 Hey, it's time for voiceover body shop. We got a great show tonight. Our guest is the voiceover doctor bill Holmes. Hi, Bill Hey everybody, how you doing? We're doing great. We're gonna have a great time talking about how to fix your VO performance if you use and so if you got questions throw them in the chat room whether you're in Facebook or on YouTube or you know or send up a smoke signal We'll get it out there Jeff Holman is out there right now your questions down and we'll get those questions to Bill and just a little bit Are you ready? Mr. Woodham? Five by five. All right. Mahalo to you, too. All right 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 Whidham 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 our world today Letting you ask your questions and giving you the latest information to make the most of your voice over business Welcome to voiceover body shop Voice over body shop is brought to you by voiceover essentials comm home of Harlan Hogan signature products source elements remote studio connections for everyone voice actor websites.com where your VO website isn't a pain in the butt VO heroes dot-com become a hero to your clients with award-winning voiceover training JMC demos when quality matters and voiceover 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, hello there. I'm Dan Leonard. I'm George Woodham And this is voiceover body shop or VO Well, welcome to another live show for those of you who are smart enough to watch the show live because you can ask your questions in one of the chat rooms that you might be watching in and We can get those questions to our guest tonight who is Bill Holmes. We'll talk to him in a second, but as usual, you know once or twice a year Los Angeles needs a rinse I Forgot to park my car outside Yes, it's filthy it. Well. Yeah, but that's the thing don't wash your car when it rains here But when it doesn't rain it does just collects. It's a dusty place Yeah, but the Sun is out now and that's so back to sunny southern California. Oh my gosh The Sun is out wow Far out man. Isn't that amazing? All righty Well tonight we we're gonna be talking about all sorts of fun stuff about fixing your your your voice over performance and So again, we invite you to ask your questions and we'll get to those in a little while But right now it's time to introduce our guest Bill Holmes The voiceover doctor for over 35 years Bill Holmes has been working in film television theater comedy and Advertising during that time. He's been part of the voice over world as an actor director producer teacher manager When does he sleep over the last 35 years? He has solidified himself as one of the top demo producers in the nation and an acting coach of the highest regard And he's proud of the incredible percentage of his students and demo clients that have gone on to successful careers in the voiceover Community so let's welcome once again to voiceover body shop bill Holmes bill welcome to the show once again Turn your icon Turn your mic I gotta push a button I keep forgetting Great to have you back on the show it's been a couple of years and you know the fact is that you're right down the street So you should be able to come here, but you know, I know Well, you know the the the covid the pandemic i'm i'm trapped inside the studio here with bob's big boy in the back and We're just slinging burgers together for some extra money Does that make you hungry? I mean every time you see that like, you know, I can really use it a little bit Yeah, sometimes you go go get a double decker Yeah, or a pastrami burger. Yeah. Yeah Oh, yeah Anyway, welcome back to the show. Uh, you know, you're you're a well known entity Here in our business and certainly here in la but how did you know? I always ask this question off the top. Yes, and that is how did you get into the voiceover business? It's not something that you know, you know when I when I was growing up on I want to be a voiceover artist or I want How did how did you come about into this career? Well, uh You know in high school, uh, I was doing plays and everything and my my my drama teacher said, you know You could do this for a living and I was like, are you kidding me? And then then I went to a prestigious acting school in Chicago the Goodman school of drama Uh back in 1979 1980 And they promptly threw my ass out of there They said, you know, why don't you why don't you not do this? So, you know, Dan, I like I like to brag that I've been thrown out of some of the best schools in the country and uh, so um, but I just proceeded to Become an actor in Chicago. So I did a lot of stage. I did some musicals Um, but what I realized when I got married at a young age was the most amount of money was in commercials So I I heavily pursued because you I mean theater you can make hundreds of dollars in theater Oh, yeah, okay a month. Yeah. Yeah so um, so I decided to uh do commercials and I I got a great agent in Chicago a million Lawrence at the time and uh, there was an agent there her name was linda jack And she ran the voiceover department at Amelia Lawrence and I was this this cocky young kid and I said I said to her Uh, you know, because back then they were all uh, uh, you know tapes real to real quarter inch tapes And they there would be shelves and shelves of tapes all I said to her I said look I I want to do this voice thing And she was like, you know, why don't you go get an acting job first? I hadn't really done any commercials yet And I said so if I if I get an acting job, you'll you'll join the union. You'll let me do this. She goes. Yeah So, uh, so bob, it took me about six or seven months, but I finally booked a an industrial film an industrial film that uh, uh, Catherine jouston was in actually I like bragging about that I was in a film with Kathy jouston and uh, and so anyway, uh, I went immediately back to her and I said, okay I booked this job. I'm in the union. I want to do this. I want to do this So she said here go on this audition and I remember what it was. It was for clark candy bars And uh, I uh, I I booked it I wanted to book in it and then she sent me on a second audition And I wanted to book in that and she's like, all right get me a demo and let's let's do this And that's how I kind of broke into Uh, the voice over world when it was a very very different world. Okay um Then jumped to a few years later. I'm here in los angeles and quite honestly my voice over career came to an abrupt stop It just stopped 100 because nobody knew me in los angeles and um But I was doing a lot of on-camera commercials and stuff So I didn't really pay attention to it, but then started going off the Yep, you lost your mic again there bill. Sorry When they started going off the air, I thought well, maybe I should do voice over again and so, uh You know, I tried to get agents and the agents weren't really that interested in me and uh, and it wasn't until I uh, I had I was with don pits actually back in the day um, who and don if you kids out there don't know don pits. He's a Legendary agent. So I was very lucky to get done And uh don called me up said listen. They need a reader over at the voice caster The voice caster at the time it was the the biggest and the almost the only voice casting facility in los angeles in the country and uh, so they uh, I said, yeah I'll go over and be a reader didn't pay anything I just was helping bob loyed up bob owned the voice caster back then And uh, while I was being a