What better way to discover Los Angeles than to visit its studios. Heading first to Burbank, we had a great visit with the amazing Marc Graue, making certain to get photographed in that doorway framing so many of the stars that have passed through over the years. This is also the first of the Person Behind the Voice conversation which you can listen to, read, or watch… more video to come! Enjoy.

Download Podcast: Conversation with Marc Graue (right click “…save target as…”)

[podcast]http://www.fileden.com/files/2009/11/24/2662799/acaba19_Marc_Graue.mp3[/podcast]

In conversation with Marc Graue

For the first time, the Person Behind the Voice comes to you in glorious technicolor!!!

For subtitles, click the CC button (Closed Captions which uses the transcription below)

Transcript of conversation with Marc Graue

Andy:  Okay… Well, here we are today at the legendary Marc Graue Studios. I’m very honoured to be with you sir.

Mehmet Onur, Marc Graue, Andy Boyns

Marc: I’m honoured that you came up here, it’s wonderful. All the way up the five.

Andy:  In Burbank, California.

Marc: It’s true

Andy: We should let people know where it is

Marc: Well, yeah it is in Burbank, California that’s right. We’re in Burbank, California.

Andy: Okay, well that’s what the nice lady on the TomTom told us, and we believed her. So here we are, not in some alien… third dimension or fourth dimension.

Marc: It is a voice-over studio so it’s close.

Andy:  It’s close. Well, we just had a very nice chat, Marc, and what I wanted to ask you just to kick off here was: this is the legendary Marc Graue Studio, was there ever a time when you weren’t legendary? And what was life like as a kid? How did you get into this crazy business?

Marc: Well I have an ex-wife and children who wouldn’t think it’s legendary at all. No, actually it’s very interesting; I was born into this basically. My dad used to anchor news at Channel 5 here in town, KTLA. So I grew up with Daws Butler and Stan Freberg doing a puppet show – live – which was very interesting. They, at that point, didn’t have actual lighting systems. This was back… Well, my dad started there in 1948, I’m not that old. But as a kid growing up we’d go in, sit and watch this, and the lighting systems that they had at that point were simply huge pieces of plywood with floodlights patched all to it. So it must have been 300 degrees back there. I have fond memories of sitting there with my mother, watching this wonderful series, this live puppet show and Stan Freberg goes, “Hey Beany… Oh f***!” like this and the puppet had  literally melted on his hand, and so I thought it was wonderful because that was the day I learned puppetry and bad words. It didn’t well with my mother at all, she said, “You’re not going back there!” But we used to mimic voices; there was a drive-in, an AMW drive-in, where we’d sit with my brother and mimic people eating and kind of do voices with that. It’s funny, kind of a circuitous route; I ended up being the staff announcer at Channel 5 for about four years, which was interesting, which was kind of a strange thing after my dad being there. So it was… you know.

Andy:  So was that your first job?

Marc: No, actually my first job… I went to college and got an Associate of Arts and broadcasting and thought, “Well, every radio station in the country will want me… and of course they didn’t.” So I worked all over Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, Oregon, Washington, San Francisco, San Diego – went to San Diego State as well, got a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Communications, still nothing.  But always, my first love was always production. And so when I kind of lied my way into a music studio up here, it was actually Cherokee Recording – large, large, this was in the heyday of Roy Thomas Baker who was the one who produced The Cars, Journey… I mean it was a magnificent studio. I really was kind of in over my head, however, they had a media studio and so I was in charge of that, so my first big gig was Van Halen – and not musically but actually to produce commercials for – and I talked Warner Brothers into coming in, and when they came in they brought their own engineer, and they had all the girls that looked like they were dead: black fingernail polish, black lipstick, black hair, black everything. So the guy was looking to patch an effect and I go, “You know, if you do this…” and he turns around in front of this room full of people and goes, “You know, I’d appreciate it if you shut your f***ing mouth and stay out of this.” And it was kind of a right side of the brain wanted to knock him off the chair, left side just kind sat there and turned four shades of red. So thankfully I went for the colour portion and listened to spot afterwards – and this was high price talent, I mean it was a big deal and I was very nervous the fact that I’d had Warner Brothers Records in, and listened to this spot and went, “It’s okay but I think I can probably do something…” So I actually went in and voiced, not vocally but production again, so I actually went in and voiced it because I could pay someone to do it and tacked that on the end of stuff when I sent it to Warner Brothers Records. They called up and said, “What the hell is this?” and I was like, “I apologise, I didn’t mean anything…” They were like, “No, no, no, we liked it”. It was like, “Really? They liked me!” That was the first foray into that, and so I had Warner Brothers Records for about nineteen years until AOL bought them out. And that was kind of what started…

Andy:  So you started working with another studio and at that stage you set up your own studio?

Marc: Yeah, what happened in that case was they ended up closing that out, because they could make more money as a music studio doing sweetening and that kind of stuff, so I actually bought Studio 5 from them. I had not a penny to my name; I was living in a guest house behind a Yugoslavian landlord in East Hollywood who would come out and go, “Marc, I don’t care… what are you doing in my house, you can’t shut my yard! Marc!” So it was kind of an interesting thing because literally half the guest house was a studio, which I had bought from Cherokee and stuck it in there, and things just kind of progressed. It was a very interesting… you know, kind of place obviously having all of this stuff and trying to keep things going. Moved from there into a commercial building in Hollywood, this has been goodness probably thirty… five… thirty-five years ago and just gradually expanded there. We started with about 600 square feet and doubled in size, tripled in size, quadrupled in size and then it got to the point where there was a lot of interesting individuals in the neighbourhood. Let’s just say it was, “Whoa… that’s not a woman! Okay!”  So yeah it was rather interesting…

