Voiceover
I still pinch myself when I think about how I get to do what I love every day. But voiceover isn’t all that I do. I’m also a wife, mom, friend, and chronic learner. Through this site, I humbly offer some of the insights I’ve had on this entrepreneurial journey of being a voice actor and online course creator. I hope you’ll like some of it, find value from it, and are inspired in some way to share your own gifts with the world!
–Carrie
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-Transcript-
Brad Burrow (00:01):
Welcome to In A World With Real Media. I’m your host, Brad Burrow. In this podcast, we’ll dive into the lives of the most successful people in business. We’ll learn how they overcame adversity, took advantage of opportunities, and learned from their experiences. Learn from our experts. Get inspired. Then go live your story. It’s in a world with real media. Hello and welcome to the Inner World with Real Media Podcasts. So today is a really fun podcast. Today, Carrie Olsen is going to be on our podcast with us, and she is a voice actor and has done some incredible things in the industry. And so when I do my inner world voice, I’m a little intimidated right now, just so you know. So anyway, in all seriousness, this is really fun. So Carrie, thank you so much for being on the podcast. So I’ve been looking forward to this.
(00:57):
We all, especially in film production, we all kind of, I don’t know, think about what it would be like to be a voice actress or actor and doing things. And I’ve had a chance to do some voiceover work here and there just for fun. And being a musician, growing up being a musician, kind of learning how to do things with your voice. But you’re doing it big time. So tell me a little bit about what you do and how’d you get started in this?
Carrie Olsen (01:26):
Sure. So first of all, thanks for having me. Brad, I’m super excited to be here. And don’t sell yourself short. I know about some of the voiceover work you’ve done and it’s more than just for fun. Yeah. But yeah, I got started 2014. So I’m not one of those people who grew up wanting to be a voice actor. I didn’t even really know about it. I wasn’t much of a performer or anything as a kid. But I discovered it actually through listening to a podcast. So I just had my first daughter and I had a like 45 minute commute to work and I wanted to be home with her. And so I was looking for things that I could do that I could do from home. And going to work one day, I heard a podcast and it was a lady named Allison Steele. She was being interviewed on a show and she talked about her work and I was just kind of half tuning in.
(02:13):
But then she started talking about what her day looks like and the flexibility of it and what she does. And I thought, that sounds like something I could do. And previously I had started a podcast. I was just at home. I love that show down to Nabby. And so I started to show a podcast about just me talking about the episode. Really?
(02:32):
And so I’d gotten some good feedback on my voice. So I called Allison up and I started getting training from her and I started booking work pretty soon after that. So I started getting training, started auditioning and was able to quit my job pretty soon after that and replace it with voiceover work.
Brad Burrow (02:47):
So she sparked you to say, “Hey, I could do this.
Carrie Olsen (02:50):
” Yes. Yeah, absolutely. So after my first call with her, she was really encouraging and voiceover work seems, I think for people who aren’t voice actors, it seems like something that’s fairly easy to do. Yeah. I had a friend once say, “Why are you getting coaching for voiceover? It’s just talking. We all know how to talk.” No, it’s
Brad Burrow (03:11):
Not,
Carrie Olsen (03:11):
Is it? It’s not just talking. But after my first call with Allison, she was really encouraging and she said, “You’re probably 60% there already.” And that was a good- Just from
Brad Burrow (03:20):
Having a phone call with you,
Carrie Olsen (03:21):
She could tell. From that conversation and I recorded some things and I was super excited. I got just obsessed with voiceover work and I recorded just a little, I think I still have it, just a demo after that first meeting just because I was so excited. And I sent it to her and she was like, “This is actually, for not having had any training, this is all right.” Really? And so I thought, okay- So you’re like- I’m going to keep going. Yeah. And I put everything into it. I kept getting training and went from there.
Brad Burrow (03:50):
Yeah, that’s amazing. So where did you start? I mean, so you work out of your home studio, right?
Carrie Olsen (03:56):
Yes.
Brad Burrow (03:57):
So there’s a lot that goes into that that I think we can talk about maybe a little bit about equipment and I mean, how did you figure all that out? I hear a lot of auditions, people doing a home studio and they don’t know
Carrie Olsen (04:12):
What
Brad Burrow (04:12):
They’re doing honestly.
Carrie Olsen (04:13):
I
Brad Burrow (04:13):
Mean, sound wise, mic wise, levels, all that.
Carrie Olsen (04:17):
There’s so much that goes into it. And fortunately for me, my husband, he was in a band and so he had, I mean, a ton of equipment and experience and we had done some podcasting together. We just both liked microphones. And so my very first voiceover microphone was a microphone we already had. It was the AKG Perception 120, just a condenser microphone. So we had that and I had an interface. And so I’m just kind of rigging things together, but it was quality enough and I knew enough about sound dampening and all of that, that I could get a decent sound. And I had my coach, so I wasn’t doing it all on my own, doing a ton of research, having my husband help me. We bought some acoustic foam and I started out just in my closet, which is where I think a lot of voice actors start out and- That should
Brad Burrow (05:10):
Be the title of your book. I started in
Carrie Olsen (05:12):
My closet. Started in my closet, getting out of the closet. So yeah, so that was it. And the nice thing about equipment these days is you don’t have to spend a ton of money to get a really high quality sound. You need to have the right things, but it doesn’t have to be super expensive. And especially if you have good mic technique, I always tell people that you, no matter how much money you spend on your microphone, if your space isn’t set up properly and you don’t know … I mean, some people, they’re like, “I don’t know why this doesn’t sound good.” And they’re stumped and then I go check out their space and their microphone’s backwards. Oh, is that right? So it’s just little things like just knowing about mic technique and your space and how close to be to the microphone, all those things.
Brad Burrow (06:01):
We talk a lot about, when I give tours of the studio here and stuff, so we’re in a recording studio here and spend a lot of money getting this room tuned and
Carrie Olsen (06:10):
To
Brad Burrow (06:11):
Sound right. So you can pretty much sound great anywhere in the room, but when you’re in an environment like a closet or something with lots of reverb, it really takes away from the quality of the sound and people notice that right away.
Carrie Olsen (06:24):
It’s like
Brad Burrow (06:24):
People notice bad sound
Carrie Olsen (06:26):
Almost
Brad Burrow (06:26):
Immediately.
