The State of VO That's Voiceover The Society of Voice Arts and Sciences SOVAS

This week is all about gratitude. As we know Thanksgiving's coming up, the end of the year is happening. And a lot of people have words of gratitude and reminders of why we should be grateful with compassion. And you know, for a lot of people, gratitude is a practice every single day. And I definitely am one of those people multiple times per day. Ever since I was really young, I've always been in gratitude and I'm so grateful because during this pandemic I was turned on to service, right? SOVAS society of Voice arts and sciences.
Some great things have come out of this pandemic, right? Solvis has been around since 2013. I had no clue who they were, right. It's like once, you know, you know, but if you don't know, then you just don't know. Well, they also have a bunch of stuff going on and you need to tune in and go to the website. You can follow them on Twitter. So of us, SOVAS LinkedIn, they're on LinkedIn, Instagram, all the social media platforms. I just signed up for their newsletter. I got an email. Somehow I saw they had some event coming up. It was called that's Voiceover. And I was like, that's Voiceover.
And I'm like, that's me. So I looked it up. It was a three-day event. It happened Friday, Saturday and Sunday. It was six hours every single day back to back to back. And it was like intense jam packed, full of inspiration. People were sharing, caring. You know, there are people in the game since the nineties and there were people getting awards and we're going to get into all that. But first let me introduce the founding members, Rudy Gaskins and Joan Baker. And you know, a few months ago, all of a sudden I saw Joan Baker, her Instagram, and then I followed her and I was like seeing her on the social media. And then we were kind of interacting on the social media.
I see that she's written a book it's called the secrets of voice over success. And that was done in 2005. And these two have been a duo for like 18 years. They have been going at it on the website. They have a blog and their first blog post is from 2014. And they give an introduction of like how it all happened. Rudy Gaskins. I hope I'll have him in on the show in the near future. So I'm not going to give like all the juices of his story, but he was a producer over at ABC and he was looking for a voice and I think they wanted to go with a female voice. And there wasn't a voice, a female voice for seven years or something like that. Joan Baker, she went to the receptionist of ABC and she gave her demo.
And I guess it was sitting on his desk for three weeks and someone gave the suggestion like, Hey, like check out this demo. And then they hired her. And so that's how their kinship was birthed. I hope to have Joan Baker on the show too in the near future. That would be really, really cool. I connected with a lot of people from that VO. So in the near future, I hope to inspire you and have them on share their stories. There's this one guy who's a Voiceover coach and his name is Dave and he was on Minecraft story mode. And I was on Minecraft story mode too. So I'm like, oh wow, we already have this connection. How cool is that? Right? So there's that S Voiceover.
And we're going to get into that today, but just a little sneak peek. Okay. For one, I already said, go to the website, get on their mailing list. You want to do this and be up to date on everything they're doing, the people that are involved in because these people are just like, boom, powerhouses at the 1% of the 1% of the 1% of the 1%. So there's a lot of things out there, right? And you want to steer clear of the yak and the MOC and the, I don't know what to do because everything is built on relationships, authenticity, your voice, being a value for others, being an asset, being in service and just having a, a building relationship back and forth.
It's Voiceover. Like we don't see each other. A lot of times we're isolated in our boosts all day. And now with the COVID, we're not going to the studios and meeting with the people, working behind, you know, a huge glass with the producers and everyone directly it's all through the zoom and the source connect. If you have source connect, and if you don't know what source connect is, you can Google it and we can get into that on another episode. But yeah. So get on the Newsletter, get hit on what's going on, read all of their blogs, see everyone on their platforms, follow them on LinkedIn, follow them on the social media, being in the workshop over the weekend.
That's Voiceover a lot of the coaches and people like to be directly contacted through their website. So just hint, hint, note, note there for you. Also, they have an award ceremony coming up. It's called Voice arts awards and it's on December six. So I know you can go to the website and check it out and see more details. I was just on the website and it's so insane. They have 91 different categories, which is a lot in totally awesome because they're honoring people, not only in one area, but all areas, radio commercial, chromo, animation, you know, PSA's for TV or web PSA's for radio movie trailers, podcasting, consumer sales videos, like narration.