Andy:  Colourful…

Marc: So yes, you didn’t want to laugh because, terrible things could probably happen to you… But the neighbourhood was pretty rough, I remember having Julie Andrews come to a session. She’s walking in, very prim and proper and across the street you’ve got, “Say bitch!” I mean it was like, “Oh, my life!” It was mortifying. Thankfully she was very classy and just acted like nothing had happened whatsoever, but I was like… you know…  And so anyway things got a little rough there so actually looked around and moved out here about twenty eight years ago into this building. It was very interesting this was a company called Stereovision. And this was a company that did all of the really cheesy-looking Gorilla 3D movies back in the ‘50s and ‘60s, so when you walked in there was a very old man that was like, “Let me show you… and the dust would fly all over the place… And he had like little rocket ships on strings and things, it was kind of interesting. But basically built the place up and just kind of started out with that. We had done a lot of audiobooks to begin with, I’ve literally racked up… we’ve probably done close to 8000 titles. They started out with Dove Audio, which was very instrumental, because we were kind of the studio they did a lot of stuff and then literally within a week after opening here they said, “Well we’ve built our own studio” and it was like, “Argh… I’ll be okay” So it’s been that kind of progressive change with stuff and now… it’s, I think, the ‘legendary’ portion simply comes from the fact that we’ve been… we’re sitting upright, that’s all that is, it’s like, “Hey, look! He’s still alive”

Andy:  So, talking with you, you’ve obviously got thousands of characters locked up inside you just screaming to get out, some of them…

Marc: Why are you looking at me like that?

Andy:  I feel safe, I’m over here… I’ve got an arm rests between me. But that’s not all of your work… Did you start off with the sort of more character side of stuff, or the narrative stuff, or did you just grab whatever came along? How did you create them?

Marc: Well the funny thing is I’ve always done voice work – I was, again, I was a disc jockey in radio. The door would fly open and the general manager would go, “I can’t believe you just said about the Chevy dealers now apologise on the air”, and I was like, “Okay” and I would do the character stuff on the air and stuff but this was way before the Mark and Brians, and Howard Sterns and stuff. So it didn’t necessarily go over really well, especially in a market like Wyoming… imagine that. And so, the character stuff… actually what I do… I started the studio first as the bread and butter portion knowing that that was the business aspect of stuff. The first… I’d done a lot of voice work, but the first actual audition I had was at Hannah Barbara, this was when Gordon Hunt was back there, in fact I think his assistant was Kris Zimmerman and it was daunting, I had no idea how it worked. So I had written this entire script thinking that you needed to do a Robin Williams changing sort of, “Now we’ll have to find the great Noah of stuff”, “You may call me great! Great, yes!” “Oh one great is enough”, “Okay then” you know, they were like, “Make him stop!” It was like, “No I swear I’m not on crack, you know… just caffeine!” So, that portion of it is kind of where that started. Most of the stuff I was initially doing was the character stuff, yeah. You know, cartoons and video games and all that kind of stuff and then that branched out – you know with the deeper pipes it was doing a lot of that, you know, “Tonight on CNN” you know and all of that kind of Anderson Cooper stuff and all that. It’s gone into the narration portion as well; it’s kind of across the board. It’s an interesting, in that case I’ve been very fortunate, I don’t think anybody’s actually figured out what I do, which is probably why I still get to work.

Andy:  Yeah, so just by being creative and pushing on doors, and seizing the opportunity.

Marc Graue

Marc: Well yeah, absolutely! It’s very much you adapting to what the situation is, it’s not the other way around. A client will not adapt to you. You’re there to serve them basically, so if they say they want a gay, Jamaican coffee cup that better be one of your characters. That’s what you need to do. You can’t go, “That’s not one of the characters I’ve developed.” It’s very much improv. I always tell people it’s like that’s the best possible class you can take, is an improv class. If you’ve ever called the boss and lied to him about why you’re late to work, that’s improv… and if he believed it, it’s good improv. And that really is the key.

Well, the key to it demo-wise, when people do that, it’s like if you do animation and you want to do cartoon characters, be realistic with yourself. You don’t need to do everything, you know. And it’s much better – don’t fall into quantity versus quality. I love people that go, “Well I’ve got 741 voices on my demo” and it’s like, “And it sounds like you’re doing every one of them!” You know, so just do three, four. Just do what you do. It’s like you’ve found that slice and do that but just a notch better than the next person that’s all it is. And don’t take it too seriously, you have to understand we’re sitting in a room and talking, and yes there is absolutely the business aspect of this – and people miss that sometimes – but on the other hand realise that we are getting paid to sit in a room and talk, which is like, “How cool is that?”

Andy:  We were joking a little bit earlier about how some people…

Marc: No, no we weren’t.

Andy:  No, OK… We were being very serious earlier about how people take their training too seriously. Training, or some sort of input, whether that’s input from the world around you or input from a class, some sort of input is important, but taking it too…

Marc: Well I think you can learn technical aspects of things and that’s wonderful but the bottom line is, if you’re in a session, whether it be… whether you’re recording your demo or whether you’re actually getting a call-back or you’re auditioning for something, or you’ve booked the job, you don’t have the luxury, you’re not sitting in there going, “Now, I remember that when I hit this phrase I’m supposed to use my diaphragm, and now like this, and then on this part I’m going to do this.” No! It’s basically you just do it and fly with it. That, and then really the biggest thing of all to be successful doing this is your ability to interpret whatever the director says. And sometimes you’re gonna be kind of going, “This makes no sense to me whatsoever.” and other times you will be going, “This makes no sense to me whatsoever.” No, no, you’ll have directors that are very good and will make perfect sense, and those are the good directors that kind of bring you over to the dark side, and then they set it up and you just fly with it. And there’s others that… their style can be very, you know kind of aggressive, which I don’t think that’s conducive to getting a good performance because you kind of freeze a little bit. So again, it’s doing what you do, bring to it what you do. Don’t stop in a session and go, “Oh, oh no I don’t know…” It’s like have that visual image of what it is…

Andy:  I’ve never driven a Buick so I can’t do a voice-over for one.

Marc: Yes exactly! It’s like, do what you do. It’s like, if you have a younger voice that’s that kind of young, hip thing you’re going to be doing a Toyota Prius spot not a Lexus, Infiniti, or a Mercedes Benz. It’s skewing to what you do kind of a thing. It’s also that visualisation. It’s like, “Is it elegant?”, “Are you walking down in a tuxedo, or a woman in an evening gown, at museum with a glass of Champagne?” Or is it more ‘No, I’m wearing a pair of cut-offs in the backyard with a beer.” You know it’s kind of… are you BSing with the boys, and back talking about how crazy your girlfriend is because she took your car down to this car mechanic that’s an idiot? You know so that’s a little more blue-collar, average kind of stuff. If I see another piece of copy that’s, “We want an average person, we don’t want an actor, we want a real person. But NO acting! We want real”

Andy:  “I’ve never been real so how can I do that?”

