The VO Meter, Measuring Your Voice Over Progress.
Hello, everybody, and welcome to episode 31 of The VO Meter.
Measuring Your Voice Over Progress.
Today is gonna be a little different, because we’re going to demonstrate how big of a shill each one of us is.
That’s right, guys, today on Current Events, we’ve sold out.
In no uncertain terms.
So, a number of great companies have reached out to us offering a sponsorship, and we just want to assure you guys we really do believe in the products and services they offer, and we just want to share them with you in this episode.
And starting with our very first sponsor, voiceactorwebsites.com.
As a voice talent, you have to have a website. But what a hassle getting someone to do it for you. And when they finally do, they break or don’t look right on mobile devices.
They’re not built for marketing and SEO. They’re expensive. They’re expensive, you have limited or no control.
And it takes forever to get one built and go live. So what’s the best way to get you online in no time? Go to voiceactorwebsites.com.
Like our name implies, voiceactorwebsites.com just does websites for voice actors. We believe in creating fast, mobile-friendly, responsive, highly functional designs that are easy to read and easy to use. You have full control.
No need to hire someone every time you wanna make a change. And our upfront pricing means you know exactly what your costs are ahead of time. You can get your voiceover website going for as little as $700.
So if you want your voice actor website without the hassle of complexity and dealing with too many options, go to voiceactorwebsites.com, where your VO website shouldn’t be a pain in the you-know-what.
So the main interview portion of the episode is actually a roundtable, where we talked about social media with a couple of stalwarts of the social media and voiceover circles, at least in our minds. And we’ll get to that in just a few minutes. But before we do that, Sean wants to tell you about one of our sponsors.
That’s right. So some of you guys might not know, but I’m actually the member liaison for the Global Voice Acting Academy, also affectionately known as the GVAA. And we provide professional online voiceover education through classes, workshops, webinars, private coaching, demo production and VO membership programs.
So whether you’re just beginning your VO journey or an experienced veteran, GVAA offers professional training, career resources, rate guide services and a supportive caring community. So if you’re interested, you should check us out at globalvoiceacademy.com.
Yeah, and they’re no strangers to the program. We’ve had Christina, the founder on and we’ve talked about them pretty much since the beginning. It’s no secret that we were fans of the company and we’re so happy to have them on board.
Thank you guys very much. It’s wonderful to have you as our sponsor for the podcast.
So, we are still going to run through our normal show segments and we want to start as we normally do with current events. So, is there anything cool going on in your VO world, Sean?
Just some fun auditions. I went up to Seattle recently and actually speaking of GVA, David Tobak, our co-worker and COO, our Chief of Operations, actually came to visit me for a week. He even recorded some stuff here.
It was a lot of fun. But anyways, he’s back in Florida now, but the day I dropped him off, we had to get up at like 4.30 to get him to the airport in time. And then I had an audition in Seattle after that.
But it was really nice because I felt like the producer really understood, like they had been frustrated with a number of audition, or like rounds of auditions. And so they’re like, all right, what if we get, like have them work in pairs, get them on like a couch, watching TV, like set the scene, almost like an on-camera audition or something like that. And it was just so much easier to get into the role.
It was wonderful.
That’s cool.
Yeah, so that was a lot of fun. And speaking of social media, I was able to find a new corporate narration client because someone had posted in the British Facebook group. So I need to record something for them after we do this.
Wait, the British group, you’re doing a British accent?
No, they wanted American talent.
Oh, yeah. We’ve talked about that. That’s a good bit.
So that’s right, be the unique commodity in the group that you’re in if you can help it.
Exactly. Don’t work with a bunch of people who sound exactly like you.
Exactly.
Well, that’s cool. I’ve had a couple of cool things going on as well. I’ve been continuing my spate of medical narration that hopefully some of you have seen on social media.
My latest one was on, let’s see, Angel Man Syndrome, which I hadn’t heard about before, and actually did the whole segment, pronouncing it Angle Man, because I’m an idiot. And the client got back to me and said, it’s Angel, and they did a little emoji with an angel and a halo over it, which I didn’t even know existed. I said, oh, that makes more sense.
So…
Was the conversation over social media, just over, or just…
No, just emailing back and forth with the client.
Oh, okay, okay, wasn’t true.
Yeah, I hadn’t realized you could actually do emojis and emails, but whatever program they were using, it came up that way. And then I said, oh, now I get it, sorry.
So I went back and did that. Isn’t that the same, like, where, I don’t know, like, they can actually have, like, the softening of the voice and just almost like a frail demeanor or something like that?
Yeah, well, I can tell you the whole spiel if you want. It’s a chromosomal abnormality that comes when you have disparate pairs of chromosomes from your father and your mother. But go watch the whole thing if you want to on YouTube.
But anyway, that’s an ongoing client, and I have about 30 more of those to do. And never complain about repeat business. And speaking of repeat business, I had a cool situation that just happened in the beginning of this week.
A client reached out to me yesterday, who I had done a video for over the summer, a repeat client, and they came to me through my agent in New Zealand and said, yeah, I’d love to do another video for you, but I really think we should go back through the agency because that’s how you found me to begin with. So it’s the first time I actually was able to send something to my agent where they were grateful because I didn’t try and cut them out. So word to the wise, if you have representation, respect them and they’ll respect you.
Yeah, because they’re looking out for your best interests. That’s what their job is. So they might be able to negotiate a better rate for you.
So certainly at least let them know when an opportunity like that comes up.
Yeah, and that’s basically why I did it. I mean, aside from just being good business and me being a generally good guy, I thought I could easily screw myself out of this negotiation because it’s not what I do. The client didn’t give me a budget.
They said, tell me what you would charge. And, you know, I go by the GBA rate guide normally, and I’m usually happy to do that. But if I can get the negotiation out of my hands, I’m all happy to do that.
So that’s why I said to the agency and said, you guys do it and tell me what you think. And the client didn’t mind at all, actually. He just said, great, yeah, no problem.
So that pretty much wraps up everything for current events. But up next, we have…
So Sean, what have you done to yourself this week, or your budget?
Well, actually, I finally took advantage of my Sweetwater gift card that I got from the incredible Unicorn Grand at VO Atlanta. I got a very nice, what’s called a drum throne for when I need to sit in the booth for long-form narration projects. And I go back and forth, because sometimes I don’t feel like I have enough energy when I do that, but when I stand up, sometimes I have a penchant for being overly expressive or just artificial in my sounding.
So, I don’t know, you really just need to experiment in just sit or stand, however you’re feeling that day, I guess. But, I mean, just having a comfortable thing, or drum throne to sit on is what it’s called, it’s been like, ah, you can just hear the relaxation in my voice when I read. It’s amazing.
