Nailing an Audition in Three Takes with Bruce Kronenberg

EPISODE 210

[EPISODE]

[00:00:00] BK: This is Bruce Kronenberg, your Voice’s March featured coach. I'm a voiceover coach in New York City. I've been one for over a decade. I own a business called Abacus Entertainment, along with my partner, Bryant Falk, who is a producer, engineer and copywriter. We have a production facility in Hell's Kitchen. We produce demos. We coach and teach voiceover, and we also produce voiceovers as well.

This month, we are diving into how to nail an audition in three takes. You need to trust yourself when auditioning. Spending all night on just one audition means a couple of things. One, you don't think you're doing it right. Two, you're worried about the way it sounds. Three, you're not trusting your instincts. Try this instead. Look over the copy, figure out what you want to do with it, not what you think they want. Come up with an opinion. Record a take. Listen back. Did you accomplish what you wanted with that take? If no, record a second take. Make some adjustments. For instance, more smile. Talk to a friend. Slow down your pace, or pick it up. Listen back. Probably a little better. Again, don't judge it based on how it sounds. Did it feel right? Is it genuine sounding? If it is. Do one more take and try to top it. Listen back.

If the third take is the winner, great, but listen back to all three. Maybe you'll hear something in the first take that you like after all. You can edit together part of one take with part of another. Whatever your final choice is, send it off. Move on to the next audition. You'll be maximizing your opportunities by trusting your own choices.

Let's demonstrate. Here's some copy. We all love chicken, but some of us more than others. At Jason's Grill, delicious is our middle name. Then add all the fixings and it's more than food, it's an experience. Experience the best at Jason's Grill. Okay, let's listen back to that now.

We all love chicken, but some of us more than others. At Jason's Grill, delicious is our middle name. Then add all the fixings and it's more than food, it's an experience. Experience the best at Jason's Grill. If you listen, you'll hear there was not enough smile. Also, notice, I was a bit fast on the read. Lastly, who was I talking to? Didn't sound like I was talking to anyone.

On this next read, I'm going to think of someone I'll be talking to, put more smile, and slow down my pace. Here we go.

We all love chicken, but some of us more than others. At Jason's Grill, delicious is our middle name. Then add all the fixings and it's more than food, it's an experience. Experience the best at Jason's Grill. Let's hear that one back. We all love chicken, but some of us more than others. At Jason's Grill, delicious is our middle name. Then add all the fixins and it's more than food, it's an experience. Experience the best at Jason's Grill. Hey, sounding a little bit better, right? It still sounds a little too much like I'm reading a commercial, in my opinion.

Now, I want to take it out of the commercial context and make it more like I'm sharing my opinion of this restaurant, rather than trying to sell it. I'm going to get more specific about who I'm talking to. I'm going to talk to my older brother. Okay, here we go.

We all love chicken, but some of us more than others. At Jason's Grill, delicious is our middle name. Then add all the fixins and it's more than food, it's an experience. Experience the best at Jason's Grill. Okay, let's hear that back. We all love chicken, but some of us more than others. At Jason's Grill, delicious is our middle name. Then add all the fixins and it's more than food, it's an experience. Experience the best at Jason's Grill.

Now, I'm going to listen back to all three and make my determination. First take. We all love chicken, but some of us more than others. At Jason's Grill, delicious is our middle name. Then add all the fixins and it's more than food, it's an experience. Experience the best at Jason's Grill. Second take. We all love chicken, but some of us more than others. At Jason's Grill, delicious is our middle name. Then add all the fixins and it's more than food, it's an experience. Experience the best at Jason's Grill. Third and final take. We all love chicken, but some of us more than others. At Jason's Grill, delicious is our middle name. Then add all the fixins and it's more than food, it's an experience. Experience the best at Jason's Grill. I will probably go with the third, but I may use an amalgamation of the second and third to create a final take.

Now, why that you ask? Why the third take? Well, first of all, I was talking to someone specific, my older brother who really likes chicken, and I also had put more smile into it as well, if you noticed. I played with the pacing and also, took it out of the context of sounding a commercial. Instead, I was telling my brother, “Hey, bro. You got to try this place. It's great.” I think I'm going to go with that third take. Again, I could do two and three together as well.

Now, as you do more reads, your ear will get better at figuring out which take, or combination of takes is the best. But here's the thing, keep it to three reads. Don't do 15. Just do three, okay. Work within those parameters. What happens is you get a number of auditions done per hour, instead of one. How many people here spend an hour or more on one audition? How many people here spend all night on one audition? You're not maximizing your opportunities that way.

Give yourself the parameters of trying to nail that audition in three takes. I guarantee that if you start trusting yourself, trusting your instincts, you will begin to, like I said, develop the ear for finding that take within that three that works the best for you.

Now, let's give your ear a bit of a workout. Let's see if you can hear what might be missing on a piece of copy that I'm going to read for you and think, “How would I interpret this?” Here we go. I was so excited. I saved over 20% on my last car repair at K-Top's Repair Shop. Wow. Wish I had known about this place sooner. From now on, I'm getting all my repairs done here. Thanks, K-Top. Interesting.

Let's listen back to that. I was so excited. I saved over 20% on my last car repair at K-Top's Repair Shop. Wow. Wish I had known about this place sooner. From now on, I'm getting all my repairs done here. Thanks, K-Top. Wow. Something's missing there, huh? Can you hear it? The word excited should give you a clue that you'll need a fair amount of smile for this read. Also, notice the exclamation point. Where's my opinion? Lastly, do I sound like I'm talking to anyone?

This last direction is really key to creating relevant reads these days. It's so important to talk to someone specific. Not just a friend, someone specific. Let's try it one more time, activating the direction I mentioned. Here we go. Take two. I was so excited. I saved over 20% on my last car repair at K-Top's Repair Shop. Wow. Wish I had known about this place sooner. From now on, I'm getting all my repairs done here. Thanks, K-Top. Can you hear the adjustments? Now, how about you try? Remember, keep it to three takes.

On a final note, if you really feel you need a fourth take, give yourself a really good excuse like, “I really know what I want to do, but I haven't done it yet.” That's key. Knowing exactly what you want to do with the copy is important from the get go. If you don't hear it in those three takes, go ahead and do a fourth take. Only if there was nothing in those three takes that reflects what you wanted to do with the spot originally, okay.

Thanks for listening. I hope this was helpful. If you want any more tips to maximize your opportunities when auditioning, you can reach out to me, Bruce at [email protected]. That’s [email protected]. Best of luck and keep auditioning.

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