Marc: Yeah, exactly, yeah.

Andy:  So you obviously enjoy the creativity of the characterisations and so on. And also you’re doing the narrative reads. I guess some corporate, straight, narrative reads. Is that exciting for you? Or is that just something you go, “Ugh! I got to do it.”

Marc: “Right, are we there yet?”

Andy:  Is there a character building in that as well do you think?

Marc: Well certainly. It’s the same – I don’t really do much corporate stuff now. Years ago I got involved with – I had to get a top secret security clearance and all this stuff, we were doing training films for the army, navy and marines and it was one of those, you know, “This is an S925AB, in your civilian life you probably called it, ‘a paintbrush’”. You know, it was like that, “Wait, wait, wait, I’m trying to write one down.” and it’s kind of you know, fall asleep time. The narrative stuff now, like the Alaska State Troopers, and Fisherman of the Sea, and a bunch of those kinds of things – it’s a narrative style but again depending on what it is, like they’ll say, “We want more drama on this” or they’re pulling up on a terrible, very graphic automobile accident or they’re actually chasing the suspect. I mean a lot of that will come across but – it’s the same thing as doing promos, you don’t inject that much stuff, that’s what the visual is doing, and then otherwise what happens is that it comes across as very swarmy. So, if you’re doing a promo read and it’s talking about, “Jill Smith discovered that she had cancer” You know you’re not gonna do, “Jill Smith discovered that she had… cancer.” You know, it’s like they won’t let you do that. It’s like, “We understand that but it’s more that you are there to inform not really take a side.” and that’s usually what they will tell you, so you need to kind of pull back a little bit.

Andy:  It’s still understanding the right kind of styles…

Marc: Well sure, exactly, it’s the same thing as movie trailers. Everybody assumes that if you do movie trailers you have to be hung like Mr. Moose and have a voice that knocks the walls down. It’s like, “No!” There’s guys Rino Romano is phenomenal, Rino’s a great guy and he does very, very, you know what George DelHoyo, the higher register stuff.

Andy:  That’s an interesting conversation I had with John Garry last year. And he was saying to me… at the time I hadn’t done any promos, and I said I didn’t think I could and he said, “Why not? You haven’t tried.”

Marc: Sure.

Andy:  So there’s finding a right style for your voice.

Marc: And that’s the key it’s like Ashton Smith, Ashton has kind of replaced Don, with Ashton we always laugh, it’s a 10 second promo and 8 seconds is, “Tonight, on NBCeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee” and just kind of rolls out there. Well, in that case you’re never gonna hear Ashton go, “Hey, what’s for dinnerrrrrrrrr? Kraft Macaroni and Cheeeeeeeeeeeese” No, but he’s making bazillions doing trailers, he’s phenomenal. He’s got that wonderful voice that cuts through and that’s that niche, that’s… he’s found what works, that’s what he does.

Andy:  Okay, that’s very cool. Well, this is – your studios here are amazing… all the different actors that come through here, the different productions… the range of productions that you do here. And I was just wondering if I could introduce one new character and see if…

Marc: Sure.

Andy:  … If you can bring a voice for it. I have a little bear that’s been with me for 30 years, this is Russell.

Marc: I think he needs to get out more.

Andy:  Yeah, well he gets out quite a bit.

Marc: Shut up Russell they’re talking to me. “It’s alright!” No okay.

Andy:  He hasn’t had a voice for 30 years.

Marc: Okay, is he an older bear? Is he a sweet bear?

Andy:  I think he’s a sweet bear. He’s travelled quite a bit, he’s quite curious about what he sees around him.

Marc: Is he a smart bear?

Andy:  Well what do you think? Look at the light coming out of his eyes there, he’s a smart bear.

Marc: I’m scared.

Andy:  I’m scared as well….

Marc: I love this, “Do you want to see my bear?” Wait a second, how many times has he used this? I have little furry animals in my van…

Andy:  No this is the first!

Marc: Well I suppose the obvious choice is “He’s very sweet and he’s quite, this kind of…” you know that kind of a thing but I think… let’s see. If he’s smart he could be a little more intelligent, like scientific kind of?

Andy:  Okay.

Marc: So that’s a possibility I guess. Hmm… Let’s see, I guess, “What kind of voice…” I guess he could be “very much that kind of feel like that…” guy if he wants to go British we can make him more like this and even more like this” or we can get him… and drop the accent entirely and just go, “I’m so happy to be here today”… as I’m losing my voice, because you can tell I’ve been speaking all day, I actually had a video game this morning so I apologise but he’s very, very cute.

Andy:  He is indeed. Well thanks very much Marc!

Marc: “We should make him talk like this. Hey I’m just curious, could you touch me under my arm? Yeah that’s it. Like that”.  Sorry about that.

Andy:  Okay. Well thanks very much.

Marc: Thanks! It was a pleasure.

Andy:  You’re a great guy.

Marc: I’m so glad you guys came over; it’s wonderful to have you here. “Welcome to America, you poor man, now get your contractor’s license, listen to what your mother said”

Andy:  I will do! I will do. Thanks Marc!

Marc: My pleasure

Andy: Take care

About Marc Graue

Marc Graue is the owner of the legendary Marc Graue Voice Over Studios, a Burbank California landmark for more than 25 years. His client list reads like a who’s who of the voice over business including the Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon, HBO, Disney, Warner Bros., Dreamworks, Showtime, MTV, Discovery Channel, ABC, CBS, NBC, HGTV, Activision, Electronic Arts, THQ and many more can be found in the studios daily. As a producer, Marc’s voice over demo clients include: EG Daily (Rugrats / Babe), Yeardley Smith (The Simpsons), John Dimaggio (Futurama / Kim Possible), Randy Thomas (Academy Awards / Entertainment Tonight), Brian Baumgartner (The Office) and 100s more!

