On this episode, we get in-depth with Paul Strikwerda. We talk about his stroke and how he almost died and the road to recovery, spoon feeding newbies and why we shouldn’t, how we are perfectly placed to make VO a green industry, why you should EQ your booth, Audient ID22 issue, Shure A15HP, Twisted Wave and Wavelab and should we volunteer to teach prisoners how to do voice over.
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The Pro Audio Suite Podcast copyright George Whittam, Andrew Peters, Robert Marshall & Darren Robertson.
Products or companies we discuss are not paid endorsements. They are not sponsored by, nor do we have any professional or affiliate relationship of any kind with any of the companies or products highlighted in the show…. sadly! It’s just stuff we like, think is cool and may be of interest to you our listeners.
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this is a test of the emergency
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broadcast system high tech for sound
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[Music]
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let’s go
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this is the pro audio suite a program
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all about audio and voiceover our panel
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consists of George the tech wisdom from
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LA Robert Marshall of someone audio post
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Chicago and source connects Darin Robbo
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Robertson of Voodoo sound Sidney and
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myself and repeaters voiceover talent
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based just out of Melbourne Australia
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don’t forget to check out all episodes
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on our website that’s the pro audio
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suite calm now let’s get on with the
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show
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welcome to another pro audio suite we
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have a very special guest this week from
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the United States of America well
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actually not really more from Holland
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but lives in the United States of
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America
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Paul Streak murder welcome to the show
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thanks for having me – joy to be here
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now a year ago you had a very nasty
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experience you could say that I remember
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the day I don’t know how many of you
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have heard my story but it was a year
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ago on March 26th that had passed out in
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my studio I don’t have any ventilation
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in my studio so it was one part lack of
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oxygen one part of is my heart and my
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heart eventually ended up sending a
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blood clot to my brain and when I woke
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up I was paralyzed on the studio floor I
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had no idea to open that heavy studio
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door because I couldn’t had any I didn’t
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have any strength in my arms in my legs
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and I tried to talk to my phone to wake
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up Siri to call 9-1-1 but I had very
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slurred speech and so my phone didn’t
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understand me either so I was locked up
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in this studio and I thought you know
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this is my final hour I’m gonna die and
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I had I had a terrible stroke when my
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wife was expecting me at a council
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meeting where she was she’s a town
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councillor here and I didn’t show up as
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promised and she got very worried so
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when I didn’t show up she called the
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Chief of Police and they they checked on
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me and they saved my life so but it had
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not been for my wife I would no longer
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be here I mean you probably still hear
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it from the way I talk I’m not speaking
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the way I’m used to speaking it’s not as
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fluent and I have trouble finding words
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and memory remembering things and I
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stumble over my words and I talk too
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fast when I get really enthusiastic but
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I’ve recovered pretty well and I can I
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can walk again and I can do my work not
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as well as I could but I can still do
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voice overs thank goodness like I said
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if the time will be for my wife or we’d
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be dead by now you know the brain it’s
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amazing how how it’ll come back it’ll
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take a little bit of time but I had a
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family member who had a stroke and it’s
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amazing how they’re all so different
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because some people walk into the
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hospital and don’t come out and other
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people go in
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a stretcher and then the recovery is
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amazing like like it never happened
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almost yes that’s what they’re saying
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different strokes for different folks ha
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ha boom boom yeah I like it
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I’ve been visiting too many hospital
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waiting rooms because I’ve had therapy
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like 4 days a week and it’s going better
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now but I see Sir I’ve seen so many
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people who are a lot worse off for
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literally who can’t move a limb who are
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drooling and are totally dependent on
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their partner and then I look at myself
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and I almost feel guilty for how well
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I’m doing and that I’m so lucky I guess
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it wasn’t my time and I I feel that one
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of my missions in life is not only doing
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nice voiceovers and writing interesting
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blogs but also doing some education and
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tell people about what it’s like and how
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to prevent strokes so thank you for
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giving me this opportunity to talk about
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a little bit and and open up yeah yeah
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it was really terrifying and for a
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couple of weeks it was it was really
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close call but I made it and you’re
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absolutely right the brain has this
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tremendous plasticity where you you
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don’t get any brain cells that you lose
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you don’t get them back but what happens
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is that different parts of the brain
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take over yes yes yes I had to relearn
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how to walk and had to relearn how to
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talk when I just got out of that that
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stroke I could not express myself I
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could not emote I sounded like a robot
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and it was so incredibly frustrating
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because I had this script and I knew
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where I wanted to put the emotion but I
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couldn’t get it out of my mouth but I
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thought you know as long as my brain
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knows what I should sound like I
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eventually will be able to recreate it
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and with a lot of work and a lot of help
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from speech therapists I eventually got
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there I’m not there 100% but I’m
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convinced they’ll get there at some
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point but it’s you’re right it’s a lot
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of hard work but the brain can do it
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absolutely you know a different
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difference during an angle on the same
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subject but I know that there was a hand
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model in New York who had like
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shirred her hands and of those kind of
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the news story remember you know reading
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and you know it makes you think like you
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know your voice is your is your entire
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living asset as far as like how you make
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your living and it’s like I would my
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voice to where people have ever ensured
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their voice is that a thing yeah I dunno
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I try to do it here and with no success
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but I do know because nick tape told me
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that um when he first started doing
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movie trailers I think it was Don
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LaFontaine told him to get going get his
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voice insured and you know imagine
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losing your voice when you’re earning
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you know a million bucks a year or
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something yes I know opera singers do it
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yeah I did make sure that I got a very
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good ent who specializes in performers
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and you know they put a tube down your
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nose and in your into your throat and
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looking at your vocal folds and because
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my voice was in the same it tires really
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quickly it sounds like I’ve been
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speaking for hours even when I’ve just
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talked for 10 minutes and she discovered
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that there was something wrong with my
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my vocal folds that was probably the
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result of the stroke and that might
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never heal the only thing that she could
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suggest was an injection but that’s only
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fifty percent success and fifty percent
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chance that it makes things worse but it
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is a tremor on the vocal folds that
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causes my voice to strain and tire
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easily so I’m not so happy about that
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residue but that’s again I think it’s
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it’s a muscle so I keep on practicing
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there’s there’s an app called the voice
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builder that I highly recommend where if
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you ever have vocal trouble it’s a vocal
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coach who had developed it who is the
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vocal coach to the to the stars like
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Christina Aguilera and Barbra Streisand
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and Whitney Houston where she was when
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he/she was still alive he developed a
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program called voice builder and I found
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it very beneficial but you’re absolutely
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right I was terrified when I found out
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that I had this tremor on the vocal fold
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that would probably never go away
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because I thought my gosh there goes my
