(Being excerpts from a training lecture delivered to participants of the recently concluded Association of Voice Over Artistes (AVOA) Training Week)
First of all, let me appreciate the opportunity to be called upon again by my colleagues at AVOA to be one of the resource persons earmarked to guide you on this year’s season of empowering lectures. Even more than that, let me also appreciate the enviable chance for me to be ranked besides some of my own personal mentors on the broadcast and presentation circuit. Uncle Ray Mike Nwachukwu is one of my heroes – as a new entrant into the pristine art of professional voice acting and performance, he was one of the earliest examples I met of perfection, and he was an exemplary example, because attaining perfection in this peculiar art is not easy – not that it is inachievable, because many have perfected the art, but because it is a continuous process. You must keep on learning at this job, and I’m sure that people like Ray Mike, Soni Irabor and other masters of elocution will agree with me that the best public and professional linguists are still learning better process. So, my first lesson is this – before you embark on this choice of profession, you must be willing to accept that it’s a life long process. The challenge is to be the best at whatever you do – to be the best you must be willing to keep on learning. Never stop learning.
The Association of Voice Over Artistes, AVOA, deserves commendation for organizing these series, and also turning it into an annual event. It was not always so easy for professionals to work together, or to align differing views and thought to achieve successful benefits for others. Broadcasters, and I use the term liberally to include all aspects of the presentation module – presenters, producers, artistes, actors, media professionals, etc., are highly intelligent human beings – imagine how difficult it is to bring various individuals of conflicting ingenious perceptions under one roof, and succeed in getting them to form a quorum, or to agree to much, in unison? That AVOA has done that, and has moved forward from strength to strength is indeed praiseworthy. Even as I speak, Nigerian broadcasters have been unable to form themselves into any serious association, such as the very powerful National Association of Broadcasters, in America, or a sort of Broadcasers Guild. We have attempted this on many occasions. It is saddening that individual egos too often get into the way.
I come from the so-called ‘old school.’ My old school beliefs are that you don’t just become a voice over person – and that you need years of broadcasting practice to become a master of the art of delivering faultless voice overs. Many of the new age rules differ with my beliefs – these days you can wake up today and decide, I want to be a voice actor, just like that? Let’s spend a few moments examining other professions – If you had a case in court, would you hire a lawyer who does not possess a law degree, who has not attended law school and who has never appeared in court to represent you? The only place where that happens is on Hollywood movies! I don’t even think such a “lawyer” would be permitted to represent you, in Nigeria. If you had a child, who falls ill and requires a major surgical operation, would you visit a quack that did not graduate as a doctor and has not attended compulsory surgical college? Even check your mechanical equipment; how many cars have unqualified roadside mechanics ruined. Would you call an electrician to fix your faulty generator? All professional duties require years of learning and apprenticeship – years of study, years of learning, and years of practice. That is the only way to become an expert – there are no short cuts in this profession. If you have found one you should have shown us, then people like me, and Soni Irabor, and Uncle Ray Mike would not have spent all these years perfecting our trade!
Everybody is complaining about fallen standards, about the poor quality of material on air. These days I listen to advertising materials on radio and television, and I shake my head…how did we get to this point? Why the poor performance on all fronts – the copy is poor, the delivery is shameful. The larger surprise is that some agency, somewhere approves such material to go on air! What is the reason for this? We have all shirked our responsibilities…and when I say ‘we,’ I mean the managers, the directors, the company chairmen, the big bosses. Everywhere you look, the challenges are the same – we hire the wrong people, ignore the right solutions, and think more about personal profit than societal benefit. In short, poor hiring, less perfectionism, and profit motives have superseded professionalism. If you don’t make a personal effort to attack this wrong mindset and make a personal pledge to improve your thoughts, beliefs and inner person, then no amount of learning you receive from these series of lectures put together by the magnanimous people at AVOA is going to help you. It may sound harsh, but it is the truth!
The first challenge you, and every individual has, is to understand one’s self and one’s mission in life. The challenge is to develop a sense of purpose. To do this, your first task is to check your attitude and ego.
I’ve worked with loads of actors and media people, and the ones I want to work with again or meet up with outside the work environment are those who can deliver the goods in seconds and never talk about how great, innovative and fantastic they are. They just get on with the job in hand and do it brilliantly. I know that sometimes, our job is like showbiz – you become popular, you start enjoying the adulation. But, as you enjoy the buzz, remember that the entertainment business is tough…it is so very tough. So my first and foremost recommendation to you is: check your ego; ego always gets in the way. You must always keep that in check – you’ve got to. Your conscious ego will get in the way of behavior, character development, and personal relationships, and with everyone that you interact with. The subconscious is what the actor needs and the ego doesn’t exist there.