Carrie Olsen (06:27):
Right. Yeah. You can hear the room if it’s not set up properly.
Brad Burrow (06:32):
Yeah.
Carrie Olsen (06:32):
So
Brad Burrow (06:32):
Tell me like what kind of mics you use and stuff like that. And just give us a quick overview of maybe some of the gear. I know you have a really good mic.
Carrie Olsen (06:40):
I do. Yes. I love my microphone. So I use the Neumann U87. That’s my main microphone that’s in my booth.
Brad Burrow (06:46):
That is the MacDaddy.
Carrie Olsen (06:47):
It is. And- It’s
Brad Burrow (06:49):
Like a $3,500 microphone
Carrie Olsen (06:51):
Probably.
(06:51):
Yeah. Yeah. And that’s why I got … I wanted to have a microphone that I didn’t have to worry about any … I wanted to be confident. So when I was recording auditions, I didn’t want there to be … If I didn’t book it, I didn’t want to wonder, was it my equipment? Like this is under control. I know this is fine. And then I have several travel microphones that I use. I take a microphone with me everywhere I go. Do you really? So one that I have in my car right now is the road NT2A, but I’ve used different travel microphones and different setups for when I’m traveling.
Brad Burrow (07:25):
Yeah. Yeah. That’s amazing. So you just, like if you had to do a last minute voiceover or something, is that why you have
Carrie Olsen (07:32):
That? Yeah. Sometimes there’s- Plug it
Brad Burrow (07:33):
Right into
Carrie Olsen (07:34):
Your laptop? Sometimes there’s ASAP work. Yeah.
Brad Burrow (07:36):
Really?
Carrie Olsen (07:36):
You
Brad Burrow (07:36):
Ever pulled over the side of the road and
Carrie Olsen (07:38):
Done a- Yes. Yeah, my poor family. Sometimes I have. If we’re traveling, we have to go find a quiet spot and I’ll record something.
Brad Burrow (07:46):
Where do you go? Like a library or something like that?
Carrie Olsen (07:48):
So one of my secrets is- That’s crazy. Cemeteries are very quiet. Is
Brad Burrow (07:52):
That right?
Carrie Olsen (07:53):
Wow. We’ve done that. We’ve done that before. So in different cities, if I need to go find a place to record, that’s-
Brad Burrow (07:59):
Right in the car?
Carrie Olsen (08:01):
Yes.
Brad Burrow (08:01):
Wow. Yeah.
Carrie Olsen (08:02):
Amazing.
Brad Burrow (08:03):
That is crazy. Well, I mean-
Carrie Olsen (08:04):
It’s a great booth.
Brad Burrow (08:05):
That’s the thing about this business is people want stuff turned around quick, right?
Carrie Olsen (08:09):
Right. I
Brad Burrow (08:10):
Mean, even some of the platforms where people like voice one, two, three and places like that, it’s like if you get it turned around quick, you can tell the people that are really prepared. It’s like you get auditions back just like that. And they’re probably going to get a lot of deals because they have a lot of opportunities because of that.
Carrie Olsen (08:28):
Yeah. So there are different models of what your business can look like as a voice actor. And so if you’re on a platform like voice one, two, three, or another platform that has an algorithm that they’re measuring how quickly you get things back, then that’s really important. Or if you just have an agent or a manager that’s like, “Hey, we need this back in 20 minutes,” then that’s another reason to be- Does
Brad Burrow (08:51):
That happen? Yes. Do you get asked to turn something around in 20 minutes?
Carrie Olsen (08:55):
I have before. Usually it’s, I mean, 30 minutes, but I mean, sometimes it’s quicker or 30 minutes to an hour, but a lot of times it’ll just say ASAP. So
Brad Burrow (09:06):
Let’s talk about the whole side of most people … So are you union? I am. And you’re union? Yes. I’m voice actress. So how do you do that? How do you get into the union? How do you get an agent? I mean, that makes a big difference on opportunities coming your way. It
Carrie Olsen (09:21):
Makes a really big difference. It changes the way your business looks. So when I first started, I was non-union and I was auditioning everywhere. I got an agent actually pretty early on, but I was also doing a lot of sourcing my own work. So I was sending out emails and making connections and just sending out my demo, trying to book work any way I could. So that was a big part of my business early on was just hustle, hustle, hustle. Did
Brad Burrow (09:46):
That work?
Carrie Olsen (09:47):
It worked. Yeah. It worked.
Brad Burrow (09:48):
I get emails all the time from voice artists wanting, “Hey, check me out, check me out. ” And I really don’t spend a lot of time on those. It’s more when I have a need that I go find somebody. So I’m just curious, like the email that actually worked.
Carrie Olsen (10:04):
It did.
Brad Burrow (10:05):
Yeah.
Carrie Olsen (10:05):
Yeah. And I know it still works. There’s still people that’s a huge part of their business is doing outreach. So I think it matters. That’s interesting that you get a lot of inquiries like that.
Brad Burrow (10:16):
All the time.
Carrie Olsen (10:17):
Yeah. I mean,
Brad Burrow (10:17):
Multiple times a week.
Carrie Olsen (10:19):
Yeah. Yeah.
(10:20):
For me, having a great demo is really important if you’re going to be doing that kind of outreach. And then also making sure that you’re not … I mean, I’ve worked with some people who they just spam people basically. They just get one email template and then just send it out to as many people as possible. It may or may not be the right person. It’s not personalized. So I think there’s a right and a wrong way, or at least maybe a more effective and less effective way to go about doing that kind of work. But I would, I mean, I remember making a dream list of companies I wanted to work for and specifically reaching out to those companies. So it wasn’t a mass …
Brad Burrow (11:00):
Was the studios or just companies in general that you wanted to work with?
Carrie Olsen (11:04):
It was just companies. And then I would find who was responsible for hiring for their voiceover work and try to reach out to that person. Is that
Brad Burrow (11:12):
Like a marketing director or something like that?
Carrie Olsen (11:14):
For different companies, yeah. I mean, for smaller … Sometimes it’s a president. Sometimes it’s really just the person at the very top who’s doing it. It might be the people in the e-learning department, if you’re trying to reach out to do e-learning work, creative director, job titles can vary. Yeah,
Brad Burrow (11:33):
Yeah. So started out independent, and then when did you decide … You got an agent, and when did you decide to become union?