reader, uh You know bob uh talked to me about you know, he needed a director and I said well You know, I I live around the corner. I'll come in and direct and he's like great start friday So I started directing at the voice caster That's where I started my directing career and that's where uh, I got known as a voice artist because All the agents finally knew my name They knew I was bill at the voice caster And I was going to lunch with these people and and in christmas parties and stuff and all the agents that I had been Pursuing over the years that I was here, you know kept saying how come we've never heard of you How come you you should come and get send us your demo. I'm like, okay I I didn't have the heart to tell them. Oh, I've been you've been rejecting me for years now, you know So so uh, so I sent a demo over and I believe I signed with uh, sandy schnarr who was one of the top agents to this day and The rest is history. I just started uh Started it took me about five or six years to get my voice over career going out here again But I got it going and through the voice caster I started teaching classes. I started directing more and And then I built the empire that I have right now. So that that's the reader's digest condensed version Yeah, so how did you get into being the voice doctor now? This is this is what you do now and Yeah, and how did that develop and Well, um, I started teaching uh with a woman. Her name is cat layman. I don't know if the kids Remember her or not. She used to be the voice of the electric light parade at disney land and hundreds of commercials And she was kind of the big one of the big acting teachers at the time And because I worked at the voice caster, I would be directing her a lot And uh, she said, you know, you're a very good director and would you have any interest in teaching? And at the time I really didn't and she said well, you know, you you can make some extra money doing it And I had a couple of kids and I'm like, well, I could use some extra money. So yeah, sure Let's let's do the teaching thing. So I started teaching and directing But I did it. I I I was teaching for free for a year Just on my own because one of the nice things that bob loyd did for us We could use the facility at at the voice caster There was an upstairs facility and we could do what he didn't charge us for it We could teach privates out of there and stuff like that. So I taught for free for a year I just I had some friends come in or if I had, you know, some Students through cat layman I would say, well, why don't you come on in sunday night? We'll do some stuff And that's kind of where I developed my own style of teaching and where I found my voice And then again my lovely wife, uh, who's a very smart person She uh, she said, you know, you really should start charging people for this and I was like I don't know. I don't know if I could charge people and but I did I started out at about 50 bucks an hour and kind of went up from there and People seemed to like what I was telling them and people were successful And uh, and that's kind of how I got into to that and where the doctor came along Uh, I'm curious about that. Yeah. Well the voice of a doctor I I have I have an uncanny ability to to kind of Because even even famous people come to me and and they come and they go Hey, I'm not really booking a lot. What what am I doing wrong? And I kind of diagnosed what the you know, what maybe their problems are and then I give them ideas Well, what try this and try that and I kind of give them their medicine And so I started calling myself the voice of a doctor because I I learned that I could I could I was pretty good at fixing people's problems And uh, and my whole thing is I really don't want you coming back to me all the time I'd much rather work with you a couple of times and get you the hell out there And I want you to be making money at this and not giving me all your money. I want you to make the money So uh, so uh, you know and and it it's worked out pretty good Is is like a side hustle, you know in this business. We all need side hustles And uh, and and that was mine. Yeah, so In in your mind, why don't people book? I'm sure there's a lots of reasons But are there any consistent things that you've noticed as to You know people who are talented, but they're they're just not booking the work. They should well When I'll speak on the advertising front uh in commercials. Okay commercials are It's a finicky. It's a finicky business the uh commercial world It it it kind of runs on popular culture. Whatever popular culture. That's who's booking the jobs Okay, so You know 30 years ago I'm a young funny guy from Chicago, Illinois with a lot of improv background And and I was booking everything because you know that that was in, you know Michael j fox was really hot and uh, you know people of that ilk were really hot at the time Um and comedians so so they were always looking for improvisers and I I'm pretty good at that So so I was booking a lot now cut to you know 35 years later You know, I'm I'm just the old white guy You know from Chicago and not not as funny because everybody knows my jokes now and I'm not Learning new ones, uh, you know, but the culture has gone more into a a more You know ethnic pattern these days You have black lives matter. You have the political climate that's out there now and and it's it's a you know, uh for for Black actors and Indian actors and Latino actors and stuff Advertising is a lot hotter right now. So so they're the ones who are booking a lot of work so it's not necessarily that You're doing anything wrong if you're not booking. I have a lot of students come to me You know, and they just go, man, you know, I killed it that audition and I didn't book it Well, the the other problem that the kids have these days that I didn't have 40 years ago is uh, you're auditioning against Probably 15 to 1500 to 2000 people now because everybody's got a home studio and everybody's auditioning from around the country and You know when I was auditioning I might have been going up against 200 people You know because I was just competing with people here in Los Angeles, you know, so that has a lot to do with it So it's not necessarily that anybody's doing anything wrong. I mean you definitely have to be I mean if you want to book commercials if you want to book video games if you want to book cartoons All you have to be is a great actor. That's all I mean, if you're a great actor, you're gonna start booking eventually. Okay So you you what's that phrase? You know when uh when opportunity meets, uh, you know preparation You know, you have to be very very prepared for that opportunity when it comes along so that You know when you are kind of perfect for whatever that job is They also see that you're a great actor and that's when you're going to start booking things if you're kind of Half-ass in an audition and kind of just putting it out there and not doing your research and not staying up with with your your acting chops Well, it's going to take you longer to book I mean you might book things here and there because you're that perfect sound I mean, I know a lot of I have a lot of students actually I won't mention any names But uh over the years that they weren't very good actors But they were they were booking all the time just because of their sound You know and and at that point, you know, they're going to direct you into things So so no no real one