Huge thanks to Marc Guss and his guest tonight on the Marc Guss Voiceover Club, Tim Friedlander! Tim is possibly the most chill guy in voiceover, and he is also the owner of the soundBOX:StudioGroup, the founder of Gardner St. Workout Group, the co-founder of The VO Weekly Workout (VOWW), and the co-founder, along with Carin Gilfry, of the National Association of Voice Actors (NAVA), and he’s also an awesome voiceover artist.
After studying music at Boston University (Go Terriers!) Tim eventually opened his music studio to other voice actors. When he saw a need for a workout group and a place to talk about the business of VO, he started the Gardner St groups. Another unmet need that he’s taking action on: healthcare for voice actors.
Tim co-founded NAVA with Carin to try to bring health insurance to voice actors. Changes to national laws in recent years now allow associations to offer group healthcare, and that is NAVA’s goal. Imagine being able to pursue VO career and not having to worry about where you’ll find healthcare – thanks to the efforts of Tim and Carin, that may one day be a reality. What an amazing opportunity NAVA could provide to the VO community! Check out the NAVA website, fill out the census, and take the 2022 VO survey, too.
Tim and Marc took audience questions, and here are some highlights:
- How often should you work out? As often as you can. It’s all about constant improvement and constant feedback. Getting perspectives from others is so important.
- He’s encouraged by the willingness to take feedback that he has seen lately with talent that he works with. “The overall rising quality of auditions and quality of people willing to take critique and get better is blowing my mind.”
- The conversational read is not going anywhere. “It’s less about it being a conversational read as it is about having authentic interaction with people and knowing that the listener wants to have an authentic interaction with you. That’s what a conversation is, it’s the back and forth that is authentic.” And as Marc said, it’s about not overperforming and hard sells as it may have been in the past, it’s relating and connecting to your audience that has resonated with consumers.
- Something that can interrupt that authenticity is the habit of judging yourself while you read. Tim has some rules for his booth: No apologizing after a read and No stopping in the middle of a read to say you didn’t like how it sounds. “Commit to your read and go for it, and don’t apologize – especially not in the middle of your read.”
Twice tonight Marc said, “Now is the best time to be in voice over.” And who could disagree, especially with people like Marc, Carin, Tim and his team helping the community?
Thanks so much to Marc and Tim for the amazing conversation, and for the insightful audience questions that furthered the discussion! Check out the Marc Guss Voiceover Club every Wednesday night on Clubhouse at 8:30 pm ET.