“On a cold January day I was walking down the hall at CBS radio in Charlotte when midday personality Catherine Lane challenged me—” Kyle, I’d like a Country Music Association -  personality of the year award .”

I kept walking and laughed, ” OK, I’ll work on that.”

I ducked into my production studio and thought about it.

OK.

Why not?

• Do I have time for this? No.
• Will I do this? Yes.

I started that day, collecting the best of Catherine.

As the weeks  went by, I added one or two moments of brilliance from her live show here and there.

Catherine is not just good, she is great at what she does.

We have worked together for ten years and know each others tastes.

She would call or text me. ” Did you just hear that on the air? Did you get it on tape?” This went on for months. ( It still goes on)

So, winter became summer and the deadline for the CMA entry loomed.

The Inside Secret

During that time I had been reading Joseph Campbell and applying his work to radio and marketing. I also found an online marketing whiz named Frank Kern. His work was all about making money on the web. But I saw a way to transfer marketing principles in the way Frank did things.

Franks’ and Campbell’s ideas inspired me to put Catherine’s entry together in a certain way.

I worked for days on what had already taken months to gather. Catherine called and said, ” I’m bringing food so we can work together. ”
“No, leave me alone. I would rather just finish by myself. Stay away.”

She knew I meant it with love.

It was tough to put that entry together. Doing a Charlotte radio midday show, even on a powerhouse  station, doesn’t rank the best interviews, the hot contests, the company support the morning and afternoon slots do.

I was busy compiling Catherine’s community involvement, bio, radio philosophy, pictures, and the actual on air sound—an eight minute presentation .

I worked late into the nights and weekends editing, adding, taking bits away, changing a picture. Finally, on deadline day, drained of energy, I hit the submit button for the online entry and it was done.

Hot Stuff

Only six radio personalities in America are selected in the Major Market CMA category.
Most nominees are morning show crews.  Next, are afternoon teams. Midday personalities are rarely considered viable for the big awards.

But I knew we had an above average entry and really wanted this nomination for Catherine.

Oh, Well…

When autumn came and the US financial crisis was hitting home, the radio industry was in a major decline. CBS abruptly fired me, and after ten years of service, gave me a few hours to get out.  Hey, thanks guys, nothing personal. Catherine was in tears.

A week later, she got the call.

We  won a CMA nomination.

Of the top 25 eligible for the Major Market category in the US, Charlotte is radio market number 25. Being last on the list of competitors and a midday show, this accomplishment was almost unheard of. Catherine was elated.

The next year, we went for it all over again, this time with me working from home, and, what do you know… she was included in the Academy of Country Music’s Radio Station of the Year winning station.

Then again this year!  February 5th, she got an ACM ( Academy of Country Music ) personality of the year nomination! One of six in the US.

And me? I took a few more tips from Frank Kern and expanded my business to include internet marketing.

So, now I use

• radio,
• TV,
• blogging,
• websites,
• and print

to serve clients including my favorite, Catherine Lane, who is likely to text me at any moment with the message, “did you hear that? Did you get it on tape?”‘
————————————————————————————————————–
Kyle Whitford is a marketing expert specializing in web Search Engine Optimization, Online Marketing, Radio, TV,  Multi Media and voice overs.  He is also an associate of Wach Marketing.

Kyle Whitford

photo beverly

The Eight Levels of Voice

The first level of using your voice is attached to survival.

A baby crying for attention.

Vocal sounds are definite calls that express needs at this level. The use of voice here is about a plea for help, a demand for care, an attempt at connection. It is not a commercial voice level except when used objectively to portray these sounds.

The second level of voice use is about blending in with a family or larger group. Use of voice here is about weaving a place in a larger group of people. The voice is used at this level to participate, to contribute, but not to express individual autonomy. Examples of this would be to join voices with a tribe in conversation about the well being of a tribe or family. To use the voice to tell stories that give meaning to the tribes activities.

The third level of voice use is to express a demand for your own independence from the group or tribe/family you are now leaving behind. The voice here is used to articulate a sense of self that is independent. The voice at this level is, possibly for the first time, being used as an instrument of self definition. It describes what you want, describes the place you want to carve out in the world.

Examples are-

• A teenagers defiance,
• an athlete’s proclamation of setting a goal—”I will win this competition. “

This is a more commercial voice level . It can  manipulate by being an instrument used for songs, rap, communicating threats, but it is still not an objectified voice . Almost all people who use their voice commercially at this level are simply being themselves , their voice a side effect of self.

The fourth level is a return to a group, only this time your voice is used  to join in with a
kind of mob mentality. Here the voice is used  with increasing complexity. It is still the voice of one’s personality. People like Rush Limbaugh and Billy Graham are here. Their voices shout a unifying message to a like minded group. Sort of a megaphone- voice. But not flexible enough to be a voice beyond their personality. Highly commercial in some ways. Just not very flexible.

