 Hey, it's time for voiceover body shop. Welcome back everybody and George and I have a great guest tonight because You know if you got kids, maybe you'd help if they could pay the rent So that's how I usually say it Martha Khan teaches kids voiceover Martha, how you doing tonight? Hey, great to be here with two of my favorite guys My name is all right. Well, we're gonna talk about getting your kids into voiceover should be fascinating You all said George Ready to go here. Let's go. It's time for voiceover body shop right now From the outer reaches they came bearing the knowledge of what it takes to properly record your voice over audio and Together from the center of the VO universe. They bring it to you now George Wittem the engineer to the VO stars a Virginia Tech grad with the skills to build set up and maintain The professional VO studios of the biggest names in VO today and you Dan Leonard the voiceover home studio master a professional voice down with the knowledge and experience to help you create a professional sounding home VO studio and Each week they allow you into their world Bring you talks with the biggest names in the voice of a world today Letting you ask your questions and giving you the latest information to make the most of your voice over business Welcome to voice over body shop Voice over body shop is brought to you by voiceover essentials.com home of Harlan Hogan signature products source elements remote studio connections for everyone voice actor websites dot com Where your VO website? Is it a pain in the butt? VO heroes dot com become a hero to your clients with award-winning voice over training Jmc demos when quality matters and voice over extra your daily resource for VO success And now live to drive from their super secret clubhouse and studio in Sherman Oaks, California Here are the guys Well, good evening. Good afternoon. Good morning, or whatever it is wherever you are I'm Dan Leonard and I'm George Whitton and this is voice over body shop or VO Echo there By the way, we got a new intro coming Jacob is animating a new intro awesome I can't wait, you know, he's like can I have a picture of your shirt? So I guess this shirt's gonna be in the animation awesome That's cool. I can't always see it. I can't either and because we've had the same intro for about three years now I'm sure a lot of time to update it just a little guy for a new one. Yeah, that's true speaking of new stuff If you got kids Tonight's a really great night to be watching the show because we've got a great guest Who's going to talk to us about getting your kids to do voice over, you know, I've had experience with that I think you've had a little bit experience with the george a little bit Well, why don't we bring out our guest? Martha con is a voice actor an experienced acting coach writer and producer Who specializes in helping kids find their voice build self-esteem and launch successful voiceover careers Martha, welcome to voiceover body shop Okay, we need a little bit more mic input there Okay Almost loud. All right, so, uh It's it's great having you here. I mean we've you've been at our show. We've known each other for many years But yeah, you've been doing the uh the teaching kids how to do voiceover lately. How did you get started doing that? Well, you know, it's a cool story. I um I started teaching adults just because people wanted to learn how to do this thing and so it started out with friends and More and more adults started wanting to do this And one day I woke up and I said, you know, you have a bachelor degree in theater Maybe you should teach kids So one day I started calling children's acting schools And this one coach said You know, I'd be interested So I invited her to one of my adult classes And she came to one night and she said can I take the rest of the classes and I said sure and she said I would love you to teach at my school Well, it turned out that this was not just an acting school for kids these kids Were very good and a lot of them had SAG cards They worked on camera And they were getting auditions for voiceover And they did not know how to do voiceover So they would get their copy and they would have their copy and they would be looking in the camera And they would lose their place and they would be Talking to the camera. They didn't know how to do voiceover So I started working with them and they started booking And the acting the owner of the school was very happy and she said I want you to come coach at my acting the owner of the school was Hello And um, so she brought me on board and I started coaching them on auditions and the first demo I ever did the kid got signed with box The first one of the first auditions that I did Uh, the little girl found the audition on Um Oh, what's the daily? Um You get old and you forget these things. Anyway, she got the audition And it was for the lead in masha in masha and the bear and she's been masha ever since So not to myself I think I have found my calling And so I worked for her for several years and she said, you know I think you should go and open your own school And I was working for cilia seagull at the time And cilia said martha You found your calling. I really think you need to get out of here and open your own school And since then I have had several kids I've done uh demos with them. They booked with agents And I found my calling and uh, I know I've got a couple of kids on here today that are with me and It's just been the right thing and I love it the kids love it And it's kind of a happily ever after story So you you've sort of found your voice with all this, you know, I have found my voice I have found my niche and Who knows what will happen from here, but it's it's a good thing And uh, I now do demos. I've got my little studio bricks booth over here that dan George has helped me Put together and we've got the right equipment to do demos right here And I can even do demos with kids across the country. I work with kids all over I've even had a child in in uh, korea So Wow That's Yeah, I've got kids all over the country Yeah, so tell us a little bit about you know, Did you do what you've done voiceover yourself? Obviously? I mean, how how long have you been doing that probably as long as I've known you which is you know Yeah hundred years or so I started doing voiceover though 15 20 years. I mean, you know, I was the voice of