Is an extra high one? Because I looked at that myself for a while and I found they were all too low. Like, basically it was like sitting on a throne, you know, the other throne.
And it was kind of uncomfortable because all my gear is higher in the booth.
I haven’t extended it to its full height, but I have had other people come in here who are much taller than me sit on it and they thought it was quite comfortable. So, I don’t know. If it’s something you’re interested in, I’m very happy with it.
It’s called the Rockin Sock Drum Throne, by the way. It’s got this almost like blue, at least the version I got, like blue velvet covering. And it’s got an optional back if you want it to look more like an office chair or you need that additional lumbar support.
But it’s quite comfortable with or without it. So I’m really happy with that. So actually, while we’re on the subject of that, I wanted to give a shout out to Beth Windsor Stewart and Lynn Norris for the recommendation.
They’re character actresses and audio book narrators. And so I think they would know a little bit about sitting in the booth for extended periods. So thank you guys very much for the recommendation.
And thank you, Emmett Andrews for your recommendation of the home purpose office chair for my studio desk. It’s very comfortable and I wouldn’t have found it without it. So thank you.
Ergonomics are important.
Yes, ergonomics are very important if you’re spending eight or more hours a day in your office.
Yeah, definitely. Anything else? Or is that the only one?
Nope, that’s it. Oh, actually I did get a isotope RX7. So I’m very excited to try that out.
Haven’t downloaded it yet, but they’re wonderful things. And last but not least, thank you Armin for your recommendation of the Renaissance Fox plugin. I was playing with that last night.
It sounds very nice. So thank you very much.
Cool. So in lieu of me buying anything stupid this month, because I actually didn’t, we’re going to talk about something I was given for free, well, almost free, in exchange from our new sponsor, Vocal Booth To Go. Now we’ve talked about them forever, ever since the first episode of the podcast, because we’ve used their products.
But if you don’t know, Vocal Booth To Go’s patented acoustic blankets are an effective alternative to expensive soundproofing. They’re often used by vocal and voiceover professionals, engineers and studios as an affordable soundproofing and absorption solution. They make your environment quieter for less.
Now I went out to the warehouse actually and met with the owner, Jeff, and the webmaster and marketing coordinator, Stephen Coghill, and we did some live sound with some of the new products. So what we’re gonna do is play that now and you’ll hear the, let’s see, the Vomo, the portable vocal unit, the hanging Vocal Booth. It’s sort of like your Sean, but a shorter version.
Yeah, it’s sort of like your booth cut in half. So it looks like the Vomo.
Cut in half from the, they chopped off the legs.
Yeah, exactly.
I wasn’t sure exactly what that was. That’s cool. I can understand why they might do that though.
And so, and for people who don’t know the Vomo, I have a version of it as well. It’s formally known as the Carry On Vocal Booth. But I think since carry on restrictions have changed, since when the product was first developed, he can decided to change the title.
So it’s now the vocal, or the Vomo, the Vocal Mobile Booth. And just as effective, if not more so, than when they first made it.
And then finally, you’ll hear a sound test from both outside and inside the new sound proofer booth, the SP sound proofer, it’s SPB33. SPB33. It’s the new and improved portable booth that has the mass-loaded vinyl sheets inside and has now a swinging door, which I got to try out and open up and close, and that was pretty cool.
So you’ll hear the before and after, and you can hear for yourself how the noise floor changes or drops when we close the door and zip it all up. So without further ado, let’s play the audio from my visit to Vocal Booth To Go. So welcome back to the VO Meter.
I’m actually here in the Vocal Booth To Go facilities in sunny Frederick, Maryland, for the time being anyway. And I’m joined by Stephen Coghill. And Stephen, tell us a little bit about what you do here at vocalboothtogo.com.
I am head of marketing here and audio engineer for Vocal Booth To Go. And I help people design and figure out what they need for their spaces and for the recording rooms and all that sort of stuff. And I also obviously market and design the website and put all the information for all the new products that we have going out.
Okay, well, Sean and I have talked about the products a lot since the beginning of our show, really even in show one because we both use them. But what we want to talk about is some of the new products that the company has coming out. Can you tell us what you’re excited about and what’s coming up?
Well, the newest products we have right now are that we’re excited about the new SBB booths. We have a new three by three soundproof booth and we have a six by six soundproof booth. And the newest thing about these booths is they actually have a swing open door.
So that’s, you know, before you had a zipper that you had to kind of open and crawl through, but now we have a proper door that actually swings open. So it’s easy kind of to get in and out of. Also they’ve been redesigned.
So we’ve shaved off about 100 pounds off of each booth. So that’s a good thing so that you’re not pushing around that much weight. Also the panels now zipper together and they seal with a Velcro flap.
So it just looks nicer. It’s a lot better looking. It seals a lot better.
And it seems to really provide good DB drop as far as the audio goes.
What is the ballpark reduction in noise that you think?
It’s about 40 to 45 DB. Which is actually pretty impressive, yeah.
Yeah, that’s really good.
Yeah, it is.
I’ve actually seen it up close. We’re gonna play a test from the booth in a couple of minutes where we do some room tone outside and then reading a script inside and you’ll get to hear yourselves what it sounds like. But yeah, I’m really excited about it.
I like to credit myself with coming up with the idea. I’m not sure if Jeff would agree.
Well, I’m not sure he would either, but yeah, we’ll definitely give you credit down there.
Yeah, I came out here about two years ago and rented the original model. And then I said to Jeff at that time, this is great, but if it only had a door. And then I think it was like two weeks later, he said, I love that idea.
Yeah, I’m gonna go make a prototype.
He does take, that’s the thing about Jeff, is he takes any and all suggestions, anybody who comes up and says, I mean, that’s how we develop our products, is somebody comes up with a problem and we come up with a solution. So that’s how all these products come about.
That’s great. So that’s the new SPB.
That’s the new, yeah, SPB33 and the 66 and they’re available on the website. I think we only have, we’re only down to 166. We’ve already sold out all the rest of them, but we have definitely a lot of the 33s that are available and ready to go.
That’s great. So let’s talk about some of the other products. Right now, we’re actually using the new model of the VOMO, the portable solution.
Tell me a little bit about that.
Yeah, so this is the voiceover mobile. This is a portable, kind of a suitcase type portable booth that you can take anywhere with you. Go on, take it on the plane, take it on your, take it in the car, go on vacation with it and basically be able to recording, get great recordings anywhere you go.
And that’s kind of what it is. So, you know, it pops up into a little kind of tent and it’s got our Producers Choice blankets surrounding it and you put your microphone inside and it works fantastic. I actually use it at my own recording studio at home and it works great.
Yeah, we’re actually using it right now to do this interview.
So, right now.
In the noisy warehouse with, is it 70? Right outside?
Yeah, that’s 15, actually.
