541 – She has the buttery sound for voice over: Tom interviews Angela Ohlfest

Episode 541 – Angela Ohlfest
[00:00:09] Welcome to Screw the Commute. The entrepreneurial podcast dedicated to getting you out of the car and into the money, with your host, lifelong entrepreneur and multimillionaire, Tom Antion.

[00:00:24] Hey everybody, it's Tom here with episode five hundred and forty one of Screw the Commute podcast. I'm here with Angela Ohlfest and we've had her on before. Everybody just loved her and we love her around here because, you know my progression in the audio field. Mike Stewart started me out around the year 2000, recording and editing, editing audio and learned tons from him. Then I took it to another level. When I started, this podcast went jumped way up. And then now this young lady and Derek Doepker, who has a nice webinar on all the the detail, the other details of audio books took me way, way up, so I just finished my audio book. This lady helped me do it. I would not have it done if it wasn't for her, and it's been submitted and we're crossing our fingers and our crossing our eyes that everything goes cool. Hopefully within a couple of weeks, we'll see if we got a new audio book out, and it's because of her and she's going to tell you about the voiceover field and how she got into it and all that stuff. All right. Hope you didn't. Oh yeah. So I usually tell you about back episodes. So I lumped three of them together, all about audio books. So if you're really serious about this, this lady has done ninety of them. All right. So so she's no slouch. Episode 535 was about audio books. 536 I gave you a freebie of the intro Chapter one and Chapter two from the one online joint venturing how to be in front of a million warm prospects in the next 90 days.

[00:01:58] So you got my practice session and then episode five thirty seven was what I learned from going through the submission process and the very exacting details that I learned from Angela. All right, so we'll get to that. We'll get to her in a minute. All right. How would you like me to send you big checks? Well, you can make big commissions by referring our products and services, sometimes in excess of $5000 for a speaking engagement and lots of other, you know, clear down to 20 bucks for, you know, certain lower price stuff, anything in between. So if you're interested in that, just email me at Tom@Screwthecommute.com, and we'll give you the details on how you can best promote to your audience and what's the best things we have for you. All right, make sure you pick up a copy of our automation e-book. It's screwthecommute.com/automatefree. And this is allowed me to handle up to one hundred and fifty thousand subscribers and sixty five thousand customers without pulling my hair out, cell phone automation tips and all kinds of things that are cheap or free that many of them are right on your computer already. You just didn't know about them. Grab a copy of that while you're at it. Pick up a copy of our podcast app. It's screwthecommute.com/app. You can put us on your cell phone and tablet and take us with you on the road.

[00:03:18] Now we're still going big guns on our program to help persons with disabilities get scholarships. So the internet and digital marketing field is just perfect for people with mobility problems, and we have two people in the program that are blind. Now, if you want to cry the Blues about, you're not doing so well and you want to get inspired a little bit or or feel guilty. Go, go to the Go Fund Me campaign and you'll see them making videos and they are blind. All right, so there's no excuse for you. You can find that at IMTCVA.org/disabilities and then click on the Go Fund Me campaign. Kick in anything you can afford. Hey, if you're really flush with cash, you can sponsor a person by yourself. Boy, would you be proud of that by changing their life? Because I found that one of the reasons I started, I found out that the suicide rate is four times the average. The depression rate is four times the average, and the unemployment rate is way higher than normal. So we're going to do something about that one way or the other.

[00:04:28] All right, let's bring on the main event. Angela Ohlfest began voice acting midway around the middle of 2018, and she became a full time voice artist and business owner in less than two years, a thousand clients, and 90 plus audio book titles later. She now coaches others on how to build their own voice over business. Angela, are you ready to screw? The commute?

[00:04:54] Absolutely. Good. Absolutely.

[00:04:57] I haven't screwed around with you for I don't know. It's been over a year now, I guess since you've been on. But boy, everybody loved your episode and your story. And for being a used car dealer, you're you're you're OK with us. Tell them about your your story.

[00:05:14] Yeah. Don't hold that against me.

[00:05:16] Well, well, you know, I know you spent eight years in the car arena doing something. I forget exactly what, but but what interests me most? I was over on LinkedIn and it said before the car stuff, you spent six years as an exhibitionist. What's what's that all about?

[00:05:39] Actually, I was in the automotive industry for about 20 years, and before that I used to build animal exhibits. I was an exhibit technician.

[00:05:49] Oh, I think you were an exhibitionist?

[00:05:52] No, no, that's quite a different thing.

[00:05:56] So you did what you built.