one thing that says why you're not booking But it it's all kind of an individual You know process of of figuring it out Yeah, so you have to like you have to know the trends you have to you have to be paying attention to what's going on out there Yeah, watch watch a lot of television. Yeah And and I I do but of course streaming now. You don't see many commercials, but Uh, our guest tonight is bill holmes the voiceover doctor If you've got a question for him put it in the chat room and we will get to that question in just a little bit Because he's got some great things about how to make sure you do things right So why don't you let me ask you this? Um, because you know every coach is different Everybody has their own thing. What's your process like? My process is it it's it's probably similar to everybody out there And yet different because my process is a little more individualized I don't really have a blanket process It it goes along. It's just basic acting things that I'm sure everybody else out there is teaching, you know You know, who are you who you talking to? Where are you when you're talking to them? Um, uh, I talked a lot about being comfortable in the booth Uh, I talk about a lot to me It's you know, I the words to me are unimportant So that's where I'm different than other people other people, you know, say punch this word and punch that word I'm not about that In in especially in advertising because they want it to be so conversational these days Um, so with me it's much more about what it feels like than what it sounds like Because if you're in the booth and you're comfortable and it feels comfortable chances are you have a strong read The other thing with me is there is no right or wrong. You asked me about right or wrong There is no right way to do it. There's just no right way to do this There's the way you come into the booth and the way you do it And if they like that they're going to hire you if they don't like that There's not much you can do to get them to like it Okay, uh, because it all starts with the sound at first if they don't like your sound You know, no no amount of acting is going to get you the job if they don't like the way you sound, you know So so my advice to people all the time and what I try to teach is like go in be very prepared make your choices Uh, the more specific to choice. I think the strong so with me. There's no right or wrong But there is weak and strong you can make a weak choice You can make a strong choice the stronger choices are always going to be the the the more specific simple choices When actors go in and complicate and try to try to come up with so many scenarios, you know to to do it's just They get in their head and then the acting goes away because Is any good acting teacher? I'll tell you acting is reacting You're just reacting if you were on stage somebody would say something and you would react to it And in a Broadway play Something different might happen every night and you're going to have a different reaction every night And that's kind of what you want to approach advertising with that's certainly what you have to approach video games with these days Um, I've I've had the honor of directing some some of the big titles that I can't even I can't talk about But uh, I mean directing video games is a blast. It's just a blast um, and and you know, I mentioned to you guys we did a uh an audio series podcast series that scripted and we have 31 episodes and I took a year and a half Just directing that and that's very much like a video game very much like an animation job and uh, it's fun for it's fun for me as a director to see the actor See it and then create it in in front of me and and just be there to help them along but But you know, it's got to be a strong choice. You have to see many many details And this goes back go back to commercials now You got to make choices about who you're talking to where are you when you're talking to them? And does it really have anything to do with the product? 90 percent of the time it has nothing to do with the product You want to substitute something in because really who gives a shit about the product? Nobody gives a shit about the product You know, we don't care about this stuff and we usually don't know anything about it So to pretend that we know something about it and to pretend that we're using the product Makes you kind of a bad actor because they were too pretending, you know So so it's things like that. That's kind of the process that I use. Yeah Once again, we're talking with bill holmes the voiceover doctor If you got a question throw it in the chat room We'll get to that a little bit. I'm also going to have you direct me through a script in a little bit Meho That's one of the one one of our favorite things to do is when brave brave man. He is I'm gonna tear you to pieces. I'm gonna tear you to pieces. I have a rhinoskin been doing this a long time uh One of the other things you do because we I think you mentioned it earlier is You do you do people's demos. Um Everybody's got to have a demo I think when I talk to people and they're like, well, I want to get in the business and they're like, well, you need to have a demo What is it that, you know, why is a demo so important? I mean, is it, you know, you say people are sending it to agents generally Nobody's going to hire you until you've actually started to make money at something Correct. What what what is the real purpose of a demo then? Uh these days and again everything I tell you on the show. It's only my opinion. Okay, and that's why you're here I don't have any hard or fast rules. I'm not one of those guys Um, uh, so there are other people out there that'll tell you something different and might work for you So so listen to them too, but um in my opinion demos for the most part Are are there to acquire an agent Agents aren't gonna Sign you if they don't hear some of your work and these days, uh, you know, unfortunately There's probably 80 of the work is non union these days It's not like the old days when uh, when we all made a living at this and So they have the pay-to-play sites and they have you have Actors have their own websites now that they can put their demos on and promote themselves So, I mean 40 years ago when I was a young actor in Chicago Your demo was absolutely necessary But but in Chicago I used to get to go to the ad agencies themselves And I would meet the writers and hand in my demo and I would meet the producers and hand in my demo And they would actually produce things with us in mind and write things with us in mind And when I came out to la it was all about no you had to go to your agent's office And you had to audition at your agent's office that you couldn't get into the ad agencies out here At least not in the late 80s early 90s. So, um so That's where the demo became instrumental in letting an agent know What you're capable of doing or what you've already done I mean most of the stuff I had on my demos back then was was real commercials and I would string them together and go Hey, I'm working Let's all go make money together. Um Whereas these days people are just starting out and when you make a demo these days one Uh, don't make a demo if you don't feel you're ready to make a demo I mean if you if and here's here's my take on that Usually I'll tell people Look, if you can get through an audition with one or two takes maybe three Hey, you're probably ready to make a demo But if