 Hey, believe it or not. It's Monday night and it's time for voiceover body shop with new gear and new a new student Now it's the same old studio, but a new gear and our guest tonight is Keith Farley in the house in the house he will be here talking to us about directing and Taking direction and making characters and lots of other cool stuff to stuff voice actors really need to listen to yeah I mean just tune right in plus. We're gonna talk about Sibylance tonight boy, and you've got a tech update. Sure. We'll find something. All right. Come on up now on voiceover body shop two men Twin sons from different mothers with a passion for voiceover recording technology and the desire to make recording easy for voice actors everywhere together in one place George Whidham the home studio engineer to the stars a Virginia Tech grad with an unmatched knowledge of all the latest gear and technology in voiceover today Dan Leonard the home studio master a voice actor with over 30 years experience in Broadcasting and recording and a no-holds-barred myth-busting attitude for teaching you how easy it is together to bring you all the latest technology today's voiceover superstars and Leaving the discussion on how to make the most of your voiceover business This is voiceover body shop Voiceover body shop is brought to you by voice over essentials comm home of Harlan Hogan's signature products Source elements remote connections made even easier Vio to go go.com everything you need to be a successful voiceover artist J. Michael Collins demos award-winning demo production voice actor websites.com where your voiceover website won't be a pain in the butt and voiceover extra your daily resource for Vio success And now live from their super secret multi-media studio in Sherman Oaks, California Here are George Wittem and Dan Leonard Good evening. I'm Dan Leonard, and I'm George Wittem and this is voiceover body shop or Vio B.S. Yeah, all right Well, whoo again Monday night comes upon us and it's time to do our show once again to talk about voiceover home studios the techniques involved in being Grated voiceover and making the most of your voice over a career as that intro says every week That's right We want the technology to be a part of your life but not control the way you work the way you act We want you to be able to act and the technology sort of fade into the background, right? That's what we're hit record and go like on a cassette player You know I bring never mind. Okay, never mind. All right. Well tonight Keith Farley is our guest and we're gonna talk about Acting and voice acting and how to take direction and the casting process and all sorts of cool stuff and his new cool studio Yes, which I know somebody had something to do with I wonder who and And also we're gonna talk about Sibilants tonight because there was a discussion on that. Okay. All right, so let's get the show on the road It's now time for Voice over extra All the information you need for a successful voiceover career All righty here is the voiceover extra news for May 7th 2018 APAC Audis week preview with conference advice well The merry month of May opens with congratulations to outstanding voice talents across the pond in London Recently winners were announced and honored in a ceremony for the first one voice awards presented by gravy for the brain Among the 32 winners who were declared the best in the UK voiceovers were Toby Ricketts As male voiceover of the year and Alexia Cambo as female voice over of the year you can read all about the new awards ceremony and see all the winners in an Article now at voiceover extra.com and drum roll Coming tomorrow on voiceover extra is our preview of APAC Audis week in New York City If you're an audiobook narrator or a wannabe New York is where you want to be every year in the last week of May That's when APAC or the audio publishers annual conference comes to the Javits Convention Center Bringing narrators and publishers together in a day of networking and even in a sort of round of auditions known as speed dating Unfortunately, if you don't already have tickets for this year's event. Well, you're too late. It's been sold out for quite a while Also late in May is the audio publisher groups Glamorous out he's gala where winners of the covered Coveted audio words for audiobook excellence will be announced and honored my gosh It nearly five hundred dollars per ticket even the gala is sold out figure that one out But take heart there's plenty of other activities that week including networking socials parties and outside training opportunities with popular narrator and coach Johnny Heller That Tom details in that article and look there's more Hmm in this year's feature Tom slips in interviews and a with veteran APAC goers Who give advice on how to max the benefit of attending this conference or any business conference for that matter? For instance narrator Adam Verner. I've met madame. He lives up in Colorado. Yeah He observes that you can be either a shark or Emanity sharks. He says are always on the prowl looking for the next important person on their list to talk to Sound right. No, not really Adam says sharks are always looking over their shoulder Narrowing their eyes to scan name tags. They're never really with you So Adam advises being a manatee really moves slowly Taking delight in whatever happens and Develop meaningful relationships next in the crowd we find Magan Tonsing who has a one-word tip Listen ask questions and then listen to the story She says you'll learn how to grow your business as well as forge long lasting friendships And there's no way to miss Johnny Heller at APAC or any of the parties for that matter about APAC Johnny Says there's no other time or place where you have so many actors and producers gathered at one place at one time So what does he advise for networking? I suggest you stand next to Sean Allen Pratt and a claimed narrator and coach And when someone you want to meet comes by give Sean a meaningful look and wiggle your eyebrows Indicating you want to meet that person Sean will either introduce you or he will get nervous about your suspicious behavior and give you five bucks to stand somewhere else Okay, Johnny Sean's been warned Check out these articles and hundreds more at voiceover extra comm your daily resource for voice over success I love a cool breed. Yes more exciting that way. Yes, right out of the refrigerator Into our mouths, but anyway So interesting. Yeah ask every year. Hey, are you going to a pack and like well, you know Maybe one of these years I'll go. I they're like, oh, there's so many people that would know you there I'm like, well, maybe that's why I don't need to go. I don't know. I'm just saying it when they invite us Yeah, I it's When there's an APAC in Los Angeles, maybe them I'm there. I just missed the world radio What is it called the world radio conference? It just happened. Is that right though? World wide radio conference something like that. That just happened here in LA last week There's always something going and I got the same thing. Hey, did you go? Why don't you there? I'm like, I don't know wasn't on my radar, man. I don't know. I think the adult entertainment expo is this week Yeah, I will not not that I was planning on going but they know from personal experience Anyway, what's up in tech this week? Well, it seems like in the discussions lately one of the things that came up is The USB microphones namely the Apigee mic there's a new version of it we we saw it at NAM the Apigee mic plus and I think Jeff Berlin is the name. Yeah, Jeff Berlin. He did a test where he compared the the Apigee mic plus Recording into his Android tablet or Android phone. I don't remember which one it was That's you know, USB directly into the phone basically Here he compared using that to recording through his usual portable rig using a 416 shotgun mic into his Audient or whatever it is into into his desktop and at the end of the day he found he was able to get a sound That's almost almost indistinguishable from the 416 Using his Apigee mic. So what does that mean go out by an Apigee mic? No, not probably not I got a 416 you got a 416 exactly But if you are the most people that wants to have a go bag a go kit Something that's ready to rock Maybe it's in the glove box something like if you're doing that kind of whist over where you have to have 15 20 minute turnaround It's a small percentage of you out there. They're have that need that kind of turnaround But if you do Something like that could be pretty nice to have and knowing the sound quality is there Is is you know confidence inspiring? Yeah, yeah, yeah Well, I'm gonna be doing an actually in a webinar on May 30th talking about Recording on the road. We do plugs at the end of the show. Oh, okay But it was I figured that was a good segue. I just throw that in there That's good idea. No, definitely talk about these these technologies I I just picked up because I like finding things that are on the fringe that not everybody else is talking about I just picked up an MXL Studio 24. That is a USB mic that they came out with I think in 2010 It's been around a while and why it stood out among the sea of microphones even from MXL's own parts list They have way too many mics Is that well for one it does have a headphone jack So you can get zero lacent latency monitoring which is handy for getting sound checks and working with Skype things like that But what also makes it kind of fun and interesting which I will definitely be demonstrating on a George the tech video at some point Is that the mic has built-in? Processing so in the way that the Yamaha AG 03 has processing which some of you may use maybe men most of you don't in the way that it does that this microphone Does the same so it has built-in compression and you can set the parameters. It has a gate Can't tell you whether it's any good, but it has one Yeah, and it's got a low pass or a high pass filter so you can dial in a high pass filter all features That could be really really helpful when you're working on the road and less than ideal environments So it was a hundred and twenty nine bucks on eBay new in the box Cam comes in a really nice carrying kit with a little mic stand. I figured I'll give it a shot Yeah, I'll give it a shot so stay tuned for a little review on that. Yeah, a lot of good mics now for actually for Recording in your car, which is the key by the way. Oh another mic. I saw recently popped up on my radar today It's not USB what is Jack has an Mxl CR 89. I do Now Jack, let me turn on the mic because I don't inject the mic. I don't have the mic on for Jack right now Because I'm gonna put them on the spot