[00:05:58] So, yeah, so if you go into like an aquarium or a zoo, all of the artificial habitat you would see in there with the animals, I used to build that all over the world. No kidding. Yeah, it was really, really cool. Boy, do

[00:06:11] You have to hold your breath for a long time?

[00:06:14] A really long time?

[00:06:18] Yeah. You don't run into anybody who does that too often. I mean, now I can't imagine you would want to leave that field for the car.

[00:06:28] I know, right?

[00:06:29] So so what did you do in the car business?

[00:06:33] I did a little bit of everything. I started out as a car salesperson and then I moved into finance and then I moved into service. And then when I ended, when I retired from the industry, I was managing the inventory for a BMW dealership.

[00:06:47] Did you ever have anything to do with detailing?

[00:06:50] Um, I was in charge of the detail department, but I didn't do anything with detailing myself

[00:06:56] Because I got a rotten thing. I had my suburban park next to one of my yards in the sprinkler comes from the well, which had too much iron in it. So there's one side of my car is all like iron laced.

[00:07:11] Yeah, clabber Playbar. I'll do it.

[00:07:13] Yeah, yeah. But you had to do that by hand, right?

[00:07:16] Can't you do it? Yeah.

[00:07:19] Well, yeah. Clay Barr first to remove all that calcium deposit and then a nice little detail in me. Yeah, yeah, it's it's tough to get off, for sure.

[00:07:28] Oh boy, I'll trade it in.

[00:07:29] I guess the key is to not leave it on there. You got to clean that off before it etches into the clear coat.

[00:07:35] Oh boy, boy, I've been looking at it for like six seven months now,

[00:07:39] So I feel, yeah, you might as well just rein it in and turn

[00:07:42] The car around

[00:07:45] And do the other.

[00:07:46] So it's matching on both sides.

[00:07:47] Yeah.

[00:07:49] So so what made the decision to get out of this car business and go into a voiceover? I mean, that's a pretty, pretty big jump.

[00:07:58] It is. And I have to tell you that my first love is always been cars. I've always been a car nut. And that's why I started with the car business. What do you drive? But I drive a 4Runner.

[00:08:09] Oh, four wheel drive. Yeah.

[00:08:13] And you go mudding and stuff.

[00:08:15] I know because I don't get out of my studio much these

[00:08:18] Days, but he's got this theory. I never

[00:08:22] Nobody's ever seen her out of it, actually, you

[00:08:24] Know?

[00:08:26] You know, she can just order everything in and they push it through

[00:08:29] A little slot. Yeah.

[00:08:31] Postmates, I mean, hey, you know, I put a little fridge in here.

[00:08:34] I'm set

[00:08:36] So. So this is a big jump to the voiceover world from car stuff. So how did you do it?

[00:08:41] Oh, yeah. Well, I, you know, even if you're doing something that you love, you still at times you feel a little unfulfilled. And I think I was just reading an article at lunch one day and it was about a woman who her business or her job was to narrate audio books. And I never thought of it before, and I was like, Oh my God, I'm a complete book nerd, OK, super book nerd. So I'm like, OK, well, if someone will pay me to read books, I'm down with that. So then I did a little bit of well, I did a lot of research and kind of got into the procrastinating stage. You know, you do a lot of research and don't really move forward. So mid twenty eighteen, I decided just to go for it.

[00:09:25] Was there any particular person that you, you know, really helped you the most or was just a lot of YouTubers or what?

[00:09:31] Well, in the beginning it was a lot of YouTube. It was a lot of YouTube, but a lot of just lurking on Facebook groups and stuff. But then I came across what who became my coach, which was Anthony Pika and and I coached with him for about a year, and now I coach for him.

[00:09:50] Wow. Yeah, that's cool. But I mean, were you were you able to get jobs and get work prior to? Did you have to take a year worth of training to do it or did you?

[00:10:00] Oh no, I started pretty much right away.

[00:10:03] Ok, I'm making money right away. Cool.

[00:10:06] Well, yeah, you have to. I think the hardest part, especially when it comes to audio books, is to learn the appropriate editing and formatting as you know that that part can be a little challenging and difficult.

[00:10:16] Yeah. How did you learn that?

[00:10:18] Because that's that was the biggest sticking point for me.

[00:10:21] I think in that stage it was mostly YouTube and lots of trial and error. Yeah, lots of trial and error. Yeah.

