Join professional voice actor Lisa Rice as she discusses "A Job Well Done". Voicing a project as a voice over talent and knowing that your client is pleased is very important. Learn about how the role of communication has evolved and how crucial it is even after the finished audio files have been delivered. A little communication goes a long way for a job well done.

Download Podcast Episode 54 »

Tags:

Lisa Rice, Lisa Rice Productions, voice overs, voice acting, tips for business, a job well done, Voice Over Experts

Transcript of A Job Well Done

[Opening Music]

Julie-Ann Dean: Welcome to Voiceover Experts brought to you by Voices.com, the number one voiceover marketplace. Voiceover Experts brings you tips, pearls of wisdom and techniques from top instructors, authors and performers in the field of voiceover. Join us each week to discover tricks of the trade that will help you to develop your craft and prosper as a career voiceover talent. It's never been easier to learn, perform, and succeed from the privacy of your own home and your own pace. This is truly an education you won't find anywhere else.

This week, Voices.com is pleased to present Lisa Rice.

Lisa Rice: There is something extremely satisfying about a job well done such as preparing a meal and watching others enjoy it or planning an event and seeing it turn out successfully. Even closer to my heart is voicing a project as a voiceover talent and knowing the client and their client is pleased.

Not that long ago, most voiceover talents would be called into a studio, voice the project at hand and go on their merry way but with the advent of the internet and the electronic transferring of audio files, more and more of our work is recorded in a home studio. The likelihood of talents meeting clients in person is pretty slim. Producers from all over their world can now find talent all over the world. Businesses conducted over different time zones, our fax machines and e-mail inboxes stand alert 24/7. Letters of agreement, scripts and auditions arrive while we're fast asleep.

In the beginning of a voiceover business relationship, we usually have the opportunity to talk to the person who is hiring us to voice their project and of course, in a phone patch or ISDN session, there is some brief conversation with the customer. However, outside of these situations, many of us end up in our home studio talking into a microphone all day and never conversing with a single soul. Why? Because once a working relationship is established between the talent and the client, it isn't out of the ordinary for the bulk of our communication to be carried out by e-mail.

Now if you think about it, it's probably a compliment when customers can trust us with their voiceover projects completely. It usually goes like this. The customer has a project, they need voice. A script is sent by e-mail to the talent with a few lines of direction and usually a deadline. Then the voiceover talent records, edits and sends back the audio to the customer or uploads larger files through an FTP site. The producer receives the file and finished their project. Did you catch that? I didn't mention any more communication between the talent and their customer. When talents and producers meet face to face, there isn't any question whether or not a job is well done. But today, the whole process is changing.

I found and I bet I'm not alone that many producers live by the motto of, "No news is good news." In other words, if we as talents don't hear from them after they receive the audio, everything is fine. This can be risky. How do we know for sure that the job is finished, whether to delete files or bill our customer. Allow me to share a firsthand experience.

On a regular basis, I ask for verification from my clients once I send the audio, a quick reply letting me know they have successfully downloaded the file I've sent and have exactly what they need. One day I got an e-mail from a steady client asking for a quick turnaround for a broadcast television commercial. I e-mailed them back, confirming that I could voice, edit and return the audio on time. In fact, I was able to shuffle around some of my other not-so-urgent jobs that day and turn the project around quicker than promised. But this particular customer rarely sends a verification. I understand. They are under the gun. Once they get the audio they need, they hurry to finish things on their end. They want to please their client. Back to my story. Later that day, actually a half hour after the promised turnaround time, I got a call in my studio. The client wanted to know where the audio was. They knew it wasn't like me not to follow through. I explained that I had already sent the file and asked if there might be a problem with their server. Bingo, there was and I felt bad for my customer and frustrated that this had occurred to begin with.

We, voice talents are put in a precarious situation. Once we send the audio to our customers, we need to know that they have received it. We can either let time pass and take the silence as a confirmation. No news is good news or call or e-mail the customer to make sure they did indeed get what they ordered but often, we are afraid that we might be perceived as harassing or pestering our customers and many times, we too need to move ahead to our next project. That's why customer-talent protocol should always include a quick verification, a short reply, "Received the audio, it sounds fine" goes a long way and we're not exempt from doing our part.

