m working and polishing my voiceover acting skills constantly. This makes me better at what I do and allows me to keep upgrading my level of service to my clients.

In Part 3 of this series, I’ll talk about how I position myself as a valuable member of every one of my clients’ teams, and how that mindset contributes to my success as a full-time voiceover talent. Please subscribe to my blog or stay tuned in social media for Part 3 coming in a week or so.

Debbie Grattan has been working as a full-time voiceover talent since the late 90′s. She has collaborated on thousands of projects and teamed up with hundreds of production companies, marketing and advertising firms, commercial voice-over recording studios and corporate/business clients around the United States and throughout the world. Listen to Voiceover Talent Demos and request a Custom Voiceover Audition for your upcoming project on her website.

This post is the first installment in this series written for people and companies who have the need to hire professional voiceover talent. This series discusses the contrast between what services and qualities a full-time voiceover talent can offer versus a part-time voice talent.

Even though just dealing with life’s daily demands can sometimes feel like a full-time job, most of us have to take on a real career to pay the bills, feed the kids and keep our Netflix subscription in check. I’m lucky to have discovered voice-over acting as my calling and career. It’s a vocation that I have been building up and honing for close to 25 years now.

When it comes to hiring voice talent, that FULL-TIME status can be a big perk for clients. Hiring full-time female voice over talent comes with several benefits that you may not find with part-time voice-over actors.

Excellent Availability, Accessibility and Full Focus

Let’s say you need a recording pronto or a rapid answer to a quick question. Either request may be super-short and super-easy, but it’s still under a super-strict deadline. Many full-timers could fit in your last-minute project, or answer your question, within minutes.

Part-time talent is typically working a day job for their primary income source and may only provide voice-over services on nights, weekends and/or whenever they can fit it into their day. That means you may not have that quick answer until later that evening or tomorrow, or that recording delivered until sometime on Sunday, or maybe next week.

In today’s world, business moves too fast to have to wait hours for answers or results. When you work with a full-time female voice over talent, you know you can get a quick response; whether it’s a simple question, an audition or recording a job.

Not only is a PT voice talent’s time split between their regular career and part-time acting, but their mental and energetic focus is also split. Full-timers can keep their head in the voice over acting game 24/7, leading to enhanced concentration and more precise results.

Longevity and the Magic Tool Box

Okay, now let’s say you need an audio project revised months or even a year later. Contact your reliable full-time female voice over talent six months down the line and she’ll be there to accommodate your request.

Successful, full-time voice actors are typically highly committed and serious professionals who intend to stick around for the long haul. There’s no reason to leave a career we’ve paid our dues to establish and truly enjoy. Your full-time, on-the-spot talent will also be able to match the same vocal quality from six months ago. Their experience and tools allow them jump in and complete the project in a jiffy, with the consistency needed to make your revised project sound seamless and professional.

Contact your part-time voice actor six months later and you run the risk of several possible scenarios:

– They may not be doing voice over work at all anymore, or it may be difficult to track them down and get a response from them in a timely manner because their availability to do voice over work is limited.

– Something may have changed about their recording setup (maybe they upgraded some equipment since the last time you worked with them) and there are issues getting the new audio revisions to fit with the original recording.

– They possibly don’t have the professional tools and equipment readily available, to make the changes and revise the audio effortlessly and easily.

Instead of getting a few simple revisions for your existing recording from the same actor, you’re stuck having to re-audition, re-cast, and re-do the entire project, costing you extra time and money.

I had this exact situation occur just last week. A client whom I hadn’t heard from in awhile emailed me asking for some pickups to a video VO that I had done for him over two years ago.

Here is a quote from his email:  

“One other note, we need to ensure that the new VO pick up lines will perfectly match the rest of the old read, so can you confirm that you’ll be using the same recording equipment/mic so there is no difference in tone or pitch and so these pick up lines can seamlessly be plugged in.”

It is great to know in a situation like this that I can easily confirm nothing has changed about my sound, and what I record today will fit seamlessly into what I recorded a few years ago.

I even still had the original audio file from the session I did over two years ago, which made it even easier for me to quickly match exactly the sound, style, pacing and tone that he needed for the pickup.

