Take Care of Your Mouth

Well, I've been out of commission for a little over a week. Here is the problem.

First off, here's a preface. This is going to be less about voiceover and more just about taking care of yourself. 90 percent of people who read this may never have this problem but those who do may benefit from this or may not.

Here we go. My teeth ain't so great. I've been chewing out of one side of my mouth for maybe 4 years just because I broke a tooth at some point and can't chew on it. Finally the days came where it started to ache. I'd be in pain for a few days then POOF gone. A month later again. Now, I get hit HARD. Can't even take it.

I hear about this great thing for toothaches, pure garlic. Guess what it works. I use it, it dulls the pain and sometimes gets rid of it all together. Here comes the next problem. Garlic in excess, ended up burning a few well place sores in my mouth. Not only is this ridiculously painful but the placement is so bad that SPEAKING is painful. Now, I've got a bad tooth and I can't even do VO anymore.

That is the last straw, I decide to get the job done. I end up getting a root canal (emergency) and it was bad. PAINFUL. I got out of it and I was shaking. Here we are a few days later, the pain has subsided almost disappeared and I did my first round of auditions. Finally, I'm back.

In conclusion, take care of that voice. Take care of your teeth. I still have to go back and see what else is on the list. YEESH!!! 

Know Your Worth

I think often times, while I'm doing a job that's huge. "This is pretty cheap"

Voices.com has a minimum of $100 per job and those jobs could be as small as a paragraph or even a line, BUT they could be 1000 words, which is still pretty good. Here's what you need to take into consideration though:

1) A round of pickups, it is bound to happen, the round of pickups may even be just doing it over again. That could double your time.

2) How many takes do you wanna give? For smaller, I give 2-3 takes. It keeps the client happy right off the bat and it's no skin of my back because chances are, by the 3rd take it's pretty awesome. However, it's more time. For larger, I have a tendency to give only 1 take MAYBE 2, depends how I feel.

3) The uploading factor. If time is money and you have a slow connection, then you're losing money.

4) The file format problem, 95 percent of the time, they just want a wav or aiff, possibly an mp3. But, there are occasionally these crazy clients who want some weird format that's almost too weird to be true.

In the end, it's only $100, sometimes even less. So, here's the question, what are you worth.

If you're a new kid in town and have less than say 30 jobs under your belt, then do the small jobs, do the free jobs, do videogames for free, do voicebunny jobs for insanely low amounts of money. The proof is gonna be in how many jobs you get. You want to be efficient at VO.

For the question of ISDN, nothing is worth that amount. At least not now, I make a decent living without the need for an ISDN. Someone who has ANYTHING less than a 1k job and requires an ISDN and has that little quote of "You have to take care of the studio." is taking advantage of non-union. Any client who says, I want you but I need ISDN, I basically say, "I've had people call into the recording session and they've listened in and directed. If you want to do that, it has worked before."

Recently, I got a pretty big job with lots of little tutorials. They were maybe 1 minute long scripts. I charged $25 because I want to give them a deal but I can't think of going ANY cheaper than that. This is hard work and it takes time and effort. What's the price that you can sleep at night with? What's the price that you can get up in the morning as a VO artist and smile knowing that you're not doing a 9-5pm (if that's the case)?

That my friend is your price, that's what you're worth. That little borderline between happy and mildly insulting. hehe.

Your First Audiobook and ACX

I believe I've mentioned ACX before and I never really went too far into it, but it can be a great way to make some extra cash. The only requisite, you need the TIME and the ABILITY TO RECORD.

ACX is basically a FREE place where you can audition for audiobook jobs. These aren't in studio jobs, these are jobs where you basically record everything yourself.

When I first started, I had recorded a lot of small voices and voice123 jobs. My first audiobook was through acx. I was so excited, it was a fantasy young adult novel. Somewhere deep in my dreams I wanted to voice a novel that was similar to lord of the rings. It ended up being "Circle of Sorcerers" by Brian Kittrell. I got the job for about $85 per finished hour, the whole thing ended being about 8 finished hours, but since it was my first audiobook, the amount of time I maybe spent on it was probably 64 hours maybe more.

The key thing about producing an audiobook is that you have to edit the big boy. I have no clue how to punch and roll, but it seems like it requires another person. With editing, it takes 3-4 times as long because you have to edit it, listen to it, then correct it. Maybe even listen to it again.

You definitely can utilize the person on the other end as a proof listener of sorts but you need to make sure that they know that. I didn't. You need to say in the agreement, "I'm going to be editing it, but since the pay is so low, I don't do a second runthrough check, so if you can make sure there are no errors as well, that'd be great."

The key things you need is TIME and Ability. Time is a clincher, give yourself AT LEAST a month or two months to do this. You may be able to do 20 minutes of actual finished work a day. Your voice may be sick on some days. I've found that my brain fries at the second chapter and I need a few hours or food to get it going again.

Ability just means know what it is to do an audiobook. I'd suggest buying Pat Fraleys Audiobook course. Whether it's an in person course, or the book and cds, it will give you all the information you need on how to voice it.

Remember you should read through the book once ALL THE WAY THROUGH. You also want to note what the people would sound like. If there are specifics of accent, not those down. Also, personality may be a clincher. If a character is a man's man, then his voice may need some sort of physicality. USE those physicalities to key into a character while you record. If the person is a nerd, maybe fix imaginary glasses before all of his lines. Those key elements make audiobooks so much easier.

You wanna read the narrator as YOU. No accent just you. Your main character should have a variation of your voice. Your major supporting character, perhaps partner or friend should have a small variation on your voice as well. Every one else should be very different.

Also, be present in what is happening. You may know that there is a ghost around the corner, but the narrator and audience doesn't so don't give it away. If it's eery, feel like it's eery, let the audience here it in your voice.  It's as simple as, when describing a room, think to yourself, "That's interesting, i've never seen that before". It will make you a better audiobook narrator.

I'll be honest with you. AUDIOBOOKS are hard. But, there is a reward. I found that my minimum to keep my sanity was $200 per finished hour. I've also worked with people who were terribly picky about words and improv and the redoes TOOK FOREVER. I've also worked with great people like Brian Kittrell who let me do my thing and just was awesome to work with. If you want to check out my audiobooks, (I'm by no means an expert but I have done a few) check out Audible for the Circle of Sorcerers trilogy, the Depression Carpenter, The 100 (in studio recording) and Elusive Echoes.

Everyone should try one audiobook, it is a challenge. For me, doing the trilogy was my Lord of the Rings, I couldn't do another one for that cheap but it was on my VO bucket list. So, Huzzah!!