here. Yes that one there. It's tangled. It's tangled underneath her headphone cord All right Hi production values tonight Okay So check you happen to have a Mxl CR 89 not a mic that comes up in too many conversations That's true Was this sort of like a best-kept secret microphone and I'm busting it out now for everybody here You're definitely not that's my talk back Mike Okay, so it's nothing special now it looks good though, but it's just a talk back It looks really sound it has a very like a has like a black piano finish. Yeah, and it's heavy as all get out It's a thing weighs like I don't know six pounds or some ridiculous. Yeah, it's a really flat mic Isn't it isn't that what it's flat? It's it needs a lot of gain. It's very flat It's a little bright I think but I haven't tested it extensively because once I set it up I wasn't real thrilled with it Yeah, I know that people sing with it and they seem to like it for that Okay, for my purposes, it just wasn't working too well All right, okay, never mind. I may not get one that but I was looking at I was looking at just lost any possibility of a sponsorship from MXL They'll they'll be all right. Thanks man. Thank you. Thanks Jack Daniel. Alrighty But anyway, I saw that Mike on his on it on a photo of him with Townsend Coleman and in his studio And I was like hmm. I've seen that Mike, but not in the wild So I just thought I'd mentioned that one. That's a mileage may vary kind of Mike You may need to get it from a place that has returns Okay, so yeah, yeah, well, let's let's try it out here Bring it in bring it into the studio and let's give it a shot. Yeah. Alrighty. Well, all right Well, that's it for my tech. Okay minute. We have that was about four minutes, but we'll minute We'll give it at that We've got Keith Farley coming up in just a little bit and next we'll discuss Sibilants, you know, you wouldn't think it's a big important thing But that's what we're talking about next here on voiceover body shop. Do not go away They finally do a breaker. Don't look right on mobile devices. They're not built for marketing and SEO They're expensive. You have limited or no control and it takes forever to get one built and go live So what's the best way to get you online in no time? Go to voice actor websites.com like our name implies voice actor websites.com just does websites for voice actors We believe in creating fast mobile friendly responsive highly functional designs that are easy to read and easy to use You have full control No need to hire someone every time you want to make a change and our upfront pricing means you know Exactly what your costs are ahead of time You can get your voice over website going for as little as 700 dollars So if you want your voice actor website without the hassle of complexity and dealing with too many options Go to voice actor websites.com where your vo website shouldn't be a pain in the you know, what? What question do we get most often well far away? It's how do we even get started in voiceover? And we have a great answer to that question. Take vo to go goes free getting started in vo class. You heard right It's free. It's available online 24 7 at vo to go go dot com. That's vo to go go dot com and Jack if you could move that up a little bit for me for some reason That's okay. I can read it from here. It's you know, you can go to Yes, it's actually the best place to go is to go to Getting started in vo dot com Getting started in vo dot com if you've been watching vo bs and thinking that you need to get in gear and start Your own voiceover career. This is the class you should start with. All right. Well You'll learn about the vocal skills you need the storytelling skills you need The equipment you need and the business skills you need all in one single comprehensive online class taught by vo to go goes david h. Lawrence the 17th This class won the backstage readers choice award four years in a row and again, there's no charge It's absolutely free. Want to take it? Sure you do Getting started in vo dot com. That's getting started in vo dot com go there after the show Are you confused about how to set up and maintain a professional quality voiceover studio? Okay, no wonder the information out there is mostly Mythology This is the best microphone to use. You'll have to have a preamp. You need a soundproof booth This software is the best Your audio must be notice. I'll get a new property Someone who's been there in the trenches either we don't use that feature at all Someone with unparalleled experience with voiceover studios Who's worked with hundreds of voice actors and designed hundreds of personal studios? He knows how to teach and cares about your success In one of the harshest environments known to voiceover your home Dan Leonard the home studio master Separate myth from fact and get a handle on your personal voiceover studio Contact the home studio master at home voiceover studio dot com drop off a specimen of your dry audio for a free analysis I'd like to take a few minutes now to thank one of our great sponsors source elements They are the creators of source connect source connect now and many other useful studio tools Not only do they make tools for streaming audio real time between your studio and the others They make tools like source zip that allow you to transfer entire projects fully intact Easily between stations So like if you're producing in your pro tool session and you want to move everything with all the pieces intact Easiest way possible quickest as possible because it shrinks the file size way down You might want to give sources zip a try Otherwise most of you out there are going to be interested in source connect Go give it a try you can get a 15 day free trial right now over at source dash elements dot com It's the best way and really the most professional way available right now Used in the voiceover business to connect your studio Your voice with the studio of choice that's hiring you and recording you from a distance Thanks source elements. We appreciate it and we'll be right back And we're back here on voiceover body shop and uh, you know Sometimes some mornings I get up And I check facebook Like I did last week and that prompted an entire rant On on microphone choice facebook is a rant engine it it is But as we always say not a good place to Crowd source your home voiceover studio. No, I don't yeah, I agree. Yeah, I agree. It is not Yeah, and and it's good for like advice on a certain thing or certain mic maybe or right, you know But what's your experience with this microphone? Well, it worked fine in my studio with my voice Right who the heck are you right? You know every every voice every voice Home voiceover studio is different. They all have to be custom built in tune. Well this morning I can't even remember whose name it was so you're safe. Whoever you are um It was a discussion about sibilants Something along the lines of it sounded great for years And then I've gone to this microphone and now it sounds sibilant And everybody's oh well It's do this and do that and then a couple of smart people like tim tippets jumped in there and said You know, it's probably the way you're using it because as we always like to say it's not the equipment It's how you use it can also be the way you're listening to it. That was my next point And the fact of the matter is is he said one client was complaining about it. Now. I really hear it Right, that's the thing when one person points out something It's stuck in your head now and you can't get it out Right the fact of the matter is is that client was probably listening on his iphone an iphone or a laptop book with crappy little speakers or an hp with even lousy your speaker and Uh, and and somehow that was sounding sibilant. I said Let me listen to it Yeah So he sent out a copy to everybody on the thread and he sent me a personal copy so I could look at it and go Yeah, and I listened to my Wtf there's nothing wrong with this it sounds fine, maybe a little a little sharp but Nothing that's like, you know any engineer Is is harrell hill would say I could deal with my friends with the wave of my hand this very hand It was Simple simple thing to do just a little bit off at about 10k maybe a little bit below that Yeah, and they could adjust it. Yeah, no one's going to lose a job over an extra little sibilant s so It comes down to a matter of mic technique And how you listen to it Yeah, because if your your frame of reference for monitoring is not quite accurate It's really going to screw up your impression of the way anything sounds right I mean if you if you what if you went for a month without cleaning your glasses This is this reminds me of a story explain my cousin's wife was an optometrist and they would help folks that were on Medicaid and whatever and they had a lady come in one time. She's like I need more medicine for my glasses And my cousin takes her glasses off her face wipes the lenses off puts them back on her face and she's like It's a miracle. That's so much better. Thank you so much, you know, and then she went home It's like that with sound. I mean if you're if your frame of reference is way out. Oh, yeah, I'm an earthquake Is that what it is? If your frame of reference is so clouded or inaccurate, you just can't trust it so Bounce it off a couple people whose ears you do trust like me or me Because that's what that's the kind of thing that we do we'll listen to the audio in our listening environments on our monitors or headphones Things that we listen to Day in day out we understand on both. Yes And we'll understand the context of how you sound among everything else And if at that point We think you sound sibilant out of out of the bounds of usability, you know We'll tell you and give you some ideas what to do and what really are there really some microphones that are More susceptible to sibilants than others in your experience Yeah, I mean a lot of the Notoriously less expensive condenser microphones tend to be a little on the bright side One that comes to mind is the road and t1a and everybody's got one of those that is a culprit for being a little bit too bright It's so common because it's very affordable and it's very Quiet it's not very self-noise. Yeah, so it gets sold a lot Many starter studios are road and t1a scarlet 2i2. Boom. You know, I hear that probably once a week But it can be a little bit bright a little proper EQ can fix that But it's not going to be my first mic for everybody because of that You tend to already be a very bright sharp voice with a lot of top end Unlike that top endy may not be the best for you, right? But I oh go ahead I have one more thing to tag on to that Okay, go for it