Fighting Out Of The Blue Corner, At 187 Pounds...

One of the things I've had to do on occasion, as a voice artist, is audition for a client. This is a relatively painless procedure - until they tell me that I'm not right for the part, at which point I break down in tears and contemplate suicide.

Just kidding. If there's one thing you need, as a performer of any sort, it's thick skin. If you can't take rejection - and sometimes for no apparent objective reason - you'll wind up as a basket case. I'm not saying that I'm utterly immune to criticism, but I've certainly had to become more so since entering this business.

Recently, a Marketing Messages client, RINGSIDE, placed an order for some new voice prompts.

(I think that may be a personal best for links in one sentence.)

RINGSIDE sells equipment for boxing and other combat sports. When they placed the order, they were leaning toward another talent on our roster. He wasn't a bad choice, but I've been a fight fan for many years, and my Dad was a boxer while in the navy and had a handful of professional fights afterward, so my doing some work for this boxing-related firm was something I really desired. And, aside from any personal considerations, I felt that my voice was perfect for the gig - a strong male voice, low baritone/upper bass register. Thus, I asked if I might be considered for the work rather than the other fellow.

(I feel I should point out that this wasn't a case of my undercutting another talent for personal gain. My getting the job would not affect my monetary situation. I'm on-staff at MM, and there would be no extra income accruing to me. I wanted the job for personal reasons only.)

So, in order to give the client an idea of how well I could perform for them, I sent them a demo of myself reading one of their telephone greetings. Two demos, actually. I gave them a read in what would be considered my normal delivery and then one in a bit more of an upbeat style. Here are the two now, if you'd like to listen to them yourself.

Sample #1 - Normal

Sample #2 - Upbeat

And I'm happy to report that I was not reduced to tears and made to contemplate suicide in this instance. After listening to my demos, they chose me to do their work!

(Which read did you like? They preferred the upbeat read, so I did all of their prompts in that style.)

See you soon.

Some Music For You To Listen To

My apologies for leaving you without new material for a while. The reason for the long time between posts is that I've been working on making our company website better.

Now, I'm not a techie, even by the wildest stretch of anyone's imagination. At one time - and not too long ago, when you consider the entire history of mankind - I actually believed that "HTML" was pronounced "hittamill". So, I haven't been writing code or actually constructing anything. What I've been doing, with help concerning the technical end of things, is populating our latest version of the website with selections from our music library.

I'm going to send you there at the end of this, to listen to some of the new selections I've chosen to offer our clients, but first I want to explain exactly why we offer music on our website.

You see, we deal in both music and voices, for use in telephony applications. We offer these services individually or in combination. For instance, if your company needs to prompt callers through a menu of choices, making their interactions with you go quickly and smoothly, you can purchase stand-alone voice prompts from us. If, instead, you wish to enlighten your potential customers concerning what your company has to offer, by way of sales or specials or new goods, you might order a combination of voice and music, which we call Messages-On-Hold. You can choose to have that play on your phone system whenever customers are put on-hold for a minute or two. Or, you can order Music-On-Hold, which is simply nice music, chosen by you from our music library, that entertains your customers while they wait.

Music-On-Hold, to my way of thinking, is a much nicer option than just having your customers waiting on-hold with silence for their only companion. If all you offer your customers is silence, they're never quite sure if you're ever actually going to come back on the line at all. At least if music is playing, they'll know they're still connected. In addition, most of your callers will probably find the music quite pleasant. Some may actually be disappointed when you come back on the line, bemoaning the fact that they didn't get to hear the end of the tune that was playing.

(OK, I'll grant you these people may be nutjobs. But, if you have to deal with nutjobs, why not make them happy nutjobs by giving them good music to listen to? It will certainly make your job easier than if you just leave them to stew in silence.)

Getting back to the delay in posting, I wanted to specifically do a piece concerning our Music-On-Hold, but I didn't want to publish it until I could send you to our brand-spankin'-new music pages, complete with super-duper new audio players embedded on each page. These new players should allow you to more-or-less instantly hear any musical selection you click onto.

(I'm presupposing that your computer isn't so ancient that it's powered by a hamster running on a wheel inside of it. If you've at least upgraded to twisty rubber bands, such as those found on balsa wood airplanes, everything should work just fine.)

Before I send you on your way, however, I'll answer a question that some of you may have been thinking: Why should I pay for your music when I can just play the radio over the phone, or perhaps some CDs, while my customers are on-hold?

The simple answer is that it's illegal to play the radio or CDs over the phone. ASCAP and BMI, music licensing agencies, vigorously pursue criminal copyright complaints, and if you play CDs or a radio over the phone, you are, in effect, stealing their product. You can be hit with a fairly hefty fine if you're caught and prosecuted. Meanwhile, our music is fully-licensed and legal for you to do with as you please, once you purchase it. And our prices are extremely reasonable, especially when compared to what you could be paying ASCAP and/or BMI should you be hit with fines.

Anyway, go HERE to listen to some of the newer selections I've chosen. Of course, we offer 12 distinctly different categories of music for use in productions, so feel free to roam around amongst the various categories and listen, at your leisure, to whatever strikes your fancy.

(Of course, if you don't like having your fancy struck - it can be painful - then just go on your merry way and I'll see you next time around. You'll be missing some dandy tunes, though.)