Dealing with that Picky Client

Occasionally, you'll get a picky client. As a non-union vo actor, it kind of annoys me a little. We are already kind of working for dirt cheap so instead of going from redo to redo, here are a few ways to make it easier on yourself.

* If it's a person who wants it said a certain way, they'll say things like, "Could you go up at the end of this sentence," or "Say it like it's more conversations" or "Hit this word.", here's a good strat. Sometimes, it will be easy to understand what they want, sometimes not. You can always ask them to say the words themselves into a phone and send it to you. You can just have a headphones on with an earbud and just redo the inflections they want. Quick Note, they are not VO artists so you may have to spin it a little to make it sound conversational. In the end, they'll think they got what they wanted and since you added your spice to it, they'll think you made it better. All good.

*If you get a script that is TIMED out. Oh boy, that's a doozy. Sometimes they just don't know how conversational sounds. You may have to speed through lines and slow down through lines as well. The key is to make it known to the client. Record 2 takes, one that's conversational for you and one to their specs. That oughta be enough to get them to cut a line or move a graphic.

* Naming schemes. Sometimes people will specify what names for what files. That should be easy but if you're talking lots of files, it can be tough. With the time it will take, I would say not give 2 takes unless the payment it worth it. They want one file, give them the one file. If they need a redo, you'll give it to them.

*Heading and what not. Sometimes there are headings. You don't know which is suppose to be said or not. I came around this corner with a client which was a real source of aggravation for me. The thing is, you need to get those questions answered in an email. If later they need headers or edits or you to edit into files, if it's a long enough job, you should be able to add more money.

The key thing is to KNOW YOUR WORTH. They are getting us DIRT CHEAP. Don't be taken advantage of. Also, KNOW WHAT THEY WANT, get it in a written email. Especially for longer jobs.

You're going to get frustrated. This will happen, but think about it this way. You're at home eating Cheetos and watching Walking Dead all day, how frustrated could you be!

Get them jobs!

What to do when asked to Re-audition in either voices.com or v123?

Sometimes in Voices or V123 you're going to be directly contacted to re-audition, sometimes it's to do the entire audition, sometimes it's to audition for different parts.

Voices and V123 has a rule, (or unless they changed it without me knowing) where you can only audition once, which makes sense. We all get one shot, not as many as we can. But, occasionally people reach out for that extra.

I use dropbox for all these reauditions. Here's the rub, I'm not saying you will always get screwed but there is a possibility. The great thing about v123 and voices is that they have a way of getting the audition to the client without them having a hard copy. Dropbox, you lose that. However, with voices, they already paid so I figure the chances are slim. With V123, there is no way to tell. I'm a little leary about re-auditioning.

On the other hand, if you think of it as a necessary loss and that the gain is much more of a reward, then I would say DO IT. Today, I got a request to do another character in the job, you can do two things. Contact voices for an actual reaudition, usually voices is spot on about this and can do it quick. I'm more of a get it done kind of guy so I send the dropbox link. 10 minutes later, got the job. 

Think of it this way, a client who contacts you LIKES you, so make it a priority if you are new to VO to get them what they need. 

The only bad clients I've had were through voice123, it was just because the guy had never done the stuff before and couldn't pay until he got paid, which is a flaw of 123. I had kind of a weird client through voices where they had a system of how they did things and they reached out to voices and then they just had horribly marked script and they didn't clarify which was which as far as what I would read. It was just a WHOLE mess. But, I digress. The fact is, 99.9 percent of clients want to get the job done right, If someone reaches out to you even to thank you for auditioning, take it as a notice that you are a good VO actor.

Go get em all!!!

The Voices.com and Voice123 rating system WHA?

Hey everyone,

this is a little section about the voices.com and voice123 rating system.

First off, take this with a grain of salt. A HUGE grain of salt.

Voices.com has a system where either you get an EAR icon or a THUMBS UP icon or NO icon at all. Ear  only represents that they heard the audition. Thumbs up is that they liked the audition and no icon means that they didn't even listen to the audition.

As you can see, that's the thing about speed. If you're slow on auditions, and you're getting the no icon feel. That's bad. You're kind of hurting yourself and you may not have the time to be a voices.com worker. Those top 20 are extremely important.

If you are getting a lot of EAR icons then you are on the right track, there could be a million reasons they don't thumbs up you. I have gotten PLENTY of jobs with just the ear. So there's no guarantee that you WON'T get the job but you can kind of think of it at a not likely feel.  Think of the EARs as a victory and maybe just kind of get that next step in auditioning better. Vary your tone or rhythm, relax.

THUMBS up is great, I usually look at a thumbs up that is closed as a real possibility of a job in the future. If it's working, I literally go "Awww". Because I had a chance at it. If you're getting thumbs up then keep at it, clients like you. Celebrate.

Voice123 is a weird and sometimes insulting. Ick, from the makers of Voicebunny and the makers of the site that costs more than voices.com yet gets me less money. ENOUGH COMPLAINING!!! My apologies to the reader, I have issues with v123 but it has gotten me amazing jobs, I just really don't like this up in yearly fees, they don't really deserve it.

Anywho, you can tell whether it was opened or not in a YES Or NO answer. GREAT awesome.

You can tell how many auditions they have put out AND how many they have listened to. This can be of GREAT use, especially since you know if they have 80 and have listened to 0 then they may not be the best clients. If they listened to 15 out of 20, then it's great go for it. It definitely helps.

THE STAR SYSTEM!!! Lovely, a rating oriented system for people to rate your audition. The only problem is you don't know what they are judging on. It used to be Finalist, unlikely, or Maybe. Which was kind of hopeful. Now it's like, 1 star. Do you hate my voice? Was I not what you're looking for? It feels like an F. The fact is, I bet you can get a 1 star and still get a job on this site. It's ALL RELATIVE.

What can you gauge from V123? Not much. You can tell if they listened and whether or not they are good clients. The tough thing about V123 is that they don't pay V123, they don't act as an escrow service so there is a possibility that this job may not even exist.

Anywho, that's a quick explanation of the rating system. I like Voices, it doesn't have that much stake. V123, is a little too much info combined with a bad system, just audition for as much as you can.

Much Love!!

justin

How to Reinvigorate your Drive

Recently, I did an audition where the casting director took me out and said, "I think you have a really natural voice, I just think you need to know how to analyze a script to get that ups and downs feel. Peaks and valley's. (don't know if that's how it's spelled)", then he offered to coach me.

