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Toxic & Taboo Blunders in the Commercial Voiceover Studio

Kim Handysides Voiceover — Credit: Pixabay

Happily, most of my voiceover acting life has been supported by a steady stream of commercial work. In discussions with a student, I realized there were reasons for that beyond being able to deliver a great read. Yes, you have to know what the market wants, give your director what s/he wants and “bring it” (whatever it may be) on time and on target. But more than that it also takes a deft ability to read the room. The commercial sound studio is never the place to display any toxic or taboo blunders. Let me explain….

Toxic Voiceover Behavior in the Commercial Studio

There is some studio behavior I simply take as inappropriate and you may find this obvious (if so, bravo to you) but I have seen a lot of shady stuff over the years. Some of which will lock you out of future work. Here’s a little list:

Don’t waste time. So be on time for your call. Perform your best and try your best to do so quickly. When you’re done, and signed your contract, don’t dawdle on the way out of the studio. Studio hours are expensive and you are not paying for them. Be mindful of the people who are.

Don’t be rude. Everyone in studio (or on set) is a person, a co-worker, part of your team and deserving of your respect. From the receptionist who shows you in and beyond.

Be friendly, but not too familiar. Worlds mingle in a commercial studio. The writer, the client, the account manager, and you the actor, Miss/r Merry Sunshine. It is expected that you will be fun, friendly. Actors are generally a warm, fuzzy bunch. Your energy and verve will lighten the room. Just be sensitive to others. If they are buried in their computers, keying furiously, on the phone and sounding tense, now is not the time to break out into your Bo Jangles routine.

Don’t go on your phone. Put it on silent, and leave it in your purse/coat/manbag, outside of the booth you work in. You are getting a high price for an hour of your time. Why get distracted? You want to give your best performance. Bringing your phone into the sound booth makes you look dis respectful of your client.

Be sensitive to the other actors. The actor you’re working with may not want to catch up on the latest gossip in between takes. They may need to focus to explore their choices more fully. If you haven’t seen each other in months, plan to grab a coffee together after your session. Don’t kibbitz around during it.

Don’t try to do someone else’s job. Just like every other part of production, it’s a team effort and everyone has been brought on to do a specific job. Don’t adjust your mic. That’s the sound engineer’s job. Don’t correct someone’s accent. That’s the dialect coach’s job. If the copy needs an obvious re-write, there will be a writer on hand who will take care of that. If the team seems to be have a problem & ask your opinion, then by all means, offer it. Otherwise, don’t.

Don’t apologize all the time. Apparently, this happens to more than just Canadians and Brits. Sound engineer & director colleagues of mine in LA also report actors over-apologizing for takes that aren’t quite right. It’s ok. It’s expected. That’s why they’re called “takes” and there’s often a few of them. It’s self-deprecating, time wasting and not necessary.

Watch your swear words. I love juicy Anglo Saxon expletives as much as the next WASP, but the studio is not the place for them. I remember recommending a talented actress to replace me while I was on vacation and the client reported back yes, she did a good job, but he’d had to calm down a nervous client and wash his own ears out with bleach after their session.

Don’t moonlight on the job. This seems like a no-brainer to me, but I’ve witnessed a couple of actors try to sell their vitamins or makeup products or whatever other sideline scheme they had going to the other actors, writers, (heaven forbid) their client’s client while in a commercial session. No. Just, no! It’s not appropriate. You will not make a sale of your new online book while in the sound studio and you will not get asked back for any more work with them.

Don’t come into the studio drunk or high. (I’m not even going to dignify this with an explanation)

Taboo Voiceover Performance in the Commercial Studio

Performance no-no’s are more complicated and I’ve seen them either occur because of a lack of experience, an over-abundance of nerves or a skill deficit.

Be careful not to get stuck in one note. This happens when you get locked into one way of thinking about the role. Don’t get attached to your performance before you begin. Developing your improv skills helps you stay fresh and respond well to suggestion/direction.

Poor cold reading skills. Words, specifically other people’s words, are your tools. There is no excuse for not being able to cold read without stumbling. If you can’t read a 30 or a 60 without stumbling, read out loud for 30 minutes every day until you can.

Deliver what the director wants. The best actors are directable and adaptable. Whether you’re working with a good director or a bad director, you need to sort out what they want. If the director isn’t fluent in actor-speak and insist on giving you line reads, think of his direction as a mystery, and you my friend are the Benelock Cumberholmes who’s going to solve it.

In Between Commercial Voiceover Gigs

Behavior-wise, do keep in touch with your clients. Gently. Occasionally. Connect with them on social media. Like or comment on some (not all) of their posts. If you have something to share that might be useful to them, share it. Don’t pester, hound, stalk or be annoying to them. That will blacklist you from their re-hire list. But be present and available.

Performance-wise, well that your upkeep and development of that has little to do with your client, correct? So continue to improve your performance, your craft. Paint the masters. Keep working. And if you have something you’re proud of that your client might think is cool, share it with them. Otherwise, shhhhh.