Carrie Olsen (11:42):
So when I started booking union work or the type of work … So it was a conversation with my manager, because I knew the trajectory that I wanted and the type of work I wanted to do, and so they advised me, I said,” This is what I want, “and we saw kind of where I was going with my work. I started off doing mostly e-learning and explainer videos and commercials, but I wanted to do promo work. And so I dedicated a year and I trained every single week with a promo coach and learned how to do promo and that’s when I got on with my manager and they do a lot of promo work.
Brad Burrow (12:18):
So tell me about that. What do you learn when you’re doing promos? Tell me some of the things that you would learn, like inflections, energy, what are those things?
Carrie Olsen (12:30):
So there are patterns in promo work and even within promo, the different categories of promo, there’s different ways that you would read something that’s different from a commercial. In promo, not everything, but in certain kinds, one of the things I learned was billboarding. So it’s like everything’s big. So one of my first coaches, she was like, she reads everything and she literally does that with her hands when she’s reading promo work. And again, there’s different genres, so you’re not going to do that with every type of promo read, but little things like how do you make it pop? So you’re looking at the script and you’re finding opportunities to make it pop. So just different patterns that are different from commercial reads.
Brad Burrow (13:17):
Are the directors looking to you to like do that or are they coming to you say,” I want you to do it this way.
Carrie Olsen (13:25):
” They’re looking to you to do it.
Brad Burrow (13:26):
Yeah.
Carrie Olsen (13:27):
Yeah. They’re not coaching you through it.
Brad Burrow (13:29):
So you’re giving them something and they’re like, ” Oh yeah, I like that. And can you hit this a little harder? “That kind of thing.
Carrie Olsen (13:35):
Sure. So once it’s booked, then yes, like in a session, they’ll say,” Yes, hit this a little harder. Let’s go slower here and you can massage it during a session, but you have to book the work first. And so you have to have that knowledge of what they’re looking for in that audition process.
Brad Burrow (13:52):
Yeah. And you’re probably working with the same people a lot, I would
Carrie Olsen (13:56):
Imagine,
Brad Burrow (13:57):
Right? So you’ve got a good feel for what they’re looking for, but you had to learn that.
Carrie Olsen (14:03):
Right. Yeah. Those
Brad Burrow (14:04):
First few sessions, what was that like? That’s like probably a little bit of a, “Well, let me give this a try and see how
Carrie Olsen (14:13):
This goes.” Yes. Yeah. I remember after, because it’s formulaic and really anytime you’re learning a new skill and voiceover, the first time, like after you learn a skill, it just sounds so clunky and sometimes you’ll forget the stuff that you knew before because you’re focusing so much. The goal is to get to a point where it sounds seamless and it’s effortless and just second nature, but until then you’re thinking consciously about everything like, “What’s my timing like? Make sure I hit this word and remember coming up, I need to ladder this up or speed up here.” And so you’ve got all these things on your mind and so it sounds calculated. And I remember after my first, probably first couple sessions, I recorded something and I sent it to a friend because I was like, “Oh, this is so great. I’m doing promo.” And they replied back and they were like, “I don’t remember exactly how they put it, but it was basically like, this sounds really staccato, like that’s not great, don’t do that.
(15:11):
” And when I listened back to it, I was like, “Oh yeah, I can hear just my brain processing every little thing.” And so it takes time for it to all come together. So it sounds seamless.
Brad Burrow (15:22):
I think a lot of people that are not, haven’t done this at all, get into it. And that happens to me too, is I get sped up. Did you find that you had to figure out a way to really get your pace right, slow down? It’s like, because when you start reading, your mind’s reading ahead and next thing you know, you’re kind of speeding up and it’s like, slow down, slow
Carrie Olsen (15:43):
Down.
Brad Burrow (15:44):
Even on camera when I’m doing promos on camera for us, it’s like everybody’s like, slow down, slow down because I’m like … And you’re thinking ahead. And I find that a lot of people, especially with teleprompter, have that same problem.
Carrie Olsen (15:56):
Yeah.
Brad Burrow (15:57):
So how did you overcome that? It’s like, okay, get this right, get the pacing right.
Carrie Olsen (16:02):
Yeah, that’s a great question. And I’m a fast talker, and so what I had to do just to sound normal was I would consciously tell myself to go uncomfortably slow. And so when I was reading, if I didn’t feel uncomfortable, then I would make myself slow down even more because I knew that if it felt uncomfortable to me, then it was probably a normal pace for everyone else.
Brad Burrow (16:26):
Yeah. That’s interesting because that felt normal to me, but I could tell you’re like uncomfortably slow.
Carrie Olsen (16:32):
Right. Yeah. We don’t
Brad Burrow (16:35):
Talk like that, do we?
Carrie Olsen (16:36):
No. I mean, I don’t. I’m sure maybe some people do, but it’s, yeah, you really getting out of your head and being comfortable with being uncomfortable. There’s so much of that in voiceover and then learning how to know intuitively how fast you are speaking because you might be in a session where you read it through and they say, “That was great.” And they look at the time and they go, “You know what? We need to shave off a second.” And so now you need to read this 30 second script again and take a second off from somewhere. So it’s, again, just being kind of aware of that internal clock.
Brad Burrow (17:11):
Do you have a stopwatch with you when you’re doing stuff like that?
Carrie Olsen (17:15):
Nope. I just do it all.
Brad Burrow (17:17):
Just do it.
Carrie Olsen (17:17):
In my head. Yeah. And see where it
Brad Burrow (17:18):
Is. You got a good feel for, I’m getting close to 30 seconds here.
Carrie Olsen (17:22):
Yeah. Or I’ll know which words or which section that I need to tighten up a little bit so that at the end of it, it’s a second that we’ve taken off.
Brad Burrow (17:31):
So I don’t know about you, but I have trouble with certain words.
Carrie Olsen (17:34):
Yes.
Brad Burrow (17:35):
Do you have words like that?
Carrie Olsen (17:36):
Yes. I think the word digital is digital. Digital. Yeah. And especially when it’s in a larger script, that’s a tough one that for some reason just doesn’t- There’s some
Brad Burrow (17:50):
Words that I have a mental block and
Carrie Olsen (17:52):
I
Brad Burrow (17:52):
Cannot say
Carrie Olsen (17:53):
Those
Brad Burrow (17:53):
Words correctly.