As a voice over artist Marc has been represented by William-Morris in Beverly Hills for the last 12 years and can be heard on Avatar-The Last Air Bender, Veggie Tales, Code Name: Kids Next Door, Warcraft, Spiderman 3 the Video Game, Ratchett & Clank, GUN, Gothic 3 and on countless trailers and promos.

Links:

The Legendary Marc Graue Voice Over Recording Studios
Marc Graue on IMDb
Marc Graue – Voice Over Experts training podcasts on Voices.com

Thanks to Connie Mustang for her assistance with this interview

Camera: Mehmet Onur

Mehmet Onur Voice Over website

About Transcription

Beau Bridgland

This episode of “The Person Behind the Voice” was kindly transcribed by British voice artist Beau Bridgland.

Beau is an up and coming young, English voice artist, based near Cambridge in the UK with a desire to work in the USA. For several years whilst studying for his Mathematics degree, he studied voice-over independently and made contacts. But he really stepped up his voice career with his first US visit (and first ever flight) to the VOICE 2012 convention where he was able to meet face-to-face with many of his voice acting heroes. He has since received coaching from the likes of Crispin Freeman and Bill Holmes – the Voice-Over Doctor – and his is a talent to be listened out for and followed.

The announcement said: “…why yes, Virginia–there IS Christmas craziness coming from ‘The Hole’ this year! Featuring the vibrant voices of EJ Holly, Andy Boyns, Mehmet Onur, Wil Cheung and Pocholo Gonzalez…” Written, produced by (and also featuring) Herb Merriweather, listen up, enjoy, and well: Be a blessing!

Asked for a suitable quote for this posting, Producer, Mr Merriweather – likely with tears in his eyes – expressed, “Just express my deepest appreciation for the efforts of ‘The Voiceover Avengers’…”

The Four VoiceMen of the Apocalypse - Andy, Mehmet, Herb & Pocholo

Links

Herb Merriweather – The Person Behind the Voice – our conversation from 2010

EJ Holly on Voices.com

Mehment Onur – Personal website

Wil Cheung on Twitter

Pocholo Gonzalez – Personal website

What do we mean by “international” whether in respect to voiceover, or anything else? Even in my lifetime, the world has changed, and the concept of “living globally” is one close to my heart with friends scattered in so many places, and the ability to communicate with these perhaps more easily than the person living next door!

This article was originally written for the VOICE 2012 conference earlier this year, but I share it again now as I believe a clear understanding opens up many opportunities both for work, and for having better relationships with those living in, or coming from another place. Have a read see if you agree with me that international isn’t just about “out there”… it starts from where you are, right now.

Oh, and if you want to see how much fun it is working with folk around the world check out our unofficial VOICE promo videos http://andyboyns.com/voice2012

And on a seasonal note, take a listen to the “Third Annual Voice Talent Holiday Greeting” messages compiled by the honourable Terry Daniel

https://soundcloud.com/voiceoversbyterrydaniel/third-annual-voice-talent

Your international voice

Not long after graduating from university (with a major in Education), at job interviews I used to ask what opportunities my prospective employer might offer for working internationally. At the time this probably wasn’t a particularly smart move, as although my intentions were good this was about 25 years ago before the age of the internet, and before globalisation had really changed the world we live in. I had grown up watching my father develop the data processing department for a large US company across Europe, and even before most who read this had even seen a computer, knew it was possible to use these to communicate between countries.

At around the same time I lived in a hostel for international post graduate students, in England. In fact for over three years I was the token British resident, and I shared my accommodation and living space with folks from 110 countries. I saw the world!

As a small child I spent hours recording my own radio shows on our reel to reel tape deck, read the lesson in church, was fortunate to sing in a church choir with a talented choirmaster. These continued through my teenage years when I also stage managed school and youth club plays, visited BBC Radio, participated in some TV broadcasts, and took a couple of short workshops about interviewing for radio.

Fast forward twenty years or so, and I moved to Istanbul, Turkey. Here I had the opportunity to begin to put the pieces together, and finally realise (with both definitions intended) my dream of becoming an international voice artist. The background above is intended to illustrate that I believe what we do today is a culmination of our experience, none of which is irrelevant. It also begins to illustrate that “international” is not just an “over there” concept, but really starts from where you are.

Here’s the Merriam Webster definition:

in•ter•na•tion•al

adj \ˌin-tər-ˈnash-nəl, -ˈna-shə-nəl\

1. : of, relating to, or affecting two or more nations<international trade>

2. : of, relating to, or constituting a group or association having members in two or more nations <international movement>

3. : active, known, or reaching beyond national boundaries <an international reputation>

Interestingly, since I am based in Istanbul, Turkey, every time I record in English (nearly all of my work) I am contributing to an international production under definition #1 even if the recording is for a Turkish client, for use in Turkey. This is a very different application of the term “international”, but suggests that many projects which voice artists contribute to may have an unexpected reach, and perhaps unintentionally affect an international audience.

In my introduction I mentioned living with people from 110 nationalities – this was in a small city in the UK. One must therefore wonder if what is defined as a “local” spot is only heard by “locals” whatever they may be.

A more classic view of international voiceover would be the artist in one country, and the client in another. For many this is the dream, and yet with the resources of the internet this is now technologically very simple. In fact it is usually no different in process from delivering audio to a local client. The steps involved are actually so similar that on several occasions my clients have only learned that their audio has come from overseas after the completion of their production!

Definition #2 refers to the association of people across several nations. VOICE 2012 exemplifies this: the VoiceOver INTERNATIONAL Creative Experience. It does what it says on the can! (Sorry, that’s an old British slogan!). Furthermore, the “International VoiceOvers” panel brings you an eclectic selection of global talent, and the opportunity to discover a wide range of perspectives on what it means to work in different global locations, experiences of working with clients based around the world, ideas on how to cope with problems thrown up by irregular translations, or cultural differences, and much, much more.

The panel comprises natives of five continents, based in five different time zones (Los Angeles represents a sixth time zone!), and will not only share a wealth of experience, but also be open to responding to questions.