you're working on an audition five six seven eight takes with a or you gotta call a coach and haven't coached you through it you probably don't want to make a demo yet because Your demo these days is going to get you in the door And then an agent is going to say Okay You know great demo now Here's five scripts get in the booth and let's see what you do and if you're not as good as your demo You're you're kind of wasting everybody's time and you spend all that money on on a great demo I mean what I tell I can only speak for myself what I tell people with my demos is like look If you're not as good as your demo an agent's going to listen to it And they're going to listen to you in the booth and if you're not as good as a demo, they're going to go God damn billhomes makes great demos But you might even get an award for that. Yeah, that's great. I'm not that I just want the money I just want the money No, I know really I want people to succeed is what I want and but if if if I'm not in the equation If an agent listens to that demo and then sees the actor in the booth and they go Hey man, you're as good as what's on that demo Let's let's get you signed and let's get making money Then then I've earned, you know, I'm very expensive. Everybody's very expensive these days But then I've earned that money because that that's what people are paying me for that demo Is to get them in that door so that they can make money off that demo And we're very at compost productions here. We're very proud of the fact that we got about a Probably about an 80 to 90 success rate of people either Making enough money off the demo to have paid for the demo Or it's gotten them an agent and they're off, you know with their career and we're we're very proud of that over here We really are. Yeah. Once again, we're talking with bill homes the voiceover doctor. Now you've been working on a project Uh during this this long period of inactivity. Apparently you were very active. I was very busy A lot of us were I think mark kashman described this as You know one-legged guys at an ass kicking contest Uh, we were all pretty busy. Yeah, but it's called karserim karserim karserim karserim. Tell us about it. Uh, it is a uh, audio drama podcast series And during the pandemic, uh, we had started producing this before the pandemic but, uh It became a real challenge to You know, it's basic basically what we're doing is we're producing a movie We're producing a film, but you don't get to see it. You just get to listen to it That's that's the idea behind our series to plan trailer Yeah, sure. Yeah, go ahead. Uh, uh, this is a it's a fantasy series This one that we have and there's 31 episodes and here's the trailer feast your ears on this In the abstruse land of aru full of regal country sites and railess forests Miss me The ones halcyon days now gone. Your hand is not now Get them out of here and people resolve to live separated from each other We all know how dangerous the magic can be It's best the child comes with us. No a prophecy passed down Followed by believers. You're a prophecy hunter. It has to be part of something bigger if I let myself think they died for nothing We'll set forth the path for The one I had a dream I was the chosen one I saw myself saving everyone Of course you did leading the land of aru Back to its days of your fire Ah Carseer and the series premiering september 22nd 2020 Who's that guy? Wow Hey, he's the best-looking guy in the Got a got a face for radio there. That's awesome, man. That was cool. That sounded amazing Let me just give some credits here that uh, the narrator there was a dana powers. She's a fantastic young actress Voice actress who is also a director here at my studio Phil Reich also a director at studio. Uh, he he played the god rick. She plays aura in that in that trailer You heard uh, robbie wrist. No sheared the loud jane lynch neil flinn Among other sharon muthu Uh, and I can't remember and we also have piper lorry in the first Thrilled about um, and uh, it's all original music that you heard we had it professionally scored by getting Guining Dave Volpe and the guy who mastered it was uh, tim mccune And uh, we all uh, we all work together here at the studio and it's uh, it was just a damn fun thing to put together I gotta tell you man Yeah, some great stars in there I mean those are those are the big names and the big names the big names Yeah, I mean everybody's starting to realize if you you know, you can do a podcast You know as I always say is there money in this podcasting everybody There's an awful lot of podcasts out there. So the money's coming in slow, but it's coming in. Um Uh, we we're helping other other uh producers Produced some things here at the studio. There's one coming out called solar pretty soon that we've been working on but It's it's amazing What I love about Car serum and the whole process of producing this thing one. It got us through the pandemic We were very busy during the pandemic and it was great to be busy during the pandemic Um, uh, it was challenging because we had to record some people at their home student I know Townsend Coleman is in the show and and he did his from his home studio Great great Delisle Griffin is in the show. She did hers. Uh, we we we employed both of her children I'm very happy to say and they were just cute as hell in the But uh, it was quite challenging and uh, but it what I love about the medium itself Is uh, it's very much It's like a video game, but you don't get to see the action So people get to create what they want to create in their heads And Shane, uh, I produce this with my partner Shane sulk Uh, he's the one who brought this to me and uh, he's he's very well known in in the podcast series world Uh, the series called we're alive and and whatnot and um, but he's he's he's the genius behind this thing I'm I'm just a guy who put it all together But he's the guy who created it and we wrote it, you know, it's all original writing stuff But but what I love is is we're we're writing this thing And or we're producing this thing and and people would be listening to it as we were releasing it and they would they would come to us They go, oh my gosh in uh, you know in episode seven Yeah, I saw that guy riding his horse up the hill and then he fell off and then he went into the trees And everything like that and they'll describe something and I'll go yeah Right, I mean right and I go yeah, absolutely And I would look at Shane. I was like, is that what you designed was a guy going up a hill Shane's like, no, no, I didn't I didn't design it. But you know, that's what they see I don't care what they know, you know, but but that's what I'm loving about it is I mean we we have so far we have over 63,000 downloads around the world and uh We're getting great feedback from the fans just saying You know, I mean they tell us what they see and we just agree with it Because because it's it's uh, it's why the medium exists in my opinion What was the hardest thing about it? I mean doing it remotely has its challenges But what was what really made it challenging? Would you say? um, well because of co vid um You know, we we weren't really able to let the actors be in the booth with each other um, so so uh like kind of like a cartoon or video more video game You have an individual actor and they're you know, you describe what's going on or they've read the script and came up with something And and and then the challenge for us as as the