Carrie Olsen (17:54):
Well, that’s a real thing too because with mental blocks, sometimes if you’re doing a commercial and maybe it’s a McDonald’s commercial and you don’t love McDonald’s. And so there’ll be things where, like if I’m working with a student who’s learning voiceover and I just can’t get out of them what I want or they’re stumbling over a certain part, I’ll just ask, “Did something happen with that thing?” And they’ll be like, “Oh yeah, when I was growing up, this thing happened.” So it’s like
Brad Burrow (18:25):
Something literally in their mind
Carrie Olsen (18:27):
That’s causing them not to be able to. Yeah, there are psychological blocks for sure that’ll make it harder. And so that’s why it’s acting. You have to get over that and pretend like it’s something that you love or kind of substitute it in your mind for something else that you do enjoy.
Brad Burrow (18:43):
Yeah. Yeah. It’s so true. And it seems like once you hit that, it’s like it takes forever to try to get that
Carrie Olsen (18:50):
Word correctly. Yes. Yep. You’ve got to kind of step away and- Take a breath.
Brad Burrow (18:55):
Yeah. Take breath. Do it again. So tell me, switching in between different genres. So I know that you have a British kind of voice. Do you work on those things? Do you sit here and say, “Okay, I’m going to develop this skill.”
Carrie Olsen (19:13):
I do. Yeah. So I mentioned that I trained in promo for a while and I’ve taken accent and dialect classes and improv classes. So I’m pretty intentional about when there’s a new thing I want to learn, I’ll go and find the person I want to learn from and then train with them for a while.
Brad Burrow (19:32):
Really?
Carrie Olsen (19:33):
So
Brad Burrow (19:33):
People will do that.
Carrie Olsen (19:34):
Oh yeah.
Brad Burrow (19:35):
That’s amazing. How do you find people like that? Just online?
Carrie Olsen (19:38):
Yeah. I mean, in the industry, I’m fortunate enough to have connections and just acquaintances and colleagues. We go to voiceover conferences and rub shoulders with each other and you learn about … And also just finding people whose careers you respect and then you can reach out to them and say, how did you get to where you are or who did you coach with or do you coach?
Brad Burrow (20:00):
So who goes to a voiceover conference? That sounds very interesting to me.
Carrie Olsen (20:06):
It’s incredible because it’s all voice actors.
Brad Burrow (20:10):
So just voice … I
Carrie Olsen (20:11):
Would think
Brad Burrow (20:12):
Like producers and stuff would go there too maybe, or creative directors, people like that, but maybe not.
Carrie Olsen (20:19):
For like the Expo Hall, you’ll have people that serve voice actors. So people that create voiceover booths or sell- Microphone companies. Microphone accessory, things like that. People who sell software for voice actors, those kinds of people will be kind of in the exhibit halls. And then for speakers, you’ll get coaches and agents and managers and producers and people that’ll come and demo producers to come and speak because that’s who the voice actors want to hear from. But it’s not always much of a networking opportunity. You will get some maybe radio stations or online streaming stations that’ll come and represent at the conferences, but it’s mostly a bunch of voice actors. And I love it. I love getting on an elevator at a voiceover conference because everyone’s voice is just so amazing. You just stand there and just hear everyone talking and it’s fun to hear.
Brad Burrow (21:19):
Yeah, you can tell the people literally. Yeah. Yeah. So that’s a good transition. I want to ask, how many demos do you have, different types of demos and what makes a great demo for somebody that’s breaking into the business, what does a producer want to, what do they want to hear?
Carrie Olsen (21:39):
So I have a commercial demo, I have a promo demo, I have an e-learning demo and I have probably multiple within those categories too, but those are my three primary demos. Three
Brad Burrow (21:53):
Big ones.
Carrie Olsen (21:55):
And as far as what makes a good demo, so for a commercial demo, you want to showcase your range, you want to start really strong and you want- Might
Brad Burrow (22:04):
Come out like with the promo
Carrie Olsen (22:06):
Type feel or- If it’s a commercial demo, you don’t want any promo type sounding reads on it, but you want your strongest read to be the first one.
Brad Burrow (22:14):
What would that be? So give me an example of that, like a car dealer or what type of spot?
Carrie Olsen (22:20):
It would depend on who you are. So whatever is your go- to, like your wheelhouse, the thing that you do really well. So it might be automotive, it might be kind of like the smart mom who’s telling you why she’s going to Target to get her school supplies. If that’s the thing that you really do well- So
Brad Burrow (22:40):
You just did that, didn’t you? That was great.
Carrie Olsen (22:43):
Yeah. Yeah. So you’re going to lead with the thing that you do really well and also that’s in demand right now because if you do it great but no one wants it, it doesn’t really matter. What’s the
Brad Burrow (22:53):
Purpose at that point?
Carrie Olsen (22:55):
Yeah.
Brad Burrow (22:55):
So is the smart mom your go- to?
Carrie Olsen (22:58):
What’s
Brad Burrow (22:58):
Your go- to, like what do you lead with?
Carrie Olsen (23:02):
Let’s see, what’s on my commercial demo right now? I just got a new one recently. Of course you asked me and I can’t think of it. I have totally memorized, let’s see. So I’ve got a Birchbox read. What’s my very first one? I might have to look it up and pull it up because I’m on the spot and I can’t think of what my first spot is. Okay. We’ll put a link
Brad Burrow (23:22):
To it in the
Carrie Olsen (23:23):
Show
Brad Burrow (23:23):
Notes or something like that.
Carrie Olsen (23:24):
Okay, sure.
Brad Burrow (23:25):
But yeah, so leading with really who you are
Carrie Olsen (23:31):
And
Brad Burrow (23:31):
Who you want to be hired as.
Carrie Olsen (23:34):
Yeah. So there’s a lot of branding that goes into it. You don’t want your agent or whoever you’re sending your demo out to, you don’t want them to have to guess as to where to place you. So you’re going to think what do I do well? What’s in demand? What can I do that when the person listens to this, they’re going to, “Oh, I have a spot for them. I know exactly where this fits. I have 10 commercials right now that I could use this person for just like that. ” So you start strong and then you want to have diversity. So showcase your range. One of my demo producer friends, he talks about having like a smart read, having more like of a sensual read, having an authoritative read, having a warm and caring read. So having just a variety of different things to showcase what you do.