I did have a client and then I'll try to remember what it was I was going to say then you go and I'll and then I'll go Okay, age before beauty. Okay. Thank you And thank you for respecting that Um Another thing as far as technique is concerned is I tend to find that people who are sibilant also are over Projecting and overperforming and over pushing their vocal technique. They are you could definitely coach your that's a sibilant Just if you'll just learn to relax your tongue and talk normally the way we normally talk You know and maybe you know concentrate on that and just learn to relax and not press your tongue so hard against the Roof of your mouth So you're trying to get things out a little bit louder and saying things a little bit more like daffy duck um That will reduce sibilants a whole lot and uh and mic technique is essential But your thoughts again, well, yeah sibilants can be in a lot of different frequency Bands or you know, sometimes it can be really high sibilants the very Top top stuff, right? Sometimes it can be upper mid-range that range that's like sometimes call it the ice pick in the far head range where it's just like And um certain microphones do have a bit of a boost in that range Some of the Neumann's do at a climate client with a tlm 49 When that's not quite as you know popular and in his studio with his voice That upper mid-range sort of rise or boost Was just not flattering on his voice and I was always EQing it trying to flatten it out It's never quite sounded right and that was one of those cases where I recommended Bizarrely a much less expensive microphone for him to try And it would hurt his sensibilities to do that But I said why not give in this case? I said how about a caddy 100 s a shot great mic because There's a really cool website. You know it recording hacks.com. You know, they make the the same guys do the uh The microphones jolly the the yeah the jolly he does the uh I'm sorry Why brain farting? Oh, what's the guy's name? You've built some of his mics. Oh ones that you've built the mic parts Same guy that does make parts he does the the mic that uh, jordan reynolds came out. Anyway That uh website allows you to look at frequency charts for each mic and compare two of them on top of each other It's very cool upper right hand corner search for mics Once you see a frequencies plot click on it It pops up in its own window and once you're in there There's another search box so you can type in another mic and it will overlay the frequency responses And what was amazing was that a tlm had this like Curved right here and then the cad was like flat and then had a little bump at the very top So they had very different responses and the cad sounded much smoother much more flattering for him So he was like I can't believe i'm gonna sell this Noiman for this cat. I'm like, you know what it just has to work. It has to work with your voice Right has to sound good. Yeah sounds good It is good and and that's the bottom mic, you know, I just sold my tlm 103 interesting I said I don't I hope chris doesn't see chris. We love you. We love you know, we love you But i'm using a sennheiser 416 almost exclusively now I'm not gonna dump the the great sennheiser noiman mics there, you know, but the tlm 103 just wasn't It it was just wasn't right for me anymore. Yeah, I mean I had it for like 12 years It was my main mic went to the 416 It was it's easier to work with and the mic technique on it is easier. It makes you sound more natural I gotta say I hear that hear that story It's that's because it must be true So and you're not gonna get much sibilance with the 416 unless you really like right on top of it If you shoot it right into your mouth, it's like it's like a laser So if the sibilance is coming from somewhere in your teeth and it's pointing there Oh, it's gonna hear it. Right. That's why the the up and below position works so well Right and and that's why mic technique is so important. You know, and we're always trying to show people Have the mic at about eye level talk underneath it be five to seven inches away or further And make sure you compensate for the with the proper level And usually that eliminates so many problems mouth noises and sibilance and or what perceived sibilance Although I think you and I are probably pretty much convinced That sibilance is in the ear of the beholder not necessarily the reality Of what everybody else is hearing and depending on what they're listening sometimes. Yes. Yes Sometimes that is the case. That is the case So send the audio to us before you make a final judgment and go selling your mic And that's done through your website, which is home voiceover studio.com Where I just click on the specimen collection cup and send me a specimen of your audio And for you and I have that same kind of thing over at george the tech dot com If you go to the services menu you look for a sound check Send your audio in and I'll give you my opinion about what that audio sounds like and what it could be What you could do to make little improvements. So, all right Hey in the right direction Nobody has as much experience with home voiceover studios than you or I Everybody else they're just they're experts in their own studio. No hundreds thousands of studios. We know what's going on All right, keith farley is going to join us in just a couple minutes So stay right where you are. We'll be right back on voiceover body shop Style watching the home of the nfm The all-new iphone reserve your disney world season past now through all the runny noses Three in the morning coughs An all-new american crime story tonight on fx this week only it's pasta-fest at all of garden heart rate prime blood pressure Perfect I grew up with the classics and now with stup hub. I can get authentic tickets to the best shows The all-new chevy cruise from 16 995 Fee inspired they get the beauty that's uniquely yours at sephora this week at home depot It's our garden fest sale with up to 30 off all garden tools sod and seeds. Hi It's j michael collins and these are just a few examples of the first-class demos My team and I are producing if you'd like to have something similar visit jmc voiceover.com and click on the demo production tab to find out more All right, we're back here on voiceover body shop Keith farley is our guest coming up right now Why don't we see and hear some of the stuff he does? Break up with lingering food for that just brushed clean feeling You know that moment the moment you realize you need to do something with your old 401k When you change jobs you certainly didn't take a sabbatical He didn't even go on vacation So why should your retirement savings? Welcome to the new scott trade Whether you know where you're going or need guidance to get there. We're here to help Now is your moment Hey, you want to get with me? No, you're chocolate and i'm a snack If that's wrong, I don't want to be right. Oh Oh, well, hello Hi He's called me six is will make you a beast Ornita is bringing tequila purer than your intentions. I was chosen for this mission Because killing is an art and I am a master You know that moment The moment it hits you seems like yesterday she was born and tomorrow she'll be off to college Let's see 12 years with inflation Who let that sink in for a moment? Then come see us Welcome to the new scott trade Whether you know where you're going or need guidance to get there. We're here to help Now is your moment Hey, you know Keith Farley is an actor voice actor casting director and voice director with a long list of notable credits Keith is also written for produced and or voice directed episodes of rug rats as told by ginger and the wild thornberries Keith is also the co-author of bat boy the musical with brian fleming and lorenzo keith Which was the recipient of the 2001 outer critic circle and lucille lortel awards for best off-broadway musical And guess what he's in our studio right now. Let's welcome keith farley Welcome to the show great to be here dan. Thanks for having me. It's a pleasure to have you here Um, just for the record. Yes, bat boy is not about baseball. It's not no It's about an actual half bat half boy discovered in a cave in west virginia Just just to be clear a common misconception and and you made a musical out of it. We did like almost like fuck what because why not? Which is probably going to be even funnier Anyway, where are you from originally? Uh, i'm all over california. My father worked for the state of california Uh, department of fish and wildlife was in the coast guard. So we bumped around a bit from Fremont in the bay area to long beach and eventually all roads when you're working for the state lead to sacramento Uh, and then I came back down here to finish my degree at ucla and i've been here ever since Fascinating that you would say ucla All great actors that you see the ones that win the academy awards and the ones that are always working You know, they they didn't go to mississippi central state You know, they they i'm sure some of them I'm sure and i'm sure mississippi central state is a great school just not for theater Uh, but the great ones have gone to yale harvard Uh, you know princeton ucla usc What makes them so much better. There's a lot of great schools in chicago too. Don't mean don't forget You and you know don't for northwestern northwestern. Yeah, so there's there a lot of good acting schools around julia art, of course um I don't a lot of them do our audition base now. So they're looking for something particular And I think it may just be um The level of the number of people who audition and then widowing that down It's kind of like what I do with casting is I hear Hundreds of auditions for each role that I'm casting and my job is to we know that down to 10 to 15 20 sometime Performers who I think would be good In the role. So I think it's just it's a numbers game and it's to a certain extent Right. Um, I don't think some of the best actors in the country are thinking about Fresno state Even though they may if I may and I'll tell you They're up and comers Now you've been You've been very successful at making this transition Uh from and you've done a lot of you got a lot of credits on screen credits Did a lot of tv shows did you do law and order? No, I wasn't I wasn't in new york long enough to do law and order sadly, but they're still making them Look how many different versions do they have it's time Yeah, but you you were on a number of very popular series and you were able to get roles in those sorts of things When the video game industry started the takeover you've successfully made that transition into doing voice work direction How did you make that transition? You