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career what do we do now and I seriously
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thought about stopping and giving up
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and becoming a full-time writer cuz I
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just couldn’t do the audiobooks couldn’t
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do a long-form narration but now I’ve
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found a way to do less and make more
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which I enjoy doing anyway so I’m doing
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short form now trying to get better
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rates and make more by doing less which
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is something I can hardly I can advise
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everyone really that they should go that
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way though do less make more
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come on yeah yeah I know that feeling
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like I wonder if you can insure your
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voice it for a particular incident and
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maybe you lose a gig we we had an
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incident the other day where a voice
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talent in a lost his voice and luckily
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we were able to record him a week later
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but in a different situation that just
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would have been we have to get somebody
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else we’re sorry yeah I don’t know how
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you go about that
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you just lose the gig unfortunately but
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it’d be great if you get some kind of
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insurance for it
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that’s be honest I do it for hangovers
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[Music]
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today I’m making a claim of seriously
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hungover it’s not I I think that a lot
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of newcomers don’t really realize how
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vulnerable they are and how much you
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really have to put into your rate in
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order to make a living and to be safe in
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your existence as a professional and
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that includes you have to be paid for
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the times that you do not work that
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you’re not allowed to work not able to
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work and it’s everything is fine as long
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as you’re healthy you don’t think about
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I have to insure my voice you don’t
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think about life insurance you don’t
09:10
think about reserving money for your
09:13
funeral we don’t want to do that there’s
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a topics we like to not think about but
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once some see if something serious
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happens like a stroke that completely
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comes out of the blue and hits you in
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the face and there you are you wake up
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in a hospital bed you have no idea what
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happened and you some so you realize
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that you’re in a bed in a situation
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where you spends our twenty thousand
09:35
dollars a day and that’s even cheap and
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you have to pay a surgeon one hundred
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thousand dollars there are people here
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in the United
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states that when they come home they get
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hit by a bill from the helicopter that
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transported them from home to a hospital
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46,000 dollars and you can go bankrupt
09:52
simply because something happened that
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you have no infants over the took you by
09:56
surprise they have to build that into
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their fee and most people have never
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thought about it yeah they could lose
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their job I mean you can you you can get
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a stroke or you can cross the road and
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something could happen because we don’t
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want to think about those things we want
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to push them away as far as possible and
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we always look want to look at the
10:16
bright side of life and celebrate our
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business the business that we’re in and
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show our best side off to our colleagues
10:24
everything’s going well and we’re
10:25
invincible and we’re not well as x”k
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personally experienced a year ago we’re
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not invincible yeah I did actually see
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your blog recently which kind of covered
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some of those points but directing
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mainly at people on social media asking
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there I say inane questions and I
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thought your blog was it was all the
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stuff that every time you read this
10:49
thing you want to actually say but he’s
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thinking I’m probably best left but you
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said it all which is great
10:56
what’s the been a response to to that
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blog it’s been tremendous really it’s
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it’s it’s amazing and it surprised me
11:02
because I’ve been saying the same stuff
11:04
for the past ten years really when I
11:06
when I look at what I started right when
11:08
I started blogging ten years ago these
11:10
were the things I wanted to blog about
11:11
because these are the questions that
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people had been and they still have them
11:15
so every time I write a blog I get
11:18
people who thanked me over and over
11:20
again and say you know this is so
11:21
enlightening I’m glad you told me
11:23
because I never thought about it and
11:24
there’s people who say oh you’ve been
11:26
preaching to the choir you really got to
11:28
stop doing that because we know it well
11:30
you know a lot of people know what to do
11:32
but they don’t do it and that’s our
11:34
problem and we need repetition for
11:36
things to sink in and so that’s a little
11:38
part of my my mission and my vision for
11:41
my blog is to be that repetitive voice
11:43
at the back of your mind that said
11:45
please take this into consideration and
11:48
it’s I I want to enhance people’s
11:51
professionalism by letting we’ll think
11:55
about the things they don’t want to
11:56
think about
11:56
and go beyond the superficial
12:00
conversations that we have with one
12:01
another about these things on Facebook
12:04
cuz I I think it’s great to have your
12:06
short interactions with people on these
12:08
threads you get three or four lines in
12:10
and then somebody else takes over and a
12:13
blog actually allows me to elaborate a
12:15
little bit and build on a topic and
12:17
expand and have a whole series about
12:19
what it’s like to be in this business
12:21
and people can relate to it and I’ve
12:24
also had people who are very angry and
12:26
who think I’m just the biggest jerk in
12:28
voiceovers they think I’m a very nasty
12:29
man because I take away their dreams or
12:32
I want to scare off the competition
12:36
that’s another big thing that I always
12:37
get oh you know you’re just one of those
12:39
all folks that is afraid of the new
12:42
generation we can do anything we want
12:44
any way we want and we don’t need your
12:46
advice well okay you don’t have to I
12:48
mean I don’t need to convince anyone of
12:50
anything if that’s the way you want to
12:52
play the game
12:53
I just trying to be helpful but it’s
12:55
it’s so far it’s really good and I’m not
12:59
gonna lie part of why I blog is because
13:01
I want to get people to my website this
13:03
is when they do Google thinks I’m very
13:06
important and when Google thinks I’m
13:07
important they put me higher up the
13:09
rankings and when clients look for an
13:11
international voiceover like myself I’m
13:13
one of the first ones to show up so you
13:16
know it I think it’s a win-win situation
13:17
I tried to provide good content from our
13:20
community and I tried to work on my
13:23
search engine optimization through my
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blog and so far it’s been a great
13:26
strategy because I’ve really haven’t
13:29
spend a dime on advertising yes the the
13:32
old SEO the blog on your website is a
13:34
very good idea that kind of goes to the
13:36
core of the whole Union Nanyan thing as
13:38
well you know because people don’t think
13:40
about that yeah I saw actually saw um
13:44
was Bob Burgin and he was quite open on
13:46
a thread somewhere where he talked about
13:49
that exactly he did actually say that he
13:52
was lucky that he he’d been in the
13:53
industry at the time when it was you
13:54
know you’re paid very well for your work
13:57
but it looks like his pension when he
14:01
stops working his sag pension he’s still
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going to be paid like $100,000 a year
14:05
yeah yeah but
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yeah yeah that’s cuz we talked earlier
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about the advantages and disadvantages
14:14
of working by yourself in isolation and
14:19
we’re vulnerable and we need to protect
14:22
ourselves and that’s one of the great
14:23
things about being in a union whenever’s
14:26
a journalist working for Dutch national
14:27
and international radio the first thing
14:30
I did is become a member of the Union
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because I needed that protection exactly
14:33
for the things like we discussed what
14:35
what happens when you lose your voice
14:37
when you can’t work anymore you need
14:39
have a workers comp and make sure that
14:41
you you get paid when you cannot work
14:43
and many people don’t think about that
14:46
and at least when you’re a member of the
14:49
Union you know that you’re covered but
14:51
you know and with somebody in my
14:52
situation most of my jobs are not in the
14:54
United States so I really wouldn’t
14:57
qualify for any Union job so it’s it’s
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just me myself and my boss my wife who
15:03
takes care the finances so I’m gonna
15:05
have to sign off it was really wonderful
15:08
to have the opportunity to speak with
15:09
you hey likewise you’re going to face
15:11
the music now I heard I am but all right
15:21
you guys thank you for your flexibility
15:23
about the phone catch here – easy it
15:26
worked perfectly go enjoy the concert
15:29
alright see Europe I was going to talk
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about your blog as well because one of
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the things that I find really
15:36
frustrating when I read some of these
15:38
threads as I mentioned before the
15:40
questions are quite benign but they’re
15:41
apart from being inane they’re also so
15:44
naive and entry-level kind of questions
15:47
and you think if you don’t know what
15:49
that is how on earth do you think you’re
15:51
going to make a living out of this
15:52
industry but people don’t know what they
15:55
don’t know and they like to parade their
15:57
ignorance all over social media it’s
15:59
it’s really laughable and I really have
16:03
to think deeply about what I want to
16:06
write about and put myself into the
16:08
shoes of those people who don’t know
16:10
what they don’t know I found a new
16:12
audience that way and yes you’re
16:14
absolutely right that’s you look at
16:16
those questions said gosh why haven’t
16:18
you thought about it I think people have
16:20
become really lazy you know you and I
16:23
probably grew up in a
16:24
time where there was no internet and
16:25
when you had to go to the library to do
16:27
some research and that’s what I did I
16:30
mean I joined a radio company in the
16:34
Netherlands a broadcasting company
16:36
public broadcasting company when I was
16:38
17 years old I knew nothing about the
16:41
business but before I came in and made
16:44
sure that I read as much and talk to as
16:46
many people as I could I was making
16:48
youth radio programs we had this great
16:51
program where I was one day I was
16:52
presented the next day I was the
16:53
producer next day I was a roaming
16:55
reporter day after that I picked out the
16:58
music and so on and so forth so I
17:00
learned all aspects of the business and
17:02
ask questions questions and questions
17:04
but not until I first had made an
17:07
attempt to find the answer myself the
17:09
fast-forward to now 2019 where ignorant
17:13
is no longer an excuse because you find
17:15
anything anywhere on the internet just
17:17
type in the basic questions you get tens
17:20
of millions of hits of answers but
17:22
people are not even willing to do a
17:24
basic internet search know they have to
17:26
bother other people online and ask those
17:28
questions and there’s people who respond
17:30
to this questions as well I mean I have
17:33
better things to do than that so I put
17:34
them in a blog so people can refer to
17:36
them through my answers later but I said
17:39
one of my things is to tell people stop
17:41
feeding those babies you know people
17:44
babies don’t learn how to eat and feed
17:47
themselves if he keep on spoon feeding
17:49
them people don’t deserve it they have
17:50
to show some effort and some interest in
17:53
the job itself and some basic knowledge
17:55
and understanding because otherwise you
17:58
don’t deserve my time I’m becoming more
18:00
radical about it
18:02
and I refuse to to be a neighbor of
18:05
those people who don’t want to spend the
18:07
time to do a basic Google search it’s
18:09
it’s really appalling yeah but it’s
18:11
interesting the people that do actually
18:13
spoon feed them I think they do it for
18:15
their own ego it makes them feel
18:16
important yeah you’re right I think so
18:18
too
18:19
because on the internet it’s an equal
18:22
playing field you know it doesn’t matter
18:23
whether you’re an expert or an idiot you
18:25
all get the same level of attention and
18:27
you can see it from the answers there’s
18:29
certain groups if I want to have a good
18:32
laugh I go to them in the morning and
18:33
and they always make my day because
18:36
they’re so dumb and stupid
18:38
and really it’s it’s and and you see mr.