people putting it all together shame shame that did an excellent job editing this all together uh is is uh and especially the sound design too is is uh You know putting the pieces together. It's like a huge puzzle that it seemed all cohesive like they're fully having a conversation They're interacting with each other making that illusion of that exactly the only two people that were in the booth together There were four people that Was Dana powers and Phil Reich in the very beginning? We had them in the booth together because we were trying to figure out What's going to be the best way for us to you know, we put like theater microphones on them at first Oh, yeah Loves and then we had boom mics and we had and we we really found out the easiest way was just to have two mics Set at two separate levels So if they got loud they weren't going to peak and so on and so forth And and it was just one at a time But we we had them in the booth because there was a lot of fighting as you heard, you know there's a lot of horses running and fighting and everything and um The only other two people we let be in the booth together Uh, they appear in the very last episode together, uh, among others is uh, marisa march and rob paulson Uh, yes pinky in the brain. All right. Well, we're gonna have a kissing scene. You got to have both actors Exactly exactly and those guys they were they were passionate. They were I'm sure they were No, they they they created these I don't want to give anything away, but they created these two characters And they were brilliant and again, I knew that those guys knew each other so well I've known them for a long time. We've been friends and and I just said yeah You guys it's kind of like rob and williams being in and it's like just yeah I looked at my my my editors as I said just record everything and we'll piece it together later These guys are gonna come up with brilliant stuff. I mean we've got uh animaniacs and turtles. We have every We have every michael angelo from That has ever played michael angelo is in in our show. So all right We're talking with bill holmes here on voiceover body shop Uh, once again, if you got a question throw it in the chat room We're gonna take a break and we're gonna get to your questions right after these important announcements from our wonderful sponsors So stay tuned. We'll be right back Before time began there was v obs dot tv watch or else As voice actors we need to hear the clear transparent and honest sound of our voices Harlan Hogan signature series voice optimized headphones 2.0 Provide both that accurate transparent sound with enhanced mid-range audio less bass and the creature comforts voice workers deserve Clearly different from traditional studio headphones. The upper mids and highs are clear as a bell No muffling or cross bleeding between frequencies like a pair of studio monitors The low is there, but at the same level as the rest of the spectrum They're comfortable like no other phones. 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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 Oh, it's your mirrored 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 will stop waxing this mustache for a minute. We'll get back to the show Hi, here. I am in my normal workspace with a question What's the biggest challenge you have with voiceover? What's been the puzzle you need to solve the question you need answered? Well, david h laurence the 17th and the coaching team at vo heroes dot com want to know They're creating new courses and training and they want to know what you need most and it's easy to let them know Just drop an email to david at vo heroes dot com. That's david at vo H e r o e s dot com and let him know what you'd like to know Is it tech oriented? Is it auditioning? Is it about booking more work finding an agent podcasting audio books performance questions? Whatever it is that keeps you up at night that makes you scratch your head or what you've always wanted to know about success in vo Email david and ask the email address again is david at vo heroes dot com This is bill radner, and you're enjoying voiceover body shop with dan lennard and george widham vobs dot tv And we're back with bill holmes holmes him. Well, i'm getting a becco Anyway, we're back with bill holmes the voiceover doc And we've got lots of questions from you guys and hopefully we'll have some time to have bill Direct me through a piece of copy cool. Yes, george. Who do we got questions from? Yes At the top of the queue i've got one that was emailed in before the show from tom j. Dolan Asking what are your suggestions for maintaining consistent voice sound quality? And quality of recording so voice sound and quality throughout a recording project of several sessions Over several days so that consistency over time that what's the trick? so that i mean He's talking more from a technical standpoint. No, he's talking about you maintaining character You know i mean i know my voice tends to change just you know over over time of during the day and stuff How do we sound and quality? I guess he's talking about quality of the voice. Yeah quality of the voice. Well, again, i'm i'm of the school of You sound the way you sound If you don't like the way you sound get over it. That's how you sound, you know um, i'm more about you know just being who you are and I mean if it's a video game and you need to maintain, you know a four-hour session There are again. I don't do all this stuff. So it's a tough question for me But there are probably more theater exercises that you can do for voice placement um Because there is a lot of yelling and stuff and if you were trained for the stage then you know how to Project your voice within a theater. It could be the same Theoretically it could be the same, you know for some of these uh Video game characters that you have to do I I did a character in a show called fallout 4 a game called fallout 4 But I played a guy with his name is edward deegan And and they and basically he's just you know a guy who talks like this and i never really had to get much more than this So it's in my throat and it sounds like shit all the time I mean I basically just chose to do a thing that I didn't have to worry about how I sounded You know, so the longer I went the more I just kind of sounded the same um, I mean, I wish I had a better answer for you um, but uh, it it's a matter of breathing You know doing things from the diaphragm So I would say maybe go take some theater training or improvisational theater training and and see if that might help you Alrighty Next one we have here from Dave g says, uh, why are people upset? For example lower cost v. O's being found on certain platform Isn't the client's right to pick the talent they like for a price. They're okay with You know, why tell someone how much to charge an interesting question well, um, unfortunately these days the advent of The pay-to-play sites is is really Bringing down the business um, there was a time You know 30 years ago. I could book five jobs a year and make a fine living You know and that that allowed me to go do theater and that allowed me to go do comedy and improv and so on and so forth these days, uh, you know almost everything is a buyout situation and and so the lower pricing Is keeping you personally for making a better living and if if You know, I this is a whole other ball of wax, you know that we're unwinding here Ball of yarn, uh, but but again if