In the last diary entry I wrote about two telephone jobs for companies selling pre-chopped fire wood. I thought that was a pretty cool coincidence. Same type of voice over job, same type of business.
So I was blown away this week to have ANOTHER job for ANOTHER pre-chopped fire wood supplier.
When I started writing this post, I had to go back and check the previous entry to make sure I wasn't bringing up the same job again. But no, those ones were definitely phone jobs and this was a radio ad. That's 3 jobs in a couple of weeks for log people.
Two is an acceptable coincidence. Three is just unbelievable.
But wait. What's that?
A light bulb flickers. It comes on. A moment of clarity. A breakthrough.
Winter is coming.
I feel like such a fool. It's not a coincidence at all. It's just that time of year.
Photo by Marko Horvat on Unsplash
Thankfully, I had a script come in that I can look back on and retrospectively redeem myself.
A radio station in Spain needed a voice over for a commercial for an opticians. Of course, it was never going to be Specsavers (although on further research, there are some en España). But that would've been too easy.
This was Optica Rodriguez in Quesada.
You mean? Yes. My A-Level Spanish D grade (still a pass) would finally be called into action. I always knew it was the right choice.
But before I blasted in with my best "dos Kronenbourg Sixteen Sixty-Four, please garçon" I checked the pronunciation online using Youglish (a great tool to help you get the word down. It searches millions of Youtube videos and shows you somebody saying the word in context, in a sentence. It's VERY GOOD). And actually, I was pretty close to how I thought it should be spoken.
The client asked for some calming music to be put with it, which helped to inform the delivery - a warm, low, relaxed read which is one of my favourite types to do. Imagine sitting in front of the log fire (good call back there), Classic FM in the background and me stood behind you talking quietly about glasses. Ok, it wasn't that sinister.
Photo by Scott Van Daalen on Unsplash
I really enjoyed the challenge of flipping from English to Spanish and back fluidly in the same sentence. I read an Instagram post by Tanya Rich this week that said "Voice like no-one is watching" and that felt quite apt for this job. You can't have inhibitions in the booth. It's a space to be free and let loose. Spanish accent? Let's do it, señores.
It's a really great thing being able to see new innovations in technology and software that I would never have heard about if I wasn't working as a voice over artist. I might never need or ever use any of these things, but they're still fun to find out about.
A script I worked on since the last episode of the blog was for a personal intelligent process assistant. "What's a personal intelligent process assistant?" you ask. Well, firstly, thank you for asking. Secondly, it's a plug in for a browser that learns regular tasks you perform when using online systems. Next time you start that task, it will finish it off for you. How clever? Very.
That was a voice over for an explainer video, replacing a temporary computerized place holder. I love listening to those because I can guarantee that mine will sound better <laugh emoji>.
But seriously, there are still a lot of videos being made with a "computer voice". I guess it's cheaper that way, but wow. They have no soul maaaaaaan.
Revpanda came back on the scene again this week with another explainer. This time about PPC - pay per click advertising. I thoroughly enjoy watching these animations, not just to listen to myself (JOKE), but because they are stylistically excellent. So smooth and vibrant.
I'll leave it here so I can come back and listen to me...I mean...watch the nice video and enjoy the pretty colours whenever I want.
The final job of the week was a radio commercial voice over for a carpet cleaning company. Which got me thinking about a discussion I saw on social media recently. When you have visitors to your home, should you ask them to take their shoes off? The ensuing debate was a battleground.
I'm a shoes off in the house kinda guy. I don't want the outside world on the bottom of my shoes being trodden through the building, so any visitors should respect the rules of the home owner.
However, I do wear shoes in the booth (which is carpeted, just for reference). It makes me feel more like I'm "working" - I can't record standing there in my socks. I'm waiting for the day when I get a role where the brief says "he never wears shoes to work, just socks", because that will surely be an interesting dilemma.
Do I wear shoes and act like I don't have shoes on?
Or do I not wear shoes, feel unprofessional, act like I don't feel unprofessional, but be authentic to the character?
Oh dear, I'm definitely not going to sleep tonight.
Go back to "What does a voice over artist do all day? Part 16."
Skip forward to "What does a voice over artist do all day? Part 18".