18:43
Sain discussions over and over again you
18:45
know should I use a Mac or PC should I
18:48
record sitting up or sitting down what
18:50
do we do with mouth noises how do I
18:53
quote I mean it goes on and on and on
18:55
you can make a whole list and I’ve done
18:57
that too and and hopefully people will
19:00
in the hope people will stop asking them
19:02
but it comes back again and again and
19:04
again and it’s such a big waste yeah I
19:07
don’t get the entertainment value out of
19:09
it unfortunately I just every time I get
19:11
really angry but there’s so many idiots
19:14
in there there’s muddying the waters for
19:16
the rest of us yes absolutely which is
19:18
which is a problem and it has become a
19:20
problem that now a lot of people who’ve
19:23
worked for their whole career online
19:27
have no idea how the business used to
19:30
work and they assume that that is the
19:32
business absolutely absolutely and
19:35
they’re not helped by colleagues who
19:36
should know better at all
19:37
yeah my philosophy is now yeah if
19:40
there’s people struggle let them
19:41
struggle you know you need to give
19:43
people an opportunity to fail and what
19:46
we’re doing now is we enable them to
19:47
succeed at their level and by
19:50
spoon-feeding them the answers I want
19:52
people to fail as much as they can
19:53
because that’s the only way some people
19:55
will learn because I’ve given them
19:58
advice at the beginning too and you know
20:00
what they don’t listen to it they’re not
20:02
grateful for it you don’t get a
20:03
thank-you for it and it just ends up in
20:06
a big black hole and and it’s a waste of
20:08
my time I mean I’ve every week I get
20:12
questions because of my blog from people
20:14
and the basic question is can I pick
20:16
your brain where I can tell them
20:18
everything that I know and they don’t
20:20
have to pay for anything they don’t have
20:21
to send me a gift card or a cup of
20:23
coffee whatever and I’ve done that I’ve
20:26
done that many times in the beginning
20:27
because they said I’m a nice person I
20:29
want to help people I had my start
20:31
thanks to a lot of people on whose
20:33
shoulders I was able to stand and they
20:35
talked me through it but I’m not doing
20:37
it anymore because I’ve dealt with the
20:39
most ungrateful people whom you never
20:41
hear back from again and then you lose
20:44
two to three hours a day where I can
20:45
make money so I stopped being a nice
20:48
person and I said I’m gonna write down
20:50
stuff in my blog instead
20:51
if they want something I’ll say Kay this
20:54
is my blog take it or leave it if you
20:56
want to read it you can read my book as
20:58
well that’s where it is and I’m not
21:00
gonna spend two hours on you so I said
21:02
then I’m a horrible person
21:04
well too bad I saw an interesting one
21:06
the other day actually it was so I think
21:08
it was I was teri Daniel I don’t know
21:10
whether you saw it but someone had
21:12
contacted him and wanted some coaching
21:14
and then he said yeah sure I can coach
21:16
you it’s gonna cost you this much and
21:17
the guy’s like you’re gonna charge me
21:19
for it and then said go yourself oh
21:22
really
21:23
yeah I’ve comment underneath saying when
21:27
anybody ever tells me to go myself
21:29
I say I have other people do that for me
21:31
cuz I’m too busy working one of the
21:35
wonderful things of this this industry
21:37
is that we have voiceover extra Jon
21:39
Florian who curates it usually comes
21:43
through all the voice-over blogs in a
21:44
week and then has his pick that he puts
21:47
out on voiceover extra and so my article
21:51
that I wrote about the basic questions
21:53
that people ask and answers that they
21:54
don’t want to hear here II published it
21:56
and just to give you an example of what
21:59
one guy wrote and this guy I looked him
22:01
up he’s a DJ best he says here’s a tip
22:05
just add a blog to your voice of a
22:06
website then get sites like voice over
22:09
action to post your article which links
22:11
back to your blog you can just write
22:13
about anything just write obvious info
22:15
like hum the lowest note as a warm-up
22:18
before doing a voiceover blog about
22:20
anything and somehow related to
22:21
voiceovers this guy is right in that it
22:24
does increase your SEO and it also
22:26
creates the impression that you’re an
22:27
expert in your field
22:28
lawyers do it all the time for example
22:30
there aren’t articles to create the
22:32
impression that they’re extremely
22:33
knowledgeable about the subject and it
22:35
draws people did affirm or people
22:37
comment on the article like I’m right
22:38
now most of the time it’s just obvious
22:40
stuff you’re welcome that’s the level of
22:43
answers that is evokes yes
22:47
yeah you’ve gone somewhere that I’m a
22:50
little bit interested in hearing from
22:51
you but now I – what you’ve said about
22:53
giving away information I’m also going
22:55
to ask it with a little bit of
22:56
trepidation
22:57
[Laughter]
22:59
you mentioned you mentioned that you’ve
23:02
sort of turned your business around from
23:03
doing sort of long-form books and stuff
23:06
to now doing more short form stuff after
23:08
your stroke without giving away you know
23:11
the absolute secrets and details how did
23:14
you do that was it social media was that
23:16
just getting on the phone was it sort of
23:19
turning down jobs taking others how did
23:23
you manage that because that’s a
23:24
difficult thing to do
23:26
yeah well the the the the number one
23:28
decision I had to make when I got out of
23:33
the hospital and got my first voiceover
23:36
job and I found out that I couldn’t do
23:38
it because my voice was not helping me
23:40
at all was am I going to be open about
23:43
this or not because I don’t want to lose
23:45
any jobs because people people think
23:47
that I’m handicapped and I have no voice
23:49
left because I I had confidence that my
23:52
voice would come back eventually but it
23:54
wasn’t sure that clients were willing to
23:56
wait that long so I part of me said you
23:59
know if you hide it then nobody knows
24:02
about it and they will hire you again
24:04
and again otherwise they’ll think you’re
24:06
this handicapped person that they cannot
24:08
rely on the other hand I said I can be
24:11
very open about it and tell people
24:14
what’s going on and what I can and
24:16
cannot handle that way I handle their
24:18
expectations up front and they’ll seek
24:20
me out for jobs that I can actually do
24:23
so I ended up being very open about it
24:27
and I’m very glad I did and since my
24:29
blog is read so well by not only my
24:31
colleagues but by a lot of my agents as
24:34
well they got the message they knew that
24:37
I was still in business but that they
24:39
should not send these long-form
24:41
narrations to me so from from that
24:44
moment that I started being open about
24:45
it I never got any audiobook requests
24:49
unless people were completely new and
24:51
hadn’t heard about my story I didn’t get
24:53
these long elearning things but like
24:55
things that I could break up into small
24:57
bits and bytes you know a slide here a
24:59
slide there like today I had a script
25:01
that was half hour total but it could
25:04
break it up in small parts it’s like how
25:05
do you eat an elephant you know in small
25:07
bits and bites I can do those things so
25:10
by being open I prepared the people that
25:13
would hire me and that has worked really
25:15
well for me and as an added bonus I got
25:18
a lot of feedback from people said you
25:20
know I’ve gone through this as well or
25:22
I’ve had family members and thank you
25:24
for writing about what it’s like to have
25:25
had a stroke and about your recovery and
25:28
I’ve made so many new friends since I
25:32
came out of the hospital and I’m not one
25:34
of those people that says something that
25:36
hits you at random is a blessing in
25:39
these guys but if there’s a silver
25:40
lining it’s that that I’ve made new
25:42
friendships and and people look at me in
25:46
a different way in a more friendly way
25:50
in a more understanding way and I I got
25:54
a request from a kind the other day and
25:56
explained the situation because he
25:57
hadn’t heard about my story and I said
25:59
you know this is your deadline I know
26:01
you wanted back in two days
26:03
but this is situation if our voice okay
26:06
if I send it back in a week and they
26:08
completely understood and it was fine so
26:10
many times you know you have to be open
26:12
about it and clients are willing to go
26:16
the extra mile if they really want your
26:17
voice and like what you’re doing so yes
26:20
my advice would be be open about it
26:22
don’t sign up for Project where you know
26:24
you can’t deliver and you get yourself
26:26
into a situation where you have to say
26:29
no or apologize and ask for an extension
26:32
of the of the project that’s not good
26:35
I’d rather tell people up front what my
26:37
limitations are and they’re very very
26:41
willing to work with me thank goodness
26:43
there’s a lot of goodwill what we what
26:45
we believe clients will think of what
26:47
they will do even with rates you know
26:49
before clients has said you know I can’t
26:51
paid we already have said it to
26:53
ourselves oh I better not quote that
26:55
high because there probably won’t be
26:56
able to afford me how do you know you
26:59
never know what a client cannot and that
27:01
cannot afford they always try to lowball
27:03
you so don’t give yourself that idea
27:06
when you start the negotiations and
27:08
that’s the same thing if I would have
27:09
started the negotiations by oh they’ll
27:11
think of me as a stroke victim who’s
27:13