And then there's like TV, corporate, and then there's the demos. And you know, they, I wonder if they have one for like best coach or something like that too on here, movie trailers, promo, I mean, delicious keeps going on and on. And then, so, you know, there's different areas of Voiceover and there's audio book, narration there's e-learning fantasy. And the really cool thing about the society of Voice arts and sciences. It's not just English, it's bilingual. It's such a huge market being bilingual. They have outstanding mobile app. Esmail Voiceover, best female Voiceover animate.
So they have all these different categories, like honoring all these different people in Voiceover best sound design. How cool is that best casting director? I mean, this is so neat and so much, and it's a lot. So, you know, the people who were thinking like, oh yeah, I'm going to do Voiceover. And then like you get the equipment and then you let you do it. And then you're just like, oh, okay, like I'm not making any money. There was this one, voiceover actor, his name's Joel. And he was the host of the conference too. I haven't met him in person yet, so I don't want to botch his last name, but he was in the film in a world. I did it. That was my second time ever doing it. Eric Shuford, he's at the sag foundation in Los Angeles at the Don law Fontane Voiceover lab for the very first time I was like in whole world.
And that was my first time doing it. And that was my second time doing it. But it's like a big thing. So if you get it cool, if you don't get it just once you get more into Voiceover, I guess you'll, you'll get the joke of it and the meaning of it. And wow. Seeing the film in a world seriously, I've wanted to see that film for years. And then, you know, life happens, distractions, you're busy doing this, doing that. Finally, I was able to see it. There was a one hour conversation with lake bell and I've always been a very big fan of lake bell. I just love her vibes are essence. She's so beautiful. She's an actor. And so she has always been like known in the real world to be like, oh, okay.
Like she was like the lead girl in this film above voiceovers. It was like circling, circling, circling. And I'm like, that's so cool. A movie about Voiceover is how many, then I go to watch it the other night. And yo, she wrote it. She directed it. And she started it. I mean, what a great film, the writings, the casting is amazing. A lot of people from that's VO were in the film. It was, it was really, really, really cool. But you know, I was listening to her speak for about an hour. I was so inspired. I did a little story and I tagged her and she reposts did it. And I was just like, oh my God, you are my new role model.
Like knowing can stop lake bell. Like no one can, because in life people are like, do one thing, do one thing, the old model, they're all telling you to just, you know, do this, do this. They're telling you what to do. This woman is a visionary, as she wrote directed and starred in this epic film about voiceovers. I mean, I mean, hands down, hands down, praise, praise, praise, like all glory. I mean, she seriously, you know, when you get like a new role model and when you really look up to someone and then sometimes it's like, okay, you're looking for someone new to look up to. She's just this new iconic person. And I cannot wait to meet her in person one day. I hope to have her on the show.
And I really hope to work with her. That would be cherry on top of cherries here. But yeah, she got an award. It was the backstage Vanguard, honoree filmmaker, actor, producer, creator that was on that's Voiceover. And like I said, it's an annual thing. So you definitely want to be in the loop of what they're doing. What's going on. Another cool thing that happened over the three days was there was called an audition spotlight and it was with CBS. So there were these people on from CBS and I guess 400 people auditioned there. I think 40 who got callbacks. And then there were six who were down to the final rounds.
And in that six, the people on the live chat were able to see in real time and hear each person, how they, you know, interacted with the producers, the Reed, and then they gave them direction to see how well they took direction. It was a close call between two people, the person who got the audition spot got a lot of gifts. They got six month contract with a new management company that booming banging my girlfriend, Ali, Sandra Levy, just signed with them and she's loving them. So the representation is with ACM talent. This guy, mark Gus, who's killing it. He's one of the co-founders of it.
So, and then also the winner of the CBS audition. Spotlight gets a paid booking with CBS to LA. They got a Sennheiser and K for Mike and studio headsets. They got this like cable. I have two of them. It's a chaotic ball that you put over your mic. And they also got two VIP tickets to the voice arts awards that are coming up December six. So definitely want to go to the website and check it out. Let's dive into that and look at that for a minute. oh, we go there during the weekend for that's voiceover, they had the speed dating thing where you could sign up, you speed date with your demo reel.
So let's jump more into that S Voiceover, The three day conference, right? They had the board of directors on and it was a chat and everyone would just like communicate back and forth sound in furry. Was there this beautiful woman named Jill Kershaw? She's the creator of sound and furry. I auditioned for them all the time. It's just a powerhouse full of these beautiful gals. They're they're based LA New York. I think they have offices. I mean, basically all over. And then there was a casting talent agent from CSD there, mark Gus of ACM talent. He was on the panel and he's also on the board and there was all these different Voiceover coaches.