Yeah, so really busy, six lane highway right outside. Similar to my own home studio, actually. And you can hear how the Vomo actually reduces the ambient noise pretty well.
Yeah, and we have the AC going too. So, we’ll see how that goes.
So what else?
Well, what else do we have?
We have a new hanging portable booth. So it’s basically a booth that it goes out, like kind of comes in a roll and a bag and you can take it with you. It’s kind of like smaller than the Vomo.
It doesn’t have like a tray, like a hard table like the Vomo has. Just a very soft product made of the Producers Choice blankets and you can unfold it, hang it up in a closet with a couple of hangers and you’re ready to go. You can start recording right away.
So it’s a very cool product. It’s called the Portable Hanging Vocal Booth and that’s very cool.
We’re going to take some pictures of these things before we go. I haven’t told Stephen this yet, but I’m going to. So we’ll put them on our Facebook page, the VO Meter, check that out and you can see what these actually look like.
Even though we do mostly audio here because we’re a voice over podcast, it helps sometimes to see the products as well. Also, where can they find them on your company’s website?
Yeah, it’s www.vocalbooth2go.com and all the products are listed under there. The other newest thing we have is, in addition to, we have a new style of fan. We still have our same fans that we have for the booths.
We have a six inch fan and we have a four inch fan, but we have a newly designed fan that’s inside. It’s gonna be really quiet and really powerful. So that’s one thing.
Another thing is the, is a fan speed controller. So it’s basically a fan controller that you can put in between your fan and the power and you can adjust the speed of it. So you can actually turn down the fan speed and make it quieter if you need to.
And was that fan and the controller designed by the company? Are they proprietary?
No, they’re not proprietary. They’re just products that we found and kind of used for this purpose.
Okay, the fan is really effective. I actually heard George Whitham at one point say it’s the quietest booth fan he’s ever heard.
Yeah, we used the soundproofing and basically designed a case for it that sits inside of it and that really makes it silent and run very, very efficient.
Which is really, really cool when you’re, hear that pun, really cool when you’re doing a recording and you want to, you know, breathe as well.
Yes, yes, you do need to breathe. It’s very important.
So anything else you want to showcase, Stephen?
Yeah, the last thing, or I don’t know if it’s the last thing, but the next thing is a universal stand, which is basically a really heavy duty stand that you can get for the VOMO, which is what we’re using now, the portable recording booth. And that will allow you to, you know, if you like to stand to deliver your performance, it’s a very robust stand that you can put the VOMO on without it tipping over and falling and breaking your expensive microphone. If you’re gonna use the hood and you’re gonna use accessories inside, it does tend to get pretty heavy.
And a thin microphone stand is good for, you know, certain things, but if you want it to be pretty much a permanent, sturdy setup in your house, the universal stand is the way to go. That’s what I use at my house as well. And it just keeps things really rock solid.
And the best thing is it also, you know, with a little modification, you can actually use it to support a blanket. You can support a six foot wide blanket whenever producer’s choice on there, and it’ll hold it freestanding and enable you to hang the blanket anywhere you want. It’s very, very flexible.
Awesome stuff.
So that’s pretty much all of our new products we have at the moment.
All right, well, I’m excited to check some of them out. I’m gonna take this VOMO home with me, which is pretty cool.
Yes, please do.
And I’m excited about all the new offerings the company has. Thanks for joining us today. Thanks, Paul.
And we’ll talk to you soon.
Appreciate it.
Okay, so now we’re outside the SPB33, the Sound Proofer booth, the new improved model with the swinging door. And I’m just gonna record some room tones so we hear what it sounds like in the warehouse here with the highway next door, a sewing machine in the background, and some people talking. So, here we go.
And now we’re inside the booth, with the zipper closed, and we’re going to do a quick read of a script to give you an idea of what it sounds like. Inside the booth, completely sealed up. Have you ever noticed what happens when you put in a movie?
It’s amazing. You just stick it in, sit back, hit play, and poof! The rest of the world just disappears.
Gone. Suddenly, it’s just you and your family. All right, so now we’re inside the portable hanging acoustic booth, or FAB, that’s with a PH, like pretty hot and tempting.
So we’re going to do a test run in here as well and see how it sounds. Have you ever noticed what happens when you put in a movie? It’s amazing.
You just stick it in, sit back, hit play, and poof! The rest of the world just disappears. Gone.
Suddenly, it’s just you and your family.
Great stuff, Paul. Love the interview. We have been, as you guys know, we have been a pretty devout supporter of Vocaboot to go over the years.
I’ve had their acoustic hanging booth, the original incarnation, for several years now. I’ve used their Vomo for several years too. I think it’s like…
And I’ve used a number of the different portable acoustic options out there, and I think it’s still my favorite. And they’re just great. And I love how Jeff is so receptive to feedback.
And I mean, just the story of it itself. It started as a moving blankets, and then he found out producers and actors were using it. And then he catered to that market ever since.
And so thank you, Jeff, so much for being so receptive to our feedback and trying to give us better and better solutions for our home studios. Thank you very much.
Yeah, I really enjoyed the experience out there. And what a lovely day. I know you haven’t been there, Sean, but it’s situated in the western mountains or the mountains west of Baltimore.
If you go about just 30 miles west of Baltimore, it becomes really mountainous. It’s the tail end of the Appalachians up here in the northeast. And it’s really cool to see when you drive out there, especially when it’s a sunny day, because you can see for miles and miles in that valley.
Ooh, sounds beautiful.
So in lieu of a VO Meter check, we’re going to be further chills and introduce our new sponsor again, or another new sponsor. The company is podcastdemos.com, and the founder is Tim Page, who has produced over 1,000 podcast intros for some of the biggest podcasts on the planet. Each demo includes custom-written scripts and hand-selected music, and is guaranteed to showcase your voice and talent in the best light possible.
With a finger on the pulse of what podcast producers want, you can be sure your podcast demo will sound professional, current, and competitive.
Yeah, it’s pretty incredible. Tim actually did Paul’s and my podcast demos, and he and his team were just amazing. I mean, his scriptwriter created original scripts perfect for my voice and my personality, and he even chose some scripts that, like, I didn’t think I was good for, but it sounds great on the demo.
And they really were reflective of current popular podcast genres. I recorded in the comfort of my own home studio, and Tim just worked his mastering magic. The whole process only took a couple of days, and, like, Paul and I couldn’t be more pleased with our demos.
So he is a consummate pro and so easy to work with. So thank you, Tim, and podcastdemos.com.
And now we’re actually going to play those demos for you. I guess we’ll play Sean’s first and then mine. You can hear the great work that Tim and his team did.
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So we’ll get to our social media roundtable in just a minute, right after a word from the Global Voice Acting Academy.
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Because you like to have fun.
