Emma Wheeler Voice Overs Source Connect

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Recording Session Preparation

Voice Over Business

When a client is enquiring or booking me for VO jobs, especially when it’s a short script it can sometimes be presumptuous to think it’s a quick in/out the booth session. An hourly Voice Over studio fee isn’t just about the recording time. Sure, the recording time is the main part of it but there’s also a fair bit of pre-recording preparation plus studio hire to keep in mind when agreeing the rate and booking a VO.

Below I’ve listed my VO pre-recording session preparation. There’s a fair bit going on before we hit the record button!

~ Water, water, water! Hydrate at least 2 hours before.

~ Eat a small snack before a session to keep tummy rumbles at bay. They can get picked up on the audio! Obviously, even a day before recording think about the foods and drink consumed which could affect your vocal performance. So avoid spicy foods, dairy, chocolate, fizzy and acidic drinks. Acid reflux is incredibly unpleasant at anytime and especially during a recording session!

~ Lip salve or Vaseline in the booth to maintain lip moisture throughout recording session.

~ Oralieve Moisturising Dry Mouth Relief Spray:- this is really effective. I keep this in my booth as a back up if my mouth/tongue becomes dry and those pesky mouth clicks return. It helped me through a live directed 5 hour recording session a while back.

~ Vocal booth – recording gear checks that everything is turned on and in good working order. Make sure it’s not overly warm and free of smells that can affect your throat ie. Perfume.

~ Script prep – highlighting specific words for pitch/pace/tonality changes, adding in a pauses, highlighting expressive words, accentuating words etc. plus a couple of read throughs after mark ups. Longer scripts will require longer prep time.

~ Vocal warm ups – intercostal diaphragmatic breathing techniques. mouth, jaw and neck exercises, lip buzzing, tongue trills, yawning, humming, finishing off with those all important tongue twisters for practicing diction…… Phew!

Plus, sipping on a warming herbal tea and room temperature water placed in the booth for the duration of recording session.

So, the recording preparation applies for the shorter VO jobs as much as the lengthier ones to provide a professional vocal performance.

Action Planning for Work

Voice Over Business

I love the beginning of a new year for ….. getting organised and action planning but it shouldn’t stop there. Goal posts change, different work expectations arise etc that can alter the planned action and timescales.

I tend to set a few larger goals that I think are achievable throughout the year.

I also keep timescales a little loose as you never know what happens along the way plus who needs the added pressure if you haven’t achieved them by said date! That’s not to say we shouldn’t push ourselves to achieve though but not to feel added stress and pressure in doing so.

I tend to write out a really long ‘master action list’ which is then broken down into sections:
~ Business
~ Appointments
~ Personal
~ Home
~ Volunteer duties
~ Self care

These master sections have sub sections and from there I create my daily/weekly action with timescales plan factoring in the whole day from when I awake and have coffee onwards. Coffee being of great importance to the start of any day!

Although I do still love using a physical notebook which still fuels my notebook addiction I use my notes folder daily and there are so many great ‘action planning’ apps which help organise not just business and work but life in general. Evernote is great for capturing ideas and clipping images etc plus Trello is simple to use.

Life in general can become so fast paced with information and news thrown at us from every direction so I find taking time out to organise my world of Voice Overs, home life and volunteering duties gives a sense of personal achievement and also creates a sense of calm that things are just a little bit more organised and will enhance productivity and progress. I like to think it also helps with our mental health and wellbeing if we’re making an effort in striving to become more organised. This can help lessen stress, anxiety and pressure creating a better mindset for focusing on tasks in all areas.

This allows me to free up my head space but I can then revert back to the action list as a reminder and tick off when done. Like de-cluttering when an action list is completed it’s a good feeling of achievement that you’ve been productive and done what you set out to do. Even the smallest tasks are a win in my book.

I’ve had times when I’ve not strategised or been very organised and I do find these days are much less productive which can often then impact negatively on our mindset.

Keep it simple and consistent and form good habits.

Self Care for Voice Overs and Freelancers Working From Home

Wellbeing

Working from home as many Voice Overs, freelancers and other small business owners do can often be a lonely place. This isn’t a blog necessarily on the pros and cons but about the considerations of both and the self care that we should bear in mind that may help when working alone from home. Having been a Pro Voice Over working from home for 13 years I’ve felt the positives and negatives during this time but working from home is still my preferred option as it’s always suited my lifestyle. Experiencing my own difficult times, I discovered (from the anxiety/stress management course I did) that awareness of how we feel when we’re not coping and what we can do about it can really make a difference. Therefore Self Care in how we can look after ourselves mentally and emotionally is important. This is something I’ve always kept in mind when feeling a little isolated or just having a bad working day that knowing the coping mechanisms and tools are there should I need them. Being trained to provide emotional support for listening to people struggling to cope in life and explore any options to help has given
me a greater sense of understanding and empathy. Our own individual circumstances help us make the decisions for that work/life balance and whether working from home will work for us.

Of course there are many benefits from working from home :-
~ It affords more flexibility with family etc.
~ It’s cost saving in fuel and various bills
~ No office politics
~ Time saving
~ Being your own boss
~ Can offer a happier work/life balance

This is obviously great but do the positives outweigh the negatives?
Even if they do, being mindful of the negatives so they don’t become an increasing issue shouldn’t be pushed aside.

