I had the pleasure of narrating this book for Iambik Audiobooks and Tin House Books, and it’s available now on the Iambik web site. Pop on over and take a listen to the sample chapter!  Along with the audio files, you’ll receive a PDF file containing all of the wonderful illustrations included in the original print version, and they’re referenced throughout the course of the narration. Even without the illustrations, though, you could probably figure out how to build the many things that Smith describes thanks to the great details that he included in the original text. I had a lot of fun reading this book, and hope that you enjoy listening to it.

It’s been busy here. While most of that busy-ness isn’t on the voiceover front, there are definitely some fun things happening. Even doing scratch tracks for assorted projects at my day job is fun. I see it as additional free practice. Sometimes I just get to riff my way through the copy as I feel is most appropriate, while other times I get direction on how to approach it. I like it either way, and the variety is always interesting.  Then there’s the ever-present “you never know when the client may decide to hire you” side of it.  While I try not to get too caught-up in counting those pre-hatched chickens, it’s good to know that the possibility is there.

So what’s been happening on the VO front lately? Here’s a quick rundown:

• Narration for some software training projects (more to share on this soon, I hope)
• Assorted tracks (some as just scratch) for work projects, including a pharmaceutical piece, a fast-talking dinosaur, and later today, a no-nonsense New York tour guide
• Character work for an independently-produced animated feature

I’m also pleased to announce that I’ve been cast as Bob Cratchit in a local audio production of A Christmas Carol, which is being produced to benefit Reading and Radio Resource, a Dallas agency that’s dedicated to providing audio materials for the blind and visually impaired.

And now for today’s VO tip:

Be yourself

Recently a friend was helping me to practice a read for a type of project that I hadn’t done before.  At first glance it felt like it was significantly outside of my comfort zone, and my first several takes (spread over numerous weeks) didn’t hit the mark.  Thankfully my friend was very patient with my stumbles, and let me take things at my own pace, so I decided to let it percolate in the back of my mind for a while.

After several more weeks had passed, the solution hit me, and it was so deceptively simple that I don’t know why I hadn’t latched onto it sooner.  In all of my earlier attempts, I was trying too hard to get the read to sound like I thought it should sound.  In short, I was trying too hard to be a voiceover artist.  What I should have been doing was tapping into the right aspect of my own personality that matched the copy, and targeting my read to a specific person in my head to whom I would naturally talk that way.

The next morning I took another stab at it with those principles in mind, and felt really good about the result.

So did my friend.

Did I mention that he’s an audio producer for a busy company? 

In related news, I’m nearly finished with my VO web site, and will have the “Turbo” video below available there as well once it’s ready.