Kim is a female commercial voiceover artist whose first Union spot was for a yogurt ad the year Mike Tyson won his first ever boxing title. What has your experience been in commercial sound studios?

Voice Over Insider’s View: Pt 3 Direct Yourself Like an Expert

Voiceover Coach

21st Century voice over means knowing how direct yourself in your own booth. Expertly. If the task seems daunting and you’re a bit shaky on how to deftly turn the tables to be both actor and director, these tips may help steady you on.

When you get a piece of text…

Orient Yourself Grasshopper

Who – are you: The boss? A peer, a dad, an ice princess? Your read for Nok, the sewer troll will be very different from the BFF over coffee.

Who – are you talking to: Again, answering this anchors your character and helps you settle on a tone and delivery.

Why open your mouth? (also dovetails into ‘what’ – which is the actual message or script) – what do you want to get out of the interchange? Are you helping a loved one deal with cancer, or directing an auditorium full of IT peeps to their seats for an Awards ceremony? Why is what you have to say important? And why should your audience care?

Where – will this be heard? This helps determine the adjustment you need to make. A radio voiceover is different from a documentary read is different from a gaming character is different from an audiobook narration. Like the adjustments between theater and stand-up comedy or between television and film, being aware of where your job will be heard, helps you find the right delivery.

Sift through your Script (Analyze This)

Commercial copy is different from a script for a game or an explainer. Each of these comes with its own standards of nuance. Let’s take ads for instance. People listening are only half listening at best. The ad is in between them and the content they want. So, make it content they DO want to hear. What in the copy is going to make a difference for them? Can you help them save money? Stay safe? Get ahead? Have more time with their family? The product is the conduit for them to do this. You help them realize this. If you do your best work, they will come away with a couple words and a feeling. i.e. McDonalds + lovin’. Apple + different.

A longer text is more of the same, but less urgent. And with more words. So, if you’re reading an eLearning text about compliance, in each line and paragraph look for the goodie. The key phrase that will make a difference for the sender and receiver of your message.

I hesitate to give a recipe on how to break-down your script. That’d be like cake. (chocolate, vanilla, pineapple upside down) Your read recipe is going to be different from mine. I tend to send more love to my verbs. Other people like to polish up the adjectives. More critical is to make sure you understand what is important to get across and then, keep it real, in an entertaining way.

Unleash the Creative – Dismiss the Judge.

Ever worked in a studio on a commercial? The client, the account exec and a minion or two are never (or extremely rarely) in the studio at the same time the talent is. The director does this on purpose. Too many cooks. Plus they don’t know how to ask for what they want. And actors are delicate creatures.

Same here. In your solitary two-hatted state, you need to separate your creative from your inner critic.

I don’t know about you, but my creative inner feels like a red licorice-loving five-year-old, who cartwheels over to the mic mugging, “Let me at the script!!”

To keep her from diving off the deep end without checking whether there’s water in the pool, (a.k.a. spend too much time on takes or go too far in freeing that freaky self) approach “takes” with the wisdom of Pat Fraley’s Series of Three. Let your first take be your primary interpretation of the script. For your second take, go in a different direction. Do a third take as a mix of two.

What I really like about this, other than it came from the GREAT PF (whom I love) is the #2. Going in that different direction is a licence for you to get out of your comfort zone. Ham or cheese it up. Go dark. Thay it with a lithp. Go out on a limb and then, come part way back.

Where should you go for read number two?

Again, I lean on my studio experience. I channel my inner Martin, Andrew or Kate. All great ad directors I’ve worked with in the past, who know how to nudge me where I need to go. Who are some of your fav directors? What would they say to get you to try it differently?

Another fav of mine is Mary Lynn Wissner and her amazing voiceover app. A wonderful LA casting director, Mary Lynn devised an app you can take in your booth to help you make strong choices. Her approach is broken down in 5 different kinds of reads and then she has a survey of emotions and triggers you select from to layer or flavor your performance with. This is especially good for auditioning. Using her app has helped me become a better self-director.

After you’ve got a few takes laid down, cage your creative creature and it’s bruisable ego and listen with your director’s ears.

Cosset the Critic

Once you’ve done all you can creatively, bring that inner judge back in your court. Separate yourself from what you’ve done. If you were a writer this would be the time you’d refer to Stephen King’s quote, “kill your darlings.” Listen with the ears of your client. Or better, your client’s audience.

And never with a capital N, ever go for “good enough.” Good enough doesn’t get you re-hired. Or hired in the first place.

This post is the third in a three part series on directing voice actors. The first reveals the different hats the voice director must wear in the sound studio. The second outlines what directors need to know to get the best performances from their talent. I’ve been doing VO and coaching since Blockbuster was still relevant. Contact me if you’d like to work together.

Insider View Pt 2: 7 Secrets to Directing Your Voice Actors

Voiceover Coach, Voiceover Coaching

My Insider View Pt 2: Directing Voice Actors – 7 Freebie Secrets — Source: Deviant Art

You’ve been tasked with directing the audio on a commercial, a corporate video or gaming session. You know how you want it to sound, but are you certain you’ll be able to get that from your voice actor?