Whether you’re considering working from home or currently doing so being aware of some of the downfalls is a good reminder :-
~ Isolation, is a higher risk with less human interactions
~ Home distractions
~ No instantaneous chat/bouncing ideas off with others because of less workplace
connections
~ Coffee breaks are generally alone
~ No instant in-person help when things go wrong in the office/studio
~ Lack of supervision
~ Can be harder to maintain motivation and discipline

So working from home when life is a struggle from either running our business or personal life issues can heavily impact on how we feel. This can lead to rising stress and anxiety levels which can exacerbate the feelings of isolation, affect our emotional wellbeing and therefore can have a negative impact on productivity and general working day. Some days it may feel like a battle to book work in an overly competitive industry, life can feel like a battle full stop which can feel quite demoralising and the pressure can then build.

Poor time management can also play a factor in how we feel if we’re not being productive or creative (there maybe underlying reasons) then this can affect our mood and can often lead to demotivation and procrastination. Also, in today’s digital world of 24/7 news and media the noise can seem relentless from the information we constantly hear and view. It’s hard to completely get away from it especially when most of the news and commentary is heavy, hard hitting stories.

Our physical health can also impact greatly on our mental health which can easily be exhausting. This can affect our daily work life which then in turn often brings financial and emotional struggles creating many worries and uncertainty.

These are just some examples that when working in an isolated environment our negative feelings become heightened and therefore affect our mental health and emotional wellbeing.

In Voice Over world we ‘talk’ for a living in the many diverse areas that we do across business, educational, entertainment and media sectors but do we talk enough when we’re going through a particularly bad day, week or even longer?
There are many reasons we don’t talk…. Keeping it private, fear of not booking work, not wanting everyone on social media to know, not wanting to burden everyone etc. and men more than women tend to internalise their feelings. Some of those reasons may seem understandable but ‘talking’ really does help to lessen the load building up in our heads which can lead to more serious mental health issues. Talking often helps by exploring potential options first to then hopefully find a clearer path forward.

Choosing how we talk about what’s on our mind and where we feel comfortable and safe doing this is important. Emotions are not always easy to talk about or to fix but by helping ourselves we can work towards creating a more positive mindset that can change our outlook.

Communication is Key :-
~ Meeting a friend or colleague for coffee/lunch to talk things through.
~ Industry Meet-Ups…..In-person socials, workshops, networking, conferences, awards and even on-line socials and networking etc can all make a huge difference giving us time away from the solitude of our working day. This can obviously apply to lots of freelance and small business owners. Voice Overs/Actors in general are pretty good at creating meet ups because predominantly working from professional home studio’s we know how isolating it can feel within our own industry.
~ Talking to family about how you’re feeling and telling them how things are and just have them listen can help. Sometimes listening is all we need.
~ Finding support from organisations like Samaritans, Mind or talking therapy can give us the time and space and confidentiality that we may need to talk about whatever is troubling us in a non-judgmental environment.
~ Many people find being open on social media about their difficult experiences and how they feel really does help them and often find a supportive community. This is effective for inspiring and encouraging others to open up too.

Ultimately, choosing the right people to talk to and the right time (when you feel ready) can help lessen the burden and not overload on the negativity.

How we can implement our Self Care and what can we do to improve on our mindset? Firstly,

Did you know there are 7 pillars of self-care?

Each self-care practice fits into one of the seven pillars:
mental – emotional – physical – environmental – spiritual – recreational and social.

A well-balanced routine of self care involves each of these :-

~ Recognise….. Recognise that something isn’t right. Recognising when you’re not feeling yourself is the first instance of helping yourself…. Self Care.

~ Talking….. As mentioned above gives us a chance to offload our thoughts and worries to someone we trust. Exploring potential options for helping ourselves.

~ Make Time For Yourself….. Taking time just for ‘you’ to listen to music, practice mindfulness or even reading a book is about doing things that make you happy and bring a sense of joy and calmness to your day. This may include setting boundaries to block out this time so there are no other distractions.

~ Coping Strategies….. Can often help and act as good ‘go to’s’. They aid in our self care by focusing our mind elsewhere. Our Self Care and coping mechanisms are obviously individual.

~ Creativity….. In many ways are great for mind distraction…… creative writing, song writing, craft and journaling are just some examples of re-focusing the mind.

~ Physical activity….. Playing a sport or running can really make a difference to our concentration levels. It increases our energy and mental alertness which encourages positive mood. This helps to strengthen how we feel and lessen feelings of stress, anxiety and overwhelm.

~ Nature….. plays a huge part in our emotional well-being. Taking time out to go walking, listening to nature sounds can again impact positively on stress and increase our self esteem and therefore improve our mood. Woodland, river and mountain walks are particularly good for this. Taking a moment to breathe in fresh air to our lungs.

~ Sleep….. Getting enough sleep is essential for good concentration and feeling fresh and again helps to reduce stress. There is excellent advice from promoting good sleep from https://thesleepcharity.org.uk/self-care-for-sleep/

Other useful links :
https://www.samaritans.org/how-we-can-help/contact-samaritan/
https://www.anxietyuk.org.uk/
https://www.mind.org.uk/
https://www.nhs.uk/mental-health/talking-therapies-medicine-treatments/talking-therapies-and-counselling/types-of-talking-therapies/
Men’s Mental Health Awareness and Support:
https://www.manup.how/