Trust Your Instrument, but be Thoughtful

I’ve been trying to implement all the coaching advice I’ve received recently. It's great and it works. But, it definitely slows things down.

By the time you determine what you're looking at, carve it out, and add some ad libs…well…the clock is ticking.

Last week, I had someone else tell me “Don't overthink it. Just get as many auditions done as fast as you can.”  (Granted, she was talking about P2P sites.) On one level it’s very freeing to turn off my brain and just do the work.

But, I often find I’m torn. I really want to knock as many auditions out as I can because I know voicework can be a numbers game, but especially on agent auditions I want to take care that I’m really giving it my all and not missing any subtle script cues. There’s so much you can do with pacing, pausing downspeak and even upspeak, lists of all types.  If you're not actively employing the techniques, it feels like you’re missing opportunities and may skip over things the copywriter intended you to do “something” with.

I had one just this morning for a grocery store that was talking about the things you could buy and each product started with an F. You can’t tell me the copywriter didn’t want you to play with that a bit, and it nearly flew right by me.

So then I’ve got to ask: does delivering a tone of sub par auditions help you or hurt you in the long run? Your audition rate is up, but how are you representing yourself?

But swing too far the other way and I can really obsess. Like totally go down a rabbit hole. If I completely surrendered to my analytical nature, I’d get about one done per hour. And by that point, they’re totally overworked. There goes conversationality…right out the window.

The trick is to find a balance where you’re  honoring the brief, but trusting your instrument. What comes out of your mouth, comes out, and so be it.

Likely we’re in VO because we love the freedom it affords, and using our creative muscle everyday. Einstein nailed it: “Creativity is intelligence having fun." So the goal is to play, but be smart about it. Really refine your analytical brain to find the cues buried in the script super quick. Acknowledge them, break them out for readability, and then let your instrument do the interpretation.

It’s sort of like if you played in a symphony. Different conductors will give you different directions, but the script (the notes on the page) don’t change — so in the end, you have to trust your own read of it and believe in your instrument.