Stand Out in Complex Auditions with Anthony Pica

Participant #1:
When you are going fast in auditions, you don't have time to look at, say, how do I feel about this? I'm going to read a passage from this poem to get me in the mood. I'm going to go get a hat out of my client. We don't have that time. You know what I mean? It would be nice, but that's not our business. So that means we have to build ourselves these archetypes, these characters that we draw from that automatically switch and give us the context we need to bring depth to a character that would normally take someone a couple of weeks to build.

Participant #1:
Welcome, everyone, to today's episode of Mission Audition. Thank you so much for joining us. Mission Audition is the Voiceover podcast where we listen to real auditions from Voices members and we get to hear feedback from world class voiceover coaches. My name is Vanessa, community manager, and I am joined by today's co host Randy, content producer here at Voices. Hey. Hello, everyone. Today's topic is physical voice acting, bringing your performances to life. And before we get into the auditions, let me introduce our amazing guest here, Anthony Pica. Anthony is a seasoned voiceover actor and voiceover coach with over a decade of experience in the industry. He's lent his voice to a wide range of projects, including animation, video games, commercials, audio books, you name it. In addition to his work as a voice actor, anthony also coaches others looking to break into the field and improve their skills and runs a vo's journey elite academy. He's known for his ability to help his students find their unique voices and bring their performances to life. Anthony's extensive knowledge and experience makes him a valuable resource to those looking to succeed in this voiceover industry. And in his coaching sessions, he focuses on technique, interpretation, and finding the right approach to a variety of projects, which makes you such a great fit for today's episode. Anthony, would you like to say hello? Absolutely. Hello. I love the opening. It's so fun when you read something like that and you listen to it and you're like, oh, wow, this is great. That's me. That's right. Thank you guys so much for having me. This is wonderful. I'm really excited. Such a great start to the new year to have you as well. Thank you. It's really great to have you here on this show. I am so ready to hear what Anthony has to say because these auditions were so different individually. Yeah, I totally agree. So let's jump into what this audition is all about. It's the artistic direction that the talent rather would have received before auditioning. So here's the artistic direction. The voice actor who performs the intro of each Gold Spotter's pod episode will ideally mirror the target audience. Adolescents who work hard, harbor lofty dreams and are bound by their love of all things music. The majority of our users are based in the tristate area. So we're interested in reads with a tinge of that accent while being open to their own interpretations. We're looking for a voice who can briefly introduce our listeners to a series of topics related to music producing and getting their tracks heard. Our hosts should be able to alternate between precise, detailed reads to a more conversational format with ease while consistently relating with our listeners through cool, casual delivery. The style is conversational, informative, hip hop with the New York, New Jersey Bronx Brooklyn accent. The voice age is a teenager from 13 to 17 years old. Anthony, what are your thoughts on a direction that is this complex? Well, first off, I was I was waiting for that that description to have in there, you know, also be able to wash windows while you're doing this. I mean, I think voice actors, we go through this constantly where there's just so many directions and sometimes they contradict each other. So I think for starters, with this piece, the big part to me, actually, that is in here is on that first paragraph says the last part of the last sentence while being open to other interpretations. This is when you're faced with something, especially that conversational, informative hip hop with the New York, New Jersey Brooklyn accent. The voice age is a teenager around 13 to 17 years old. I mean, this is not most of us. So when you are faced with something like this, all right, give it your shot. But listen, here's the thing. When I do, when they're saying they're open interpretations, bring what you feel is uniquely you. Because right now, especially now more than ever, going into 2023 or what we're dealing with, you've got to bring what is uniquely you over just what you think is what everyone else is doing. So I would say that it's open interpretation. So if you feel like we're going to listen to some auditions or you feel like, I want to audition for this, but maybe I'm not a 13 year old person who got a hip hop style, should I audition? Should I not audition? I think at this point, interpret it the way you can and go for it. Why not? Do you think they've kind of opened the floodgate for anyone? Because they said they're open to everyone's interpretation, right? Usually when you see people who are this precise about things, a lot of times they have something in their mind. However, what they're really looking for is for you to make them believe you. I mean, for you to make them believe, believe in what they're trying to sell, in this case, this podcast. But I really do think they're open. I really do. And I think that especially with this, ideally, you could have someone like this, but they could listen to a 13 to 17 year old be like, I'm not feeling the fire that they have because I know, like, my son, he's 14 years old and a lot of what he brings, and that's another thing, too, research wise. But a lot of what he would do as just being of my 14 year old son is a very non is, like, stand off me. We're really passionate about this topic. That's not what young people really are, not that they're not passionate, but you know what I mean? It's more like this is what it