I remember the days when most of the major voiceover people were located in New York, Chicago, or Los Angeles. Thanks to the internet, today geography doesn’t play much of a factor. While the most prestigious advertising and talent agencies are still in the big cities, the talent can be just about anywhere in the world. This is convenient for those of us who like living in places like Sedona, Arizona. Others might argue that the competition has become greater because there are so many people now with their own studios and websites.

Recording and editing has become like word processing. Select, move, delete copy is simple, whether it’s Pro Tools or Garage Band. And finding clicks like mouth noises are easy to edit out. I remember watching engineers spend countless hours with a razor blade and tape, piles of cut analogue tape on the studio floor. It was an exercise in skill and patience. And time consuming.
Marketing? In the old days, I’d have to walk the streets of New York with a briefcase full of reel to reel demo tapes to deliver to studios, agencies, and production companies. Hours pounding the pavement. And to think that if I had any hope of someone actually listening, they’d have to find the time to open the box, thread the tape into a tape machine, and cue it up. In most cases, it was unlikely they would would do this. It was a matter of percentages.

Now, it’s just attach a link to your website in an email, or even attach the demo as an mp3. It couldn’t be simpler, and the potential agent or client is far more likely to take a quick listen.

Someday, today will be the good old days. Hard to imagine where we will go from here.

I was sixteen when I did my first recording, a documentary on the Summer Olympics, sponsored by The Campbell Soup Company. Throughout my teenage and young adult years, I worked for Newbery Award Books, Scholastic and McGraw Hill. These were rich experiences for me and led me to follow in my father’s footsteps.
Peter Thomas (Sr.) is a legend in this industry. Wikipedia. Dad has been working in this business for seventy years – ever since he was hired by a Pensacola radio station when he was just fifteen. He is currently best known as the narrator of the long running television series Forensic Files. Dad worked out of New York for quite a few years, and he has been an inspiration not only for me, but for countless others. He, more than anyone else, taught me the skills of reading and acting.
I’ll be writing more about Dad in upcoming blogs, and hopefully his life will be an inspiration to you as well, especially if you are, or plan to become, a voiceover artist. I have many experiences I’d like to share with you. I’ll be posting insights, inspirations, advice and stories. Also some posts from my Dad. He’s got some amazing stories. I hope you’ll join me from time to time to explore this wonderful industry, and to share your experiences and insights as well.

I have designed web sites before – with Dreamweaver which was tedious and at times quite frustrating, so I was looking for another way. WordPress was recommended to me from three different sides, so I finally decided to jump on this train. Besides, I wanted a more interactive site, with blogs.  Of course, there was a learning curve, but with a private teacher, learning is fun. My thanks to Ben Long of Lost Mouse who customized the template and coached me to learn how to tweak and use it.  Now I am working on the studio site and my own. And more will come, I’m sure. I’ll keep you posted…