jenny craig for nine or 10 years um, you know, I had jobs like that but You know, I I worked for celia for seven years and Still work for john lorian won't let me go He's got you handcuffed over there at voiceover. I know it's like I still do stuff here and there for voice over extra, but um You know, I've done voice over for 15 20 years, but It never really Stopped the way this has really manifested It just seems like this is my calling Well, and that's the great thing if you're good at working with kids That's uh, that's a real plus, you know having taught in the public schools and teaching kids I know exactly what it's like, but are you teaching classes or are you teaching one on one? How exactly are you doing all that? I I taught a lot of classes during covet Uh, but I'm so booked with privates right now that it's I'd like to get some classes started But the one-on-one has really really taken off and so I need to find time to do some classes Uh, my saturdays have now opened up. So I'm looking to fill some saturday classes for group um And uh, yeah Yeah, so group. I'm open to group for all the parents out there who want saturday classes and But we're we're pretty busy with uh with privates, too Yeah, if you're just joining us our guest is martha con and we're talking about getting your kids into voiceover You know, I I had my kids, you know back when I had my the studio in the basement back in buffalo I was like get down here. I need you for something and then one company just loved my you know Louis's voice for for some kid stuff that we were doing And uh, and then you know, I I was hired to produce lots of kids And so what I ended up doing was like if you're a home if you're a voice actor You've got a home voiceover studio. How'd you like to get your kids to pay the rent? And so I auditioned a bunch of them of course because they had good home studios because of course, you know, we had set them up Uh, we got a lot of them going doing it and uh, you know, hopefully Help the college fund at all so but uh, it's it's great if your kids can do it What's your philosophy with working with kids because sometimes I you know, they can be a little resistant to stuff How do you work with them? Well, you know, I'm really glad you asked that question. I I I do have a philosophy about that because You know kids take piano lessons not to become the next Grand piano master and they take art classes not to become the great artist voiceover is much the same I teach voiceover to help kids learn self-esteem That is my primary goal whether they want to be in voiceover or just play in voiceover My goal is to open up self expression Using their voice and their heart center. So maybe they'll never be in voiceover but I hope natasha marchovka is okay with me using her son as an example If she's not oh well No, she's fine with it. She would tell me that her son would come out of the booth buoyant And to me for somebody like her son who was kind of quiet To hear a mom say her son was buoyant for a quiet kid That made all the difference in the world That a kid is feel so good about himself Whether or not now he happened to go on and make a demo and got hired by an agent But some kids just want to feel good about themselves Because they've had an opportunity to create Using their self expression, you know what I mean? Oh, absolutely. Especially now since we've all been so isolated for the past couple of years Uh, and kids are kids have probably had the hardest time of all You know, they've not been able to be together with their friends and stuff like that So giving them something creative like this to do was probably, you know, probably, you know It worked together well. Did you find that business really picked up during the pandemic? Oh, it it was the beginning of my You know, I left Celia two years ago. It was the beginning of my career mushroom Yes yes What once again, if you have a question from earth about getting your kids into voiceover Uh, I don't why why do I have such an attitude about probably because of the response I got from my kids when they were doing it But like I don't want to do it. They didn't want to take direction They didn't it's like they're not going to clean their room What makes me think that they're going to do something when I say, okay, read it like this do this do that sort of thing If you've got a question for martha about getting your kids into voiceover Throw it in the chat room no matter where you are because there's a chat room in facebook There's a chat room in youtube Or just yell really loud and I know jeff will probably pick it up and get us the question. So um We invite you to do that Because I'm sure we're going to come up. You're going to come up with a couple of questions about your kids that'll make some sense Uh, so when you're coaching What do you cover with them? I mean, I mean we've all probably taken some coaching from other voiceover coaches How do you do what's different about dealing with kids and and what do you cover? um Thank you. Uh, that's another great question. Um When I moved to san diego is funny. Sorry because when I I worked at jenny craig And I was a jenny craig counselor at one time and I had a client by the name of pennie abshire and penny I said, oh, I've got a demo. Would you listen to it? And she said sure and she said we just happened to do some classes here And I started studying with jim and pennie and I studied with them a long time and jim has a book called the art of voice acting which is used in a lot of colleges and Institutes and which jorge and I are both quoted it. It's it's a great book It really is a great book and he talks about the seven core elements of voiceover and He uses the abc's now everybody uses Well, a lot of coaches use the abc's without knowing the abc's But it's audience backstory and character. Who are you talking to? what's going on Before you open your mouth and who are you and so I teach the kids these very simple abc and it really Helps them a lot of kids that I teach that are our kids of voice actors. They've already got the rhythm So they understand what's going on So we talk about rhythm pitch pace tempo loud soft fast slow high low Putting all those elements in but when we also put in the elements of who are you talking to What's going on in the situation? Who are you all these things come together? And it really takes