(24:19):
All in your commercial demo? All in your commercial demo.
Brad Burrow (24:21):
Yeah. So one to one to one.
Carrie Olsen (24:23):
Do
Brad Burrow (24:23):
You edit your own reels?
Carrie Olsen (24:25):
No.
Brad Burrow (24:25):
So you send them out? You have somebody that does that for you?
Carrie Olsen (24:28):
Yes. I use a demo producer.
Brad Burrow (24:29):
Yeah.
Carrie Olsen (24:30):
My very first one I did. I used some real spots. So when you’re recording a demo, it doesn’t have to be real spots that you’ve done. You can record them specifically for the demo. But my first one, about half of it was real spots that I had done, and so I just threw those in there and then I recorded some with my coach and then I put it together myself, which is a no-no, like you’re not supposed to. Why?
Brad Burrow (24:51):
Tell me why.
Carrie Olsen (24:52):
Because your demo, it’s an art and a science. And so especially if you’re a new voice actor, you don’t know the difference between a demo that sounds good and one that doesn’t. You just don’t have the ear yet. Somebody’s doing it every day is going to … And they’re going to know the trends, the transitions. They’re going to have advice on how to order it. They know what the agents are looking for. And so certain agents like to hear certain things on demos and so they can kind of tailor it to, if you’re trying to specifically sound great to a specific agent and they can help you with that too.
Brad Burrow (25:28):
Now, is this all this guy does, this person? As
Carrie Olsen (25:32):
Far as I know. Voice
Brad Burrow (25:33):
Demos?
Carrie Olsen (25:34):
I know some people who only do voice demos and then I know some who will coach and direct and then they also do demos.
Brad Burrow (25:42):
Yeah. So is this somebody you want to give a shout out to
Carrie Olsen (25:46):
That
Brad Burrow (25:46):
Does this for you?
Carrie Olsen (25:48):
I have a few.
Brad Burrow (25:50):
Okay. Well, I’m going to put you on the spot a little bit. I’m just curious. But I mean, that seems … I’ve done a few in my past for people, but I’m just doing what sounds good to me
Carrie Olsen (26:01):
And
Brad Burrow (26:01):
Not understanding the trends. I think that’s a really big, probably important thing to do.
Carrie Olsen (26:06):
Yeah.
Brad Burrow (26:07):
I mean, what’s a typical cost to do something like that through somebody like that?
Carrie Olsen (26:10):
It’ll range. You could probably find someone to do it around $800, but if you want to go kind of the high end, it’s going to be 2,000 to 2,500 for a good demo.
Brad Burrow (26:24):
Yeah.
Carrie Olsen (26:24):
And it varies on genre also. E-learning demos tend to be a little less.
Brad Burrow (26:28):
Okay. But that could be the difference in you getting hired for a job or not.
Carrie Olsen (26:32):
Absolutely.
Brad Burrow (26:33):
So it’s a worthwhile expense,
Carrie Olsen (26:35):
Marketing
Brad Burrow (26:35):
Expense.
Carrie Olsen (26:36):
Right. It’s an investment. Yeah.
Brad Burrow (26:38):
So when you get it back, that has to feel pretty good. It’s like, oh wow, this is … Are you a part of that process so you can hear it as it’s kind of coming along?
Carrie Olsen (26:50):
Yes. And we’ll work together to figure out the proper order. And if the music, if I don’t love the music, we can collaborate on those little details.
Brad Burrow (26:59):
Yeah. Very cool. Very cool. So that’s a side that I don’t think people really understand. The one thing I wanted to ask you too about having an agent and being union, how did that change your business, what you were doing? I mean, it had to completely transform your business, I would think.
Carrie Olsen (27:20):
So yes, my business looks very different now. I mentioned how before it was very much, I was sending out outreach emails. It was very hands-on, very … I was trying to book everything on my own. And then with an agent, what that does is it brings in more opportunities and better quality quality opportunities than I could get on my own. And so what I always tell people about agents is that it doesn’t guarantee you work, but it gets you opportunities to get work. So you still have to book the work, you still have to audition and book those jobs. But my business looks different now because I do have my agent, my manager, and I have relationships. And so most of my work now comes from those auditions and those relationships versus doing outreach on my own, which was what I did earlier. A
Brad Burrow (28:07):
Lot easier to deal with it from
Carrie Olsen (28:09):
A business
Brad Burrow (28:09):
Side, isn’t
Carrie Olsen (28:10):
It? It’s different, yeah.
Brad Burrow (28:11):
So you still audition for opportunities
Carrie Olsen (28:13):
A lot? Yes, a lot.
Brad Burrow (28:15):
And will you get like a script and say, “Here’s what we’re going for, ” and then you just do your version of that?
Carrie Olsen (28:22):
Yes, it varies. So the scripts or the auditions vary from here’s some words to say with no context whatsoever.
Brad Burrow (28:30):
Really?
Carrie Olsen (28:31):
Yes. Sometimes that’ll happen all the way to- Like
Brad Burrow (28:34):
Digital? Like digital?
Carrie Olsen (28:36):
Just say these three words with no context. I mean, sometimes it really is kind of like that. Or there’s a commercial and you know that there’s some kind of story going on, but you don’t know what it is and then you have some lines that talk about maybe it’s, “Take a look over here and now come over here and let’s look over here.” And you’re just saying these things and I’m like, “I don’t know what is happening in the actual commercial, but they’re just giving me these lines to say. So I have to come up with a story to try to figure- So
Brad Burrow (29:06):
Why do you think they’re doing it that way? Are they trying to get your interpretation of what, like giving them some ideas on maybe how you would do this or what are they trying to accomplish by doing it that way?” I would think that you would want to give you as much direction. “Here’s what we’re going for. Here’s the feel we’re going for. What would you do here? “But they’re just giving you lines.
Carrie Olsen (29:29):
Well, sometimes. Sometimes they give you a ton of information, but sometimes nothing comes in. And I think that it’s probably just to hear your acting ability because you can’t be needy as a voice actor and you also can’t be obsessed with trying to give what the client wants because then you get in your head. And so, and a lot of times there isn’t a right answer. So some people, if they don’t book an audition and They’ll obsess over why didn’t I book this? What did I do wrong? And it’s not always that you did something wrong. There are a thousand reasons why you may or may not have booked something, but you have to have the mindset of … Well, first of all, I think the creative ability and the acting ability to take some lines that have no context and create a story around it.