So they gave a scholarship away to someone. How cool is that? Right? And then they even had a conversation about the collapse of color, blind casting. And so that was really interesting. The voice Arts legacy award, and it was presented to Kevin Michael Richardson. And I had no idea who this guy was, but he's been on over 5,000 productions working in animation and all over the place on all these different platforms. So I haven't followed him on Instagram yet, but I'm definitely going to look it up. But Kevin, Michael Richardson look him up. He's one of the most celebrated voice acting biggest stars. They were able to sit down with him. One-on-one in a personal interview.
Oh, a really exciting panel that happened was with two guys from Pandora. And like I said, again, there is so cool because it's English and then the bilingual. So they had both there and Pandora has 1500 Voiceover promo spots per month. That's a lot of spots and people who were in included in the seminar, they gave this link where you could actually apply. So you fill out your information and they gave you a mock audition from Silvis and you send it in to possibly get gigs and work with them. And they are the two audio engineers and casting directors, producers, audio producers who hire for these Pandora spots, 1500 VO promo spots per month.
That is a lot. Whoa. I mean, are you overloaded yet? I don't mean to like give you so much information here. I know it's a lot, but like I said, go to the website and sign up and get involved and like these people on Facebook and follow their journey and listen to what they have to say. There's a lot of value out there. You know, they're leaving messages, they're doing videos, you know, you can follow them on Twitter and you can watch, you can read all these blog posts. And so you can do a lot of research and just lay the groundwork, like plant the seeds, if you're really serious about the business side of Voiceover, because a lot of people are like, oh, Voiceover. Yeah, I can do it. It's easy. But it's like, oh, okay.
But like, you can just like go and do voiceover. I mean, you can, there's different. There's different tiers and levels of voice acting. Right. So it depends your direction and how you want to craft your career. Oh, like I was saying earlier, this one guy, Joe, who was one of the hosts of the weekend, who's in the, in a world film. He was like, I auditioned for 90 projects before I get one. Yeah. Audition per 90 projects before you get one yeah. That's, that's how it happens. And then sometimes you book four jobs in one week. You just never know. Right. So yeah, the board was really cool. That was awesome. All the panels were about one hour long. So it's like, you get a lot of information in one hour and then they take these little breaks.
So you can get some water kind of take some notes, have a breather. But Rudy Gaskins, who is the CEO and president of Silvis, he was on a lot of the panels. He has a bright, big, beautiful smile. Very kind. So they had what producers want inside the minds of the visionaries. Okay. Oh, hosted by Les Trent. Interesting. He befriended me on LinkedIn today. How cool is that? That's so cool, right? Oh my God. He's the senior correspondent of inside edition. That is like so major. Okay. So yeah, they were giving insight and information about what the producers want.
One big tip. I would like to share with you is they said read ad weekly. So I started following them on Instagram and I do the I spot TV. So I can like watch current commercials and watch the, the brand. Sometimes I'll be going out for a Voiceover spot and I'll just like, look at Verizon McDonald's whatever. And I'll just like, I'll put in 20, 20 or 2019, just so I can see. Cause it pivots, right. What's what they were doing in 2019 or 18 or 17 or 1986 and way different than what they're doing, headed towards 2021. So it's really important to watch the commercials. Another thing they were saying and laughing about is like, people are like, oh yeah, I want to do voiceovers.
Or I do voiceovers. And they're like, oh, I don't watch TV. And it's like, okay, you don't watch TV. You want to do commercials, but you don't know the commercials out there. You need to be like educating yourself and be on the pulse. It's a lot of energy. So you have to have the passion and the ambition to be in it, to win it. And when you get into voiceovers, it's a marathon. Thank God. I was a cross-country runner. I learnt about short term, medium term and longterm goals. And you have to have a strategy and a plan. If you're a beginner, like just, don't go out there and like buy equipment and stuff. There are Facebook forums. You can add yourself in these Facebook groups, you can connect to the people on the solvis.org website, befriend them and you know, see what mikes they're using.