their read from sounding like they're reading You're really sounding like you're talking to somebody and it takes it from reading to very natural and it works so So That's some of what I do with the kids we do a lot of improv I have an acting degree. So I consider myself an acting coach anybody who says that they do voiceover, but they're not actors I kind of say, hmm You might want to take an acting class, you know, we're actors yeah absolutely and and The the first kids you were working with who are you know, we're professional actors and stuff Did you have to teach them those same concepts or had they already been well trained or you know? Sometimes I wonder, you know, they throw kids on stage or they throw them in front of a camera How much training did they actually had? Uh, because sometimes they're just naturals at it and then sometimes you got to learn You have to learn some of the tricks of the trade They were great actors that they needed a new technique So they needed a technique for the microphone instead of the camera Because we don't look at a microphone. And so I would have to say no looking at the camera You're gonna lose your place So it it was just a shift in focus. It's a whole different skill set Yeah, once again, we're talking with martha con if you got a question about getting your kids in the voiceover She's the lady to ask I'll tell you something, you know And it's interesting that you you mentioned that, you know, don't look at the microphone because the way, you know I teach it is like keep it out of your You know out of your line of sight forget it's there because when you're acting You're not unless you're doing a commercial where you're like addressing the camera straight on You're usually talking to somebody else and you don't want to use the treat the microphone like a camera and Forget it's there because I find people You tend to get a little bit louder when they're in front of a microphone Do you find the kids do that a little bit or uh, they they think it's a little bit different because there's a microphone there Absolutely, absolutely. They have to forget about the microphone And I do love it when they they're at the microphone and then they Go like this because they love to look at themselves, you know Really cute Yeah, I remember having a microphone on my desk when I was teaching And they would say does that work like there's like no cable coming from it. I mean we're it's again and go That's fascinating Uh, what age range do you are are you most successful with I mean take you're probably taking kids from You know how old to how old and and and You know what what what's your favorite group to work with? Uh, well, I love all ages I really do but I I have had parents call me with four-year-olds who've gotten You know auditions and you really you know, there's no way around it. You have to feed them the line You have to give them the three in a rose and then they have to mimic you There's just no way around it. Although If they're if they're good little actors, they make up their own three in a rose They get the hang of it and they make up their own. Um My preference is that kids know how to read Because it's much easier once they know how to read so Usually they're starting around eight And then I take kids up to You know, I do have adults that come to me. I I have a little codependent hard time saying no so I'll try to fit in anybody who asks me um But but you did you have probably eight-year-olds who are playing Four-year-olds. Oh, yeah. Yeah, and and you know Teaching them the slate is the first thing if they're already on camera because they'll say hi My name is so until I'm eight years old. I live in da da da and I'm reading for the role of and it's like Okay, that's the first thing we're gonna learn is how to slate because the slate is very different in voiceover and You know, we don't say all that stuff in So Right, right And then and in terms of how you actually get a kid to record themselves Clearly You're not teaching kids how to set up a microphone How to operate a da? Etc. Etc. Right So you must have you have to spend a lot of time working with The parents directly themselves. So you're directing kids in acting and directing parents In recording the kids acting right Which is why I hired you george to do a video on how to set up a home studio And we did that we did that workshop and I do Send parents that home studio Uh workshop that we did To get the simplest way To record on an ipad With either an apogee or an at 2020 Now that covet is over if they live in town I'm gonna try to do homes Visits to get their studio set up because that has been The most challenging Uh, Dan and I are talking about maybe doing something together To help the parents because that's the most difficult part Uh, sure if they have a home studio and it's a good home studio with the new revelator I actually can record them from their closet and I can record on my end And get a decent audition That's been really nice And they've booked from auditions from their house to my house How cool is that? I didn't know you're doing that too. Yep That's awesome. Yeah, and now i'm doing demos from my house Uh, I can't do a demo from my studio to their house But I can I can direct from my studio to their studio If if they've got a good, you know, they rent a studio Right once again, we're talking with martha con and get a question for it throw it in the chat room. Um Somebody ask what a revelator is maybe we should well, yeah, george explain to them what a revelator is and how martha is using it So a revelator a revelator is an audio interface the way the way we connect the microphone To the computer, but it's an audio interface with a lot more Function than a normal one a normal one just takes the mic Goes into the box and comes back out the again into your computer The revelator does that and then a lot more fancy features that Allow martha to have more control over what you hear is what what gets recorded? What comes out of the speakers? What comes out of the headphones? What does the person on zoom here when I hit play on my computer? Etc. Etc. So all that is set up using This device called the revelator And it is definitely more complex than like maybe a scarlet 2i 2 Or something that you might be more familiar with Yeah, and and when when you know and a lot of coaches are we want that sort of