lost his voice I probably won’t be able
27:15
to get the job because of this and that
27:19
and the other no don’t do it because
27:22
you’ve already lost if you
27:24
into that mindset mm-hmm it’s funny we
27:27
we’ve spoken about him on the show
27:28
before but we had a voice-over artist
27:31
here in Australia a guy called Matt
27:32
Ponsonby who was blind and had been
27:36
blind since he wasn’t born blind but he
27:39
went blind due to a disease when he was
27:40
a child and similar story you would you
27:43
would never know Matt was blind unless
27:45
you actually worked with him there was
27:47
no mention of it on his website there
27:49
and but he was the ultimate professional
27:50
he turned up 20 minutes before he was
27:53
booked and he would bring his Braille
27:56
mushy Braylon machine with him and he
27:58
would get the receptionist in the studio
28:00
or someone from around the radio station
28:02
to sit down and read him his script and
28:03
he Braille it up by the time you were
28:05
ready he say this session was 2 o’clock
28:07
by the time till the croc roll around he
28:08
had the script Braille doubt he was
28:10
ready to walk into the room and put it
28:12
up there and and was the consummate
28:14
professional with the most beautiful
28:16
voice I have to say yes so it’s so it’s
28:19
really just tell you handle it isn’t it
28:21
how you handle yourself and the way you
28:22
approach it yeah absolutely absolutely
28:25
it’s funny though because on the other
28:28
the other side of this I had a client
28:30
that I was working with quite a lot and
28:32
I blew a disc and I couldn’t drive to to
28:37
the studio so we did a remote session
28:40
from my place the client wasn’t happy at
28:42
all and in fact to the point where I’ve
28:45
never worked at that person since Wow
28:48
really and there and we did it all with
28:50
source connect everything went
28:51
swimmingly not an issue but because I
28:54
wasn’t in the studio because I couldn’t
28:56
get in the car and drive bang gone name
28:59
and shame go on get it out there Casey
29:03
comes back yeah that was that was really
29:07
interesting it’s you can always tell the
29:09
good clients from the bad ones when
29:11
something like that happens it’s
29:13
probably not good it’s probably not good
29:14
or bad but it’s probably just I want to
29:16
say ill-informed but it’s not even that
29:18
is it it’s just sort of not even not
29:21
keeping up with the times there’s a
29:23
whole bunch of things rolled up in there
29:24
isn’t it yeah I look up to me I’ll
29:27
answer but particularly with the current
29:31
discussions globally about the state of
29:32
the planet it makes absolute perfect
29:35
sense that we should be working remote
29:37
like we are today using technology that
29:40
we’re using today on this podcast I mean
29:43
we’re three of us are in different
29:44
cities we’re having no problem for the
29:46
in fact they’ll be in two different
29:48
countries but we’re having no issues
29:51
communicating with each other yet for
29:53
some reason there’s this odd pushback
29:55
about it and I don’t people want you to
29:57
sit in your car in a traffic jam pumping
30:00
rubbish into the atmosphere as opposed
30:03
to working from here well people can be
30:06
very particular I have certain clients
30:08
that only want to deal with me on the
30:09
phone and then there are other clients
30:12
who hate big on the phone and I only
30:13
deal with them via email and then these
30:16
clients that want to be texting me all
30:19
the time and I really have to keep track
30:21
of who is doing what likes to do what in
30:24
order to keep them happy because I think
30:26
some people are more auditory some
30:28
people are more visual and it you see it
30:31
in their working style but you’re
30:32
absolutely right in this day and age of
30:34
climate change and boy it is changing we
30:38
should be promoting ourselves as one of
30:40
the greenest industries yes yeah when I
30:44
am I’m pretty close to New York but I
30:46
try to avoid it like the plague because
30:49
it I never know when I will arrive there
30:52
it takes them 90 minutes but on a bad
30:54
day takes about three hours you to pay
30:56
tons in tolls and tons in parking he
30:59
spends like ten to fifteen minutes in a
31:01
studio you recorded you’re done you go
31:04
home and I I’m losing a whole day so for
31:07
me I’m very strict about that too and
31:08
I’ve lost many jobs because of it they
31:10
say I’m not going to New York unless
31:12
they’re paying me $1,000 per gig and my
31:14
my agents know it they respect it and
31:17
they don’t bother me for anything less
31:19
than $1,000 I’ve learned to put my foot
31:21
down and I know that once you do that
31:23
people will respect it mmm but it is
31:26
interesting that we do have a very
31:28
potentially perfect green industry but
31:32
it’s just a matter of that education
31:33
that the people don’t need to travel we
31:36
don’t need to sit in cars and I think
31:38
you know with we’ve talked about on the
31:41
quick bike that we did together with
31:43
Robert we talked about having a video
31:46
link which is something I think probably
31:48
is not a bad idea so be like a virtual
31:51
we you look at a big screen that could
31:53
be your studio window and on the other
31:55
side of that what would have been a
31:57
window is your client or the studio
32:00
there is nothing that I can think of
32:03
that doesn’t work working remotely even
32:06
if you’re working to pictures because
32:08
once you’ve locked up the latency and
32:10
you’re taking audio keys would she do
32:12
anyway I don’t when I’m doing a TV
32:14
commercial I’m not looking at the screen
32:16
for my visual cues I’m listening to the
32:19
audio definitely well here’s one that
32:22
Springs from that and it this may be a
32:24
problem more for me than for you guys
32:26
but it occurs to me because it happened
32:28
to me the other day and and to be fair
32:31
here I should preface this by saying
32:33
I’ve sort of dug my own hole on this
32:35
because I promote my studio as a 24/7
32:38
studio so you know I’m asking for
32:41
last-minute stuff but how do you guys
32:44
find the client client understanding in
32:47
terms of the way we work because the
32:48
reason I’m asking is is I have a client
32:50
who regularly rings me and goes hey
32:54
we’ve just finished this edit I know
32:56
it’s 10 o’clock in the morning but I
32:57
need it back by 2 o’clock this afternoon
32:59
can you get it done and of course you
33:02
know selling myself as a 24/7 studio
33:04
it’s up for me to say ok yes I can do
33:06
that further to what you were talking
33:08
about earlier Paul or no I can’t I won’t
33:10
have the time you might have to take it
33:12
somewhere else how do you guys find that
33:14
do you guys find that client
33:15
understanding of hey well it’s only a 30
33:17
second read we’ll only take him 30
33:19
seconds to read it and we’ll have it
33:20
back or do you find that they sort of
33:23
understand a bit more in terms of ok
33:26
well you know there’s a little bit more
33:27
to it than that I have had the perfect
33:29
excuse because I can bring up my stroke
33:32
story and tell people that since my
33:35
stroke I have limited energy and livered
33:37
limited ability to focus and plus my
33:40
voice gets affected and they have to
33:43
want to deal with that
33:45
once again I’m very upfront and I I it’s
33:50
to me for me it’s not an excuse it’s a
33:52
genuine reason so they can call me and
33:55
they can offer me a lot of money and
33:57
there’s days that I just cannot do it
33:59
because I’m not able my voice is not
34:01
able I have no energy I won’t be able to
34:04
get the words out of my mouth
34:05
so either we rescheduled for tomorrow or
34:08
you have to find someone else and have
34:10
lost lots of money because of it and at
34:13
the same time I was surprised how many
34:14
people were willing to work with me
34:15
because they really wanted my voice and
34:18
cuz you know we live in a day and age
34:20
where everything has to be done quickly
34:22
fast and preferably yesterday and they
34:25
pay you in three months you know and I
34:29
really fight against that whole
34:31
mentality it seems that where people are
34:33
proud of that said that they’re so busy
34:35
and I don’t find myself and being very
34:39
busy I just pride myself in doing a
34:41
really good job and I I know what my
34:43
limitations are and so that’s my
34:47
particular situation yeah I’m trying to
34:49
think about what I was like before the
34:51
stroke and and you’re part of my stroke
34:53
is also that it’s affecting my memory so
34:55
some of the things that is completely
34:57
gone just draw blanket yeah I can
35:02
medicate myself into losing memory don’t
35:04
you worry about that that’s another
35:06
story
35:06
hey listen I just noticed dad George has
35:08
joined the conversation hello George hey
35:10
Joe everybody I’m sorry I’m late how you
35:12
doing Paul hey I’m doing well we’re
35:14
having a great conversation here thanks
35:15
for joining us wonderful I’m doing I’m
35:17
glad you’re doing well I’ve caught the
35:19
last minute or so and I’m just so glad
35:22
to hear you know your journey of health
35:23
is continuing and yes yes yes yes
35:26
absolutely
35:27
absolutely so with George timing in now
35:29
might be a good time to turn our
35:31
attention to technical aspects of your
35:32
studio Paul aha yes yes yeah we know
35:36
what I’m using from time to time over
35:38
the years haven’t we
35:39
I’ve certainly yes learn to you know
35:41
learn of a few things from your
35:43
experiments over the years and
35:44
recommended things based on what you
35:46
found so talk us through your setup Paul
35:49
what have you what do you run a very
