Paul Stefano

I fired a client last week. My biggest client (in a way)

Taking a break from my FB pulled questions from other people to one of my own for a change!

So, I have been doing these medical explainer videos for a while. Almost as long as I’ve been a voice actor. The Youtube channel started when I started, about 6 years ago.  As such, I took a really low rate to help the channel get going, in the hopes it would gain traction and, thus help me gain traction. At the time I think I was doing $90 PFH (per finished hour) for audio. Terrible, I know. Even worse, was that I was doing open record. For those who don’t know, that is when you turn on your microphone, start talking, any time you make a mistake, you just restart talking. This leaves all the editing till the end. Later, once I learned Punch and Roll editing (I’ll explain that in another post, I’m too lazy right now!) for audiobooks, I applied that to these short 4-5 minute explainer videos as well. That cut work time out a lot, because when I was done recording, the file was basically ready. I also upped my rate for this client somewhere around the same time to a whopping $100 PFH!

Like I said it was a gamble. And you know what? It largely paid off. The channel quickly became very popular. Individual videos were getting 10K views, 20K views. Very quickly my most popular video about diarrhea, had over 100K views! Along with that, I had done 100 or so videos over a 2 year period. I started sharing the work with my voice over colleagues and other friends and family. It became a great career showpiece. It got to the point that at cocktail parties, people would ask me what crazy ailment I was narrating next!

Then, I had a wake up call. I hadn’t really looked at the numbers in a long time until about 2 weeks ago. I looked at the channel stats and found the channel was now at over 25 MILLION views and over 150 THOUSAND subscribers. I was proud. That means, 25 million people have heard my voice over the past 6 years. Naturally I posted another video to social media, mentioned the  metrics and it got a big reaction. One reaction, in particular, stood out. My friend Patrick Kirchner at Sound Attention VO said on Facebook, “time to renegotiate”.  You know, Patrick was right. Why was I still doing this for such a pittance?

So I made a facebook post asking for help. I went to the Voice Over Pros Facebook Group.  I said, I need some way to estimate Youtube channel revenue to see where there may be room to negotiate a more fair rate. Fellow Voice Actor Ben Wake, helped me with some estimations and another talent pointed me to the site Social Blade which can help. Based on that, it seems the channel should be making $50-150K per year. They were paying me about $2000 per year. Clearly there was some wiggle room there, right?

I reached out to the channel owner, suggesting we talk about a sharing of the ad revenue they must be getting. Barring that, an increase in the rate. At first, they demured, saying the channel was a gamble, most channels don’t make money in the first few years and we are just starting to see a profit. They talked about maybe upping the rate a bit. Then I sent the findings from Social Blade. I suggested a monthly retainer of $1500-$3000, pointing out that I was a vital part of the videos. They consisted of just the animation and my voice. They used to add music but gave up on that a long time ago. That’s when things got interesting.

Instead of admitting there was money being made, or even discussing it, the channel owner went global thermal nuclear. They started by insulting me, saying I “clearly don’t understand anything about running a business” and how they were “hesitant to even reply to this email”. They then proceeded to tell me that we could stick to my current rate or I could move on.

So..I did. Do I feel bad? A little. I got a chuckle out of some of the work. I also enjoyed it. It was good practice to keep my chops up and my brain on it’s toes. Also, there is something cool about saying 25 million people have downloaded my voice. I guess that will always be the case, the numbers just won’t increase. Still, working for that rate, no longer made any sense, especially now that it seems there were literally 10s of thousand of dollars being brought in, with ZERO of it going to me.

So today’s FB voice over question of the day comes from…Ugh, I don’t remember. This was one of those I saw, said to myself “Hey, I should blog about that” then saw something shiny and moved on. Anywhoo, it’s still a good one. A voice actor said “A really powerful agent sent me a connection request on LinkedIn and I accepted but didn’t do anything else with it. Should I have sent a message or responded? Did I blow my shot?” I’m paraphrasing a bit but you get the idea.

I have some experience with this. I have been to a LOT of voice over conferences over the years. I’ve even been a presenter multiple times and media partner. As such, I meet a lot of voice over agents! I’ve interviewed them on my podcast The VO Meter, I’ve had lunch, dinner or drinks with them. Sometimes MANY drinks. Later, I may have connected with them on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or LinkedIn. Do all of them represent me? No. Did I submit to all of them? OH YEAH.

In some cases it has worked out. I’m proud to say I have personal relationship with all my representation. In other cases, it has not. I still remain friends or connected with many entertainment agents who do not represent me. Sometimes I hope a future professional relationship will blossom. Sometimes I just think they are cool people.

So, if an agent follows you on insta, retweets something you posted, or connects with you on LinkedIn, don’t panic. Act like, you know…a human. Create a relationship, foster it, maybe share a cat video with them. After all, we’re all just humans trying to survive on this crazy spinning top we call earth.

Today’s Facebook voice over question comes from the very niche Universal Audio Apollo for Voiceover group. The question was how to plug a studio mic into an Iphone 11, in order to record a video?

