A Gift You Can Give
Join Voice Over Expert David Bourgeois as he shares information about “A Gift YOU Can Give”. David suggests that the best gift you can give to a client is the ability to deliver the same skill level, professionalism and sound quality that is presented on your voice over demo. This episode will help you to see things from the point of view of a client or producer, and along the way, you’ll realize that the gift you will be giving to your clients is really the best gift you can give to yourself.
Download Podcast Episode 26 »
Tags:
David Bourgeois, Voice Coaches, Business, Audio Quality, Small Business, Voice, Voice Over Demo, Voice Overs
Transcript of A Gift You Can Give
Julie-Ann Dean: Welcome to Voiceover Experts brought to you by Voices.com, the number one voiceover marketplace. Voiceover Experts brings you tips, pearls of wisdom and techniques from top instructors, authors and performers in the field of voiceover. Join us each week to discover tricks of the trade that will help you to develop your craft and prosper as a career voiceover talent. It’s never been easier to learn, perform, and succeed from the privacy of your own home and your own pace. This is truly an education you won’t find anywhere else.
This week, Voices.com is pleased to present David Bourgeois .
David Bourgeois: Greetings everyone. This is David Bourgeois from Voice Coaches. It’s great to be back on Voiceover Experts on Voices.com. This time around, I want to talk about something that I think is appropriate this time of the year.
I want to talk about a gift you can give. Now ordinarily, when I do a podcast or an interview, I’m speaking as the president of Voice Coaches. Today however, I’ll speak from my experience in my other professional role. Recording and production studio owner and professional producer. I’ll even speak a little bit for some of the clients out there who I sometimes have the opportunity to represent.
Oh, and this gift that you can give, it’s intended for people just like me, people who are involved in hiring voice actors. Now, what exactly is the gift I’m talking about? Well, from my perspective, it’s something that should absolutely be a no-brainer, but unfortunately, for a lot of “professional voice actors”, the concept in gift idea I’m going to present, may have up until now fall in on rather deaf ears. But regardless of that, I can’t keep you waiting forever, so here goes.
When I audition and hire a voice actor, particularly a voice actor who I’ve never met or worked with before, the greatest gift that individual can give me is the ability to deliver the skill level, professionalism, and sound quality that they presented to me with their demo or their audition.
Fortunately for a lot of voice actors, this is a gift that they give with every job that they do. But in the world of web-based voice acting marketing, along with many true professionals, there seem to be a number of individuals who imagine that long-term success in voice acting is all about having a good voice and a demo.
It turns out that might not be the best way to approach a profession. Yes, a profession. Voice acting is a profession. I mean, let’s say you were going into a field like professional nursing. You don’t get the nursing degree and then learn about nursing. I think you’ll find doing things the other way around would lead to a more successful nursing career.
The same holds true in voice acting. Now, without getting into any particular lean on who or how you become educated, I’m going to make a blanket suggestion. Become educated. Become a professional. Learn the skills that other successful working professional voice actors utilize to make themselves working successful professional voice actors in the first place. It’s not about luck or breaking in.
When someone is successful, there’s generally a reason. And in the case of our field, in addition to perseverance, continued success often comes down to the difference between a professional voice actor and an individual who is perpetually positioning themselves, not as a professional voice actor but as an aspiring professional voice actor.
I’m not so sure I want to work with an aspiring professional voice actor. Would you want an aspiring mechanic to fix your car? So, even if you haven’t done your first voice acting job yet, I want you to represent yourself as a professional. Now, don’t get me wrong. I don’t want you to make up stories about things you haven’t done, but I do want you to understand what’s expected of a professional voice actor. And I want you to be able to deliver that. And again, you’ll begin to represent that level of professionalism by giving me finished material that reflects the quality of what you presented with your demo or your audition material.
With today’s software, virtually anyone can make a great demo. Just make sure the material on your demo is an accurate representation of what you can actually do on the job. As far as education, there’s a lot of great stuff out there you can pay for. But there’s an awful lot of great stuff that you don’t have to pay for.
Start by going to the internet and research vocal hygiene, vocal health. Learn what to eat and drink and what not to eat and drink prior to and during the job to make your voice work most effectively. Seek expert advice and keep in mind that an expert can be anyone who knows more than you do about something. Also, unless you’re a trained professional audio engineer, you are going to have to take some careful steps to ensure that the quality of your audio is consistent. And well, it’s not rocket science, it is science. And for your own benefit, learn a little bit about business professionalism and marketing.
One of the things I consistently see with voice actors who rely on web-based marketing like Voices.com is a one job mentality. In other words, they’re trying to get one job from a client. I recommend a whole different strategy. You don’t want one job from somebody. You want to be their go-to person whenever they need a voice in your category.
Becoming that go-to person begins with delivering exceptional professionalism on the first job and continued follow-up and communication with that client. You want to stay on these people’s radar. You don’t want to be in a position where you’re always looking for the first job from a new client. Successful voice actors aren’t just looking for the first job from a new client, they’re also counting on the next job from an existing client.
This is a key difference between successful professionals and people who end up becoming occasional job dabblers. The process begins with the gift that only you can give. You need to give your clients the gift of you being a real professional voice actor that they can count on. Oh, and I’ll tell you this, this gift will be worth a lot more to you than it ever is to anyone you give it to.
Listen, I hope this gave you some perspective from the eyes of the people who do the hiring. On behalf of everyone of voice coaches, I want to wish you and your families and friends a wonderful holiday and New Year. I also want to thank the entire gang at Voices.com for giving me the opportunity to talk to you. Please feel free to stop by at VoiceCoaches.com anytime to learn more about us or fire me an e-mail at [email protected].
Once again, I’m David Bordeaux from Voice Coaches. Thanks so much for listening.
Julie-Ann Dean: Thank you for joining us. To learn more about the special guest featured in this Voices.com podcast, visit the voiceover experts show notes at Podcasts.Voices.com/VoiceoverExperts. Remember to stay subscribed.
If you’re a first time listener, you can subscribe for free to this podcast in the Apple iTunes Podcast Directory or by visiting Podcasts.Voices.com.
To start your voiceover career online, go to Voices.com and register for a voice talent membership today.
Links from today’s show:
Your Instructor this week:
Voice Over Expert David Bourgeois
President and Creative Director
David Bourgeois has worked in professional music and audio production for more than 25 years. Compositions and audio post-production for film, television, advertising and multi-media are all part of David’s resume. As the CEO of White Lake Music & Post, David produces music, audio and voice over content for clients including Discovery Networks, TLC, HGTV and the WE Network as well as numerous other regional and local clients. David recently completed the original music score for The Last Round, an independent feature starring former X Files Smoking Man William B. Davis.
Since 1990, David has been active in developing training methods in effective communication through conversational reading. His effort was initially aimed at helping clients get better performances from their Voice Actors in the studio. David’s methods soon became the model for Voice Coaches’ individualized training process.
Today, David and his team provide training to aspiring Voice Actors and communication professionals across the country.
Comments
Great advice. Enough information here for 3 podcasts!