(30:20):
Even if it’s not what the client was looking for, they’ll recognize that you have that acting
Brad Burrow (30:24):
Ability. Ability.
Carrie Olsen (30:25):
Yeah.
Brad Burrow (30:26):
So you’re coachable.
Carrie Olsen (30:27):
So you’re coachable and you’re creative. A lot of times in a session, you might get some direction, you’ll do the takes. And then at the end they might say, “Okay, just give us one more for safety or give us a wild card or just whatever you want to do. ” Or a lot of times it’s often for them to say, “Give me an A, B, and a C.” And so then you as the voiceover talent have to on the spot come up with three different ways to read this and they want to know that you’re capable of doing that.
Brad Burrow (30:53):
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, that’s amazing. So one of the things I know you and I have talked about a little bit is you’ve redone some voices in some films. Tell me about that. That’s really interesting.
Carrie Olsen (31:06):
Some of my favorite work is voice matching.
Brad Burrow (31:09):
Voice matching,
Carrie Olsen (31:10):
Yes. And one of the reasons I like that is because you really are … It’s the closest thing that I get to do to movie acting, like really being in a scene. And that’s a lot of fun to do. So what that looks like is I’ll get some lines from a movie. So I’ve done some voice matching for Aquafina and Margot Robbie. And so the lines will come in and then I’ll get a reference for the way that the actor was talking in that
Brad Burrow (31:43):
Scene.
Carrie Olsen (31:44):
So like the raw
Brad Burrow (31:45):
Or like the live cut of it or
Carrie Olsen (31:46):
Something like that? Yes. Yeah. They’ll send some audio. Kind
Brad Burrow (31:48):
Of like ADR almost.
Carrie Olsen (31:49):
Yes. Yeah. And so I’ll listen to that and then try to match it. And it might be a different scene or a different way of saying what the actor was saying, or it might be the same thing and they just want, they need the word, the lines are clear. Clean version of it. The clean version. Yeah. Yeah. So that’s a lot of fun.
Brad Burrow (32:06):
So do you have a director that’s like listening to you do this or do you record them and send them to them?
Carrie Olsen (32:11):
Usually I record it on my own and send it back.
Brad Burrow (32:14):
Yeah.
Carrie Olsen (32:15):
And a lot of times for those, they’ll use the quote unquote the audition for it. So I’ll get the lines, I’ll record, and then if I book it, they’ll just use what I sent them.
Brad Burrow (32:25):
Awesome. Awesome. So tell me again some of the movies that you’ve been able to do that on.
Carrie Olsen (32:30):
Encanto and Rya on The Last Dragon. I forget what the one I did for Lady Gaga.
Brad Burrow (32:39):
Yeah. Yeah. I remember you mentioned that.
Carrie Olsen (32:42):
Was
Brad Burrow (32:42):
It for one of her films?
Carrie Olsen (32:44):
Yes.
Brad Burrow (32:44):
Really? Like the one with the Barbara Strice and the one that she remade with … What is the name of it now? Yeah,
Carrie Olsen (32:52):
I can’t remember the names.
Brad Burrow (32:54):
It’s like, oh my gosh, I can’t remember. But yeah, so pretty cool. So have you gone to a movie and heard your voice in one of the films yet?
Carrie Olsen (33:02):
That’s the thing is I have no idea because I’m sounding like the other person. Yeah. So I don’t know. Well,
Brad Burrow (33:06):
You know the line that you cut probably though, right?
Carrie Olsen (33:08):
Yeah. And I think some of it’s for the trailers.
Brad Burrow (33:11):
Oh, I
Carrie Olsen (33:11):
See. But I’m sure I have.
Brad Burrow (33:14):
Yeah. Pretty cool. So you get credits on the films and stuff like that probably, don’t you? I
Carrie Olsen (33:19):
Would think you
Brad Burrow (33:19):
Would.
Carrie Olsen (33:20):
Let’s see. I don’t think I’ve ever- If it’s for
Brad Burrow (33:22):
A trailer, maybe not.
Carrie Olsen (33:23):
No, not for the trailer. It’s
Brad Burrow (33:24):
In that film. Yeah, that would be pretty cool. We did an ADR session here for Lucas Films. I think it was about, oh, maybe a year ago, but this is really interesting and you’ll relate to this story. So it was Lucas Films is Disney now. So we had to go through almost two weeks of just Disney going through our IT system through making sure we had all the right safety protocols for the files.
Carrie Olsen (33:55):
Wow.
Brad Burrow (33:55):
And because we got copies of the original footage of the film and then we did an ADR session. So we loaded it in the system and then the actress just came in and we had, boy, I think we had nine people on the Zoom call directing her with the main director
Carrie Olsen (34:14):
Actually
Brad Burrow (34:14):
Directing her. And she was just doing … There was a scene where it was a big open scene wide shot and she had some lines as she was kind of jumping through in a few places. And so she just did the lines and watched it and they said, “Give us a little more here.” And took about 30 minutes,
Carrie Olsen (34:38):
Two
Brad Burrow (34:38):
Weeks of setup and about 30 minutes to record it. And she was looking at the footage as she was cutting the lines and they were directing her. It was really cool.
Carrie Olsen (34:47):
That is neat.
Brad Burrow (34:47):
It’s like ADR is fun.
Carrie Olsen (34:48):
It is.
Brad Burrow (34:49):
It’s hard, but it’s fun.
Carrie Olsen (34:51):
Yeah. Was it rough having 10 people directing?
Brad Burrow (34:54):
Well, I mean, Carly and I just facilitated, but so we had a monitor in the studio in here and then the footage, so she could see the director and hear them
Carrie Olsen (35:07):
Obviously,
Brad Burrow (35:08):
And then look at the footage. So the communication aspect of it was pretty seamless with Zoom and they were able to get what they wanted because she happens to live in town. That’s why she came in here and they found us through a web search and stuff like that. Really cool process. But yeah, they were happy.
Carrie Olsen (35:28):
Awesome.
Brad Burrow (35:29):
But two weeks of work for less than 30 minutes of recording
Carrie Olsen (35:33):
Something.