35:50
lucky bastard because the microphone
35:53
that I’m using is a micro tech calf lm9
35:56
30 TS it’s the mic Oleg Feld the East
36:02
German nomen well of course we no longer
36:05
have East Germany but after the wall and
36:08
the norman factory was split up in two
36:09
parts one part became the best German
36:13
factory and the other part was the East
36:15
German factory they kept on making
36:17
microphones in the old tradition
36:19
way everything’s handmade and this is a
36:21
microphone that I didn’t pay for I won
36:24
it from a raffle straight back good so
36:27
nice like a phone hacks yeah it’s
36:30
amazing cuz you know I never win
36:32
anything
36:32
but it’s it’s I think it’s microphone
36:35
hacks no it’s not it’s recording yeah
36:38
George wood recording hacks exactly
36:40
Gordon yes yes not sure if the updating
36:44
in Matthew McGlinn is the guy behind it
36:46
terrific website that tells you anything
36:48
about any mark you ever wanted to know
36:50
Mikey recording hacks so they had this
36:53
raffle every month they raffled off a
36:55
new microphone and I won this terrific
36:58
condenser microphone it’s the smallest
37:00
large condenser microphone in the world
37:02
it’s used it’s used by the Pope even so
37:05
if it’s good enough for the Pope it’s
37:06
good enough for me it’s hanging down
37:09
from a write code in vision studio kit
37:12
I’m a big fan of the Rycote shock mounts
37:15
with the lyre systems are nice so you
37:17
don’t have wires but you have liars fire
37:21
which is which is really nice and I have
37:26
a hand em boom arm it’s nice and quiet
37:30
and then it did used to feed in an
37:32
audience ID 22 but that kicked the
37:35
bucket a couple of days ago and I had to
37:38
get a little small unit so I got the
37:40
little baby brother and that’s the
37:42
Audient ID 4 which has the same preamps
37:46
that they also use in their big units
37:48
and use in the ID 22 and it’s supported
37:52
play little thing there you don’t have
37:54
to even power it to just stick in the
37:57
USB ports and it works brilliantly I
38:00
love you audience it’s very sturdy and
38:03
that gives me a very clean audio I
38:05
really have to clean anything up and
38:07
I’ve been really impressed by the
38:09
quality of those English guys yes and
38:11
there you have it really that’s my
38:13
studio well it’s interesting because
38:14
I’ve got also got the m9 30 you got the
38:17
transformer version but I have the one
38:20
without the transformer which I’ve had
38:22
for years and years and years not using
38:23
it at the moment but a mine is the 80th
38:27
anniversary George Norman special
38:30
because as you mentioned before
38:33
or that mikrotik FL is actually really
38:35
the true Neyman because Norman after the
38:39
war was sold to Sennheiser but there
38:42
Norman factory in G fell which was known
38:46
as Norman goof L was taken over by the
38:50
Communists and they changed the name
38:51
from Norman because they didn’t want to
38:53
associate with the German and changes to
38:56
wasn’t Microtech kerfell back then it
38:58
was some other name I can’t remember
38:59
exactly what it was but hence the reason
39:02
that different name but it is actually
39:04
the real Norman with all the original
39:08
tools yes and that’s such a sweet little
39:10
Mike and I love it because it’s in my in
39:14
my field of vision because I read from
39:17
my computer in my my little booth that I
39:20
built myself I got a 7×7
39:22
sound booth and it’s it keeps my field
39:26
of vision pretty much free I don’t have
39:28
this big huge mic in front of my face
39:30
and it just works brilliantly and I
39:32
didn’t pay a dime for it it’s phenomenal
39:33
I’ve tried many mics in the past and
39:35
many mics later on as well because every
39:38
now and then I get my hands on one and I
39:40
want to test a cute few said I can write
39:42
about them in my blog this is always be
39:44
my go-to mic and it will stay with me
39:47
for a long long time cuz it’s
39:49
indestructible and it’s just so cute and
39:51
lovely and beautifully made absolutely
39:54
very beautifully made I take care of it
39:57
very well you know whenever I’m done
39:58
with a session I put a little sac around
40:01
it yeah exactly and in it I’ve got their
40:04
silicone silicone Lillis what is it
40:08
crystals in there too to give it nice
40:10
and dry because you really need to take
40:12
care of your gel yeah yeah yes exactly
40:15
and there’s little things that you get
40:17
when you order all kinds of stuff online
40:18
it comes with those silicone gel things
40:21
and it I want to protect it now you also
40:24
used to have a grace design m1a1 and of
40:28
course George you were you know the
40:30
grace right grace brothers yes I do what
40:32
was the reason for getting rid of the
40:33
grace ah you know tend to think of that
40:40
that’s a good question because it was
40:42
working really well for me as well I
40:43
love the grace very nice and clean crisp
40:46
fair sound and that’s probably this this
40:52
little gear gearhead in me that just
40:55
wanted to try a new shining of shiny
40:57
object and I couldn’t afford to buy a
41:01
whole new IDE 22 thing so I had to sell
41:06
something I said okay grace you gotta go
41:08
we’ve had a nice life together but it’s
41:11
time for you to seek a different home
41:13
but I was very happy with the grace and
41:15
I would still buy it I yeah yeah they
41:22
have now no no no but I’ve told them do
41:26
it listen to you they’re uh you know
41:31
they’re extremely they know what they
41:34
want and you know what their clients
41:35
want but they also have this like a
41:37
version to making an in-ear interface
41:40
because they feel like there’s too many
41:41
of them out there already and they don’t
41:43
want to compete with everybody else but
41:45
boy if they had a USB interface and a
41:47
headphone jack and that thing it could
41:49
be a killer killer piece of God web you
41:52
know when you can keep your studio
41:53
simpler and still achieve sonically it
41:56
you know an equivalent sound it’s like
41:58
you know simple sometimes it’s really
42:01
nice for voice actors to have a simple
42:03
studio yeah I just remembered I think
42:05
one of the reason why I got the ID 22
42:07
was God could plug in two mics at the
42:09
same time because I had the idea that I
42:11
wanted to have a mic for commercials you
42:13
know like the 416 and then one more for
42:16
long-form narration like the girl that
42:18
I’m using right now and I wouldn’t have
42:19
to switch and plug him every done time
42:22
they’re probably different mic in so I
42:24
thought that looked really handy to me
42:26
be able to plug two mics in and it also
42:29
gave me a virtual mixer that I liked as
42:34
well and I think they there was some
42:37
high-pass filter on there grace right
42:39
yeah yeah yeah one of the very few units
42:46
like it that actually does have a
42:47
high-pass filter on it most of the you
42:50
know interfaces or ones do not so that
42:52
was a compelling feature to me there’s
42:54
the only thing that’s missing now for my
42:56
little id4 unit that I have to tie me
42:59
over until
43:00
audience repairs the ID 22 there’s no
43:05
high pass filter and yeah I I do miss it
43:09
I do miss it cuz it’s such an easy way
43:12
to get rid of the low Rumble and I mean
43:15
I can use a plug in and everything but
43:17
it’s just so handy to have it ready just
43:20
to flip the switch and you’re done
43:21
yeah absolutely I I audience I have to
43:26
admit I mean you know you know how I do
43:28
a lot of studios so I I don’t see just
43:30
one audience Heidi 22 I you know I see
43:33
50 and there’s been quite a failure rate
43:36
of the ID 22 I don’t know what’s we went
43:39
on but I’ve had no know at least six or
43:42
seven people now with ID 22 failures
43:45
it’s a bummer
43:46
because I was that was a what was a
43:47
piece of gear out hang my hat on right I
43:49
mean I just told everybody to go get it
43:51
and as a guy that recommends gear to you
43:54
know hundreds if not thousands of people
43:55
by proxy or more you know it’s when you
43:59
when you recommend something and then it
44:01
turns out to start having issues it’s
44:03
always you know it’s oh it’s a letdown
44:05
it’s a bummer yeah I know before I love
44:10
the idea for I love the simplicity of it
44:12
it’s clean it’s simple its affordable
44:14
its portable um I think the ID 4 is
44:17
fantastic I don’t know anybody that’s
44:19
had a failure with that but it’s a far
44:21
simpler unit yeah and it doesn’t have
44:24
that external power supply so for
44:26
whatever reason that’s something that’s
44:28
been happening with a number of people
44:30
yeah yeah well they described the
44:32
problem that my ID 22 it was having to
44:34
do the audience people it’s like yeah
44:36
when you have an old radio and you were
44:38
switching between channels it’s that
44:40
sound in between channels that’s what
44:42
was coming from the inside of the ID 22
44:45
and they have no idea what’s causing it
44:46
they think it’s hardware related so they
44:49
they’re sending me a label UPS label
44:51
free of charge are considered to their
44:53
repair unit here in the United States
44:55
and even though it’s out of warranty
44:58
they’re repaired for me so I gotta tell
45:00
you they stand behind their stuff
45:01
definitely the good stuff that’s good to
45:03
know
45:03
absolutely yeah yeah so yeah I’m I was
45:07
so surprised too because it’s built to
45:09
last and it’s working as been working
45:11
for me very well
45:13
but yet gave up so well thanks goodness
45:17
for one day and delivery cuz I ordered
45:20
it on Amazon one day the next day I got
45:22
it then could keep on going with my
45:24
