For Voice Over Clients

Despite spending much of my work day seemingly cloistered from the world in my studio, I still find myself  keeping up with some of the latest trends. That’s especially true when I land voice over acting jobs for new computer technologies and anything that involves rolling out, as long as the “rolling out” comes with audio.

One of those recent rolling-outs was for a client promoting magnet schools. I’ve done radio and tv commercial voice overs for charter and magnet schools before and I was, as usual, focused on reading the script in a way that would get the client’s message across.

View one of my recent TV Commercial Voice Overs for CREC Magnet Schools above or click here if you’re not able to see the embedded video.

Then ‘ding!” — a light went on in my head, making the connection to magnet schools and my two school-age children.

I got what a magnet school is – and I immediately wanted to know more. I’ve seen magnet schools in our area in Indiana/Michigan for both elementary and high school students. There are high-school magnets for engineering, fine arts and even with international baccalaureate programs.

My brain burst with a flurry of questions: How prevalent are magnet schools across the country? Are there only a small variety in certain areas or a large variety from coast to coast? Are they a new trend or a long-time movement I just missed?

I was also curious if parents with children in magnet schools saw their children reaping the benefits the schools promised, and if younger students actually attended classes at the local college or institution affiliated with the magnet school.

Magnet Schools in a Nutshell

A quick glance at a 2012 U.S. Department of Education chart, showed me there were more than 2,700 magnet schools across the nation, pretty much in every state. I learned that magnet schools, which are free public schools headed by school districts, offer a slew of opportunities. And yes, some hold classes on college campuses.

Some programs stick with the science, technology and academic subjects while others focus on visual and performing arts. Still others focus on specific learning approaches, such as the international baccalaureate programs.

Now the big question: Did they actually benefit students? Here, a resounding “yes” came from a study published in the Educational Leadership journal. The study found that magnet school students perform better academically than peers attending other school types. Additional advantages pointed out by the DOE included preparing students for a specific career path and higher learning while creating a diverse community of students who share the same interests and goals.

My seventh-grade daughter, who has already shown an aptitude for singing, acting and performing (including doing a few tv commercial voice overs along the way), may be an ideal candidate for a fine arts magnet school. And we happen to have one in the vicinity!  In fact, we’re going to see a live show there this weekend!

As a mother and connected member of the community, I truly enjoy being able to lend my voice talent to something that has a strong connection to me. Hopefully while talking to my own demographic, I can communicate through my voice over acting exceedingly well to that spectrum of the population, thereby giving magnet schools their just due.

Debbie Grattan has been recording TV Commercial Voice Overs for more than 20 years, with over 10,000 projects to her credit while partnering with hundreds of production companies, marketing and advertising firms, commercial voiceover recording studios and corporate/business clients around the United States and abroad. Check out her TV Commercial Voice Overs Samples and request a Complimentary Custom Audition for an upcoming project.

 

Like it or not, we live in a whirlwind world where we’re expected to deliver so much more in a very compacted period of time. This means loads of pressure on all fronts and in every profession. And the voice over acting industry is certainly no exception.

With more than two decades of experience as a female voice over talent, I’ve come up with a handful of strategies to help ensure I deliver what my clients want, exactly how they want it and by their deadline – if not earlier.

How a Female Voice Over Talent Helps You Get WHAT You Want

What clients want with voice overs is the same thing that clients want in every industry: a professional final product that involves the least amount of hassle or delay. That starts with a quality ISDN voice over recording studio with all the bells and whistles to record, edit, and produce high-end final VO tracks.

You can “sit in” on the session, thanks to phone patch connections and ISDN voice over hookups that let you direct my delivery from anywhere in the world by telephone. Or you can give me the overall gist you are going for and I’ll let my experience lead the way to giving you my very best take on your script.

Getting It HOW You Want It

I take pride in being able juggle multiple projects and stay on track with all of the deadlines. Is it challenging at times to do that? Absolutely! But, I’ve found some ways to be efficient in how I get projects recorded. If I’m working on a series of quick reads that are fairly straightforward, informational and don’t require a great deal of “acting chops,” it makes sense to stay in that voice over groove and quickly move through my queue of similar tasks such as tags, voicemail recordings and other telephony messaging scripts which are usually more informational in nature.