functionality that they can you know Talk to the you know talk to their the person they're teaching record them on their end And that sort of thing. So it's it's like just running running a remote session with them and Which is you know, and if you got great quality coming back That works even better. So are you like doing it over zoom or how are you generally working with? Yeah, I'm doing it over zoom. It's been really nice. I mean it took it was intense learning it but It was like teaching a kindergartener Well, and some yeah, some of them actually are um so What what age ranges are you are you having the most success with? You know who who tends to really take to it the fastest when you're when you're working with kids You know, I have to say that the 9 10 11 They're really they've been very successful, but I mean I have kids of all ages Um, I mean I've I've gotten kids Gosh, I've booked at least five kids within both years. I have kids that have signed with Stuart talent DeSanti Bach Uh, I've got kids at maverick. I've got kids Uh, I think I've got one or two at coast to coast now Um The kids have been really successful This is a silly question probably but when do they transition from being child actors to adult actors? I mean, I know it's not just when their voice changes if it's a guy or it has a lot to do with it but When is it when does it transition for a child actor? Oh, I would say probably in their early 20s I mean that would probably be an agent question, but I would say in their early 20s You know 18 to 20 Yeah Did you have are there some that you started training in their late teens that you're seeing kind of crossing over? Has that happened yet or your kids are mostly younger that started with you? No, right now my kids are young I haven't been doing it long enough But uh, yeah, but I do have a fun story that um, I did have a young man Actually, I don't know how old he is That um came to me um Who was uh, you know at out of school working who was an adult? And he came to me and he worked with me for six months and I don't know. I I would not have put my money on him, you know, but this guy he He wanted it And he wanted it and he he studied and he put his time in and he uh He worked for me for at least six or seven months and You know, this is a story that that is A great thing for people if they want it never ever I will never tell anybody they shouldn't do voice over because this guy I I turned him on to gbaa And he studied with david and david got him an la agent and he now has a he has his sag card he's done unit commercials and uh he is he's now enjoying a modicum of success and I am so proud of him and uh, you know, it's like Never ever tell anybody that they can't be a voice actor Because if you want it you just go and do it Yeah, I mean that's that's always the thing. I mean is I tell a lot of people you want to be an actor or a voice actor It's really got to be in your gallbladder Yeah, I mean it's it's got to be part of your journey to to want to be to really do it because otherwise It because it takes time it takes effort it takes training And again, it takes time and if you don't have the patience to do it if you're you know, it's like this isn't working for me After two months, then it's not it's never going to work for you Uh, you've got you've got it's got to be this constant drive to do that Yeah, I'm and hopefully you find that in the kids So which that sort of leads into the question of what are the factors the parents should look for when they're thinking about getting their kids into it and You know and is it something they suggest to their kids? Is it something the kids say? Hey dad? Hey mom? I want to try this What are some of the things that you've seen and and what is it the parents should look for when they're Think their kids might be ready to do something like this Well, you know, it always starts with wow you have a great voice Did you ever think of doing voiceovers? You know the kids do cartoon voices. They do funny voices. They you know make people laugh and so The next thing is oh, you should be doing voiceovers. They all want to start out doing cartoon And I start all my kids in commercial at least four to eight weeks of commercials and then narration and then animation and character work And then back to commercials before they can ever do a demo and the demo is always commercial Because I think that commercial is like the ballet of dance You have to learn the fundamentals before you can do the animation stuff because we all know that animation is where you Sweat animation is the hard part and so you you have to learn the fundamentals first And and if you're not willing to do that you probably aren't going to make it in voiceover as a kid That's just my philosophy. And so the ones who are willing to put in that kind of work That are the ones who are going to stick through and make it and so I what I What I do is voice one two three is free I Have them do the whole course Have them make a demo get on voice one two three And do the work audition audition audition. They'll get all sorts of auditions on voice one two three And if they can do that and they can compete against all the other kids Then they can start to work And that's my philosophy with them Dan's kind of going well, I don't know. Well, no, I'm no I'm I'm just thinking about it It's you know that there are far fewer kids doing this than there are adults trying to do voice over these days And as george and I will tell you they're all coming to us saying how do I record? Um and and of various levels of capability and skill being able to do it Kids sound like kids, you know, and if you if you hear commercials You can always tell it's a kid, but it's like oh this kid really knows what he's doing Or they just sound really cute and the whoever was producing the commercial said, all right, this kid sounds cute You know, they don't have to actually read it really well, but it it still works Um, but there's not as many kids in there. So the competition Probably is not quite as stiff amongst the You know the the uh the early childhood uh group as opposed to the uh the adults Well, I think there's more competition now than we think there is Okay, that's it's it's gotten, you know, you look at the the successful kids now the glow girls the sundhome kids uh the uh the lalena and uh the little joy voiceover