Audition Sound Effects

[karen]

Aloha, everyone!

I've been catching up on back posts and listening to some of audio posts (chickens, turtles, commercials for swanky hotels, U.S. commonwealths ...) Absolutely amazing!

My question is this, or should I say, questions are these: Some of the custom auditions (I believe they were Colin Campbell's) had sound effects in the background. Is this the norm? Does a client ask for such sound effects or is that something one does to stand out from the rest? Is it ever distracting or a strike against an audition? Thanks in advance for sharing your expertise.

Karen

[JoeActor]

Hi Karen,

Great question, and one that is a matter of some dispute among VO's.

I personally submit my demos as dry-voice only. The theory being that the client wants to hear my voice, so why not make it easy for them? If the project is being cast by a Casting director, or even someone who's worked with VO's before, they won't want the production to detract from the voice. The production will be added by someone else. I guess if they ask for music, sfx, etc, it's an indication to me that they are not experienced in casting for voice work.

But, then I don't do production. And I must say that Colin's audio always sounds good. He's really auditioning for two roles: VO and production.

Best rule of thumb: Give them what they ask for. If they ask for a music bed, put one in (or don't audition). Dry-voice is my default when they don't specify.

Hope this helps,
Joe J Thomas
Joe J. Thomas Acting Portfolio

[karen]

It does help a lot. Thanks so much, Joe!

[Russian Andrew]

Joeactor I do agry with you completly. In sort: Dry voice for soundproducers and ppl who are long in VO business. Full production (but skillful one) voice for the clients who don't understand much in VO and the way a voice should sound:)

[Jon Morss]

Karen -- Just to add to what has already been stated, unless it is specifically spelled out in the info for the aud that they want the spot fully produced, then submit dry voice only. What I was told is that when you do add SFX in the mix on an aud and it was not asked for, it is actually a slap in the face of the production folks. They typically want to hear what you sound like in their production and adding SFX just garbles the mix and is bound to get your aud sent to the Trash.

Good luck.

Jon

[jsgilbert]

I suppose if you want to audition for those $50 Bar Mitzvah announcer gigs and throw a little Hava Nagila in the background, then that's okay. I'm glad that for the things I audition for, which are good paying auditions, not only are produced auditions not required, but usually they are not presented to clients.

If you have a talent agent, they will not accept produced auditions. Many even have technical specifications for recording from home to try and get the recordings to all sound similar in terms of levels and compression.

And not to toot the old horn but I have 3 national t.v. spots running at the moment. 2 of them were booked through voicebank auditions and my understanding is that for one, over 1,000 people auditioned and for the other over 500. Nothing fancy used to audition. No effects, no music.

As someone who hires talent I don't present produced auditions for several reasons. The first is that I need for everything to sound pretty much the same. We need to compare apples to apples. Secondly, the odds of anybody blindly picking out music that is in synch with the clinets is pretty much not going to happen. In some cases my client is the composer and obviously I'm not submitting your read with the buyout music. I also have to wonder if you have any faith in your abilities or need the music and/or effects to pick up your audition.

So, I guess if you have limited abilities and want to spend a lot of time spinning your wheels and/or can justify taking the low priced gigs from unaware clients, then you have your answer.

It also says to me that this individual isn't a professional and has way too much time on their hands if they produce their auditions. But more importantly, the auditions are asking for voice talent. Someone else is the producer.

The other really, really good reason for not producing auditions is expectation. If enough people start producing their auditions then eventually (future v.o. generations) will have to be expected to produce their auditions, which will then bring your average hourly pay rate down to less than 'homeless person with cardboard sign on side of freeway".

When talent started putting in home studios, initially the concept was to get higher fees, since the cost of a studio (or at least partial cost)was eliminated. So the question for you all is how many of you are getting your talent fees plus studio fee and/or directors fee for v.o. recordings you do at home?

Just remember that I have abvsolutely nothing to gain by my posts. I sell nothing to actors. I don't teach and have no books or DVD's to push. In the end, ask lots of questions, seek tons of advice and see what makes sense to you.

[Wherescarl]

I've been in VO for less than a year. In starting I had tons of questions so I surfed boards and the net. Whilst net surfing, I found the email addresses of agents, managers and AFTRA folks. I always asked 20 or more questions per email hoping to learn anything and about 50% actually responded. One question I always asked was dry or produced auditions.

Almost without exception the answers was DRY! Why? Because as stated previously, they want to hear the voice. If they wanted a VO / Producer, they'd request it. 99% of real auditions are simple dry reads. The other 1% are basically freebies or give away projects. I've learned that it's not the read or voice per se but how it's read. Mean it when you read it is my approach.

Personally, I audition for every project unless the seeker is looking for a voice I just can't do. Or if I am not comfortable with their politically or morale point I won't submit.

Bottom line: Dry 1st and foremost. If they want more they'll ask.

File this under my 2 cents or non-cents, it's just one mans opinion.

Great board and lots of stuff to learn and share....VO ROCKS!

[karen]

Thank you all so much for the incredible insights. So helpful ...

[Julie Williams]

Dry. If you have time to produce auditions, you're not auditioning enough or marketing yourself enough!

I have been asked to produce auditions before. I delete the lead, or send it cold voice. Note: If you audition on a lead site and you submit it with music or sfx, they'll probably expect you to do that for free fo rthem. A lot of the people who post are just business people who know nothing about our industry, and they just assume that wht you send is what you're bidding to do.

[SueColas]

This was one of my questions in the 'Ask Julie Williams' board yesterday. My inclination is dry and no effects but an absolutely perfect recording with just the right attitude and energy. That makes sense.

Of course, the demo is an animal of a different color . . .

Thank you!!

Sue