know, I it's being in the right place at the right time Uh, and I have to give credit where credit is due that goes to my wife, uh and claus farley. Good part. Yeah, good good boy She um, she was working at claskey chupo Uh, and it was a pa there and when the show went on hiatus She ended up picking up a job at spumco with john chris falusi doing the original renon stimpies Yes, yes, the the bass always I was for that show the caveat is the original renon stimpy when john and his crew Were in control. So she was having a blast working over there She was the head of the fan club and also artist intake So when duck man came back She didn't want to go back to work as a pa on duck man. She was happy where she was at So she was like, why don't you go do the pa thing? I was like, why? I have a semi I have a bit of a career and you know, i'm a live tour and table waiting, um off and on Uh, but she talked me and she said what do you want to do with your life? I said, I want to write and direct an act and she said you're gonna meet writers at claskey You're gonna meet directors at claskey and actors come through there every day. So I went as a pa And I did craft services for the recordings and I got to meet Wow Jason alexander people who I still work with today greg berger eg daily who are all on Duck man, right? And so I got to know them a little bit there I worked my way up through the production ladder over the course of three years And then two things happened. We did a film festival in park city, utah We had a film that my writing partner brian fleming had made that he had put me in Which was rejected from sundance rejected from slam dance. So we went to park city and opened slum dance Which was a uh a unique independent film festival of one off 1997 And the basement of the mrs. Fields cookie factory, which happened to be right next door to the egyptian theater on main street So it was a terrific, um opportunity got us a lot of attention We had an offer to do some stuff with the independent film channel And bat boy was starting to get some heat. So I went to my boss and I said hey, listen I take a little time off to go Some of this stuff is starting to come through and you said, you know what? We've been thinking about you and our new creative director paul demyre who um, I'd worked with on mad tv Producing uh the spy versus spy interstitials for mad tv Which was the best job ever because I got to sit at my desk and go through mad magazines And decide which which of the spy versus spies were the ones of my favorite cartoons of all time me too and um So paul was becoming creative director of the studio and he felt that he could talk to everybody on staff from the writers to the colorists to the designers But he just didn't really feel like he knew how to communicate with actors Uh and had a sense that I did So they said if listen if you want to take over voice directing for rug rats You'll work one or two days a week. You'll make about what you're making now And then you'll be free to do these other projects. Um that have come your way as well So it was a real gift to me from paul and and from margot pipkin I want a great cast too to work with it was a bit daunting I won't lie as a as a very green. I'd done some directing with the actor's gang Which is a theater company that I belong to um, but to walk into that room with jack riley and again with e.g Daily and katsu see melanie charred off michael bell. I mean it's a spectacular cast tom bosley Tom bosley. Yep. Yep. Yep. And then joel aske uh in the later years Um, it was just a it was a real trial by fire and it took me a while to get my legs under me But once uh that first season was coming to a close We had a working relationship that carried for five seasons and that led to rug rats video games Ah, which then introduced me to a lot of the people that I'm working with today. So it really was about marrying well And oh always a good one being in the right place at the right time, right? So you've you've you've graduated from you know the rug rats video games to This new genre that I mean it's not all that new all these these rpgs and and they're really telling a story The video game business is it's outperforming the movie business these days. Yeah, and uh, so How is it that you know, you were able to make that transition to that? Well, it's all for me. It's all storytelling It's all about making sure that the whatever's on the printed page Um gets to the audience as clearly as possible. So I'm working in partnership with actors to try to make sure that their performance Is telling the story as simply and clearly as it possibly can Now it's from what I could see from some of the trailers It's very cinematic and they're probably using a lot of cinematic things with it But it's most of it's all cg and and not real people in them except Occasionally it is live action, isn't it? It's been it's there are so many different ways That's the the amazing thing about the video game industry that's so different from the film industry I love the studios being built around us as we do the show. This is This is just a this is thrilling. Um It's gonna be great when it's finished. It's really it's gonna be so great. We're so hopeful I told me I don't get I don't get pelted at some point Um your question Uh, well, we were talking about, you know, the the way video games are today and it's such a huge business But, you know, it involves creating characters. Ah, we're talking about mo cap and performance capture Yes, and there are so many different ways to to skin that. I mean, we've done Uh voice matches to performers who kind of pantomime right sometimes the performers on the mo cap stage will receive the dialogue that we record Uh and perform to that Uh frequently now it's an actor is hired to do a full performance Right on a stage Uh a game I did a couple years ago called farpoint We had two actors. Um, laura bailey and ek amati who were in the full body suits with the cameras on their heads ek is one of my faves Um, laura is no slouch either. Um Uh, but they were both it was a full performance capture. Um vr title, which was really interesting because in vr It's as if I'm sitting next to you right now and I can move in closer and move away and look over here And um, the camera goes with you. So the the performance there was meant to be extremely intimate Um, which was a lot of fun. Hmm. It's if you're just joining us, you've missed a lot already The studio falling apart everything all these fun things that go on here at voiceover body shop Our guest is keith farley who is an actor casting director and voice Uh director and a bunch of other things along with being a writer We can even talk about that a little bit more Uh, if you've got a question for him throw it in the chat room And we know jack daniel is here because he's sitting on the couch right over here acting as our social medias are And getting those questions to us uh, what goes into your character creating process I mean most of us are you know, we're just reading the copy and stuff You're doing some serious acting here. How do when you see a role you've auditioned for something or you're auditioning How do you create that character? From cold. I mean if you're auditioning for it or something along those lines But you you have to ask yourself some questions. Okay, and that's the thing is like so often I think we we get the we get our material and we're just in a hurry to get to the microphone and do our performance Um, but it does benefit to stop and take a moment And ask yourself some acting questions um, I really believe in in uh emotional states Uh, I don't know that it's and it's about what is the audience meant to feel as opposed to What am I feeling which is the method approach? Which is that sort of working inside and creating an authentic emotion? Um, I really believe that we're bringing the best actors or servants to the audience both servants to the writing and to the audience So it's about investing The copy with an emotional state. So I'll go down the side of my copy and just decide and there are only four there's happy sad angry and afraid Uh, and again within those there's a great spectrum of expression from you know content to ecstatic you know from bummed to suicidal So you just you know you find where the spectrum is but the idea is to play those emotional states to know And frequently good copy good audition copy will have three or four or five or eight different Clips right to perform um, and each one You should be able to assign an emotional state fairly quickly So I do that, uh, and then I think about you know, where am I and who am I talking to those are really important questions to ask um because you'll speak to someone differently if you're in a in a dance club then you will if you're Um sitting in bed after some canoodling Absolutely. I just got to make a note that I actually use canoodling in a sentence. So that's done Playing word chums much. Keep it on my hand. There you go. Good. Good. Um A lot of us in the voice acting business, you know, and we are all voice actors Although I for I see a lot of examples of voice overacting As opposed to voice over. Um, I will credit you every time I use that from now Thank you very much. Oh, I'm glad I came up with that. Uh, so We're voice actors, but a lot of us are not doing Big characters. We're not doing animation. We're not doing video games as much as everybody wants to because it is such a hefty business these days Um, and it's difficult to do if you're not here in Los Angeles. True. Um, How can you create a character To read something about let's talk about diarrhea You know or let's or you're doing some medical narration and talking about ankylosine spondylitis to a bunch of doctors who are sitting on their How do you make that? How do you create something that is going to Make that's gonna bring that copy alive even though some of that copy is death warmed over And again, I guess it's asking the same questions. That's the nature of the beast, isn't it? I mean, it's it's about the writing And it's about bringing what's on that page to the audience and trying to with as with as much clarity as possible that comes back to the the The technical components of a performance of having a voice that is clear And precise And a lot of times that's all that's required But it never hurts to have a point of view and to drop those ideas in like Who am I talking to? Where am I who am I talking to because once again if you are If you sit down with your medical copy and you imagine that you're sitting I did a couple of These sort of things for ford And for city bank and the imagination there was just that instead