Been on for a few months and not sure where i stand

Erin Cameron · **Voice Talent** Joined: 13 Jun 2006 Posts: 2

Hey Guys - Erin here..new to the posting board and i wish I had gone through this a few months ago....

So here goes:

Maybe i'm delusional, but i've always been told that i have a great voice for radio, vo, stage, etc. At my old job they always used me for the tv commercials, promo videos, phone systems, telemarketing scripts...probably because they didn't have to pay me. Although, if someone wants their million dollar business repped by my voice it must mean i could do this professionally. I actually had the better response action rate on recorded messages for telemarketing than my co-worker had ever seen.

Anyways, we have a studio in the house that i'm messing around with and want to see if I'm at all on the right track. I studied voice and theatre in college ages ago and left it to make real money. I left the real money to find real happiness, and so the story goes back to what I love doing 10 years ago, but atleast i can now afford a home and have my own studio. LOL

So, enough of my rambling. I welcome any advice on my profile / demos. Opinions and comments, whether harsh or complimentary, greatly appreciated. I'd like to learn how to get atleast ONE response from this service.

www.erincameron.voice123.com

Cheers!

Erin

Scott Pollak · Posted: Thu Jan 04, 2007, 19:03 (GMT) Post subject:

Hi Erin,

Let me take a stab at a critique...
For starters, you need to combine all your separate demos into one :60 piece that showcases your variety and versatility. I made it thru the first 4 demos then got tired of clicking. Listen to the demos of the top people on this site and you'll notice that in ONE demo you get a great, dynamic random sampling of some of their best stuff. Typically a demo will have short :10-:15 segments that move smoothly into the next, creating dynamism and a forward momentum, leaving the listener wanting to hear more as the next clip begins.

Most of your demos are dry, and the audio quality seems quite low. I was very unimpressed with the first two demos as they seemed to be recorded at low-fi on low quality equipment. Also, being flat, dry, unproduced reads, I have no sense of you having done anything professionally from listening to them.

So for starters, go back to "GO" and work on re-creating your demos.

Next... you have a very pleasant voice, and things like the Spiritual read seem to be most within your comfort range. I personally did NOT care for the fast-paced biz professional. You have a very comforting voice that would work well on soft-sell, low-key projects, as well as probably book-on-tape type of jobs. However, I think you need to work on your emotiveness. While the spiritual read WAS good, it wasn't great. You need some training and a lot of practice bringing the script to life, which isn't happening there yet.

I know on this forum we seem to ALWAYS be hearing: "You've got a good solid basis, now you need to apply some training and work and you could do well", but I really believe that's the case here. At this point you have a nice voice, but it's not trained enough to be able to get you the jobs over the really GREAT voices here. Plus the audio quality just seems muddy and very weak to me. (What kind of home set up are you using?)

Get a bit more professional training. Practice relentlessly for the next 6 months - year, rebuild your demo totally, then see where you stand. BTW, after you do that, compare your new demo a year from now to what you have out there now and I'll bet you'll be amazed at the difference.

Peace!

Adam Verner · **Voice Talent** Joined: 04 Nov 2004 Posts: 7

Hi Erin!

I'll echo all of what Scott said - especially the part about combining those spots into 1 shorter demo.

I listened to about 3/4ths of the demos on your voice123 site, and while decent, I noticed a curious "hesitancy" in all of them. I come from a stage background as well - and to put it in stage terms I'd say you're not committing enough. I struggle with this as well - when on stage you can rely on non-verbal cues, but on mic - it's gotta be all through the voice. As Scott says - that comes with training and time.

The good news is, I can tell you have acting talent, (there's awesome subtle stuff going on in that busy mom peice) so it's just a matter of learning a new technique. It's harder to learn the talent part Very Happy

Erin Cameron · **Voice Talent** Joined: 13 Jun 2006 Posts: 2

I appreciate the critique and I will work on putting the demos together. My husband is a drummer and I'm using his equipment for my voiceover. He has very good microphones (i use the hi hat mic) and we are using nuendo for the recording and a behringer for the mixer. He is new to production like I am so there is a lot of learning to do!

George Karnes · **Voice Talent** Joined: 26 Dec 2006 Posts: 905

Erin-
I think the rolling up of the demos into one is a good suggestion. You have a warm familiar sounding voice. Lead your rolled up demo with something that showcases that quality.

Good Luck,

George L. Karness II
g2 sound productions
gkarnes@tds.net

Cameron Thomas · **Voice Talent** Joined: 06 Dec 2006 Posts: 479

It's too funny Erin, I'm a drummer too and used a few drum mics on some demos. I actually used the kick drum mic--while it garnered some praise by a sound guy I know, it didn't go over well with another radio friend. If you want, try using the snare or kick mic which should enhance the mids and lows of your voice. I'm back to an MXL voice mic but omnidirectionals pick up too much ambient noise.

Like you and your husband, I'm new to this as well so I'll keep plugging away at experimenting with mics, levels, soundproofing, etc.

Cameron