• Andy Boyns (British VO – Turkey)

• Lofty Fulton (Australia)

• Mehmet Onur (Turkey)

• Pocholo Gonzales (The Philippines)

• Priscilla Groves (Ireland)

• Simone Fojgiel (Uruguayan – Spanish VO – USA)

The VOICE 2012 International Voiceover Panel

Association with others is undoubtedly one of the most efficient ways of developing, and one of the huge benefits of an event such as VOICE comes from meeting others and broadening one’s own horizons through learning of their experiences.

One of the questions which will undoubtedly be raised relates to definition #3. “How does one become active, known, or reach beyond national boundaries?”. Fortunately this is not rocket science, but it does take a little application.

In fact there are already many clues to this scattered through this article. VOICE 2012 provides the opportunity to expand connections in person, and this is all about reaching out and saying “Hello”. This is the importance of its strong community theme. Here active participation is the key, and you have to make that happen.

As main sponsor of the convention, Voices.com is one of the technology links which many find critical to expanding their client base globally. As with other similar voice market places, Voices.com is a tool which provides the opportunity to connect with potential clients who might be based anywhere around the world. One advantage here is that the client/talent workflow is clearly defined, and the awkward questions about payment options are normally sorted out before the job begins.

Contributions to discussion on the various social media platforms (yes, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, VoiceoverUniverse etc) are also tremendous ways to build reputation and get yourself known. When I started as a voice artist in 2005 it was an interesting experience in the studio to often be the only person who understood the script. I had no-one to guide me. This rapidly changed when I became involved in the online communities. Today I am grateful for the support of my voiceover compatriots around the globe, and I find myself constantly aware of different international timezones, and imaging what various individuals are doing at this moment in their part of the world.

How you build your reputation is also connected to how you market yourself. Consider how others might perceive you if they’ve never had the chance to meet in person. This is reflected not only through one’s use of social media, but also through the availability of a good personal website. Voice artists provide a professional service. Is this how you are portrayed? Here the World Voices Organisation (http://world-voices.org) deserves a mention. Rather than only asking the question “Can I trust the client to pay me?”, it’s important to also consider the client’s anxiety: Can I trust this person to deliver a good audio product? World Voices is an independent membership organisation which will set standards of professional quality and skill to produce recorded audio in a home environment for the expanding commercial market. It will also serve as a guild to train voice artists on how to attain those standards.

VOICE 2012 has education as a third theme which provides an opportunity for a recent reference a free teleseminar conducted by the event producers, Penny Abshire and James Alburger. Although the teleseminar was strictly speaking outside the scope of the VOICE event, it illustrates that in bringing people together, a simple question may deliver an unexpected response.

As the guest on the call, Stew Herrera was asked whether one should impose a personal limit on an approach to marketing, and target only markets similar or smaller to the size of one’s locality. His reply perfectly fits with the explanation of “international” which I’ve described here:

Stew Herrera: “You know, I don’t know that it matters any more… because the internet has democratised the whole darn process. There are guys in every state, every place you can think of who are competing in every size market. Market size almost doesn’t matter. I don’t think anyone cares where you are – they care what do you bring to the table: what do you sound like?”

The ability to work as a voiceover artist is no longer tied to geographical location, and with a good internet connection even a home based studio can reach out to clients around the globe. Good relationships within the international voiceover community, and a solid international reputation can only help.

If this has changed your perspective of what it means to have an “international voice”, then join in the conversations and ask your questions either at the “International VoiceOvers” panel at VOICE, or later online in one of the many voiceover groups.

VOICE2012 International Panel

Links

VOICE Convention at VoiceActing Academy

VOICE 2012 on andyboyns.com

World Voices Organization

Voices.com

Bill Farmer

Privileged to be welcomed in to Goofy’s Bounce House and spend the afternoon with the wonderful and talented Bill Farmer. For someone who started off as a “shy, shy kid” he’s come a long way, and entertained millions in both his role as a voice artist, and a stand up comic. Listen up as several of the characters he’s voiced drop in to share with the fun!

Download Podcast: Conversation with Bill Farmer (right click “…save target as…”)

[podcast]http://www.fileden.com/files/2009/11/24/2662799/acaba18_Bill_Farmer.mp3[/podcast]

Video Teaser

Although the whole conversation is only available as audio (see links above) here’s a short piece of video from our afternoon together:

Transcript of conversation with Bill Farmer

Andy: Okay this afternoon I’m in San Fernando Valley, California with Bill Farmer. Nice to meet you Bill.

Bill: It’s a pleasure, thanks.

Andy: Well, very generous of you to invite us into your home and thank you very much for your time.

Bill: Goofy’s Bounce House right here.

Andy: Yeah I’m looking forward to meeting him later on. And I think Pluto’s scratching at the door out there.

Bill: Oh yeah. He’s, yeah… he’s out there too.

Andy: So, Bill you‘ve had a very interesting career, which many people know you as the voice of Goofy and Pluto. And in some ways that’s where you started in voice-over, which is incredible but if you were to throw back, right back to your childhood where would you say your seed of development for this crazy career that you’re in, came from?

Bill: Probably my local theatre back in a little town, Pratt, Kansas, small town of about 7000. Growing up I just adored movies. And I would go to the movie theatre every Saturday and spend the afternoon in the day and they’d show a double feature, and cartoons and The Three Stooges and all of that. And I just fell in love with the movies. And I actually think the movie that made me want to get into this was a Ray Harryhausen movie called, with Sinbad, The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad

And it had stop-motion animation, and the monsters and all of that kind of stuff. And I thought, “Oh that would be a great way to make a living” to getting into that. And also animation, on television I would watch…mostly the Warner Brothers characters, the Bugs Bunny (Bugs Bunny) “Oh brother, ain’t I stinker?” (Sylvester the cat) “Sufferin’ suckertash! Where’s that Tweety Bird?” (Tweety) “Oh I tort I taw a putty cat” and I would practice those voices and found out I have a facility for doing voices.

Bill: And it was just kind of a party trick for years and years.

Andy: So… were you recording yourself or were you just…?

