Are You Tracking

The Internet is revolutionizing the voice-over business. Today quality remote recording of voiceovers can be done virtually anywhere. With a PC, mic, and Internet connection, almost anyone can set up shop as a voice talent.

A few years ago, a remote session entailed a voice over talent standing in a commercial production house studio, say, in L.A., taking direction over the telephone through a “phone patch” from, say, New York City.

The next innovation in remote recording was the satellite link. It sounds great on either end, but it’s very expensive, so it’s suited only for sessions with the biggest budgets and most expensive talents.

A few years after the satellite link came the more economical ISDN, which stands for Integrated Services Digital Network. ISDN is a digital hookup via the telephone system. Each location is connected to the other through a piece of hardware called a “codec.” An ISDN hookup is preferred by agencies and clients with budgets large enough to accommodate the additional Voice Cloning Information cost of recording an out-of-market voice over artist.

The latest, and, so far, most liberating technology available to voice over talents is the now ubiquitous .mp3 file—the same file type used for swapping songs over the ‘Net. A voice talent anywhere in the world can set up a home studio and be in business. The talent records the voiceover, with direction via phone patch, if desired by the client, into a PC equipped with simple audio editing software. Next an .mp3 file is created and then sent as an email attachment to the agency and/or client. No expensive satellite or ISDN linkups. No commercial production facility. Simply put: no middleman.

Is this a good thing? Not entirely. The home VO studio explosion can be likened to the desktop publishing frenzy of 15 years ago. Just because you have a powerful printing press in a box on your desk doesn’t mean you’re automatically going to produce coherent, well-designed publications. Everyone thought they could buy PageMaker, print some business cards and letterhead, and, voila, an instant living publishing newsletters. Of course, the vast majority of these desktop publishing newbies discovered it takes more than technology to succeed. First and foremost, it takes talent, training, and experience to use the tool, the software, effectively—and most important—profitably.

With that caveat out of the way, and assuming you have the chops to make a go of your home voice-over business, let’s look at how the Internet also has revolutionized promotion of voice over talents.

Drumming up business

Before the home studio, voiceover artists had to go to studios to record. Promotion included distributing your demo on cassette or CD to production houses, ad agencies, talent agents, and casting agents; making phone calls; sending reminder cards with your latest credits; sending thank you gifts to clients at holiday time; and networking with anyone and everyone. Actually, to be successful, you still have to do all of those things, but now you have additional promotional opportunities via the World Wide Web.