Watch their videos. Okay. Moving right along here. Oh, it's Cipriano it's so the Joe Guy, I was telling you about Joe Guy, but I was my first time ever seeing him I'm exposed. I know who he is now. And he's definitely a legend in the business and he was all over that's Voiceover. And like I said, he was one of the main characters and in whole world written directed, starred by lake bell. After I sold the movie, I cried, I just cried. I sat there and I cried because it's so true. And if you're like in it, you like get it. And it's just, it's exactly how it is from the beginning. Middle the end. It's just so truthful.
I'm like, I want to watch it again. It was two in the morning, so I had to sleep. So I didn't watch it again, but I am going to watch it again because it's so good. It gave me a lot of insight and motivation and hope. A lot of great hope. And then there was this boss man on, right? Okay. Jay Michael Collins. Yo, he had so many gold awards. I think maybe 50. It was just like a big L of just gold awards. And he's just a boss, man. He had this awesome mic manly or something like that. I was like, yo, what Mike, is he on? And then someone in the chat, they sent me Manley, M a N L E Y. I think, I don't know. I looked it up. It was like $2,999.
And I was like, oh wow, boss, boss. Totally cool. Right now I'm getting the T L M 1 0 3. And so I was like, oh, what's his mic? Cause I was like, maybe like, you know, I was interested and I was like, oh, okay. I'll just stick to them. You know, my TLM is $1,300 Mike Burt right now. So this is me upgrading. Right first I had right now I'm on the sheer it's a great dynamic mic. It's great for podcasting poetry singing a lot of singers and podcasters have the sheer SM seven B shear just came out, just came out with a version of this SM seven B, it's called something else.
However, it has the XLR and the USB, but it's the same quality. So I thought that was really cool and interesting. My friend, Rob green leash got one and shared that with me today. We had a podcast earlier, which is going to be on an upcoming episode. He's the VP of brand partnerships at Libsyn. They host 75,000 podcasts. So we were talking about scripted podcast. We were talking about audio book podcasts, and it's really cool. So voiceovers transparent over into podcasting, you know, having fictional series and the audio books.
Yeah. Jay Michael Collins was nonstop with Tom Pinto and they had this one hour session about TV and corporate narration. So they were just giving a lot of value and insight they're producers. They do demo reels. They're coaches. There were a lot of coaches on and they were saying, you know, if you want to do the Voiceover, like I was saying earlier, people are like, oh, I just want to do Voiceover. And then they're like, they're not training. It's like a muscle that you have to always build and continue to go deeper, deeper, deeper. And like, when you think, you know everything, or you got like all your tool sharpened, it's like, oh, you can find new tools.
So it's really important to always be studying and researching. So on the last day they had this atomic VO coaching, right? So there were all these coaches on there and some of them are casting directors. Some of them are producers and they broke it down hour by hour. So they had games and animation. One was with this guy, coach that I mentioned earlier day for NOI. And I connected with him. He's so cool. And I asked them to be on the podcast. He said, yes. So I'll have him on in the near future. He was the one that was on Minecraft story mode. It is so worth it to be a part of the community, you know, get to know who these people are.
And they were saying just like reach out and ask the question. And, and nine times out of 10, they'll be happy to email you back. And they also said like, oh, if you email and you don't hear back, don't get discouraged. Just maybe it was like a really busy week or month or two months who knows. And you can just always follow up professionally and ask the question again. And also they have availabilities for like, one-on-one coachings that you can do. Some of them offer because of the pandemic zoom workshops find out when they have workshops coming up, be a part of their community. Oh, they had ADR and dubbing and they had this really cool from bang, zoom, this woman, she was so awesome. Like mommy's her name?
She's a casting director and a coach. And then there was this woman, Laura stall it's S T a H L. She was really spunky and so cool. She doesn't even have an agent. She worked so much for crunchy roll things, zoom. And she was just saying how she just reaches out to the writers and the producers directly. I know my girlfriend did that before she got an agency on the ad side, you know, with not being just like, oh, I'm this actor I'm swimming in the ocean or swimming in this pond, hoping to get picked. Please select me. Treat it as a business at show business, Jessica Kent was on there. She's a VO director, producer, casting director.