um, oh gosh. I'm sorry, uh Lalena and um, oh, I forgot to hurt sister's name. I'm sorry But there's a lot of kids now doing voiceover and There are people who want to know how they got started and then their friends learning So there's a lot of kids that want to do voiceover The pool has gotten bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger and the competition has gotten stiffer and stiffer and stiffer And my job is teaching these kids how to still sound like a kid and not be polished and not be smooth and So I think that there's more than you think there are especially there's a ton of e-learning for kids Ooh, I I know that one That because kids like to hear other kids teaching them stuff. It's fascinating You know, I work on a big project like that once once again we're talking with martha con and we're talking about getting your kids into voiceover and uh, we're gonna take a quick break here and uh If you've got a question for martha again, throw it in the chat room I'm sure it's probably brought up a couple of questions, especially if your kids are watching this with you Uh, or if you're like, hey, you know, then maybe they should be doing that Anyway, we'll be right back with more with martha con. So don't go away. We'll be right back on voiceover body shop This is the latin lover narrator from jane the virgin anthony mendez. You're enjoying dan and george on the voiceover body shop Well, hello there I bet you weren't expecting to hear some big voice announcer guy on your new orientation training for snapchat. Were you This is virgin radio. Well, okay. We're not that innocent There's genes for wearing and there's genes for working Dickies because I ain't here to look pretty. She's a champion of progressive values A leader for california and a voice for america. It's smart. It's a phone. It's a smart phone But it's so much more. It's a the files are ready. Don't forget to pick up the eggs. What time is hockey practice? Check out this song. It's the end of the road for red When hope is lost the i8 from bmw Who said saving the planet couldn't be stylish Hey, it's j michael collins. Bet you think i'm gonna try and sell you a demo now, huh? I think they speak for themselves, but I will give you my email It's j michael at jmc voiceover.com now if they don't stop waxing this mustache for a minute. We'll get back to the show The harlin hogan vo1a microphone Now perhaps you didn't know this but almost all of the equipment we use in voiceover was designed for making music The vo1a is the only microphone specifically designed and tuned for voiceover And you're hearing me on it right now Now obviously the vo1a is very popular at voiceover essentials.com and harlin has been running low until now Harlin placed an order for a new supply of vo1a's from mxl quite a while ago Now manufacturing them wasn't an issue but getting them to the us was between covet and shipping constraints and of course skyrocketing costs Well happy day voiceover people Mxl informed harlin that his order had arrived in long beach and was going through required quality control testing of each mic Today and by the way, although it's difficult harlin is keeping the price the same despite inflation and logistics costs So if you've wanted one now's the time to order your harlin hogan signature series vo1a voiceover mic today Go to voiceover essentials.com Hey, it's david h. Lawrence the 17th and we talk a lot in this business about moving forward with our career Getting more information We often don't talk about simply getting started It can be one of the most immovable objects In in our life getting out of our own way and just simply taking the first step And if you're watching this podcast voiceover body shop For some tips on how to get started in voiceover or to change something about your voiceover career Or to increase your knowledge in a certain area Check out voheroes.com's getting started in voiceover If you go to voheroes.com slash start you'll get all the information It's really cheap And I give you a lot to get started in the business But you might also learn something if you've been in the voiceover business for a while voheroes.com slash start That's voheroes.com slash start This is bill radner and you're enjoying voiceover body shop with dan lennard and george widham vobs.tv And we're back with martha con and uh, again if you've got a question for I mean I'm thinking about all sorts of things when it comes to dealing with kids Uh, but if you have a question for her about your kids or maybe your neighbor's kids That are really annoying and you want them to go do something else like voiceover you can tell them about martha So Anyway, you've got a question throw it in one of the chat rooms and jeff holman is sitting back there somewhere and he is getting those questions to us Uh, welcome back martha. We've got so many great questions here to go over starting off with From play the voice real kids vo family. Obviously somebody you must know How can young kids develop a good ear for voiceover when listening to commercials cartoons toys? Is there a certain way to listen and I that's a that's a great question because I think that's where everybody gets the idea that they can do voiceover Yeah, thanks chris. I don't know how to answer that. Um I think one of the suggestions I heard once was um when you're listening Try to mimic along with the voice as quickly as you can Just go along with whatever it is you're listening to And mimic the voice. That's one of the techniques. I've heard other than that. I'm I'm just not sure how to answer that question um Well, do you tell them that you know you really if you really want to see what it is that's going on out there You've got to be able to hear and see other commercials and listen to the You know to the announcer. What is it that they're doing that's different from everybody else? Why is it that they got hired for this gig? Yeah, listen listen listen listen listen the other thing that I always recommend is read aloud One to two to three minutes every day because you have to be fluent in reading and I think those People who read all the time are so much more fluent when they get copy thrown at them that it's easy to read um And then if if it is animation that's your thing just listen to those animation voices and just See how fluid they are um Uh, I'm looking at the questioning. I'm