voiceover project cuz it always happens
45:25
at the time when you cannot you afford
45:28
to to lose your you preamp it always
45:31
happens oh that’s like Murphy’s Law yeah
45:33
that’d be a lesson
45:34
everybody should have a second yes err
45:36
face or something even a mic port pro or
45:39
something basic just I keep a double o2
45:41
rack stored in this in the cupboard here
45:44
in the studio just in case my Pro Tools
45:46
goes down so I’ve just you know chuck
45:49
that in and sticking the firewire but
45:51
wire cable and keep going I think I made
45:54
a double O 2 now on eBay for what’s the
45:56
lowest amount you can sell something 12
45:58
cents no really I got one I got one for
46:00
40 bucks over here not long ago and I’m
46:02
about to buy another one because I’m
46:04
building a voice booth and my wife and
46:06
I’m just gonna Chuck a double o2 in
46:08
there for her to plug her laptop into so
46:10
you can just go in there and record its
46:12
own so yeah yep there next to nothing
46:15
but robust I have a question to George
46:17
about the lack of a high-pass filter all
46:21
of us are searching ways to to get a
46:23
high-pass filter other than just to plug
46:25
in I came across a thing made by sure
46:29
it’s colder and denser microphone a 15
46:32
HP and it looks like it’s something that
46:35
you stick at the back end of your
46:36
microphone it’s got a neck XLR saying
46:40
that you can plug in and helps eliminate
46:42
electrical and mechanical noise in an
46:44
audio system and it effects frequencies
46:46
below 100 Hertz I’m reading off the
46:49
description here right when connected to
46:51
the microphone input on a typical mixer
46:52
it reduces low frequencies about 12 DB
46:55
per octave I use something like that I
46:59
have not used that one or used it I
47:02
think I’ve probably recommended it to
47:03
maybe more than one person over the
47:05
years yeah there’s no reason why I
47:07
wouldn’t work mmm it’s a fixed frequency
47:10
thing but then again so is the switch on
47:13
the m101 and so is the switch on the ID
47:16
22 it’s just a switch so you know it’s
47:19
basically replicating what that switch
47:20
does or what a lot of microphones have
47:22
you know so it’s one of those things it
47:25
it’s either gonna help or not help at
47:27
all
47:27
like and it’s a very simple test plug it
47:29
in yeah how that sounds fine or plug it
47:32
in and I don’t like the way it sounds so
47:34
I think it’s probably good problem
47:36
solver you know it’s again I don’t want
47:38
to have to keep doing a high-pass filter
47:41
and your software you want to just keep
47:42
moving so this should give you give you
47:46
give you some help in that Rumble
47:48
filtering right yeah it’s under 50 bucks
47:51
so it’s affordable solar I’ll order it
47:53
and let you know how it works out
47:54
yeah it’s nice it looks at the size of a
47:57
Mike bought Pro almost no not not any
47:59
bigger yeah it’s it’s completely passive
48:02
you know it just has a as it says that
48:05
each leg has a 2.7 kilohm resistor and
48:09
it’s a very simple piece so it will not
48:12
change the sound of the mic and the
48:13
halter it won’t change them or add any
48:15
noise it’ll just reduce Rumble so I
48:17
think it’s FRA gonna be just fine out of
48:20
interest Paul what what di W are you
48:23
using I’m using twisted wave love
48:26
twisted wave I like the simplicity it
48:29
just simply works and you know coming
48:33
from radio and roll and the Pro Tools
48:37
environments I’ve always found that very
48:39
confusing for voiceover and I only have
48:42
one voice I don’t do any mixing myself I
48:45
don’t add any any music I want to keep
48:48
it as pure and as simple as possible and
48:50
twisted waves has just been a revelation
48:52
and the guy behind it is so quick to
48:56
respond and is very personable whenever
49:00
there’s a problem I just have to send
49:01
him one email and the neck the same day
49:04
I usually get an answer it like I said
49:06
it’s never let me down it’s phenomenal
49:08
and now we got punch and roll integrated
49:10
what else could you want that’s
49:11
interesting because I have twisted wave
49:14
on my laptop but I actually have way
49:18
Vlad Steinberg on the big machine in the
49:21
studio here and a friend of mine I
49:24
mentioned before Pitts he came over
49:26
yesterday and he didn’t eat he scan of
49:29
my booth and just found the really odd
49:33
sounds that at certain frequencies and
49:36
just EQ that basically pulled them down
49:38
so they’ve they’ve gone
49:40
that could be something worth
49:42
considering I just wanted what da W you
49:44
had and if you haven’t EQ you did an EQ
49:47
scan like what did he do play it play a
49:50
tone sweep like blue no I just he just
49:52
uh he just played one of my voice files
49:56
and then you know I stood across the EQ
49:58
and just found where there was one and
50:00
she sounded like I was shouting at the
50:02
piece of glass oh okay so he just pulled
50:06
that’s basically what I do I mean I
50:08
don’t use anything fancy I don’t use
50:09
tone generators and all kinds of wacky
50:11
stuff and I just just use my ears it’s
50:14
fine yeah here’s something that I don’t
50:16
think quite belongs
50:18
you know I’ll adjust for that that’s
50:20
that’s that’s yeah makes no sense right
50:23
yes I was really interesting to find
50:24
that looking to my icon here the
50:28
difference but just tightens up the
50:30
audio wave laughs and twist so we’ve
50:32
have a lot of commonality we’ve lobs a
50:34
bit more complex and it looks a little
50:37
more complex but they’re similar in a
50:40
lot of ways in my life well like the way
50:41
Wavelab has like an effects rack window
50:44
that’s kind of kind of part of the whole
50:46
deal like it has a the rack type thing
50:49
that twisted wave calls a stack and it’s
50:52
it works very similarly and I like how
50:55
you can have that pre-loaded and just
50:57
ready to go at all times so you’re if
50:59
you’re gonna use anything like an EQ
51:00
notch to adjust for resonance or you
51:03
want to use a little bit of this little
51:04
bit of that it’s already can be in the
51:05
rack and it’s just the right ready to go
51:07
yeah
51:08
it’s really it’s a good piece of
51:10
software I was big on it for a very long
51:12
time until I went Mac and the wave lab
51:14
at that time wasn’t on Mac and just a
51:17
wave kind of stepped in its place for me
51:19
but wave lab is still a great piece of
51:22
gear yeah soft gear now Paul I got a
51:24
question for you changing the subject
51:26
from gear where is your majority of your
51:29
work is it speaking English or is it
51:31
speaking Dutch um I’d say most of it is
51:36
speaking English with kind of a weird
51:39
undistinguishable accent when I first
51:43
came to the United States I spoke like a
51:45
Brit and people always mistook me for
51:48
someone from from Britain I wasn’t able
51:50
to work so what could I do I could
51:52
waiter
51:53
so it’s always a game that I played with
51:55
my my customers and I said if they could
51:57
guess where I was from they could get a
52:00
free dessert on me and nobody ever
52:03
guessed it correctly because well most
52:05
of them they said you’re from from the
52:07
UK because in Holland we learned the
52:09
Queen’s English so I sounded very posh
52:12
and that’s how I started but then
52:15
suddenly weird happened that became
52:17
Americanized and my accent started to
52:20
change throughout the years and now this
52:23
is this weird mishmash a little bit of
52:26
UK the bit of Canadian a little bit of
52:30
American but I’ve never been able to
52:32
speak with her like a mid-atlantic
52:34
accent or American accent whatever it is
52:36
it’s become this strange thing that is
52:39
me and that apparently is marketable and
52:43
people pick me for their international
52:46
voice and that’s the majority of my work
52:48
not touch not really English but like at
52:51
this international man of mystery and it
52:54
helps because a lot of a lot of
52:57
companies have a global presence and
52:59
they work in different markets where
53:03
sometimes a very English accent doesn’t
53:06
sell their products or very American
53:08
accent is not considered be very
53:09
positive but something in the middle is
53:11
quite ok so I really benefit from that
53:14
so sell myself as the ultimate European
53:17
voice cultivate it just happened you
53:21
know what I hearing there on some of the
53:23
phrases when I’m listening to you speak
53:24
I hear Arnie aji Arnie’s accent it just
53:28
not on everything but just on a few
53:30
phrases and things you say yeah yeah
53:32
right right yeah probably actually can
53:35
you just say I’ll be back I’ll be back
53:40
Germany’s actually the second language
53:42
Dutch kids learn German because Germany
53:45
is very close and then it’s English and
53:46
then it’s French a little bit of Spanish
53:48
but yes my my first second language is
53:50
German Russ second second language is
53:53
English yeah so yeah but when when I
53:56
first came to the United States and I
53:58
started doing voiceover work all kinds
54:00
of people try to sell me these accent
54:02
reduction trainings and they said you
54:04
really should do that because you become
54:06
more marketable
54:07
but then I said I would end up sounding
54:10
like everybody else with the same
54:11
standard American accent I want to bring
54:13
me I want to sell myself like me because
54:15
there’s nobody like me it’s not arrogant
54:17
but it’s just both like nobody is like
54:20
George no one’s like you we all have our
54:22
own voice that is immediately
54:24
identifiable and turned out to be
54:26
marketable so I’m keeping what I do and
54:29
and and it’s making me good money I’m
