Voiceover Industry Articles & Reviews

When I started offering voice over services on the Internet in 1998, I was alone. There was a couple of guys with websites saying they “did” voice over, but none were offering studio and delivery services.

There was absolutley nothing on the web about the business. So, I decided to share everything that I knew.

Turns out that now, I’ve been writing about the voiceover industry for almost two decades; I don’t think there’s a subject I haven’t touched on.

I have written a book on the subject; the first in a series. It’s currently in the throes of mass publication. When it’s fully released to all retailers, I’ll update the site. For now, you can check out Funny Voices in Small Padded Rooms – Book 1, The Madness of Voiceover on Google Play

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Honestly, I have to say that because of this site’s search engine rankings, the voiceover industry content here has proven to be a double-edged sword.

One side of the blade cuts through Google like a razor right to page #1 on many terms associated with the voiceover industry. There’s a massive amount of stuff here…..and old content; I started in 1998, long before the birth of the almighty Google.

The other edge of that sword which cuts me personally (and somewhat deeply) is the plagiarism of said content. The worst being P2P sites like Voices dot com and V123, both of which ripped off all my intellectual property, content and one of them my color scheme! Thanks for that.

Today, both companies are trying to turn voice talent into slaves (sadly, being somewhat successful) and rip off both talent and clients to the tune of millions every year.

This is the “voiceover industry.” I’ll be the first to admit it’s not very pretty.

There’s a lot of great information here on the voiceover industry…and I hope, entertaining.

Much of the content I have recorded personally, so feel free to listen whenever you see the option.

I hope that you genuinely share with others what you’ve found here on the voiceover industry in the hallowed digital hallways of Todd Schick Productions.

Enjoy!

The Voiceover ``Industry``

The Voiceover “Industry” – An Ugly History of Selling Dreams

I composed this article a few years ago after I was contacted by a fellow VO talent who was lamenting how ugly our industry is. We both agreed that the people who currently have control over the VO industry are sociopaths.

Translation: Bullies.

I’ll be the first to agree that the subject matter isn’t pretty. However, nothing ugly is. But, knowledge is power and by studying history, we can all learn something useful. If you’re just getting into the voiceover business, this will be a relevant eye-opener.

Click here to go to the article entitled “The Voiceover “Industry” – An Ugly History of Selling Dreams”

Art of Directing Voice Talent

The Art of Directing Voice Talent

I brought three decades of attending professional recording sessions to this article.

The idea of doing it came to me after my first year of doing network television imaging for Global Television. There were so many producers and other people that I had to work with everyday and everyone was bringing something different to the table – most of it pretty bad. It was a very challenging environment to work in.

Click here to go to this great article for those who would like to learn how to direct voice talent in a professional recording session.

Voices.com Scam

Voices.com Scam School with Todd Schick

I wrote this after getting banned from Voices.com for calling them out after they tried to rip me off – “double dipping” on commissions on a job I did for a Voices client. David Ciccarelli called me up (I taped the entire conversation) and when I brought my proof to the table he got really nasty.

Psychology 101. Catch someone doing something wrong….they will always get angry.

Click here to read the article.

Can voiceover be taught?

Can voiceover be taught…?

Voice coaches like to think so….and they rip off thousands of people annually doing just that.

The truth is, only a small percentage of voice over skills can be taught, the rest is practice and experience.

This article first appeared in the Voiceover FAQ section of my site; I thought it worthy of putting here for the sake of those just getting into the business.

Click here to go to the article.

Best software for VO recording

What’s the best software for recording voiceover?

For many years now, I’ve been helping voice talent set up their home recording studios.

Year after year, I saw the same thing happen over and over again. Voice talent getting talked into using Pro Tools by engineers who could care less what they do for a living.

I wrote this article to save voice talent time and money with respect to their selection of audio editing software.

Click here to go to the article on the best recording software for voiceover.

Paperless Recording Studio

The Paperless Recording Studio

I came up with the paperless concept in 2001 and have never looked back. It still to this day amazes me just how many voice talent are reading off a piece of paper as part of their voiceover workflow.

And I’ve discovered that it’s not just home-based voice talent either. For some reason, recording studios are also at a snail’s pace to catch on.

Using a LCD monitor in the sound booth is by far the simplest, easiest and effective way to get off the paper monkey. It just makes everything easier and better!

If you’re not paperless, here’s an ice pick in the forehead.