When we receive a script, we need to let our customers know it's in good hands as soon as possible. Two words come to mind regarding this issue, etiquette and communication. Webster defines etiquette as the proper communication to be observed in social or official life, communication is the exchange of information between individuals. Voiceover seekers and voiceover talents can never be too polite and we both love to communicate. We just need to remember to communicate better with one another. Audio sent, audio received. That brings me back to where we started. There is something extremely satisfying about a job well done.

Julie-Ann Dean: Thank you for joining us. To learn more about the special guest featured in this Voices.com podcast, visit the Voiceover Experts show notes at Podcasts.Voices.com/VoiceoverExperts. Remember to stay subscribed.

If you're a first time listener, you can subscribe for free to this podcast in the Apple iTunes Podcast Directory or by visiting Podcasts.Voices.com. To start your voiceover career online, go to Voices.com and register for a voice talent membership today.

[Closing Music]

Links from today's show:

Lisa Rice Productions
Lisa Rice on Voices.com
Online Voice Casting

Your Instructor this week:

Voice Over Talent Lisa Rice

Lisa Rice is an experienced communications professional. She landed her first radio job as a disc jockey at eighteen. Then, an announcer/producer stint with Trans World Radio took her to Guam. After graduating college with a degree in Communications, she began producing, writing, and directing. Her one-on-one interviews have extended from the White House and Capitol Hill to Nashville.

Other experience includes on-camera work, print modeling, sales, marketing, and motivational speaking.

Voice work has been Lisa's passion since she first discovered the thrill of recording - when the red button is on, so is she! Her voice-over work includes customers and organizations from a wide range of business and corporate levels as well as advertising and marketing agencies, radio and television stations, non-profit groups and ministries. While voice work has been a mainstay, her production experience helps meet the expectations that accompany results-oriented, deadline-driven production work - she knows that your time is as valuable as your project.

Did you enjoy Lisa's episode? Leave a comment with your thoughts!

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Join Voice Over Expert Pat Fraley in his lecture "The Almighty Playback". Pat gives you a lesson the on importance of playing back your recorded efforts and using processing and sound effects to advance your skills and address your booking-to-audition ratio.

Download Podcast Episode 53 »

Tags:

Pat Fraley, Pat Fraley Teaches, PatFraley.com, Playback, Auditioning Tips, Booking Radio, Auditions, Voice Overs, Voice Acting

Transcript of The Almighty Playback

[Opening Music]

Julie-Ann Dean: Welcome to Voiceover Experts brought to you by Voices.com, the number one voiceover marketplace. Voiceover Experts brings you tips, pearls of wisdom and techniques from top instructors, authors and performers in the field of voiceover. Join us each week to discover tricks of the trade that will help you to develop your craft and prosper as a career voiceover talent. It's never been easier to learn, perform, and succeed from the privacy of your own home and your own pace. This is truly an education you won't find anywhere else.

This week, Voices.com is pleased to present Pat Fraley.

Pat Fraley: Hi, this is Pat Fraley with a lesson on the importance of playing back your auditions and practice recordings and a way of making this procedure fun and at the same time, increase your booking to audition ratio.

We're now living in an era where recording at home for audition is a way of life for the voiceover community. Now what do agents and casting people say as the single biggest problem with this? Self-direction. Even if you have been at it for a long time, we can no longer rely on insights from booth directors and casting people. This means you have to recognize the story and or message and copy a script or text, recognize the appropriate style and make meaningful, interesting choices with acting and characterization which realize the project. Now, let's get practical on addressing and accelerating your voiceover efforts.

Always play back your recordings and don't just listen. Train yourself to hear. You see, there's a gap between perception and reality. Perception being what you intend to go down on the recording and reality, being what you get when you listen back. Now you must narrow this gap so your recording is close to what you intended to lay down. That's why when you listen back, focus on one single question, "Did you realize the story with your acting and character choices?" If you are tempted to stay in engineering mode, you know, listening for the levels at it et cetera, you need to listen twice.