Brad Burrow (35:33):
And the interesting thing is I had worked with her mom as an on camera talent for a project years ago. So she’s like, “I’ve been here before.” It’s like really, really fun, but that’s cool. That’s the kind of thing that you’re doing something similar to that. So pretty fun. All right. So let’s switch gears. Let’s talk about coaching. Tell me about your coaching program. So you’re kind of like coming full circles and somebody taught you how to do this and now you’re becoming that type of coach for other people.
Carrie Olsen (36:07):
Yeah. So before I got into voiceover, I was working in an e-learning department of a construction company. Oh, really? Yeah. I created online courses and I got to narrate some of my own courses again before I even knew about voiceover. So it was just, they needed someone to-
Brad Burrow (36:24):
Destiny.
Carrie Olsen (36:25):
Yeah. They were like, “Who could narrate these?” And I was in the department already, which is funny now because that’s something that I advise people against. Don’t just find the person in the office who can do the narration, find the list. Don’t do what did? Right. Don’t do what I did. So I already knew how to create courses. And when I got into voiceover and I started booking work and having success, people were asking how I did it. And so I just started creating some resources. And so without really trying, I started a coaching business with my voiceover work even early on. So I’ve been doing this for over 10 years now and have been having such a blast helping other people get started in voiceover. So I have an online community called the Voiceover Success Intensive. It’s a monthly membership and we have office hours calls every month and workout groups and study groups.
(37:28):
And there’s online modules as well. So for people who want to get started in voiceover. And you’ve
Brad Burrow (37:32):
Created all of those?
Carrie Olsen (37:33):
I created all of this. Yeah.
Brad Burrow (37:34):
Yeah. Very cool. Yeah. Is it like a proprietary online group or is it like on one of the platforms?
Carrie Olsen (37:41):
So there’s a private Facebook group for the group, but the actual modules live on my website.
Brad Burrow (37:49):
Okay.
Carrie Olsen (37:50):
So you get a login and all the modules are there. So
Brad Burrow (37:53):
What are the modules? Tell me a little bit about like what’s in the training.
Carrie Olsen (37:59):
So the very first ones, it’s just about an overview of the industry and how to get started. I mean, it starts very basic, what you need equipment wise, what the different genres are and-
Brad Burrow (38:12):
Kind of laying the foundation of-
Carrie Olsen (38:14):
For sure. Yeah. Yeah. So the idea is there’s so much information out there about voiceover now that I wanted to have a place where you could go and just get everything that you need and none of the stuff that you don’t, because there’s a lot of people giving information that is, man, it just takes up your time, but it’s not really essential to what you need to get started.
Brad Burrow (38:36):
Right.
Carrie Olsen (38:37):
So it lays the framework, gives you what you need and is very upfront about what it takes to build the business. So you won’t hear anything about, “Oh, this is fast and this is easy and you’ll make a ton of money right away.”
Brad Burrow (38:52):
Live out your dream.
Carrie Olsen (38:53):
Right. I mean, do and have … And it’s a lot of fun. And I think that people, if you do feel like that’s something you want to do, then I think you should go for it as long as you’re aware that it is work.
Brad Burrow (39:06):
Yeah.
Carrie Olsen (39:06):
It’s a job.
Brad Burrow (39:07):
A lot of people have these grand ideas of being a voiceover artist
Carrie Olsen (39:12):
And
Brad Burrow (39:12):
Then are a little surprised when it isn’t easy. Do you see that too?
Carrie Olsen (39:17):
I do. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And that’s one of the reasons I try to hedge it off at the beginning because it’s … I have no interest in having people get started in voiceover just to be disappointed about this isn’t what I thought it was. That’s not a win for anybody.
Brad Burrow (39:36):
Right. I agree. I agree. So what are some of the modules? Just give me an idea of what that training, how it progresses and what it looks like.
Carrie Olsen (39:44):
So we talk first about, again, like the overview, the different genres, it goes into equipment, goes into skills needed for voiceover. So it goes into the skills that you need vocally, but then also as far as how to set up your equipment and how to even, you know, your mindset for voiceover, how to manage your audio files, how to record. And then it gets into things like legal, so your contracts and- Oh, good. … union, an agent, marketing, what you need for your website and outreach.
Brad Burrow (40:20):
Unions like up there though, right? I mean, I don’t think most voiceover artists that I’ve worked with are union. I mean, we don’t even have a union signatory here at Real Media.
Carrie Olsen (40:29):
Right.
Brad Burrow (40:30):
That’s like … If you’re a union, you’re doing very well.
Carrie Olsen (40:34):
I would hope so. Because if you’re not … Because when you’re union, you can’t do non-union work, so you’re cutting yourself off from everything else. So that isn’t something that most people, especially in this part of the country, are going to do. Definitely not right away. I always say don’t join the union until you have to.
Brad Burrow (40:54):
Did you hesitate to join?
Carrie Olsen (40:55):
Did I hesitate?
Brad Burrow (40:56):
I mean, or did you just knew it was the right thing to do? You probably
Carrie Olsen (41:00):
Had an
Brad Burrow (41:00):
Agent telling you need to be union,
Carrie Olsen (41:01):
Right? Yes. So I thought about it a lot and considered, and I knew what I would have to do in order to join. So a lot of my clients, I was able to convert to union and keep them as union clients, but there were some that I couldn’t. And so I knew it was a trade off that I was going to have to
Brad Burrow (41:17):
Leave. So you would lose those clients?
Carrie Olsen (41:19):
Yes.
Brad Burrow (41:19):
Yeah. Yeah. So talk about the entrepreneurial side of being a voiceover artist. I mean, so you can have a great voice, you can read great and not have a clue on the business side
Carrie Olsen (41:33):
And not
Brad Burrow (41:33):
Have success. Right.
Carrie Olsen (41:35):
Yeah. You have to have both. There are people who, like you said, read great, but don’t have a clue about business. And there are people who are great business people, but their technique and their reads aren’t great. And you could have a little success with one or the other, but you really need both in order to do well. Can
Brad Burrow (41:56):
You recognize that people have both of those attributes when you meet them?
Carrie Olsen (42:01):
Yeah. So I always say that you … It is a skill. So very few people are going to come to their very first coaching session and nail it.
Brad Burrow (42:09):
Yeah.
