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VOICE OVER TODAY – October 12, 2004
Helping voice-talent build careers.
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Published
by EDGE STUDIO
www.edgestudio.com
New
York training - 212-868-edge
Washington
DC training - 202-398-edge
Connecticut
training - 203-374-edge
Tele-Training
- 888-321-edge
established
1988
member Better Business Bureau
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WHAT IS EDGE STUDIO?
Voice Over
Career Building
- training, evaluations, demos, marketing resources, guidance, duplication
Production
Studio & Casting
- commercial and narration productions
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RESOURCES
HOME STUDIO
CONSULTATIONS
Available via telephone and in-studio.
$85. Call 888-321-edge.
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THIS ISSUE
INCLUDES:
1.) New? There’s Never Been A Better Opportunity!
2.) Four Great Workshops
3.) Consider A Voice Over Specialty
4.) Attention Talent Agents and Acting Instructors
5.) PART 1 OF A NEW SERIES: Word Emphasis
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1.) NEW? …THERE’S NEVER BEEN A BETTER OPPORTUNITY!
We’ve
pulled together some of our best resources, instructors, and guidance
direction for:
‘THE COMPREHENSIVE 3-DAY BREAK-IN JUMPSTART’
4 OBJECTIVES:
Your Voice.
Your Delivery.
Your Career.
Your Business.
4 HIGHLIGHTES:
Significant Microphone Experience and Copy Reading.
Equal Amount of Direction and Assessment.
Detailed Business, Marketing, and Home-Studio Tutorials.
Focuses on Narrative, Specialty (audiobook, promo, character, animation,
etc.), and Commercial.
OVERVIEW:
To get a sense of this, visit our website: www.edgestudio.com/studio_training_workshops.htm.
Some instructors
include Grover Gardner, Paul Liberti, and David Goldberg.
Biographies at: www.edgestudio.com/meet.htm
DETAILS:
Limited to 15 participants.
$999.
Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, November 12th, 13th and 14th, 2004.
Location: Edge Studio’s acclaimed midtown New York production facility.
Within 3 blocks of major hotels, Penn Station, Madison Square Garden,
and great restaurants.
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To order your print copy now for only $49.95 (inc. s/h), call AudioFile at 800-506-1212 or visit www.audiofilemagazine.com
Be sure to
check out the section on Voice Talent—and sign up for YOUR listing
in the
online edition. For info on the Voice Talent listings email guide@audiofilemagazine.com
or visit www.audiofilemagazine.com
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2.) FOUR GREAT WORKSHOPS! - $99 Each!
INTENSIVE
‘AUDIOBOOK’ WORKSHOP – October 25th, 1-5 p.m.
ADVANCED ‘AUDIOBOOK’ WORKSHOP – October 25th, 6-10 p.m.
INTENSIVE
‘CHARACTER & ANIMATION’ WORKSHOP – December 6th
6-10 p.m.
ADVANCED ‘CHARACTER & ANIMATION’ WORKSHOP – December
13th 6-10 p.m.
Intensive Workshop Prerequisite: must have had at least one voice-over technique training session or workshop.
Advanced Workshop Prerequisite: must have taken the Intensive Workshop
DETAILS
$99 per workshop.
Seating limited to approximately 10.
Call 888-321-edge.
LEARN MORE: www.edgestudio.com/studio_training_workshops.htm
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3.) CONSIDER A VOICE OVER SPECIALTY
Jack of all (voice over) trades? That’s okay. In the voice over industry, this is normal. In fact, it is usually very beneficial. Therefore to offer casting professionals a full range of opportunity, most full-timer voice-talent have a commercial demo and a narration demo (the two types of voice over).
(Unsure what demos are? Read this: A commercial demo is a demo showcasing numerous short excerpts of various types of commercials, such as hard-sell, soft-sell, 1st person, 3rd person, and so forth. A narration demo is a demo showcasing numerous short excerpts of various types of narrations, such as audiobook, educational, documentary, and so forth.)
