VOICE ACTING

Voice Over Math: Less Than 100% = Zero.

What Stops You From Going All The Way?

August 9, 2016



By Jim Conlan By Jim Conlan

Voice Talent, Coach & Producer



In a previous life, when I thought I was going to be a painter, I had a breakthrough one day that I wanted to share with my painting professor and mentor.



I proudly showed him the canvases and waited for the handshake. It didnt happen.



Instead, he said, "OK, I see what youre trying to do here. But its a long way from the richness and depth youre capable of. You need to take it all the way  one hundred percent.



FOREHEAD-SMACKING MOMENT



If there is one moment in my work with voice over students, one forehead-smacking moment that makes the difference in their professional development, its the realization that they arent playing full-out.



As we develop our talents and skills, theres a tendency to say, "Well, that sounded pretty good.



But "pretty good is just a milestone, not a destination. The mark of a professional is the ability to recognize these milestones as steps toward one hundred percent.



WHAT STOPS YOU?



But often theres a reluctance to go all the way, and I think I know why.



I think its fear : fear of going too far, of sounding ridiculous, of going over the top.



Well, from what Ive been hearing, a lot of voice talent is a long way from the top! So if fear seems to be holding my student back, I ask this question:

"How passionate are you about what youre saying?

Much of the time, failing to deliver fully is failing to connect fully to what you are saying. And connecting to what youre saying depends on how you feel about what youre saying.



This applies, by the way, to any type of voice over project, whether its a bodice-ripper novel or a punch-press training video.



Whats at stake? One hundred percent = a career. Less than one hundred percent = no career. You do the math.

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ABOUT JIM

Jim Conlan is a voice actor, coach, producer and audiobook narrator with a wide variety of fiction and non-fiction titles available on Audible and in bookstores. Some of his favorites include Moby-Dick, Island Life, by William Meikle, and To Timbuktu for a Haircut, by Rick Antonson.



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