Okay, now, here's a mindset that will hold you in goof stead. Think of how the project will sound when it's finished with music and sound effects and with the other performers, if you're doing sides for an audition piece in only laying down your part. Here's what I've done every so often which is fun and helps me narrow the perception reality gap and on occasion, it actually gets me hired. I read my script to copy, I define the story, the characters and the scene. I make acting and character choices that best realize those aspects. Lay it down. I listen back. If I'm happy with the track, I don't stop there. Sometimes I have some fun. I mix in the appropriate sound effect or music behind it and even process the sound of my voice that's called for in the spot or script. Let me give you an example.

I had an audition for a restaurant in Baltimore. The story involved a helicopter pilot reporting from the air so I laid down the audition piece. Here's part of it.

This is Pat Fraley as Brian. Cynthia, we're headed towards the (Charles Street Bridge) where a man has reportedly shed his clothes and he's trying to signal the motorist passing down on the JFX.

You noticed how I'm yelling? That's of course because the pilot is in a helicopter. Now, here's where it gets fun. I process the voice to sound like he's on one of those horrible mics in the chopper. Now it sounds like this.

This is Pat Fraley as Brian. Cynthia, we're headed towards the (Charles Street Bridge) where a man has reportedly shed his clothes and he's trying to signal the motorist passing down on the JFX.

I did this with a cool little audio processing software that I can access right - well, I'm inside my audio software called SFX Machine. That's two words. Google it. It's about 75 bucks and they make a Mac and a PC version. With it, I can make my voice sound like it's over a bullhorn, a bad PA system, a phone, hello, or even a bad industrial film.

Now, I didn't stop there. Over the years, I've collected some brief sound effects. I don't have a lot but I cover the basics like some traffic, a restaurant, and a few slaps. Aw! And a little helicopter so I took the helicopter and slapped it behind my audition. I sent it off that way and booked the job. Here's how it sounded.

This is Pat Fraley as Brian. Cynthia, we're heading towards the (Charles Street Bridge) where a man has reportedly shed his clothes and he's trying to signal the motorist passing down on the JFX. Oh my goodness, somebody feels pretty good about himself. Wait a sec. This fellow is unfurling some kind of sign, a message written on a sheet that reads, "Unchain Thyself." Cynthia, the naked man now appears to be dancing the chicken dance. Oh, yes.

Some of my colleagues and students have had good fortune doing this as well. I think it gives the casting person a better sense of how we will sound when the job is done. Sometimes it's needful. When you think about it, they might understand that I have to shout into the mic to eventually sound like I'm a copter pilot. One thing I do however whenever when I send out an audition which has been processed, I also give them a version that is dry or not processed.

As far as starting to accumulate your own sound effects, the good news is that there are plenty on the internet which are free. Just Google free sound effects, three words and you'll find them. Also, I pick my shots on this. I only use this when I believe it's genuinely needful for the casting people or producer to hear the real deal especially when my performance sounds weird without it.

If you would like to have a fuller experience on how to find a story, realize it and hear your efforts with all the trimmings, sound effects, processing and do it all day, I'll be in Phoenix, Saturday June 28 for a very special event called "Mix Down, Melt Down." You'll be doing this working on mic technique and more importantly, participants will be recording until their ears fall off. Just go to my teaching page on my website PatFraley.com. Click on the Phoenix Melt Down event for more information on how to register and thank you for flying Fraley Airlines.

Julie-Ann Dean: Thank you for joining us. To learn more about the special guest featured in this Voices.com podcast, visit the Voiceover Experts show notes at Podcasts.Voices.com/VoiceoverExperts. Remember to stay subscribed.

If you're a first time listener, you can subscribe for free to this podcast in the Apple iTunes Podcast Directory or by visiting Podcasts.Voices.com. To start your voiceover career online, go to Voices.com and register for a voice talent membership today.