is. It's fine. I do think that you can bring that, and that's where sometimes doing multiple takes helps you a lot. Give them a couple of different takes in that sense, because give them one that's that way, and give them one that's another way. Okay, that's a great take. Let's jump into audition number one. What's up, guys? Welcome back to Gold Spotters the Pod all about cutting your teeth and getting noticed in the music biz. Today we're taking an indepth look at Crafting original cover art that captures both the vibe of your track and who you are as an artist. Plus, they'll teach you how to create a looping visual to enliven your image on streaming platforms. Wow. What a great first audition. I definitely thought that this one showcased a tinge of a New Jersey Bronx accent. Yes, the delivery felt casual to me and at ease, but what's your take, Anthony? Yes. I really liked the effort that this person made to bring what they were asking for. And a lot of times, with all things being equal, female voices can often have a little easier way of bringing a younger sounding voice, because younger voices usually have a little bit of higher pitches in them. So I thought that that was a really good take. But what I really liked specifically about this one, too, was that it wasn't forced. I thought they did a really good job of just saying this information without making it over the top or trying too hard. And that is also a great indication that we could believe this person. So I thought they did very good. Yeah, absolutely. Can I ask what your take is on performing in accents that may not be your native accent? So I'm a theater person by trade. That's what I went to school for, and I got my bachelor's and master's degree in performance. And the old adage was, if you can't do an accent well, don't do it. Do it in your own voice, just because it'll be worse if you can't. However, with what we do, I think that more now than ever, the versatility that we need to display is more important. So I would say, though, that if you feel like or you've gotten feedback that maybe your accent isn't up to par, I would rather you knock it out of the park without an accent than try to do an accent and it just fall flat on its face. It can be tricky, for sure. Yeah, I've heard the concern where sometimes the client might not know if the accent is authentic, but the audience where that project is going to be displayed. Maybe they're putting out a Scottish ad and they don't know that the accent the person is putting on isn't authentic until that ad lands in Scotland, people are listening to the radio thinking, what is that? That's an American doing a Scottish accent. Why am I listening to that? But the client might have been in La. They don't know. They don't know. You're absolutely right. So I have mentor students who are with a lot of students, and one of them, she's from a place in the UK where it's outside of London. But her accent, it's very unique because especially there forgiving because I don't know exactly all the names of the styles accents there, but it's not necessarily a royal accent. And she calls more of like, a London accent, but it's very unique because how she speaks, it would be very odd if it was put in another spot where it was supposed to sound like she came from a different area. And it's the same thing with here, like you said, even and especially in our country. My goodness, I'm from Virginia and there's places in Virginia that I mean, just in one state where there's so many different accents and then you add in the military, so it could be anywhere. So, yeah, it really is important to be able to bring the right sound to where you are located. But I'm a big advocate for I'd rather you go all in with what you're good at, because sometimes these people might be like, man, that was so good. It's fine, we don't care. They said they were open for interpretations. They did put that in there on purpose. Yeah. They'll know it when they hear it, right? Exactly. Awesome. Well, these are fantastic tips. I hope our listeners at home have a pencil and paper handy, because these are very valuable feedback. Let's jump into our second audition here. What's up, guys? Welcome back to Goldspotters the Pod, all about cutting your teeth and getting noticed in the music biz. Today we're taking an in depth look at crafting original cover art that captures both the vibe of your track and who you are as an artist. Plus, I'll teach you how to create a looping visual to enliven your image on streaming platforms. What's up, guys? Welcome back to Goldspotters The Pod, all about cutting your teeth and getting noticed in the music biz. Today we're taking an in depth look at creating original cover art that captures both the vibe of your track and who you are as an artist. Plus, I'll teach you how to create a looping visual to enliven your image on streaming platforms. Well, I like that he's playing with inflection a lot and it strikes me as sort of a nod to the radio broadcaster sound, but I feel like he does it with that conversational approach, which is a cool balance, I would say. The audio engineering me wants to hear him get a smidge closer to his microphone. I was feeling like I was hearing a bit of reflections in his audio. I think snugging up on that mic a little bit would address those concerns. Anthony, what are your thoughts on this one? Yeah, I definitely mirror what you said about the audio. I really like this audition too, specifically because this was, I think, just from a standpoint of male and age wise that this particular audition probably matched if we had a match closest to what they were looking for. And it's funny because who knows? That's the wonderful thing I love about voice over, too, is that you don't know what the prowl the person is on the other side and who they are and everything, which is part of what I love about what we do. But the sound of this person's voice did match a lot more to the age. Now, specifically with the accent, of course, they went a different direction with the accent, right? They just kept their own