Anybody know anything about voiceover work?

[Sqube]

I've had enough people tell me that I should think about "getting into radio" or "doing voiceover work" that I figured I'd ask around and see if anyone knew about it.

If anyone has any hints, knows who to contact, etc., it'd be appreciated. I'm in Maryland, if that's worth anything.

Thanks in advance, as always.

 

[FelixDeCat]

Ive always dreamed about having an "easy" gig like this. Just for kicks Ill pull up a news article on the internet and read it aloud to myself in the most interesting voice possible, in a quick pace suitable for radio, with no voice cracks, coughs, or mistakes in reading.

I pretend there is someone sitting accross from me evaluating me for a position reading the news. After a while, your voice will crack, you will make several mistakes (which you try to act as if you didnt and keep flowing along so the audience wont detect it, but the person evaluating you is watching every word you read and knows your screw ups).

This is not an easy job! And my fantasy fades away into reality......

 

[IEC]

Paging Quasmo.

 

[GodlessAstronomer]

Post an mp3, I'm interested in what you sound like

 

[Chaotic42]

Do you like money? If so, I'd avoid getting into radio.

<-Former News/Sports/Weather guy

 

[Sqube]

... wow. That was a bit less than encouraging. Was there any particular reason, or is there just no money to be made in voiceover stuff?

 

[EvilYoda]

Originally posted by: Sqube
... wow. That was a bit less than encouraging. Was there any particular reason, or is there just no money to be made in voiceover stuff?

The money can be good, but landing a lot of gigs consistently will be very difficult unless you have something extremely unique to offer.

 

[Chaotic42]

Originally posted by: Sqube
... wow. That was a bit less than encouraging. Was there any particular reason, or is there just no money to be made in voiceover stuff?

Well, I don't know about voiceover stuff, I've done a few commercials, but mostly just the grind of news/sports/weather/show hosting. It's fairly hard to get into it. You'll probably start out as a board operator, which means that you will babysit the station. You'll learn how to not mess the station unless it goes dead, take transmitter readings, answer the hundreds of insane phone calls you'll get each night (did I mention you'll be working overnight?)

It's the most fun you can have making minimum wage.

If you're talented (or enough people quit), you can move up to doing on-air stuff. Reading PSAs, recording business owners and politicians for their commercials, maybe hosting a weekend daytime show or two.

From there you may want to move to a new station, since getting promoted can be difficult. If it works out, you can be a DJ or news anchor. If you're good at that and someone quits, you may get a drive time slot.

From there, if you're very talented and very connected, you may have a chance to move into a larger market. Rinse and repeat a few times and if you're extremely talented (or extremely connected), you may get some kind of national gig.

This is all just from personal experience. YMMV.

What do you want to voiceover?

 

[feralkid]

Originally posted by: Sqube
I've had enough people tell me that I should think about "getting into radio" or "doing voiceover work" that I figured I'd ask around and see if anyone knew about it.

If anyone has any hints, knows who to contact, etc., it'd be appreciated. I'm in Maryland, if that's worth anything.

Thanks in advance, as always.

The people who tell you things like that are not doing you any favors.

"Hey you look good in a lab coat; you should think about getting into genetic engineering."

 

[Quasmo]

I've done a bunch in the past. I know a bunch of people here have heard my stuff. The real trick is to make a demo. Get yourself a demo and send it everywhere.

I would love to really break into the bigger stuff but I'm just out of school and dont have alot of extra time to work on stuff like that. I'm a trained cinematographer/motion graphic artist.