ej's voice cast

### Podcast Title: 

- [ejs voice cast journey to becoming a VO talent ]

### Season2 /Episode Number 27:

- [ 2/21]

### Episode Title:

- [ Directed Sessions ]

### Host(s):

- [ej]

### Date:

- [10/17/2024]

---

#### 1. **Intro**

**Music/Intro Jingle:**

- [Music provided by NEFEX ]

**Host Introduction:**

- [ej]: "Intro track fades in as music fades out ."

**Episode Teaser:**

- [ej]: "In today's episode, we'll be discussing Directed Sessions ."

#### 2. **Segment 1: [Directed Session Class]**

**Introduction to Segment:**

- [ej]: " Directed Session class with Doreen Frumpkin."

**Content:**

After returning from vacation you got a short filler episode. Well here’s the full episode I owe you after some coaching classes. My first class was done with a bit of jet lag but it went well as I was wide awake at 4AM. Chris Grant, my coach, got me working on making lists not sound like lists. So let's say you have a piece of copy with a list like this one. 

I’m self centered. 

I’m maniacal.

I’m obsessive.

I’m never satisfied.

I’m petty.

I’m selfish.

Don’t read the entire list as a line by line read. Break it up and sound more natural.

I’m self centered

I’m maniacal

I’m obsessive

I’m never satisfied, I’m petty and I’m selfish.

He’s also coaching me on using my entire body to influence my voice. Rather, raising and lowering my audio based on my vocal chords use my hands, head, face , shoulders and other physical gestures to interject the feeling I want to express in my voice. It’s amazing how much you don’t think about how your body movements affect your tone and delivery. Mostly because when we are being ourselves we aren’t paying attention to this.

When receiving copy to read he pointed out that I should do a few things to make the read  mine.

1. Read the copy backwards outloud 
2. Rework the copy layout so you can read it the way you believe it should be delivered. Move sentences around, cut them up or piece them together. Just don’t change the wording.
3. Use lead ins, lead ins are a tactic you can use to make the read sound more conversational if that’s what’s asked for. Pick a friend or work colleague and read the copy as if you're having a conversation with them. 
4. Sprinkle questions in before certain lines so that your reading sounds authentically conversational. A friend asks a question and you reply with the script line as an answer.
5. If you believe a laugh would make a line stand out or add something to it then throw it in.

The thing to remember is the client doesn’t know who they want or sometimes what they want. That’s why they posted the audition in the first place. They’re looking so whatever makes you stand out is in your favor in a couple of ways. You may not get picked for this gig but you have but a bug in their ear for something else in the future.

On that note another thing I’ve been doing is standing up during auditions

#### 3. **Segment 2: [Standing or sitting]**

Do I stand or sit? That is the question. Is it more professional to stand or sit during readings? I’m of the mind set that it’s up to the person. For me I have found that standing lets me move my body more and get more into the read physically which produces better outcomes to my ear. It also depends on the type of read I’m doing.

An active commercial read would require me to move around, gesticulate and be quirky so standing would be better. However if I’m doing a narration type audition for ELearning then sitting would be the best choice. 

Last week I had a group class headed by Doreen Frumpkin. Doreen Frumpkin is a Director of VO’s for commercial and other projects. She imparted lots of knowledge to us by way of directing our selected reads. We, there were 12 of us, had one copy of our choice for class and we got two reads. The first was  a cold read and the second was after she provided some direction. Again I was amazed at just how small tweeks, and suggestions carried out by the VO artist made a big difference in how things sound. 

After we all read our copies she dropped one of her choices and we all read that one with the same process. Again each of us had a different take on how it should be read which is the entire thing about auditions. Eighty people audition and you will get many different takes on that piece of copy.

Of course at the end of this read we hit the question and answer portion

- [ej]: "Questions for the director"

Many of the talents had the same question(s), 

1. When do I start looking for an agent, 

2. Where are some of the best places to get auditions: Pay to Play or again an agent 

3. How to read the instructions associated with the read.

4. At least 2 of us asked for 3 verbs that the Director would use to describe our voices. 

**Summary:**

- [ej]: "To recap, today we discussed my first coaching session after a short vacation and my experience at my first directed session training. By the way that training was run just like a real life session so I’ll call it my first directed session.

#### 6. **Outro**

**Sign-Off:**

Closing Credits]

Music  by NEFFEX

Links:

https://linktr.ee/ericrjones

podmatch.com 

https://podpros.com/adam-curry-inventor-of-podcasting-shares-why-we-need-more-independent-podcasters

Focusrite

https://us.focusrite.com/vocaster

Voice on Demand:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/657102251585872