accent. So, again, this was for me, again, closer to the age, but I'm also saying kind of what you were saying, or what I feel like I would love for this particular one too, to give me more let loose. I do a lot of podcast, intros and outros. I've done so many and it's interesting, of course, all of them are different. But one thing like the style that I love is that it's something that's supposed to grab your attention. It's something that's supposed to be like, hey, listen, this is the show. It becomes a brand that intro, and so part of that is making a mark. Now, their instructions are important, we listen to the directions. But I would love for because I think this particular person has the right voice style for this, at least a younger sounding age, but definitely even feel free to go all in even more, like give me a little bit more excitement in it. And I think you'll find that you'll have more fun. And that's another little tip, too. I always said this, when you're having fun, you can hear it. I'm not saying this person wasn't having fun. I'm just saying when you're having fun, when you like what you put out, other people will too. If you're confused or you don't know, other people will be as well. It's incredible, that intuition. I think we mentioned that earlier, too. But yeah, I really did love this one, too, but I would have loved to see even more. I think it could have gone even bigger and it wouldn't have taken away from it. I think it would have added awesome. Well, I hope at home all the people listening can tell just how much fun we're having recording this podcast. But let's jump into audition number three. Hey, what's up, guys. Welcome back to Goldspotters the Pod, all about cutting your teeth and getting noticed in the music biz. Today we're taking an indepth look at Crafting original cover art that captures both the vibe of your track and who you are as an artist. Plus, I'll teach you how to create a looping visual to enliven your image on streaming platforms. Let's get started. Okay, so I have some feedback on this one. I thought that this audition sounded a bit closer to being a podcast host. It was, like nice and slow. You could hear what he was talking about, wasn't too fast. He gave that introduction type of feeling. But what are your thoughts, Anthony? Yeah. No, I'm right there. I agree with you. So here's something, too, that we've been talking about a lot recently, and I said this at the top of this show so far is being uniquely you. What I really liked about throughout this piece, you heard there were moments that were unpredictable. I don't know right now, and I shudder to mention AI, but it's important because it's everywhere. The unpredictability that we have is more important than ever. The act that our acting and our styles bring. And I love that one, that one spot where it kind of faded, they faded off a little bit. It just made me feel like I was I was listening to something real. Sometimes we speak too good. I know that sounds silly, but sometimes we're too darn good when we speak. It's like no one speaks like that. So bringing some of that raw, some of that intuitive style that just comes out of you while you're going, don't fight it. Everybody listening. Don't fight your intuition. Don't fight what you feel like you should do there. Go with it. Go for it. That's what makes it really fun and interesting and different. And I really like that about this particular one. The whole piece was like you said, it felt more like an intro. Like I could listen to it and it gave me kind of like, hey, this is the piece. It just made me want to start his song with them. It just made me want to do it. So, yeah, I like this one. I like this one. Now, I think they could have even I'm going to say probably for all of these. I think they could have even done more, like, ran with that and given a little bit. Even more. Just a little bit. But I love the overall feel of this one. So, yeah, I'm nicely done. I feel like that's the authenticity part of things. That good voice actors. That's what really separates them. It's so easy to cling onto someone when they're being authentic, and it doesn't sound like they're reading a script, and even if you know they are, it's clearly a script. It's a long intro, but when you feel like, oh, man, I'm with him. I'm right there. We're hanging out. He's my buddy. No, absolutely. It's so funny. So when I was first starting out, and it goes to this is I do so many auditions, and I think we probably all get to when we're first starting, we're afraid. We're afraid that and it's so funny because we're by ourselves sometimes. People, we don't even necessarily get listened to, but one person will listen to us. But we're scared. We're scared we're going to break something almost if we do something, like outside the box. I think I got to a point where I was doing so many auditions where I was kind of like, this is crazy. I'm not telling anybody to do this, but at a point where I was like, I would do an audition, I was like, is anyone listening to this audition on the other end? You do feel like sometimes, am I doing something that people are actually going to even hear? But if so, what impact is it making and who am I really performing for? And that really got me to realizing, too, later on, that take the chances, go for it. We had Pat Frailey come to a webinar for us recently, and the big thing that he talks about his whole career revolved around was doing the opposite of what everyone else did. And it feels weird for us because we're like, well, all these people are getting work, so I should do what they're doing. But the reality is that if you do what they're doing well, they're going to keep getting the work because you're doing the same thing. You've got to step out on your own. And that's one thing I love about voice over, is you can do it with no one around. You don't have to worry about people staring at you while you're running around your booth acting crazy, throwing your hands up in the air. This whole series or what we're doing is about the physicality of voice acting. That's the wonderful