Likewise, projects that require greater acting skills get tackled when I am in the appropriate mode and frame of mind to record them most effectively. I may shift gears several times each day, from technical narration to emotive tv commmercial spots to message on hold recordings. It makes for variety in my day, and totally keeps me on my toes as an actor.

Another prime example is a project I’ve already recorded that has come back weeks or months later for changes. It can be tougher than it seems to reproduce the exact level of energy and sound recorded several months ago. Being in the ideal frame of mind makes it much easier to get it right. And I will also pull from my audio archives to locate the original audio, to use as my refresher guide. A final meticulous review to ensure a perfect match is also part of the process in this situation.

Getting it Done by Your Deadline

Determining priorities is a must when it comes to the deadline game. My ideal day involves a steady stream of voice over clients and a queue full of orders in-progress. This scenario requires me to manage all of the various projects that are each in various stages of completion. There are the existing clients and orders, recurring orders, brand new clients and the “never-ending projects,” which are some of my favorites to work on because they are ongoing and can last months or even years.

Also worth mentioning are the female voice over talent auditions, which are a necessary part of the job these days. I audition every day, depending on the types of projects that I’m receiving in my inbox and how much workload I’m carrying for the day. I am always happy to provide a custom voiceover audition when a client has narrowed down their choice of female voice over talent and I’m on the short list.

One More Thing You Get From This Female Voice Over Talent: Exceptional Customer Service

Regardless of where projects may fall on the overall priority list, each and every client gets the specialized attention they deserve, as if they were my only client. I add a little oomph to my customer service with things like quick responses to emails and small loyalty gifts because I always want my clients to know just how much I appreciate their business.

Mix in my penchant for being dependable, responsible and delivering quality work on time or ahead of schedule, and your job becomes easier indeed.

When I begin a voice acting job, the questions I ask myself aren’t too different from those I would ask if I were starting a role for film or stage: who am I, what am I trying to get across, and who am I talking to?

As a voice actor however, I cannot use my eyes, my body, or my face to communicate my identity and my intentions. I only have my voice, and, more often than not, a page of informational script that is more procedural than character driven. So how do I create the kind of emotional connection that “is what it’s all about” in voice acting?

Voice Acting Should Feel Personal

Creating an emotional connection with a script is essential to being able to clearly communicate the client’s message. When I sit down with a page of copy, it’s important for me to be clear on the purpose of the material.

For instances where I’m tasked with narrating a corporate procedure or some other form of employee training, I try to imagine how I would speak to those listening if I were right there in the room with them. I like to picture myself as a friend sitting beside their computer telling them exactly what they need to do, not some robot delivering a monologue.

Sometimes, with material that’s particularly emotionally resonant, I imagine a person from my own life and pretend that I’m talking directly to them, to their hopes and needs and wishes and fears.

I did this recently with a piece of advertising copy for a hospice that had contacted me to promote their caring approach for families looking to make their loved ones comfortable during the last days of their lives. I was reminded of the experience of suddenly losing a friend, a colleague of mine who I’d enjoyed many years with as a performing peer. This man was still young, and he’d kept the details of his illness private until his passing was imminent. A mutual friend of ours gave him the ultimate gift of comfort and set him up in a house near the beach where he could see the sky and the sea, and spend his last days in the company of friends in the sort of natural setting that he’d always loved.

When I read my script for the hospice ad, I thought specifically of my friend and allowed the personal memory to wash over me and inform my voice acting delivery of the copy. I thought of what he and his close circle would have wanted to hear while making tough decisions about comfort and care, and this connection made the finished product more believable, relateable, and emotionally true.

Let the Client Drive Your Voice Acting

Forging a strong emotional connection to copy from personal experience is something I can now do, after decades of acting on stage and as a voice talent, almost immediately. It’s like driving; I get into the seat, look over my script, and like a map I know by heart, I can get a quick read on where I’m going and how I’ll get there.