Being a Full-Time Voice Over Talent Requires Ongoing Financial Investment

Full-timers are generally more willing and able to invest in the high-end equipment necessary to record and deliver the end product in a variety of ways to best suit client needs. A high-end microphone is a must for all working pros, as are ISDN capabilities (or other methods of “hooking up digitally”) that allow real-time recording and phone patch capabilities.

A part-timer may have some high-tech equipment, but chances are, they could be lacking in some of the bigger ticket items. The ISDN equipment investment alone can run anywhere from $1,500 to $5,000 (plus the monthly phone charges which range into the hundreds of dollars in some places), and high quality microphones can run up to several thousand dollars as well.

It’s not an easy business. Part-timers can give up after a year or two when they realize the enormous amount of work, and the length of time it can take to establish a steady stream of clients. Some people may take the voice-over workshops, make a demo, set up an in-home studio, and then spend the next six to eight months NOT getting much work. It’s pretty common to become discouraged with the whole business, and just decide to throw in the towel.

All the benefits (and fringe benefits) that come with hiring full-time female voice over talent can definitely add up. With the full-timer you should always get:

* High quality audio in whatever format is needed
* Well honed acting and narration abilities with copy: commercial, long and short-form
* Easy and immediate availability
* Speedy Turnaround on the work
* Access to monitored session work
* Skill at making post-production edits to an existing audio/video project
* Outstanding Customer Service

Not only is full-time talent more apt to deliver the quality work you need when you need it, but you’ll also be able to relax, knowing that you’ve hired and are working with a true professional, who will be there for you and deliver the goods when you need it most.

But wait…there’s more! Please read Part 2 of this series discussing more of the benefits of hiring full-time female voice over talent versus part-time voice talent.

Please share your thoughts, comments and feedback below.

Creating a new Narration Voice Over Demo is something that every voice over talent has to do from time to time. These days, because I have so much content on Youtube in the form of video samples of my work, I have been moving more and more toward creating video versions of my voice over demos, or in the case of my latest Narration Voice Over Demo, a completely unique video demo compiled from samples of my Narration video portfolio.

This latest narration voice over demo covers several categories of narration that I record on a regular basis including: Corporate / Business Narration, Web Video Narration, Health and Medical Narration, Tutorials, eLearning and Instructional Narration, Travel and Leisure Narration and Technical Narration. You’ll see samples of all of these categories in this video!

I engaged the services of Ari Ross for help with the creation of this narration voice over demo video. He was great to work with and very fast in selecting the best videos from my shortlist and then splicing the best segments altogether and keep the length well under three minutes. I highly recommend him to other voice over talent who want to create a similar type of video voice over demo.

I do a LOT of Narration Voice Over projects. While recording corporate narration or complex medical narration scripts isn’t very glamorous (it’s certainly not going to make me a household name anytime soon), narration voice over does provide me with an abundance of opportunities to serve my clients and make my living as a professional voice over actress. I guess you could say that Narration Voice Overs are my bread and butter.

The plan is to make several more of these Voice Over Demo Videos, for other categories of voice over work that I do on a regular basis. Look for those in the coming months!

Debbie Grattan has been recording Narration Voice Overs for more than 20 years, having collaborated on thousands of projects and partnered with hundreds of production companies, marketing and advertising firms, commercial voice-over recording studios and corporate/business clients around the United States and abroad. Hear and see all of her voice over demo samples and request a Voice-Over Services Quote for an upcoming project. 

In my daily work as a professional voice-over actress, I get to be both the voice talent and the audio engineer. It’s empowering to edit and mix my recordings in my home studio, and I like that I can offer my clients a full-service professional voice-over experience. Technology has made this possible, but I know only too well the perils of relying too heavily on technology as the be-all-end-all solution to life’s problems.

Even with the best intentions, the best equipment, and many years of professional voice-over experience, at some point, something can (and eventually will) go wrong. I’ve learned that what matters isn’t just a flawless run of perfect takes. Equally important is how I respond when something goes wrong. Those situations can show you (and your clients) what kind of voice-over pro you truly are.

