Bilingual Voiceover

Who’s Zoomin’ Who?

December 13, 2021 by Amy Taylor Fernandez Leave a Comment

Aretha Franklin had no idea Zoom would later become the world’s gateway of communication when she sang those words in her 1985 album “Who’s Zoomin’ Who?” Nor could she have imagined the countless memes about Grandma being on mute or kids photobombing their parents’ meetings. The advertising industry is having a field day with the addition of Zoom to our daily lives.

The pandemic shifted the way we work, go to class and communicate with others. The Zoom app is a big player in that shift and it is a great tool for communication.

However, voice talents like me have spent thousands of dollars making the best sound possible from our professional studios. Whether we offer connections via internet like Source Connect or ipDTL, or traditional copper wire connections like ISDN, we’ve taken great pride in ensuring we are providing the best sound possible to our clients. The connection must sound like we are in the same recording studio with the client. We have treated our booths with Auralex foam. We have purchased very sensitive condenser microphones that pick up every nuance of our performance; the words, the pauses, the sighs. It’s part of our craft and it sounds magical when heard through high-end technology.

Since it’s assumed everyone has Zoom now, clients expect to see me. My booth was not set up with a camera. At first, I was reluctant to agree to Zoom sessions believing the sound quality would be sub-par. In the beginning when asked to use Zoom, I clipped an iPad to my mic boom and fired up zoom on it. The camera angle and lighting were not great, but they could see me.

I did a Zoom session this week with another voice actor and I’ve got to say, it was nice to record some dialogue with no lag. We both recorded in our repective studios and sent the files to the editor to sort out, but the banter was more natural using Zoom. ISDN was a great service, but there was usually a huge silence between the 2 actors’ lines which interrupted the flow. With Zoom, I liked being able to see my friend, the director and the engineer. It made it feel like old times when I used to go into New York City for a recording. So now I’ve changed my tune. Zoom gives me the best of both worlds. I get to see my co-workers and not have to travel several hours to get to a session. My only requirement is the client request Zoom at the time of booking so I’m prepared for it! I don’t want to be caught off guard in my bathrobe. (Yes, sometimes I do sessions in my pajamas!)

The systems we voice actors had in place pre-pandemic work great, the sound is perfect and the end product is top notch. The majority of my sessions are still recorded via the tried and true; Source Connect, phone patch, ipDTL and ISDN. But Zoom has earned its place in the voiceover realm. This week, I’m installing hardware in my booth so that the camera angle is better. I may even get one of those ring lights. I believe Zoom is here to stay.

A blog? Isn’t that a little “90’s?”

December 12, 2021 by Amy Taylor Fernandez Leave a Comment

“What’s new with you?” said an acquaintance at a holiday party.
“Well, I started a blog this fall.”
“A blog? Isn’t that a little 90’s?”

Um, ouch? I didn’t know how to talk to the guy after that.
Ok, so does that mean that no one should ever start a blog again, just because people were doing it 20 years ago? Creating a blog was something I’d wanted to do for some time. I simply got around to it in 2021. I think there’s enough room in the blogosphere for everyone.

Seriously, I brought up the blog because it was the safest answer…the kindest answer.
Would he rather I drop names and mention awards I was nominated for and clients I’ve acquired? It occurred to me that those would’ve been *his* answers had I asked him what was new with him. But Momma taught me not to brag. I mingled and found some like-minded people to talk to. I had a blast the rest of the night.

And I’m gonna keep on blogging. I write because I love it. In this space, I pen my musings about being a voice actor, about family and life in general. I write for anyone who wants a peak into my world.

Last weekend was spent with 14 super talented voice artists at an unofficial conference.
I got to hang out with some beloved colleagues that I hadn’t seen since pre-pandemic times. I also made some new friends. We rolled up our sleeves, strategized, and lifted each other up. They are precisely the type of people I want to surround myself with; fellow entrepreneurs with great attitudes, phenomenal brains and generous spirits. It was a magical weekend and my heart is full.

I came back to Connecticut energized and ready to spend quality time behind the mic.
In between loads of laundry and feeding the family, I did 84 auditions this week. 19 were for healthcare & hospitals. 16 of them were covid/vaccine related. 12 were for financial institutions. 9 were for the medical/pharmaceutical industry. 6 were insurance related. 4 were for tech companies. 2 for auto dealerships. 2 furniture stores and the rest were miscellaneous. So far, my efforts have netted 1 booking. I’d say it was a good week. I’m not sure what the half-life of a mini-conference is, but I plan to do as many auditions again this week. Bring it on.

Groserias does not mean Groceries and other translation frustrations.

November 2, 2021 by Amy Taylor Fernandez Leave a Comment

A groseria is a swearword in Spanish, not groceries. I would hope Artificial Intelligence would not make that mistake, but many translations come across my desk that were obviously not done by a human.

I’ve had the occasional client ask for my translation rates and then decide they’ll do it “in house.” Perhaps they’ll use another human and that’s great. But they may use an on-line translation method, like Google Translate. And, while I admit, the algorithms have gotten better, it’s still no match for the human translation. AI can only do so much.

Take the word “prensa” for example. Sure, it means “press” such as reporters, or others who might have a “press pass” on their windshield. But it does not mean the motion of pressing down on something, as in the English word “press.” If a client sends me a script that says Prensa 1, Prensa 2, (and YES this has happened multiple times) I know right away no human has glanced at the translation. This gets send back to the client for re-translation.

I’ve seen many correct words for “press” in Spanish; Oprima, Marque, Pulse, Entre are all valid words for pressing numbers on a keypad. Most IVRs I’ve recorded use “oprima” or the familiar form of it “oprime.” It’s best to be consistent when recording a phone tree, so commit to one way to say “press”and stick with it throughout the entire script.