Bill: No, not at that time, it was just kind of playing with the voices, just for fun.

Andy: So, just in front of other people and…?

Bill: Yes… yeah not even in front of people, for a long time I kept it to myself because I was a really shy, shy kid.

Andy: Okay.

Bill: And my friends mostly enjoyed that. And then they kind of pushed me up to, “Oh you ought to perform this. Let’s drive through…” When I got old enough to drive we’d go through places like, you know, Burger King and I’d order in weird voices (Pat Buttram voice), “I’d like a Scotch and Soda” or something. And uh… people would laugh and it was just kind of a party trick or game or just kind of a… a fun thing at parties for a long time until I got into college and kind of made it into a career.

Bill Farmer, Goofy, and Andy Boyns

Andy: Okay so, was that… the turning the party trick into… something that you… you’re a shy guy and I’m just logging that…

Bill: Yes

Andy: You’re a shy guy that can do voices and your friends loved that… and then a little bit further down the line you were a stand-up comedian…

Bill: Yes

Andy: And you can’t be terribly shy to be a stand-up comedian…

Bill: You would think that it’s… but a lot of stand-up comics are shy people. When you assume a character on stage, you become someone else.

Andy: Okay

Bill: You can kind of be a non-shy… bold type of character onstage while being a very… offstage a very shy person. A lot of actors are like that, a lot of stand-up comics are very shy when they’re one-on-one. Maybe it’s a way of compensating; maybe it is a way of overcoming that shyness. Either way, I found it easier to be… And I’ve never… I’ve never really sought the limelight, and I think that’s why I was attracted to voice-over. As opposed to, let’s say, an on-camera actor.

Andy: Okay.

Bill: Because we get to play and we aren’t interested in the fame. It’s the job that’s the interesting part. It’s to be able to… the creativity…

Andy: Sure

Bill: It’s to bring life to all these characters. And we like to play. And I think that was what really drew me to it. And I’ve always enjoyed the audio. My degree was in broadcast journalism but I started, really in radio. And it’s a theatre of the mind; you can create scenes and characters that exist only in your imagination and using your voice to bring life to these characters, not through physicality but just through the audio.

Andy: Right

Bill: And I always enjoyed that. And I’ve always enjoyed radio plays, old time radio shows, I’ve enjoyed that and so I guess it just kind of developed from that really.

Andy: Okay so how did you make the transition then from… I’m assuming you were working as a stand-up comic?

Bill: Yes, my degree was in broadcast journalism, I got a job for a few years as a radio disc jockey in small market stations throughout Oklahoma, Kansas, Texas, wound up in Dallas, Texas. And I wasn’t too happy with the radio, mainly because there was no money in it. I needed a little bit more money to live. And one night I went to a comedy club in Dallas and it was called The Comedy Corner. And I heard… and you could sign up to do just 5 minutes of comedy and I thought it would be just kind of fun to see what would happen. And so I signed up for the following week, I came back and had written a little 5 minute comedy routine, and it got a warm reception. And I was asked to come back to the club and so I started kind of doing it on a semi-regular basis and it got more and more regular.

Andy: So that was a chance entry?

Bill: Yes, yeah!

Andy: You thought, “Oh it’d be fun, let’s see what happens”? So it wasn’t a deliberate career move as such?

Bill: Not at that time.

Andy: I think this is very interesting because that’s a very positive way to move forward…

Bill: Yes and stand-up I think is the best training there is.

Andy: Okay

Bill: Because there is no such thing as pity laughter, you are either funny or you aren’t. An audience will let you know very rapidly. And you learn the art of stand-up, of performing for an audience. Live performing in front an audience, you get that immediate feedback that you don’t get in radio or any other medium really or in animation as well. You get immediate audience return and you find out how you’re doing.

Andy: You can feel the love.

Bill: You can feel the love or the hate. And you learn from that, you learn from your mistakes. And so I became a much better performer from that. And so I think all of this prepared me for finally coming out to Hollywood, which I did back in 1986 on the advice of an agent in Dallas.

And you know, I didn’t know what awaited me out here but I got really lucky, my first animated character audition was for Goofy. At the time there were 4 or 5 Goofys and 4 or 5 Mickeys, and when Michael Eisner took over the company, one of his decrees was that they always heard the same voice so you’d always have consistency wherever you heard Mickey or Donald or Goofy. And so my agent said, “Do you do any of the Disney characters?” and I said, “Well I can kind of do a Mickey” because you can do that falsetto (Mickey Mouse) – “Gosh, oh boy Pluto!” Donald Duck is a tough voice to do (Donald Duck) “Oh boy!” that’s about all I can say as Donald Duck but (Goofy) “Oh gosh, Goofy was right there in the pocket” you know? So I did an audition and out of about 1200 people that tried out for it I was the one that was picked.

Andy: Wow

Bill Farmer - an awarding career

Bill: And I’ve been doing it ever since. And I’ve done probably about 3000… 3500 jobs over the last 25 years and still doing it, I have a show to do tomorrow.

Andy: Fantastic! And very interestingly for me you’ve been the voice of Goofy for all this time but next week if there’s a new Goofy role coming up that’s not just in the pocket is it?

Bill: No, no, not at all. For the Goofy role or the non-Goofy stuff?

Andy: Well if you have a Goofy role coming up is that on contract or are you auditioning for the new Goofy role?

Bill: No, they’ve used me consistently and I’ve been the only voice of Goofy for 25 years but I’m not under contract.

Andy: Yeah?

Bill: Yeah, they just use me, it’s like you go to the same doctor over and over… or a plumber I guess I’m more like you know? I come in, I do a job, I go home but they like what I do and I have the body of work so why use anybody else?

Andy: Well we like what you do as well

Bill: Thank you!

Andy: We enjoy watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse back in Istanbul

Bill: Yeah and we’re just winding that up after… it went on the air in 2006, it’s 2012 now so it’s been on for 6 years and probably about a year before that we started recording so I’ve been doing that show a long time.

Andy: Yeah

Bill: And it’s finally coming to the end of that run.