[00:10:30] Well, that's what I told people. One of my practice session. If I hadn't done that practice session, I'd have wasted the whole book because it was full of plosives and full of breaths and just trouble. So I did like a couple of minutes and I said, Oh man, I better fix this now because I haven't had a big mess because a lot of those plosives, you know, you can fix them. All of them.

[00:10:56] Yeah, and back then there wasn't the audio lab and Audible wasn't available, so you really had to just tell them about that and cross your fingers.

[00:11:05] Yeah, tell about that. What that means.

[00:11:08] Oh, asks is the arm of Amazon, where narrators and authors come together to produce audio books, excuse me, and the audio lab?

[00:11:18] Well, we can edit that out. See?

[00:11:21] Oh, thank you. Fabulous.

[00:11:27] And Audio Lab is software that is used by EH6, where you can upload your files and have a test. Come back like they go through all of the parameters of your file and tell you what you need to fix and what is fine. But that wasn't there in the beginning, so I really had to just submit files and kind of cross my fingers and wait for the Kua to be done.

[00:11:48] It could be a couple of weeks, right?

[00:11:50] Exactly. And at some points it was. They say the average is seven to 10 days. But, you know, at the peak of the pandemic, they were we were waiting up to 30 days to find out if everything was fine. Yeah.

[00:12:04] So Audio Lab just came around recently.

[00:12:07] I, yeah, I would say within maybe the last year or so,

[00:12:10] Oh, I'm so glad because, yeah, I was testing like crazy to see, you know, I don't want to wait two weeks just to find out. Oh yeah.

[00:12:19] You know, so I suck now.

[00:12:22] Oh, it's so helpful. It's so helpful.

[00:12:25] So besides audio books, what other kinds of things do you do?

[00:12:30] Uh, most of what I do is what is called e-learning, which is long form narration in the form of online, you know, tutorials online, you know, like when you start a new job and you have to take all of that workplace harassment type of video courses. I narrate those workplace training and safety type of videos. I've done video games. I've done commercials. I've done a lot of telephony, you know, for sales price plus one, you know, like that sort of thing. So a little bit of everything.

[00:13:03] Yeah. And now how is your equipment changed over the years from when you first started to what you're using now? And do you have aspirations of fancier equipment later?

[00:13:17] Oh, gosh, once you start buying equipment, you it's like tattoos, you just

[00:13:21] Can't, you just can't stop at one. But like most everybody else, I started out with a USB mic. Really just feeling it out to see if this was something that I really wanted to do. And once I absolutely fell in love with it, then I upgraded to my next mic, which was an XLR mic, which you need additional equipment for the audio interface. And then I'd say about a year and a

[00:13:45] Half ago, Tom with that is the audio interface is a piece of hardware that converts the signals from your microphone into simply language that your computer can understand. And then that gets recorded into your door, which is your digital audio workstation, which is the software you used to record and edit your audio recordings. What did you start with? I started with audacity because, of course, it's free and it's relatively easy to use, but then I would say it after a couple of months, I discovered or someone had suggested Adobe Audition,

[00:14:23] And I'm glad they did, because that's what I. I wouldn't be talking to you.

[00:14:27] And there are lots of doors out there to use, but Adobe audition to me, personal opinion. It's much better suited for voiceover because most of the doors out there are more for music production and that sort of thing. But if you're looking into voiceover, audio, book narration, Adobe Audition, you can't, you can't go wrong with.

[00:14:46] Yeah, and some I mean, a lot of people have garage band already on their Mac, yeah. And yeah, except, you know, I always tell them, Yeah, it's great if you're going to have a horn section in your bathroom and strings over your yard, you know?

[00:15:01] You know, I say using mono.

[00:15:04] Yeah, I mean, use what you're most comfortable with. But if you're looking for recommendations, Adobe Audition is definitely what I would suggest.

[00:15:12] And and I tell people, you know, use something that somebody can help you with because you're going to get help. All right. Yeah. I mean, you could. I mean, you can. I mean, I'm self-taught on this thing, but you know, I just suffered until you helped me, you know, with those little tweaks that I had to make to suit Audible. Thank you so much for that.

[00:15:35] Oh, you're so very welcome. And you know, and I found that when learning with learning Adobe Audition, I found that a lot of voiceover artists on YouTube, a lot of the tutorials, a lot of other people that I was following at the time were also using Adobe Audition. So it made it a little bit of an easier transition from taking what they had were teaching and to apply it to my own. So it made that part much easier to do.

[00:15:57] Ok, so, so tell them you started with a plain USB microphone, but then you upgraded to an XLR, which is a three three prong microphone and and you ended. I interrupted you at the interface.