looking for the question again um Yeah, I'm sorry way to listen. Yeah, how do you get kids to you know, what is there a technique to listening to? You know that you teach them so that they can you know learn those things that the professionals are doing because That's what they want to do. They want to be professionals Yeah, no, I I'm I'm sitting here and I'm thinking stumped on this question. Um I can say that from a musical perspective because I don't have an acting background, but I have a music background That it seems to me with ear training. It doesn't matter what you're training. What material what the material is It's just that you're training your ear to hear it. Yeah, and it's like speech is just another form of music in a way Right. It has rhythm It has tone And it has all these little elements. It's just we communicate speech differently than we communicate music But it's all part of the ear training. I think if you're kids We're we're listening to music young or just love listening to music encouraging them to sing along And match the music they hear the pitch The style of the music that's going to be beneficial. It can't hurt, right? I mean, that's just all ear training Right. I think that's what I was saying just listen to the commercials and just Follow it along as you hear it follow it along Get the rhythm the pitch the pace the tempo um I play a game with the kids every session that I have we have a game called the ore game And I'll give them a sentence. Wow. It's a sunny day. How many ways can you say that one sentence? there's probably 10 different ways you can say that one simple sentence and So I think that that's a great way to learn The acting is improvising all the different ways that you can say one sentence with different rhythm pitch and pace Because when you go into a studio, they're going to do a different kind of abc the other abc In a studio an abc means give me three takes And so you're going to have to be fluid in giving three different takes That definitely comes with skill right when I hear a newer voice actor That gets that direction and they give three different takes And each one is really similar to the last, you know, not much variation That's something that's a sign that shows that somebody's kind of getting started And they don't know and realize what it is that they can vary. So that's that's a big deal for sure and and That ear training is going to go a huge way into getting better at doing that for sure And voiceover is as you were saying Extremely musical, you know, and so I do teach them the word staccato and legato And the patient, you know, how do you say that staccato? How do you say that sentence legato? put it put a little Beat in there a beat will make a huge difference in the sentence And it will also we don't just talk without beats We talk like that right We take beats So it's developing your ear And I also ask them to take their phone all kids have phones these days Take your phone and use the voice memo and listen to yourself And take a script and I I usually make kids do two reads on most scripts And so take your do your homework and do two reads and listen develop your ear Well, once again, we're talking with martha con Got a few questions here if you'd like to get a question in you still got time So throw it in the chat room and we'll get to that in just a second You want to take dr. Carlson's question there george? Sure, um, and I know that he happens to have a couple of young adults in his household that have Been training in voiceover. Um, have you ever thought about writing your own book? From what you've learned about working with kids in the studio? Not until just now Don't do it Oh, it's so much work, isn't it? Well, now you now you have one person that wants to read your book Um, there's another one in the chat. I just noticed from patricia andrea Um, she says my kid is watching me start now in voiceovers and Like a lot of people in the family Unfortunately They don't quite take it seriously. So how would I go about presenting this to my kid who's 15? Uh, the child is not taking Her getting into voiceover seriously Yeah, apparently it's like hey, I'm here doing it. You're watching me doing it How do I encourage them to take it seriously? I I don't know if a kid isn't motivated. Yeah, really. How do you make them become motivated? You know, is that I know it's not your job as a coach to figure out how to motivate a kid who isn't taking it seriously but Do you have any do you have any secret tricks any sneak attack ways of doing it? Well, does patricia want her child to be interested in voiceover or does patricia want her child to take her Being in voiceover seriously That's an excellent question because you know, it depends on how you interpret that right That's hmm. I think they're meaning about taking getting the kid serious about learning voiceover I also want my child to be in voiceovers. Okay. Yeah, but do they is the question patricia contact me and if you're if your Child is interested we can do an intro session And we can play and if she likes it we can do it and if she doesn't Then we don't ever want our child to do anything that they don't want to do until they're ready And if they're not ever ready, then we know that that's not going to feed their soul Right, I can tell you from experience my my daughter before she was you know when she was too young to really make a decision We got her an agent doing on camera What print and commercial right being a cute little kid In a Halloween costume or a cute little kid in this thing or that And when she got to the point where she did not want to Go into the casting room, you know like her mom would drive her to the to the agency They'd be at the casting place. They'd be ready She'd be paired up with one of the moms so they could do the reading And when she didn't want to go into that casting room She knew it was she wasn't wanting to do it anymore and we weren't gonna make her keep doing it so That's the tough thing and now my kid is eight years older And i'm waiting to see when she has that motivation to want to do that Kind of training again and believe me when i'm martha as soon as My daughter shows that interest and that aptitude to want to study You're you're absolutely gonna be hearing from me because oh, wow. Yeah, we know ellis got Booth time whenever she wants She's got the ear