thing is you don't have to worry about people staring at you, but you can bring that excitement. Yeah. So anyways, sorry, that was a long just spout off about it. But go for it, have fun with it. Make it different and unique. Because the reality is you're going to do so many of these auditions, you're pumping them out. My goodness. You might as well have a good time while you're doing. Yeah. And I think that's kind of how you just find your own flow to it as well, and kind of just have your own almost identity and not almost be like a replica of other people because you're just trying to copy, right? No, you're absolutely right. And understanding that you are not going to be right for everybody. And that is not an indication that you are bad at what you do either. So many times we think it's louder for the people on the back. You are not going to get every single job. It is just not what? It's not possible. I always used to tell my actors auditioning, too, and I still do. If I was auditioning, I would never get hired to be, like, a six foot four basketball player. I'm five eight. I do not look like a basketball player. That doesn't mean I'm not a good actor. It just means I don't fit the role. And what we do as performers, there are roles, and that doesn't mean you don't try. But the reality is that that's why it's so important for you to stay who you are. Go all in, and you do enough of these that you will get to those people who are looking for you, but there will be a lot of people who will enjoy your stuff, but they're not looking for you. But it's not an indictment on your performance ability. That's why we always give the feedback. Don't spend an hour on an audition. You could be spending an hour polishing the perfect audition that's going to the wrong client for the wrong job. You need to do enough auditions to get to the right people. Absolutely. Right on. Okay. Awesome insight there, Anthony. I think that feedback would be actually really valuable to beginners, but even advanced voice actors, and especially those listening, let's move on to audition number four. What's up, guys? Welcome back to Gold Spotters the Pod all about cutting your teeth and getting noticed in the music biz. Today we're taking an in depth look at crafting original cover art that captures both the vibe of your track and who you are as an artist. Plus, I'll teach you how to create a looping visual to enliven your image on streaming platforms. All right. I love this guy's voice. I want him to narrate my entire life. Anthony, what are your thoughts? I was thinking the same thing. I was like, yeah, I really do like this. So we just finished talking so much about being unique and sticking to your particular style. It's so evident when we hear a voice actor have a style, and this person definitely has a great style. Now, whether they have that accent normally or not, I don't know, but they did it so well that I felt like it was a style very well in their lane. This is a hard piece because the directions are asking for a young sounding person. Right. But at the same time, what I love about this is they said they're open to interpretations. So this is, I think, a perfect because this particular audition filled the field. To me, it filled all of the criteria except the 13 to 17 year old one. But again, you got to go for it, because I think they could just as well go with this one as with a younger sounding one, because to me, this one also just almost like the last one. But this one, the voice style, the richness of the voice. It was just fun. It was just great to listen to. I loved it. I do think though, it does make an effort and this is about for everybody. Just because you don't have necessarily a young sounding voice doesn't mean that there aren't characteristics that younger sounding voices or younger people follow, right? So for example, for some reason we as older people, we tend to start to draw out our words longer and maybe because we feel they have more meanings, especially as voice actors. Like I said, we're saying before that we speak very well. All our words are just said perfectly. But as we are younger, that's less of a care. Okay, but there's a bridge there to be made between how do I care less about necessarily the words I'm saying, but still make them clear so that people can understand them. It's practice, it's doing this over trying different things, being willing to play and screw up. That was just a long thing to say, that I really enjoyed this, but I would have loved to hear them also try to do it again where it was even a little bit because the words I felt like, man, this is just like, walk this way. I'd be like, okay. I mean, that guy is really great voice, but I would love to see him also play around with being a little bit younger sounding when it came to the elongating of the words, the Bronx accent and everything, forget about it. It's already very fast. And because it marries that transatlantic type of sound with Italian or whatever it's come to be. But the speed of the words with pauses can help maybe sound a little bit younger. Anyways, with all that being said, I loved it. I loved it. So you're right. Great voice, guys. Good gray voice. It's funny because when we were reviewing these auditions, I'm Italian, so when we were reviewing these auditions, I was like, oh my gosh, this sounds like my uncle, or something like that. I thought it was just hilarious. I'm like, I like this one. Absolutely. Yeah. So. Overall, I liked it. Do you think there's a risk of leaning too much into a style ever? So I will say this particular style, of all the work that I've done, actually has some of the least amount of work. But I find that more and more, the neutral American with a hint of Southern style to it has become the main look, especially for people in the world and in Europe. But I think that if you're going to lean into a style just like we were talking before, make it yours. I mean, go all in with it and be good at it. Don't just do it halfway. So I think the danger is if you go into it and you only rely on that, and if it's not