Random newbie thoughts

[Jordan]

Wow. All of three weeks into this, and I'm shaking my head a bit. Coach - check. Cheap but usable mic - check. Computer interface - check. Sound room - check. It all seems manageable until I add my voice, which I was just certain was in pretty good shape.

Holy mackerel...I hear the copy in my head, I imagine the ideal delivery, I speak the copy, and I play it back. All of a sudden I'm thinking of Tiger Woods putting a long, breaking, downhill put that just drops into the cup on the last roll. Then I realize that a birdie putt that's anything over three feet on a muni course makes me sweat.

And this natural delivery stuff is killing me! Oh, sure, I can be warm and natural and conversational...just as long as I'm reading 20% too fast. Slow me down to tempo and it's like you picked me right out of the 80s.

Now I know why those "make your demo in 5 hours" shops charge so much and do such good business. Sure, they'll lay it out for you on a silver platter. They might even get a good take instead of splicing together half a dozen. Fix it high and low, and throw in some sfx to dress it up and it sounds good. To the untrained ear. Dogonit this takes work to make a dry recording really sound good.

Of course, the personal side isn't everything...there's the tech stuff too. I never realized how loud the !$@@% birds are outside the basement closet I'm working in. Or that when it rains, you can hear the drops on the chimney cap through the flue (gotta seal that up). Thank goodness this stuff isn't for real yet or I'd be tearing my hear out at all the little house noises I've never heard. Tell me there's a protools addin for "toilet flush removal" or "excited child notch filter"

Let me just give a big tip of the hat to everyone here doing this day in and day out; I'm humbled by how easy you make it sound, and how much work it takes to get there. If you've read this far, thanks for listening to my rant - I just needed to blow off a little steam. I need to go practice my putting...

[Scott Pollak]

I read the whole thing, Jordan, and thoroughly enjoyed it.

You're wise to be realizing this. And the golf analogy is just about perfect.

How many people play golf (attempt voiceovers)? Zillions.

How many people ever shoot par (make money in voiceovers)? A modest handful.

How many make it to the PGA (earn a good living in voiceovers)? A small handful.

Anyone can swing a golf club and make some sort of contact with the ball, just as anyone can open their lips and make some sort of sound come forth.

Doing it absolutely great, perfectly, just about every time you need to... well, therein lies the rub.

You sound like you have a good head on your shoulders and a lot of honest self-awareness, as opposed to the cocky "hey anyone can do this!" attitude so many bring into this profession. This will serve you well.

Best wishes!

[Paul Plack]

Jordan, ditto what Scott says, but also keep in mind that golfers who can consistently shoot par may not get famous, but they can make the tour and a pretty good living.

Always have goals which challenge you, but don't let them get you down.

[Scott Pollak]

Agreed, Paul. That was the point I was trying to make with this line above:

How many people ever shoot par (make money in voiceovers)? A modest handful.

... although perhaps it wasn't conveyed that clearly.

[FLZapped]

Yeah Jordan, I think it's an evil plot by the ghost of Alfred Hitchcock with those birds! That's the problem with condenser mics, they have such a large linear pick-up range. I'm seriously considering a better preamp so I can go back to a nice deaf dynamic.

-Bruce

[shenecke]

Shotgun, both the gun & the mic will solve that problem.