OK, I've found many websites regarding this, and a plethora of books. Mainly, concerning the books, I would like any recomendations. There are so many out there (most with disturbingly catchy titles, like "Put Your Mouth Where the Money Is!"), I don't want to resort to randomly selecting from the current crop. Can anyone personally recomend a good book to start with? ANDY

What does your friend do now, do they read aloud quite well, where do they live(Not their home address, just how close to a city and what city.) and how old are they? Inotherwords, tell us about your friend and why they'd be good at VO.

TG

Well, he's 35 years old and works in telephone customer service. He has a degree in theatre and comunications, and has acted in numerous plays. Does this help?

Gee, you got me! Close to a large metropoliton area?

TG

Well, we are about 2 hours from Charlotte NC, and maybe 3 hours from Atlanta GA. Does this work? Meantime, I got a nice home studio setup to cut some demos for the guy. That's where I come in! ANDY

Read this:

http://www.spokenword.com/home.htm

Go to the FAQ, Beau is one of the top voices here in LA, his words
do not lie.

I was just going to suggest maybe visiting casting directors for "open calls" - which are generally only available in larger cities. Of course taking a demo CD around to studios and agencies and trying to meet as many people as possible can't hurt - I've had more success actually catching a few people in-person than I ever have just sending oodles of CD's to mailboxes - though I do that, too. Setting-up a web site where people can go, having biz cards made, passing them out at every opportunity, sending them out, etc. Unless one has unbelieveable and obvious talent, or is famous for something else, it's a sales gig, pure and simple, just like selling insurance policies - most of us are pretty much the same...

Wanting to be something is a whole lot easier than going out and really trying to be something. Me? I hope your friend just "wishes" he was a VO guy and doesn't want to put a huge amount of effort into it - I don't need anymore competition......

TG

Well, we're thinking of putting up a website with mp3 demos, we have some contacts here locally, to get some initial business drummed up. At that point, I'm thinking we could then use some demos of actual commercial work to help the cause. I've got a few contacts in local TV that want VO talent, and radio wouldn't be hard to cultivate. They all use the same 5 people for VO, so I'm betting they're sick of those same people doing 3 voices in one commercial. I understand that this gig is purely sales at this point. The guy has a great voice (I think), and all I need to do is get a decent demo for him and promote him to the market. To me, coming from an indie music background, this seems like it would be a lot easier to sell than an indie rock band! We're not looking to get rich off this, but think we could pick up some nice spending cash for starters at least. After that, we shall see....you may want to watch your back, psyche! Thanks! ANDY

Hey drumist, if your friend is really interested in doing voice overs, it would be good if he signs up for a voice over website such as http://voice123.com/ where he can learn a lot about this business, and if you have a home studio, it will help you a lot. Good luck!

Thanks vinmes...we've already checked out that site and few others. That one looks to be the best. And yes, I do have a small home studio setup. I was looking for an excuse to pick up either a Sennheiser MD421 or an RE-20, for my purposes to use on kick drum and such...but from what I gather, either of these will do well on VO as well. Thanks all! ANDY