Tag Archives: radio scripts

Navigating a voice talent’s demo.

October 6, 2014Commercials, Generalannouncers, audio production, Commercial, creative radio, radio, radio account executives, radio production, radio sales, radio scripts, radio stations, script writing, scripts, targeted advertising, television, voice over artists, voice talentOvernight Radio

In any business, your business card is your introduction.

And depending on the business you’re in…sometimes your business card is not of the paper variety. It could be the decal on the side of your van, the picture of your band on your poster, or in our case, your demo.

The demo or demonstration shows what you have to offer any prospective buyer…it doesn’t have to include everything (and shouldn’t)…but it should include the very best of what you can do…all in a timely and efficient manner.

Most demo’s don’t get played past the first 5 to 10 seconds…as producers, talent scouts and creative directors and producers can usually tell in an instant if this is worth listening to immediately. And when they do listen further, it’s not to help make up their minds, it’s to help organize in their minds what you may or may not be useful for in any work they may have.

Some of the time, demo’s sent to Overnight Radio are of low caliber (ie: someone told me i have a voice for radio, so here is my iPhone recording of me doing my best daffy duck impersonation). Fair enough, we get that. Not for us, but we get it.

Other times, we get fantastic demos that show amazing range and a dynamic read, on a multitude of different types of scripts. We used to get very interested in these and follow up right away. But sometimes (more often than not), to our dismay, when faced with actually voicing scripts in that style, the voice talent shows a lack of skill in performing. We’d say ‘but you had such a great hard-sell on your demo…can we have it like that?” only to get a confused response of ‘but i DID give you that read”. This wasn’t a situation of us being duped by a voice talent swapping out their voice for another on their demo…it was their voice – no doubt about it. But for one reason or another, they could not duplicate the read for us.

We realized a few years in, what was actually going on…the voice talent, while possessing great voices – actually lacked in certain directing skills…directing themselves.

Directing yourself is something that looks easy, but it is quite the opposite. Like a band producing itself, for the most part…it comes off as directionless. It’s hard to navigate your car when you are inside it, with only a vague idea of where to go. If on the other hand you had a GPS unit to see your car from up above…your course will be well plotted, efficient, and get to your destination fast.

The same can be said of a producer. He/she is outside of your car (your voice) and can guide your finely-tuned engine to the destination (the message) far better than without. You are the driver of the voice, you are not the navigator. It took a lot of effort to mold your voice to what it is today, it’s concise, it’s beautiful and it’s worth listening to. These are the things you worked on your whole career and it’s paying off. Especially on the straight-away…scripts that conform to the race track you built in your mind for the optimal performance of your voice.

It’s when things start to veer off that straight-away that you start to need a navigator, or as they are known in our business, creative directors or producers. These navigators seem unnecessary to most voice talent, because they have been practicing on a certain road so long, that they have forgotten that roads curve.

If you have a hard-sell on your demo and you are a working voice talent…BUT no one gets you to do hard-sells, it’s because you don’t know the route, you don’t know how you actually did that great hard-sell on your demo. You most likely had a director/producer/navigator on that trip. And now when you are asked to go that route, you are lost.

In my opinion, most voice talent are fantastic at one or two types of reads on their own. Anything beyond those parameters requires a navigator…OR it requires you, for a lack of better terms, create your own GPS unit. This requires you to drive and drive and drive, and map and map and map (ie: voice, voice and voice again) until you have mapped out the voice area. This could take many weeks, to many years. And you will only know if you have done it correctly when people ask you to do that type of read again.

If people ask you to do one type of read over and over again, it’s because it’s the only read they feel you can do. You might be confounded by this, as you have done lots of other types of reads, and they sound great…to you. But if you were to honestly look at that read from a satellites point of view, you would see that it veers away from the actual destination intended.

Becoming your own director/producer is a talent few of us possess. It’s really tough to see the earth from our perspective. And while I advocate that everyone become their own director/producer, a more realistic approach is to fine tune what you can do, and represent that and ONLY that on your demo. Focus on what you are best at, and present that, a lot o that. If you are great at soft-sells, warm reads and the like, present that and only that on your demo. Don’t bother with acting, hard-sells, cartoon voices etc…just show us what your car can do, all by itself, without a navigator.

Anything else, is a reach at best, and false advertising at worst.

Jingles…the mini kind.

September 29, 2014Commercials, General, Musicannouncers, audio production, Commercial, creative radio, jingles, radio, radio account executives, radio production, radio sales, radio scripts, radio stations, script writing, targeted advertising, voice over artists, voice talentOvernight Radio

The most rewarding part of being an advertiser is the knowledge that someone, anyone knows your brand…and that someone knows your brand specifically through your efforts. There are great roadside/street-side signs familiar to Torontonian’s such as Sam The Record Man and all of the world famous distinct signs on Fremont Street in Las Vegas.

If they are impressive and make an impact with the viewer, the impressions last forever. The same is true with audio – a great spot will make a great impact on a listener. But a great jingle, along with the proper exposure it needs, will make an incredible impact. These, like iconic signs, last forever in a persons memory. I can still recall jingles from my youth today…they will probably be with me till my dying days. Jingles like the “Oscar Mayer Wieners” classic, among other local jingles are part of my psyche.