[Closing Music]

Links from today's show:

Pat Fraley
Pat Fraley Free Lessons

Your Instructor this week:

Voice Over Expert Pat Fraley

Patrick Fraley has created voices for over 4,000 characters, placing him among the top ten performers of all time to be cast in animation. He has produced dozens of award-winning audiobooks, such as, Adventures of Tom Sawyer, A Very Easy Death, and The Light in The Piazza. Pat produced and performed all 100 voices on the award winning audiobook, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, which People Magazine hailed as, "The best yet of this evergreen." Patrick teaches events, workshops, and seminars on various aspects of voice over across the country, and has created a variety of instructional books and CDs, all available at PatFraley.com. He is a member of The Voice and Speech Trainers of America, and holds a Master of Fine Arts degree in Professional Acting from Cornell University.

Did you enjoy Pat's episode? Leave a comment with your thoughts!

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Join Voice Over Expert Julie Williams as she interviews graphic designer and branding consultant Jason Sikes of Village Green Studios in her podcast "Visual Branding for Voice Over Talents". Learn what it means to make your website stand out and how graphical differentiation will help you succeed in voice overs.

Download Podcast Episode 52 »

Tags:

Julie Williams, Voice-overs.com, Jason Sikes, Village Green Studios, Graphic Design, Website Design, Branding, Marketing

Transcript of Visual Branding for Voice Over Talents

[Opening Music]

Julie-Ann Dean: Welcome to Voiceover Experts brought to you by Voices.com, the number one voiceover marketplace. Voiceover Experts brings you tips, pearls of wisdom and techniques from top instructors, authors and performers in the field of voiceover. Join us each week to discover tricks of the trade that will help you to develop your craft and prosper as a career voiceover talent. It's never been easier to learn, perform, and succeed from the privacy of your own home and your own pace. This is truly an education you won't find anywhere else.

This week, Voices.com is pleased to present Julie Williams.

Julie Williams: Hello, my name is Julie Williams and marketing and voiceover is so essential that I wanted to share with you today a segment of a much longer interview that I did with Jason Sikes for the soon to be released update of How to Make Money in Voiceovers even if you don't live in New York or L.A. In marketing, if you're not as professional or as out there as the next person, then your marketing isn't good enough. Last year, every single one of the nominees in the Best Branding Voicey Award category had their sights done by Jason Sikes of Village Green Studios so Jason is with us today because he's the expert on branding on your voiceover website. Welcome, Jason.

Jason Sikes: Hi, thank you.

Julie Williams: Hey, with hundreds of thousands of talent in the market place world wide, how does one talent stand out?

Jason Sikes: That is the million-dollar question.

Julie Williams: You know, the temptation is to have a microphone in your marketing stuff and yet you say not to do that. Why?

Jason Sikes: That is definitely one way to not stand out. I have seen so many sites that have used not just microphones but other industry iconography in their marketing materials, be it sound waves or a microphone or headphones or something like that. That it is just been overdone. It's tried, it's unoriginal. That's the message that you're putting out there about yourself to the people that see these things everyday.

Julie Williams: Okay, well then let's back up to the very beginning. I'm a talent, I come to you, what is your process in coming up with a concept for branding?

Jason Sikes: A lot of it depends on who the client is and where they come from and how much experience they have. An overwhelming majority of my clients happen to be new freshly-minted voiceover artists who have just graduated from a teacher, who are seeking agents and have a brand spanking-new demo in their hands. So a lot of times, I will be able to talk the instructor who worked with the talent to get some branding terms from them, you know, who is this person, what's their niche in the market place, what do they sound like, give me some descriptive terms to go off of.

That happens more times than not but there are other times where I have highly experienced voiceover actors that will come and want to do a re-branding or really branding for the - branding themselves for the very first time. In that case, I'll often try to get branding direction from their agent if they already have one, you know, who is your client here, how do you see them in the market place, how do you try to sell them and then come up with the brand that fits that.

Now in both of those scenarios and other scenarios, it's also very important for me to do two things. One, ask the talent how they view themselves in the market place and two, take a listen to the demo myself and see what I hear and hopefully, by gathering all of the information among all those different resources, there will be some sort of overlap and that's what I can go off of.

Julie Williams: What do you look for in the sound of a voice for branding?

Jason Sikes: When I am listening to a demo and trying to come up with branding terms, I listen to the demo, I let it roll, I close my eyes and just kind of start to grab images in my head of what that person sounds like, you know. Is this a sarcastic bomb? Is this someone I could see working out in the tool shed? A sports fisherman? It's just who I hear inside their demo.