working for you, you stop with everything going on again, adapting to what's happening is vital for us as voice actors, right? We've got to adapt. So I don't know if I answered the question as good as it was a good question because I think a lot of people will be like, this is how I speak, should I go all in or should I work on something else? And I think that what we were talking about. You definitely should go all in. At the same time, though, be open for the fact that there is going to be just like we talked about, it's not going to be for everybody, which means for every project too, right? Like I think of that voice being used on a company digital communities with all these digital ads that go out where they're talking about their new product or something. That style might not lend itself as well to that type of a read as it does to something like this, which I feel like it's just so buttery for this type of a role. Oh, absolutely. And it'd be interesting too to see and we probably never get to see this a lot of times, especially in auditions, but it would have been great to hear an episode like to see of the podcast. Now sometimes there will be podcasts out there. Now in this particular situation, we are focusing on speed with auditioning. So it's not something that we want to spend time looking, going to someplace and trying to find a podcast. But in an absence of context, it is your job to make it up. And how you make it up might win or might lose, but you should do it anyways. But the voice of this person, very nice, very nice. Really enjoyed it. Now, on that topic of speed, I know that you have a billion things going on with coaching and tutoring and voice acting yourself. What would you say in the peak of your auditioning? How many auditions were you sending in in a day? So what I tried to do is five minutes or less is how I judge or what I shoot for. And so the idea is that if my goal is to 20 to 30 auditions a day, that's not going to take me more than an hour or two, right? Especially because of time. Now I'm doing this full time. There's probably many listeners who are working a full time job who don't have even that luxury. So that means your speed and efficiency is everything. So to me, I do feel like and especially last time it was good. The last couple of times I've met with David, it's nice. Every time I keep meeting with David, he brings more and more data, which I love, so he knows. But the last thing we talked about the amount of people audition, like how much auditioning people were doing. And I think that's important for people to know because a lot of times I work with people, they're like the. Fear is, I'm no good at this. I should quit. I should not do this because I'm just not getting work. And then when you dive a little deeper about how much auditioning they're doing, you kind of find out, well, they're putting a lot of their feelings onto just a couple of auditions. So I know for me, when I go to a time where I don't audition heavily, I'm going to pump out as many auditions as I can in that time. I don't feel like it's at least worth it unless I'm doing 20 or 30 a day. And that's daunting for some people. If we haven't you haven't mastered that ability. Ability to be fast and efficient. I wanted to dive into sorry. And you guys just tell me to shut up when you want me to. Never. But I wanted to dive into archetypes because I think that is a big thing again, which I just said before about the lack of context. When you are going fast in auditions, you don't have time to look and say, how do I feel about this? I'm going to read a passage from this poem to get me in the mood. I'm going to go get a hat out of my client. We don't have that time. You know what I mean? It would be nice, but that's not our business. So that means we have to build ourselves these archetypes, these characters that we draw from that automatically switch and give us the context we need to bring depth to a character that would normally take someone a couple of weeks to build. All right, so to do that, that's where your training outside of this is very important as well. That's where either if you can afford to work with a coach or the academy, the elite academy, or any place, even on your own, starting to build in some different characters, and I call everything characters. So in theater, you have lead roles like lead actors, and then you have character actors. I don't believe that. I believe in everything's characters because we're all being paid to perform, so we're characters. Whether those are more realistic than others, that can be said. But I'm a firm believer that if I get an audition and they're asking me for we want this to be passionate and we want you to move us to be inspirational. Well, do I have that archetype already built into my tool belt? Can I reach into it and be like, okay, this is the style I've used, this is what I like, and I've practiced this. Go. If I don't have that, it's going to be like I'm shooting darts at a blank wall. I don't know if I'm doing it right and then if I'm doing it right or wrong. How do you even know that? Well, you have got feedback or you have compared to it. One thing I love about voices and two is that there's so many people that you can listen to and cross reference what's going on. But even things like YouTube and places where you can go and search for specific types of voiceover styles, reference them, too. I have references where I'm like, okay, I know this style. I've got a reference style. And I go to and I'll be like, okay, well, I want to be this wisdom men my age. It's ideal that we have this grovely wisdom sounding like we've been through the woodcutter, and it's just important to sound that way for some reason. We're like, we believe them. Now I want to go buy a Dodge Ram. So I think, Where do you get that style? Because we don't normally. At least most of us don't. Some people do, and that's good. But you have references. That means you go and you imitate. Acting is imitation. We're imitating emotion. We're imitating real life. So the better imitate. Now, I didn't say