Initially, my brain got a little peeved. I kind of felt like I was being sold something. But, then I thought about it. VO has been a grind for me. I've been doing the same thing over and over again. I need to be thankful of where you are and where you are at in life.

With VO, I've found that if you're having a bad day or exhausted or just judgy in general it always comes across. Sometimes you have to differentiate the sound, go up here, down there. But never commit but just have fun with the copy.

Here's what I started doing before every copy to just spruce it up:

1) Remember what you are doing. This is VO, if it's a home audition, YOU ARE WORKING from home, this is freaking awesome. Get a little excited. You may no longer have a 9-5 soon. Congratulations. You're doing it.

2) Smile. Nod. Pat yourself on the back. You are the master of your domain, take stock of how you got the job. If it's voices, look at you investing in yourself. Awesome. If it's through a casting director, they heard you and they LIKE YOU!!

3) Relax, relax, Relax. This is not a job where you conform to their specs. I don't care who tells you that. You are not impersonators you are vo actors. Speak how you normally speak to a friend or family member but get excited about it.

4) Be thankful and inspired. Entitlement shows. Fear shows. Laziness shows. You only can do the best you can. Be okay with that.

Get out there and audition.

AFTRA on my heels. What to do?

A couple of interesting things happened recently. I booked two jobs for my agency. The first was for Dairy Queen and the second was an audiobook.

Okay, here's the big thing everyone should know. AFTRA scale ain't the amazing life of getting a new car. As a matter of fact, it ended up being just about $500 for about an hour of work. That sounds amazing but if you've been waiting for that big AFTRA pull, this may come as a slight shock. Now, this is for a run of 13 weeks, so who knows maybe I get another check after that, but I wouldn't count on it.

The audiobook? I ended up doing half a book about a TV show that is going to debut on the CW, I have no clue how much money that gave in, but knowing audiobooks are much less than TV, I'd probably bet that it wasn't that much either.

With those two job, I think I got the AFTRA application in the mail. It's like $3500. Ugh, you figure getting a job that requires it would at least flip half the bill, well it doesn't.

Fi-Core may be a definite possibility, I'm making too much money consistently through non-union work, to jump on to that bandwagon of only union VO would be pretty tuff.

Anyways, to anyone out there reading, "The Life of a Non-Union VO artist" this may change soon to Fi-Core Artist or AFTRA artist.

I've been thinking about this for awhile. I know working actors and they are rarely vo only. They do tv and film. But, I don't want to do that, it's not me, I'm a voice over actor. That is my career.

Fi-Core may be the way to go until I finish my improv training and have enough money to take care of that bill.

VoiceBunny : The Good the Bad and the Horribly Horribly Ugly

Hey Everyone,

I'm posting from NYC, in Astoria, during the day, so this isn't so random.

This is a review of Voicebunny which I believe has made a change or two recently that I think really hits home and I suggest everyone read on about this. Here's  a few key points I've noticed about Voicebunny.

Speed: Gotta get in on those auditions fast. If you audition you get paid for the audition itself. It may be a buck or two or 5 bucks. But, you get paid for an audition. The client requests say 10 auditions and as long as you get into the first batch and you follow the specs, you usually get the audition confirmed. NOTE: You need to get the notification that your audition is confirmed and accepted.

What get's your audition accepted?

Here's the key WEIRD thing about Voicebunny. Initially, all my auditions that I somehow managed to get in quickly were almost always accepted. A few times I got rejected because of different reasons. First, I didn't do the audition script TWICE, which was requested. That pissed me off a bit. Other times I was too late in putting the upload in. All totally understandable.

******READ THIS IF YOU WANT TO JOIN VOICEBUNNY*******
As of recently, there was a slough of auditions for a specific guys blog. He wanted it to sound conversational, he wanted it to sound as if you were saying it as if you were thinking it out. I understand that totally. It happens. The script was kind of like a rant. So, I gave it a go.

4 out of 5 of my auditions were rejected, for the reason, "Did not do the specifications necessary for the audition", now here's the rub and the fun part. That one audition that was accepted ended up getting the job. So 5 jobs with the exact same specs on the audition, that I did the exact same way, I got 4 rejections and 1 clean job.

This brings me to the conclusion that, Voicebunny now does what it wants. It doesn't matter whether the specs are correct, they just want to get x amount of auditions and if they think audition doesn't sound great, they reject it. For no good reason.

In turn, I refused the job and cancelled my account with them. I've been getting much more jobs from v123 and voices and these jobs are too cheap for me to waste my time on.


SHOULD YOU JOIN VOICEBUNNY?

If you are a real true beginner, then yes join voicebunny. You will be making very small amounts of money but you will be honing the recording and producing skill. That is very useful.

You also should have voicebunny set up on your desktop every moment you are able to record so that you can jump on auditions. The unfortunate thing about the recent change is that you may not get that $1 for the audition anymore, but it's a free audition so do it.

If you are a seasoned VO artist, DO NOT JOIN VBUNNY. Here are the reasons.

1) INSULTING rates. I literally saw a job that auditioned for 50 cents and the job itself payed less than $2. That is THE MOST insulting thing I have ever seen.  Know that you are worth more than that. Non-union vo is low-paying but THAT SHIT is fucked up.

2) AUDITION payments: A few months ago, a majority of auditions were accepted and as long as you were in, you'd speed through and make few bucks on the audition. Now, they reject for no particular reason, they don't specify if you email them. BELIEVE ME I know. You're going to find yourself fighting for 4 dollar principles. Which is a rage growing pain!

3) EXPECTATIONS OF SPEED AND QUALITY for CHEAP!! You are going to be asked to do jobs within hours, that is something I have never had to do with Voices or V123 and I PAY THEM! This expectation that you owe them that kind of speed for literally no money, is ridiculous.

4) Literally NO SUPPORT that is worth anything. I cancelled my account, they basically said that if I cancel my account I would not get paid for my previous auditions because it took a month to get the money. That's the type of company that is. Imagine if you quit a job and they say, "Oh you won't get paid this weeks check, because you're leaving now."  That's Voicebunny for ya!

My Viewpoint:

It took a lot of crap for me to build up this hatred, however, I did do a fair amount of work with Voicebunny, I did multiple tutorials and commercialish stuff. It was on the low end but it was good. I thought of it as , "Hey, money is money. I need it."

Voicebunny was always on the edge of a good idea. But, never as concrete of a decision as Voice123 or Voices. The moment I got 4 rejections on auditions, it was pretty shocking. I do to many jobs in VO to have this happen. Anyways, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

The Last Few Weeks of the Non-Union Voice Artists Part One

I've finally made my way back to NYC this month. I've been back for about a month and a few days. Within that month, it has become clear that I may have to join the union soon. This is a scary decision for me. But, lets start from the beginning.