of the computer screen That's where I would sit So i'm talking to someone who probably doesn't want to be here But i've got some important information that I need to get across about diversity or the latest Thing and i'm just going to talk to you about it um Because it's important and so once you just kind of put those little tiny things in your head It it helps to a make the medicine go down And two it also helps you connect with the person who's sitting on the other side of the Of the computer screen or in the conference room and again if you're in a conference room you're That's a where am I question and that's going to be a different read Yeah, because talking to 150 people is different than talking to one right and and of course they'll say this is for a conference Where everybody's going to be watching it or this is for a training film that Guys are going to be sitting and gals are going to be sitting in a conference room going Do I have to watch this? And you gotta let's make it it's right. Let's make it interesting. Yeah, and let's make it compelling it's the question I come back two questions that I come back to almost Every time I'm working with a client or a student or even in the booth And directing although we frequently go over that information When we're working right like here's where you are. Here's who you're talking to right We had uh, elco just asking out a couple weeks ago. I love a great guy. He just retired You know, so he won't help anybody with their career now. I don't think But couldn't hurt to ask Uh, but we talked about the casting process from the agents perspective. Sure and as a casting director What's your process like you talked about it a couple minutes ago, but Tell us really what goes into Casting for a video game or for anything for that matter. I like to try to I mean, there's a wide range of materials that you'll get for a casting audition Um, sometimes it's two or three or four pages of Here's the universe of the game here are the characters of the game Here are games that have come before and here's our character Here are some actor vocal references that you can look at etc etc etc But I try to distill that for the agent down to Two or three sentences. Okay. Um that will just give a How old is the character male or female? Is there any sort of accent that needs to go and then just a real quick Um description of the character usually a sentence or two or three for each of the characters And I send that out with the sides attached that have the more thorough descriptions Agents don't have a lot of time They're dealing with this avalanche and they're trying to get this work out to their clients Get the materials back make it sound nice send it off So I want to take up as little of the agent's time as possible and give them a really clear idea Of exactly what I'm looking for in as little space as possible The actors can then take time with the material and I hope they will And then when I get the materials back agents will send between five and 25 Auditions, I mean agents some agents have enormous rosters and just send me an avalanche of clients and then I'm going through and I'm listening through to again, as I said before to whittle those down to Um, I usually make a file folder with the people that I think are right for the role And then a second file folder with which usually contains Actors that I thought were interesting Uh, or if I'm a little off base Um That the clients can then go in there and sort of dig around a little bit and then sometimes if there's room I'll throw in some alts for people who were I thought maybe I'd like to see and if there's going to be callbacks It's even more interesting because I'll put people in those files that I would like to see thinking Really interesting performance and if I work with them We can really get something that's right So all of that sort of goes into it and it's very it's not the not a conscious process I mean you're listening and it's a lot of it is very instinctual. Right. Just like ah, there it is Uh, no no No Maybe right, you know file that one over so But it's tricky and it's hard. I have to take I take I have to take a lot of breaks because It's really easy to get worn down when you're listening to the same Copy over and over again and a lot of people doing it the same way Yeah, or even if they're doing it different ways It's still it just becomes this your head just starts to ring with what's going on So I take lots of breaks every every, you know 3045 minutes I'd take the headphones off and take the dogs for a walk or have a glass of water Or you know something just to clear my head so I can come back fresh What can people do To improve their chances in an audition for something like that I know there's a billion different things. We give us one or two little tidbits that at least would work for you It's really fun. I think When I a lot of times when I teach or when I'm doing guest workshops I I just tell the students it's like everyone's looking for the magic key That opens the door to booking everything you audition for and that key doesn't exist Focus instead on being a better actor focus instead on making sense of the material Focus instead on where am I who am I talking to what state am I playing and all the acting questions and Focusing rather on you know, I get auditions. I did a wonderful Thing recently where a bunch of actors sent me auditions and I got to respond to each individual actor And so often I was like man your signal chain sounds great But think about how you're performing, you know, they spent so much time majoring And then I know you guys major in these in these things, but it's majoring in the minors for an actor You want to and george said it earlier you want a setup and you said it too where you can press play and play Right or press record and play yeah set it and forget it right as opposed to like all I think about is how great my signal sounds and Less focus goes in or how great my voice sounds right you get a lot of people who are really really good at Making copies sound delicious Uh, and that doesn't work for some alien who's about to slaughter somebody else when you're getting into animation and video game voiceover in particular and even more and more into commercial video you want to have a um An idea of where you are who you're talking to play an emotional state and make a connection Think about the person who's listening and what you want them to feel ah, okay, so You get through that process And you book the gig And there you are in the booth and so many of us are so used to being self-directed especially in auditions because it's like Okay, what do I do with this and you do the copy and You know, maybe make the right choice and out of a hundred times You know, even though you know, you're not going to get the freaking job But eventually you are and when you do You're going to work with a director How do you work with a director and and not make yourself look like an idiot? It's sometimes looking like an idiot's part of the game if it calls for that in the script I can understand that but how how do you work with a director? What's what's the real key? Just cooperating I would imagine. Yeah, don't be the one thing that that New actors that really green actors tend to mistake direction for criticism, right? Uh, and it's not um view the director as a partner I view the actor as a partner and I view myself as a partner When I'm directing and when I'm acting I'm on the other side I want to again if you're if you're if your mindset is that of a servant That you want to be you want to service the author and the audience, right? Then the director is your partner in that in that process So that when an actor when a director says, uh, no, let's let's slow it down a little bit Let's hit this word and that word saying. Oh god. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry Sorry just puts you in that negative spiral as opposed to first time I had James Arnold Taylor came in for a piece I was directing and I gave him a piece of direction and he went Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Thanks. Thanks for that And that was like a revelation for me as the director. I was like, oh He said thank you for the direction and if you if you maintain that attitude of Of gratitude, um, which rhymes and I'm sure somebody has written that book Yeah, I have an attitude of gratitude. Um It helps It helps That said If if the direction is not helping you, right? I've heard this direction from someone who shall remain nameless This character is based on my daughter's preschool teacher That's exactly what happened. Oh, that's exactly what happened on the other side of the glass the actor went Uh They want to give you what you want But they can't because they don't know who your daughter's preschool teacher is But they have to but they can't but they have to but they can't and again You get in the spiral and you end up Not being able to perform at all. So I try to keep a very welcoming, um warm environment in the studio. I try to keep things Light pleasant, um and remind To remind everybody that we are making games and the best way to do that is to play ourselves, right? So yeah, and I like people who play the games to actually be doing them too Okay, it doesn't matter. Some do some don't a good actors can do it Right and again, it's a very specialized skill set animation and video games in particular animation At least you get the script the night before With video games you walk in and there's a stack of paper on a microphone stand and a microphone And you have to just go right And hopefully you can get some context from your director and hopefully the writer is there But that's not always the case. So you've got to make quick choices on the fly and be able to just Stand and deliver. Okay. Once again, we're talking with Keith Farley about all sorts of stuff And we're we're covering the gamut here. Uh, if you've got a question throw it in the chat room We get lots of questions there jack outstanding. All right. Let's talk about about the union for a bit. Uh Some people have been saying that the union really doesn't care about voice over a whole lot at least not true And tell us what the union is was doing here. It's not true Uh, we just last week Uh, it's uh opened the vo department at sag aftra Uh, which is now staffed up, um by katie watson who is an extraordinary. I've been working with her Uh for the last couple years. She, um promulgated our low budget interactive agreement, which has been really successful She's had her hand in the interactive world. She knows what she's doing. She'll be covering interactive promos and trailers