Using VoiceBunny: Webinar with Tommy Griffiths

For the last three years, Tommy has also been a VoiceBunny Pro. We were curious to find out just how does the veteran voice actor goes about doing his job, what's his personal take on VoiceBunny and what tips and tricks he can offer to those who aspire to work in his field and, more specifically, on the VoiceBunny platform. 

Want to see more? Watch the video by following this link: https://youtu.be/Lxz-bn7cCko

Why VoiceBunny and How to Start

From his Maryland studio, Tommy Griffiths began by telling us what he liked about VoiceBunny right off the bat. "I liked that you can set your own rates," he said. And indeed, on our platform, the talent is free to assess their own worth and be paid accordingly. 

There are three ways to work on projects: (1) Speedies (jobs that VoiceBunny invites pros to who are best suited to the job according to their profile, and the first one to accept the invitation gets the job); (2) by participating in Contests, and (3) by relying on bookings (where clients choose the Pro whose voice they think is best-suited to the project).

As an experienced voice actor, Tommy only makes himself available for bookings. He uploaded a number of carefully tagged demos to showcase the breadth of his talent and expertise.

In Tommy's experience, out of all the voiceover platforms out there, "VoiceBunny pays the most." Pay shouldn't be the first thing on the talent's mind, however. Acclimatizationisation is important. He advised new talents to settle for lower rates initially until they get the hang of things and start building a following.

He then went on to talk about his recording process, explaining how it's best not to jump in immediately. He carefully reads the client's instructions so he can gain an understanding of what the client's expectations are. He then ascertains when the deadline is. Once he is confident he can deliver his best for the project, he accepts the booking.

Getting The Perfect Take

1. The Acting.

Tommy pointed out something very important: he thinks there's sometimes too much emphasis on having a great voice and less on acting. "It's not enough to have a great voice," he said, "you have to be able to act and interpret. You have to take risks."

Holywood actors have directors to work with. In voice acting, more often than not, the actor must also play the part of the director in his mind—especially if he or she is working alone in a home studio. They must advise themselves but also consider the message of a script and who the target audience is.

"You have to own it," he claimed. You have to imagine yourself in a real situation with real people." A great voice and good reading skills can only carry a voice actor so far. Without the ability to act without 'acting', the delivery can be 'robotic', lifeless, and ultimately, not in keeping with a client's expectations.

2. The Recording

Understanding the basics of recording technology is also important. At VoiceBunny, the Quality Control team often ends up rejecting a lot of the work because of bad sound quality. Tommy added that to succeed "it's half delivery, half technical." He talked about the recurring problem that some voice actors send files to their clients that are heavily compressed or otherwise treated with equalization plugins. "Overprocessed files are of no use to a client," Tommy said.

Regardless of the available equipment, Tommy advised actors should "only check levels for distortion and use the normalize function." These levels should be between -6dB and -3dB because there are many nuances to the delivery. Overprocessing makes later modifications almost impossible.

Tommy stressed the fact that, even though he prefers Sony SoundForge as his recording software, there are many software programs out there that can get the job done, some of them even free to use.

3. The Attitude

Tommy Griffiths urged voice actors to speak slower. "We generally talk much faster and flatter than we think we do." Speaking slower may be counterintuitive at first, but "the listener must be given a chance to understand what is being said. A flat delivery will not convey the message well." Tommy advised voice over actors to "take advantage of the highs and lows of their voices when recording."

The words themselves must be given meaning. In order to give the delivery the right weight, actors should visualize the words and actively think what they are transmitting.

4. Checking The Work

According to Tommy, a voice actor's job doesn't end when the recording stops. He recommended the use of headphones which don't have to cost "thousands of dollars" in order to check the recorded work before hitting the submit button. Headphones are better at detecting glitches and noises that could detract from the listening experience.

"You don't have to edit out all the breaths," Tommy said, "just the ones that cause a distraction."

Last but not least in this section of the webinar, Tommy smiled and said actors must always double-check they're uploading the correct file if a project is divided into parts.

Questions and Answers

Members of the VoiceBunny community were also encouraged to ask their own questions. Here are some of them:

What's one thing that you feel VoiceBunny excels at in comparison to other voice over popular casting websites today and one thing you feel it falls short at or can get better at?

Tommy's answer: "VoiceBunny excels at so many different things. I just love the fact that you can work with the platform the way you want to work with it. For example, I don't audition for any jobs on VoiceBunny and I probably average at least one job a day from Bookings. [...] I think VoiceBunny could do a better job at letting people know how easy it is to work with them. It's an underrated service as far as voice talents go..."

How low should the rates be to get started?

Tommy's answer: "That's up to you; it's such a personal question. It's whatever you think you're worth. Obviously, you have to be competitive. [...] I do know that lower rates will help you but I always tell people, my students, all of them, to sign up for VoiceBunny. I don't know if you know this or not but VoiceBunny is absolutely free to join. Most people don't know that. Just start low and as you get jobs, you can slowly and incrementally increase your rate."