Sex,Lies and Awesome Voice overs…

by | Jan 7, 2017 | voice over | 0 comments

Enjoy this Trip and it is a Trip …when… voice overs become Art.The Guy and Girl next door spots may pay the bills …but where is your Artist in voice over ?

Are you piling them high and selling them cheap ? Good luck to you if that’s your Shtick.Click Click refocus …what brought you to the Microphone? was it a misguided flattery …”You really should do voice overs…you’ve a Great voice” Most of us know these days EVERYBODY has a great voice.Voice Overs Au Natural cut it and not the dickie bowed announcer guy who’s so uptight you couldn’t drive a straw up his ass with a 20 pound hammer.When Madonna seeks the muse she baths the studio in scented candles.Me …I’m no Madonna (getting into the groove let alone the stilettos is too much at my age).Nope, TWO WORDS

BEING THERE

Was the last film and curtain call of the great Peter Sellers.He played Chauncey the Gardner … a guy who didn’t try too hard and consequently was taken seriously by folk aka your clients … who’ll also take you seriously …provided you are BEING THERE.Abstract Huh ? …try this :

Oh….and schuss …it’s a secret …but hey! tell Mark Manning …and telegram!

” Many people have asked me how I can “Get into their minds with my voice” – this is a secret I have never divulged to anyone, but as I get older I realise more and more how much I want to leave behind, so here goes. It all started when I was in the studio making the “********” recordings. I was in a small isolation booth waiting for the engineer to get set up and ready. As it was perfectly quiet, I closed my eyes and went off into a semi-conscious state (self hypnosis – meditation – daydreaming state or whatever you wish to call it, they are after all roughly the same) and felt very peaceful. Then I heard the engineer say (through my headphones) all was ready. So I opened my eyes and started the recording session. As I was still in a deeply calm state, my mind was open. As I spoke I was beginning to ‘feel’ the words and that feeling seemed to come from me to the recording. Since then I have perfected this technique. Now, as none of my recordings are scripted, indeed I have no idea what I will actually say, I only have an idea of what the recording is for; I close my eyes and imagine I am talking directly to someone who needs help with the sort of problem I am trying to help alleviate. Then I open my mind by relaxing deeply, open my mouth and let the words come out. For my type of recording this is perfect as the effect comes across in the recordings when listened to. Indeed my best seller, “*******” is often getting incredible results.The “gift” I have, as you put it, is more about a genuine caring for people in general, but it is also based on many years as an hypnotherapist and counsellor”

OK,so you are never going to find out where that transcript of a personal e-mail to me came from,but he wants to leave something behind and unbeknownst to him…he has.

That individual used to -take me somewhere- with his voice,consequently I was compelled to contact him,and thence that gem of wisdom for y’all.

I AM SEAN CONNERY …I AM LIAM NEESON, when I get voice over requests for same.And no… BEING THERE for every spot you get offered? no, not at all…but if you have the time for that special project you just know you can connect with.DO IT.I’m not talking acting ,I’m not as some may suggest talking though my….never mind.I’m talking virtual reality in injecting your BEING THERE in to someone’s soul…someones BEING.The video here …was not recorded on my Neumann …but I WAS that simple Arran clad bus driver on the wind swept Irish west coast being tempted by that young woman’s coming of age.Listen and Feel it,as I tilt her face and rain spatters her blouse-that’s real whale song in the background by the way. BEING THERE works really well for ACX Audio-books or where the brief requires empathy or mood. Hey what about the SEX ??? ….well Dear VO …all I’ll say is I’ve donned the Blindfold recently during reads 😉

Mark Manning

Voice Over /Radio Presenter/Author …IRISH MAN.

I can be found here : https://www.markmanningmedia.com

and my debut Novel THE MAN WHO CHASED JOGGERS (what a xmas gift!) is on amazon kindle here: amzn.to/2bJ3XTE 

What to do when your world feels like …crap.

by | Jan 6, 2017 | voice over | 0 comments

The Man Who Chased Joggers … That title just came to me one day …to be precise on the evening of June 13th 2012.I was going through a rough patch,in despair, I retired to my study ,I was sitting there at a loss…And.Well, from the ether came this title The Man Who Chased Joggers,in the tradition of our -American cousins- I found myself Just going with it.Thus began a 2 year 7 month on off exercise of writing the book I’m told we all have within us (and some would say -in us- is where it should stay 🙂 )

I vaguely recalled a book from the 1970s The Complete Book of Running by the Late Jim Fixx.Now friends,in short Jim Fixx sexed up running / jogging for the masses before running (quite literally ) to his death.