One must remember though, to be memorable, one does not need to be Beethoven…only only needs to be great at conveying a message. Jingles are an art form, that is true…but art implies a tortured soul conveying his/her inner emotions onto a canvas, music sheet or otherwise. Jingles however do not require tortured souls – as they are only conveyors of happy/funny emotions…but emotions nonetheless. They are indeed art, just not the type of implied art that so many of us picture in our minds.

The ability to a) create a memorable melody, b) match it to an efficient lyric and then c) actually create the audio with the professionalism required for such a task is no easy feat.

When I am asked about our jingles by anyone, either an outsider of the radio business, or even a new account exec/sales rep, I inevitably get pitched musical ideas they have in their minds. Some are great, and some are not. But most are just vague outlines of something they THINK sounds like a melody and something they THINK would fit into a particular type of music. These are all great things…they are the nucleus of ideas needed to get started. But after the casual musings of such things…the ideas drop away, and we are left with the actual task of taking the idea floating in the wind they provided and turn it into a solid piece of material we can use to convey they message of the company they represent.

Going beyond the initial idea is what we have been doing for years and we have become very efficient at it. All the musical years of formal training, self training and actual work experience training come into play. This is what allows us to go beyond the initial idea in the wind, and make it an actual jingle.

What we specialize in are something we call mini-melodies…essentially tiny sing-outs that give the impression of a full scale jingle, but at a small scale budget. We use our small but talented musical staff to create the lyric, the melody, the music bed and finally the vocals.

Team One creates the lyric and melody along with a description of the music bed that fits the style of the client. Team Two takes that solid idea and turns it into an actual music bed with the strong and appropriate vocals.

We can do this within just a couple of days. How?

They are just as the title implies – they are small jingles – mini-melodies. They are usually only a 3 to 5 second sing-out placed at the end of an ad…lyrics such as ‘smiths bedding, we’ve got you covered’…or ‘home sweet home, is living in a reed’s home’.

Over the years, we have produced many a jingle, but have noticed that only the sing-outs get used in any capacity. This is why we scaled down our productions to only include the mini-melodies. They are just as effective as a full 30 or 60 second (if not more) and are a fraction of the cost. For account exec’s/sales reps for radio/tv stations…we have found they they are invaluable in recruiting first-time buyers to the medium and in keeping current long-time clients happy with a creative refresher, or value-addition to their current campaign.

In October, we will be posting samples of recently done mini-melodies that you are welcome to download/show your clients as possible demo’s for them. Cost-wise, the price is lower than you imagine. And for current contracted clients, these mini-melodies are included in your package at only 3 units each…an amazing value considering the power they can wield on the field with clients.

Contact us with any questions you may have – we hope to help your sales with our mini-melodies. New demo’s for you to use are coming soon!

Knowing your voice

September 22, 2014Generalcreative radio, radio account executives, radio sales, radio scripts, radio stations, script writing, scripts, targeted advertising, television, voice over artists, voice talentOvernight Radio

When a microphone is placed in front of a person…one of two things happen.

One, the microphone captures the spirit of the person in audio – the nuance, the feeling and the sincerity of the words spoken.

OR it has a hypnotic effect on the person speaking, which leads them to believe they need to change their voice in order to sound good…this of course, is disastrous…100 percent of the time.

I have seen this phenomenon multiple times and also been victim to it. It is not to be taken lightly. And to be made aware of it, is a very precarious thing to negotiate. We are on high alert when we are under the microphone’s spell…very aware of what everyone around us is seeing and more importantly, hearing. So to be told you sound stiff, awkward and worst of all, fake…generally the response from the voice is defensive…very defensive. It’s like waking up someone in the middle of surgery…it really, really hurts.

That’s why, after many years of trying, i have decided to wait till someone has woken up before telling them my perception of their read. It’s much easier for the voice artist to hear the reality of a read when the passage of time has occurred…time to heal, time to step away from it. I am not saying direction in the session is wrong, far from it. But if you find yourself in a recording session with a voice artist who cannot act, cannot voice realistically, then this is beyond session advice. It’s time to wrap it up, sew up the chest and give them time to heal.

I remember about 15 years ago getting advice from my business partner on my read on a particular script i had done weeks before, and the advice was hard to take…i sounded ‘unnatural, sounded like i was talking to children, not giving my audience the respect it deserves with a natural tone’…he had replaced my voice with another voice artists. I took the advice and tried to changed my read…but i did not change my attitude. This of course, is the key…the attitude. I know it sounds like a cheap truism…but i can attest, that only after an attitude shift, can you change your actual read. It is impossible to read a script differently without realizing or believing how you should do it properly.

My partners advice lingered for a while like a dull pain, but like anything, the medication started to work very soon. It permeated my reads, my sound and my production. I started to take pride in who i am as a voice artist and as a producer. When i realized I didn’t have to change the voice i already had, but just needed to focus on my already existing strengths, a whole world opened up to me, and ones that weren’t my strengths suddenly seems small and unimportant – they were for other voice over artists to do, and had nothing to do with me. I was free to do well at what i do!