Etiquette simply means: ‘the rules and conventions governing correct or polite behavior in society in general or in a particular social or professional group or situation.’ Or simply: the natural habit of good behavior towards others. However, it is expected that a person would only behave well to people he, or she loves. How easy is it to love others? How inconceivable is it really to love others (not merely to need them), if one cannot love oneself as one really is. And how could a person do that if, from the very beginning, he has had no chance to experience his true feelings and to learn to know himself?
For the majority of sensitive people, the true self remains deeply and thoroughly hidden. How can you love something you do not know, something that has never been loved? So it is that many a gifted person lives without any notion of his or her true self. Such people are lost, hidden, encapsulated, enamored of an idealized, conforming, false self. They do not know who they truly are. They do not know their missions in life. Why are you here? Why were you born? Look deep within yourself. Find your own answers. Get knowledge – read books, be currently updated, mix with smart people, seek enriching environments, develop yourself, broaden your knowledge, increase your capacity – and never stop learning!
(To be continued)
God’s guidance always.
The Art of the Voice Actor: Techniques, Discipline and Etiquette (Part 2)
(Being excerpts from a training lecture delivered to participants of the recently concluded Association of Voice Over Artistes (AVOA) Training Week)
I am not here to teach you the basics – that is what training schools were built for, and I will leave that aspect for the other more versed resource persons. I think I was invited to speak with you more so as to explain how you can better your professional performance. So all I will embark on right now is to give you some professional tips – how to behave, how not to behave, how to improve yourself, do’s and don’ts and overall attitudinal perception. Most times in this profession you need more than just voice, or the delivery – your personal aura can also either expand, or belittle you.
Basic Microphone manners –
The first consideration is the kind of microphone you are using and its sensitivity. The more sensitive the microphone, the less you need to project your voice to get the desired effect and recording level. You need to understand all the different kinds of microphones, how each one works, and which ones are best suited for your voice.
Second is environment. You should understand how sound operates. Sound waves like to bounce about and reflect freely – that’s why we operate within controlled environments, which are padded with specially designed soundproofing materials. When performing ensure that alien sound interference does not dilute or infract upon your output at all. Exterior scenes usually have special microphones. So we go back to Number 1 rule – know your microphones!
Third is the positioning of the microphone. Over time each individual carves out his or her own style of posture before a microphone. Positioning is important so as to check unwanted ‘popping.’ Some may like the microphone positioned above the individual’s mouth, others slightly aside. Whichever your preference, your mouth should not be at the same level with it. Some people have a tendency of wanting the mic to be level with their mouth, which causes the mic to pick up on everything, including that unwanted pop on the “P”. Simply by placing the mic higher, and slightly slanted so that it is level with the bridge of your nose or such, will eliminate the problem in 98% of cases since unlike your voice, the pop only travels a very small range above your mouth.
Simple Studio etiquette –
Being a skilled voice actor is partly about the quality of your voice, it’s also about techniques, skill-sets and behavior that you’ll develop through application and experience. Here are a few I’ve learned.
• Never use noisy jewelry in session. If you like your bling, take it off before you record.
• If you have change or keys in your pocket, put them in your bag or just somewhere where they won’t jangle when you move.
• Don’t wear a watch that ticks, beeps or chimes.
• Do turn off your cellphone.
• Don’t wear nylon shirts. Static and rustling noises will happen.
• Don’t wear leather trousers, jackets or shirts. These don’t rustle; they have a more pleasing flatulent sound!
• Do understand that a booking is for the duration you’re booked. If your time is up, politely leave the studio.
• Do arrive on time, maybe a bit early. It’s hard if you’re an in-demand artiste, booked back-to-back at different studio locations and have to travel halfway across town. Make a polite phone call to your client or producer, asking for a leeway.
• Don’t play with the studio’s costly equipment. Sound booths can be cluttered with cables. If some technical equipment is in your way, ask the engineer to move it, don’t do it yourself unless asked and never ever touch the microphone without being asked.
• Don’t spill stuff. Just about everything in the sound booth has an electricity current running through it. Always be extra cautious of any liquids – you might be a great voice but you won’t work at that studio again if you fry a couple of dollars worth of equipment by knocking over your glass of water.
• Always be script silent. Learn to turn the pages of your script over without making a sound. You should be able to flip through your local newspaper without any noise in front of a mic. Laying out your pages in a sensible manner before recording will assist you in this. Practice this at home – it’s very useful. Remove all pins, clips, etc., before performance.
• For those who work with cameras – Do learn to take cues from a TV monitor, screen wipe or sound beeps or pips. Register what the cue-lights mean (sometimes there’s more than one), learn to read and work from a time-code and read the script brilliantly. And learn to do it all at the same time.