PART ONE:
Back to NYC.

I'm going to be 100 percent honest here. I came back to NYC with goals. To do my best improv and vo work. I started to listen to some Tony Robbins. In the discs I listened to, they said that I need to set aside at least 15 minutes every day to do some exercise, incantations, and visualizations.

My goals: Become a great VO artist, Become a great Improv Artist, Find a great girlfriend, and live life to the fullest and make people's live's that much better.

The first day back, I got myself settled in. The second day, I set up my recording studio. The third day, I had my first audition from Access and it was for Dairy Queen.

I decided to start the day by walking with the tapes, become grateful for all the things I had and try and run. I'm not a healthy person but I did what I could. I also did all the incantations and visualizations. It felt amazing. I came into the audition and did it.  Don't know if it went well. Apparently, it did.

I get a call that they want to book me for the DQ voice over. I think to myself, don't count your eggs, because it had happened before. I got a job and midway through they basically fired me and hired someone. That was soul crushing.

I go into the recording studio, the directors are patched in and I just take direction and do it.

So, I just did my first VO for a TV commercial. I am STOKED. Here's a few things you should know.

1) I don't know how much I'll make. (it's SAG AFTRA scale, so who knows)
2) I officially do a Taft Hartley waiver that says the next job I do i can do as non-union but the job after I must join.
3) AFTRA is 3000 bucks.
4) Joining union means no non-union jobs.

Weeks later, I find out I made about $500 for the hour of work and I think it was for the usage of the VO for like 13 weeks. I don't know if I get paid that much as long as they use it. I have no clue. Suffice to say, I wouldn't be coming close to that $3000. Eck!

But, I did my first VO for a TV commercial. As I write this now, I am on hold for another DQ audition.

Okay I'm going to address some questions that may arise from this blog post.

1) How do you get an agent?
a) I got it through shutupandtalk, a class with Roger Becker. It's 6 weeks and he basically teaches you about voice over. Mind you, I was training with Doriane Elliot a casting director at the time and we were in the process of recording a demo. Roger was very specific that you need a demo, the fact that I had a record date meant that he could recommend me. Also, mind you, I had done LOTS of non-union vo (produced it  myself).  Short answer to this: Take classes and one on ones with casting directors, do agent meetups, AND have a produced demo done or ready to be done.

2) How do you audition?
a) This was a first gig but I think a big part was that I wasn't tired. I did a little exercise. I was ready to go. I read the script 10 or so times in a row with no inflections. I did lots of hand gestures. Also, this is an interesting one, don't get all weird postured in the waiting room, walk around, do a superhero posture, get that positivity going. The tapes helped with this. I think being thankful for what you have, what you have accomplished, and the people in your life is a key aspect to feeling good. A person who feels good and confident and energetic is what people want to HEAR!!! If you have this dialogue of desperateness, it will bleed through. Have fun!! There are so many things in life that are not fun, make this fun!!

Voice 123 The inevitable choice

Hey Everyone,

I wanted to share an email from Voice123. I informed them of a client that has pretty much screwed me out of $125 and here is their response. Excuse any grammar problems in my writing, when I am emotional I tend to just type and not really check the wording.

"I am sorry that you are having a difficult time getting paid for your work. We make every effort to screen the people/companies that post projects on the website, but this isn't always the easiest thing to do and, as our Terms of Service state, it is up to both parties (voice seekers and talents) to decide if they want to work with one another. I am a talent myself, so I can understand your frustration in this matter.

We have been advised by our legal team that Voice123 refrain from acting as a "collection agency" for talents because we are really a DIY ("Do It Yourself") website and, therefore, the responsibility falls upon the talents themselves. That being said, if there is a non-payment matter that comes to our attention, we will be happy to provide you with any and all contact information that we have available so that you can pursue the issue in whatever means you see fit. Please forward the original project number/ID (LTK...) to us so that we can get this information to you and flag the voice seeker's account which will prevent them from posting further projects on the site.

Lastly, if you think it is worth it, you may want to seek the help from a 3rd party collection agency to help you settle your dispute. One thing to keep in mind is that until you are actually paid for your work, the voice seeker is in violation of U.S. Copyright Law if he/she uses the audio in any way (hint, hint!)."

I bolded the interesting spots. I'll have you notice that as much as this v123 employee wants to sound like they are doing something, they really aren't. You get screwed, you're fault. Notice how they literally aren't going to do ANYTHING! I would hope at least an email from them to the client or at least a guarantee that the client won't be screwing anyone else over but NOPE nothing.

In conclusion, V123 is a thorn in my side, if there was just ONE more company that gave equivalent voiceover jobs and did a similiar system to voices where they just take the money, take their cut and then guarantee payment, then I would join them and  easily pay the $300 a year.  Make it and I will pay it happily.

Until then I'm stuck with them. I can only say the same thing that I've said over and over. Voices is THE best. If you feel you are good enough to make that extra 300 a year and can take the hit and ONLY if you are willing to all the auditions then sign up for both. Though, I must say if you can make it in Voices you can make it in V123, and it doesn't work the other way around. Voices requires speed and more competition. Voice123 has less competition and they kind of screw over people for auditioning PLUS this little debacle.

Anywho, I can't definitely say to hell with V123 because I get jobs from them but they only have this because there is only two games in town.

First Job From My Website!!!

It's been awhile since my last post, but to be honest, I've been the most productive I've ever been. It's been the combination of a few different things.

1) Speedy Voices.com auditioning (getting first ten-20 is a shoe in if you're competetive)

2) Voicebunny dings (voicebunny dings when a job or audition is available, it may be cheaper but  you actually get paid for auditioning so if you hear the ding, JUMP ON IT)

3) Getting on Voicejockeys. I've gotten a few key jobs from Voicejockeys, admittedly they were all going to my junk mail. But, the lovely lady at voicejockey actually calls you an hour before the job is due to remind you. (shouldn't have to do that that) Just make sure it goes to your inbox. (not like me) Also, you just get JOBS, not auditions. It's really based on your demo itself.

4) Voice123: As long as you don't waste time with auditions you have no business doing, and just manage what you're good at, you should be able to pull here.

5) Repeat Business: I have a few key clients that just constantly come back over and over. I have a client that acts as a middle man for me and just sends me auditions for jobs and I get about 75% of them. It's amazing!