She's got that she it's just but if a kid isn't motivated to do that thing You're gonna be dragging them kicking not kicking and screaming, but just it's gonna be a constant uh battle You know, yeah No, I've got a question here from j. Horace black. He says hey, I know this is your focus on kids However, your tips on the approach to an abc or how they vary takes Uh, or how to vary the takes Uh, do you work with kids bigger kids in the age and the adult age range or just kids only Jay, we were no comment on what you think you're at but Do you work with with uh older uh With adults we won't say older people Yeah, just you know that kids I would love to work with adults. There's so many great coaches out there for adults and I I don't want to say that I won't work with adults But there are great coaches out there for adults and at this point I I got so many requests for kids that I'm kind of at a crossroads where I have to make a decision About look if you say you're con kids coaching Then maybe you should just stick with the kids and focus there and give Because I'm so booked right now that if I open myself up to adults then I'm not going to have enough room for the kids And so I have to I'm being really honest with all of you guys out there that I really have to Make a commitment to the kids And leave myself open to them because what happens? I've got at least five kids who are on network animations right now And when those auditions come in It's like I have to be available morning noon and night for them Or or they won't have time I won't have time for them and so While I would love to say yeah, I work with everybody because I'm just that way I should probably say You know, I need to make an age limit and cut it off at like, you know Early early 20s or something. Yeah Now here now here's a question from from from real kids again. It's like Because I think a lot of parents worry about this and then I think some parents don't even realize they're doing it It's What what is a stage mom or dad? And how do you avoid being one? You chris? You're a stage dad This is a great dad. He's got four kids and they're all amazing So, you know Fortunately, I don't have a lot of helicopter parents right now Um, I had one parent that said You know, you recorded her for 15 minutes and you want to charge me a hundred dollars and it's like Well, wait a minute, you know There's time to set it up and to get the recording equipment and the You know the microphone ready and the this and the that and the that and all the rehearsal time that went into the 15 minutes of recording and and you know And then the editing that I did for that 15 minutes and Yeah, I'm going to charge you a hundred dollars for that You know, and they never work with me again That's you know a stage mom but the the the parents who Love and nurture their children and respect them for the art that they're doing and want the best for them that's that's a A parent who cares about their children and wants to see them succeed. So um I had a little girl and The first thing she asked me was is it okay to make mistake? And it was a little bit of a red flag since then It's just been wonderful and there was no stage mom involved. It was just her fear But the parents that don't allow their kids to make mistakes That's a stage mom or dad because my answer to that little kid was Yes, yes, yes, it's okay to make mistakes and the more mistakes you make the better it is Because the more mistakes you make the better off you're going to be Yeah, we learned by by making mistakes. It's as simple as that. Oh, and you can't be afraid that is uh I think that's what kept me from doing so many things It's just just be afraid of screwing up being embarrassed of screwing up in front of people and or whatever it is And you can get if you can get over that fear. I mean the actors I know that are so successful They mastered that a long time ago They that just doesn't get in the way Yeah of creating and And playing it's it's it's an amazing thing once you can get over that So does that answer the question? I think so It sounds like it to me. Yeah, we got time for like one more question here from mad dog. Why don't you take that one george? Yeah mad dog. I think maybe related to somebody else in the chat possibly i'm putting pieces together But mad dog asked hey i'm 16 and i'm trying to get to voiceover What are some pointers that can possibly help me out and because i've been announcing football Track and softball. So i'm 16 year old who's doing the announcing work So he's got some time in front of the mic or he or she has some time in front of the mic That's uh, what's the next what's the next step for? For mad dog Well, that's awesome mad dog. I think that's really cool There's a big difference between announcing at games and and voiceover So my suggestion would be to study Learn the basics of voiceover Uh, get a hold of me. Um, and let's have an intro session and have some fun See if you like it learn the basics of what voiceover is Uh as as opposed to announcing because the um The trend in voiceover today is not announcing non-announcer. Tell me about it Yeah, it's much more real person. So uh talking and sounding real Uh, and it's a great question Great question mad dog. Yeah Well martha it is always a pleasure to talk to you no matter where or when or how But we really appreciate you coming on the show tonight and again if they want to get a hold of you Where do they go? Yes, I con k a h n At gmail.com Or con kids voiceover dot com Alrighty well martha. Thanks so much for being with us Look forward to seeing you in person soon when we you either come up here We go down there down the ocean side But we'll run into you eventually because we're all gonna get together for voice stuff Very soon. Thank you guys so much Alrighty, all right, george, and i'll be right back to wrap things up and then Rewrack it for tech talk right after this You're still watching vlbs In these modern times Every business needs a website when you need a website for your voice acting business There's only one place to go like the name says voice actor websites dot com Their experience in this niche webmaster market gives them the ability to quickly and easily get you from concept To live online in a much shorter time when you contact voice actor websites dot com Their team of experts and designers really get to