Andy: I’m sure it will continue being repeated…

Bill, “Oh absolutely”

Andy: …for many years before I even… Steamhouse Willy is still being shown so…

Bill: Yeah, kids can watch stuff, for over and over and over and they’re happy to do so.

Andy: … and new generations, and of course that also segued into things like Kingdom Hearts and the game side.

Bill: Oh yes!

Andy: So you’re not just a cartoon animated character, you’re doing video games…

Bill: Video games, record albums, singing – a lot of singing, talking toys, computer games, websites, live park shows at Disneyland, Disney World… everywhere they use the character. And like I say, it’s thousands of times I’ve done different projects. Tomorrow I am doing a pickup session for Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, NO actually tomorrow morning is for a Walt Disney World Marathon, it’s a live announcement, I guess Goofy will be announcing the marathon, like (Goofy) “Runners get ready!” or whatever they say and so I’m doing that tomorrow, then on Thursday I’m doing Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, some pickup lines from an earlier show that they’ve changed some lines in and on Friday I’m actually doing Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck in an episode of Robot Chicken so…

Andy: How cool is that? That’s amazing.

Bill: Yeah, it’s a busy week.

Andy: May they all be like that!

Bill: Yes!

Andy: And are you doing any of the straight narration recordings as well?

Bill: Oh absolutely, I do commercials, I do narrations, I did a promo for a television show… what was it for? Something up in Oregon, and that was interesting because I auditioned for it here and my audition that I recorded here was good enough quality and they just used that, I didn’t even have to go and rerecord it at a studio, they used my audition for the actual project and so I didn’t even have to go in and rerecord it!

Andy: Well that’s great as well! I’m guessing that Goofy is your favourite character?

Bill: Yeah, he’s definitely… he was always my favourite Disney character as well, which is kind of interesting… that if I could pick any character to get as my own that would have been the one character, yes.

Andy: Well that’s great. I wanted just to wind up, could Goofy say hello to my son William?

Bill: (Goofy) Gosh! Howdy William, that’s a great name!

Andy: Thanks Bill, you’re great. Pleasure to meet you.

Bill: My pleasure.

Andy: Thank you so much.

Bill: My pleasure.

About Bill Farmer

Bill Farmer is a performer of many diverse talents. In a voiceover career that has spanned over 25 years, his voice has been heard by millions of people worldwide as the official voices of “Goofy” and “Pluto” for the Walt Disney Company. In 2009 Bill was honored to be inducted in the Walt Disney Company’s hall of fame when he became a Disney Legend along with Betty White, Tony Anselmo and Robin Williams. High honors also came in 2011 when Bill was the first Voice Actor to receive the Friz Freeling Lifetime Achievement Award as well as being nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award from the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences for his work on the television series Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. Additionally, Bill has also voiced such classic cartoon characters as Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Sylvester the Cat, Foghorn Leghorn, and Yosemite Sam, and many others for various studios such as Warner Brothers, Lucasarts, Universal Studios and MGM. Bill provided additional voices for such motion pictures as Toy Story, Toy Story 2, A Bugs Life, Beauty and the Beast, Monsters Inc, Cars, Horton Hears A Who, Surf’s Up and the Spongebob Squarepants Movie among others as well as hundreds of commercials and television shows and has maintained a strong acting career in front of the camera as well.

Links:

Bill Farmer at Toonhouse Inc.
Bill Farmer on Wikipedia
Bill Farmer on IMDb

About Transcription

Beau Bridgland

This episode of “The Person Behind the Voice” was kindly transcribed by British voice artist Beau Bridgland.

Beau is an up and coming young, English voice artist, based near Cambridge in the UK with a desire to work in the USA. For several years whilst studying for his Mathematics degree, he studied voice-over independently and made contacts. But he really stepped up his voice career with his first US visit (and first ever flight) to the VOICE 2012 convention where he was able to meet face-to-face with many of his voice acting heroes. He has since received coaching from the likes of Crispin Freeman and Bill Holmes – the Voice-Over Doctor – and his is a talent to be listened out for and followed.

Remarkably, the most rewarding project I’ve recently worked on was not the one which paid all the expenses for our family summer holiday in a 5 star hotel in North Cyprus (flights included), but William’s and my participation in the 2011, 9th edition of Holiday Magic, a Gift for Children of All Ages CD!

The goal of this annual production is to brighten the holidays for the sick children spending the season at Children’s Hospitals and their siblings who often feel lonely due to the other child being absent as well as requiring more attention from the parents. Last year nearly 5000 copies of the CD were delivered to Children’s Hospitals internationally and they were thrilled to have them and distribute them to their patients!

The CD is the brain child of Jeff Gelder, and is produced by his company Gelderhead Productions.

The first CD was produced in 2003, when professional voice actor Jeff Gelder was tasked in a Landmark Education class to come up with a project that would enhance the community and ultimately take on a life of its own. That’s just what has happened, as Jeff now fields many inquiries about the CD all year long. He says, “This year we hope to once again have CD’s for Children’s Hospital’s in San Diego, Milwaukee, Denver, Albuquerque, Orange County, New Orleans, Houston, Los Angeles, Palo Alto, Madera, Delaware, New York, Oakland, Omaha, Rhode Island, St. Louis, and Singapore, plus Minnesota and London, England!”

For me, contributing to a project like this is rewarding because of the wonderful results it brings for the children who received the CDs – what a privilege to be part of this, even though the recipients are, so far, many thousands of miles away.

Furthermore, such collaboration brings the opportunity to work with wonderful talent. While I recorded the narration of “Let’s Go Home Little Bear” in my own studio, James Alburger kindly (and expertly) brought it to life producing the track with music and sound effects. It’s not every day my work gets into the hands of a multiple Emmy award winning producer!

Collaborative projects also have the benefit of enabling one to push other boundaries, and get together with new partnerships. This was no exception, and when my good friend, Connie Mustang told me she had an original story for the CD, and wondered whether William and I could contribute character voices, we both jumped at the chance.

And so the Reel Mustangs’ track, “Croc Christmas” came to life, with William (then aged five) as the Christmas Mouse…. he’s since gone on to perform his first professional voiceover for a Brazilian production company. I contributed various character voices to this track too.