6) Now RECENTLY, my WEBSITE!!! Now, I don't know where or how he found me but I gotta figure out how to get MORE people to find me. One job with the rates I put up is great.


THINKS THAT STUNK AND I WONT DO AGAIN
1) ELance, Guru.com, Backpage, Craigslist. (PIEHOLE (we'll see), Freelancers. All jobs there are pretty much useless or just junk. It's more for people who want to do ENTIRE projects and you're up against people who work REALLY DIRT cheap.


Honestly, the last time I did a blogger post, I had a goal in mind to get a specific amount of dough to get me back to NYC and back into the improv scene.  As of now? I'm well on my way, with no signs of stopping.


Get out there peeps.

What's Workin and What AINT Reviews of the OTHER pay to plays

Hey all,

I've been non-existent this past week, I'm coming up on a month back home, my studio was probably up and runnin by April 13 or 14th so, I think of it as an officials start as that, but anyway. Gung ho aside here's my review of sites.

ELANCE:  Junk, don't use it. I think of it as a place where you can put up a project to be done DIRT cheap. Like slave labor, malaysian, DIRT cheap. Like $5 a chapter or $20 for an hour of audio cheap. You actually won't make money. Trash this site, JUNK. Also, I'm getting emails saying I'm right for ALL vo jobs, female, cantonese speaking, british, australian.. I'm getting rid of this.

CRAIGS LIST: I've givin up there, putting up my website for jobs there has gotten me emails from people basically spamming. I could put more effort but, it's really just kind of useless imo.

PIEHOLE: So far, I've gotten 2 or 3 auditions for decent jobs. Not sure about it just yet. Is it worth the $30 a month. So far, still not sure.

VOICEJOCKEY: Got two jobs they were on a really tight deadline and I got to them when they expired. ROUGH! But, luckily I called them and extended it a few minutes to be able to get it going. I'd say worth a shot if you've got a good enough demo.

AUDIOCATCH/FREELANCER/GURU:  Honestly haven't pulled or gotten any notice from any of them. I haven't really searched on them either. They are kind of just there.

VOICEBUNNY: Now a site that I keep up constantly, you have to pull quick.

Fun story about Voices and the problems of a non-union vo actor.

Okay, so I didn't get any jobs today but later in the day I get mail (voices.com) from a guy in the netherlands saying that he wanted me to voice his 3 page industrial presentation. I said, sure! He also asked could I finish it by 10am (central european time) which is about Midnight here, so I was like absolutely.

He sends me the script, so there I am with the script waiting to be awarded the job. An hour later emailed him, "Award the job, and I'll get it done" nothing, I call voices, "Did I get a message or something?" they say nope.

Here's the conundrum, do I start with the NOTION that I have job without having the job. Best case scenario, I got it ready to go so that when he figures out his error it's ready to go. Worst case scenario I do it and he hires someone else, I do a job for NOTHING.  I decide to wait. Low an behold 10pm comes around. I'm out at karaoke having a great time about 30 minutes away from home. I get the message, can u get it done in 2 hours, mind you its 1053 when I check my mail. I speed home, get on the recording at 1122.

Jump in, OH YEA this guys Danish which becomes relevant as I read the script. This is gonna take time, I have to fix the translation and do it quickly. I finish the recording, OH wait, my kindle didn't show the different colored corrections, gotta record three more sentences. I record it start editing the piece. I'm done editing by Midnight. Still gotta upload and listen to the thing.

Listened to it, only one tiny error,  I say personal email as opposed to personalized email. If he catches it, I'm on it. No biggie. Low an behold, I get it to him by 12:22pm (uploaded).

If it's that quick I had to do it in high quality mp3 then I'm uploading the wav file just in case. It's still uploading, this way he has the mp3 to play with, the deadline is for the most part met and the wav is on its way.

Right now my brain is still on an adrenaline rush, but this is the life of a non-union artist. For all you vo peeps out there, know how to get things done quickly, if you can pull a rabbit out of your ass, then it's a skill. hehe.

Take care everyone!!

The Strategy of the Pay To Play Websites Voices/V123/Voicebunny

I took an online class on what to do with pay-to play voiceover websites. For those of you who don't know, pay-to play is just that, you pay a price, monthly or yearly, for the auditions that come in your inbox and you get a chance to do paid voice over work. (mostly non-union)

Voices.com
1) Audition quickly (first 20 and you should have a chance if your recording is comparable)
2) Audition often (stay near the computer most days mon-fri as much as you can)
3) Make sure you have the right voice category that works for you (if you have gotten work as a child voice then do it, if not don't try, know if you are mature or young adult: Trust me it will help)
4) Be willing to be directed by phone (minor)

Reasons: Voices just tosses you lots of auditions. If you get an audition for your voice age and it say BOTH in the m or f category, then you've gotta be even quicker on the trigger. I've dedicated the next two months to a regiment of doing these auditions quickly and often. It has paid off, though not as much as I'd like.

KEY NOTE: You need to be competitive first. If you are consistently getting about one-two jobs a week and NOT doing this, then you may want to give this a try, you could possibly up your weekly. You're gonna get a lot of jobs in that first twenty but as you keep consistently doing this the jobs will compound on each other because clients may not listen for weeks. The key to this grind is being good as voiceover to begin with and willing to do this as kind of a day job.

Voice123
1) Audition correctly
2) Know your skill level.
3) Use V123 to get exactly what you want.

Reasons: V123 docks you for auditioning too much. However, it's not as bad as it was, I basically installed the same system for Voices in v123 and I realized that low-budge to be defined are not for me. If it's a choice between auditioning as getting docked I want the money jobs. Also, you're going to get auditions that have already been auditioned for, you may get it and look and see "Oh 17 have auditioned and been listened too", weird. The fact is they gave it to them first, it'd be impossible for 17 to jump on right after you get the website refresh.  You have to know your skill level here, if you are competitive and think you can pull jobs with a smaller amount, then go for the big jobs. You'll get less auditions but they will be money auditions. If you are new, DO the amateur to be defined stuff, you'll be grinding and getting practice. You'll figure out what you're willing and not willing to do. I had to do a trilogy of audiobooks for $85 an hour to realize that I have to do them for a minimum of $200, but now I know how to do audiobooks and have no problem with them. Cut your teeth. Do elearning, announcing, radio, everything you can get your hands on, even free stuff. I did free cartoons for people until it wasn't fun anymore. You never know what free job will get you something, you may do a job for a future Steven Speilberg or JJ Abrams. Who knows?

