If I haven’t told you before, my favorite type of voiceover is audio books. Mostly because I had extensive theater training and I can get my acting fix. I also love playing with accents.
I’ve been asked why I don’t do more audiobooks. In my opinion, audiobook narration is a lifestyle, like narrating video games or cartoons. There is so much involved in the craft and the networking to do it “right” that there is little room to be successful doing other types of voiceover work. Also, I’m blessed with many non-audio book clients and I don’t to want risk losing them. This is why I LOVE narrating short stories. I get my acting fix and I don’t get bogged down with 10-hour books. Win, win!
OK, take everything I just wrote and put it to the side for a minute.
I’ve been sick a lot this winter. I know I’m not the only one but damn, it’s been frustrating. I used to catch a cold twice a year. You could set your watch by it. Now it’s all the freaking time. I don’t smoke or do drugs. I rarely drink. I mostly eat right and I’m an overall healthy person but I keep getting nailed. So I got nailed again last week and I had many projects due, not the least of which was four short stories. I took care of the first three stories a few weeks ago but I got sick and I’d been procrastinating with the last one (yes, fellow voicers & Faffers, I have been known to slack off from time to time. 😉 ) Why was I putting the last one off? Because I had to play seven, count ’em seven senior citizens, all with Irish accents. Yikes.
It was due last Friday and I woke up on Thursday with “fishbowl head” and I was completely stuffed up. Needless to say, I was a bit panicky. I thought I sounded like crap so I Neti-potted, Nasonexed, and made my way to the studio.
Fortunately, this short story was only 23 pages long but with all the brogues and whatnot I was afraid it would feel like 2,300 pages. I got to the studio and as I was settling in, I told the engineer this could be the worst narration of my career. And away we went.
Now, I have never been in a studio while another talent was narrating an audio book so I have no idea what is considered a good streak of going without making a mistake. How long did it take for me to do my first pickup? Nine minutes. I went nine minutes without a single flub. I don’t know if that’s considered good for you, but for me that’s a Christmas miracle.
TIP OF THE WEEK
I don’t know what you’d call it; an out of body experience, in the zone, or what. Maybe I had just the right combination of mucus and fear. I’m not sure, but I’ve never been that in tune with a story before. I think that being sick made me hyper-focus on connecting with the characters, the story, and the listener because I was so neurotic about how crappy I thought I sounded. Maybe I should get sick more often!
NEWS AND NOTES
Remember that film “She Wolf” that I, or rather, my voice was in? I saw it! It was beautifully done and has a real art house quality to it. It’s on the festival circuit right now but when it’s released to the public I’ll post a link. Here’s the trailer again in case you missed it.
HAPPY HAPPYS
Hello and Happy soon-to-be Saint Patrick’s Day! I know it’s classified as one of the mothers of all non-holidays, but it is a fun one, ain’t it?
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
STUFF!
I saw “Waking Ned Devine” last week.
It’s an adorable little film about a dead man in an Irish village who won the lottery and how the villagers tried to get the winnings.. The funny part is that it’s been on my Netflix queue for months and after I got home from the audio book session I decided to watch it, but I didn’t know it took place in Ireland until it started. If I had watched it first I would have stolen all the dialects from it! Quite the Irish theme this week, ay…?
From Tom Dheere’s apartment, this is Tom Dheere: GKN News…