The difference between the most loathed locally voiced spots and the best loved nationally voiced spots is that national ones have taken advice and changed their attitudes and the local ones has not. (disclaimer – not EVERY local and not EVERY national – there are some great local spots out there and some terrible nationals).

I for one am glad to take advice on the realism of my personal reads, as now that i have taken the most drastic step of actually being aware of my strengths and weaknesses, any advice I do receive can no longer hurt me, it can only improve me, whether it’s great advice or not…because i have the anchor of knowing exactly what i can, and cannot do. Telling me to do a better monster truck read does not hurt…because i know i cannot do it in the first place…kind of like asking a roofer to replace your sink. I simply cannot do it…i am not equipped. And to KNOW that, is a great gift to have.

Thanks partner.

Home Set Ups

September 11, 2014Generalcreative radio, radio, radio account executives, radio production, radio sales, radio scripts, scripts, targeted advertising, voice over artists, voice talentOvernight Radio

(note: this blog is directed at voice over artists, not recording engineers – that’s a different story) It’s a new world…this is not the same place our parents worked in…or even most of us in generation x. When i went to college, computers were relatively new to the curriculum by about 5 years. Of course we learned our craft on them, but as with any transitional period, we also learned our craft on the old gear. In the end, it turns out, however cool, the old gear was just that…old gear. The new is where we should be pointing, holding on to the past is all it can be, holding on to something that isn’t there anymore. The same can be said with voice talent voicing from home. Of course everyone has a computer, great software and a great mic. And in this day and age, that is all you need – literally. Anything else is holding on to the past as if it’s still relevant. And ironically, when you try to incorporate what worked in the past into the present, it will sabotage your efforts. Case in point, many voice artists over a certain age feel the need to add things to their recording chain, ie: all the things between your great microphone and the computer recording them. The point of recording digitally (and analogue as well) is to have more signal to noise…or more voice to hiss. Every set up has some noise/hiss…either your cables, your room noise, the fridge from downstairs…it all contributes to what we call the noise floor. Other contributors to this unwanted noise are things we USED to need in the past, such as external pre-amps. External pre-amps are/were very useful for many recording situations…setting the initial level of your microphone to it’s optimal level before it enters the recording process. But if it were up to me, they would be illegal for 99% of any voice over artist to use them. As it takes a very skilled hand/ear to use these tools to any advantage, and a very normal hand/ear to mess it up entirely. In the old days, the external pre-amp was there because it had to be. There was no digital world in which to have a digital (and much quieter) pre-amp already installed on your existing system. The pre-amp regulated your input before it got to the console, and so on and so forth. This is no longer a necessity, at least with almost all home voice over set ups. The computer, audio program, microphone, usb connection, all obliterate the need for any such device…adding one to your chain does virtually nothing except add noise and tells us you are of a certain age. Nothing wrong with that of course, as i am 40 , AND i started off with a pre-amp as well, thinking i needed it, simply because we used to need it. We don’t…and as a voice over artist…neither do you. Bottom line? The only thing you need is a clean vehicle to get your uniquely great sounding voice to tape…uh, i mean to your computer.

Remembering what’s important.

September 8, 2014Commercials, Generalcreative radio, radio account executives, radio production, radio sales, radio scripts, scripts, targeted advertising, television, voice over artistsOvernight Radio

The main purpose of any advertisement, on any medium, it to communicate. And all are successful at that…there is no doubt. But communication in itself is not a victory, because your ad has only 2 possible ways of communicating…either with ‘listen to me, i have something you need/want’…or with ‘do NOT listen to me, i have nothing you need…”.

Clearly the former is the desired end game, and it’s not that hard to achieve. Remembering what is important to the people listening, is key. I know it sounds obvious, but the main point here is that not everyone is listening. Someone new to advertising is sold a bill of goods from a radio or tv station, with an astronomical number of actual listeners…and it’s not a lie…that is how many people are tuned into the station…let’s say 500 thousand. But they fail to mention how many will be tuned in to your spot…which is microscopic in comparison to the overall listening audience…it could be as low as 500.

This is not a bad thing, it’s quite the opposite. Because all you really need to do is pinpoint your message to your potential customers…and not everyone is a potential customer. This smaller number, whatever it may be, puts things into perspective. Especially if you are a small business…talking directly to people interested in your services is what you want to do…it’s what targeted advertising like Facebook and Google use and people covet…but it’s possible to do the same thing with broadcast radio and television as well…because a well-crafted spot, literately tunes interested parties in, and uninterested parties out.

I have heard from people my entire career that most radio and television advertising is bad, off the mark, and a waste of time. But if this were completely true, it would have Darwin’d itself out of existence by now…and it’s alive and kicking. What people are really saying is, ‘that ad was off the mark and a waste of time, BECAUSE I WAS NOT IN THE MARKET FOR THAT PRODUCT”. People forget that not all advertising is meant for you – it’s meant to target people specifically, in the analogue world…it doesn’t need personal info on you like Facebook and Google do…all it needs are the right words, the right delivery and the right production…if you remember that, then you will remember what’s important…and cut through like the original targeted ad…great advertising.