And welcome to the interview portion of this episode of The VO Meter. It’s our social media roundtable, and we’re going to be talking about how each of our guests use social media to help their career and maybe in some other ways. Now, the way I came about this topic was actually because of one of our guests.
Melissa was doing a video of her own thanking people for their inspiration and being able to see their life stories through the use of social media. And I thought, that’s really cool. I like the way you phrased that because it’s kind of the same way I view it as visiting my friends and getting a window into their life and their careers.
And I think each of you have done that pretty well in your own way, while also promoting your careers. So Sean, might you introduce each of our guests, please?
Absolutely. So to my left, you guys can’t tell because we are in a video conference right now. We have audio engineer and demo producer and all around awesome guy, Uncle Roy Yokelson.
How are you doing, Uncle Roy?
Good, how are you Sean? Hey Paul, thank you for having me on here.
Absolutely, it’s great to see you. It’s been a while. Up next, we have Melissa Moran, Florida based talent.
And she actually inspired the idea for this episode. So we’re so happy to have her on. Thank you so much for being here, Melissa.
Thank you. It is an honor to be here with you guys and guests.
Aw, shucks, we’re not that big. Our reputation precedes us, Paul. Anyways, and last but certainly not least, Miss Ally Murphy, UK talent, who’s actually gonna be in my neck of the woods sooner rather than later.
So Ally, thank you for joining us today.
Oh, thank you so much for having me.
Absolutely. So Paul, why don’t you go ahead and take it away with the first question?
Sure, so as I said, all of you have inspired me to sort of come up with this episode because I love the way you each use social media in your own special way, whether it’s talking about how to be an air hostess, whether it’s talking about how to do motion capture, whether it’s talking about the bagel you ate on Bagel Thoys Days. I really love the way you mix those things in to the way you promote your own work as well. So let’s talk about how each of you use social media, either personally or your career, or how you combine both.
Why don’t we start with Melissa?
Okay, yeah. I think I started out as a radio host. And so I was taught from the very beginning of my career.
Well, when I started my career, internet’s wasn’t a big deal. But as it progressed, I knew what a powerful tool it was and how, you know, in radio, you want to make everyone your best friends. That’s how you talk to people.
And that’s how you should portray yourself on social media as well. Everyone’s your friends. This is a big family.
So how would you talk to your family? Well, that you like, hopefully. So that’s how I treat it.
I want to share special moments in my life. I want to share what I’m doing. Hey, what are you doing?
And try to stay as positive as possible, because I think that’s important too. You can’t avoid negative situations in your life, but I also believe in the power of influence and I don’t want to bring my negativity to someone else either.
Okay, anyone else have any thoughts?
Yeah, I completely agree with that. I’m exactly the same. I started using social media before I got into full-time VO, so when I was an air hostess.
So for me, it was just a way of keeping in touch with people from all over the world and sharing images or stories and trying to be funny and that sort of thing. And when I became VO full-time, it was just a great way of me to continue to do that, but with clients and with new VO friends and from people from America, which has been fantastic because I’ve got some great friends over there now. So I think social media can be a great thing for just connecting with people.
That’s what it should be. It’s a social thing. It’s making connections.
You know, old school back in the day when voiceovers would show up at the studio and you got to shake hands and have coffee and be with people. And it’s the one thing sort of disconnect with everybody being at their home studio. We’re not together.
We’re electronically connected. And so through social media, that does help. It’s why I have my VO BBQ and 150 voiceover people show up just to hang out and shake their hand and pat them on the back.
So the reason I connected with voiceover people is just these are my true friends. And they’re coming over to see me and have my coffee. It doesn’t, you know, we shouldn’t worry about, oh, gee, do you think the radio spot’s gonna turn out okay?
Of course it is. It really was, who do you wanna hang out with? And my social media, you know, many people have a separate, and I have a separate Antlion Productions Facebook page, but I don’t really use it in the right way because I wanna be friends with everybody.
So my personal page has everything and my branding, the Bagel Thursday and all those silly things that we do. And I love it when people come up there and they go, oh yeah, I had an everything bagel, you know, because we’re friends, you know, and we have our shtick to talk about, you know.
It’s really interesting that you mentioned the sort of neglecting your business page, Uncle Roy, because it’s a trend that I’ve seen happen a lot in the last couple of years, where at first everyone’s like, oh, I’ve got to have both, got to have both. And then people just, like you said, they neglect the other one. And people tend to resonate more with an individual person than a business.
So it’s a really interesting thing. And so you definitely have to be more considerate of what you post because you are hoping to gain future clients. And if you say anything too controversial or something like that, you could be shooting yourself in the foot.
But it’s really interesting how this is becoming sort of a one-stop shop for representing you.
Also too many people, you know, I mean, we’re all on there maybe a little too much. Yes, it’s a time sucker and you have to behave yourself and kind of ration your time. And it’s a little different for me because if I’m on there, somebody’s gonna hit me up and say, hey, my scarlet doesn’t work, whatever.
But just to go on there and like everybody’s posts, you know, like to associate yourself with people, just, you know, they’ll see, oh, oh, so-and-so liked so-and-so. Ah, that’s a little, that’s a little juvenile, I don’t know.
I think you’ve got to make genuine connections. That’s the point. Like you don’t just go on and like everything so that you look like your name’s going out there or comment for the sake of commenting.
You’ve got to be genuine and be a friend. I mean, no one wants to sit next to the guy in the pub that’s just going, yeah, I did that. Yeah, I did that.
And yeah, I did that. They want to sit and have a genuine conversation. So if you’re part of that conversation, great.
If you’re not, you don’t have to be a part of everything. I think that’s probably key as well.
Wonderful. Yeah, it’s very easy to have a one-sided megaphone conversation on Facebook. But you’re right.
And I mean, for me, because Facebook was sort of like my inside look into the industry and the people who worked in it. I used it as a research tool, basically. Just found out who all the, basically who are the specialists, how I found out about Uncle Roy and other people like that.
And like I said, I spent a long time lurking before I started asking questions and then commenting and stuff like that. And then people are like, oh, okay, this guy’s new, but he’s not dumb or he’s willing to put in the work. And then once I showed that, I don’t know, I think it’s done wonders for my reputation and networking with people in the VO industry.
So I’m really happy with that.
You did it right. Yeah.
Yeah, I’m glad.
Thank you. Lurk first. Don’t ask too many stupid questions that have already been asked because…
Use the search function.
Yeah, Roy, just to back that up, I was about to say the exact same thing. Really, you can see the people who do it right. And that’s the difference, isn’t it?
And that’s why the guests we have here are here, because I feel like you guys do all do it right. And hopefully, you feel the same about me, because I can be obnoxious on social media every once in a while like everybody else. But the key is to have that balance of genuine personality, like Ally said, and then also being able to create real friendships.