KEY NOTE:
Costs $300 a year. Is it worth it? Depends. Can you beat the small amount of competition, because voices.com has a lot of people but the quality may be lacking. V123 has some quality to it because the more seasoned people will choose this over voices because they can't jump on projects quick. I can, so I choose voices over v123 but I have both.

Voicebunny
1) Grind quick
2) Make Money (bit by bit)

Reason: If you cannot hear the ding of a voicebunny audition coming in (a bell rings) you're not going to get the audition. The weird thing about vbunny is that they charge the client for auditions. Say 10 auditions, for auditioning you get paid a little something. Maybe 5-10 bucks, plus you've got a 1 in 10 chance at the job, PLUS you only record 1 shot at the job, revisions cost more. Great right? Not necessarily, you have to grind it fast and quick. The jobs come at odd hours and if you see one you have to jump on it, PLUS they aren't great paying jobs, some may be downright bad. I did what would be a 4 page for about $50, it wasn't until I got the job that I thought, OH GOD this is so not worth it. But, I did a small redo for an extra $10, and they hired me again for a similar size job for $150. Voicebunny is free but you have to be ready to jump on it. It has to be like standing next to the mailbox outside waiting for these AND ready.

KEY NOTE:
It'll be frustrating if can't hear that bell, you'll see constant auditions pass you by. But it's free.


MAIN POINTS:
If you work during the day, v123 is the closest that you'll get to being a good idea and it's not that great of an idea. The grind is tough and takes hours an hours. I play wow, which I haven't done in years, while I watch the sites and I record when the audition pops up. But, here's the difference. I want this as a career and I'm risking a possible day job to do this. The next step is to be in constant contact with my clients which is something I haven't been doing. I'm also scared of getting a union job because these small tiny jobs have been so consistent and good to me. You can find extra money from voices and v123 to supplement your income, ABSOLUTELY. As long as you're good. How do you find out? Feel free to contact me and I can critique your demo and what not. The main thing I've found in success is just being realistic, HUMAN,  not a cartoon. That will get you jobs. Smiling while you do readings. People can hear a smile. It's interesting. Anyways, I've ranted long enough. Til Next Time.

A Day Time Blog Won a Contest!!

Hey Everyone,

I'm blogging right now at noon in California. Which is like 3pm in NYC. I dedicated myself to a regiment this week, and I'm hoping for it to pay off in dividends as time goes on.

1) Wake up at 9am (sometimes 10am) 10am for today because I was up til one looking at the whole Boston bombings thing. Not a great thing to sleep to. I wake up on my own everyday, no alarm, and check my email hopingly.

2) Do as many auditions as fast as possible from 9-3pm. I have a laptop on my desk as well as a desktop, I keep all three sites open, my email, voices, and v123. I also have an auto-refresh on all of them. It also leaves my desktop free to jump to record and to do other things like play wow or games while I wait.

3) Do contests, edge studio and the weekend workout for voicebank. It's like a form of advertising.

Admittedly, I had more ideas of what to do but burned myself out. Maybe on the weekend I'll dedicate myself to doing more of my spreadsheet/linkedin/craigslist posts. Also, elance/guru/audiocatch and piehole as far as week one has gone. Nada!! But, I think all of those are works in progress. The ball is rolling.

Anyway, the good news. I won the EDGE STUDIO VO contest. It was kind of a corporate feel and I thought I had really great chance at it. Edge studio (for winning) give me 4 months of online classes for free. Which is great considering I dont have much to do for the next few months. Here's their review. 

Click to hear justindtorres@gmail.com's recording
One of our judges didn’t have a good first impression, because our winner slated with “Hey, it’s...” then his name. Have you ever received a telephone solicitation from someone who starts out by calling you “Chief”? The effect is kind of like that. Just your name please! On the other hand, since the intent is to channel Steve Jobs’ personality, maybe such chutzpah can be overlooked this time. In any case, it’s a great technique for prevocalizing, and maybe it therefore helped his performance. But from now on, we recommend prevocalizing, do the take, then replacing the “lead-in” with whatever slate was requested. Turning to his performance, which is, after all, what we’re here for, we liked it. He used his natural voice, and read smoothly, with no unnecessary pauses. The slight pause before “to keep us” was barely a gap, just enough to signal “here comes a key point.” So there’s no need for a second micropause before “on top.” (Either spot is fine, but pausing at both sounds choppy.) As we’ve noted, a good pause point would have been the comma after “hour,” where he could have used a tiny pause or otherwise hinted slightly at a transition. Since he’s slightly fast throughout, it would give the reviewer confidence that an hour of such a performance won’t have his listeners feeling breathless. On a very strong note, his energy in “to keep us on top” is a good example of expressing confidence without resorting to hype. He sounds like he could be the head of a company, possibly a startup like Apple in its early days.

Some great stuff and some interesting notes.  I've heard the whole slate thing from multiple people, some casting directors say it helps you stand out. But, it is kind of a jumping off point for conversational style reads. BUT I WON!!! So, I'll be taking free classes again!!

Lovely!!!!

Friday, is my slow day as with most. I won't be going at it with the fervor of the last few days, I'm contemplating going back to vallejo over the weekend. Just to get away from the computer frenzy.  Burnout may approach soon.  BUT ITS A GOOD DAY THOUGH!! HEHE!!!

Amazing Day for a Non-Union Voiceover Guy

Okay, so I used to go to bed at 3am in NYC, now since I'm on the east coast I go to bed at Midnight, makes sense. The one thing I don't wanna do is wake up later than 10is on mon-thursday for these auditions.

I wake up and I got a job from Voices.com. Awesome. It's just a typical web product thing, ya know the everyday conversational guy that people want. Its a page and I get to it. On top of that I get an email for repeat business of an older project.

Older projects have a tendency, especially if they are longer, to have redos as time goes on. Scripts change and the offer was definitely reasonable so I take care of those. The whole time while I do those jobs, I keep an eye on voices, ready to jump on those new auditions.

After a few auditions pop up and I hit in under 20, I get another job from V123, this guy needs a voicemail done and specifically just wants the auditions. I keep all auditions available, admittedly they are lower quality but if they want it, it's theirs. I make sure to email him that if he really wants a few more runs, I can definitely do it.

Today, I also started adding a signature to my emails. If I'm gonna start this business, I want people who have my emails to know that I have website and am available, so thats in effect.

Next up another voices.com job pops up, I'm thinking, AMAZING!!! I've created a system now, work on the jobs and audition. This works swimmingly, as I edit my jobs, I see a job come up, run to audition and get back in the chair and edit away. Today, now it's only 8pm. I did 2 jobs with voices. One job as repeat business. One job through Voicebunny (cheap as hell but it may gain repeat business so what the heck). And one voicemail through Voice123.