For a second after that's the voiceover department animation goes under tv theatrical Um, because that's where it lives. Uh, and commercials go under the commercial contract. So for interactive promos and trailers katie watson is your person and she's got a staff on board We have organizers who are taking vo actors out to lunch taking vo actors out to lunch taking i You know, i haven't been asked out to lunch yet. So i'm you're talking the right guy So and um, i'm really excited. We're we're starting to do Workshops to help actors manage their business and manage their careers and manage their voices Uh and next monday night, um, you'll have to watch this show on tape I guess on the youtube because we're having a vocal health seminar Uh at sag after i'll bet you're having dr. Gupta on there dr. Rina gupta. She's good. She is she's amazing I hope she brings her scope The last time last time I went to her workshop. She had the live scope. Oh, yeah Let's take a look at your lyrics and she got this dude up who had done two four hour creature sessions The day before Yeah, and scoped him sprayed him with the you know, relax your throat Put the scope down in there and we could see his vocal cords that you could see That there was a little bit of bruising and a little bit of damage and it was just as clear as a bell And it was so great. She's like, yeah, you're good. Everything's fine. You know, it's just I would just take seven to ten days of vocal rest And everybody seven to ten Yeah, just don't talk for seven to ten days and your voice will heal up right nice like Yeah You're gonna be you're gonna be silent for 240 hours. So factor that in Good to know But that's the you know, that's the nature of the business. I mean, that's what we do um, and I think actors and I think that um developers too are starting to Understand when I work for Activision um, they have reduced all vocally stressful sessions to two hours Uh years ago Um, and they told me straight up They were like we don't get good performances after two hours when actors are projecting at this level When they're doing these textured voices that right, you know that do they hurt There's no way around it. Yeah, I gotta give them some breaks Yeah, keep so we're doing that and then later in the year we'll do um some talk about contracts we're trying to keep folks up uh to speed on the bonuses that are now available for the video game contract and um We just want to make sure that there's a really clear It's up it's goes two ways like the union needs to be responsive And in order for the union to be responsive, they have to be listening to the performers Um, and performers need to know who to call and how to get good service And the union needs to provide good service because there are too many stories that I've heard over the years about Making four phone calls and getting four different answers um, so we're trying to working really hard, um with the interactive performers committee and the national voiceover committee of which I'm chair um to Really make sure that the union is responsible to vo actors and that vo actors are communicating with the union so they could be responsive It's a two-way street. So it's our union. So we got to take charge and step up. All right Well, we got we're gonna have lots of questions from our audience, but one last thing And I guess george knows a lot about this the vo lounge Tell us about the vo lounge It was a dream of mine. Um, I was we we had bought a house a few years ago We kind of got it all set up and I had my office with my studio in the closet, which was reasonably soundproof Um, and I was walking one day through a hallway that split these two tiny rooms And I had my kid sleeping on one side and the other side was kind of a sitting room for her and her friends Which never got used it just became a hallway And I stood in the in on that wall and I kind of looked at one side And I looked to the other and I thought god if this wall went away This would make a really nice space where I could Work out and I could have students in and that began the dream And I gave george a call and we started working together and um I went from just the initial packet of stuff and looked through that I'm gonna need a project manager on this one. It's kind of a big deal Um and worked with george as the manager and then a really great Mark shouten sho u t e and uh was our contractor who had done Sound work before and his name for that. Yeah, shout. He was shouting all over the place But you couldn't hear him because it was soundproof Um, and it's just a beautiful space we um initially Drop the booth in like a just a big rectangle And then I realized it needed to kind of be on a 45 degree bias much like your studio is here um so that I could Put a banquette in and get eight students in there comfortably um And we managed to make that work and it sounds great and uh, it's just a lot of fun to have that Uh available. We're just wrapping up our first round of uh classes Uh for character vo for animation and video games and getting ready to start up a second round So I don't know if any of your students or any of the folks out there in the ally area if I was interested in that How would one Contact you and get involved get to keith farley.com. That's k e y t h e f a r l e y dot com and uh Click over to the vo lounge and then you'll you'll there's contact information there good more stuff to do All right Well, we're talking with keith farley. We've got lots of questions from our audience and uh, we'll get to those Right after these messages Your dynamic voiceover career requires extra resources to keep moving ahead Now there's one place where you can explore everything the voiceover industry has to offer that place is voiceover extra dot com Whether you're just exploring a voiceover career or a seasoned veteran ready to reach that next professional level Stay in touch with market trends coaching products and services while avoiding scams and other pitfalls voiceover extra Has hundreds of articles free resources and training that will save you time and help you succeed Learn from the most respected talents coaches and industry insiders When you join the online sessions bringing you the most current information on topics like audio books auditioning casting home studio setup and equipment marketing performance techniques and much more It's time to hit your one-stop daily resource for voiceover success Sign up for a free subscription to newsletters and reports and get 14 bonus reports on how to ace the voiceover audition It's all here at voiceover extra dot com. That's voice over x t r a dot com Your dynamic voiceover career requires extra resources to keep moving ahead Now there's one place where you can explore everything the voiceover industry has to offer that place is voiceover extra dot com Whether you're just exploring a voiceover career or a seasoned veteran ready to reach that next professional level Stay in touch with market trends coaching products and services while avoiding scams and other pitfalls Voiceover extra has hundreds of articles free resources and training that will save you time and help you succeed Learn from the most respected talents coaches and industry insiders when you join the online sessions Bringing you the most current information on topics like audio books auditioning casting home studio setup and equipment marketing performance techniques and much more It's time to hit your one-stop daily resource for voiceover success Sign up for a free subscription to newsletters and reports and get 14 bonus reports on how to ace the voiceover audition It's all here at voiceover extra dot com. That's voice over x t r a dot com You know One of the best sponsors we have on the show and it's great having sponsors because it does help us like Pave the bills because it's not for free But it's important that we have great sponsors on this show people who have believed in what we've been doing for seven years and The guy that's been with us all along is harlin hogan and he runs a great website this Only for you voice actors called voice over essentials dot com voice over essentials dot com He has everything you could possibly need in a home voiceover studio So if george and i tell you you need one of these or you need one of those That's one of the best places to go and there's a lot of good reasons for that One he's got his signature series products like the vo1a microphone, which george will now talk into This is the vo1a microphone And we have the uh, and he's also wearing the harlin hogan's signature series headphones. Please model those for us george There they are right there beautiful headphones wonderful Band on it that's got memory foam and leather and it's just great stuff and uh, also He's got a lot of other cool things that are there along with his book about recording voiceover for for modern voice actors and A lots of other books and lots of other products, but the best part is is He takes care of his customers like nobody else out there If you don't like what you get which is impossible you buy a portable. You're gonna love it It's gonna work. You buy the headphones. They're gonna work. You're gonna love them But if for some strange reason you're one of those people it's like it's not up to my expectations Return it. He'll take it back. No questions asked. He may ask us some questions But he won't say a word to you about it So go on over to voiceover essentials dot com Best way to do that is go to the bottom of the page here at the vobs website And there's a picture of harlan talking into his portable pro You'll recognize him. He's the guy with the gray hair wearing the headphones talking into a portable bro Click on that. It will take you right over to voiceover essentials dot com And you can buy every last thing he has on the shelf there because it will benefit you So go on over there right now and thanks for sponsoring us for seven years harlan. We love you Through all the runny noses three in the morning coughs An all-new american crime story tonight on fx this week only it's pasta fest at all of garden heart rate prime blood pressure Perfect, I grew up with the classics and now with stup hub. I can get authentic tickets to the best shows The all-new chevy cruise from 16 9 95 Be inspired then get the beauty that's uniquely yours at sephora this week at home depot It's our garden fest sale with up to 30 of all garden tools sod and seeds Hi, it's j michael collins and these are just a few examples of the first class demos My team and I are producing if you'd like to have something similar visit jmc voiceover dot com and click on the demo production tab to find out more