EWABS Episode 144 May 19, 2014 with Paul Strikwerda

Published on May 19, 2014

Guests: Paul Strikwerda, VO and author of “Making Money in your PJ’s”

George on audio processing

Dan on the best mic for VO

0:02:30  Next week: no show.  George tells about his head wound.  

0:03:14  Dan shares the mustache gifts he gets and a non-mustache gift he got.

0:05:07  Thanking the sponsors!  Harlan Hogan, John Florian at Voiceover Xtra, and Edge Studio.

0:05:43  Dan’s Tip of the Week—what microphone is “best” for VO?  Which ones aren’t good?  

Among those: SM57—good for guitar amps and snare drumheads, not live VO.  You don’t sound real talking half an inch from someone’s eardrum.

0:07:32  The RE20 is great for radio, but not the best for VO.  We take a side trip into Dan’s radio history.  

0:09:08  Tip of the Week: In your personal studio, the less optimum a mic you need to use.  Without a professional booth, don’t spend a lot of money on a mic.  A mic between $200 and $350 will work if you use it right, it will capture YOU.

0:10:05  Dan shows his mice

-TLM 103.  It’s extremely sensitive and not so good for noisy days.  And it’s $1000

-E100S.  Great mic.  Not expensive.

-Harlan Hogan’s VO1A.  Good price and good sound.

-Sennheisser 416 shotgun mic.  

Anyone of along with the Perception Series, will fill the bill.

0:12:28  While any mic can fill the bill, you have to know how to use it and interpret copy.  Our job is present our voices to potential clients in the way they want to hear them.  

0:13:26  George joins the discussion.  It’s the mic you already have (unless you have a bad sounding or broken mic).  Nobody will know what mic you use.  Nobody needs to see where or how the sausage is made.  Keep your audio chain simple.  Don’t overthink it.

0:15:15 End of rant.

0:16:04  Break

0:17:42  They’re back.  Dan has Studio Suit in the basement.  Buy it so Dan can clear the extra bed he needs in June when it mom visits.  

0:19:07  George’s “Whittam’s World Episode 18” on audio processing.  George describes applying processing filters.

0:28:19  George is back.  

0:28:59  Break

0:30:20  They’re back with Paul Strikwerda.  Paul tells about his journey in writing books on voice-over.  Paul’s website: http://www.nethervoice.com/

Paul appeared on EWABS in Episode 30 (Dec. 4, 2011; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lty2kDbnpFA) and Episode 58 (July 29, 2012; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gUjQrchEj8)

0:36:30 Paul wanted something with staying power.  He wondered if he should write about being a freelancer or being a VO actor.  

0:39:00  He wanted a book about how to be a professional not just for VO actors only, but for all freelancers.  

0:39:40  Dan comments that people don’t know what it means to be an entrepreneur anymore.  Paul replies that people know a lot about their art, but not about being in business and marketing yourself.

0:41:40  Dan asks Paul what makes his book different.  Paul has developed his writing style from 4 years of blog work.  He’s found it isn’t effective to tell people what to do.  But, if they hear stories about other people, that’s more digestible.   

0:43:34  Dan asks Paul for a sample reading.  Paul also shows his colored computer glasses.  

0:44:50  Paul reads a story from the book about the “Most Obnoxious Man in Voice-Over.”  

0:47:10  Paul ends the great story and discussion ensues.  

0:48:56  Dan asks where can you can get the book.  It’s available for download devices, Amazon, and from http://makingmoneyinyourpjs.com/  

0:49:28  Paul has a contest.  Buy the book in the next 3 weeks, take a photo of themselves with the book, and send it to Paul to win some prizes, including getting interviewed for Paul’s blog.

0:50:00  George asks when the audiobook version will be available.  Paul thinks in about a month.

0:51:15  VO is hot right now, and this book gives insights into that.  Some people are reading the book together including people in other fields.

0:54:24  George asks Paul how he learned an American English accent.

0:56:16  Harlan Hogan commercial.

0:58:20  Back with Paul.  How do you say his name?

0:59:14  Dan asks Paul about his blog 7-8 months ago about pay-to-play sites.  Paul has tried them all and now has said good bye to them all, including Bodalgo.  He thinks they have cheapened the industry.  We’ve traded convenience for low pay and low quality.  He can’t price for profit at the pay-to-plays.  They’re for the hobbyist.  You have to do a lot more for a lot less.  There are good things about them too.  

1:03:50  Paul wrote a blog post, “Leaving voices.Com.”  He plays bad auditions he heard on just one day.  George talks about how so many people don’t get additional coaching.  

1:05:40  Paul comments that there’s so much information online.  Ignorance is no excuse.  

1:06:41  Dan thinks the whole business is going through a major shift in the next year or two.  Paul talks about crowdsourcing and how he used it to design his book cover.  Paul said if pay was better and quality control was better.

1:08:41  Dan asks about Paul’s new studio.  Paul describes it.  He wrote a book, “Building a Booth on a Budget,” available only on his site.  Paul won his mic at http://recordinghacks.com/   He goes on to talk about his gear.

1:11:57  George shows an example of Paul’s new interface, the Audient ID 22.  http://audient.com/products/id22  Paul talks about his use of the interface, and his previous preamps.

1:14:50  Questions from the audience: Where are your main customers in the U.S., Europe or both?

A: Sixty percent are in Europe, 30-40 pct in the US.  He also has clients in Egypt and Oman.

He gets up early!

1:16:04  Q: What do you think of crowd sourcing at VoiceBank.com.  A: Paul wishes it were different.  He’d rather get work through an agent, like Eric Shepard, to get his top five.  Sorting through the 100 auditions crowdsourced is a waste of time, Paul says.

1:18:43  Break

1:19:28  They’re back.  

1:19:48  Announcements: Dan asks George what’s up with Joe Cipriano is doing with BSW.  Joe is working on a way to get more 416s in people’s hands.  You get a Sennheisser 416 and Joe’s book, “Living on Air,” for $799.  

See more at: http://alturl.com/urpgc   Buy from BSW and use promo code: Livingonair.

1:22:14   Thanks to the donors.  To donate go to http://www.ewabs.net/ and click on the DONATE button, in the upper left of the screen.

1:23:10  George is on a “Twitter-chat” on Wednesday at 5 p.m. Pacific, 8 p.m. Eastern.  Tweet with the hashtag, #ACX, to ask a question or @VOSTUDIOTECH.COM.  

1:24:20  There’s a YouTube Channel for EWABS.  https://www.youtube.com/user/ewabsshow  where you can see all 144 episodes!

1:25:00 EWABS Essentials—a pile of short tidbits from EWABS.  

1:25:50  No show next week for Memorial Day.  The chat room will still be there.

1:26:28  On June 9, Debra Deyan and Colleen Marlow from the Deyan Institute  http://www.deyaninstitute.com/home.html .  They offer classes for audiobook narration.

There are marketing and demo demolition roundtables in the works, too.

1:27:37  Thanks to sponsors.  LIKE us on Facebook!  Follow us on Twitter at EWABS_SHOW.   Like the YouTube videos.  Thanks to the wives and support staff.  

1:30:42  End of show.