54:31
gonna tell you yes it’s Bening I’ve had
54:33
a in in spite of my stroke I’m having a
54:36
really good year great house because of
54:38
this silly accent of mine that that I
54:40
just got for free I mean we just
54:44
mentioned Donnie look at him I mean
54:46
imagine it makes you think how he would
54:48
have gone if he had have dropped his
54:49
accent for the screen you know he’d be
54:52
completely different yeah it’s funny
54:55
what I was talking about this with
54:56
someone yesterday day before yesterday
54:58
and about how we are told about accents
55:03
so when I got into radio back in the
55:06
late seventies I had a London accent and
55:10
I was told they were you know there’s no
55:12
way you’ll ever work in Australia with
55:13
that accent so you’ve got to get rid of
55:15
it and you didn’t and I teased and and
55:20
it was weird because then I was on radio
55:24
acting this character which I did for
55:26
years and then thought this is
55:28
ridiculous um every day I come in and
55:31
put on this silly voice and I’m gonna
55:33
stop which I did but I didn’t go back to
55:36
my original accent I ended up with this
55:39
one which is nothing like either of the
55:42
ones that I used to have which is quite
55:44
bizarre and I wonder if people had no
55:48
idea where either you you a myself a
55:51
from would they be able to pick it wait
55:55
and that’s the whole thing if they can’t
55:58
then you’re in luck we can’t exactly
56:00
what my clients want the other clients
56:02
don’t want to know where I’m from
56:04
because that comes with all kinds of
56:07
connotations some are good and some are
56:08
not so good and if they can’t identify
56:11
where you’re from then that that this
56:13
works to my advantage
56:15
absolutely I’m milking that one really
56:17
yeah but it’s interesting the point you
56:19
made about some people don’t want
56:21
a British accent and some people don’t
56:23
want an American accent they want
56:24
something sits in the middle and that’s
56:27
certainly the case for a couple of my
56:30
clients and the reason that I’ve got
56:32
them is because they don’t want either
56:34
of those two accents right and they do
56:36
they do these comparative research is
56:40
where they have the same campaign with a
56:42
different accent or same campaign with a
56:44
woman’s voice or men’s voice and they
56:46
test them in different markets and they
56:48
found out that in Indian markets
56:50
American accents do way better than
56:52
British accents because the Brits still
56:55
remind them of their colonial past as in
56:57
other countries like America they love
56:59
British accents they even though the
57:01
Brits have not been nice to the
57:03
Americans in the past they love the
57:04
British because you sound a little wiser
57:06
more intelligent with you have a British
57:08
accent so yeah they’re very clever about
57:11
that and they do extensive research and
57:14
they it’s a whole new different type of
57:16
expertise to find the right voice for
57:19
the right campaign depending on the
57:21
geography are you able to manipulate
57:23
your accents a little bit for certain
57:25
jobs yes yes yes then that’s that’s part
57:28
of my job as well to to manipulate it
57:30
according to the wishes of the client
57:32
and one of the things I do is very
57:35
easily it’s a Dutch accent so I can
57:38
manipulate my voice so it sounds a
57:39
little bit more like I do know the Dutch
57:42
film director Paul Verhoeven he was the
57:45
one who directed the Robocop and
57:48
showgirls and what’s the one with Sharon
57:52
Stone that where she used the ice pick
57:54
tell me our final attraction the
57:56
director of it fatal attraction yes yes
57:58
so Paul Verhoeven
58:00
talks like this and the Dutch have a
58:02
very hard time pronouncing the th so
58:04
they said this and debt and how do you
58:06
do and so I make my my voice of the male
58:09
more Dutch accented but sometimes I have
58:13
to sound really more British if I am
58:15
trying to be a professor and I’m
58:17
lecturing people about certain
58:19
medications then that’s the way I do it
58:21
I change my inflection I go up and down
58:23
and try to be a little bit more British
58:25
and the worst accent that I never get
58:29
down is American accent that’s sort of
58:30
tell if you want me to do American
58:31
accent find someone else cuz I’ve never
58:33
said
58:34
I find it particularly appealing either
58:36
when I do it I try to do some kind of
58:39
Texas accident sounds really ridiculous
58:42
do people mistake you for being South
58:45
African no no they don’t even though you
58:48
know afrikaners and Dutch is very close
58:50
it there did ya the language is related
58:52
you know when you listen to africanus
58:53
it’s kind of old Dutch yeah and but they
58:56
no they don’t do that no no no it’s it’s
58:59
not an accident that I can do either I’m
59:01
admiring into the other seamlessly I son
59:06
must have to work at it a little bit but
59:08
africanus is it’s a beautiful language I
59:11
have a couple of family members who
59:12
emigrated after Second World War who
59:14
live in Africa and we could actually I
59:17
can write in Dutch and they can write in
59:19
Afrikaans us and we understand one
59:21
another it’s interesting the reason I
59:23
ask is I would have thought you’d have
59:24
been picking up some nice work in in
59:27
South Africa especially in areas of
59:30
Africa I’ve done some commercials for
59:32
car dealerships in South Africa but I
59:33
always wanted my the last one I did was
59:35
with a French accent because it was for
59:39
all they know and they wanted look like
59:41
an over-the-top allo allo French accent
59:43
do you remember that Syria hello yes of
59:45
course CBC you know listen carefully
59:48
only cities once yeah Merry Men this
59:52
cafe during German occupation is classic
59:55
British comedies and I used stupid one
59:58
of accent yo you silly woman yes I was
60:03
aroused by a loud banging yes and half
60:07
freak faker for Helga or what the
60:12
mistake I make they got all these little
60:15
things there these sayings that became
60:16
kind of famous yes yes I can do those
60:19
things I can I can do those little
60:20
cartoonish accents so what are your
60:23
plans apart from obviously staying alive
60:26
yes that’s plan number one obviously but
60:29
my plan is to to bring out another book
60:32
I’ve done very well I have to say with
60:36
my very first book which is making money
60:38
in your pjs and it’s been out for four
60:42
years now yes I yes for for four years
60:46
and need some updating so that’s once
60:48
I’m gonna work on a new edition of that
60:50
book but I’ve written so many blogs and
60:52
one thing I’ve realized is that I’d like
60:55
to give a little bit more shelf life to
60:58
my blogs and blogs
60:59
it’s like podcaster go in one ear out
61:02
the other
61:03
it’s the same with blog posts if you put
61:05
them in a book it has a little bit more
61:07
a longer shelf life so I’ve selected
61:10
about 40 or 50 of my best blogs at the
61:13
last couple of years and I was already
61:15
working on it before I got my stroke so
61:17
it was on hold for a year but I’m now
61:20
getting back to it and rewriting some of
61:22
them updating them and hopefully at the
61:26
end of the summer at the beginning of
61:27
the fall it’s gonna be a new book and I
61:31
think gonna call it the blahblah
61:33
business or alternatively I might call
61:36
it the cheesehead invoice overland I
61:38
don’t know which one’s better a test
61:40
I’ll test it it’s the blah blah business
61:43
or a cheesehead invoice offal and it has
61:45
to be nothing serious because I think
61:47
life is too serious and I’d like to
61:50
introduce a little bit more silliness
61:51
into the voice-over community you could
61:53
actually call it the chew lip service
61:55
yes this is I could do that too yes yes
61:58
they they have this postcard resuit
62:01
tulips and it says tulips from Holland
62:03
so that’s that’s another thing I could
62:05
do yes I don’t know if that’s
62:07
copyrighted already but I could do that
62:09
yeah Oh suggestion yeah yes tulips from
62:12
Holland yeah yeah so that’s the thing
62:16
I’m working on and that’s one thing I
62:19
like about this business it’s very
62:20
unpredictable it’s one thing I hate
62:22
about this business that’s it
62:23
unpredictable but there’s always
62:25
something because while we were talking
62:28
two or three news the voice-over
62:30
projects came in that looked very
62:32
interesting
62:33
most of them short form there’s long
62:35
form as well so you know I then I’ll
62:39
keep myself busy another thing that this
62:41
is very different but very much fun for
62:43
me is that I’m an announcer believe it
62:47
or not everybody says you can’t use your
62:48
announcer voice and voice service
62:50
anymore I’ve actually been asked to be
62:52
an announcer for the past five years of
62:54
our local farmers market I live in the
62:57
town called Easton Pennsylvania and we
62:59
have the oldest the longest-running
63:01
outdoor
63:02
market in the entire United States we’ve
63:05
been in center Square since 1750 – and
63:08
this Saturday we have a opening of the
63:12
summer market season and I’m going to be
63:14
the the main announcer introducing all
63:17
the VIPs we have a ribbon-cutting
63:18
session
63:19
I am the DJ I play the music there I
63:22
introduce the life music and I’m just in
63:25
the thick of it in the middle of center
63:27
square we have about 24 different
63:28
vendors and there’s about 4,000 people
63:31
who come to the market on a nice sunny
63:33
day and it’s it’s phenomenal to be able
63:36
to to see what that what you say how it
63:40
lands because in the beginning of the
