Finding My Voice

Six months ago yesterday — July 24, 2012 — was my last day of full-time employment.

Six months ago today was the beginning of my full-time pursuit of my passions: primarily acting and voiceover, but not forgetting programming, as I still like to get my geek on.

I mentioned this to my wife yesterday, and her first question was, “Do you regret it?”

As I stood there and thought about everything that’s happened in the past six months, I really didn’t know how to answer that question. In an odd way, it feels like it’s too soon to tell yet. I’ve definitely enjoyed the many new experiences that I’ve had during that time — things that I never could have done if I still had a day job — but there have been plenty of times when I’ve gone to bed a total mental and emotional mess because I had no idea how we were going to pay for the next big bill that was due in just a few days. So far, though, we’ve been blessed with lots of little miracles in those moments of madness…

• a friend would pay us to watch their dog while they’re on a trip
• a long-awaited check from a previous job would finally arrive in the mail
• my wife would pick up a new piano student
• I’d pick up some extra hours at a seasonal job

…and the list goes on.

Thinking about possible regrets, there’s only one that comes to mind readily: I regret not setting aside more funds before making the leap. The first couple months weren’t so bad, but it’s been getting progressively scarier since then, even with the little miracles that still pop up to save the day.

Do I regret it?

Let me get back to you on that. I’ve got work to do.

Have you ever seen the ads in the “Discover the Forest” campaign?  If not, take a look at this sample:

It’s a great campaign to encourage kids to get outside and enjoy the wonders of nature, and I applaud the Ad Council and Forest Service for getting the word out about…well…getting out!

The place that I keep running into this ad is at the gas station, where it’s in frequent rotation on the pump-top media system.  I swear that I hear it at least once every time I stop for gas, and it’s been running there for months.

What I find funny is that the voiceover in the pump-top version of the ad — which is a truncated version of the one above — still says, “Ask your parents to take you there,” even though it’s running at a gas station, where the vast majority of the people to hear it are adults who can drive themselves to the forest quite easily.

Methinks someone in marketing overlooked that detail.  Perhaps they need to get out more.

I hear the forest is nice.

Okay, I haven’t been this excited about a new web site in a long time. The site is The Actor’s Library, and it launches live tomorrow, June 22nd.  Kristine Oller, the talent behind this new resource, has some great intro videos that are well worth your time (in my opinion).  The only hitch is that these videos are only live until midnight tonight, so go check it out now if you haven’t done so already.

Why am I so excited about this?  Let’s just say that I find Kristine’s approach to be a breath of fresh air compared to some other resources I’ve seen online.  For one thing, she’s sharing what I feel are valuable insights in these intro videos, instead of just teasing viewers with “here’s what you could learn” and then withholding all real content for subscribers only.  After watching the intro videos, I have concepts to consider and techniques to apply that could make a real impact on my business.  All that it cost me was the time to watch them.

It also feels like Kristine genuinely cares about what she’s sharing, and that she wants as many people as possible to benefit from what she has to share.  While I gathered that the videos were teasers for this new service that she’s developed, they didn’t feel nearly as “markety” as what I’ve seen from some other people who market to voiceover artists.  While I’ve also learned things from some of these other folks, I’m SICK of the not-that-clever (or overly-important-sounding) catch phrases, the “you can’t afford not to” or “how much is your dream really worth” guilt tactics, the mile-long web page sales pitches, and especially the over-promised-but-under-delivered content.

Finally, I’m excited about what Kristine has to offer because there are several people who I admire in the voiceover industry who area already familiar with her work, and who are either contributing to this new endeavor, or have strongly endorsed her prior products.  I haven’t heard these folks endorse many other things when it comes to resources for voiceover artists.  The fact that so many are supportive of her and this new site she’s assembling has definitely got my attention.

Okay.  I’m done.  Go see what Kristine has in store at The Actor’s Library!

I love it when Bob Souer talks about his work.  I learn something from his comments every single time, like in this post where he answers a question about networking and “getting out there”.  Brilliant thoughts, Bob!

The other morning I got up early for a bike ride.  I remember that the tires felt like they were low on air the last time I rode, so I pulled out the ol’ pump and connected it to the back tire.  Sure enough, the pressure was way below the recommended level.  A few quick pumps later and it was back to normal, and I moved on to the front tire, which was also low.  Once that was at the proper pressure level, I put the pump away and took off on my ride.

One of the immediate differences I noticed is that it’s much easier to ride hands-free with the tires properly pumped.  Not many days before, I’d tried to show my daughter about riding without holding onto the handlebars, but it didn’t work so well.  The front tire wavered and swayed much more than normal, though at the time I didn’t know that it was due to low tire pressure.  After pumping up the tires prior to my morning ride a few days later, though, I had no trouble balancing while riding hands-free.

When prepping for a voiceover session, there are lots of last-minute things you can do to make sure you’re “pumped” and ready:

• make sure you have plenty of water
• study the script to determine what style of read you should use, and to find the key points that will help you deliver the best performance
• mark up the script so that you remember what you found
• take time to practice reading the script out loud

These are just a few of the things that you could do to “pump up” for a session.  You might have some personal preferences, things that are especially helpful for you to get in the right frame of mind.  If you neglect some of these last minute things, you might not be fully prepared for the things you may be asked to do in the session.  If you’re pumped, you’ll be ready for it.

Yes, I’m slowly building the ol’ blogroll. It’s gonna be a work-in-progress, so check back regularly to see what’s new. As this blog is about voiceover, the links will naturally center around the blogs and portfolio sites of fellow voiceover artists, along with other voiceover resources. I’ve learned so much from so many people in the voiceover community, and I hope you will take the opportunity to visit their sites and soak up their wisdom. As new sites get added from here on out, I’ll try to highlight the new entries.

Along that line (and with apologies to those previously on the list who were not specifically mentioned), I encourage you to visit the blog of Dave Courvoisier. Dave is a voice talent in Las Vegas, and works by day as a news anchor for KLAS-TV. Dave began blogging about voiceover a couple years ago, and his insights, talent, and dedication have inspired me immensely. If you’re reading this in May 2009, you may notice that Dave’s latest post includes some thoughts about declining traffic to his blog, along with musings about its possible discontinuation. I recently shared my thoughts in response to his post, and encourage you to do the same if you’ve felt informed and inspired by the thoughts that Dave has shared on his blog over the past couple years.

Hang in there, Dave!

Hey there!  Welcome to the blog!  My name is Justin Barrett, and I’m a voice actor.  Most of my work so far has been in the arena of character voices.  I’m currently providing the voice for one of the initial four dinosaurs that will act as the “hosts” of Webosaurs.com, which is scheduled to launch later this year.  Previous projects include a national commercial for Nintendo, two characters for a live stage show (pre-recorded voice tracks for full-body puppets), a computer game, and several animated home videos.  Prior to my current full-time job as a programmer/developer at an animation studio, I was an animator for seven years, and was heavily involved in community theatre before that.  Acting is in my blood, and I love the challenge of bringing characters and scripts to life through vocal performance.

I hope that you enjoy the thoughts and experiences that I’ll share, and I look forward to learning from the conversations we have here.  Thanks for taking the time to visit!