She was also in the dubbing and ADR, just three ladies, boss, ladies making it happen. Ooh. The next panel was a TV and radio commercials. And I mentioned before, sounded very, I auditioned for them a lot and they are amazing. They do great commercials. So I've seen the name, Tina Moran ASCO, but like I've never met her in person. I follow her on Instagram and I, you know, I see her name and my email and all the time because of the castings. And I went to her website and I sent her an email and I just was really authentic. And I'm just like, Hey, like, you know, you're so beautiful. I don't think I said that, but I was thinking that because she had, she's just gorgeous.
But, but I wrote to her, you know, I was in your session and I would love to connect more if you're available to do a one-on-one. And I said, you know, maybe I kid have you listen to a bunch of auditions that I've done for your company sound in furry. And then, you know, you can let me know, like, was it the mic? Was it the tech? Was it the sound quality? Was it the acting like, cause actors weekend our heads and we don't know like, is it the tech? W was it negative 12 DB? Or like all that techie stuff. Especially being, having home studios nowadays. And she wrote me back within an hour and she just said the date she had available, we slotted it in and she was very kind.
And she said, she's very familiar with my work. I know. It was just like, oh my God. Cause like you don't, like I said, you don't see these people. You don't, we don't see one another. So for her to be like, I'm familiar with your work. It's just like, cause I've been like going at it for a long time. Right. So it's like, that's the thing. We just go, we go and go, you know, about people, we build relationships. She was, you know, familiar with my work, this like just really warmed my heart. It made me feel so good. I wrote an email to my agent. I told him about it. And he's like, yeah. He's like, I'm excited to hear the feedback from Tina. And he's like, it's going to be a great 20, 21. And I'm like, yeah. So we have a one-on-one set up and she's going to, she was so efficient and effective.
Cause I'm thinking, oh, I'll just like pull up the auditions. I've done for sound in furry. And then she said to me, I'll pull up the auditions you've done for us. And the day before I'll send you the copy. And then we'll also, I'll pull up the spot who got cast for it. I was like, oh my God, they file. And keep all of our voiceovers. Like she has like, she's gonna, I have a file. Like she's just going to go and like type in my name. And like, they have auditions from me. They just don't just don't throw them away. Like they have their whole system. Right. So they can pull it up. That's so cool. And she's like, yeah. And we can go over it. And she's going to coach me on, you know, to enhance the, see this or that. I'll let you know afterwards and then iron out any tech questions too.
So this is like closing the gaps. So happy, so grateful. Right. And this just happened in three days. Like all these things I'm telling you is just three days, right? So there's the person who gets all the information. First. You have to have the excitement and the passion and the ambition for what I'm talking about. Because if you're already exhausted by now, you're probably like, whoa, but if you're in it and you're excited, then it's like, let's go right Robin Armstrong. He's a voice actor. He's a director coach. Tina's a voiceover actor as well. I had no idea. When I went to her site, I saw she was a voice actor. I just thought she was a casting director. So it's like, you know, our minds think what they think, but we don't know, like everyone's doing a whole bunch of different things here.
Dave Walsh was really cool. He's a Voiceover coach. He's a demo producer. And then they went on to TV. Promos. That's very specific. Promos are really good with dynamic mix. I am really good friends with Randy Thomas, Randy Thomas is a boss lady. She has been the voice of the Tony's 21 times in a row. She's been the voice of the Oscars 10 times total. She's the voice of the EMAs, the environmental media association. She's like my spiritual mother. She's amazing Detroit. What we were talking about, TV promos show opens. And there were a bunch of like producers directors, coaches, and you can go to the website and look up their names and, you know, follow them on the social media and get involved.
They also talked about audio books and there was this one woman, Kristy Rooney. And she's saying she's produced over 800 audio books. And it was just a beginning, middle. And, and she was just like really thorough and detailed. And it's, it's its own animal, audio books, same thing with TV and corporate narration. It's its own animal. You can decide what's your vibe. You know what I mean? Like for me personally, I love commercials. I love video games. I love animation. I really love children's book. If I were going to do a book, I would do children's books because of my voice and because of my patients.
Yeah. I just think it's like, that would be a good fit for me and my heart center because you have to love what you do. Like no matter what you do in Voiceover or not, it's like the principle of the love because when you love what you do, 14 hours go by and you're like, yo, it felt like an hour. And it's like, you're just so in love with, with life and what you're doing. And again, with the Voiceover, it's a long journey, it's a marathon and it's a commitment and it's a lifestyle. And it's like, these people I just mentioned to you, they're good people. They're like really good people. And I haven't met a lot of them, but just by their words, by showing up and to be a part of the community that Rudy and Joan created, because I'm sure they vet out everyone and they know who's who, but this collective empire that they've created and that they continue to build on.