if they're union jobs You can you can live off a union job for a good long time When these huge companies, which I won't mention because I've signed so many NDAs in my lifetime When these huge companies decide to go non-union and pay a $2,000 buyout for a one-year usage That's difficult, you know to for an old guy like me to go. Yeah, why why would anybody do that when? 30 years ago. I would make at least $25,000 off of that same spot, you know for a year's usage Or more depending on how many times they've used it. I mean my daughter Used to be the voice of uh, mcdonald's happy meals and For three years, you know, she made a fine living and lived on lake shore drive in chicago and And that was a very nice union job that she would go in every couple of weeks and do price points for happy meals You know blobby blob happy meals, you know and uh, so um I mean again, it's free market system And if you want to go out there and do that job for less money and you think you can do it really well You know that that's fine But in my opinion and again, it's only my opinion The people that are doing it at a much lower cost probably have a lot less experience and and it's gonna It it's it's just kind of bringing down the market and it's sad for an old dog like me to see that song. Okay Do I like the way you put that yeah, I mean we've talked about that a lot, but uh, yeah, it's just There's there's standards that have been established that people have lived on and you know We need we need to help maintain those well I mean I I've looked at social media and I I try not to get involved I don't argue with people people do whatever the hell they want to do But when I see people saying, you know things like, uh, You know what? You know if if there was just some you know, I can't believe that they're only gonna pay this much for this thing Why can't they pay more and maybe we could all get together and rally together and put some price together and well Yeah, that's what the union is That's that's what that's what we did in the 1940s and 50s to get it to where it was and again Where politics is, you know and everything's happening. It's it's eroding. It's eroding. It's eroding and And again actors have to band together and stand strong And and I think if they did that the prices would start going up again But unfortunately everybody's got a you know got a studio in their basement and they're willing to You know a lot of people just like hey, man, you hear me on the radio. I'm on the radio, you know That's great, but you only made 150 bucks. You could have made 1500 if you were smart Right that's kind of thing This one's from uh, christie burns. Is your advice and or medicine based on trends or just overall performance? Um, my advice is always performance Uh, I mean if you're if you're not a good actor, it really doesn't matter what the trends are I mean the trends will dictate whether you get work or not, you know, the trends will dictate that But if you're not a good actor, it doesn't matter what the trends are you're probably not going to work If you're a really good actor again, it's like, you know, preparation meets opportunity If if that opportunity comes along and you're really really good at what you do then God damn it, you know, you're probably gonna get the job and make a thousand bucks or whatever it is. Hopefully yeah Uh from mervyn dojino How do you achieve? conversational Old man dojinos kid. Is that who we're talking about? Oh my god. Um, how do you achieve conversation? um, you know, that's uh, that's a whole show in itself uh, um, but again readers that I just condensed version of it is, um Talk to someone you know in your head someone you know very well, okay? Um, usually it's going to be better if it's an equal if it's your peer rather than your wife or your Siblings or your mother a lot of people say well, you know bill I'm talking to my mother because I can say anything to my mother and I don't believe that You know, you're not going to tell your mom about some of the things you did last night But you will tell your best friend at work the next day some of the things you did last night So so it's usually going to be a little more on that conversational Edge right there because you're not explaining, you know, sometimes your mother's you know, it's like, oh mom Are you listening? You know that kind of thing um, same with same with a wife or a sibling but but usually if it's a peer it's going to be a stronger read and A lot of a lot of actors these days don't what they don't add to it You know, it's it's one thing to have somebody in your head and see them and be somewhere specific But actually have them talk back to you In your head have the person in your head Say something back to you so that you can react to it Okay, because then you're actually having a conversation and again most of the time You're going to want it to be a positive reaction You know, you don't you don't want to explain you don't want to present you don't want to Uh, you know, uh, you know try to talk people into things in advertising You want to share the information and if people decide, you know to do it, that's great But but in and again, only my opinion, but in my opinion Uh, it's not your job to make these commercials work. That's not your job It's your job to make the conversation believable If if they did the writing and they put the campaign together then then that's great, you know It's probably gonna work But if you got lousy writers and you got a lousy campaign and there's a few of them out there that i've seen myself And there's a few yeah, but there's some really amazing advertising out there too And usually the good ones are because the writing is there and the idea is there and then they attach an actor to it That can just make it seem like uh, it's a conversation And usually the those are the the things that are going to get you the job So so have someone it can just be a little wherever you see punctuation Again, a lot of people say ignore punctuation. I'm not one of those guys Wherever you see punctuation have someone react It could be a dash a comma a period a question mark whatever Have somebody just go. Oh, yeah Oh, cool nice I think so too In a positive way and then you react to them with whatever the next line is And it'll sound a little more conversational that way Okay, we got time for one more question here because I do want to go through some copy with No, I'm gonna carry the pieces damn can't wait Grace newton asked bill. Do you have a dream role or project other than a directing dan right now? That'll be your nightmare A dream role Uh Yeah, as an actor I would love to play sweeney tawd in a musical Because now i'm an old guy, you know You know all the all those years that I love sweeney tawd. Oh, i'm anthony. I could be anthony. Oh, I can't wait me But no now i'm the old guy now. I could be sweeney Personally, I don't think I could pull that off. So that's why it becomes a dream role But um as far as uh voiceover goes Uh, I'm more about I don't look for any particular role You know here. I'll answer it this way in my career. I've been doing this for about 40 years now And in my career, I've been very proud of myself and this has always been my goal as an actor I've always done original material um, so um video games are amazing because they're original material I I was privileged enough to be in a couple of episodes of uh rick and morty witcher Which is holy crap. I'm in