[00:16:14] Oh no, that's OK. And I think that Mike was my road and 1A. And then about a year and a half ago, I purchased my Sennheiser 416, which is pretty much a broadcast studio standard. And I love it.

[00:16:30] Yeah, and how much were the costs on these roads?

[00:16:33] Road is a couple of hundred. The you?

[00:16:36] Yeah. Well, yeah. The USB mic that I started out was just a blue yeti. I think that was about a 150 bucks at the time. Maybe, yes. And the road was just about 250 and the Sennheiser was 1000. Wow. Yeah, it's an investment for sure. But if

[00:16:54] You're yeah, you've done very well with that darn thing. So. Ok, so so you plug it into the the audio interface that makes it interprets it to go into your computer, either Mac or PC. Right? Yes. Uh-huh. All right. What else you got? For Wells to start with and then add later.

[00:17:17] That's about it, I mean, apart from upgrading all of my cables to be balanced versus unbalanced and just that's about it, I haven't really added much else

[00:17:28] To my studio.

[00:17:30] Oh yeah, I do. Yeah, I you know, the DB x 286 s is a pre amp and a preprocessor, and I purchased it in the very, very beginning because I have a lot of ambient noise in this room. My studio is literally on the ground floor of my townhouse and about 15 feet away from a playground and a street.

[00:17:54] So I was watching one of the YouTube videos and somebody was riding back and forth on a street bike or a motorcycle guy.

[00:18:02] Oh my gosh, it never fails. As soon as you hit the record button, you everybody's just having a party outside. But I I got the DB just to help to filter out some of that noise that I just could not seem to get rid of. Other than that, but that's really all that it serves as, you know. Are you still using its only purpose? Yeah, just for the noise case

[00:18:23] That's called a noise gate. Yeah. So yeah, you give them an idea of what that really means. And noise gate.

[00:18:29] The noise gate is really just a setting in this particular piece of hardware that. Once you and it's very, very tricky to find the sweet spot, but it basically you tell it where you want the noise to be cut off, like it opens and closes at a certain frequency to let your voice through, but not all of the other frequencies that you do not want in. But again, it took me probably months to find the sweet spot with it, because if you apply too much or if it's, you know, open too long, it'll start to distort your voice. So it's pretty tricky, but once you find that sweet spot, it works really well.

[00:19:08] Yeah, I have the two sixty six excess and it's got a compressor limiter in it also. Yeah, yours is a more newer version. Basically, you've got a good microphone, you got a the thing. It's a little box, folks, that what she's talking about on the the computer interface and I happen to have a focus, right? There's I know there's other brands, but that's what you plug the mic in. And now do you need a a oh, what's it called phantom power for your microphone?

[00:19:43] Yes, which I get through, which I get through my D-backs 286, which is another. Another aspect that it does for me, but it's basically powers the microphone without needing to plug it in separately in the wall because the these XL are mikes need additional power and that usually comes from your interface or in my case, my DB also has phantom power.

[00:20:06] Yeah, now I'm using the sure seven be very popular podcaster Mike, and that's what I'm using for the books, too, because I don't have to be as cool as you,

[00:20:18] Because if I don't like it and it passes, no, it's a great mic.

[00:20:22] Yeah, it's a great mic, but it puts out such a tiny signal. So if you if you jack up the the gain, you're adding a lot of noise. So I got this little box called a cloud lifter and it puts out twenty five to twenty seven db of really clean gain. So you don't get a lot of noise in it, but it needs forty eight volts of phantom power, so I have to power it. That's that's what my setup is, and I didn't know any better. I got this fancy Yamaha mixing board, I don't know one to eight, 10, 12 channel. And I thought, yeah, I'm really going to be a good podcaster. It sits here.

[00:21:07] Wow, you don't mess around, do you?

[00:21:09] Oh, it sits here, gathers dust every couple of months. I have to clean it with a Q-Tip because it's all these little, and I don't dare touch any of the dials because I wouldn't know how to back.

[00:21:20] Oh God, yeah, you don't know. That is one thing that I learned in the beginning. As soon as you have everything set the way that it sounds great, don't touch anything or take a little marker and mark where the dials are, or just take a picture with your phone that way. If anybody gets in here and messes with any of your dials, you know where they're supposed to be.

[00:21:38] Yeah, now you're using a PC, right?

[00:21:41] I am, yes, so I had some when I started this podcast, I got a Windows 10 laptop thinking, OK, I'll learn Windows 10 and dedicate this laptop to the to the podcast.