We had a lot of fun recording these together, and it was a pleasure to meet with Jeff again at VOICE 2012 when he was able to tell me in person some of the stories of the reception he and his team received when visiting the hospitals to deliver the presents. We also have a rather splendid plaque to commemorate our participation, which takes pride of place on my studio wall. This is a permanent reminder that some of the greatest rewards come when you help others.

Production of this year’s CD is already well underway, with a goal of distribution to 10,000 children. With stories and songs selected for 2012 CD, donations for CD production and delivery to benefit Hospitalized Children Urgently Needed.

This is where YOU can still contribute… and spread the word, too!!!

Jeff has expressed the appeal: “This year’s goal is to produce and deliver a minimum of 10,000 copies, which will be delivered around the country and to Singapore in December. Please consider donating a minimum of $50 or more. No amount is too big or too small. Your gift is much needed and immensely appreciated! Every donation goes toward gifting a CD to a child. This is a labour of love that is received with much joy by children who are unfortunately spending the holiday season in the hospital and their siblings, who often crave attention due to so much being given to the ailing member of their family,”

“We appreciate all donations! The more donations the more children that will be receiving a CD. Thank you for your time and consideration, and make it a happy holiday season!”

Andy Boyns & Jeff Gelder

For every $10 4 CDs will be gifted. No donation is too big or too small!

Sending a donation through Paypal is incredibly easy – think how many children you could make happy by skipping on visit to your favourite coffee house… instead pay a visit to http://holidaymagiccd.com/donations/ – guaranteed to bring more long lasting feeling of internal warmth than a tall cappuccino!

To find out more, and join in the conversations (please also share on your favourite social media sites, here are some links:

Holiday Magic website: holidaymagiccd.com

Facebook – facebook.com/HolidayMagicCD

Twitter (@HolidayMagicCD) - twitter.com/HolidayMagicCD

Voiceoverxtra reports

Gelderhead Productions – website

William Boyns – personal website

Many thanks to all those who have already responded to the appeal to raise funds to help British voice artist Andrew Swingler and his family. Here is a brief update on how that is going, further encouragement too to add to the VO Peeps scholarship fund, and details of the amazing 50,000th tweet which was sent yesterday evening in a fitting tribute to the late Sandra Swingler.

First though a quick leap back to underscore that this is indeed a tremendous example of how the voiceover community pulls together. As Liz de Neznera (@lizden) tweeted:

THIS is Community. RT @andyboyns “if there’s anything i can ever do…” – well, now you can – http://blog.audioconnell.com/2012/07/03/if- …

Please take a look at my article from last week, and blogs from other dear friends on the same:

• Andy Boyns - Social media – time to make a difference
• Ann Ganguzza – Lessons from Sandra Swingler…
• Derek Chappell - A Loving Wife & Mother: A Tragic Loss
• John Florian (VoiceoverXtra) - In Memory Of Sandra Swingler, Two Ways To Support Her Family …
• Peter O’Connell - “if there’s anything i can ever do…” – well, now you can
• Bob Souer – Make a difference

This morning Andrew shared this news on the facebook page Sandra Swingler’s Status:

Today was a day of closure.

The family sailed from Newport Beach this morning aboard the 67′ White Light, and out to

1 Comments on This is community, last added: 7/10/2012

Display Comments

Rick Lance said, on 7/10/2012 8:07:00 AM

Many thanks to you Andy and Andrew for sharing your thoughts, memories and video with us.
I wish you and your family all the best, Andrew!

Add a Comment

This week and over the coming months the voiceover community is pulling together to help the family of our good voiceover friend Andrew Swingler. This is a call to action, and direct evidence of the ability of our community to make a direct difference not just in encouraging eachother in our professional lives, or finding work opportunities, but pulling together in times of sadness.

Like me, Andrew is an expat British voice artist. He’s based in Orange County, California, and is the father of two daughters. Seven months ago his wife Sandra Swingler was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer. Sadly she lost this battle last week.

News initially came from Andrew:

At 2:45am on Wednesday June 27th 2012 Sandra Swingler said goodbye to this mortal world and joined her parents in the next life.

Sandra has struggled without a single complaint for almost 7 months against a cancer so rare that less than 100 cases have ever been recorded.

An incredible Mother, wife and sister, she will be missed by everyone who met her.

Sandra Swingler and the girls

Most of my contact with Andrew has been via Facebook, Twitter, and the Voiceover Universe (PTU) forum, and yet I feel that we are in a very real way neighbours. I am grateful that he gave the opportunity to support him, his wife, and family through these channels, including regular updates on the Facebook page “Sandra Swingler’s Status”. Moreover, I am proud to call him a friend. He has become a shining example of how to maintain a positive public outlook throughout what must have been a period in which he was experiencing emotions I shudder to imagine.

Although I never met Sandra, from all that I have heard and read of her, she was obviousl

When you have an audio challenge, who you gonna call? EWABS!!! – Last time we saw members of the “International VoiceOvers” panel having lots of fun getting ready (10.30am Wednesday, be there!)… but it took 6 year old William to spot the problem – they need to be heard in English!

With VOICE 2012 just a matter of weeks away, here’s the second in a series of fun promo videos (check out Episode One here if you missed it). If you have any doubts about the value of the connections formed at VOICE, the reality of the community, make sure to follow the whole series. We may often work alone in our studios, but when there’s a problem be sure that someone will step in to help… make sure not to miss the upcoming episodes!

Produced by:

• Andy Boyns (British VO – Turkey)
• Mehmet Onur (Turkey)

With members of the VOICE 2012 “International VoiceOver” panel

• Lofty Fulton (Australia)
• Pocholo Gonzales (The Philippines)
• Simone Fojgiel (Uruguayan – Spanish VO – USA)

EWABS (East West Audio Body Shop – www.ewabs.com)
“Audio Processing: Demystified” at VOICE 2012

• Dan Lenard (USA)
• George Whittam (USA)

and from the VOICE 2012 “Social Media and the Voice Over Industry” presentation

• Dave Courvoisier (USA)

and special guest appearance… William Boyns

0 Comments on VOICE 2012 Challenge – Part 2 as of 5/5/2012 11:51:00 AM