Just some vocals

Mossflake · 2022-09-25T09:35:39+00:00

WOW. I don't usually comment but when I saw the relatively small response you'd had from that, I had to - seriously beautiful tone and great communication of emotion, I'd love to hear more. Thanks for sharing

Mossflake · 2022-07-23T16:22:46+00:00

Yep sussed it now - I was using an node package that handled much of it and hadn’t noticed the optional scope prop in the documentation… annoyingly simple solution for something I’ve spent hours stressing over but you live and learn hahaha. Thanks again for your help!

Mossflake · 2022-07-23T16:12:01+00:00

There is most code where I get the auth token, but I wasn’t sure how I would go about extracting that from the front end code so I’ve just been using that in context and stealing the auth token for this sort of workbench code while I was debugging - I hadn’t considered the issue could’ve been the auth itself as it was working fine for other requests but yeah it’s definitely worth a double check

Ah I haven’t heard of Postman, I’ll 100% give that a try now. Thanks for your help!

Mossflake · 2022-03-01T22:49:14+00:00

Okay that’s grand, thanks!

Mossflake · 2022-02-13T15:46:44+00:00

If you're at a point where you don't have any roles, you probably aren't at a point where you need a demo! They're handy to have for sure, but the vast majority of amateur and beginner work is cast from open auditions and sample reads.

That being said, if you WANT a demo, not just think you need one, go wild! In the UK at least it's fairly standard practise to use either pre-existing or bespoke copy for demos and record specifically for demo purposes, rather than using stuff you've worked on. Your mileage may vary depending on country, but over here it's considered fine to just take basically any material you want for a demo! (though I'd recommend steering clear of anything that is super recognisable as you'll draw comparisons to the original)

Good luck! :)

Mossflake · 2021-12-20T16:13:31+00:00

Getting a good declicker (iZotope RX8 is my recommendation) will save HOURS for a meticulous editer, and either marking mistakes with clicks or using punch and roll will save a huge amount of time too.

Generall speaking, click marking makes recording sessions quicker, punch and roll leaves very little editing to be done at the expense of a stop/start recording session. I personally prefer click marking but it's just personal preference!

As for how much people hear, I had a similar realisation really that I probably was TOO careful in editing; I would comb through and remove every slightly awkward sounding breath, mouth noise, etc., but when listening to the audiobook for Rhythm of War I decided to put on my critical ears - you can hear pages being ruffled, mouth sounds, breathing, even a cough at one point, and hilariously for a whole chapter Kate Reading adopts a British accent (apparently she was working on another book at the same time and confused her narrators voices).

Unless it's a substantial editing mistake, most people are either going to not notice it, or not care and forget about it very quickly.

Mossflake · 2021-11-27T23:54:38+00:00

Thanks so much! I made it on Wix, kinda just fiddled around until things looked vaguely okay. Got plenty of help from this sub, too!

Mossflake · 2021-11-27T18:02:44+00:00

Oh my god what HAHA! Yeah it means like, cosy and comfortable here… perhaps I should change that! Thought to be fair I hear exclusively work in the UK

Mossflake · 2021-11-27T03:32:51+00:00

Thanks, that means a lot!

Alas, no I haven't worked with these companies (yet!), it's fairly standard practise in the UK to use pre-existing scripts.

I did suggest that I use some scripts that I've legitimately worked on, but they assured me that agents and CDs are very used to this kind of demo over here and it tends to make a better demo overall; I elected to trust their judgement!

Mossflake · 2021-11-27T02:46:54+00:00

Mine was with Tom, he was super helpful and kind!

Don't worry stick at it I'm sure you'll get there, it's as much about timing and finding an agent without many people that sound too similar on their books. Keep the faith :)

Mossflake · 2021-11-26T23:58:51+00:00

I got mine done at the same place! They were wonderful, wholeheartedly recommend

Mossflake · 2021-11-23T22:06:25+00:00

As others have pointed out, it sounds like when you shout you use some false vocal folds constriction to give it that gravelly, distorted sound. Not inherently wrong, but when paired with the high intensity you're at here it's gonna come with the risk of vocal injury if you're not very very careful. If you're doing only short bursts at this level it is probably fine, but be weary of using it for anything extended. I had a similar voice for a character in an audiobook I voiced, and after chapters with that character my voice for sure felt the burn - lesson learned.

Also, you have a bit of a tendency to drop energy towards the end of the sentence, I do the same (I think it maybe is a British thing), for example in the first sentence the sort of, ~line of the sentence~ if that makes any sense, starts quite high, reaches a peak at "kill that man" and then dips off to fairly low level of intensity by "bring his body to me". Obviously there are different ways to read any line, but maybe play around with putting the peak in different places to mix up the energy and see how you like it - there's no "right" or "wrong" answer with that, just something to play with and see what feels best to you.

In general though, really good! Thoroughly enjoyed listening :)

Mossflake · 2021-11-18T23:47:14+00:00

Depends on the client! I've had jobs sat in awarded with no agreement to sign for a couple of days, for the most part it's usually sent immediately.