Case Study: The Voice-Over Take That Got Away

I was recently hired again by a returning client to record a one minute piece of copy. During our phone patch session, I suggested a couple of different voice-over styles that I thought might work for the project. Through this collaboration, I ended up recording three possible options for my client to choose from. As usual, after the real-time session, I followed my typical sequence of editing, mixing, and normalizing to polish the recording, and then sent it off for the client to review.

The next day, my client replied to say that something sounded off about the file I sent — it sounded muffled and muddy. That is not a common type of feedback, so I was perplexed and very curious to know what had happened. I knew I had done everything I routinely do, and, I was pretty sure I had done it all just right!

But the proof was in the pudding. Somewhere along the line, some stray button had been clicked in my audio editing software or something had just gone awry in my computer’s processor.  Whatever the cause, a tech glitch had created a problem which now needed to be solved asap.  Ah….technology. There was no use arguing about it. I had a job to do, which meant, in this case, that I had to do that job again.

Fortunately, the session was very fresh in my memory and I was able to go into the studio and record the script again, giving all three options just as I had in the original session. All’s well that ends well. My client was very happy with the redone takes and I was also able figure out what had created the glitch the first time around and I got things adjusted so that wouldn’t happen again.

Professional Voice-Over Poise and Persistence

So, what did I learn from this situation and other situations like it over the years? While my experience may still allow a rare but inevitable error to slip by, what remains firm is my poise and persistence in dealing with how to quickly find a solution and make sure my client is always ultimately satisfied and gets what they need.

Instead of freaking out and rethinking my whole technological system, I stood by my process and stood by my work, and started from scratch to provide a suitable file for my client. Mistakes happen. Dogs eat homework. Hard drives crash. What matters is that we can respond to these moments with resiliency,  skill, a cool head and a calm hand.

It reminds me of airline pilots who are famously known to be unruffled in the face of a danger. They are trained to speak calmly and reassure the passengers no matter what crises may be happening in the moment.

While a computer glitch is not life-threatening for anyone involved, the mind can panic when it starts thinking thoughts like, “Oh no! How am I going to fix this? What if I lose this client over this? What if this happens again?” One of the mind’s jobs is to look for threats to our survival, and it often gets short-circuited into thinking our survival is threatened, when in reality, in the worst-case scenario,  it’s only our reputation or a source of income that may be partially at risk.

That day in the studio also taught me that no matter how sophisticated my technological set-up, the human element of voice-over work is what gets me through the toughest situations. Technology has opened up new opportunities for professional voice-over talent to work from home, pursue clients around the world, and take control of producing their own work. But technology can be both friend and foe. In the case illustrated, I had to have the real-world customer service chops to smooth over our budding relationship, and go back in and recreate what I’d done. Those are professional voice-over skills that are hard-won and years in the making; there’s simply no gizmo, no “app,” for keeping calm and carrying on!

Debbie Grattan has been providing professional voice-over services for 20+ years, collaborating on thousands of projects and partnering with hundreds of production companies, marketing and advertising firms, commercial voice-over recording studios and corporate/business clients around the United States and throughout the world. Check out her Professional Voice-Over Talent Demos and request a Custom Voice-Over Audition for your upcoming project.

ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network) is a system of digital telephone connections, which enables recording studios anywhere in the United States, Canada and abroad to connect digitally with voice over talent working remotely in their home recording studio. When I use ISDN for a voice over session, it is as if I am standing in my client’s recording booth wherever they are — the quality of sound transmitted is THAT good!

The quality is so good, in fact, that the voice over audio is actually recorded by my client’s recording studio in real time during the session. That means that I don’t even have to record the session on my computer.

ISDN: An Oldie But a Goodie

This technology has been around a long time (since about 1986), and even though many people have said it is going to go the way of the dinosaurs because there are now equally fast or faster ways to connect using the internet, ISDN continues to be the standard for remote recording sessions for most recording studios and a large number of voice over talent throughout the world.

ISDN, combined with with an affordable home recording studio, are the two primary technological advances that allowed me to move from Southern California, where I used to travel to studios all over Orange County, Los Angeles and San Diego, to where I now live in Michigan. Even though I now live in the Midwest, I can still be connected with all of my studio buddies on the west coast (or east coast or wherever) in a flash and it’s as if I’m right there in their own recording studio!