Actors are a touchy-feely, capricious lot. They are trained to observe and catalogue the behavior of others, be open to the moment, sound and appear truthful or believable and simultaneously tap into their rainbowed fount of expressive creativity.

The Power of Improv

Give your actor licence to play. Get a good take and a safety in the (sound) bank, then invite the actor to improvise. Ad-libbing around the script can unearth sparkling performances. Encourage them to roll into the script with lead-ins, toss in extra words and extros. These can all be edited out. But sometimes enhance the original script. A fellow actor I often work with in commercials is extremely proficient at this. He peppers his performance with Bruce-isms, often cranking up the funny, relevance and sheer entertainment value.

Grunts, Groans & Growls

Ask for non-verbal sounds. Sighs, moans, giggles, yips. These utterances are paralinguistics and add flavor and punch. Think of them as audible emojis. Welcome them. 7 % of human communication is in the form of words. 38% of our communication expressed through sound is non-verbal. Your voiceover actor’s sound scape will sound more realistic adorned with a few choice non-verbal sounds. Ask for lots, then use your judgement on what to keep and what to toss.

Actor W’s: Who, Who, Why and sometimes Where

Every actor needs to know three things going into a commercial, cartoon or any session. Who am I? Am I a businessman boarding a plane? A mom shuttling kids to soccer practice? A peer revealing the latest time saving technology at work? Who am I speaking to? My best friend? A colleague? And why? As in why is it important that I tell them this message of your project now? These are things that we all know in real life. Your actor needs that info, too. Some actors may make those choices themselves, but it is better for the director to understand and communicate that out of the gate. Where will it be shown/heard can also guide the actor. The delivery for a cartoon channel delivery will sound different from a self-help audiobook or a conference hall seating 2000. The “what” is the unfolding performance itself.

Cracking the Code

Your script is your brush and paint. Your marble and chisel. The tool you and the actor (and sound engineer) will use to create your audio end-product. You can help the actor interpret the script by pointing out certain words or phrases. Point out triplets and make sure the emphasis is not on the repeated words. Verbs are great places to lay emphasis, especially in a list. The creativity of both you and the actor may be taxed if the client weighs in and insists certain prominence be placed on words that are important to them. Sometimes the thrown away words are the ones that sell the most. What is not said in the script but could be implied in the scene is another layer of nuance and can often be as important as what is said.

Evil Line Reads

The worst thing a director can do is give an actor a line read. Meaning, tell the actor, ”Say it like this, Charlie:” and then attempt to deliver the line yourself. This is the mark of either a green or a shoddy director. At best, when you line read, you are doing the actor’s job for them. So, then why are directing? Why aren’t you acting? At worst, you are muddling through your own probably poor rendition of what you want, which does not inspire, may irritate and will probably confuse the actor. Your job is to motivate, guide or propel the actor toward a certain delivery. To do this, you need to a) understand what is important in each line and the narrative in the whole and b) sort out how to encourage the actor to find that on her own.

Rhythm and Muse (ic)

There is one exception to the line-read rule as colleague voice coach Martha Kahn points out: kids. Child actors are incredible aural mimics and hone in on the music of your phrase. Your tone, rhythm, accent. Everything. Under 12 years old, they are still incredibly skilled at distinguishing subtle differences in sounds. I talk about the music of a sentence when directing actors. It’s another aspect of observation they will incorporate into performance and it’s another tool for you to helping them create the right sound. Descriptors you can use are giving a line a close (effectively ending the line on a lower note) – this makes a statement sound definitive. It’s opposite, uptalking, is generally a tendency to avoid, unless you’re helping the actor define a less credible character. Too much music, a roller coaster sound sounds fake and “announcery” and too little music or inflection sounds robotic.

Vocabulary (Words, words, words)

Good directors speak actor. They understand that to arrive at a certain performance, an actor uses substitutions. For example, your actor may need to be enthusiastic about a casino, but in real life come from a background where gambling strained or destroyed their childhood. The actor will substitute something they can get excited about instead. It may be puppy adoption, Steve Madden shoes on sale or baseball season. You don’t need to know what the actor is using to find that enthusiasm, but reminding them about finding a substitution is important. Another great actor-word is intention. Which means more than objective or target. To the actor, it means how do I get what I want? Another element actors use to help them create is subtext. Smart communication is layered with choice. Often what we say is counter to what we mean. Actors use this to layer in authenticity to the characters they create.

Directing takes skills. This blog is Part 2 of a three-part series on directing voice talent and can be applied to most audio or video projects. The first instalment looked at the three positions the voice director navigates in a session. The third focuses on tips on self-direction for working remotely from your own home sound studio, as more and more voice actors are doing nowadays.

What are your pet peeves & what do you think makes a great voice director?

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kim@kimhandysidesvoiceover.com