And I feel like that’s really happened. I mean, Sean and I started this podcast without ever meeting one another. We actually just started recording and didn’t meet until the third episode.
And I think we’ve gotten better probably since we have spent some time together in person. But if you do it right, you can develop a real friendship over social media as well.
Yeah, absolutely. And that’s what it’s all about. It’s about building those relationships, whether that’s with other VOs, whether that’s learning, whether that’s building a relationship with your client.
You just gotta be good peoples.
Excellent. So that’s a great way to segue into our next point because we’ve already touched on how useful it’s been as networking within our own industry and either learning more about it or building relationships with people that you’re interested in working with. But how has social media helped or hurt your business directly?
Anyone wanna take that?
Well, I think I’ve definitely seen, it’s been a long game with social media. I think a lot of people go and think, if I put one post about how awesome I am, all the clients are gonna come to me. And it doesn’t necessarily work like that.
But if you put your brand out there authentically and have a good mix of this is what I do for a living, and also this is who I am as a human, and reach out and make these connections with people. I’ve had clients come up to me because, I saw what you did on social media, and will you be able to do that for me? Or even in the last week, I’ve had two different clients mention two things, one from Twitter, one from Instagram that they saw on my social media, and it led to different conversations.
It’s actually how I’ve now transitioned into doing some onscreen stuff because of things that my VO clients have seen on Instagram. They were like, will you do some onscreen stuff for us? So, you can use that, but I think it is a long game and you can’t just go full on thinking you’re gonna get a gig just from doing two posts on Instagram and liking a few things.
But it’s a great tool for just connecting with people.
You know, when I do, whether it’s coaching or tech or a demo, and people appreciate what I’ve done, and I’m just crazy generous with my time, and almost to a fault. And I’ll say, all right, look, can you just write something nice and put it on Facebook so everybody knows? And so it’s not free advertising because I’ve given my time for it.
And so people will usually write nice things and then other people will jump in, oh yeah, yeah, yeah. The only negative thing that I’ve seen is, you know, and it’s on my business page where people can rate you. Somebody, a friend of mine, why did she give me four stars?
What did I do wrong? And one crazy person, and it’s very deep and I can’t get rid of it, one crazy person who I gave a ton of time and then she wasn’t happy, I gave her all her money back, wrote this one star review and you can’t get rid of it. So if you go to Ant Land Productions, I’m 4.8 and I don’t think anybody we know would give me a four point anything.
It’s just stupid.
You’ll never make Valedictorian now.
No, I’ll never make Man of the Year. It was terrible. I’ll never win the Unicorn Award.
It’s okay, it’s okay. I know who I am anyway.
Well that’s a great point is that you know who you are and that’s the image that you present on social media. You know what you’re getting. Sorry to interrupt, Paul.
What were you going to say?
I was going to move to Melissa. Melissa, you, at least in my mind, I mostly see your personal stuff on Facebook, which I think is just hilarious when you have your sort of snarky rants. But how has social media helped your business?
Oh, tremendously. So I’m sure what you’ve all seen at this point is the industry, whether you’re in strictly voice over or even on screen or audio books, the various niches in the VO industry, it can be very small. And you don’t even realize who sees what, and maybe they’re responding, maybe they’re not, but they’re seeing it.
So this could work for or against you. Now, fortunately, I think most of what I’ve done has worked for me by staying positive. But I’ve heard some stories about people posting about authors or stuff they’ve written that have become horror stories and kind of follow them around because the author industry is very small and they all have their own Facebook groups and all that.
So that’s just something to avoid, common sense wise. But for sure, I mean, I try to stay personal, because going back to the point where Roy and Sean talking about the business Facebook page, I felt like that got very, okay, Melissa is talking about her kid and fun stuff. And every now and then I’ll sprinkle in some of my regular audiobook stuff here.
But when I got to my business page, I felt like now I’m selling something. Now I’m that person, right? So when you do the personal and then every now and then you add a little bit of like, oh, by the way, this is what I’m doing, I think it counts more, you know what I’m saying?
Yeah, there’s a distancing, like you said, you’re like, you’re no longer just a person, you’re a corporation, pretty much. And it’s in your best interest to try and sell your product. But that’s really great.
Thank you.
And you become more approachable that way. I’ve contacted a lot of authors through Facebook and they’re very responsive.
Very cool. That’s interesting to hear.
So it actually transitions nicely into our third question, which is, how has your use of social media evolved over the years? And I’ll start off with my own experience in this one, because as some of you know, I haven’t been in the VO game that long, certainly less than some of the people on this call, just about three years, almost exactly, in earnest, trying to pursue it. So what I decided was, and obviously I had some social media accounts before those three years ago.
So what I decided when I decided to get into voiceover was to cut off any personal use of social media almost entirely. I had a Twitter account that I very rarely used, but I made a point to go in and delete everything that was there up until day one of my voiceover career. So I only use Twitter for the career, and whether that’s good or bad, I don’t know, but that’s how I decided to adjust.
And Facebook, very similarly, I do a few, sort of like Melissa said, I do a few posts about my kids, and maybe if I’m having a nice day at the beach. But other than that, nothing political, nothing business-related, or sorry, nothing personally related, except for those few things, it’s all business. And like Sean said, I’ve sort of abandoned the business page because I do everything on the personal page.
And I’d like to hear some thoughts on how people think that approach is good or bad.
I nearly did the very same thing. I mean, I’ve kind of been full-time for a couple of years now. And I thought, oh, I got to get rid of everything that I did before, otherwise people won’t take me seriously.
And then I kind of had to step back and think, actually, most of it’s just who I am anyway. I was an air hostess and, you know, I’ve made mistakes in my life and had fun. And so unless it was like really like a drunk pic or something that I think, yeah, maybe nobody wants to see that.
And there wasn’t that many of those, then I kind of left it in because I thought that’s part of me. And it’s a story that a lot of people, sometimes people can connect with, they say, oh, hey, I flew there or I did this or I know a friend who’s a cabin crew member as well. So sometimes having a part of your history in your real life can actually just help form you as a whole person instead of just being one business sort of thing.
I mean, I’m the same. I kind of have not really posted on my business Facebook page for ages because nobody’s listening. Nobody’s watching there really anymore.
My Facebook is just actually really just for people that I know or who I’m in the industry with rather than clients. And then my Instagram mainly and my Twitter to an extent is client based. But still, we are our brand, aren’t we?
So I guess we have to be the people that we are and you can’t do much about what you’ve done.
Nice. And I love that sort of ownership of your background experience and stuff like that because I feel like a lot of talent, they don’t want to be perceived as amateurs. Like you said.
And so they’re like, oh, forget all this ever happened and or like hide it and stuff like that. But you never know when it might come up. Like, it might help you build that connection or they’re like, hey, can you play an air hostess?