Because we are digitally connected, both parties hear the voice over recording in real-time, with perfect quality. And after the session, there is no need for me to save, edit and upload the final audio files to the producer, since they got everything they needed during the session through the ISDN connection.

Can you see why I just love doing ISDN sessions?

An ISDN set-up is rather expensive: At least $1500 for the unit, plus anywhere from $75 to a few hundred dollars per month in phone bills to have your local telephone company provide the ISDN service. I bought my first ISDN unit in 2002 from my longtime ISDN guru Dave Immer at Digifon, and I’ve owned three units over the years (see what I have now on my Studio Specs page). I wouldn’t even think about working without ISDN these days. It’s just too handy and convenient for me, and many of my regular clients rely on it for every session.

My Second Most Favorite Part About ISDN

Another nice feature of my unit is the Phone Patch, which allows anyone to call in from anywhere in the world on their phone and monitor and direct me in the recording session. I still have to record the session on my computer when using a phone patch, but it is the next best thing to ISDN and the ease of use is a win-win, especially since I offer it for no additional charge.

A few companies now offer computer software that simulates ISDN units and works through an Internet connection (which means no more expensive monthly phone bills). I’ve considered using this at times, but until things really change on the recording studio and production company end, and I see a real trend of ISDN actually going away or being replaced by something better… I won’t be making any changes with how I connect for remote sessions. It’s just too easy with ISDN!

From now through August 15th, 2014 – Take advantage of a 20% Discount on an ISDN Session with me!

Debbie Grattan is an ISDN Voice Over Talent who has been a professional VO artist for more than twenty years. She’s been working on stage, screen and behind the microphone for her entire adult life. Check out her voice over talent bio and request a voice over services quote for an upcoming project.

As a commercial voice over professional, I end up fielding a lot of email inquiries from prospective clients, and one of the big questions I always get asked is, How much is this going to cost? Quoting commercial voice over projects is certainly part of my daily routine. My responses can vary depending on the situation, the client, the relevant aspects of the project and how the finished project will be used.

A new client found me online recently, looking for someone to narrate a short video for his company website. When we got around to talking about price, the amount he was offering was below my standard rate for that type of project. Even though I wanted to help him, I had to politely decline the opportunity to do the job for him. He was a bit disappointed, but understood why I had to pass.

Fast forward a few days, and this same client comes back to me with a sweeter offer. He asked me if I enjoyed tea…

I Don’t Work for Peanuts But I May, On Occasion, Work For Tea

His company is Socha Tea, and his revised proposal included a gift certificate to use on his website for a generous quantity of tea (to make up for the cash shortfall in his budget). As it turns out, I do happen to enjoy tea. It’s great for the vocal cords and is a nice change-up from my usual morning cup of coffee. Since I still wanted to help this person get what he needed, and loved what his latest offer included, I agreed to the new terms.

After completing the project, I asked for a copy of the video for use in my marketing. And I mentioned that I might like to use the story of our first job working together in a blog post. The topic of bartering for commercial voice over services is an interesting one to talk about, since it can sometimes bridge the gap when a client’s budget is below what a talent needs to charge.

Do you have any interesting voice over trade/barter stories? Please share in the comments section below!

Helping a company with getting their product to the marketplace is part of my mission as a commercial voice professional, and in serving this particular client, it seems I am getting served a little extra special treat for myself.

Socha Tea also does a fair amount of community fundraising and a portion of all their sales goes to their non-profit partner, Wells Bring Hope, to support humanitarian programs in West Africa, providing clean, safe water to those in need.

So, I invite you to visit Socha Tea’s website, partake in some lovely tea (at a nice discount) and in so doing, help bring safe water to less fortunate folks in West Africa. Sounds like a win/win, any way you look at it.

Have you ever traded your commercial voice over services?

Have you ever received something extra special and unique in exchange for your voice over services? Please share your stories in the comments below.

Debbie Grattan is a commercial voice over talent with more than 20 years of experience. She has collaborated on thousands of projects and partnered with hundreds of production companies, marketing and advertising firms, commercial voice-over recording studios and corporate/business clients around the United States and throughout the world. Check out her Commercial Voice Demos and request a Commercial Voice Talent Audition for your upcoming project.