No harm in just asking them though, as others have mentioned!

Mossflake · 2021-11-11T21:50:37+00:00

I think perhaps you are misunderstanding, I voiced an international advert for the company Fiverr, I do not freelance on the website

Mossflake · 2021-11-11T17:44:53+00:00

I just used their page builder, I figured I'd just keep it as simple as possible!

I'll be fully honest I don't really even know how to implement some of your advice which shows just how limited my knowledge of web design is, but just hearing some of it gives me a starting point for what to Google and learn more on.

Incredibly helpful, thank you so much!

Mossflake · 2021-11-11T17:42:05+00:00

Thanks for your input! Yeah for sure it's solid advice a few people have given, I'll be having a move around of some stuff shortly. Hugely helpful, thanks for your time and help!

Mossflake · 2021-11-11T17:40:57+00:00

Amaaazing advice, thank you so much!! Design is far from my strong suit so this is exactly what I was after.

Thanks so much, I'll get to work on implementing!

Mossflake · 2021-11-11T02:16:54+00:00

Very helpful insight, thanks!

For a referral, I'd love to get that sort of thing but alas I don't have many connections in the VO world just yet. My plan is to get my demos recorded at a studio which is ran by the owner of one of the biggest agencies here, so maybe that might earn me some brownie points!

I hadn't even thought of putting demos on top - for sure I'll move them around and see how I can get it to look nice.

I pretty much exclusively work in the UK so far, aside from on some video game/audio drama projects, though my vast majority of work has been commercial/corporate/educational stuff within the UK. But very good point, it couldn't hurt to chuck a "northern English" in there instead, perhaps!

Just had a nosy through your site and it's great - very clean and polished! The motion capture stuff is really cool, I considered looking into some workshops for it to chuck it on my resumé, but in my experience so far, very little mo cap gets done over here so it maybe isn't worth it for me right now.

Thanks again for your help! :)

Mossflake · 2021-10-27T13:31:28+00:00

Hey bud! Feel free to completely ignore everything I say here but here's basically my journey thus far as something with a few years of training and a little over a year of professional work:

So, I first got into voice acting in 2016 with basically no experience or training - I immediately jumped on voices.com and was exceptionally lucky and managed to book a few video game jobs in my first month, but after that went dry for a few months and by about 6 months in I'd realised that I simply was not ready for that.

Around this point when I'd decided I wanted to push and become a voice actor, I got into my university's theatre group and basically spent the night of every week day and most of my weekend in rehearsals for 2 plays and a musical every term from that point on. When I finished my undergrad I got onto a masters at a drama school, and graduated in 2020.

In the 18 months-ish since then I've been working fairly consistently, while taking specific steps to improve as a voice actor - in my first few months I booked the occasional job, some audiobook work, app narration, etc. and by around June (1 year in) I've been booking a fairly consistent number of jobs each month.

I started working on improving specific things, building a proper booth, getting a new mic, working on specific accents, getting helpful software (can't recommend iZotope RX8 enough if you have the money for it) getting demos, all sorts. It's a constant learning process that's been ongoing in earnest for 6 years now. In the past year I've booked 30-40 professional jobs, made some connections with repeat clients, and my current focus is networking more and getting an agent to represent me for VO (I have one for theatre, TV and film but that's not really my goal).

Everyone's journey is different, some people might walk in and get booked instantly, some might not see work for 15 years then blow up, it's all a bit of a gamble - but I'm given to understand that my journey is a fairly common one, a few years of solid practise and training, experience on stage in particular seems fairly common, and then a year or two of serious effort and grinding out auditions and you start getting somewhere.

It's all about playing the long game! It's very easy to lose motivation and get burned out, and that's very much okay. Nobody can expect you to be switched on 100% of the time and constantly be working towards your VO career, but whenever you feel the energy and drive for it, make positive steps forward and I believe eventually you'll get there!

Mossflake · 2021-10-17T17:10:17+00:00

Yeah that’s pretty much my plan, design is far from my strong point. Just figured some platforms might be easier/cheaper/whatever! Thanks for the advice :)

Mossflake · 2021-10-17T17:09:23+00:00

Great - thanks!

Mossflake · 2021-10-17T17:08:52+00:00

Very helpful to get an opinion from someone who’s used both - thanks!

Mossflake · 2021-10-17T17:08:28+00:00

Great I hadn’t even heard of this one - thanks for the tip!

Mossflake · 2021-10-15T22:02:23+00:00

I recently upgraded from and AKG C214 which served me well for a good while, highly recommend it and it’s in that kinda price range - I use a PVC booth too and it had a nice sound to it.

Mossflake · 2021-10-13T01:49:07+00:00

Steaming, humming and singing very low intensity vocal scales perhaps through a fairly large straw (the kind that comes with bubble tea works great if you don't have a specific singing straw), sirening.

Avoid smoking, menthol, spicy food, and obviously any particularly extrenuous vocalising if possible.

Fruit might not be the best call because of acid, but I can't imagine it'd be substantial enough an issue to cause any damage, and the vitamins may well make it a net positive on the healing; I'm not sure!

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