I completed all those jobs as of now. I kind of feel an adrenaline high right now. Lovin life.

Along with this, I am constantly posting at least twice a day to Backpage and Craigs list, just in case someone needs it. I am also updated my client list combined with updated my testimonials on my website AND updating my linkedin. As I update my linked in I make sure to try and connect with these older clients.

List of things to do tonight. Do a weekend workout audition for Voicebank then audition for a few audiobooks. You never know what you'll get. As far as count goes, I only did 9 auditions today and 1 voicebunny audition. From that I pulled the voicebunny audition. We'll see about the 9.

Life is good!!!

Big Day and Marketing Away

First off, I had to change the title of my blog. Realized it was misspelled ARGH!!! So I changed it, all ten of you must thing I'm an idiot. Anyways, I had a big day today. In my attempt to make as much money as possible I found my first day without auditions. ECK!!! What to do.

I've heard from a lot of voice artists that they make a majority of their money off of repeat business. Now, I get a lot of repeat business but there is a lot of older business that I need to get in contact with.

So here's what my day started with. NEW WEBSITES. There will be reviews of these, MIND you, they are all free at the moment. I think if I get a few auditions, they may charge.

1) Freelancer.com
2)Audiocatch
3) Elance
4) Guru.com
5) voicejockeys.com
6) Piehole

These sites have jobs for voice over artists though they are few, they have some. The way I figure it,  I may be able to get a few of those jobs, Why not, so I post my profile to all the sites and go for it.

Next I make a spreadsheet for past clients. I want to send a personalized email to each of them, thanking them for their service and giving them a website to go to. And if they want their website, I can place a link near their testimonial. All good.

However, I need to make a website. Lucky for me webs.com gets easy website up and running fast. Within an hour or so I have this.

Justindtorresvo.webs.com

The way I figure it, it's a streamlined way of getting it across. Sure, I'd love to have cartoons and videogame voices but I don't get that much work from there so why not just push what I do best, corporate industrial / commercial.

After that, Linkedin, A friend of mine said that linked in was how she got the offers of most of her jobs. Admittedly, she is in a totally different field but you never know, also it has kind of a facebook aspect to it in that you can get a connection of the people you've worked with. So, every day, I'll try and put up 10 jobs on my linkedin and try and connect with my clients there. I'll also send that email I talked about earlier but this is good enough for now.

Right as I finished, I ended up getting a voices.com job. I've got a little energy left, I kind of hate doing jobs earlier in the day, later is better for me, so I may end off the day with a job and run some v123 auditions out of the way.

Tomorrows Monday, so I'm expecting a slough of auditions and getting up early and getting to work. Not to mention, who knows if all the auditions I put up are gonna pan out. I'm hoping for a few. Also an audiobook was expressing interest. WE shall see!!!!

Back in CA: Setting Goals and Getting Going

Hey Everyone,

I was on a bit of a roller coaster ride (if you're looking at my improv in NYC blog, you'll know why). Anywho, I've made the move back CA, temporarily. I may move back to NYC in July because my sublet may open up. If not, I'll be here for a bit longer.

I have a few goals in mind while I'm here. Make as much money as possible with Non-Union voice over and start a system that I can easily use going back to NYC. The first thing to do is make a list of things to do on a daily basis. Here we go.

1) Audition AWAY (Voices.com-Voice123-Voicebunny-ACX) I should do as many auditions as I can. ACX is on the list because audiobooks I can definitely do. The Stipend option brings a lot of books to $100 an hour plus royalties. It's worth looking into. And I AM!!!

2) Weekend Workout with VoiceRegistry and Script Contest with EdgeStudio. (These are free conteses (voiceregistry is a 10 a month charge with many benefits)  you get heard by agents and Edge studio get's you a great discount on classes should you choose to take them (all online)

3) Work on a Client List: I've had so much work over the past years, it's time to make a list that I can easily turn into an email newsletter. I could use that list to contact them maybe get a link to my video or a recommendation on my work. Who KNOWS!!!

4) Do a new website. I know Website after website. But, I have to have a streamlined website SOLELY for getting voice jobs. It should be simple and easy to understand.

5) BLOG: It's the journal of the future. I know what I'm doing and it's help me do it. It's also containing the VICTORIes of the day which is GREAT!!!

6) Find other V/O Sites. I could sign up for as many as possible. I can only do memberships with so many but I can definitely do it.

7)Read an Article on VO. There is always something out there to help me get it going. I need to inspire myself.


CHECKLIST
1) Done (multiple ACX)
2) Done and Done
3) Did 4 clients on a spreadsheet
4) Not Done
5) This is my blog
6) Found Piehole, considering making the payment to use it.
7) Read an article about Piehole, may do it.

Here we go. DAY ONE STARTS NOW!!

Catching Up and Voicebunny (weird site)

I finally feel like my life is back to normal. For the past few weeks I have been a combination of SICK and Busy. All of which have affected my voice.

I've been taking a UCB intensive improv class which took 3 hours out of my day. I would literally get home at late just enough time to wake up early to go to class.

Enough excuses.

Tonight I muscled through Voices and V123 auditions. I'm hoping to pull one or two just to get back on track.

An interesting enigma happened while i was sick, I got a job from Voicebunny. It's an interesting site, free to voice actors, which is great, but it kind of sucks for clients. You post how much you get paid per amount of words, toss up your demo, and people hire you direct. Not so much audition.  I've never really gotten any notices of auditions, I just got a notice of "You booked a job", $50. Awesome.

Then I do the job, interestingly enough, you just read it once and you send it off. And that's it. In my case, the read got rejected but I get paid anyway.

Weird conundrum, I want to get the job done right. I usually give clients 2-3 goes and they can maybe ask for a redo. This is a one shot deal. Sure, I get paid but I want to do jobs correctly.

I'm not sure if I like this or not. Sure enough the job gets posted again on Voices, a much higher rate there, I reaudition and try to explain that I was sorry about the system.

Anyways, if Voicebunny gets you jobs, use it. It's not costing me anything so why not. The only draw back is that you end up kind of screwing the client. Weird.

Anyways, back to VO, I did a bunch of auditions now I wait. As always, I get emails, (and this is constant) from clients saying that they want to redo the script and ask how much I would quote them. My rules on this, if it's entirely new and the same size, same price. If its small changes but you'll end up reading it, I take a little off. If it's like phone numbers or rewrites of a few sentences where I can just edit them in, then even smaller. The thing I like is a system where it's not like I'm screwing them over and they feel like they're not being screwed over. In the end, I get a lot of repeat business.