impersonator. Impersonation is a part of what we do, too. But I'm talking about Imitating. Imitating cadence, feelings, emotions, delivery styles, not voice, not sounds of voices, but the feeling. That a way of saying something. I call it the Disney effect, too. So you say every Disney story, right? Once upon a time, in a far away world, lived a princess. Well, that cadence, that pitch variation, and that change. You can add that to all sorts of storytelling, like beginnings of telling a story. And we're like, oh, this is a story, because we're familiar with the sound, the speed, the pitch variation, the changes. Building that into your repertoire will help you be a lot faster and in the end, give great performances quickly and efficiently, which is what the name of the game is for us. So that was a long speech. No, that's great. It's like when Hollywood actors try to cry, right? When they're on camera or have to make themselves cry, they've got to not only understand what that's supposed to look like and feel like, but actually recalling a time when maybe they've cried before or putting themselves like, how do I feel when I do this? How do I embody this whole feeling so that I can I love that you brought that up, because I directed the play Art Town, and I had a young woman who was the lead. She had to cry at the same part every night. And teaching someone to cry, everybody's like, oh, you're an actor if you can cry. But here's the thing. How do you teach someone to bring about an emotion on cue when that is not a part of a normal, everyday thing? Well, I have no clue. I'll tell you. Okay, well, practice for one, but here's the other one, and it's what it aptly named. What this series is about is physicality. So outward expression brings about inward emotion, meaning that everything that we do is tied to a physical action or movement. When you cry, for example. Think about what you physically do when you cry. Your posture changes. You're usually hunched over. All right? You usually pull your arms in sometimes. A lot of times, we cover our faces. All right. We change all of this physicality by doing this. It puts you into a position to where you can bring about an emotional response. That's why with voice acting too physicality within the realm of what we have, which we have, the ability to be as physical as we need, can bring about, again, that archetype we were talking about, it can bring about real emotion and give you that power to bring something that most people don't have. And she was able to do it every night. She put herself into the right physical position and was able to bring it about. It's pretty neat when you practice this stuff and you do it and you're like, wow, even me right now, I'm talking with my hands. Maybe the listeners can hear an emphasis and expression through my movement as opposed if I was just not doing that. All of a sudden, my voice becomes less excited, and it tones it down, but you can use all of those to your advantage. Being smart and learning these things is what separates us and helps you grow your business and get more auditions. So there you go. This is the physical voice acting that we came here to learn. This is fantastic. Absolutely. That's great insight. So cool. Let's move into our last audition here for the last person is like, come on, now. Let me get to me. What up, guys? Welcome back to Gold Spotters, the part all about cutting your teeth and getting noticed in the music biz. Today we're taking an in depth look at Crafting original cover art that captures both the vibe of your track and who you are as an artist. Plus, I'll teach you how to create a looping visual to enliven your image on streaming platforms. What up, guys? Welcome back to Gold Spotters, the part all about cutting your teeth and getting noticed in the music business. Today we're taking an in depth look at Crafting original cover art that captures both the vibe of your track and who you are as an artist. Plus, I'll teach you how to create a looping visual to enliven your image on streaming platforms. Awesome. Well, what a great audition to end with. Anthony, I'll kick it off, or I'll throw it over to you to kick this one off. What are your thoughts on this? Yeah, so, for starters, I love the fact that I heard different changes with the different samples that they gave. I mean, I really liked that. And this one, to me, had probably the best accent, if you will. I felt out of all of them, it just felt the best to me. From an accent standpoint,

Participant #1:
this is the thing to me, I would love for this person also and it's safe for all of them. But this person especially, because I think they could have also even added just knock it out of the park if they would have taken one or two spots and done something a little bit crazy. A lot of times all it takes everybody is one word. One word in an audition or a place to emphasize it differently. So remember, you've got some modes of emphasis, right? You can speed up, you can slow down, you can pause before or after a word. You can use your proximity to the mic with volume and intimacy as well as pitch variation. You've got these modes of expression that you can utilize. If you just use one of those in one place to make the whole piece stand out, the rest of your piece reinforces it. I thought this accent was fantastic in this audition. I really did. And I really thought that I could listen to this person, too. I thought this would be a great opening as well. I just think if we as because this was the last one, if we look at everyone as a whole and adding them all together, everybody listening. You got to think that this is how all additions are going to be, right? Everyone is going to kind of sound similar. So what are you doing to stand out? How are you standing out from everybody else? And yes, there was little bits here and there as we identified that people stand out. And honestly, everybody was good. So how do you pick then, when everybody is good? It was not very much, but I did play little football in college. And one of the thing I remember the coach said, it