But it’s important to remember that as someone who does voice acting for hire, my impulses must ultimately translate into a version of the copy that best suits the client’s needs. Two different clients can use the word “conversational” to describe their desired tone, but they might have two completely different ideas of what that actually sounds like. As with so many aspects of this business, it’s important for me to communicate and connect with the client first, and get a clear sense of their direction before I get into the seat and start off on the road.

Published by Debbie Grattan on 12/20/13.

Debbie Grattan has been Voice Acting for more than 20 years, completing well beyond 10,000 voice acting projects along her journey while partnering with hundreds of production companies, marketing and advertising firms, commercial voice-over recording studios and corporate/business clients around the United States and abroad. Check out Debbie’s Voice Acting Demos and request a Voice Over Services quote for an upcoming project.

The very funny writer/entertainer Amy Sedaris writes in one of her tongue-in-cheek books, “I think it’s good for a person to spend time alone. It gives them an opportunity to discover who they are and to figure out why they are always alone.”

In the case of voice actors, we often find ourselves professionally obligated to be alone for hours at a time. We ply our trade in the studio, respond to emails from potential leads, and read over scripts for voice auditions to decide how to best approach our next opportunity.

This time can feel isolating, especially compared to more social types of acting work such as  film, television or stage acting. But a healthy dose of solo studio time can also help us develop a clear sense of what we love about the work we do, as well as an accurate assessment of the individual strengths we each bring to our voice acting profession.

Voice Auditions and an Actor’s Intuition

Having worked in this field for decades, I feel fortunate to have a clear sense of what I think will work for my particular set of skills and interests. This self-knowledge is hugely important when it comes to approaching voice auditions. When a new opportunity crosses my path, I run myself through an internal checklist of sorts:

– Is this a job that feels like it’s in my wheel well?
– Is this the kind of job I do all the time?
– If not, does it seem like something I could master quickly and handle well?

It’s wonderful when I can find a job that fits like a glove because it means that I can complete the audition efficiently without spending a lot of time on unpaid work. But seasoned voice actors know that familiarity isn’t always enough to nail a gig. Voice auditions are always a bit of a shot in the dark; my ability to self-assess and figure out if the gig seems like a good match is just one way to improve my odds, but it’s certainly not a sure-fire guarantee of a slam dunk.

Finding “The Spark”

Another important bit of criteria is that elusive “spark” you get when you read certain audition calls. When I decide how much time to spend on voice auditions, I try to be realistic and pragmatic, and pursue work that feels familiar and within my current capabilities, but sometimes a job comes totally out of left-field and leaves me with that emotion that screams I gotta go after this one!  

Those moments of excitement make new work worth pursuing. I love that “zing” that makes my heart beat a little faster and pushes me to ignore the practical voice inside my head that says, “this job isn’t for me.”

Self-knowledge isn’t just about skills, it’s also about knowing what gets your pulse going and what pushes you to move outside of your comfort zone. Sometimes you simply have to  separate your logical, practical thinking from the intuitive gut impulse that says to go for it.

Even if it doesn’t pan out in the long run, acting on your intuition keeps you on your toes and engaged, and that’s exactly what you need to keep returning to the studio day after day.  It’s the fuel you need to continue chasing that ever elusive spark.

Published by Debbie Grattan on 12/13/13.

Debbie Grattan has been delivering professional Voice Over Services for more than 20 years, completing thousands of voice auditions and voice over projects along her journey. She has worked with hundreds of production companies, marketing and advertising firms, commercial and corporate/business clients around the United States and abroad. You can request customized Voice Auditions or Quotes for Voice Over Services on Debbie’s website.

As a professional voice actress, I’m often tasked with creating accents ranging from foreign accents and regional dialects to fun and crazy characters.  Just this past week, I had requests from clients for a variety of voice over accents including  European accents, a Texas accent, an Asian accent, and a voice like the computer in 2001 A Space Odyssey.

Some of my voice over clients have even told me that research has shown that the buying public will give greater credence to a speaker who has a British accent, than one with an American accent. And even more so, if it’s a female voice actress with a British accent.

And that’s good for me, because speaking with a British accent is something I can do well.