rick and morty, you know At the time though, I had no idea what rick and morty was I you know I'm an old guy to watch cartoons and i'm busy making things So it was all my little students who are cartoon nerds that when they heard rick and morty He's like, oh my god, you're in rick and morty. I'm like, yep. Is that good? And what I love about what I love about it is it's a very original cartoon You know, and I got to originate a couple of characters within that cartoon. So So those are the dream roles for me Are the ones that I get to do first and nobody else has ever done Uh so that I can walk away and go. Yeah, I figured that out, you know When when when you're working with a guy, uh, like dan harman Okay, uh, who I was again very privileged to be directed by dan harman. Oh wait. Oh wait. Oh, sorry I dropped a name there. I got it here Um, uh, it's fun to come up with something that he wrote and to have him look at me and go Oh, yeah, no, you know, I didn't think of that, but I like that. I like that We'll go with that one. You know, that was that was kind of my dream role right there And it was it was a five minute session Well speaking of five minute sessions we got we got about eight or nine minutes here We got just enough time to do one of these scripts. I sent you which one would you like me to do Mishka. Oh, uh, uh, uh, just pick your favorite. What what do you want to do? I gotta let's do the soy milk one I gotta see if I got it here. Wait a minute. Did I pull it up? I think I got it. Uh Oh, george's got it is that Uh There they are there there. Yeah. Yeah. I do have it up. What did you want to do the soy milk? Soy milk. Yeah, the last week as it's short this week. We have just enough time for that Okay, great. And was there some direction attached to this Dan? None. None whatsoever. It was none whatsoever Okay, great direction for so, uh, so I'll tell you what. Why don't you see let's see what you Have chosen to do and then we'll just kind of pick it apart from there. How does that sound? Okay? Cool. All right. This is a soy milk commercial from somewhere Uh, okay from from the planet soy. I believe that's right. Okay Okay You've broken up with carbs Banked points done shakes for lunch steaks for breakfast and can't remember ever saying I have the dressing on the salad You deserve a lower carb lip smacking soy milk Eighth continent soy milk Come to a better place. All right. That was just like cold read on that cold read. Okay So you didn't do any preparation before, uh, this show. No I just grabbed it and there it was for the kids out there watching the show I would say you don't want to go into an audition and wing it. Okay, or it'll sound like that Okay, so so, uh Uh, the first thing you have to figure out Dan is you know, why did they write this? Uh, let's figure this is kind of a casual conversational, uh This is a casual conversation with with somebody Okay, that you know very well. So who might that person be for you? Oh Say my my brother Okay Somebody who would never drink soy milk, but well again, do we give a shit about soy milk? No No, but no, we don't care about soy milk. So so let's say you're broken up with carbs You've done all this stuff and remember saying I'll have uh dressing and say Listen, you deserve a lower carb lip smacking soy milk. So let's oversimplify the script itself Okay, so that we're not talking about soy milk because we don't give a shit about soy milk. Okay So so basically you're saying you've you've done a whole bunch of stuff and you deserve something a little better Okay, all right, so would you say that that's kind of an oversimplified way of looking at that script? Yep. Okay, great. So okay, great. So, uh, let's not even think of your brother yet Uh, is there something in in your your life or or somebody's life that they deserve something a little better? You know, you deserve better now. I got something for is there something like that from your real? Oh, absolutely Absolutely. Can can you share that with us? Oh, probably probably the mrs Who deserves only the best things in life? I'll be careful Talking about your wife on the internet Um, okay. So so what is it in in real life? This is not a made-up thing. This is something for real, correct? So what is it that that you know, she was like, you know what? I we yeah, I need a new dishwasher or something Is it something like that or no It's just you know the taste of the garbage that she usually eats which is you know, basically gluten-free So soy milk won't help her but we'll just right but you know what and Fuck soy milk gets soy milk out of your head. This has nothing to do with soy milk. Okay In real life What what could your wife use? That she deserves better right now Something really tasty That isn't so that that that's gluten-free. Yeah, wait that she's been talking about though That's the stuff the stuff all and you name one thing uh Yeah, uh gluten-free bread Bread, okay. Yeah, you know what so does she deserve better than that or oh, yes She deserves that she deserves much better. She deserves better something better So what would the thing that is better be? than gluten-free bread Gluten-free bread that actually tastes good Right, but is there is there something in real life like that? We keep searching for it right, but we haven't found it. So right if if they're Again, I'm trying to find something from reality here. Okay, so you got she's she's eating this shit Gluten-free bread right now, right? Right. What would she rather eat? Oh, I'm sure she'd love to eat a nice loaf of rye bread or something that was actual rye bread Okay, let's let's talk let's talk about you now. Okay. Have you had the gluten-free bread? Oh, yes Okay, what would you rather have? Oh, I'd rather have a you know a blueberry muffin to tell you the truth We're very muffin. Okay. So now now we're talking about see how we've taken a very generalized idea okay choice And we've narrowed it down and we've made it more specific and more specific and more specific and more real From gluten-free bread to a blueberry muffin and that's how you feel about it, right? Right Because again, we we don't want to tell your wife how she should feel about it because then we're advertising something And we're trying to talk her into something But basically if you're just sharing the information with the wife Okay, that's like, uh, you know what? You know, we've done all this stuff and we've done it together and I've been right there with you, honey But god damn it if you know, I really want a blueberry muffin And she's going yeah me too. She agrees with you, but you're not trying to talk her into anything, right? So the very in a very casual way Just share that information with her and and don't get to any selling point at the end of this thing Gotcha. Okay. Does that make sense? I don't Dan it'll feel Okay, I always talked about earlier About what it feels like rather than what it sounds like, right? It'll feel like you're doing nothing Okay, okay, let it let it feel that way and then we'll see how it sounds later. Okay You've broken up with carbs banked points done shakes for lunch talking to your wife. Yes. I'm talking to my wife Where where are you two? Oh, we're sitting at our dining room table Uh, can you get somewhere a little more comfy? Our living room. Okay, great. So I have to shout across the living room. No, no, no Sit on the couch right next to each other. Okay. Kind of snuggle up. Okay. All right. You