And if you wanna work and survive on VO alone, you have to get the auditions and jobs and get that repeat business. If people like you, they'll come back.


Much love and I promise to blog more. But, I'm back. !!!!

Back in the Saddle (Officially)

It's funny how you can kind of bet on yourself to get some motivation going.

Today, I spent a LOT of money on improv classes. I personally, feel it helps everything in my life including voice overs.

However, it meant I better get my ass in gear and start making money.

I plowed through all my auditions from Voices. Did an audiobook audition (200 pfh) minimum so it's not slave labor. I also did an audition for my agency. Access.

Access is a great agency but it is voice over only. My old teacher Dorianne Elliot told me that I should probably try other agencies since people are going to want me for commercial and theatre. I couldn't let go an opportunity to sign with an agency especially with a vo only agency, so I took it.

Occasionally, they will email me auditions to do. Other times, I will go out and audition. This last week, I auditioned for a cartoon pilot. Those auditions, I think of as shots in the dark. I'm up against THE best so I just need someone to believe in me.

In the meantime, Voices.com and v123 are my income, so when I purchase classes I gotta get back to work. So, I auditioned and finished all my auditions by 930. GREAT!!!

I also had to do a Voices job, they wanted 3 small scripts. I also had to redo parts of a voices job. This was a little snag.

Here's what happened, when I did the job, I was getting over a flu. So, now that I'm fine, they want a sentence redo. This means a little troubleshooting.

A couple of options for this is to run the audio down a few notches as far as pitch goes. The other thing is to make sure that the volume difference is the same. If not, it's going to be obvious.

Anyways, other than that, I got another email from the guy who doesn't pay saying he is sending it tomorrow with tracking. My fingers are crossed but I'm not holding my breath.

Right now, the stress of my life is just waiting for money from jobs I've done. That is the life of a non-union voice artist.

Time to Get Back into it

I've made the decision to get back into auditioning. My time is going to start closing in on me and I need to get a system going to make some money.

Tonight, I blasted out about 20 auditions. Some of them already had about 100 auditions before it but you never know.

I find that with voices the key is not so much getting them the fastest. Which is definitely a huge part of it, but also it is a combination with not wasting your time on old auditions during prime hours.

The reason I say prime hours, is that business hours during the weekdays (+- 3 hours depending on time zone) are going to be the times where you can get the jobs quick. It requires you to audition as soon as they pop up. However, if you audition slate is full of old auditions, you really shouldn't do those in prime hours.

Here it is 1am on a Sunday night (not prime at all), so I pre-emptively empty out my audition box to prepare for the days ahead. It's a twofold reason, 1) It's better than deleting them because you get a chance at a job 2) It helps because you dont have to weed through old auditions to get to new ones.

If you get an audition notice and you have say 4 auditions around it. If you do all 4, you may be a good half hour behind the ball. Meaning, you might be 40-50 auditions in just because you didn't do the old auditions.

In conclusion, audition, audition, audition, and once monday-wednesday comes around stay near your computer when you're home and check check check to be the first on those jobs.

Good Luck!!

After Burnout Back on Track

Hey all,

I haven't posted a single thing since the new year. The fact was the move from sublet to friends couch to new sublet not only took about a week, but it also put my health in jeopardy. For the first time in  a while, I was out of commission and sick. Here we are at the 16th and my body is still coughing through stuff. Eck!!

Anywho, during those weeks of no-microphone ability to record. A few interesting things happened.

1) My audiobook which was done in early December was apparently in need of another pickup. I got this email of "Hey we need you to do this, by the way can you get it done tonight?". To the response of "No, I can't upload or record anything because I'm sick and not moved into my new place yet".

I honestly feel less bad by saying that as I would have say, four months ago. I think once you get going as a non-union vo artist and you start making decent money, lets face it, you should probably be making bigger money with union-vo.  Admittedly, I'm in the position where I get the big auditions from my agency, which I haven't pulled yet, but non-union vo is really cheap work.

You have to kind of have a backbone, everyone you do a job for is getting you DIRT cheap. Especially if you produce it yourself. If you can't do something, you can't do it. If you're out of town on vacation, don't stress. For a cheap job, you're as much in charge of the situation as them.

I've never had a person set a specific REAL deadline on me that happened later in the game. Usually the deadline, if important, is set even before the job is offered. I get plenty of emails saying, can you get this done by set date, if you can it's yours.

2) On the note of backbone, this one guy that I complained about BEFORE the new year has yet to get me my payment. I'm hoping it's just at my other sublet, so I'm dependent on my roommate to get back from Boston to check the mail.

The guy says he'll cancel the check and send it again. I requested priority mail with tracking and he said he'd take care of it. But, nonetheless, it's rough.

Here's a couple things I've found out from this situation. 1) USE PAYPAL : it makes life so much easier. I have SO many checks coming in and I feel like I have to herd kittens to get paid for my work. Especially since I moved and emailed every one of my jobs my new address, I'm pretty sure all of them mailed it to the wrong address.

I find a lot of this insulting, but what are you gonna do. I'm non-union. When the check comes, it comes. I had to wait 4 months for a commercial check to come in. Paypal is your friend. Voices.com is your friend. Everything else is kind of wishy washy.

3) I got a few jobs without auditioning. The thing about laying all those auditions down is that a lot of them take a while to go through. I ended up getting two jobs off of V123. I ended up getting redo jobs off of a voices job.

You may find yourself in a situation where you have a script that is just grammar HELL. Fix what you can, but record it. When they come back with a few sentence changes, make your stand. Say, "I can do redoes of the original script. I'll do these small changes. But, for any other rewrites, there has to be payment because it will be a different script".

Saying this ended up getting me 3x the payment of the original job. It's not being unreasonable at all. To reread an entire job should cost something. Don't be taken advantage of.


Anyways, I know this sounds like I'm jaded and hate everything, which I don't. I love vo and it's keeping me in NYC which is amazing. I just find myself in a situation where I'm waiting for payment on 2 audiobooks and one website which was done in December. Combine that with the sickness and tiredness. You get an unhappy v-o boy.

But, I am surviving. Actually doing very well. New York isn't cheap and this can be done. So, I'm hoping you take from this the following: VO is all encompassing and you have to keep track of who owes you money.  If you work hard enough, jobs will eventually come to you. Have a backbone, just because you're work is inexpensive doesn't mean people can get you to do anything.

Take care everyone. Much love from NYC>