British Voice Over Accents Come Easy for this Voice Actress

Coming from the stage world, I’ve practiced my fair share of accents. I also grew up with a best friend whose mother was from England. As a child, I had an ear for listening to her very closely and picking up her accent. So when I got the chance to play roles in plays by classical British playwrights like Oscar Wilde, Noel Coward, and even William Shakespeare, I already had the British sound in my mind. Working with coaches throughout the years, and just on my own with audio tutorials and even YouTube, it has been fairly easy for me to hear and replicate sounds that give a credible representation of someone who speaks English but is from a foreign country.

It’s funny how we tend to stereotype regional dialects; Valley girl, surfer dude, Da Bears guys, NY cabbie, etc. I even thought that the Canadian accent was lampooned in Bobby Moynahan’s version of Toronto mayor Rob Ford on SNL recently. UNTIL I saw an interview the following Monday on the Today show with Matt Lauer and the real mayor. After that, I thought Moynahan’s interpretation was pretty accurate.

Until I saw Matt Lauer interview the real mayor on the Today show this morning:

 

Using Voice Over Accents for Characters

So, when does the line from an exaggerated character blur to a true representation of a real person?

We hear the phrase, “Truth is stranger than fiction” and I often think that to be relevant in creating characters as well. Even when, as actors, we go to what we think are the outer reaches of a characterization through voice, we can still find REAL people, who reach beyond the boundaries, and seem to be a caricature of themselves.

What about the guys from Duck Dynasty, or the family in Honey Boo Boo, any of the “real” housewives, or everybody’s favorite celebrity family, the Kardashians? Reality TV seems to have shown us that real folks can be far more interesting to the mainstream audience than some character made up by a playwright or TV sitcom writer. And certainly terrific fodder for late night hosts, and SNL to parody. All in fun, right?

I find creating voice over accents for characters to be one of the most enjoyable tasks I have as a voice over professional. I’ve done my share of silly voices and playful characters, and right now, I’m even playing a Southern Belle, SuperHero Duck on an animated series, targeted at financial literacy for children, called “The Centsables”.

And one of the most fun things about playing with characterizations for voice work, is transferring that enjoyment to my 12 year old daughter, who has also been working as a professional voice actress for the past few years. We’ve actually created characters on the Centsables together, playing mother and daughter in a recent episode, in addition to her turn as a “villain” on an earlier episode this season.
Passing on the tradition of play, through voice acting is a real gift to me. I am truly a lucky lady.

Published by Debbie Grattan on 11/27/13.

Debbie Grattan is a Voice Actress who has been in the business for 20+ years, racking up well over 10,000 completed voice over services projects while partnering with hundreds of production companies, marketing and advertising firms, commercial voice-over recording studios and corporate/business clients around the United States and abroad. Check out Debbie’s Voice Actress Demos and request a voice over services quote for an upcoming project.

Corporate Narration Voiceovers provide the perfect opportunity to use my female voice talent in an effort to assist companies with delivering their product and service messages.

While corporate narration voiceover may not seem as attractive as the glamorous and high profile national commercial spots that so many voice over talents love to chase, I tend to love to do these type of recordings.    Much like commercial voiceover, these jobs allow me to communicate marketing messages directly to the targeted audience.

Corporate Narration Voiceovers – A Sample Video

Here is a sample of a recent Corporate Narration Voiceover project:

In this voiceover sample, the client already had put together the video presentation for their corporation. I was required to analyze the video, scratch track, and determine the pacing and timing needed to match the script to specific parts of the video.

The corporation who hired me for this narration voiceover project found me through my website and was pleased to take advantage of our first time client special offer” discount found on the home page.

See the full version of the corporate narration voiceover video here.

Female Narration Voice Over

Debbie Grattan has been recording Corporate Narration Voiceovers for over 20 years. To date she has worked on more than 10,000 projects and has 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.

Female Narration Services offered by Debbie include :

• corporate narration
• technical narration
• tutorial & instructional narration
• web video narration
• health related narration
• travel & leisure narration

Check out her Female Voice Over Demos and request a custom voiceover audition for an upcoming project.