And Yes my book is currently taking the world by calm and is available on Amazon Kindle here :  http://amzn.to/2bJ3XTE 

but there is more to this than me selling you a book.Y’see every so often Life can appear to turn on us.In my case ,I was no longer professionally fulfilled …and at the age of 49 that ain’t a good place to be.Luckily I’d the love of a good supportive (and ever patient) spouse,I’d also two little daughters to be there for ,and I was…although that precious time was overshadowed by these wilderness years.Then in quick succession key people in my life either became gravely ill …or indeed passed away.Also in life don’t we all come across some complete assh***s ? I certainly did.As I floundered around trying to find a career I came across some real beauts …the kind who are afraid of irate clients,don’t pay invoices but are willing to blow your mind with overtures of IPOs and your share of same.Anyhu …this particular idiot wasted so much of my time,he’d been a player in the pre-bubble e-commerce era but had fallen spectacularly from grace,in short he was toast! .I’d known him before and after.One day over coffee I asked him how he dealt with all the negative fallout.”Well I went in to my garden shed and I wrote a novel” he calmly imparted.All my antennae told me this guy was …a delusional idiot,I wasn’t wrong …but to be fair he was an optimistic one,which is all part of the entrepreneur thing don’t cha know.I’m amused to see he has set himself up as a ‘turnaround expert‘ recently 🙂 …That said, credit where it is due ,when most of us would have been cringing in shame or suicidal notions…this dude was self publishing.I ALWAYS ADMIRED HIM FOR THAT…he wrote a book.I didn’t know Voice Over work would come to my rescue ( http://bit.ly/2giWSwh) so in the interim I too wrote the book.I infused my love of 80s music ,I imagined a guy trying to reinvent himself and I created a book where NIKE meets The Commitments meets David Letterman,Jeremy Paxman,Ellen DeGeneres,Lorraine Kelly .It was therapy it was cathartic …and I wrote the book.

When it all comes to pot ,goes pear shaped and your world goes from Day-Glo to Clusterf***k WRITE THAT BOOK!

Love and Only Love ,

Enjoy the video and Jog on 🙂

Mark Manning

When Voice Over Artists should Fire a client.

When Voice Over Artists should Fire a client.

by | Jan 3, 2017 | voice over | 0 comments

 

The amount of times I’ve had to Fire a client …in my case, is less than the fingers on one hand.By the way be gentle with clients…-”I’m not the man/woman for this Job”– is an elegant sufficiency when an over demanding loop the phreaking loop gets on one’s tits.

As voice overs we have a sixth sense though, don’t we??? From the outset we get that hunch that this will be as per the above video…THE VOICE OVER FROM HELL!!!

It could be in the way the client’s initial communication reads… we don’t like instructions without the niceties …y’know when the brief sounds like …well, a bossy brief…Ultamatum-ish –You will do this and that …and then you will do a vocal double tsukahara twist!-

Our antennae goes to alert ,but we’ll delude ourselves the client is busy and actually a real nice person just like ourselves ,after all, we’re all god’s children …NOPE! We coulda and we shoulda made our excuses but now in the tradition of Jim Morrison and The Doors -we are wallowing in da f&*#ing mire…Big Time!

And note: the Big Timers/producers will account for very little of this kind of stress,as they have decent budgets and have worked out precisely what the VO should say.

Oh no! It’s the folk with a crappy budget who give the most grief.Also it can be a case of one’s ego ….OF COURSE MISTER CLIENT I CAN MAKE THE SOUND OF THE ELEPHANT MAN GOING BACKWARDS THROUGH A CAR WASH ….72 Takes later …you will have learnt the hard way… the moral of the story, obey that initial hunch.OK,that said we’ve all been there ,gone out of our way and eventually get to the win win .That’s Great ! But here’s when a voice over should Fire a client …

When the return on your investment …is a bad one.

Our currency is time ,it’s money after all .I’m sure many of you have gone through a vocal Vietnam only for the next client to offer a lot more money for easy work.Sheesh…why did I put myself though all that ?

Attitude is important from the get-go .Nobody minds a read and a re-read and nothing upsets clients/producers more than a prima donna with wafer thin skin when it comes to constructive criticism.Don’t take it personally ,you’d be surprised how many VO types do….but DO take it personally when someone’s quest for the Holy Grail of voice artistry is at your expense.Be a nice guy or girl always …but know when to bow out o the booth with your XLR cable between your legs.

Now about the video …I got to know Jonathan Kydd top UK VO a few years back,his late father Sam was a 50/60s english actor (and a war hero).Jonathan plays himself here when he’s not doing lucrative voice overs for The Beeb and Discovery Channel or More4 …as you’ll see, there outta be a photo of him under the word Patience in the dictionary.

Love and Only Love and a Happy New Year to you all 🙂

Marko

Mark Manning is an Irish voice over artist,author and radio presenter

you can find him at https://markmanningmedia.com/

His debut novel THE MAN WHO CHASED JOGGERS is available on Amazon Kindle here : amzn.to/2bJ3XTE