Like we could use one like that, you know, so you never know.
Absolutely. And then, you know, everyone started at some point and even, you know, I’m sure 20 years in the future with whatever social media is going on then, you know, will will have grown on continually learning and continually growing and social media be the same, I’m sure.
You’ll have to take down that drunk picture for 20 years from now. They may not, you know…
I don’t know what you mean, Uncle Roy.
I guess I used LinkedIn more in the beginning, forgetting about like MySpace and all that stuff because I don’t even remember what I might have done there. But as far as searching out for business or for connections, if anybody wants ancient history on me, because I’ve only been doing this like three years like you guys, 40, 42, they can go to my website and they can go to my IMDB page and find out what was my history and my career path and all that kind of stuff. LinkedIn I find very useful and I know a lot of people find me and search for me and my services on LinkedIn, so I think that’s very good.
And then the evolution of, I mean, Bagel Thursdays goes back to when the kids were little, every Thursday I’d go out and buy, you know, the kids would get a tail of ham and egg on a roll and all that, not bagel, and so I just decided to make that part of my branding. And social media, every Thursday we just put it up, check in tomorrow, see what kind of bagel we had. That’s it.
I think what’s important, like we say, the LinkedIn really worked for you, is that not every social media platform is going to work for everybody. And that’s going to be really individual down to the way that you like to work yourself. And I think a lot of people put a lot of pressure on themselves going, oh my God, I have to do Instagram now because that’s the thing.
But I don’t know how to take a picture and I don’t like doing it. If you don’t like doing it, then it’s not good for you. You’ve got to enjoy doing it because unfortunately, it is part of our businesses.
So find something that works for you. There’s loads of platforms out there and there will be one that will resonate with you.
Once a week, I’ll check in with Twitter and just like somebody’s thing or repost or something. But that’s not one that specifically works for me.
Awesome. I’m so glad you brought that up, Ally and Uncle Roy. I was curious, what are your guys’ preferred social media platforms and do you approach them differently?
Well, I’m all about, you know, Facebook. I had to shut it off now because if it was on now, you know, it would be blinging all over the place. So just by leaving it open, not that I’m sitting there necessarily connecting with everybody, but if somebody sees that I’m available, that’s the one that works for me.
So that’s my story. I’m sticking to it.
I’m mostly Facebook, but I’m training myself to do other things. I’m currently in a workshop to learn Instagram. Like Ally was saying, sometimes there are certain ones that are more natural or more user-friendly.
Like Facebook has just always been around, so that’s the go-to, and for a lot of people, it’s the go-to. So you kind of rely on that. But as business owners, we also have to kind of go with the times and where are the clients going?
So for me right now, I see that place as being Instagram. So am I moving all of my posts there? No.
It’s probably about still Facebook 80%, Instagram 20. And maybe that’ll shift. Maybe it won’t.
We’ll see where the trends go. But I think it’s really important to stay on top of that and to keep challenging yourself.
I’m definitely using more Instagram at the moment. I found, well, Facebook is really just, it’s not really for business for me. Twitter, I found to be so negative recently.
And there’s been so much, there’s so much political stuff and arguments and people just seem so ready to attack each other that I felt really… Icky. That’s the only way I can describe it.
It felt really toxic. It didn’t feel creative. It didn’t feel enjoyable.
So I’ve kind of stepped a little way from Twitter, or even though I know some of my clients are on there, I’ll occasionally put things once a week or something. But with Instagram, it tends to be all positivity and creativity. And I really like that.
So I’m kind of putting a lot of energy into Instagram at the moment.
Great. Where does YouTube fit in? It’s not exactly a social media network, but to me, it has the same sort of qualities.
And I know Sean has used that to read it.
I would definitely consider that social media. Like, I mean, that’s probably what’s built up my global reputation more than anything was my YouTube channel.
But you just introduced yourself and gave yourself a pat on the back.
Sean, how do you use it? I’ve never been to your YouTube channel, but tell me about it. How do you as a voiceover artist use it?
A lot of it is equipment reviews and just kind of like dumbing down a lot of the scary audio stuff that was intimidating for people. And I’m like, look, at the time I wasn’t a tech geek, totally now. But I was just like, yes, this isn’t that difficult and it doesn’t have to be expensive.
I just came from a place of wanting to help people. And that’s probably what resonated with people the most. And I still want to do that.
So I will continue to make videos to help people.
And I’ve been trying to ramp up my video content as well, basically following Sean’s model. So I’ve done a couple of tutorials and then a couple of sort of rants from the booth. I call them the VO confessionals, where whatever’s on my mind that day, I just start ranting about in the middle of the day.
And people do seem to resonate with people. They do seem to reply and make comments on it. So it’s something I was curious if anyone else has used to their advantage.
That’s a really interesting way of getting creative with it, though. I never really thought about it. I’ve kind of put my demos and stuff on YouTube and if I have it on screen, any video stuff will go on there.
But actually, you could do some really fun stuff with it, I guess, if you know who to reach out to with it.
I want to be Sean when I grow up. People have been saying, like, why don’t you produce some videos about all your shortcuts and all your stuff?
Videos are tough. It’s a lot of work. My videos could definitely use some improvement in the quality department, but you have to learn a lot about lighting and positioning the camera and all that stuff.
I have two YouTube channels, one that’s me and one that’s AntLand, and a lot of it’s just archival commercials that I’ve worked on or films that I’ve been in. And the other thing is SoundCloud. You got audio-only content.
Yes, you can put up a graphic and put it up on YouTube, and the YouTube is a huge, much bigger database, I guess, than SoundCloud. And the other thing I don’t like about SoundCloud is when my clip is done, it randomly plays some other thing that has nothing. It’s like, I don’t want to hear somebody else’s whatever, you know, if it’s another one of mine, okay, but I don’t know if it’s random, I don’t know how they do that.
But it’s the other way I get my content out there, whether it’s killer demos or audio books that I’m working on, samples, SoundCloud works for me.
I think it’s all about… you can use it for showcasing your talents as well, which is… not a lot of people know everything that you do, and that’s a good way of showing it.
I did something silly the other day because I burnt my foot doing something stupid. And then I had an hour to kill between clients, so I made a video, a public awareness video about how not to burn your foot on the oven, and posted it to social media, and it got quite a few funny responses. I mean, it was only silly.
I don’t think anyone… I’m not going to get any work from it, but if people are looking for different ways of using social media, just have fun and play around and use your talents and see what comes out of it.
And it has to be genuine. You know, I’ve tried vlogging before, and it was kind of a failure because you see the famous vloggers and how much freaking production they put into these things. And I think I went into it like that, and I just got so overwhelmed, and I turned into someone I’m kind of really not, that I just sort of gave up.