know you and what your needs are They work with you to highlight what you do Then they create an easily navigable website for your potential clients to get the big picture of who you are And how your voice is the one for them plus voice actor websites dot com has other great resources Like their practice script library and other resources to help your voiceover career flourish Don't try it yourself go with the pros voice actor websites dot com where your via website shouldn't be a pain in the you know what Well, it's time to talk about our lovely sponsors source connect The actually the company that makes source connect source elements They have a huge array of software services Some of them are softwares that you license and download on your computer Some of them are standalone applications Some of them work on a web browser and they all have different features But the bottom line is all of them allow you to collaborate with other voice actors Or more importantly the studios that record you from anywhere as long as you have a great sounding home studio That works well is reliable and you can get a good sounding quiet recording Whenever you need it that means you might be ready to take a step into Buying or getting a license to use Source connect this is going to allow you as the actor to connect into a studio anywhere in the world And they do the recording While you just do the acting it's just really cool It's so fun to be able to just Forget about the recording side of it All you have to do is make sure your gain and your microphone level is set correctly And the director of whoever's on the other side listening to you Will do the rest they'll make sure the audio has been recorded You might even get to hear the way it sounds when it's finished And It's a really cool technology But you have to be ready And if you want to be ready if you want to be sure your studio is ready If you head to george the dot tech slash sc for source connect there's information on there and you can also get support But if you know you're ready, then just head over to source dash elements dot com And get a 15 day free trial You just have to have a good modern working windows or mac system Good audio quiet room And a good internet connection and you could be doing sessions with studios All over the country and even possibly the world Anyway, thanks so much to source elements for your support of the show Let's get on out of here and so we can come back with tech talk in just a minute Yeah, hi, this is Carlos Ellis Rocky the voice of Rocco and you're watching voiceover body shop Alrighty, yeah, and again if you want to get in touch with uh with With martha right there. It says yes icon productions at gmail.com So, uh, I'm not sure if you have to use the big eye, you know an uppercase i or just a little i with the dot, but That's where you can find martha if you want to have work with your kids and see if they can get into voiceover well this week is uh We we ran through this one and uh, thanks again to to martha for for joining us on there. Um Who do we have on next week? Well, it's going to be tech talk number 76 as we are starting our our 12th year Of doing voiceover body shop Yeah, play fitter. Don't you know and we haven't gotten tired of each other yet. Um, I'm sure it'll happen sooner or later um, but you know again, we're we're thrilled that you're out there and listening to uh and watching our show and getting the information you need to uh get your sound right And to make sure that you are sounding like a professional in the way you voice acts So that's why we bring on great people like martha to Teach us a little bit about voice acting in this case your kids how to voice act anyway, uh Who are our donors of the week? All right, it's so great reading the same names over and over that means. Yeah, but there's some new ones here though Oh, good. Okay. Cool. I'll start this time and with jonathan grant christopher epperson sarah borges Phillip supere Thomas pinto shelly avalena a shelly george a wittem my dad brian page patty gibbons rob raider greg thomas Uh A doctor voice which is nathan carlson ant land productions. That's uncle roy shana pennington baird martha Don griffith tray moseley diana birdsall And sandra man willer, uh, we really appreciate uh all your your donations to the show It allows us to maintain the technical excellence that you now see Every week on this show no mistakes at all. It's tight. It's just the way it's supposed to be Perfection flawlessly. Hey joining our join our mailing list too because uh, you get updates on what we're going to be doing Next and uh, who's coming on the show and you get to see my brilliant artwork every week, which is always fun Uh, george, I keep getting these notifications that you're holding office hours And i'm keep wanting to jump in tell us about it Oh, yeah, so if if you've been a client of uh of george the tech You'll be invited to join our private office hours in uh a room in Uh clubhouse, which has been working pretty well Uh, we get to just talk off the cuff really keeping it focused on tech stuff But it allows anybody to just get some more thoughts addressed It's sort of like the after hours of this show in a way we get to talk beyond The time that we have limited here on our show and just get into more Geekery or just answer questions. It's a lot of fun. Yeah, I've I've always wanted to own a geekery Yeah, an artisan organic It go We need to thank our sponsors. Uh harlan hogan's voiceover essentials Oh, we have more voiceover extra source elements voheroes.com voice actor websites.com and Jmc demos Alrighty jeff holman. Thanks for your work in the chat room tonight getting their questions to us Sumer lino who is the one to make sure that nothing goes wrong And if it does it's george's fault Uh And of course, uh, we have to thank lee penny just for being lee penny Well, that's gonna do it for our show this week Stay tuned for tech talk if you're watching us live because that's when the real fun stuff goes when george and i just go at it About way the way to properly record your voiceover audio So if you got a question for us throw it in the chat room now Anyway, that's gonna do it for this show our thanks again to martha con I'm dan Leonard And i'm george wittem and this is voiceover body shop or vo c s s All right, we'll see you next week. Stay tuned for tech talk