The fifth level gets interesting. Here the voice is used as an instrument. A tool to do a specific job. Definitely a commercial voice. Actors, lawyers, salesmen start to train their voices to be more what they would prefer as a tool. They will work to lose an accent, or to perfect a dialect. As you can tell, the pattern of all these levels is more and more an objectification of the voice.
The more developed, the less the voice is a reflection of ego and it becomes a reflection of objective purpose.

The sixth level is even more objective. The voice is used here to extreme refinement. Learning other languages for the purpose of broadening one’s experience, speaking on behalf of others, communicating to help. The pattern is still one where the voice is becoming more and more the purpose driven instrument and not an expression of self centered  ego.

The seventh level of voice is about being a voice. The actual vocal cords and language become secondary to the character and personae behind the voice. This voice carries ideas and its purpose is to articulate refined concepts in a way that carries them to goal. This is also the place of an actor like Robin Williams having  full control of his vocal colorations and characterizations.

The eighth level of voice is a further development of the seventh level. The person behind the voice gets further and further away from any actual identification with his or her own voice and simply uses it as a tool. There is so little identification with one’s own voice at this point that it does not even need to be used. The person behind it will find another person’s voice or group of voices to do the bidding here. A more appropriate voice for each purpose. This level creates voices for each purpose and is not at all identified with any of them.

A rare expert commercial voice artist will use all the methods described here, often in one day.

Practice is the only way to become aware of them all and use them in a way that serves the best interest like- meeting a goal.

Awareness is the key.

If there’s one thing that most commercial voice over artists and announcers have in common, it’s a need for more jobs.

I’d like to show you some secrets that most people will never know about getting work.

A few years ago, a good friend of mine reached a point where she was close to desperate to get more voice work. To say she was angry is putting it lightly.

She was  fed up with being

• an award winning,
• high quality voice over artist

and still not getting enough work to keep her busy.

So she got busy and studied all the books and information she could get her hands on that had anything to do with selling personal services. She was determined to really get it right this time.

After weeks of effort she started to put it into action.

Guess what?

It didn’t work very well . She got a  little closer to her goal but was disappointed. She was about to learn blues guitar and sing on the street.

But she didn’t give up.

Finally, she found a mentor who could help her put it all together and get results.

The mentor she found had been through the same thing. He was sick and tired of not getting the work he needed so he put together a system that worked to take him to the next level. Later, he wrote a book and developed a comprehensive program.

You know, not all mentors have to be close friends. They can often come in the form of books and audio tapes. That’s what happened in this situation.

My friend learned how to

• Get plenty of commercial contacts and turn them into clients.
• Get repeat voice business month after month.
• apply the different marketing approaches for various kinds of clients.
• Set up a system so that her marketing brings in leads even when she is not paying attention.
• Present herself professionally even though she hates selling.

The mentor I am talking about has been a big help to me as well.

Michael Port is the author of the “Book Yourself Solid” program.

His work is organized in a way that helps you

• understand the simple steps needed to contact potential clients
• and follow through with them until you are Booked Solid.

Most of the voice artists I know have always been better at their craft than selling themselves.

But the truth is, no agent will work as hard for you as you will. With these tools from Michael Port you can unleash the networking machine that lurks deep within you.

One technique I like is Ports postcards for prospecting and staying in touch.

Internet based postcards sent through regular mail. A simple idea with effective results.

BYS is a sincere approach so you don’t have to present yourself with unnatural hype. Matter of fact, Michael teaches NOT to do that. His approach is real and straightforward.

It works, so when you follow his method you can take control of your career and be the one commercial voice person you know with a full calendar.

You might want to pass “Book Yourself Solid” along to others who could benefit.

Click here now for Michael Port’s Book Yourself Solid .

Kara Edwards is an artist. Her outlook on life as a representation of art is reflected in her blog posts. She uses her life experiences as both an inspiration and metaphor to then manifest through her instrument, her voice.

This process is complex and does not happen overnight. I have known Kara for years and it has been interesting to observe her art unfolding, changing, morphing into various expressions through her vocal discipline.

As the voice of many animated characters, Kara can fill a persona with a calculated tone that comes from years of sensitivity training.  Her ability to occupy a personal space with vocal textures is one that requires precision through physical expertise.

But there is another element at play as well. That is the paradoxical ability to let go and allow a spiritual infusion to occupy her psyche as she becomes the instrument of IT. All this happens in a flash as Kara speaks and lives words just for the moment that will bring animation to animation itself. How simple. How hard.

That is what makes an artist. I have said for years that a true artist is simply one who knows what to frame. A well placed frame helps the viewer see what was there all along.