Julie Williams: Now Jason, you wrote an article in one of my very first voiceover insider magazines about branding and you used the example of somebody named Campbell and what they should and shouldn't do based on their sound. Would you share that information with us?

Jason Sikes: Sure. This is one of my pet peeves, people that mistake branding for a play on names. So if someone's name is Sarah Campbell, all too often, you will see them with the website that has a Campbell Soup can on it because they think that that - that's their idea of clever. Campbell soup can, my name is Campbell. You're going to remember me for that which is kind of true. You may remember Sarah Campbell as, "Oh yes, she's the one with the Campbell Soup can but along with the Campbell Soup can comes everything that the brand of Campbell Soup is which is wholesome, mom, recovering from a cold, all that kind of thing that when you think of soup, that's what you think of.

Now, if Sarah Campbell is those things, then maybe that might be the right way to go for her but chances are not, she's not. If Sarah Campbell is young and wild and vivacious, a lot of things that soup isn't, then that is the wrong way to go.

So my advice to everyone is budget for marketing yourself into this whole process. I know that you have spent a lot of money on lessons and you spent a lot of money on demo but if you budget this money in which is really the last step before going to market with yourself, then you're going to be a lot happier and chances are, more successful.

Julie Williams: I agree 100 percent. Okay, how can people contact you for more information?

Jason Sikes: They can check me out at my very own website, VillageGreenStudios.com.

Julie Williams: Thank you, Jason of Village Green Studios. I'm Julie Williams and if you would like to get a hold of me, you can go to www.Voice-overs.com.

Julie-Ann Dean: Thank you for joining us. To learn more about the special guest featured in this Voices.com podcast, visit the Voiceover Experts show notes at Podcasts.Voices.com/VoiceoverExperts. Remember to stay subscribed.

If you're a first time listener, you can subscribe for free to this podcast in the Apple iTunes Podcast Directory or by visiting Podcasts.Voices.com. To start your voiceover career online, go to Voices.com and register for a voice talent membership today.

[Closing Music]

Links from today's show:

Julie Williams
VoiceOver Chocolate
Julie Williams Voices.com Website
Jason Sikes at Village Green Studios
Online Voice Casting

Your Instructor this week:

Voice Over Expert Julie Williams

Julie Williams
"Voice-Over Chocolate"

Julie Williams is celebrating her 30th year in voice-overs. She has voiced thousands of commercials, narrations, video games, infomercials, documentaries, and other types of voice-over. Julie has been heard all over the world, and nationally on HGVT, WE, and other media outlets.

Julie Williams boasts such clients as Coca-Cola, Pampers, Pizza Hut, Billy Graham, The US Army, US steel, Imperial Sugar, Sunny Delight, Dominos Pizza, Adobe, and thousands of others. Currently, Julie is heard on national Eyeglass World commercials, The New Body Shaper infomercial, and Skincerity Skin Care Product ads, as well as hundreds of regional and local spots, and non broadcast flash productions. In addition, she's the voice of the video game "Stevie Learns Pool Safety." Samples of Julie's work can be heard at http://www.voice-overs.com.

Did you enjoy Julie's episode? Leave a comment with your thoughts!

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Join Voice Over Expert Anthony Reece in his podcast "Rate Sheets and Recut Requests". Addressing one of the most frequently debated subjects and popular topics in voice over, Anthony provides a solid guideline for creating a rate sheet and then sticking to it as well as dealing with client recut requests.

Download Podcast Episode 51 »

Tags:

Anthony Reece, Rate Sheets, Recuts, Voice Acting, Business, Voice Over Coach, Voices.com

Transcript of Rate Sheets and Recut Requests

[Opening Music]

Julie-Ann Dean: Welcome to Voiceover Experts brought to you by Voices.com, the number one voiceover marketplace. Voiceover Experts brings you tips, pearls of wisdom and techniques from top instructors, authors and performers in the field of voiceover. Join us each week to discover tricks of the trade that will help you to develop your craft and prosper as a career voiceover talent. It's never been easier to learn, perform, and succeed from the privacy of your own home and your own pace. This is truly an education you won't find anywhere else.