And we're back here on voiceover body shop keith farley is our guest and we're talking about all sorts of cool stuff in the voiceover business Especially in animation and video games and stuff like that But we've got lots of great questions from our wonderful audience out there Thank you for being with us in the chat room and uh participating in the show scott brick had a quick comment He's actually watching our show scott is one of my dear friends He's a great guy says this is one of those moments where the love button is woefully insufficient Keith's perspective is invaluable and I will always learn something and that's a sign of a great actor He continues to learn scott is a terrific actor. I had the pleasure of uh playing uh with him in hamlet Oh gosh on the uh fruit playhouse at ucla he played he was her ratio And I was forton bros And I got to the director had a brilliant idea to place me uh upstage center on a big pedestal And have me sit there, uh not only through the entire production of hamlet But from the half hour before when the audience came into the theater unmoving Throughout hamlet and then at the end I stood up and had my little soliloquy and split So That was me and scott circa 19 But uh scott's a dear dear dear friend Yeah, and he credits his shakespary in acting to a lot of his success in audiobooks, too So it doesn't hurt. All right. Tom ancient has a question. Mr. Whittom a question. He's got when you really break it down He has four. Okay. Well, let's see if we can combine them a little bit. Yes. No, maybe Uh most of the time moving on Um The first part is that what are the four things? Four so the first question has four parts. What are the four things you look for in a video game demo? That's a great question because um video game demos are sort of are up and coming right now And I'll let you in on a dirty little secret If if you're auditioning for a video game chances are i'm gonna listen to your commercial demo Ooh Video game demos are great. Uh, and I think they're they're useful. Um, there's a lot of work in the video game industry So having one is a really good idea, but frequently i'm just looking for the sound of your Natural voice i'm just looking for what you sound like and I can sort of figure then if you want So if you're not doing an audition for me, if i'm just saying like hey listen, I need 20 characters to do this and that and this agents will send me names and I will listen to demos And more often than not I will listen to the the commercial demo Um before I would listen to an interactive demo You're gonna get a good idea of who that person is right now without them voice over acting that said when if you're Going to do one uh understand where you fit right in the industry. Um know the industry and know where you fit in it We don't need to hear Frequently like really high clear voices as military grunts Nor do we want to hear low gruff voices as unix so Know know where you fit in the in the industry and pace your demo out accordingly Those would be the best things and again same same things comes back to Who am I where am I who am I talking to you? What's my emotional state? All right, if I hear those things coming across. Um, I'm with you Do you actually spend uh thomas also asked you actually spend Much time listening to the demos and how about how long do you listen to any one demo? Well, you did you did well you talked about editions and stuff. Yeah, yeah But for demos like it could it be various two seconds? Yep, or it could be 30 seconds if you're enthralled. Yep. It can be a lot of times it'll it'll It's a very quick either a very quick yes or no That's not always just listening to five seconds of a demo. It doesn't mean that That I don't like it It may be like oh, that's perfect That can happen in five seconds too. Wow um, it's easy the yes or no's come really quickly it's the Those folks with the interesting with the the unique perspectives the folks that I'm like Let me give this a few more. Oh, that's really interesting. Okay. Uh, so Very nice. Thank you. Oh sure. That was for the four questions. Yeah. Yeah, it was Kind of Editing on the fly. Yeah, scott scott brick says you still look awesome in spray paint pal Inside joke. Yes Uh, jarard maguire asks is all casting done via agents and is it necessary to have an agent and to be union To get a good video game gig. Yes There you go Good being the underline. I'd I'd say you'd have to I'm a good video game. Yeah There are non union low budget video games. I'm sure being produced out there. There are There are and we've gone after them. I mean, we're we're trying and and we partnered with them I mean that's part of the outreach is to be in touch with Talented folks who are currently non union and to say hey, listen You're ready to you're ready to come over and you can keep to provide contracts that allow them To keep working on the games they're working on our low budget contract provides a two hour minimum Which is really common. We discovered when we talked to non union and five core actors and discovered what they were making And we designed a contract that provided that same level of compensation, but with union Um compensation so you get health insurance you get a nice pension when you get too old work All right, Nate coffin. Yeah, he says On average, do you feel like video game scripts are lacking when you compare them to scripts and other genres or industries How's the writing and video games? How's that coming better and better? Yeah Better and better. Yeah, I've been really really lucky really fortunate to work on games that have Really really good writing. Um It's particularly the final fantasy, uh, which I just finished was a translation um Dan Inouye and matt furta and their team of translators just did a beautiful job Of localizing what was originally written in japanese to make it feel like an english language Game so really grateful to them Even a game like skylanders um, which is a lot of silly dialogue for the characters Um had some really clever writing had some really neat little ways to to do stuff um, but to the larger point telling a story In a two hour or a 90 minute format is something that we've been doing for 100 years um telling a compelling story over a 10 to 50 hour Format is a little is a little newer. It's a little bit. It doesn't have quite the history So I think the video game industry is still figuring out how to do this And I think they're getting better and better at it. I witnessed like if you haven't taken a look at the um god of war The new game that's coming out. It is the first 15 minutes are just stunning Uh, and the performances in particular Um are really beautiful draws you in it draws you in the game and the technical aspect of it. It's shot Like it's one camera It's one continuous shot for the whole game and the camera just keeps there's no cuts There's no loading screens. There's no nothing. I don't know how they did it But kori barlog who's the director on that game? Uh, and who I got was fortunate enough to work with on god of war two Um, just did a beautiful beautiful job. When you say 15 minutes. Is that a 15 minute? uh cinematic Thing that before the gameplay actually starts are you talking about the gameplay itself? It starts with a shot of credo standing next to a tree which he then puts in a kayak and takes to his son who is Going in and he talks to his his wife. Yeah, and then they go off on a trek and it's like hunt the deer kid Um, and he does and he misses the deer and then they come on some demons and it's gameplay Wow, and it never the camera never cuts I've been out of the gaming loop. It is so long. I used to play like half life and these older And then you'd see this amazing cinematic and it looked incredible because I threw everything they had at Then the gameplay would start and it's like Those those days are gone now, right? I mean the cinematic flows right that was the thing that that god of war the original did which was trying to eliminate Loading screens Yeah Was this idea of cut scenes that the game can be loading while there's a scene playing So that should feel like a seamless And now they've got it to a point where it feels like a seamless shot That's awesome. That might make me go by again. That's what I'm saying It's sold a bajillion copies and I and again I didn't I didn't work on this one, but It's it's beautiful beautiful Good to know Tracy Reynolds asks when she's not talking to her kids When auditioning commercial demos, what catches your attention and keeps you listening longer? Well known national products and businesses or unknown local products and businesses Neither it's it's the the approach It really again, it doesn't matter The product itself. I mean, it's all you know It's thrilling. I suppose. I mean I open my my demo with orbit gum and sarah silverman Okay, I also like my read That's real that's real content. Yeah, in other words, it's reel because it's all right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, that's all stuff that I actually did Yeah, right. Um, so that's fun. But yeah, putting it on your reel again. It comes back to that's kind of again majoring in the minors Which is you know, what product should I endorse? Well? I tell you what on my commercial demo. I think there's still some stuff on there I literally had taken a commercial demo class And I was sitting at home On the toilet with a copy of wired magazine And there was a lexus ad and I was like that's pretty good copy And then I flipped the page and there was an IBM ad Like that's pretty good copy and I and I got like three or four pieces of copy out of the wired magazine that I was just sitting there with And the other thing I used to do and this another secret of mine was I love I realized I love golf And b when I was watching golf I started to realize that my voice was Was close to what I was hearing from you have very golf like voice the luxury the luxury car The financial services All that sort of stuff was sort of suited my my timber. So I started Copying them. I just started when I would watch golf In the app, you know on a saturday or sunday afternoon. I would just Repeat whatever was being said in those and when I finally got that scott trade account And it showed on the open, right? You know in britain The british open. I just thought I did it. There you go You know, it was a huge dream come true. It's like hitting the green after when I do it went on to five buyers, you know, you know Know where you fit no again to to know What type where do I where does my voice best fit and the luxury cars and the upscale IBM? And I guess gum too from well, you know, yeah, thank thank goodness for