If you’re like most, you continue to improve as time goes on. It’s kind of like watching a flower grow. Look often and you might not see differences from one day to the next. But come back a week or two later and things are in full bloom.
I recorded a long form narration job early last year for a client that was a pleasure to work with. Recently, they decided they wanted to update some copy to reflect improvements to the product. No big deal, ordinarily. But little did I know what we were both in for with this particular session.
Obviously, they wanted to maintain the same tone and vocal style as last time so the new VO would match nicely with the old stuff. As soon as the producer began playing some of it down the ISDN line as a refresher, I noticed right away that I was working at a higher level than when I recorded the work originally. This meant that in order to match the tone from last time, I’d have to bring myself back to the level of ability I possessed the prior year when it was recorded. I had to make my delivery purposely sound worse!
It was stiff, sing-songy and a bit pukey in places. And worse, it had to be recreated! What kind of hack did they hire last year anyway?
Forty minutes later, we finished up and I stepped out of the hot booth for a drink and a breath of air. Phone rings. “Uh, yeah Joe… Were you possibly using a different mic last time around?” Oops. I had forgotten to mention that I had switched not only my microphone, but my preamp as well since we had last worked together. (Note: I don’t recommend this to anyone if you have continuing jobs that require pickups from time to time.) Blindly figuring that the ISDN would have provided a clear signal for the engineer to ensure consistency, I hadn’t given it much thought or concern. Now, I was giving it a lot of both.
I scrambled to hook up my other mic and run it direct into the board. With the producer back on the line, we re-recorded the entire session. And yes, the second time was just as purposefully altered as the first, though mercifully it didn’t take quite as long.
You can see why this turned out to be one of the biggest and most unexpected challenges of my VO career. I never dreamed that improvement could come back and bite me like a dog gone rabid. Funny thing was, the producer liked my current read style a lot better, but for purposes of blending new with old, everybody’s hands were tied.
Measured growth in any creative venture is refreshing and rejuvenating. And looking back to who we were can be a good indicator where we’re going. There’s joy in that journey for sure. As long as you’re ok with off-roading once in awhile.