Now, for our special guest.

Anthony Reece: Hello there. I'm Anthony Reece with Voiceover 101 and this is another special podcast for a Voices.com talent.

This time around, we're going to uncover two of the most common problems voiceover talents run into with clients. One is sticking to your rate sheet and two, handling that inevitable request for re-cuts.

So no matter how long you've been a voice talent, we all run into the two most dreaded clients on earth. The first client is the one with the flea market mentality. You know the kind, the kind that say things like, "Tell you what, Anthony. If you cut the tracks really cheap now, I'll use you every month. As a matter of fact, I have dozens of spots coming up, " or how about this one, "Now before you quote me a rate, Anthony, keep in mind this could become a long-term project," or finally, this one, "Hey, do it for me free, Anthony and I guarantee you all of our voiceover work in the future." Well, the problem is this client never has future work. I can't tell you how many times I've heard this over the 20 years I've been in the business and the truth is, many of the clients that pitch that to me went out of business and I never heard from them again anyways.

Thanks to the abundance of voiceover talent available via the internet, clients today do have the advantage and will pretty much do anything to get your rate in the toilet, especially if they know you're a newer talent or a beginner for that matter.

So while you may think working for almost nothing now as a new talent is a good thing, it can actually come back to haunt you later. See, because as we'll explore in a few minutes, that same client who wants it pretty much free now will expect it pretty much free later.

Secondly, you'll run into, if you haven't by now, that dreaded client who has no clue what they want in the way of your track's tone, the pace, the attitude, even after supplying what is supposed to be the final copy. This is one of a voice actor's worst nightmare come true. This client will take you into re-cut H-E double hockey sticks as my kid would say, See some clients are professional and know exactly what they want in the form of delivery, tone, the mood, the pace, the tempo, et cetera but many times, you'll run into that client who is what we call the re-cut king client. This is the kind of client who feels that changing the copy post-production or after you've spent the time to cut the tracks based on their direction and final copy, they contact you and say, "We have a rewrite."

So let's explore the easy steps you can take along the way to assure you're covered in case you run into these two dreaded clients.

Whether you're a beginner or a veteran talent, everyone must have a base voiceover rate sheet. Yes, it is very wise to research the industry and see what the current rates are for local, regional and national radio spots, TV commercials, narrations, animated character voices by the finished minute even the going day rate for a union talent. However, the real truth of the matter is, today more than ever, a voice talent must be flexible and sensitive to the client's budget. This is mainly due to a much tighter advertising and production budget with most businesses today and yes, you guessed it, to our lovely global voiceover market place of today with talents working literally out of their closets and bathrooms, the rates today are not exactly what they used to be if you've been around a while.

So when you consider your rate sheet, use it only as a guide keeping in mind whether or not you're a beginner, newer talent or veteran. You should price it accordingly yet do not cut yourself short as people will eat you alive and take advantage of you if you appear hungry or too green as a beginner talent.

It's funny because my old mentor used to say it to me like this, "Anthony my boy, don't let them see you sweat." Well, the same applies here. Don't let them see you're hungry. If they only want you because you're the cheapest talent in the audition, do you really want their business anyways? Only you can make this call and I suggest you base it on the demeanor of the client on the phone or in the e-mail. If they seem arrogant or have no obvious respect for your abilities or your talent, drop them like a bad habit as it will only end up being a project from H-E Double Hockey. Well, you get the point.

Secondly, once you do create a rate sheet, try to stick to it and only offer discount if they actually use you more than two or three times in any given quarter. Yes, you'll need to be strong and you'll need to appear confident yet be open-minded to reading a client's response before you finalize your quote. I usually try to say right up front with the new client something like, "Well, Bob, I usually offer discounts after my clients use me for two to three jobs per quarter or two to three jobs per year so if you use me again in the future, I'll be more than happy to offer you a discount but you need to become a regular client before you can benefit from my discounted rate sheet." Now, it's pretty simple, pretty straight-ahead then and only then offer a discount from 15 percent to 20 percent. Why? Well, that's because that's the typical booking agent's fee out there so why not give your client that fee as a discount. But whatever you do, don't make it a habit of offering your rates too low as in in this business, as in life in general, most people will tell you anything they need to, to get the cheapest rate available now.

