Voice over : investing in your business

I warn you, this article is not going to please everyone. Why not? Because I'm talking about a topic that make some voice actors uncomfortable: investing in their business

I've already written an article on the oh so thorny subject of money: Hands Of The Loot which deals with the rates charged (or not!) by voice actors. But here I'm talking about investment, a word that is often misunderstood, almost taboo, in France. I recently saw one of those long-winded posts you find on Linkedin, written by a 'content creator/influencer/voice actor' (in that order, i.e. someone who makes a lot of noise pretending to be a voice over guru when his portfolio is... sparse).

In this post, he boasted, with photos to back it up, that he'd started out with a crappy 'studio' - duvet, egg cartons, a cheap and nasty microphone - in short, something that could only produce mediocre sound. He was almost proud of the fact that he had been able to fool his clients into believing that he was working from a 'real' studio: "You have to start somewhere, right guys?" Young entrepreneur, thank you for inspiring me to write this article.

It's a fact that some voice actors confuse investment with expense - and find it hard to understand that investing in their craft is necessary. They don't train, they have demos that don't meet the industry codes (which I talk about in the article on Voice Over Demos), with reverb, saturation and pops, a wardrobe studio of the type described above, a free Wix website that looks homemade (in a bad way) and is virtually invisible to Google... and they don't realise that this is how they shout to their potential clients "Please don't give me any work, I'm an amateur". If we're not prepared to invest in ourselves, why should we think that customers will?

Is it because some of us have sea urchins in our pockets? Is it because some of us believe that we are different from other trade, think we are artists and don't see voice over as a real skilled profession? Is it a subconscious resistance to getting involved in an activity in which it is notoriously difficult to succeed? The fact is: investing is complicated for many.

Imagine this behaviour in any other trade. A restaurant that works with stoves, camping tables, paper plates and plastic cutlery, with a chef who cooks 'by instinct' (translation: who has no basic knowledge of cooking), waiters who speak gangsta, no notion of hygiene, a disgusting window display, well you get the picture. Do you think this restaurant would stay open long? No ? So why should it be any different for voice actors?

And it's understandable: fear is a safeguard. If you're reluctant to invest, it may be that deep down you don't feel ready to embark on a new adventure. In which case, just wait until you're ready. But when you're ready to rock'n'roll, give yourself the means to dance.

Each to their own trade, and the cows will be well tended

It is a French idiom which my granny used to say, and she made a lot of sense. Let's take the example of the website. All voice actors agree that rather than hiring mediocre voice overs on the cheap from discount platforms, clients should use professionals - and pay professional rates.

But instead of practising what they preach and hiring specialists, many people think they can keep their wallets to themselves and build their websites from scratch. And most of the time, these websites are almost invisible to Google and scream 'amateur, run away' loud and clear to potential customers who have miraculously landed on them.

Designing a website is a skill. Either you call in someone whose job it is (and good web designers come at a price, because they're in demand and don't need to sell themselves short, like good voice actors), or you actually train yourself, and that takes time. A lot of time. An enormous amount of time. There are codes to respect if a design is to be not only pleasing to the eye and up to date (and trends constantly evolve), but also easy and intuitive to use.

And then there's the SEO. This is another job, or rather two other jobs in their own right: organic SEO to attract the search engines, and backend optimisation to ensure that the site performs well, is accessible and is fast - essential factors in Google's algorithm for correctly referencing sites. There are plugins for this - and they cost money, as does a decent web host.

A backend developer, who does things that most mortals (including me) don't understand at all, is worth his weight in gold to ensure that your site performs as well as possible... and arrives as high as possible in the SERP. Obviously, a good developer also has a cost, but with a spectacular return on investment.

Recording in a cupboard is a good idea, innit?

Of course, and paying you peanuts for your shitty work, that's okay too, innit? Seriously though, I've covered it in the article Remote Recording and Private Studios, so I'm not going to repeat myself but it's impossible to do professional work in a cupboard. It's not a question of spending money, but of investing wisely.

For example, buying a Neumann U87 and working in a Studiobricks-type prefab booth is a bad investment: a microphone costing 5 times less will give better results (the best microphones are too sensitive for prefab booths, whose acoustics are not ideal but more than sufficient for voice overs if you use a microphone that is well matched to the space).

Another example: buying a preamp when the built-in preamp of a good interface is more than sufficient for voice over work. That's not investing, it's buying something you don't need. Of course, a preamp will give a little extra, but it's the last thing to buy, once you've ticked off everything else, starting with sound insulation and the acoustic treatment of your recording environment.

Everyone talks, so why train to talk?

Yes, everyone talks. But not by having to interpret a script we didn't write. In sync with a film. In an unnatural acoustic environment. And the result? A lot of untrained (or badly trained) novices 'read out loud', talking to an inanimate object (the microphone), rather than telling a story to people - which is what they want us to do.

And the solution? Yes, training. With people who have legitimacy in the profession, and who can prove it with a visible and extensive portfolio. More on this essential subject in the article Voice Over, Coaching, Mentoring and Scamming, which I strongly recommend you read.

Money, but also time

Investing is not just about money. It's also about time. When I was younger, before the advent of the internet, before the existence of private studios, our job was limited to having an agent (which meant being good, as agents were extremely selective at the time), being on time for sessions, doing a good job, and our agent took care of the rest. I talk about this in more detail in the article Voice Over, Was It Really Better Before?

Nowadays, being a talented dilettante is no longer enough if you want to make a (decent) living from voice over work. Even if you have agents, it has become a full-time job, whatever few lovies who they're artists think, a subject I develop in Artists Exit. 

Contrary to what those who are allergic to work might think, being a voice actor is like any other craftsman: you have to invest time, every day, in your craft. Updating your website and your Youtube voice over channel, listening to the work of colleagues on a daily basis to keep your ears sharpened, taking part in constructive conversations, posting interesting information and promoting yourself on social media is, of course, time-consuming, as is any professional activity: it's called work. I've been a French voice actor for over 30 years, with agents all over the world, and I do this every day. If you're just starting out and think you can succeed without working, good luck to you.

Craftmen work an average of more than 10 hours a day, and successful voice actors are no exception to the rule. Spend some time working on your business, and you'll reap the rewards of your investment. Little streams make big rivers, my grandmother used to say. There were some good sayings in the old days!

I hope this article has enriched you. If you want to discuss it with your colleagues, be sure to share it with them on your social networks. I invite you to comment on this article, and if you have any questions, I'll do my best to answer them!

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