I have tried to figure this out myself. I do a fair amount of youtube videos. Here is an example I just recently posted featuring work I did for Samsung

I also do videos about. Here is a shootout I did between a Sennheiser MKH 416 and an Audio Technica 4073A

Finally, I do some videos that are just quick looks into the world of VO like this one from my VO Booth Confessional series

Now, I imagine the OP was looking for a way to create a video that had great content, but also could showcase the studio quality his clients have come to expect.

While this is admirable, I let slip a little secret. IMO for most Youtube videos, people don’t care about audio quality! Yes, in my example above where I was comparing mics, it’s important to have the best studio sound for people to listen critically. In my video where I’m talking about Male kegel exercises? Not so much.

If fact, I’ll give you a behind the scenes secret right now. On my VO Booth Confessional videos like the one posted above? I use the built in mic on my tablet! In this case a Samsung Galaxy Tab!

As usual, content is king.

I wanted to take a minute to offer a cautionary tale to any new voice actors out there. From time to time, a client will ask you to give them a read of an entire script. There could be a number of reasons for this. One, the producer, or director may just not realize how much work that entails for the voice over artist. If someone does not work in voice production on the regular, this especially can be the case. You may hear comments like “it will just take you a few minutes right?” or “its only 30 seconds, how long can it possibly take?” Two, the client may be looking to use your read as a scratch track. This is where your voice recording is added to a video or audio file along with the pictures or music so that the client can make a pitch to their client. This happens when the voice over is hired by a marketing or PR firm. This is all well and good, but you should be paid for it! Finally, the client may well be looking to steal your work. They ask you to read the whole script because they fully intend to take your work, and head for the hills once you send the mp3. Sad, yes. It does happen, however.

This week I was asked to do a read for a script and provide 4-5 takes of 3 different scripts. Two 30 second voice overs and One 15 second. This brought up a whole different reason not to do what was asked. Let’s face it. If you are reading One 30 second script as an audition and you are a talented voice actor, it really may only take you 5-10 minutes! In my case, on this job, however, I was being asked to provide 15 separate full reads! That really is a lot of work. Plus, here’s the kicker. The client told me they wanted these full reads so that THEIR client could make a decision on which voice to hire.

I, of course told them they were out of their minds. There was no way I was going to to 15 full reads on spec! Instead I offered them 3 reads of 1 of their scripts as an audition. If their client couldn’t decide who to hire from that, tough.

Now, you can probably guess where this is going right? I sent the audition, and several hours later the client said “Thanks, they decided to go with the other guy”

Was I mad? No, I fully expected this to happen. I protected myself by only sending a partial audition. Could they still use my full read of the 1 script without my knowledge? Sure. I did my best, however, and it really was minimal effort for that audition. No more than 5 minutes of my time.

The title above says it all. Or does it? Welcome to another addition of questions voice actors ask on Facebook! Today’s entry appeared in the Voice Over Pros Facebook Group The question about which microphone to use for voice over comes up A LOT. Whether or not to use one or both of these particular microphones, the Sennheiser MKH 416 or the Neumann TLM 103 comes up nearly as often. Heck, even I’ve used them both and done reviews on them. You can check out my review of the very similar MKH 415 here :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEuEAkMn6i8

So, because these two mics have become ubiquitous in the voice over business, people tend to get snarky when talking about them. Me too. My answer in the post was “Either, neither, or both”. Sorry, I couldn’t resist! In fact, I did take my own advice once upon a time. I DID own both microphones individually. Then, at the same time. Then decided neither one of them worked for me and resold them both!

Here’s the thing about microphones. They are VERY subjective. What works for one person may not work for another. In fact, what works for one person in a specific booth or recording space, may not work for the same person in a new booth. This is what happened to me. In my new Studiobricks booth, I can no longer use a shotgun mic. Of course I no longer use the TLM 103, but that’s a whole other story!

Your best bet as a new or aspiring voice talent is to rent or try as many mics as you can in your recording space until you find the right one.

Today’s interesting cry for help comes from the Facebook Public Address Announcers group. Someone asked if they should always announce the score at a basketball game. The reasoning was basically, who really cares? If they want to know the score, they should look at the scoreboard. Later in the same week, another announcer stated that they were no longer going to announce substitutions on the mic because there were too many and it was becoming redundant.

Now, I’ve been a public address announcer off and on for over 15 years. I’m also pretty old. Not quite a boomer, but late Generation X. As such, a lot of questions on the internet have me asking WTF? As an announcer, your ENTIRE job is to announce what is going on in the arena or on the field! Why wouldn’t you want to do that? Sure, you can argue that some people overdue it, getting all hyped up and spouting off nonsense just to hear themselves talk. The names of the players and the score, however? That’s the most basic of things to announce.

Firstly, accessibility. There are probably people in the arena who are visually impaired. Or patrons who have low vision or may be just flat out illiterate. They deserve to know what is going on too. Secondly, pride. At the high school and college level, and I’m sure even at the pro level, the parents, aunts, uncles and friends of the player are there to cheer them on. They deserve to hear their players name! Finally I would argue that with all the technology we have at the sports venues now; when every person has their head buried in their phones, PA announcers are more important that ever! A kid may not see the basket their brother scores because they didn’t look up from their candy crush game. They will, however, hear it.

Just do your job!