was like now everybody you go against is good. Everybody here is good. So how do you then be better? Right? Well, you have to then stand out and above the rest by doing something different. So anyways, so that was kind of the totality of everything. But yes, I really did enjoy this piece. I thought the accent was very good. It felt very natural, not pushed. But again, when I listened to that last one too, I'm thinking everybody, who was it that stood out more than anybody if you've ever been in a casting? So I also used to do casting for actors and it was like cattle calls. You'd go in there and it'd be hundreds of you sit there with about 30 other people and there's a stage and it's just hundreds of people one after another, a minute or less. You just one in, one out. And everybody starts to look to say how do you separate yourself? You've got to do something different. Everybody all right, you've got to do something different. If you did nothing but auditioned and tried different things, you'd have amazing results. At least be fun ride for one thing. But anyways, we got on top of that, I thought this person did great. Love their accent, and I love the difference that they showed because that was pretty cool. I think I heard a quote about that from I'm pretty sure it was Ryan Gosling. He was saying that back in his earlier days, he'd be sitting there waiting to go in, looking around the waiting room, thinking, every single guy in this room looks exactly like me. How am ever going to do anything that's different from any one of them? And that was his mindset going to each audition is, I have to do something different than that room full of guys, or I'm just going to be completely forgotten. I'm pretty sure it was him that it said that, but I could be totally off. But it's the same sort of the concept. You just have to stand out. That just remind me, did you hear about I can't remember where it was. I saw a video of it, but it was BIFF from Back to the Future. And did you ever hear him talk about his audition for BIFF? So he went into the audition, this young guy, and he got called, and he had seen all these really famous people auditioning, and he thought there was no way in the world that he would win the audition. So he went in there and he's like, what could I do differently? So he said something about like he said he asked him, could I get on the table? So he like, got on the table and did the whole thing about the yelling and all the stuff on the table. And then he jumped off and left and thought, there's no way I'll ever get it. Then they called him and said, we loved what you did because you were completely different than everybody else. I mean, over and over again, it's proven that when we have these situations be unique, go back to it, be uniquely yourself or add something unique and give it a shot. So I love what casting directors were probably, right. Life is littered with those stories. The casting directors were probably boards of tears, sitting there eating their lunch like, come on, give me something. Exactly. Because, you know and again, all five of these were wonderful. I thought all of them did a great job, but you have to pick one. And then you want to pick and then you think, well, which one is going to and don't forget this, everybody. People are saying, which one is going to help me? Right? Which one is going to help me? And what I'm trying to do the most, okay? So that's where you have to think, you know, how if I was going to do this, what would I want to for them? And yes, you have to process all this in five minutes or less. I mean, this is part and that's why the archetypes are very helpful, you know what I'm saying? But all of them were great, but I don't know if we could I would have loved one person to just be totally out there. But that's okay. I thought they all did really good. So hopefully that helps, though, because this is all about learning. Sorry? This is all about growing and learning, right? Yeah, for sure. It can also be difficult, but also probably very intimidating, especially like you're saying, there's just 100 people lined up. They're all saying the same lines, like, how do you be you? Because you know who you are. But you have to show it in a different way. And it can be intimidating, but you just have to go through it. At least you tried at the end of the day. But even for you, for example, you started somewhere. Everyone starts at a certain point, you laugh. Well, I think anyone who starts somewhere, we all laugh about when we start, like, oh, my goodness, we did start somewhere, and it was not pretty. But you did start, and you learn along the way, and you don't give up. But I think there does come a point in all of our careers, especially, I think, in voice acting, where at least it did for me. I mentioned earlier where I literally said, is anybody listening? I wasn't lying. I actually did that. Then there's a point where you have to get to the point where I don't want to use the word where you feel like I don't care anymore, but you have to get to that point where I don't care that I'm going to go outside the box and do something different. And they may not like it. Right. They may not want what I'm doing be okay with that. Because the likelihood is they've heard what you guys said. They heard the same thing over and over and over again. We had this one dude, I'm not kidding. We watched hundreds of auditions. He came in, he came in, stood in front of all of us and pulled his pants down. Now he had clothes on. Really? Wow. Now, I don't remember anything about anything else about that. And this was like 30 years, that one act that guy did, and that was his way of underneath it. But the fact that he did that, I mean, it's just like he's probably in his mind, how am I going to stand out my whole audition like that? Because everybody's got what in the world, but it caught everybody's attention after hours and hours of being there. Yeah, rightfully so. Prove a point that you you've got to part of part of the industry that a lot of us don't coach on a lot of times because it's hard, is