don't need to project at all now Do you I don't no no see what you're doing right now. You see what that feels like Yeah, just just just talk just talk don't emphasize anything because you're not trying to talk her in anything You're sitting there with your glass of wine and you're watching Ted lasso And you just this just popped into your head and it's like, oh, you know, you've done this and you've done that Why don't we try this? Okay? You're broken up with carbs banked points done shakes for lunch Stakes for breakfast and can't remember ever saying I'll have the dressing on the salad You deserve a lower carb lip smacking soy milk eighth continent soy milk Come to a better place Good did that feel like you were doing nothing? Or were you still punching still punching a little bit? Yeah, okay If if you punch anything on this one Dan, I will not give you a thousand dollars. Okay. You want a thousand dollars I do want a thousand. Okay, then don't punch anything because again you right now What what you're doing is you're you're manipulating the words the words are jumping out at you and again the words are unimportant It's the beats of the of the of the conversation That are most important and the teacher you've done all the stuff You've done this you've done this and you can't even remember when you did this then a new beat Hey, you deserve a newer lip smack and soy milk Just just say it and and let let the producers worry about The sale. Okay. We got time for one. Yeah. Yeah, nothing and a thousand bucks. Okay You're broken up with carbs banked points. Nope. Nope. You're still telling her to do Okay. All right. Hey stupid wife. You've broken up with carbs, right? That's how that's the attitude that's coming up. You're just like hey Hey, look, I've done this and you've done that say that just say that just go you've done this and you've done that Say you've done this and you've done that. No, no, no, no. Listen listen to the music You're you're still going you've done this and you've done that. No, no, no I'm saying you've done this and you've done that Okay, you've done this and you've done that feel that. Yeah, let the whole thing be there But don't tell her what to do and go ahead You've broken up with carbs banked points Done shakes for lunch steaks for breakfast and can't remember ever saying I'll have the dressing on the salad You deserve a lower carb lip smacking soy milk If you throw that away too, you deserve pick it up there and just just throw you deserve blah, blah, blah, blah You deserve a lower carb lip smacking. Yeah, but but don't but don't project it and go You deserve a lower carb lip smacking soy milk Dave continent soy milk come to a better place How did that feel much better? Right? It feels more real, right? Yep, yep, and if it feels real then chances are it's a stronger read. Does that make sense? That does if it feels like you're if it feels like you're doing a lot of stuff chances are you're selling something Absolutely. Well, that was a great prescription for how to get that done. Thank you. Nice work. Yeah, bill How can people get a hold of you? They can get a hold of me at voiceoverdoctor.com voiceoverdoctor.com is for any of your voiceover needs if you want to If you oh, we have a game show on friday nights every other week And you can go to crap tv dot online crap crap tv. Yes crap tv is our I recommend you also register crap dot tv if you haven't already Yeah, uh if compost reality adjacent programming We have our our little network. We do some game shows if you want to go if you want to find car serum Anywhere you get podcasts you can download Car serum or you can go to our website Car serum the series dot com fabulous bill. Thanks for being with us tonight. It was great. Thanks for the invitation I really enjoy Always enjoy hanging out with you guys. All right bill homes the voiceover doctor All right, we'll be right back right after this This is bill radner and you're enjoying voiceover body shop with dan lennard and george widham v obs dot tv 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 They'll 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 Hey everybody It's time to talk about source connect made by source elements Now you guys heard earlier about bill talking about producing This amazing podcast they do and remotely where the actors are all in different places and Talking about the challenge of doing that and how people are kind of working in a vacuum They don't get to react to each other etc. Etc. Well, they should have probably been using source connect Because if they're using source connect they can have multiple actors all connected into a studio and actually be able to react to each other And it would feel more like a live performance like a theater performance while the actors are safe In locations all over the world and that's what you can do with a tool Like source connect if you want to get set up with it and you can be an actor Cast on jobs using source connect, which is what producers and engineers love using on their end Because it makes their lives a lot easier You should go get a demo just sign up at source dash elements dot com Get that 15 day trial and get familiar with it. Learn how to operate it Get iLock set up on your system all the little things that are required and get get cooking So you can get those cool gigs and oftentimes the ones that pay the best Anyway, we'll be right back to wrap it up right after this. Thanks This is ariana rattner and you're enjoying voiceover body shop with dan lennard and george wittem v obs dot tv All right, and we are back and ready to say goodbye on this part We're gonna rack it up for tech talk. Don't go anywhere if you're watching live right now uh anyway, um Next week we'll have tech talk number 66 for you which we're about to record and it'll be fabulous george has a pile Of things that he's been watching all week Uh, something about the tribe boo tribe Yes, the tribe booth, uh, you know the tribe booth we've talked about it before at tribe booth dot com We are offering a 200 off coupon code Just through halloween and it's gonna be the letters capital t all caps r i dash b o o Explanation point put in try boo And you'll get 200 off when you're ordered through halloween. That's october 31st Alrighty and our donors of the week. We have a few of them. Uh rob raider patty gibbons philse appear thomas pinto greg thomas Graham spicer shelly avaleno brian page and your dad My dad mr. George witem. All right. Thanks for Supporting our show. You can if you you can donate if you go to our website V obs dot tv it will say donate here or donate now. I think it says And we'd love to have you help us out here keeps us technically perfect Uh, also join our mailing list which you can also do from our website We need to thank our sponsors as well. Harlan hogan's voice over essentials voice over extra source elements Vio heroes dot com voice actor websites dot com and j mc dumb Oh DMC demos demo. There you go. All right Uh, thanks to jeff holman on chat room duty tonight our technical director the matt hatter Matt merlino thanks for uh, For doing all the switching tonight and getting it going and definitely lee penny for being lead Lee penny or maybe he's just changed his name Anyway, we're gonna rack it up for tech talks to stay tuned for that. Uh, i'm dan lennard. I'm george witem And this is voice over body shop or vio As I'll see you in just a couple minutes or next week