[00:21:54] Oh my God, the guy that set it up for me, I got one of these kids to freelance out of like the local guitar center shop. And he set it up working perfectly. He goes home, turn everything off, come in. The next day doesn't work. He comes back, sets it up again, goes home. Come in. The next day. Doesn't work. It just there's so many audio settings behind the scenes. It's just, you know. And so I took it into the Mac place and I said, Hey, if I was going to shoot a Windows laptop shut is a shotgun or a pistol, you know? And I got a used Mac. I mean, it was a 2011 Mac, so it was eight years old at the time and not one glitch in five years. Episode five Forty one, not one glitch

[00:22:43] Time so well, that worked are, you

[00:22:45] Know, techie. How do you keep your Mac going or are your PC going? Is it Windows 10?

[00:22:51] It is Windows 10 Pro. I think since the last time we spoke, I had a I have a custom built PC now. Well, I know fancy pants, but I wanted to try to future proof myself and be ready and able to do really anything that my clients needed me to do with video or, you know, audio. So I had I went to digital storm and I built a custom studio workstation

[00:23:17] So cool like gaming

[00:23:19] That it could have been had I wanted it. But that requires maintenance. You have to change the fluids out like every six months to a year, and I didn't want to have to. Yeah, I don't want to have to mess with that. So, you know, I custom built this this beast out here, and it's been, you know, and to back up, I've never had any issues with my PCs, with any of the software. So I thought you were going to talk about the fan noise because the fan noise was

[00:23:42] One thing I've always heard you say. Yeah, just

[00:23:44] Put the thing outside in the hall or something, right?

[00:23:47] I yeah, and I've tried a few different pieces just to try to get to reduce the fan noise. But I don't care what anybody says. If there's a fan in it, it's going to make noise. I mean, even the most, you know, quote unquote silent of fans is still going to be picked up by the microphone. And that just completely distorts your voice if you're trying to remove it in post. So I just moved the thing outside of my room and that has solved all my problems. So.

[00:24:10] So if you you know how they tell you to, to just turn your recorder on and then leave the room. So what's the the noise floor in your room and tell them about noise, floor and room tone and stuff?

[00:24:22] The noise floor in my room last I checked peaks at about maybe 57 negative 57 db, so you still have to process a little bit for audio books. Yeah, because even Negative 57 isn't really in relatively. It's not very loud. It's not something that's very even audible to the human ear, but to meet specific requirements like audible or access, you have to be at negative 60. So in order to do that, you have to employ some time, some noise reduction plug ins or I mean, even my DB is great, but I like I said, I do not want to touch that noise gate because any if I add any more, it's just going to completely distort my voice. So I use plug ins, one of which is from waves. It's an s one is what it's called.

[00:25:12] That's what I got. I did. Yeah, it's fabulous. I recommend it to anybody because it's it's so subtle. I mean, you could crank that puppy all the way up, and it doesn't really distort your voice that much. But as you try

[00:25:24] Away what happened to me where I just turned it on at zero and it still reduced the noise,

[00:25:29] No, I didn't. I'm to have to do that today. But that's nice to know that at least if it's on, even if it's set to zero, it's still helping you to reduce that noise floor.

[00:25:38] Now, people might be a little confused because you said, Well, I'm at fifty seven and I need to get to 60. They're like, Wait a minute. Fifty seven is less than 60, isn't it?

[00:25:50] Well, it's a negative number, so you have to think the smaller the number, the louder it is.

[00:25:56] Yeah, so yeah, I got mine well below 16. I built myself a little one of those portable studios out of PVC pipe and I got the big heavy blankets. And it's amazing. If you're if you're outside of my living room and you clap your hands, it sounds one way you go in this thing and it's only like four by six feet, something like that. And you clap your hands and it just goes dead, huh? And that's, you know, so that's it's not soundproof, though you can still hear the dogs barking and everything else.

[00:26:27] Oh, for sure. But it's great at reducing probably the reflection of noise bouncing around your room so reduces your echo, and it also probably reduces your noise floor. All the good things that you need a recording space to do for you.

[00:26:40] Yeah, now do you have to those specific requirements for audio books like if you're doing a commercial, does the radio station care about it or those same things?

[00:26:52] I generally add a little bit of noise reduction to everything just because I'm just that person. I want to make sure that there's no, you know, errant sounds that aren't supposed to be in there in there before I send it over to anybody. But for audio books, of course, it's going to be a little bit. I'm going to be a little bit more. I put a little bit more attention into what I'm doing, but for commercials and stuff, the noise floor in here really isn't that high to begin with, but I always add just a touch, just to be sure.

