Welcome back to MAVO 2018 on The VO Meter, and I’m now joined by Stanley or Stan Fisher. How are you doing, Stan?
I’m good, man, I’m having fun today.
Awesome. So tell me what brings you to MAVO, or what are you doing at a conference like this?
I do audio production on top of voice work, and one of the things I created a couple years ago during a transition in my life was called My Demo Dude, where I had, at the time, was doing a lot of demo work for a couple people in the industry, a couple companies, and I wanted to get away from that and just focus on my own control over how we were creating that content. And the bigger reason I did it is because I love the creative conversation, I love working with other artists, and I found more value there to sit with someone and serve their life by helping them create a portfolio that was going to serve their career, and maybe, along the way, build a healthy relationship with that person. And from there, I’ve scaled it back even more, where if the relationship isn’t right, then I won’t touch that either.
I want to make sure that on all ends of the spectrum, the experience is amazing for both of us. So I’m not a mass production house. This is not my meat and potatoes.
I do not live off of this. It’s just a sub-brand to what I do on a daily basis.
Awesome. I’m curious, because I know you’re based in my hometown of Baltimore. How is that as a home base for production in VO?
It actually has increased my workload because there’s not a lot of people in the area touching into it. And what a lot of people don’t know is there’s a lot of national brands out of Baltimore. A lot.
And I’ve networked recently with two or three brands that are now using my work for their companies. And I’ve also networked with a PR firm that is responsible for the creation of commercial content for 13 national brands. And I did not see that as much in the Carolinas.
They exist, but not as much as you would think. And so doing my research, a lot of the reason these national companies are in the area is because they were established in the early 1900s. And you’ve got the Inner Harbor, and you’ve got a city that’s trying to rebuild itself.
A lot of companies are coming out of the North. There’s a lot of people moving out of New York. They’re leaving New York State because of the taxes that they’re paying.
And so they’re coming a little bit more further South.
And Maryland’s that much better, really?
Well, for them…
It’s like a thing for the tax burden, too.
And it’s not as bad, though. So if you do your research, New York is pretty rough, New York State, because my family’s from there, and my uncle’s a truck driver. He spends far more in taxes to the point that he wants to leave, because it gets worse and worse each year.
And so more and more people have left those areas to come further south. And you also throw in the factor of the weather and stuff like that. Even though the weather isn’t the greatest up in the Baltimore area, it’s still better than going up further north.
And, but anyway, that’s just something I’ve noticed since I’ve been here for the last year and a half, if there was a need for the things that I do and supply to that area because of the riots, businesses that had to shut down for that particular area. And I’m right in the middle of the arts district, so Baltimore, and there’s a surgence of them recreating and breathing life into the city. And there’s a huge hole creatively for people like us to step into the equation to give clients a direct connection so they don’t have to outsource outside the city.
So bringing back to the conference, have you had a chance to attend any sessions, poke your head in for a little while?
I poke my head into Gravy for the Brain. Otherwise, I’ve been stuck at my post talking to people all day. So the Gravy for the Brain was actually a really good one.
And talking about the industry and where it’s headed and kind of where we are, I thought it was very interesting. Because I’ve heard it, but not the way that they positioned it. It was a little bit more elaborate.
Yeah, Hugh really distilled it down to manageable pieces, I would say.
Yeah, it was really good.
That we easily digest.
But I’ve been at my post most of the time talking to everyone. Because the end result that I wanted when I came here was to have very one-on-one conversations with people to continue to build trust amongst myself and the VO community. I think I have a very specific end result around that because you’ve got a lot of people that are in or around this industry that their integrity, in my opinion, may not be to that extent.
And I want to build trust with my clients and anybody I do business with. And I feel that the only way to do that is to spend quality time in that conversation.
That’s great. So tell me what you’re looking forward to the rest of the conference.
Honestly, I want to get rid of the headache that I have.
I had a nest of headache right now. Too much karaoke last night?
No, it’s not anything that I drank for the karaoke. It’s the coffee that I had this morning was just really powerful. So I just took something.
I’m hoping to get rid of it. But outside of that, I’m just being silly. I’m curious to hear more from these speakers on things that will improve my approach as a voice actor or how I do business.
What I can do when I supply an audio production for somebody, when we’re building a portfolio for someone. What can we do to angle to make their lives better? What is something that we’re not thinking?
Where is it headed that we can be more innovative in what we create to get a better reach in their marketing plan so they see a higher return on investment? You never know when someone says something that there’s something that we can tack on to or change or evolve that becomes more functional in what we’re trying to create every single day.
That’s great. Well, speaking of sessions, Kari Walgon is about to do her keynote address. Yeah, man.
We should probably get to that. But thanks for joining us, Dan.
Thank you so much, man. Thank you, I appreciate it.