So if you want to try your hand ed videos, start small. Do something like Ally did. That’s perfect.
If it’s something that shows off your personality, who you are, and you have a little fun while doing it, people are going to respond to that because people can sniff out fake, like, like you wouldn’t believe.
Sean doesn’t know how to be fake, so that kind of works for him.
I don’t.
And Mark Scott is very good at these video podcasts or vlogs or whatever you want to call them, you know, his personality comes right through you. What you see is what you get, you know.
And like we were saying before, like if, don’t do it from a place like, oh, I have to do this, everything’s doing this, like don’t have it strictly as a means for self-gain. Like it’s, it’s the opposite. You have to come from a place of wanting to give.
You have to either like show your personality or share something that you think is cool. Or like I said, just come from a genuine place of wanting to help someone.
I think that’s important as well to remember that you don’t have to post every single day or three times a day. There’s a lot of people that say, oh, you know, you must connect at 10 a.m. and then 5 p.m. and all this stuff. But no, if I don’t feel like anything posting that day or just not in the mood or haven’t done anything that interesting, I don’t do it because it wouldn’t be genuine.
And people can spot those posts where you’re trying to force yourself to, oh, here’s me behind the microphone again or something like that. You can’t keep doing that. So just do it when it’s organic and do it when you have fun.
Because people that have, if thousands of followers or have a really good revenue from social media and they only post once every three weeks or so, so do whatever feels good for you. Don’t feel like you have to follow any rules when it comes to it.
And it takes practice, you know, like just like learning anything else. You have to find your, like find your platform, find your voice, find what works for you.
Really great point. So that brings us to our next question. We’ve thrown some out already, but what are some pro tips or cautionary tales some of you have in using social media?
Maybe something really stupid you did that you wish you didn’t do on social media.
Well, never post drunk. That’s a basic rule, same as texting your ex. Never do it whilst you’ve had a drink.
I always think, I always give myself like a minute after, before I post, I’m like, don’t want to do this. I’m not when it comes to like, obviously, when it comes to business stuff. But you know, if you’re doing something that’s a bit maybe not you or a bit out there, just think, but am I happy with this?
And then go for it if you are, but yeah, have fun. But don’t go, don’t go weird. And don’t go political.
Absolutely. It’s really easy to misinterpret text. So be sure like if someone can misinterpret something, they probably will.
So keep that in mind.
I will, you know, if somebody’s texting me and it’s back and forth, back and forth, it’s I put my phone number and it’s like, look, call me. And I can’t deal with, you know, whether it’s that I’m driving or ain’t nobody got time for that. Just texting, texting.
And I can’t hear your inflection, whatever. And you can’t tell you can’t hear I’m being genuine. I’m just trying to help you.
I just had that somebody sent me a demo. Oh, I spent $2,500 and I don’t know what I got. Well, let’s talk about it.
You know?
Yeah, that’s a big one, actually. And I’ll throw in a situation I had, actually, where I was commenting on Tremaine Mosley’s post, who, some of you may know, a talent also out of Florida. And he had landed a job with the National Aquarium here in Baltimore, where I live.
And my comment was, geez, Trey, why did you just come to my house and kick me in the nuts?
And a lot of our friends and colleagues posted, boy, that guy’s angry. What’s wrong with him? And thankfully, because I know Trey pretty well, he himself put up a comment saying, Paul’s just being funny.
We’re good buds. Seriously, it’s okay. But you have to be careful because tone does not come across in print.
Well, they’d also have to know you and your sense of humor, quote unquote.
Yeah, exactly.
I think you also have to be careful of… We surround ourselves with like-minded people, typically. So you get really comfortable in that bubble.
And that’s when you have a tendency to say something that could skew a particular way that others may not agree with. I mean, you know what I’m getting at. Anything political, anything a little bit off-color.
You may surround yourself by like-minded people, but maybe your clients aren’t thinking the same way. So you don’t want to isolate them. So just be careful.
Don’t get too comfortable in your own little bubble. Very true.
I think an awful lot of people forget that your clients can read everything you put on social media. So if you’re happy to lose a job over something that you think is hilarious, but your client might not, then fine. But you really have to think about not just now, but in the future.
Your clients’ research, especially if you’re doing anything that might be big profile, any big profile gigs you get out there, the producers and the production teams are going to be looking at your social media and making sure that you’re not going to embarrass them at some point in the future. So just be mindful of that.
Before you hit that send button, maybe reread it and think, okay, what are people going to think about this? Maybe I better edit out this phrase. Maybe I better just not send it.
Or have a friend take a look. Some of my friends do that. They’ll send me a post and say, I was thinking of putting this on LinkedIn.
Does it sound okay? And I don’t know why they seek my advice. What do I know?
But it’s a good way to get an opinion.
You fool them good, Paul. Now lots of people send me, or they’ll send me, hey, I was going to send this email. I wasn’t happy about such and such.
And I’ll like rewrite it in a more polite way or more friendly way. And they’ll usually go with mine. Yeah, so yeah, call a friend.
So one thing I wanted to talk about a little bit since we’re on the topic of cautionary tales, one thing that’s been a real issue in recent years is talent talking about projects that might still be under NDA. And another sort of, like first off, that’s huge no-no and could make you lose clients, make you lose current clients and future clients. But even talent who understand that, you still see a lot of like, book this big new gig that I can’t talk about.
How do you guys feel about that kind of vague posting like that?
I think it’s a bit gratuitous. Like you’re kind of doing it to go, hey everybody, I’m awesome. I can’t tell you about it, but I’m awesome.
Like you’re gonna have that time. It’s delayed gratification you need here. You will have that time in the future where you just say, look, I am honored to work on, I have worked on this project and it’s out now and I’m so excited for you guys to see it.
But when you book the gig, it’s not gonna do anybody any good to go, I booked it, I’ve got the job. Because I’ve heard of people losing it even just with those three words, I booked it. So it’s really not worth it just for that.
I can really think about why you’re posting. Are you just posting because you’re so excited and you wanna tell everybody, call your family up, call your friends up and tell them there. But if you risk losing your job just because you just feel too excited to get it out there, it’s not the right priority really.
It’s really difficult, isn’t it? Because we do this in a small booth, most of us. And so when something exciting happens, we have like our immediate family, we can tell, and stuff happens where you just wanna shout it from the rooftops because we have like zero social interaction, like physical.
So yeah, it is exactly what Ally says. It’s gratuitous and it’s just all about ego, but you gotta kind of check that out at the door because it gets really dangerous and it kind of, you know, and people see through that. They’re like, oh, yeah, they’re trying to, they’re trying to show how big they are now.
Yeah, well, I mean, it’s, and like a lot of people get really excited. I think even Tom Holland just listed like dozens of spoilers about the new Infinity War thing in an interview. And like you said, so we’re desperate for that human connection.