[00:27:23] But I mean, are they are they real pissy about it?

[00:27:27] Oh, no, no. I've never had a complaint about noise in my room, and I'd like to keep it that way.

[00:27:32] Yeah, right. But I mean, I'm just trying to say, OK, the audio books were extremely exacting

[00:27:38] Stuff, right? Yeah, they don't give me any specifications.

[00:27:42] What about the the audio courses you do and the telephony stuff?

[00:27:47] No, we don't get any specifications for those. It's very rare that we do. And I say we I mean me, I don't know about much about everybody else, but every other job that I've done. I've never received any specifications for how the file needs to sound, any other requirements for the formatting. No.

[00:28:05] So you can do lots of work without hitting the perfection that you got to have.

[00:28:10] Yeah, audiobooks are a completely different animal when it comes to formatting the files, for sure.

[00:28:16] So any equipment that you like wish you would get in the future or, you know, eyeing and.

[00:28:24] Oh, my gosh, I almost pulled the trigger at the end of this year, but I didn't because I, I don't know my gut just said No, not yet. But I wanted to get the name in you. 87 microphone.

[00:28:36] Oh yeah.

[00:28:38] Are you familiar with that one?

[00:28:39] Well, I just have heard all the people talking about. It's like the Rolls Royce or something,

[00:28:45] But it's like thirty six hundred dollars.

[00:28:48] It's quite the chunk to bite off, for sure. So, you know, maybe in the future.

[00:28:54] See, the thing is about all this technology stuff. It costs ten times as much to get three percent more improvement, you know?

[00:29:01] Right. That's that's the.

[00:29:04] And nobody will know the difference. I'm hearing my phone ringing there, but I'm not answering it because I call you the angel of voice over.

[00:29:11] I'm always going to think of you like that. So. So the bulk of your business is audio books or commercials. Or you know what? What's the breakdown for someone like you with Andy? And there's there some classification for your type of voice? Like, are you a certain type of voice?

[00:29:34] Oh, that's a good question. I don't know if there is a particular title for my type of voice, but. I, you know, typically I call myself just a neutral accent. American female,

[00:29:48] Maybe,and I hate to say this, but then I also say, And when you meet somebody, god, yeah, hi, I'm Tom. Who are you? Well, I'm a neutral because you have to describe your. You have to describe your voice in all of these profiles and stuff you have to be on. But you know, the part that I hate the most is that I have to put myself in the middle aged category.

[00:30:12] Oh no, you're nearly like 12 years older. I've seen you.

[00:30:16] Well, 13.

[00:30:17] But who's counting but neutral?

[00:30:20] What neutral neutral accent. American female. And I'll typically throw in like motherly or, you know, nurturing.

[00:30:31] Warm, buttery, buttery.

[00:30:34] I like buttery. I think I'm going to stick with

[00:30:36] Buttery, motherly, warm butter.

[00:30:40] But most of the work that I do is what is called long form, which is the lung, you know, because a lot of people like to do the short little commercials, you know, 30 second spots, stuff like that. I do better with the longer stuff. So again, the e-learning, audio book narration, the bigger projects, PowerPoint narration, you know, everything that is hours long

[00:31:01] Or the short ones, very tiny amounts of money.

[00:31:06] Compared to it depends on it depends on what the purpose is and where it will be played and for how long, because then you'll have to add the appropriate rights and all of that stuff. But so, no, not really, it doesn't. I guess it just depends on where it's going to be played is really the determining factor for those shorter ones because, you know, the appropriate rights could be one amount could be another amount.

[00:31:33] Okay, I'm just I'm working on my description over the top accent, non-natural American male, idiotic, childish and goofy.

[00:31:47] Ok, good. Don't use buttery because that's mine.

[00:31:48] Oh, no, buttery is not

[00:31:50] Me for sure.

[00:31:52] So is that that no woman ever going to happen?

[00:31:57] Hmm. I'm going to say, yes, I'm going to will it? I am going to will it into

[00:32:05] Will you keep your Sennheiser or sell it to?

[00:32:07] Oh no. I'll keep. I'll keep the Sennheiser because the Sennheiser is going to be, I think, good for some of the maybe the shorter stuff. And the Neumann would be, I think, better suited for some of the longer stuff, which is what I do, mainly anyway. So I guess I'll have to see, but I'm definitely going to keep the Sennheiser. It's good to have backups anyway.

