Standing the Test of Time

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I was going through some of my old tapes and “stuff”. Yeah, I’m one of those Pack Rats. I’ve got tapes going back farther than I’d like to admit. And the trouble is, many may be nothing but scrap now due to them being stored in a haphazard way. No low-humidity special rooms or packaging. Are you serious? But I digress…

I wanted to share with you something I found that I have now re-saved as a MP3. In Indianapolis, we had a woman’s clothing store back in the 70’s called Dorothy’s. Some of you may remember it. It was at several of the main shopping centers. But the point here is their unique form of advertising. The “Voice”. Dorothy’s husband, a real down to earth, straight-shooting kind of guy, voiced all the ads. No acting experience. Just told it like it was. In other words, exactly what agencies want the voice talents to sound like today. Natural, “real”, non-announcer type.

Give this spot from 1975 a listen and see if you don’t agree that this spot stands the test of time.

Listen how Dorothy’s husband, Herb voices the info with a “I don’t give a damn – listen if ya wanna” attitude and then closes out with his signature tag, “…My wife is Dorothy.” Great ear-catcher that worked well. And received a lot of attention back then. Would probably win an award today.

Did ya like that cool jazz music they always put under commercials back then. Aggh!

Stop that NOISE!!

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If you are a voice talent and record at home, you no doubt have run into the problem of landscaping mowers, etc., right?

We live in a small condo community where our previous landscaping company was made aware of my recording needs and promised to start at our condo when they first got in at 9AM. They were pretty much done around us by 10:30 and I was a happy camper. Our new landscaping company comes in at 1PM and doesn’t seem to have the same people here each week, so my pleading of quiet on Tuesdays falls on deaf ears.

It is hit or miss on those days. First they cut, then a guy comes around later with the weed whacker and then another guy finishes up with the blower the next hour. So my Tuesday afternoons are shot or at least I have to work around them. It’s very frustrating. I try to push off clients to other days all together. It doesn’t always work. Lately, God has been helping by raining on Tuesdays. Trouble is – that just pushes them into Wednesday, etc.

The way I’m set up, there’s no real “other” place in my condo to go and hide from the noise. I deal with it the best I can. It’s the low frequencies that kill us.

Amy Taylor, a fellow VO artist had some suggestions:

1) Record during periods when you know it will be quiet. This might mean keeping a log that details the intervals and times that buses go by or when the neighbor has their lawn mowed.

2) Choose a different part of your home to record in. Maybe there is a better place soundproofing wise that you can record in. The environment might not be as inviting or bright, but if it improves the ambiance for recording, give it a shot to see if you can make a new arrangement work.

3) Build an isolation booth. There are ways that you can soundproof your recording space. A number of videos are articles are online about how you can do this. The solutions range from expensive whisper rooms to cheap do-it-yourself projects.

My walls are doubled and the R factor of the insulation is the best I could get when we built this. Most of the noise comes in via the window. My next move WILL have an isolation booth.

Doin’ the best that I can…

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