And as we’re actors, we crave validation and we never get it. So like we want to say like, yes, my talent got me this wonderful gig with this great client, which I lost because I posted about it on Facebook. So like you said, like keep it in your own circles.
Once it’s out there, it’s out there and out of your hands. You don’t control who will see it. So keep that in mind.
Plus it goes back to like we said about being genuine. There are people out there in any business or walk of life that will post about their accomplishments so much that it becomes overbearing and almost nauseating to people. And we all know those people where you think, oh gosh, again?
And you just don’t want to hear about it anymore.
Yeah, I tend to downplay some of my older accomplishments or whatever. I belong to what used to be MCAI, Media Communications Association International, which is now called Cinetech Media Professionals. And everybody gives their 15 second elevator pitch going around the room.
And I’ll say, if it has anything to do with audio voiceovers, I’m your guy and somebody will jump up and say, yeah, but what about those films you did, whatever. Okay, yeah, that too. But this is who I am today.
This is what I can help you with.
Well, that brings us to our last question, actually, Roy. We’ve all done things in the past on social media and in our careers, but where do each of you see social media going in the future? Do you think we’ll have the same tools we have available now in the next five years?
Or will something else come up and take its place?
We’ll all be in outer space.
Well, what I’m really mad about is when I post an event, Facebook shuts me down after I invite like 350 people and says, you can’t invite anybody else. Well, why? If you invite 800, then 150 will show up.
So I need to be able to invite more people. It’s a silly, I have no idea where it’s going in the future. It is ever-changing, I should get more into Twitter and Instagram and see how else can I spread the word.
I’ve maxed out what I can do on Facebook. Everybody knows how to get me and whatever. Next.
I don’t know, that’s the beauty of it. Who would have thought 15 years ago that we’d all be able to chat with people 4,000 miles away immediately and share photos and wish each other happy birthday without even realizing it’s their birthday. It’s a wonderful thing.
And I think, I’m hoping the way forward would be more creative and less negative, but I guess we’ll just have to see the way the world goes.
Yeah, who knows? Let’s just all support each other in no matter what social venue presents itself. And let’s all keep going to the conferences, because you know what?
The other thing about social media is it’s hilarious when people meet each other for the first time after only connecting through social media, because it’s awkward as hell. It’s so much fun, but we’re all in the same boat. So no matter where we go, let’s just all try to connect in all kinds of ways and keep it fun.
Yeah, wonderful points, everyone. Like we were saying, or intimating anyways, is don’t forget what social media is for. It’s to socially interact with each other.
So be genuine, make real connections, and find whatever medium works for you. So thank you guys for coming. This has been a wonderful, fun, very fun discussion.
And I hope you all, or I wish you all the best of luck in your social media campaigns and in your voiceover careers.
Thank you, everybody.
Thank you.
Before we go, why don’t you each tell us where you can be found if you want to be found to be hired.
antlandproductions.com and all over Facebook, of course.
Okay, Melissa?
melissamoran.com, on Instagram, Melissa.Moran.VO. And just find me on Facebook. I don’t know, I’m like.1422, burp, burp, burp, burp.
Just find Melissa Moran.
Fantastic. Ally?
My website is allymurphy.co.uk. Ally’s two Ls and one Y. And on Instagram, I’m at AllymurphyVoice and the same on Twitter.
All right. And don’t forget to check out our new website. Just launched, www.vometer.com.
And we have a business page too that we never use.
That’s for your future. That’s where you’re growing and going and growing.
Exactly. Thanks again, everybody, for joining us and enjoy the rest of your week.
Thank you, guys.
Have a good one.
That was so much fun. I mean, it wasn’t even… It was truly a social event, right?
I mean, it was just getting friends together and just picking their brains about their expertise. And I can’t thank our guests enough for joining us. Uncle Roy has been a long time friend and mentor of me.
Ally Murphy, it was so wonderful to talk with you in person. You can’t… I hope you could hear the quotation marks.
And then Melissa Moran. It was really, really fun to get to know you. And so I hope you guys found that beneficial.
It was really interesting learning about the different social media platforms and the certain do’s and don’ts on how to navigate each one.
Yeah, I want to thank everybody again for participating. It went exactly as I hoped it would. As I said during the intro, the inspiration was some of Melissa’s quirky posts, and everyone else contributed so much to the conversation as well.
One thing I hadn’t thought about was Instagram. I know people are talking about using that, and it’s something I probably should use, but man, it’s intimidating to me for some reason.
Me too. I mean, if you’re not like a visually, or like a visually intelligent person, it can be a difficult medium. But it’s important because that’s the direction that a lot of media is going.
I take a lot of pictures, but it’s just something I don’t think about regularly. I was smart enough to secure my own name a long time ago.
Everyone takes a lot of pictures, but so many people need to share it with the world.
I was smart enough to secure my own name with an account, like, I think four years ago now. But to date, I have a single post, and it’s a picture of me and my daughter at a baseball game. Four years in one post.
Now it’s got like five billion likes, and it’s just like, he’s such a… He’s a savant. He’s only got that one picture.
I hope so. I was hoping Uncle Roy would talk more about MySpace, because I know he had a huge page when he was, when it was back in the day, I’ll bet.
He had stock, I bet. Before we go, we’d like to thank our sponsors, and we’d like to thank you guys for bearing with this on this overly promotional episode. We promise it’ll be slightly less so in the future.
But anyways, thank you again to voiceactorwebsites.com and the Global Voice Acting Academy.
Podcast demos.com and vocabwiththego.com.
Yeah, I’m very excited about these sponsorships and thank you again. Coming up next month, we have Paul and Ken Foster at the Mid-Atlantic Voice Over Conference, or MAVO. I unfortunately cannot make it this year, but Ken, thank you so much for going in my stead.
I know it’s going to be an incredible experience for everyone and I will jealously watch. And hopefully you guys can Zoom or Budogo call me in there so I can at least vicariously enjoy the experience through you.
Yeah, and if you haven’t registered yet, you can still join us. Go to www.midatlanticvo.com and sign up and you’ll see us at the conference. And then following that, we have two exciting episodes coming up in what will be, let’s see, I guess the end of November and December.
Wow, I can’t believe we’re booking out that far. We’ll have Voice Over Business Coach and Voice Over Talent himself, Mark Scott. And then the founders and curators of the Voice Over Collective, Brad Venable and Tim Friedlander will be joining us as well.
So we’re excited for both of those.
All right, so I’m looking forward to those great episodes. I hope you are too. Come join us next month and have a great day, guys.
Bye, everybody.
Thanks for listening to the VO Meter, Measuring Your Voice Over Progress. To follow along, please visit www.vometer.com. Thank you.