[00:32:27] Yeah, for sure.

[00:32:29] Definitely good to have backups on everything because you never know when something's just going to explode.

[00:32:34] Now the Neumann is a condenser mic. Or yes, ma'am. Yeah. Well, we're all going to we're going to put all our collective screw the thoughts together for

[00:32:46] Norman to hit you, and I don't know

[00:32:48] Where you are in Arizona or somewhere.

[00:32:51] Yeah, I'm in Phoenix, Phoenix, Phoenix, Arizona.

[00:32:53] What's the temperature there today?

[00:32:56] Today, it's not that bad, actually. I think it's 60. It's 55 degrees.

[00:33:01] Oh, look at you. Yeah, we're only fifty one here. So yeah, but but it does get roasting hot. So what do you do with the air conditioning?

[00:33:10] It does. The summertime is very difficult. I have to do a lot of early morning recording or a lot of late afternoon recording. And what I do is when the air conditioner is on and during the summer, that's about 85 percent of the time, maybe even 90 percent of the time. I'll do my editing at that point. And then once it's off for, you know, it's 10 minute intervals, then I'll get some recording done. So summer jobs take a whole lot longer to get done, but.

[00:33:38] I can still get it done, yeah, well,

[00:33:39] You're getting it done so. So tell us a little bit about maintaining your voice.

[00:33:45] And maintaining your voice at

[00:33:47] Times a day that you're better or worse, sir,

[00:33:50] I would say definitely warming up beforehand, just, you know, doing some tongue twisters and some, you know, kind of, you know, warm it up, clear all of the morning gunk out, basically.

[00:34:04] I have doubt that, yeah,

[00:34:06] I think everybody, it's just a it's a human thing. And then to make sure that you're hydrated. Hydration is absolutely key because again, in voiceover, we have sticky mouths, which I always say my mouth is just sticky and I don't like it. But to get rid of all of those little pops and clicks that you hear in your voice. Hydration water with lemon, you know hot tea. There's throat coat teas. There's breaks. You have to take breaks, especially if you're doing long form like I do. Some of the longer reads breaks are a necessity. That way, you don't fry your voice and rest. Of course,

[00:34:43] If you practice inaudible breaths, or how do you deal with breaths?

[00:34:48] In audio books. I always tell the people that I work with that a natural normal breath is perfectly fine because an audio book is a human reading a book to you. So to have a audible breath, I think, is fine as long as it's not distracting. And just like, oh, you know, like a big gulping frog breath, I mean, I think it's fine. Those big gasping ones you should probably remove, but a nice natural breath, I think, is perfectly fine in an audio book.

[00:35:18] So you haven't specifically practiced inaudible breathing.

[00:35:23] I have not mastered it yet. No. Oh, but have you inaudible breathing?

[00:35:28] Have you worked on it? There's the question.

[00:35:32] Yeah, I think I think learning where to take a breath and that's usually at a comma is to take a nice little pause and breathe. But the big breaths usually come at the end of the sentence and those I remove. But it does take a little bit of practice. It really does to kind of train yourself, to take to maybe lean away from the mic when you take a breath. So it's not as audible. Mm hmm. There's a few things that you can do to reduce the sound of breaths. But again, I don't I don't think that a breath sounds bad in an audio book.

[00:36:02] What kind of mouse do you use? Mouse, yeah. Use the mouse on your computer, right?

[00:36:09] Yeah. I use a wireless Logitech, it's a trackball mouse, so it actually, yeah, so it doesn't move around, but I just move the ball around with my thumb.

[00:36:20] I really like it, yeah, it's really handy for editing.

[00:36:23] Well, you know, I've been doing this constantly for 30 some years, I mean, all day, seven days a week on a computer.

[00:36:31] And yeah,

[00:36:32] And the audio book. My hand hurts now. My thumb hurts because I was every, every place. You know, I chose to remove the breasts and put in room tone on every place for the whole book, and it was only a 50 minute read. But my thumb is killing.

[00:36:55] So you got to exercise your thumb.

[00:36:57] So I figured, figure that out. So. So no, I hired you to help me with this specific thing. But tell people about your courses and how how you can help them if they were interested in improving their recording. You know, a lot of people here have their own books already and courses and and make audio products, but not that the level you do so tell them about all the stuff you could help them with.

[00:37:25] Well, first and foremost, I realized that different people like to learn different ways, so I offer a few different ways for people to learn what they want to learn, and one of which is the courses that I offer and I have a course on getting started on fiber, which has been a great place to find voice over work. Another one on Upwork, how to get started on Upwork. And then I also have one on there

[00:37:50] Used to be Elance.