I'm so happy to be in service and be a part. And to be sharing all of this with you who are in the biz and also for the new commerce, you know, making your way in, I'm here to support you. I've been in the entertainment industry for 20 years. Now. My experiences are here to be in service for you and to share because I feel like paying it forward is so important. And also it's like, what's meant for me is me. And what's meant for you, is you? So the cool thing about voiceovers, if they want a female of my girlfriend, Ali Sondra Lavi, or if they want Joan, right. They're not going to hire me, but if they want me, they're going to hire me if they want like a male or, or whatever.
Like, so it's like, I like there's, there's so much out there and there's so many different areas, but for me, I think consistency is really important and getting involved in communities where you can build those relationships so they can trust you and you can trust them. And then we can have like our go-to people and then work together collectively because it becomes a family. It's just, it's a real cool collective. And it's, it's a family. It's just, it's really, really awesome. One little tip about voiceovers, you know, it's awesome. And always better to go B and like loud and like give it all you got, because if you're going for a take and you're like, oh my God, like Bali, Alberta.
And it's like, it's like, you don't know if you can get them to go big. So it's better to go beg. Cause they can always bring you down. But if you start small, then they don't know if they can bring you up. So that's kind of like a quick tip insight of the Voiceover world. Yeah. That's Voiceover literally that is voice over in a nutshell. And thank you so much for being here, stopping by. I hope I've inspired you and gifted you a lot of nuggets that you can take and run with. Feel free to reach out to me. 6, 4 6 8 2 0 5 3 1 1 6 4 6 8 2 0 5 3 1 1. Or you can email me.
Imagine Katie at gmail.com. Imagine Katie at gmail.com also. Yeah. Check out the sophisticated psychos on all music streaming platforms. I just released an EAP called hypnotic energy. It's encoded with 6 39 healing frequencies, 6 39 fosters forgiveness in relationship with ourselves. And with one another, I really feel on a planet Tory level. We all need a lot more forgiveness for ourselves and for one another. And so, you know, kindness is key being in gratitude. Yeah. The vibes are really cool. They're all beats. I created them on Ableton. What's up, what's up.
And then also check out the sophisticated psychos YouTube channel. We have a new comedy series. It's called couples therapy. It's an improv comedy series and we release episodes every single week. That's on the sophisticated psychos, YouTube page. Follow Sovos on all the social medias. You will be thanking me and thanking Rudy and thanking Joan as I am. And yeah, that's the vibes and that's the tribes. Definitely part of my tribe. Love them. Love them much gratitude, much gratitude. Woo. Let's do a little dance.
Yeah. Thank goodness for Rudy. What's up? What's up? Thank goodness for Joan. What's up? What's up. yeah. Rudy Gaskins. Joan Baker. Follow them on the social medias. Get them on LinkedIn. All that jazz society of voice and sciences. Silva, Silva, Aliyah. Cool. Oh, there's a really cool episode with Tom lawless. He's the president of EVOX and he is awesome and gives a lot of valuable insight. If you want to dive deep more into voiceovers. Also there's another podcast episode with Alex.
Socolow he's an amazing person and friend and a screenwriter. He wrote the original toy story animation and he gives details of how buzz and Woody their characters were created. And it will whoa. Blow your mind. Seriously. Yeah. And that's Voiceover and that's it. So we'll see you next week. Okay. Peace, love gratitude. Make it happen. No one knows what you want. No, one's going to do it for you. The best investment you can ever make is in yourself. So research get organized, reach out to the people say hi, you have one shot. Like Eminem says eight mile.
What's a one shot, right? Send an email to say, Hey, just heard this podcast. She's all over the place. Katie told me to reach out and just say hi, hi. I want to be a part of your community. Get on the Newsletter, you know, get involved in, you know, it's really, really exciting. And once you get and follow that excitement in life, it just keeps being a snowball effect. But instead of down, all right over now, see you later. Peace. Thank you so much for joining us. We'll see you next time. Kyriaki, over and out.