This is what Kara does with her voice. It seems effortless after the fact but the artist feels the struggle, the paradox and the resulting fatigue or elation or both simultaneously. It is not so much the physical effort but the inner struggle and mastery required to allow the counterintuitive to happen in a willful way that demands relaxed release.

It is refreshing to see an artist hurt. That’s the sign that art has happened.

Kara often shares her inner vulnerabilities on blog posts. What the reader may not be aware of is Kara’s extraordinary strength in doing so.

Find her at KaraEdwardsVO.com

voice over guru

Want the best vocal coach in the world? Want to know how you can be more commercially successful with your voice?

Learn from the Master, Arthur Josephs, and his Vocal Awareness Program.

Vocal Awareness is JAM PACKED with tips, concepts, recommendations and proven techniques to help you use your voice more effectively  instantly, as a professional or in everyday life.

Arthur Josephs has coached Barbara Streisand, Sean Connery, Tony Robbins, Angelina Jolie, Pierce Brosnan and a long list of others.

Josephs approaches the voice from more than just the sound aspect. He is a strategist and a master of the psychology behind the way you use your voice.

I took his vocal coaching series a few years ago and was impressed with a few things:

• He wants to get at your best voice, no one else.
• He fully understands that each person’s voice is like a fingerprint, unique.

The psychology behind how you hide certain tones and emphasize certain colorations of your voice is fascinating. He points these things out in clear , easy to understand terms.

He does not recommend a one size fits all standard ‘good ‘ voice.

This guy is the real deal. He strikes me as one of those people who was born to work with voices, commercially, theatrically and in everyday life.

Ever wondered why James Taylor has a strong, clear voice after 40 plus years of singing? I found the answer in this program.

Some professional voice over artists have a lot of problems with their voices. I know I have had plenty of challenges over the years.

Arthur Joseph’s coaching helps you-

• Understand how you might be abusing your voice ( it’s not what you think.)
  Tips on exactly how to bring out the best in your own voice.
  Understand how Arthur’s ideas have literally changed lives.

Over the years I tried every vocal technique I could find .

I used to put stones in my mouth to work on articulation. (I switched to paper when I got concerned about swallowing a stone.) I used breathing exercises, sprays, teas, soothing sounds, massage.

All these helped but none of them can touch the vocal mastery Arthur Josephs offers. He is that good.

I cannot recommend him highly enough. Honestly, I don’t want to claim he can walk on water but pretty close.

Just check out his site and see for yourself.

When you use the Arthur Joseph method of improving your voice, you’ll never have to worry about what could have been.

voice over

It’s a secret

You can read and study this formula and still not remember to do it. That’s why sometimes it seems like a secret.

But if you will paste these steps in a prominent place and follow them, you will have the best possible chance at commercial voice success.

Step One- Have a very specific goal. Write it down, remind yourself with notes, make it a mantra.

If your goal is to get ten new voice clients by your birthday. Make a list of potential clients, get your demo ready, make appointments, audition, send CD’s in the mail, start a blog, make new contacts, get involved. Get all these activities on a calendar and take action.

Step Two- Find a proven plan and follow it. (This blog is a proven plan. ) There are plenty of others. Find out what others have done to earn the success you want. Find out how they did it and get started adopting their methods. YES. COPY THEM. There is absolutely NO shame in copying success.

People copy failure all the time. Go to the ghetto and look around. The people there are duplicating a lifestyle daily that often leads to failure. If you are in the ghetto mentally or physically, get out. Leave it behind. Get on a bus and get as far from it as you can. Start over. Remember what Ray Charles did when he got fed up with failure? He moved from Florida to Seattle. The farthest he could get away. That was symbolic for him and it worked.

Step Three- Get a successful partner. It is important to pick someone who is actually successful. Someone who is probably better than you. Develop a win win relationship with them. Learn from them.  Sometimes you might only be able to find a partner on a video or in a book. Use it.

Step Four- Get some crazy action going on. Get in gear and get moving forward toward your goals. List the steps and start to do them. The only way to make things happen is to act on them. If you want to be a speed guitar player, grab a guitar and practice . If you want to be an actor, go where the actors are. If you want to be a commercial voice over artist, get yourself where there is a microphone and opportunity.

These actions must be  done in real life. It is not enough to have a plan. You must put it in sustained action. One good way to make certain you are doing these things is to put them on an actual calendar with a deadline. As Tony Robbins says…”make it a must.”

Step Five- Keep going and build momentum. Stay with it. Ride than bronco. Day after day, good weather, bad, happy sad, up , down. Keep going.

Copy these steps and apply them to your voice work and you will have the very best chance of being a commercial success.

Looking for voiceover talent? Find it here: Voice123.com

Starting out in the voice over business you are never sure what to do. That’s the breaks. Often you wonder if you should even pursue voice work. There are so many questions.