[00:37:52] Yeah, yeah. And then I also have a one on meditation because meditation is very big

[00:37:59] Right now on how. Ok, tell me about that one. So is it because I'm I'm coming out with marketing meditation that I'm having somebody else do, but I'm, you know, kind of providing the script so as your course, and I'm definitely going to buy that course for them to help them. So so what's it about? Is it how to talk in the meditation or how to find meditation work or how to write meditation scripts from scratch or what?

[00:38:31] This course is mainly about the different types of what I call healing with your voice, and that encompasses meditation affirmations, sleep stories, and I go through the different processes of how to kind of get in the right mindset before you start, because recording narration for meditation is unlike any other really, because it's a lot slower, a lot breath here. And but I mainly go through how to narrate it, how to add music, how to edit it, and then I go through, of course, the ASMR a little bit too. And that was really fun to record.

[00:39:07] What's what's ASMR?

[00:39:10] Asmar is autonomous sensory meridian response, and it's basically like a tingling sensation that is triggered by different types of audio sounds. Some people prefer the sounds of like nails tapping on plastic or the slime that kind of crackles and creases. Some people like whispering. And what I go over in the course is just the different types of ASMR. There are because I have been asked in the past to whisper. As for the ASMR?

[00:39:49] Yes.

[00:39:51] And it's I feel so silly, oh, sorry, I feel I feel so silly saying it, but it does happen and it's something that you can definitely offer, not only in the whispering. But if you know how to make these sounds, that is another way for you to earn an income, I guess. But but that's basically what I review in this course is how to narrate, edit, add music for different types of healing with your voice meditations, affirmations and ASMR,

[00:40:17] But not how to write them.

[00:40:21] No, I actually knew the script, right?

[00:40:24] I would say eight times out of 10, the client provides their script and it's better if they do, because that gives them the opportunity to make it more personalized for their own focus or purpose, which is what meditation is all about. But I do have someone that I found that writes meditation scripts, so I do have some on hand. If someone says, I don't care, you know, do you have something like this? And then I can narrate it and add some music to it and maybe make it into a video for them? And they're happy campers. Awesome.

[00:40:55] Ok, so boy, this has been very informative for everybody, so how do they get a hold of you?

[00:41:01] The best way to reach me is through my website, which is voiceoverangela.com. Or you can email me at angelasvoicetalent@gmail.com. And I'm on all the social media as as voiceoverangela, apart from Twitter, which is angelao_vo.

[00:41:22] And you, you work them constantly because all I ever saw was the YouTube channel.

[00:41:29] Yeah, yeah, I post on every one of those pretty much every day. Wow. I'm still getting into tick tock, though. I'm just getting into I'm a big tick tock lurker, but I'm just starting to get into making videos for TikTok.

[00:41:41] Have you done Instagram Reels?

[00:41:45] No, I haven't, and I should, because that is, you know, I think that is the way that people are starting to go for their social media fixes are the short videos.

[00:41:56] Oh boy, are they addicting too?

[00:41:57] You can blow. They are awesome. No, no. I know I do. Good God.

[00:42:04] Well, boy, again, I want to publicly thank you for helping me take my business to the next level with really clear understanding. Now I book one. What is it called that I booked with you? Is it for consultations or something?

[00:42:21] You have a name? Yeah, I have. I have one on one sessions for a one 30 minute session, and then I also have mentorship programs, and they're available in a four week or a 12 week. And then we meet once a week to talk about whatever it is that you need to. Whatever challenges you have or, you know, help to set, set up your studio with the appropriate equipment or anything, anything that you're having troubles with or just answer some questions.

[00:42:45] And I'll tell you what it's been, folks. It's been wonderful. She's extremely clear, extremely accommodating and can't.

[00:42:52] Most of the time, I'm clear most of the time not accommodating, clear most of the time.

[00:42:59] Well, she's with me. She's been just great, and I couldn't wait to have her back on, especially since I'm in the middle of this audio book stuff and can't say enough about her. So thanks so much for coming on, Angela.

[00:43:10] Oh, it's been a pleasure. Thank you so much for having me.

[00:43:13] Ok, everybody. Check out voiceoverangela.com and check out her courses. Really take it to the next level. All right, everybody will catch you on the next episode. See you later.

[00:43:25] Bye bye bye.

[00:43:26] Was that a neutral female voice I just heard?

[00:43:30] Yes it was.

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