• Try to eat before the session, a while before the session too, but not too much garlic as you don’t want to offend. Munching on something prior to getting in the booth will help stop those annoying tummy rumbles that can hold up a session. As we’re talking about food and drink, always take your litter with you when you leave and it’s a nice gesture to bring out your empty water glass. Don’t expect the studio staff to rush out and buy you a meal! Come with your own, or make your own arrangements – don’t be a star! And, please don’t chew gum!
• Don’t have coffee or tea in session because if you add milk, it will bring on phlegm and that can tighten the vocal chords. Instead just opt for a glass of water – it’ll keep your voice lubricated and your lips moist but not wet. This also has a way of stopping annoying mouth noises that the engineer will normally have to edit out.
• Don’t drink sparkling drinks of any kind prior to or during a session; always drink the still or flat variety – like juices. Would you want to engineer for someone who was gurgling and burping through their session? No wines, no beers, no alcohol!
• Do practice your plosives on mic so that you don’t pop; every time you see one of those plosive words coming up get ready to slightly turn your mouth away from the mic when you hit the word – this’ll direct the pop sound away from the mic’s diaphragm and you won’t need to re take the line…practice makes perfect. I don’t always use a pop screen when I record and you shouldn’t need one either. And they don’t really work very well, anyway. Either you use one or not you will pop if you don’t take precaution!
• Do practice dropping in. When you do drop-ins, match your breaths, cadence, timbre & vocal pace at the drop-in point. As the drop-in point approaches, read aloud, along with run-up. This will create a seamless flow between the pre recorded piece and your drop-in point. It’s a talent you should learn. You help the engineer – he will look forward to working with you again!
• Don’t show off!
• Do read ahead. When you’re reading the script learn to read ahead so that you can work out where the text or the thought is going, before you actually get there vocally. In most voice sessions you’ll have to read a script cold, if you work on this technique, you’ll not need copious retakes and drop-ins to complete your session. The faster you are, the more your employer has time to mix and therefore save money…that is a plus in your favour.
• Do practice adjusting the overall speed of your reading/performance, a paragraph, a sentence, a word – learn how to adjust by seconds and frames and you’ll eventually develop a stopwatch in your brain.
• Don’t breathe straight into words as you begin speaking and don’t gasp an intake of breath when you finish, this makes editing more difficult for the engineer and will mean more re-takes. Always start from an open mouthed position and always be topped up with breath before beginning your take, a slow quiet exhalation before recording is useful too. Learn the silent breath…make the engineer think you don’t breathe.
• Don’t make a meal of it if the engineer says they forgot to record your last take – you can do a good read more than once right?
• Do practice Latin and other languages. There’s bound to be a French phrase cropping up somewhere in your first 20 jobs. People who do medical or technical voicing should earn 10 times the normal hourly fee. We don’t, but we should. If you’re capable, it’s just another way to bring in the ‘kado.’
• Don’t overlord it. As a voice artist you’re probably getting paid more per hour than the studio staff get a week. You may be worth it, but who’s to say you are. Leave your big fat ego outside the studio.
• Do be cautious about your body movements and chemistry. Just about every studio now records in digital formats. This means that a lot of noises that used to be covered by tape hiss aren’t.
• If you are sent a script beforehand, do read it before the session. Find any problem areas and suggest changes prior to recording- it may impress. However, the script may have been approved by committee, so the producer or director may not be capable of changing a single word. Be sympathetic to their problems – practice those tongue twisters so that you can say anything.
• Don’t blow your nose/cough/sneeze into the microphone.
• Don’t not ask questions (I know it’s a double negative). Always ask something; asking questions make you look like you’re on the ball. Every pro does it and if you want to be pro, shouldn’t you? Don’t wait until you’re in the middle of a take to say, “Oh uhmmm how do you want this word pronounced?” Don’t begin your read without asking (if you can’t tell) 1) to whom you are reading 2) what the intent of the script is.
• Do befriend the receptionists, studio hands and staff at the studio. Clients will ask reception to recommend a good voice. The more the receptionist likes you, the more your chances of a recommendation. Even the studio hands will one day be engineers and could go on to being directors…their memories are better than an elephant’s.
• Don’t overstay your session unless you’re invited to hang out, just tell an amusing anecdote, say goodbye and leave. There’s mixing and other stuff to be done and you’re not needed for that.
• The quality and the level of your headphones can alter your performance by resulting in too loud or too soft a read, for example. So do ask for more or less audio level if you need it. In the end it’s up to you to make your performance work.
• Do have fun in your sessions, enjoy them, this job can be a lot of fun and you’ll meet some really terrific and talented people. Don’t get aggressive or abusive if you don’t like the way a session’s going, life is too short and you don’t need the ulcers.
(To be continued)
God’s guidance always.