5 Questions posed to Todd Schick

5 Questions posed to Todd Schick

So, a few years ago, some VO guy looking to improve his boost his SEO sent these five questions out to just about every voice talent he could find on the internet.

The funny thing is, you could tell right away the guy knew little about voiceover becuase the questions were so lame. He insisted on needing a picture to post with the article, which I refused, telling him that my face had nothing to do with my voice.

He had the gall to search Google for an image of Todd Schick and post it on his websoite without my permission. I told him to take it down, because it wasn’t even a picture of me….LOL!

He ignored my e-mail. What an idiot.

You can figure out who I’m talking about by searching for the article on Google; I refuse to link to the guys website out of principle.

Anyway, I’m ranting. Someone asked me to answer 5 questions about being a voice over artist a few years ago; this was the result. It turned out to be more like a biography.

ISDN Broadband Alternatives

ISDN Broadband Alternatives

This article is pretty old now; the demise of ISDN is inevitable in just a couple of years. Two years ago, AT&T announced they were no longer installing any “new” ISDN lines in NYC.

Since then, many recording studio have moved to either Source Connect or ipDTL in lieu of ISDN.

I always had a “Love/Hate” relationship with ISDN….this is one of the first of a series of articles I wrote on the subject of ISDN Broadband Alternatives.

Telos Z/IP One Review

Telos Z/IP One Review and Summary

I was tickled pink when the folks at Telos sent me two of these units to review.

I did some pretty crazy testing; it was a lot of fun.

The Telos Z/IP is one very cool piece of hardware that could be the answer to all our ISDN woes.

Click here to go to the article.

SoundStreak Review

SoundStreak Review and Summary

Yet another attempt to replace ISDN with a broadband alternative.

The funny thing about this technology was, I actually used this method many times with recording studios when ISDN wasn’t working, which happened quite often.

Basically, I would set up the studio with an account to my FTP server. I would record a take, save it on the server, the studio would download it.

Of course, this couldn’t have been done with a talent that was using paper, because you have to edit audio while in the booth.

So, I was the only one using the SoundStreak workflow before it was even invented.

Click here to go to the article.

Voice123 Review

Voice 123 Review

Don’t get me started. The amount of stuff I’ve written about Voice123 is ridiculous.

Since launching in 2003, Voice123 has paved the way for the destruction of anything remotely resembling integrity in the voiceover industry, along with Voices.com. While old, this is a great review.

Click here to go to the Voice123 review.

Voices.com Review

Voices.com Review

Of all the P2P sites, this one is by far the worst.

After many years of experience with being a member on Voices.com, here’s a great review; a must read for those considering a membership or availing themselves of their services.

Click here to go to the Voices.com review.

Voice Bunny Review

Voice Bunny Review

In all honesty, I think that it takes a pretty sick individual to come up with a business model that forces people to “race” for the lowest paying gig on the planet.

This was written a few years ago when Alex Torrenegra, founder of Voice123, decided that he was going to turn voice talent into slaves.

This is a good read for those who want the real scoop on the seedy people behind the scenes in the world of voice overs.

Click here to go to the VB review.

VOICE2007 Review

VOICE2007 Review

The Voice Over International Creative Experience – the first (and worst) “voice over” conference put together following the advent of membership-based (P2P) voice talent websites back in 2003.

Being the first conference, I thought I would write about it.

Then…..well….let’s just say I felt the subject was too important and I wrote a review every year thereafter – or whenever they took another kick at the can.

Click here to go to the VOICE2007 Review article.

VOICE2008 Review

VOICE2008 Review

The Voice Over International Creative Experience – the second debacle.

In this episode, just when you thought things couldn’t get any worse…well, you get the picture.

Click here to go to the VOICE2008 Review article.

VOICE2010 Review

VOICE2010 Review

The Voice Over International Creative Experience – one of the first (and worst) “voice over” conferences) put together following the advent of membership-based (P2P) websites back in 2003.

I personally recorded a lot of material and from a review standpoint, it’s pretty extensive and involved.

It’s great to read if you’re planning on attending any voiceover conference.

Click here to go to the VOICE2010 Review article.

Thoughts On Savoa

Thoughts on Savoa

This is an article I composed about the first organization to come about that proposed “standards” for Voice Talent selling audio over the internet from a home-based recording facility.

The organization is now defunct, but the standards proposed in this article have been adopted by WoVo, which is the current incarnation of Savoa.

Many, many people have read this article on Savoa and commented that it’s not only one-of-a-kind, but also that I hit the nail on the head with respect to setting voice talent service standards.