that Um was a lot of fun. Yeah One last question here. We'll get the last one in from jason jason brockman. This is an interesting one. Yeah But how do you uh deal with moral implications of advertising? I'm I'm trying to figure out the angle. He's coming. I think I know what he means. Yeah um I is the truth in advertising part that he means by moral or moral in terms of I mean from for me personally, um There are products That I won't endorse. Yeah, just because of my own Beliefs there are times when I've turned down auditions for certain products. Yeah, um that I just don't feel are um That I don't want to I don't want to lend myself to promoting but um, so, you know They there aren't a lot of them. I guess I don't know what that says about me morally But there are you know, I I do there there is a there is a line that I that I won't cross Uh, I mean, I was thinking of it that that makes sense and I was thinking of it from another angle, which is The whole you know truth in advertising thing when you're it's an ad for a product that you like But you don't think the ad is completely Truthful that's another kind of moral dilemma Does that something you've come across and you just say well, you know, I'm gonna sell it anyway I mean again, that's a question for each for each individual because you do have to feed your family And when you get to a certain level You can start to have You can start to employ those things. Um, I think it's really difficult early in In a in one's career to say no And again, there were certain things that I have said no to throughout my career um But it's very interesting to see when you see Which I joke about this with my family and not to get too far off topic actors who become enormously famous and then suddenly transcend into some sort of Um spiritual realm or you know some sort of spokesperson for some movement and right or they they become and I I think to myself of like Well, yeah, you can afford to spend your days right, you know Contemplating whatever it is you want to contemplate or going to training seminars or or juicing and you have I had a buddy Comes back to golf Like if he says to me he's because i'm terrible golfer, but I love the game and he goes well, what if you had If you played golf four times a week on the weekends competitively Uh, and then you had a trainer For the rest of the week you had a nutritionist you had someone who was working you out To to improve your muscles and your skills take a couple strokes off your game Yeah, you think you'd get into the 80s is the 70s. Maybe you get down there pretty quick, wouldn't you? And it's the same thing like once you get to that level where you can afford to say no But again, there's a there's that line that I that I wouldn't cross. I have I've done work for armed forces radio um You know the psa is that help the guys understand how to catch their checks Right, um, but I'm but I won't do a recruiting ads. Okay Well, Keith it has been a humongous place. This is a great honor for me. This is really terrific I feel we're thrilled to have you here achievement. There you go. Thanks for having us breaking our new studio setup. Yeah. Hey And we look great All right. Well, we'll be uh, we'll be right back to wrap things up right after this important message Your dynamic voice over career requires extra resources to keep moving ahead Now there's one place where you can explore everything the voice over industry has to offer that place is voice over extra dot com Whether you're just exploring a voice over career or a seasoned veteran ready to reach that next professional level Stay in touch with market trends coaching products and services while avoiding scams and other pitfalls Voice over extra has hundreds of articles free resources and training that will save you time and help you succeed Learn from the most respected talents coaches and industry insiders when you join the online sessions Bringing you the most current information on topics like audio books Auditioning casting home studio setup and equipment marketing performance techniques and much more It's time to hit your one-stop daily resource for voice over success Sign up for a free subscription to newsletters and reports and get 14 bonus reports on how to ace the voice over audition It's all here at voiceover extra dot com. That's voice over x t r a dot com All right. Yeah, that was great conversation. It was I knew he was gonna be great He was it was interesting stuff that I need to know And if I need to know it all of you need to know it and what's nice Well, you know working with on keith that was a it was a long-term project He there was a lot of planning waiting Figuring things out So I got to meet with keith and hang out and talk with him a lot. So it was always a pleasure, man All right, uh next week on this very show Uh, that is may 14th, which is a monday night, which is when we always do the show Dan knocktrab Or is it nacktrab? Jack phyllis said Yeah, he'll be here. He's he's a big guy in narration and promo Work it's it'll be an interesting conversation about that May 21st another promo guy harry dunne will be with us. Oh, well, yeah, I also heard that philip banks Will be with us That's cool live from scotland He's he gonna be streaming in or uh in in he will be live. He will be live with us in scotland Oh far out. That's cool wearing his kilt up at three in the morning Seen him. He does know what time our show is on. You do know that, right? I don't think the man sleeps. So all right. He's busy ranting about something. Uh, who are our donors of the week Oh, man, andrew coughman always he's liking to catch every show now, which is awesome tracy h reynolds Uh keeping on the scroll here voiceover dude Who also is known as cam cornelius? Yes, eric erigoni one of our long time every episode donors Thanks, my friend. Um A collectible collections that one came in from last week. So that gets through the list since we had our last show We appreciate everybody right if you want to donate to the show There's a the tab is still up there, isn't there and once it fell off the edge of the screen And hopefully it's still on there somewhere. We got it. We got our we have we're updating the website So not we yeah the royal we yes So the fine is doing it the fine people at voice actor websites.com are redoing it And uh, that's gonna be that's gonna be great, you know, it looks somewhat the same but much more functional better function Right. Uh, hey, if you need help with your home studio, there are no two better places to go then georgethetech.com and Me dan Leonard I know home voiceover studio.com Best place to go for for those types of problems that you're having or if you're just trying to learn Uh, you've got your geeky podcast people listening in you got lots of subscribers for that I think so. Okay. I don't know. I just talk It's one of those few things where I don't have to do any post. I don't have to know what's going on I just show up once a month and record and do the pro audio suite sounds good. It's a fun show Yeah, uh show logs jack de goalie is still writing everything down although he's gonna take some time off We may need some help someone else doing the show notes for a couple of weeks So if you'd like to volunteer for uh for that, let us know jack will teach you in five minutes how it's done Alrighty, uh, let's see. Uh, we got the we're live. Yeah, we are live now right now Right this minute we are alive and we're live But many of you can't watch it live we realize that so if you want to watch it later It's on v obs.tv. It's on youtube But it's also on a podcast so you can listen to the show if you prefer You can't watch the show for an hour and a half like a lot of people may not be able to Just listen in and you'll get a lot of the same great content and you can get it through Stitcher, uh pod bean itunes Hopefully soon on spotify working on that one. And so you'll be able to find this all over the place Alrighty and show us your booths You know, we had to use the hollywood sign tonight because we haven't used it in a while But uh, you know, we want to see what your booths look like take the picture in landscape Otherwise, it's just sitting in the middle of our our background here. We want to see what you're doing out there Maybe we should get a picture of uh Keith's uh voiceover lounge We definitely should have that for one of our next shows. We'll throw that up there next week It's pretty cool looking Alrighty and if you want to be in our studio live here while we do the show on Monday nights at 6 p.m Pacific time and you're in the greater Los Angeles area write to us at the guys v obs dot tv Just like with the pictures you have of your booth and We'll tell you the secret handshake if you can be here at like quarter to six on us on a monday night And we'll put the dogs away and you can come in. Yeah, the dogs weren't in here tonight They didn't already doesn't know there's carrots Uh, let's see here. That's right. Uh, we need to thank our sponsors, of course like harlan hogan's voiceover Essentials voiceover extra source elements V o to go go voice actor websites.com and j michael collins demos. Alrighty. Well, we need to thank marcie for letting us be out here in the garage and uh Uh catherine curtain for being a great producer and getting us great guests like keith farley jack daniel on chat room duty. Good job All right, buddy And of course our floor producer who is going to be tearing her hair out for the rest of the evening But she did a great job tonight with our new system here Superlino thank you so much for doing that Dealing with our new system. Yes, and jack degollia for doing the show notes and lee pennie simply for being lee pennie I was almost going to let the show end without saying thank you to jerald griffith Who in the clutch was able to get us up to speed with our system? It's called vmax and jerald is is been using it for the last few years for vio atlanta If you've been there you've seen what his his production values are which get better every year And you've seen it streamed perhaps online. That's what he uses. He knows it well And he was there for us tonight to get us on the air. Yeah, so thanks jerald. We really really appreciate it Well, that's gonna do it for us This particular week on voiceover body shop. We'll be back next monday night. We know this is not an easy business You know doing the technical stuff. You're all intimidated by it We're here to help you out and we're here to have you talk with some of the best people in the business So join us next monday night here on voiceover body shop. I'm dan Leonard and i'm george widow and this is voiceover body shop or vio