First session with my voiceover coach!

I'll be quick today. [Editor's Note: It turns out I wasn't as quick as I thought when I first started to write.] I just wanted to report that I had my first session with a voiceover coach last weekend, and I'm incredibly happy because it went well. Leslie at Inside Voice brought me in, we got to know each other, she gave me a ton of new resources for recording spaces and acting/improv classes in town, and she put me in front of a microphone and had me cold-read one character side and a few commercial scripts.

I basically knew when it wasn't as good as it could have been, but she pretty much instantly was able to tell what I was doing, why I was doing it, and how to fix it so that the next take was better.  Leslie pointed out the specifics and went over the audio right after with me to figure out what worked and what didn't.  I did my best to just take direction well and learn everything I could while I was there.  (She also brought me cookies!  Best. day. ever.)

There's always anxiety for me about taking a new class or taking the next career step.  My inner critic likes to whisper in my ear and tell me I'm not ready, or I should have studied harder, or people are going to laugh at me or tell me I suck, but the best part of my week is sprinting full speed into it anyway just to shut that little bastard up.  He always comes back, but each time the volume gets a little lower on his end.

The on-camera acting class that I'm taking just ended on Monday night as well, and I spoke with my teacher about very much the same thing.  It's not what I'd call stage fright, but I'm acutely aware when people are watching me or listening to me.  I'm working on not letting it make me tense up in this way it always does no matter what I do to prepare for it.  It might just be a matter of time and exposure, just getting used to it.  But it's not all bad, either, you know?  The idea that people might actually WANT to listen to me or watch me and actually be interested in what I had to say still surprises me.  I've always made a conscious effort not to talk or draw attention because for some reason I thought that it annoyed people.  That same inner voice would tell me that they were just barely tolerating my presence and I should just shut up.

It's only recently that I've found I have a voice, and I'm pretty good at using it.  When I speak, and sometimes when I write, people listen.  They don't always agree with me, but what I am and what I do has value.  I'm worth it.  I'm enough.  I know that might not seem like a big deal to some of you, but I'm still wrapping my head around it.

So!  What's next, you ask?  Well, the holidays are around the corner, but the auditions don't stop.  I'll be packing my mic and taking it with me so I can throw some blanket-fort recordings into the ether while my wife and I are visiting family.  If there's enough time between now and then, I'm looking into either the next course from the same acting studio where I've been taking these on-camera classes OR I think it might even be time to throw myself head first into some Improv classes.  Improv seems scarier at this point so that tells me maybe it's the best choice for now.  Of course I'm also going to go back for more sessions with Inside Voice.

Take care, anyone who might end up reading this.  Tell your inner critic "Bite me" today and go do something great.

Hi, I'm Kyle Stroud and I can't figure out how to embed a Soundcloud player on my blog, so click this link to get to it.

P.S. With permission, I'm posting a bit of what was recorded during my coaching session.  It's pretty great seeing these short reads change as I adjusted to Leslie's direction and in the case of the character just allowed myself to go full weirdo.