The Art of the Voice Actor: Techniques, Discipline and Etiquette (Part 3)
(Being excerpts from a training lecture delivered to participants of the recently concluded Association of Voice Over Artistes (AVOA) Training Week)
Many times, if your voice isn’t taken care of properly, it can mar your performance. These are a few do’s and don’ts for taking care of your voice well. So let’s do a little Voice therapy:
• Don’t drink cold beverages. This will freeze the vocal cords and cause them to become hoarse or scratchy.
• Don’t talk for prolonged periods of time or in noisy situations. In other words: don’t talk too long, and no screaming, cheering, or yelling!
• Do not clear your throat and if you can help it, don’t cough!
• Don’t smoke – smoking is the worst thing you can do to your voice.
• Don’t demand more from your voice than you do the rest of your body. Don’t ignore prolonged systems of vocal strain, hoarseness, throat pain, fullness, heartburn, or allergies. Consult with your doctor if symptoms are there for more than ten days.
• Yawn to relax your throat: swallow slowly, drink some water; ‘hum’ concentrate on vocal resonance sensations.
• Use non vocal sounds to attract attention: clap, whistle, ring a bell, or blow a horn. Reduce the indiscriminate use of your voice.
• Keep your voice powered by breath flow so the tone carries, varies, and rings; allow your vocal pitch to vary as you speak.
• Smile
• Drink room-temperature water. Cold water will tighten your muscles so don’t do that. Other drinks will not be helpful at all so you should avoid them, at least the while around when you voice act. Besides, water is healthy!
• Unless you’re trying to be silly, avoid accents that you don’t have. A slight, little bit of one is OK, but if the person you are auditioning for wants an ‘oyibo’ sounding voice, chances are, they will just get someone that can do it naturally. Strengthen your neck muscles. Just be careful, don’t crack it or anything, your neck is a sensitive area. Just massage it lightly.
• Do simple breathing exercises. Your abs should not flex when doing this, just make it natural.
• Keep your head up straight when you talk. This makes your voice louder, too.
• Avoid shouting, screaming, or just talking loud when it’s not needed. For times you need to talk to a large crowd or when trying to get attention in a noisy area it is best to have a microphone.
• Avoid eating too many sweets. They bring bacteria to the throat, which could potentially cause a sore throat, which is never good!
• Allow your voice to rest. Don’t talk a lot. Just be quiet for a little bit to give it a break.
• SPEAK CLEARLY! Do not mumble or cram your words together.
• Get input from others. Friends can often be biased and tell you it’s perfect when it isn’t. There is always room for improvement and what you need is constructive criticism and suggestions. There are plenty of websites and forums where voice actors and actresses, amateur and professional alike, gather to give feedback and advice. However it is also important that you don’t let them discourage you. As long as you can talk, you can improve! So don’t give up until you get the voice you want!
• Record yourself! When we speak our voice can sound different than it really is, but if you hear it when you’re not talking you can replay it over and over. When you listen, take note of parts that you don’t like and want to change, but also take note of the good parts that you like.
In the art of doing voice overs, it is regarded as open knowledge that there are four levels of learning:
Level 1 is the Unconsciously incompetent stage. This is the point-of-entry level when you may assume that all you require to make money in the voice-over business is a good voice. At this level you are not cognizant of the technique, skill and craft involved in delivering believable copy. By simply accepting the fact that learning how to do voice-overs requires time, commitment, understanding of copy, interpretation skills, breath-control, and voice techniques, you can progress quickly to level 2:
Consciously incompetent: At this second stage, you may be able to hear your mistakes, but not know how to fix them. This is where practice comes in. If you can record your rehearsals, playback your recordings, analyze your delivery and attempt to fix the problem on subsequent recordings, you should be able to progress easily to level 3:
Consciously competent: This third stage has the greatest learning curve. The brain does most of the work here. If you think about the copy and how you want to say the words, you can actually deliver the dialogue as you envisioned it in your mind. Also having a trained ‘second ear’ will help you balance out what you think you are doing with how the performance really sounds. At this stage you may consider enrolling for professional voice-over training.
Ultimately the goal all voice artistes want to attain is level 4:
Unconsciously competent: Like the professional tennis player who no longer has to stop and think whether to swing forehand or backhand as the ball approaches, the unconsciously competent voice-over professional looks at a script and knows reflexively what to do. This actor trusts his or her skills and allows the words to flow from the lips effortlessly, without the brain calling signals. Unfortunately, many voice-over artists never reach this final stage of perfection. The financial and artistic rewards however are vastly more significant for artistes and actors who aspire to higher excellence. To get there you must be patient and not expect brilliance to happen overnight. Study hard and enjoy the work. The hard truth is that it’s the unconsciously competent artistes who get most of the work. To get a better picture of this, turn on the radio or television for 30 minutes and keep track of the commercials you hear, you will probably get to hear some voices more often than others. The goal is to become the best, so you might have to work a little harder on your craft to secure a stronger voice-hold in the industry.
I hope I have been of help.
Thank you.
God’s guidance always.