I’ve also seen scripts where sometimes they’ll use “oprima” and further down in the phone tree they’ll use “marque.” This tells me they’ve had various people working on chunks of the translation. This can be fixed but is more of a headache for the one tasked with fixing it than anything else.

Furthermore, I shy away from offering to “fix” a script that’s already been translated. Why?

It’s actually easier to start from scratch than fix someone else’s translation. It could be just me, but the process of going from one language to the other has a flow to it. Reading someone else’s version of the Spanish and figuring out what they were trying to say in English and then re-translating it back into Spanish is a tedious process for which I charge accordingly.

The bottom line is, it’s cheaper and faster for the client to get the translation done right the first time. This ensures the project will get recorded correctly and make you sound professional, knowledgeable and in touch with the culture of those listening to your recorded messages.

Changing seasons, changing voice!

October 25, 2021 by Amy Taylor Fernandez 2 Comments

I live in the Northeast. It’s lovely to see the seasons change. We get vibrant fall colors, white winters, green springs and lush summer vegetation. But I noticed years ago that from mid-October to April, my voice changes. If I listened to something I recorded in June and compared it to something I recorded in November, they were drastically different. This was no good for my career. My Automotive clients in particular will often use donut recordings. In other words, they would keep the intro and outro that I recorded in the summer, for example, and redo the middle of the spot in December with their new car models and sales info. So my voice had to be consistent. I was careful to use the same mic, same booth and same settings, but what could I do about my voice sounding the same?

Here are a few tricks I’ve learned over the years that help my voice sound the same year round.

I got a humidifier. This helps me breathe better, especially at night.
I limit dairy during the winter months. Almond milk replaces milk. It helps me feel less stuffy.
I bought a Neti Pot. This apparatus is relatively inexpensive and works wonders by cleaning out the nasal passages.
I drink honey mixed with apple cider vinegar. Bragg’s is my personal favorite. This is especially helpful if I have a long narration session or hundreds of IVR prompts to do.
Hydrate!!! This is important to do year round, but especially in the fall and winter. My goal is to drink 64 ounces of water daily. It is so important for us voiceover folks to stay hydrated.

Since implementing these few changes, I haven’t had any complaints that my voice sounds different from season to season. I can enjoy the changing New England scenery and my clients get a consistent sounding Amy.

Voiceover Auditions

October 6, 2021 by wadmin Leave a Comment

This week in the world of voiceover auditions I was asked to be a small wheel of cheese, a zebra and an eight ball. I don’t know what any of those things would sound like personified, but that’s half the fun of my job. I get to imagine how the character sounds. Delving even deeper into it, I imagine how the character feels, thinks, laughs, cries, sighs, etc. Having a connection to the copy and to the character is key to booking a job.

A few years back I booked a promo for a Dora The Explorer DVD. I remember they were looking for an older abuela or grandmother-type read. I channeled my inner “abuela” and thought about how her kitchen smells, how proudly she displays photos of her grandkids, etc. and I recorded the script, sent in my mp3 and waited. The result? I landed the job! When I got to the studio they said, “We chose you because there was a connection there. Most of the auditions we got were “cartoony” and yours sounded like a real person.”

That’s not to say that sometimes a cartoony read isn’t warranted. For the Dora spot, I took a chance and it worked out. Auditions always involve taking a risk. Sometimes those risks work out and sometimes they don’t. There will always be another audition around the corner, so I try not to get too hung up over them.

One Voice Conference USA 2021 Report by 2X Nominee Bilingual Voice Talent – Amy

October 6, 2021 by wadmin 2 Comments

US English/Latin American Spanish Voice Talent, Amy, guest blogs about attending the One Voice Conference in Dallas Texas, August 26-29, 2021

One Voice Conference was a welcome change of pace for us voice actors who are usually isolated in our padded rooms. It was a vibrant gathering spot for fellow voice talents, coaches, demo producers, agents and casting directors. It was particularly special for me because I brought my 18 year old who also does voiceovers with me.

There was a LATAM component to this conference, which was beneficial to me because I’m bilingual. I spread my time between the English and Spanish sessions offered. Highlights of the conference were meeting Bill Farmer (voice of Disney’s Goofy) who gave a session with Mario Filio (Spanish voice of Goofy.)

I decided to try some new things at One Voice and stretch as an actor. I went to a dubbing class. Dubbing is an area of voiceover that I’ve never dabbled in and I found it fascinating. I attended a session with a panel of casting directors and agents, some of whom I work with daily by way of auditions, but whom I’d never seen or heard before. There were several take-aways from that session, including the importance of slating or not slating, how many takes they expect, and how they want their MP3s labeled.

One Voice Conference USA 2021 was the first conference I’ve attended since the pandemic. I was impressed with the preventive protocols, including a mask policy, at the elegant Hyatt Regency DFW Hotel. The conference floor was peppered with hand sanitizer stations, and socially distanced tables were in all of the breakout rooms. Organizers took every safety precaution, and I felt safe going into each session.

The event was organized by J. Michael Collins as well as Gravy for the Brain founders, Hugh Edwards and Peter Dickson. Kudos to them for forging ahead with the conference amidst all the obstacles that I would imagine Covid-19 hurled onto their path.

I applaud the production crew for making this first-of-its-kind hybrid conference a nearly seamless event. This monumental task consisted of hybrid sessions, where some panelists were in person on stage, while others were virtual, on a big screen above them. There were a lot of mics to pot up and down and many on screen participants. There were people walking around with mics during the Q&A portions of the sessions, so that those watching the session on-line could hear the questions. It was well thought out for both in-person and on-line attendees. The technical team deserves many props for their efforts.

I’m glad I attended. I’m looking forward to attending future conferences. Hopefully, the state of the world will have improved for the next one so the conference can become even better!

Voice Over Actor