63:42
show we talked about the isolation that
63:43
we feel that we talk to the walls talk
63:46
to a microphone we have no idea how what
63:48
we say lands how people respond and ever
63:51
since I started doing those announcing
63:53
gigs I know exactly how people respond
63:56
how they react to what I do because
63:57
they’re all around me and I see people
63:59
smile and I’m kind of the billboard of
64:02
the market because we have all kinds of
64:03
vendors and they don’t advertise the
64:05
only thing they have is me who tells
64:08
about the latest specials and but the
64:10
beats that are on sale and the leeks and
64:11
strawberries and all the fun and silly
64:14
stuff and I try to make up commercials
64:17
on the fly and the great thing is that
64:19
we’re in Center Square and it’s all
64:21
filled with loudspeakers so I can hear
64:23
my voice throughout the entire downtown
64:25
of Eastern and it’s a mighty feeling I
64:27
love it that’s the next big thing for me
64:31
and I can’t wait it is I can tell you
64:34
know it if there’s anything that I love
64:38
doing more than voiceovers it’s doing
64:40
live announcing and it’s so gratifying
64:43
because because you’re very audible and
64:45
very visible the people that come up to
64:48
me and say boy you have got a good voice
64:50
you should do something with that you
64:52
know and then I tell them about it and
64:53
they’ll say you know I have this hair
64:55
salon that needs a local commercial
64:57
could you do that this is a guy who owns
65:00
an Indian restaurant is opening a new
65:01
chain he says can you do our voice mail
65:04
so even though it’s volunteer work I’ve
65:07
ended up getting gigs from my announcer
65:09
job being there in centre square just as
65:10
easy announcer of the Eastern farmers
65:12
market it’s the best thing ever
65:15
like that or you know get out there and
65:18
go to hospital because they need people
65:21
to read to people go to a kids ward for
65:23
kids have cancer and have Boris death
65:25
all day and offered to read you know
65:29
it’s gonna be so much more gratifying
65:32
than then some of the clients will ever
65:34
be oh go to a retirement home where
65:37
people are lonely and they’re dying of
65:38
loneliness and they they need somebody
65:42
who listens to them and somebody who
65:43
wants to talk to them and somebody to
65:45
read to them the stories that they know
65:46
from the past and I I have some some
65:50
students who study voice over me with me
65:52
and they’re not ready for the big jobs
65:54
but they want to gain some experience
65:55
and say you know what go read to kids go
65:58
read to the elderly and make connections
66:01
and they come back and they have tears
66:03
in their eyes they say you know I went
66:05
to this retirement home I started
66:06
reading for one person then another
66:08
person wanted me to read for them and
66:10
that if started a book club and people
66:13
have discussions about books and they
66:15
they meet other people through the
66:18
reading club that they have and it’s
66:20
grown and grown and there’s so many more
66:22
things that we can do with our voice
66:24
than just commercials and audiobooks and
66:26
eLearning and it’s right out there on
66:29
your doorstep you just have to go out
66:30
and offer your services and you will
66:33
love it well so that’s my little plug
66:36
for doing volunteer work and being part
66:38
of your community I like it I don’t know
66:40
if you have time but I just was a side
66:42
comment I made on on Facebook I said you
66:45
know if I had all the time in the world
66:47
I would go to a prison and I would start
66:49
a voiceover training program there
66:51
because those people are again bored to
66:53
death and once they get out of prison
66:55
they need to do something and you know
66:58
you don’t have to have a voice like Don
67:01
LaFontaine in order to make a living as
67:03
a voice-over artist but these people
67:04
have plenty of time and you don’t need a
67:07
lot of technical equipment they can talk
67:09
to themselves an old cassette recorder
67:10
and and record it for me and and I can
67:13
coach them but what if we could get a
67:15
whole set of people who are in prison
67:17
right now are really talented and start
67:20
recording audio books and then send them
67:22
to fellow prisoners in it listen to them
67:24
and it could become a new thing you know
67:26
and it’s just another idea that I had
67:28
and some
67:29
who were friends with me on facebook
67:31
said that’s a really good idea you
67:32
should do that so I hope someone will
67:34
pick that up good for prisons teach
67:36
people a nice profession so they they
67:38
have something to do when they get out
67:39
and make somebody’s day thing is of
67:42
course you’ll remember that while
67:43
they’re in prison they will be working
67:44
for free yep doing our job Yeah right I
67:50
don’t know if they can can they can
67:53
market their services from from inside
67:55
the prison I was gonna say I can’t
67:57
imagine there’s too many people who’d be
67:58
too pleased having their book voiced by
68:00
a prisoner once they get out it might
68:04
change but you know ya know who would
68:07
know that’s the point no one would know
68:09
who they are most of them are bored
68:11
stiff and they they want something to do
68:13
and have plenty of time to really learn
68:15
the trade and you know we have this
68:18
chain here in the United say it’s called
68:19
Mart Pizza made made on-demand and it’s
68:23
basically you have your your pizza dude
68:27
your dough and then it’s like a buffet
68:29
you can pick any topping you want and
68:31
it’s all the same price and what they do
68:33
is to help people who have had a
68:35
criminal past get back on their feet and
68:38
so you know that there’s this people who
68:40
had have who did time and they’re great
68:43
people and they make great pizza so if
68:46
they can do that why can’t we help voice
68:49
what can voice or community to help
68:51
prisoners and get back on their feet and
68:54
start an career as an audiobook narrator
68:56
another podcast that I work on we talk
68:58
to a guy who is a convicted bank robber
69:00
bank robber he got can he got sentenced
69:03
to eight consecutive life sentences plus
69:06
ninety nine years in London in the in
69:10
the UK but he he while he was in prison
69:14
his son died and because he’d attacked
69:17
wardens and done all sorts of sort of
69:19
nasty things while he was in prison the
69:20
warden said well there’s no way I’m
69:22
letting you out to go to your son’s
69:23
funeral
69:24
and it turned his life around he
69:26
actually wrote a book and is now an
69:27
acclaimed author and has actually been
69:29
released from prison and is leading this
69:33
amazing life writing books and speaking
69:35
on the public circuit and yes I mean you
69:39
know I think what you’re suggesting is a
69:40
great idea I mean you I think if you
69:41
give these guys some
69:43
tangible to hang on to and give them
69:46
some hope right then you’re doing a
69:48
great thing no matter what that thing
69:50
tans or anything is right and it’s it’s
69:52
easy to do it doesn’t cost a lot and you
69:54
give somebody something else to do
69:55
because otherwise you know they’ll end
69:57
up becoming a better criminal mmm yeah
69:59
that’s right that’s what most people end
70:01
up being yeah no that’s it’s a big
70:02
University of crime really because you
70:05
have the biggest brains in crime get
70:07
together and all they learn about is
70:08
become a better criminal yeah so why not
70:11
do something useful and get it the
70:13
voiceover it’s just an idea but whoever
70:15
once we take up for it go ahead and
70:18
start it cuz that’s a great idea
70:19
I’m telling you doing these volunteer
70:21
things is is so much more satisfying and
70:24
it gets you out of this studio which is
70:26
so important because there’s a whole
70:27
world outside of the walls of our studio
70:29
that we sometimes don’t even realize
70:32
it’s there and you need to explore it
70:36
and use your talents to the max that’s
70:38
one of the things I realized when I when
70:40
I was face to face with death we have
70:43
limited time so it matters even more
70:45
what you do with it you know and
70:47
sometimes we all need this wake-up call
70:48
and I got it early on thank goodness and
70:51
I really start to think about what is
70:53
what other things that I can do that I’m
70:55
more meaningful you know when when
70:57
somebody asked would you like to do this
70:58
video game we need this villain type of
71:00
guy person and it turns out to be a game
71:03
filled with gratuitous violence I said
71:05
is this really the best way I can use my
71:07
time no it’s not so I’ll pass it on to
71:10
someone else because that’s not what I
71:11
want to do it really helps me put my
71:14
life into perspective my profession into
71:16
perspective and also make realized make
71:19
me realize that it’s not always about
71:20
the money I’ve had my best moments doing
71:23
stuff for free
71:24
as I said in center Square at the
71:27
Eastern farmers market talking about
71:28
strawberries I recommend it yes and if
71:33
you ever come to Eastern Pennsylvania
71:34
come on Saturday morning find me I will
71:38
give you the microphone that’s my
71:39
promise be an announcer for a day on
71:45
that night
71:46
is any more we can say it really is that
71:47
no I think the world covered yeah that
71:50
was create oh it’s great being I could
71:52
talk forever
71:53
that was the pro audio suite if you have
71:56
any questions or ideas for a show let us
71:59
know via our Facebook the pro audio
72:02
suite podcast
72:07
you
“When the going gets weird, the weird turn professional.”
― Hunter S Thompson