how do you stand out? And there is a difference a lot of times between your audition and the final performance. It's not talked about very often because it often puts people on the spot. How do I stand out? What makes me different and how do I bring that? At the same time, when it comes to do the ship performance, I'm also still professional enough to be able to deliver what they're looking for, but also getting their attention. It's a lot of fun and it's a challenge, but knowing that in advance gives you the ability to push yourself to try things that you wouldn't normally think that you'd need to try. I think that's where full time vo artists have a bit of an advantage over people who may be sending in four or five auditions a week is that I feel like you would have a better ease of going. Into the studio and thinking of auditions as disposable and throwing them away and not caring so much to your advantage and to your ability to say, you know what? This company doesn't like. Their script feels very polished, and I want to make it lighter and just put, like, a little laugh at the beginning or something. Whereas someone who does three auditions a week, they might think, there's no way I'm ruining this 1 hour that I have to send in auditions. Dude, you were right on the money with that. I think you nailed it. Because when I first started, I worked full time during the day. I came home, I picked up the kids and my wife got home, we made dinner, was with the kids for a couple of hours, put them to bed, then my wife, my wife went to bed. So I started doing my voiceover work at 10:00 p.m.. And then I would work until about two or 03:00 a.m. In the morning, and I'd get up at six. And I did that for a couple of years because that's the only time I had to work on my business and the time between when I was working then and then when I went full time. The difference is night and day. So if you're listening and that's your life right now, there is a difference. However, that doesn't mean it's not possible, because a lot of us have done it. What it means, though, is which I like what you said, it can feel like I only have a certain amount. But that's where you've got to listening to this right now. You're hearing people talk about it, go for it anyways, go forward anyways, no matter what, because starting that now more than ever, and branding yourself too, which is a whole another world, right? But yeah, but very good comment there. I think that's very true. I think a lot of people feel that way. Awesome. Well, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Well, the time has come. We have to pick a winner. And unfortunately, in this podcast, there can only be one winner. So if you were the casting director here, you were picking a talent for your project, who would be taking the job? This is rough. This is rough. Really? That's hard. All of them did really well. I think if it was me, I would pick drumroll, please. It's hard for every coach. Every month that we have a coach on the show, they have a hard time choosing. I can tell you why, too, because as a coach, I could work with all five of these people because I thought they were amazing. And we probably as a coaching well, this person, they could bring out this and this person could bring out that. Maybe. That could be a while, too.

Participant #1:
I think I'm going to go with honestly.

Participant #1:
Hey, what's up, guys? Welcome back to Goldspotters. The pod. All about cutting your teeth and getting noticed in the music biz. Today we're taking an indepth look at Crafting original cover art that captures both the vibe of your track in who you are as an artist. Plus, I'll teach you how to create a looping visual to enliven your image on streaming platforms. Let's get started because to me, there was something there that separated him from the rest. And we talked a little bit about it. Again, everybody had their own things, but that's why I chose that one. Okay. Yeah, he definitely sounded like the podcast host that I would want to listen to. So great choice. Again, because I would have picked all let's do them all. We'll do five different every podcast. It's a different intro. That'd be interesting. Anyway, well, what a great choice for the winner. So we're going to wrap up now. Anthony, so thank you all so much for tuning into Mission Edition. We hope this episode has really helped you learn more on physical voice acting, bringing your performances to life. So Anthony, how can talent get in touch with you? Awesome. Yeah. Well, listen, I run a Vo's journey, a lead academy. So you could just go to www.aviosjourney.com and you could check us out. You could check me out. There also all my socials I know it's crazy. Of vo's journey. I know we're finishing up. But what happened was that the reason why that's that name came about real quick is because I was trying to figure out what I was going to talk about on a podcast. And I didn't know what else to talk about when I was young because I was like, I'm going to market my business and I ain't got to do a podcast, right? Because people say, do a podcast, but I have nothing to say, which probably a lot of us are in that position. So I said, well, I'm going to document my journey. So that's where a space journey of Vo's Journey. Now, looking back on it, the title is long and very difficult to market, but hey, but it's got a story. Well, after a couple of hundred podcast episodes later and hundreds and hundreds of videos. But yes, a vo's journey. That's how it came about. So any social media platform I'm on at a vo's at a vo's journey. And the Academy is where I do all my training as well. So that's how you can get a hold of me. Perfect. Well, listeners, we have many scripts that you can practice, including today's Atvoices comb. And for any additional resources from Anthony, feel free to follow and reach out to him on socials. Thank you all for tuning in. My name is Vanessa and my amazing cohost is Randy. And we're signing off. We'll see you guys next time. Happy auditioning. See you later. Perfect. Amazing. Thank you so much. Thank you.