Barb Lyon
Voice Artist

In nearly every voice over session, the director, client, or project manager will say, “That’s great. Can we try one more? I’d like to get an A, B, and C.” I love that moment, because it means I’ve delivered what they asked for, and now we can explore what else might be hiding in those words. A take that meets spec is useful. It’s clear, on time, and on brand. But the read that perks up a client’s ears usually isn’t the one the team planned.

Some days inspiration shows up like a polite houseguest. It knocks. You open the door. It sits down at the table and gets right to work. The words flow. The ideas line up. And for a brief moment you wonder why anyone ever complains about the creative process. Those days are wonderful. They are also…not most days. Most days inspiration is nowhere to be found. Not late. Not stuck in traffic. Just gone.

So the last few weeks were…a lot. Like a lot, a lot. And it taught me things about myself. But let me set the stage a bit. See, last fall, I talked with an immersive audiobook company. I’ve done plenty of narration work before, but immersive audiobook narration is a different animal. It sounded interesting, so I went ahead and cut sample audio which they accepted. And then it got quiet. I figured I may never hear from them. Oh well. Easy come easy go. And then it happened.