While being diverse is usually beneficial, many voice talent have also found that specializing in a specific sector of voice over generates additional jobs, and subsequently additional income.
These voice talent generally have their commercial demo as track 1 on their CD, their narration demo as track 2, and their specialty demo as track 3 (or numerous specialty demos as tracks 3, 4, and so on.)
Common specialty demos include: promo demos, character demos, audiobook demos, medical demos, documentary demos, political campaign demos, and telephony (telephone) demos. Fortunately, you can specialize in anything you desire to.
How do you
know which specialty is best for you? Here are three considerations Edge
Studio suggests using:
a.) Choose a specialty that you aspire to (specialize in audiobooks if
you enjoy reading, specialize in educational films/videos/tutorials if
you enjoy learning, and so forth). You will generally sound better, have
more zest when marketing, and appear more credible when reading material
you enjoy.
b.) Choose a specialty that has a strong and growing presence in the voice
over world (such as telephony, website audio, and education).
c.) Choose a specialty that your voice is appropriate for (specialize
in science-fiction audiobooks if your delivery can be engaging and mysterious,
specialize in character/animation work if you can create numerous voices).
If you’re unsure which area of voice over may be most appropriate, you are welcome to have a private or group session with Edge Studio to help you determine a specialty appropriate for you. Reach us weekdays 9-5 EST at 888-321-edge.
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4.) ATTENTION TALENT AGENTS & ACTING INSTRUCTORS
Edge Studio is offering talent agents and acting instructors to participate in the Intensive Technique Workshop free (or those out of the NY and DC area a free training session via telephone).
This is an opportunity to participate, review, and hopefully create alliances with us. Alliances may be as simple as referral programs, and as exciting as cross-learning opportunities for those training.
If interested, please call us at 212-868-edge (3343). So we can learn about you, please provide us with your promotional material (website, brochure, resume, etc).
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5.) EMPHASIZING WORDS – PART 1 OF 4
It’s about the most common command producers provide. And for good reason: emphasizing the right words allow listeners to hear the intended meaning. Said otherwise, emphasizing the wrong words may change the meaning of the sentence. And not emphasizing any words may sound monotone and boring.
Therefore, producers and copywriters frequently indicate which words to emphasize. Sometimes they underline, bold type, or capitalize these words in the copy (script).
However rarely do producers use the term “emphasis.” Usually a synonym is used, such as: hit, stress, color, accent, nail, highlight, billboard, the money-word, goose, milk, accentuate, and so forth.
PART 1 of 4: A Little Goes A Long Way
Since most voice-over copy is delivered using a natural voice-type (whether it is upbeat, somber, nonchalant, high energy, etc.), words should be emphasized as they are in real life. This means two things: First, producers generally often want emphasized words to blend into the delivery as opposed to having them “stand out” like a sore thumb. The goal, in fact, is for the listener to subconsciously hear the accented word. Therefore, do not “over-emphasize” words (or as producers say, do not “over-hit” words).
Second, emphasize words in random way. The next three issues of Voice Over Today will discuss the three general ways to emphasize words, and give example sentences and exercises for each one. When beginning to incorporate these techniques, make sure to sound random, as opposed to emphasizing every word the same way.
As stated earlier, the next three issues of Voice Over Today will discuss the three general ways to emphasize words, and give example sentences and exercises for each one.
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HAVE A DEMO?
We're always searching for new talent.
Please email your demo to: demosubmission@edgestudio.com
or mail to:
Edge Studio, attention demo submission, 307 Seventh Avenue, Suite 1007,
NY,
NY 10001 USA
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WANT TO ADVERTISE
in Voice Over Today?
Results have been great!
Email info@edgestudio.com or call us weekdays 9-5 EST at 888-321-edge
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Copyright 2004, Edge Studio, LLC. All rights reserved. This article is protected by United States copyright and other intellectual property laws and may not be reproduced, rewritten, distributed, re-disseminated, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast, directly or indirectly, in any medium without the prior written permission of Edge Studio, LLC.