So get out your (inaudible) hat and start out with your rate sheet yet be willing to gauge the client project to project. It is just like playing poker. One must know when to bluff or call but don't let them see you sweat as I said. Yes, sometimes you must also walk away from the table too so keep that in mind. Just listen to your gut and over time, you will master the game of bargaining with that flea market mentality client.

Handling unreasonable requests for re-cuts. Well, first off, it's a wise thing if you haven't done so yet to have a simple one-page voice talent agreement to give to your clients. It should be easily worded, not too legal. Clients will never work with a talent who has a six-page contract which must be reviewed by a legal team costing them hundreds of bucks and who knows how many days delay. So this agreement should be simple. Within this agreement, you should make sure that you have two sections called approval period and re-cuts. Now the approval period will limit the time the client has to approve your tracks. Trust me, some if not many clients will take their sweet time approving your tracks if you let them. Sometimes, it is due to the number of chefs in the kitchen who need to approve the tracks. This in itself is a whole another topic some time but mainly, it's because of unethical clients who actually delay approval of your tracks simply as a way to delay paying your tab. Simply put, they want to prolong the period before they have to fork up the bucks to pay for the work. So the normal time I suggest is three to four working days from receipt as a limited time for approval. This is plenty of time for anyone to listen to a few minutes of voiceover or audio track dialog.

Next, be sure to add a section called re-cuts. This section should offer the standard one round of free re-cuts, typically included in all voiceover session. However, re-cuts should be limited to recording or tracking errors on your part as the voiceover talent. It is very wise to also clarify this in writing. Any additional round of re-cuts due to client's script changes, copy rewrites or simply changes in direction are charged additionally at X number dollars of which, I'd typically suggest the re-cut fee of 35 percent to 50 percent of the original quote. Making this part of your standard service agreement will assure both you and the client are on the same page when it comes to reproduction or re-cut requests.

I can't tell you how many times over these years this clause has saved me from lost time and major headaches in sessions. Simply said, state it in your written agreement in advance. This is a very wise move.

In closing, I offer this to you. Don't forget this is a business so act like a professional and have a talent service agreement which clearly states your basic rate, approval time, re-cuts, number of re-cuts included, payment terms, license term and the rights to the tracks. Also, the delivery format and delivery deadline time lines. Lastly, do not do the work until they sign the agreement. Send the signed agreement, pay any required deposit and then submit and confirm the final copy.

Meanwhile, have fun along the way and once again, remember this is a business. Act like a professional and you'll be mistreated - I mean, you'll be treated like a professional. Enjoy and thanks again for listening to this podcast from Voices.com. I'm Anthony Reece with Voiceover 101.

Julie-Ann Dean: Thank you for joining us. To learn more about the special guest featured in this Voices.com podcast, visit the Voiceover Experts show notes at Podcasts.Voices.com/VoiceoverExperts. Remember to stay subscribed.

If you're a first time listener, you can subscribe for free to this podcast in the Apple iTunes Podcast Directory or by visiting Podcasts.Voices.com. To start your voiceover career online, go to Voices.com and register for a voice talent membership today.

[Closing Music]

Links from today's show:

VO 101 Course
Anthony Reece
Anthony Reece on Voices.com

Your Instructor this week:

Voice Over Expert Anthony Reece

After a lifetime in gaming, radio, television, theatre, music, entertainment & animation, the resume of Anthony Reece is vast including hands-on experience as a audio and sound track producer, creative director, studio manager, broadcast program director and producer, casting director and voice actor. Mr. Reece has "been there - done that". Anthony has personally cast, directed, produced and/or voiced hundreds of cartoons, games, commercials, animations and just about every type of media there is today. This diverse, creative background assures you're working with a studio, directed by a professional in all areas of broadcasting, gaming, animation, performance and media.

Did you enjoy Anthony's episode? Leave a comment with your thoughts!

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