• Can you actually make a living  voicing commercials?
• Will it take years to get enough clients and contacts?
• Are you good enough and, if not, can you get good enough?

When I started I bought every book available and checked out all the others the library had. I wanted to know I had done my best to learn everything.  One book was about breathing. (I would read a book , then go try my new knowledge.)

At one point I was breathing so carefully I could hardly talk. Another time I had a mouth full of paper to learn to enunciate clearly. One winter, I took a small, hidden tape recorder with me everywhere to tape my regular interactions with store clerks and others, then listen back and cringe at the horror.

That’s how I learned to control my voice.

Today there are many silly methods and some serious. I recommend you try them all like I did. You don’t know what’s going to click and make the difference. If you  try something ‘different’ just be sure you’re not doing something weird to your voice. I once saw a  girl singer screaming in an effort to make her voice sound sexy (scratchy) for a certain part. NEVER DO THAT.

But DO experiment with ways to get control of your voice. There are plenty of online options that will help you become conscious of your vocal style and be aware of how you do things. It’s important to separate your ego from your voice. Use your voice as a tool, like a model uses their body.

Here are some shortcuts to getting your voice to be your money maker.

• Practice everyday
• Practice the basics like reading aloud
• Always read into a recording device and listen back to it critically.
• Get a private coach ( a good one).
• Volunteer to do public speaking.
• Some towns have blind readers.
• Read ads from magazines out loud.
• Call your local radio station production director and say this:
• “Hey if you ever need a person on the phone for a part in a commercial, call me. I’ll do it free.”

Use your voice. Then relax it and go about your day.

Your rituals define you in all things from health to having a commercial voice.

CLICK HERE NOW for a program that teaches you to use your voice.

voice over guy

My commercial voice over resume includes a Phil Donahue show but not…

Phil was doing a location show in North Carolina and since this was a weekly show the schedule was tight. It’s hard enough to do a weekly national TV show but toss in a location , dealing with a local prison system about a death row inmate, state government and a TV crew and you’ve got plenty to do.

This show needed a narrator and I got the call. Donahue was covering  an execution at a Raleigh prison. The show was going to air the next day and was being taped the night before just in time for national distribution.

My job was to be the narrator. To pop in and explain all that was happening. To read a script that would bring clarity and focus to an otherwise confusing situation.

I waited in the green room for a few hours until the show was finished. Then I was sent home. No need for a narrator, Donahue had decided to do it himself, for a personal touch, a less commercial voice.

That was the best call by far. The show was an intimate look at at a very touchy subject and Donahue had the presence and persona for it. But I was there just in case. And they paid well. Thanks Phil. Call anytime.

When you make a few contacts and do some consistent work you will get calls for work like this. If I had not been available for this job, they would have called another anouncer. I am sure thay had a list of people and were just calling to get somebody competent to fill that slot.

So be prepared to

• say yes
• be on time
• be flexible
• be ready to bail out
• make new contacts when you are there
• be professional ( stay out of the way)

Once you get in a position to do commercial voice work, it can happen like that. Just be there when you are called. A huge part of it is– just showing up.

Have you noticed that many of the same voice talents keep showing up over and over?

Keep It Coming

Many people view that as a mistake, a burn out or tired, old sameness. But if you look closer you’ll find that most of those people generally communicate by complaining.

I view consistent voices as a good thing. One of the principles of ongoing success is momentum. One of the most consistent voices in the business is Donna Reed.

Steady She Goes

I have known Donna for over 20 years. There have been whole three or four year spans when we would only catch up for a minute or two by phone but I have always been able to hear her voice somewhere.

That is real momentum.

Donna’s resume is impressive. It reflects her consistency.

She has done voice work for-

• all of the major networks,
• movie trailers,
• children’s readings,
• characters for commercials,
• TV,
• radio
• and singing jingles.

She has often been interviewed by the major industry magazines so it is not hard to find her advice on how to be a force in the voice over business.

Here are a few tidbits:

Donna has recently been asked to submit as a voice double for acting legend Judy Dench.

She has completed a project for LAX, Scholastic books and American Airlines.

Her voice has been a steady anchor for:

• news promos,
• sports and rock stations both in the US and Europe,
• animated characters,
• narrations and tutorials.

She is at it every week. Year after year. That is what it takes.

And that is why you hear familiar voices, including hers. Consistency. Momentum.

So if you ever wonder, “what’s the secret?” Step back and look at Donna Reed. She is talented and works to improve her performance, she is sincere and trusted, and Donna is committed to working even when it’s not always glamorous.

The mistake Donna does not make? Not showing up..

My Favorite

She even voices the announcements on the local bus where I live. It’s not unusual to be standing near a bus stop and hear a familiar, friendly voice saying, “Welcome Aboard”. That’s Donna Reed.

Check out these videos and listen to Donna.