Do I Suck?

Stan Davis-Potopa · Posted: Mon Nov 13, 2006, 02:57 (GMT) Post subject: Do I Suck?

Hi, fellow voicepeople! Let me get to the point.

I'm new to doing VO work on my own, but not to the work itself. I spent 35 years on the air, doing everything an "announcer" could do. I'm now partially disabled, so I put a studio in my home and started out on my own. Now, I'm not naive, I know that you have to plug and plug some more, and endure rejection, then keep on going. After 300+ auditions here without a nibble, though, I'm starting to get paranoid. I'd appreciate any commentary on the demos on my Voice123 site. Be straight up; I'm not looking for compliments unless they're sincere. Thanks so much!!

Scott Pollak · Posted: Mon Nov 13, 2006, 13:53 (GMT) Post subject:

Hi Stan, from one radio veteran (31 years here) to another...

I'm listening to your demos as I type this and intend to listen to all of them to be able to provide honest feedback.

You have a VERY unique voice, but here's what I'm hearing...
- on your commercial demo that starts out with the old guys, it's borderline incomprehensible. The character voices are cute, but I had a really hard time understanding what they were saying. Even if they were crystal clear, there's going to be a VERY limited call for this type of characterization. Think about the 300 leads you've answered here... most of them probably wanted either a nice, warm, believable announcer, or POSSIBLY a high-energy, 'movie trailer' kind of read. Not too many leads for surly old coot characters. During the rest of that demo I liked the possibilities of the grandfatherly voice, but there were two things that bothered me... enunciation and lack of believability. It often sounded as if you were swallowing words, and on your straight reads it was more of a read and not much real emotive connectivity to it. Having been an announcer myself, my biggest problem was in making that jump from 'selling' people to 'relating' to them. Many helpful hints from Julie Williams, a real pro that you'll find on this site, has helped me to improve a lot.

- The character voices on the Mundy's welding spot were better and if anyone needs that type of voice you'd be great at it. But again, your announcer portion of that spot was, to me at least, swallowed up and just flat. Nothing special about it.

- Ditto on the Wheeling narration. Okay read, but it was just a read... You told me a story, but it lacked any real feeling. Try to find Larry Wayne's page on this site and listen to how he TELLS A STORY... it's astonishing to me. He really has me believing that HE believes what he's telling me. You need to work on interpreting copy, breathing life into it, bringing it alive and helping me to really paint a mental image of what you're relating (not telling) to me.

- I skipped the on-hold demo and am listening to the character voices demo. This seems to really be your strength, but there may be simply very limited need for this type of voice. Your Santa Claus was one of the best I've heard. Another thing about the character demo that I hear all the time, and for me, personally, I don't like:

- Because of the one cut of music trailing behind all the voices, it sounds like you sat down and laid down all these voices and clipped them together into a demo... a 'manufactured' demo if you will, as opposed to pulling together real clips from real spots you've done in the past. To me that always signifies that the talent really doesn't have anything from which to pull. I find those types of demos lose me pretty quickly. I'm going to attach my own character voice demo which actually was produced from various spots I did over the years. There's different pacing, different voices (of course), different levels of energy, and while I NEVER claim to be any kind of an expert on any of this stuff (truly I don't), this demo seems to have worked for me some in the past. Clients feel that I've done a lot of actual spots like this because they can hear it in the demo.

I don't think straight spots or narration will be your strength unless you can learn to breathe life into a script. You probably CAN do that, but I suspect you'd want to take some classes or training to help get you there. I'd rebuild the character demo and really go after those types of jobs. I'm not sure how one gets into doing cartoon voicing (I've heard it's awfully hard to do, and that you pretty much need to live in Florida or L.A. to do it) but you could probably do well there. Send your new and improved character demo to WTBS, too, for the Cartoon Network.

I hope this helps. I'm offering it in the frank and honest vein in which you asked. We all have our strengths and weaknesses and we need to figure out where we excel and really build on that, and probably ditch the weak areas. For example, I really suck at hard-sell and I try to never take on those types of jobs. You and I may have been great announcers, but now we're up against an enormously talented group of great voices who are bringing copy to life... not just selling something. Plus, clients are looking for something new; many of them know the old way of delivering a message doesn't work any more and many want their message to be REAL.

All the best, Stan, and I look forward to hearing what comes out of all this for you! Hang in there, buddy... only the strong survive!

Stan Davis-Potopa · Posted: Mon Nov 13, 2006, 15:14 (GMT) Post subject: Grazie, signor!

Scott:

Thanks...and I mean that. It's very refreshing to hear commentary from an objective observer.

You're right on the money on most everything. When I recorded the demos, I'd been off the air for almost eight years, and had not archived any original material save for some crappy-sounding airchecks. You nailed the character demo right on the head...that's exactly how I recorded it.

It seems as if I have a lot of work to do. Thanks for the push. And, BTW, thanks for the Santa nod. I got a call from a friend in Wheeling (I used to work at the legendary WWVA) who owns a studio, and is getting involved in an animated kids' special for Fox. He's hoping I can be the voice of Santa.

I really enjoyed your demos. You have a very sincere delivery that can run to authoritative. You'd be great for documentaries and things like that.

Please stay in touch.

Scott Pollak · Posted: Mon Nov 13, 2006, 15:42 (GMT) Post subject:

My pleasure, Stan. And thanks for the kind comments in return. As I said, I've REALLY had to work on changing my style over the years. BTW, my next-door-neighbor plays Santa every year and even took some special "Santa" training courses to learn how to do it and become a 'certified' Santa! Go figure.... Very Happy

Robert Jadah · Posted: Thu Nov 16, 2006, 17:24 (GMT) Post subject: stan and deliver

Stan:
There's little to add to Mr. Pollak's extensive critique. Your voice is a dusty old pearl there: absolutely unique. If you can work that to the right copy/spots, you'll run away with that niche and hide. Super sincere strength to it.
Conversely, I don't either see much marketability for your character voices. The growly falsetto, for example, should be silenced forever.
I thought the Christmas spot worked quite well, and would suggest you turn your talent to that type of family-oriented, kindly-Uncle, heart-string stuff.
I think you'll find less aggravation in being more posting-specific, that is, answering seeks for what you're good at and leaving all those standard announcer-types for the bulk of the auditions.
Growl silkily on, Stan,
Robert Jadah

Stan Davis-Potopa · Posted: Fri Nov 17, 2006, 01:42 (GMT) Post subject: Do I Suck?

Robert:

Thank you for your comments. It's surely nice to hear from someone who isn't BSing you!

My task now is exactly what I should try and showcase in my demos. I think I mentioned that I have no archived material that isn't over 25 years old, so I have to create or re-create everything in my studio. I do have about 30 spots that I wrote from which to glean. I'm finding out what I'm NOT good at, but am having more difficulty finding what I AM good at.

If any of you would be willing to have a feature-length conversation, please e-mail me.

Thanks again!