Stats Low but Ready to Record!
Hello Voice Bunny and Angela,
Just wanted to check in with everyone. I realize my stats are quite low. Yes I've been rejected here a handful of times (little frustrating especially after someone booked me) and haven't gotten any invitations as of recent.
Just reaching out more or less to you let you know I am available for invites and am currently ready to record!
I was getting a lot of favorites on one specific sample maybe three weeks ago often (sears radio spot with music) and decided to upload a few more similar styles along with some trailers and product video samples.
Any other suggestions on what I can do?
T
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Hi Ted
Thanks for letting us know! Checking your stats, they are, indeed quite low. For contests you haven't won any project and the majority of your Speedy projects have been rejected. These stats won't last forever, but it will impact the number of invitations you will receive during this year.
As you mentioned, it's important to focus on samples so you can have better visibility. I see you have a good number so I wouldn't suggest uploading more. However, you have 25 rejected samples that need to be removed. Would it be OK if I share the links here or would you prefer if I sent them to you via email?
Let me know!
Thanks Angela,
Interesting I haven't won any project yet I do get accepted internally on a number of contests.
Do you have any recommendations or is it tough to forecast those.
Also had a question on responding to VO requests that ask to be synched to video. Do you have a good way to
record those? Are pros using final cut ? I have a laptop and a mobile so I've sometimes gone off the phone and watched the video while I record but its tricky. Beginning to think its not worth me accepting a project.
Also on my recent booking that was rejected just double checking that doesn't affect my stats?
Prefer that you send the samples via email. Thank you!
-T
Hi Ted
In regards to the auditions being accepted by QC, there are 2 factors there:
1. Some of the recordings get auto-approved by our system once you reach a threshold. For this reason, there are some recordings that pass because we trust you're delivering excellent quality.
2. We try our best to understand the client's brief and accept only the best auditions. However, the final decision comes from the client which is quite subjective. We also try to give you Pros the most chances we can to get exposed to our clients and get chosen. For this, we are a bit less strict with auditions than we are, say, for Speedy projects. Hope this makes sense!
To improve the approval rate for contests, we usually narrow it down to learning from the experiences you've had and being more critical with the projects you audition for. If you see that, for example, your voice hasn't been chosen twice for e-learning projects, maybe your voice is not the best suited for this type of projects. I suggest revisiting those projects to which you haven't been chosen and listening to the winning audition and final recording. You can learn and understand what that voice has that you could learn from so, next time, you can provide a more accurate read for this type of projects. Also, check which projects you get booked for the most. This way you can also pinpoint the areas where your voice is used the most and try to stick to these projects while you get better at other styles. You may win more contests if you audition for projects that are more down your alley at the beginning while you learn and explore other styles.
For example, my voice is super young, happy and outgoing. For this reason, I know that it may be more challenging for me to win, say, projects that ask for a more mature and serious voice. I tend to avoid them and check the voices that win those projects and make adjustments to how I manage my voice by imitating them. However, I know that if it's a commercial for, say, a music festival or a commercial aimed at teens, I know I have much higher chance of winning that project. Makes sense? Hope it does!
As per the syncing projects, well that depends a lot on what DAWs you're familiarized with. I, for example, only use Pro Tools which has an amazing video engine. There are various techniques on how to work on syncing projects so you may want to review YouTube for tutorials! Hopefully, someone who has worked on this type of projects more can help!
I, personally, sync myself more with the original audio and, then, edit the recording to match the audio as perfectly as possible. For this, I use a pair of headphones with the original audio on one side, the video playing on the back and my script right below the screen. This way I can listen to how it sounds, get a glimpse of the video to ensure I am still on track from time to time and focus on my script to avoid reading it wrong. It also helps A LOT to watch the video and practice at least 5 times the whole thing before I start recording. It really allows you to notice where the script is challenging to match or where you have trouble. If the video is very long, you can divide it in sections and focus on each of them separately. It may take a bit more time, but it also helps a lot!
Hope this helps! I extended myself a bit too much! :P
Hey Ted,
In regards to sync projects, as Angela said it's easier if your recording software allows a video track. However, it can be done without it, it just requires some practice. You can play the video and record following the original vo a second later. Mike Rowe explains it better in this video (around 1:50 he starts recording)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4LhdU3a1KM. Sounds messy but it's another method of doing it.
Hope that helps,
-Seb
Thanks Sebastian and Angela
Angela -
All makes sense on the contests. I went back and listened to some of the previous contests and I have to be honest almost more than half of them expired or were cancelled by the client so it doesn't really seem like there's any clear formula to it. Much like most of auditioning in general. Will definitely keep these tips in mind though for when its time to submit for contests.
In regards to the synching and more general overview of my last year with VB:
Just as the industry is changing and I'm working to constantly attain peak performance on my vocal recordings I think its best that I focus on the jobs that just require VO and no synching for the time being.
We are expected to uphold a lot here at VB Pro and my main goal is to provide top voice quality recordings that match what the client is looking for. I think the platform of what our roles are can be a bit confusing and there are lot of areas that need to better defined when it comes to serving the needs and wearing several hats as now an engineer / talent supervisor during bookings / script editor and copywriter (at times) just to name a few all of which we're expected to do in a very timely fashion. To say the least.
I'll need to spend some time with some of these tutorials but feel that oftentimes the jobs that come through on VB are so tight on the time I can't spend more than 1 or 2 times reading through the script and looking at the video to see how it all comes together. The clock is ticking and the client is getting more than their share out of the talent in this situation. That's just my two cents.
I'm also kind of speaking about just general bookings as it goes on the site. I think for synched jobs (even though the rates go up) need to be better organized between VB and the client. Do they want it exactly synched? Can it be a few seconds off. Does the copy start on the music? Is the copy a previous version they haven't edited? I am speaking specifically on the last booking I was rejected on. The client wanted a natural conversational tone and with the time given for their video the copy went over on many marks and I had to speed it up giving an unnatural style read that I wasn't honestly happy with after I turned in the recording but for time sakes wanted to turn something in.
Needless to say nobody was happy. So was a bit frustrating. Even though I got paid for the job of course I'd much rather have the client satisfied with the job.
Hope I'm not expanding too much here myself but as always just ready to go and record and patiently waiting for invitations!
Also not sure if you sent over the rejected samples via email but I don't think I got anything.
-T
Thank you for your feedback in regards to syncing projects, Ted. We will definitely keep them into account.
Right now, we don't have an option to allow you to opt out from syncing projects. However, we don't receive that many either. I suggest you hone your skills and try to give them a chance when you receive them. If these are contests or speedy projects, you can ignore them. However, if we send you a booking that requires syncing, we would need you to try to make it happen.
Keep in mind that Mike Rowes technique is very useful so you're always keeping up with the pace. You would, however, then need to cut the areas to compensate for the lost second. So, if you started the line 1 - 2 seconds later, once you're done, you need to readjust the sentence to the video when you're cleaning up the file. This way, you have an almost 100% synced file that you can move and adjust to match the timing.
As per the samples, I did send them. Let me send them again! I'm sorry for the inconveniences.