Carrie Olsen (42:10):
That’s just not common. Right. So you’ve got to work at it. So I’ll tell people, these are the strengths that I hear, these are the things that you would need to work on, but you can develop those things. I think one of the key indicators of whether or not they’ll be successful performance wise is how coachable they are. So it’s difficult to … When you do a read, you’ve got a line to read and your coach says, “Okay, let’s try it like this. ” A lot of people will either read it the exact same way.
Brad Burrow (42:41):
Happens all the time.
Carrie Olsen (42:42):
Yeah, because in their mind it’s coming out differently, but vocally it’s coming out the exact same way. So there has to be that self-awareness and I think a lot of it’s vulnerability. You have to be willing to look dumb and to sound dumb. I think that’s a really, actually, really important part of being a good voice actor because if you’re trying to save face, if you’re trying to look cool and not embarrass yourself, then you’re going to be in your head. You’re not going to be able to go to the places you need to have a compelling, relatable read because you’re holding things in. So you’ve got to be willing to just let it go and try something and it may or may not work, but you’ve got to at least be willing to go there. I always tell people that go where you need to go and as your coach, I’ll be able to reign you in and direct you, but if you are not willing to go there, then there’s nothing really we can-
Brad Burrow (43:38):
It’s like-
Carrie Olsen (43:38):
Creative people have
Brad Burrow (43:39):
A hard time putting it out there because we don’t like to be told, “Oh, that was terrible.”
Carrie Olsen (43:45):
Right.
Brad Burrow (43:45):
Yeah. So that you’ve got to get over that.
Carrie Olsen (43:47):
Right. Just do it. You’ve got to get over that. Yeah. And I think have fun doing it. And I think that’s one of the reasons I advocate for improv classes because that’s all improv is. It’s getting out there, just making yourself uncomfortable. It’s yes and there’s no wrong answers. And so I think it’s really helpful for voice actors to have had some improv training or at least to have that improv mindset. On the other side though, there are some people who go way too big and too far and they think that acting is about being on stage and being a performer and just being huge and you have to have that relatability. So with voiceover specifically, because we’re not seeing your face, you’ve got to be able to really tap into that emotion and that relatability, and we’ve got to hear it right away in your voice.
(44:40):
So if you are performing, then that necessarily takes away that intimacy of feeling like you’re talking to a friend, that you’re hearing from a friend.
Brad Burrow (44:51):
Have you done any character work at all?
Carrie Olsen (44:54):
I’ve done some character work.
Brad Burrow (44:56):
Are you interested in that at all?
Carrie Olsen (44:57):
I am. Yeah. So I train for things when I’m interested in them and I’m actually getting some animation and character training. Are you?
Brad Burrow (45:06):
Yeah. Can you give us a little taste of what that is?
Carrie Olsen (45:10):
What characters? Well, I mean, I don’t … It just depends on what comes my way. So I’ll get auditions for video games and things like that. So yeah, I mean, a lot of it is-
Brad Burrow (45:23):
That’s a big deal. Video games are a big deal.
Carrie Olsen (45:25):
It is.
Brad Burrow (45:25):
Yeah.
Carrie Olsen (45:26):
It is. Yeah.
Brad Burrow (45:27):
Do you practice something like say we’re looking for this or … How do you prepare for something like that?
Carrie Olsen (45:34):
Specifically for auditions or for- Yeah, for a
Brad Burrow (45:36):
Character.
Carrie Olsen (45:37):
Yeah. Oh, for a character. Yeah. Yeah. It depends on how thorough I want to be, because you can get very intense with both prepping for a character. So thinking about what is this character’s backstory and what are their fears? What are their hopes? And really making it a three-dimensional character so that when you get the lines, which again may or may not be very fleshed out or connected to the larger picture, which with video games, you’re more likely to get more of the big picture. But yeah, you can do a lot of backstory and just making up things about their personality and their character so that when you read- Sounds fun. It’s fun. It’s time consuming. It takes a lot of time to do it, but it is fun and it helps. It makes the reads so much more dynamic and just sounding like real people.
Brad Burrow (46:35):
Yeah. So what’s your biggest goal? We’re about to wrap up by the way, but what would be a big, big win for you? Would it be becoming a character voice for a feature, an animated feature or something like that? I mean, you could do that.
Carrie Olsen (46:51):
Yeah. Have
Brad Burrow (46:52):
You thought about it? I mean, what would that be?
Carrie Olsen (46:55):
Yeah. I mean, I think that would be fun. Yeah. So yes, I’m getting training right now in animation, so that is a goal. Yeah. That’s a goal to book more animation work. And yeah, I mean, a feature film would be amazing.
Brad Burrow (47:10):
That’d be amazing.
Carrie Olsen (47:11):
Yeah. Yeah. That’s something I haven’t done yet.
Brad Burrow (47:13):
A voice actor for an animated feature
Carrie Olsen (47:15):
Would
Brad Burrow (47:16):
Be awesome. So did you go out and find somebody that’s like done a lot of that to get your training from?
Carrie Olsen (47:22):
Yes. And
Brad Burrow (47:23):
Again, they’re just willing to help, huh?
Carrie Olsen (47:26):
Yeah. I mean, that’s what a lot of these coaches do. They help actors and voice actors to hone their craft.
Brad Burrow (47:38):
What does the session look like when you’re working with them? Do they give you like, “Here’s a script, take a shot at it, now let’s start tweaking it. ” What does that look like?
Carrie Olsen (47:47):
Yeah, it’s different. So every coach has their own way of communicating what they want. And you have a different rapport with different coaches too. So some coaches you’ll really vibe with and others have kind of … It’s different from the way that I would approach it. I tend to be really intuitive with my work and acting. So it’s less about technical, be louder here, be softer. It’s less about that and more about knowing the character and embodying the character. And so some sessions will be, yes, you’ll get a script and the coach might just say, “Okay, read through it and then we’ll tweak.” Or we might spend a good amount of time just talking about acting principles and how to see into this person’s world
Brad Burrow (48:35):
And
Carrie Olsen (48:35):
Asking questions about the specific character and the other people in the scene.
Brad Burrow (48:40):
Yeah. So I spent a week with a director of the LA Film School and I directed lots of things, but not narrative as much. So I wanted to go out and get some training. And one of the things he said to me that was a little bit harder for me is like, when you’re directing a real actor that you’re not telling them how to do it, you’re giving them the inspiration to do it. And there’s a big difference. So like I’ve directed a lot of athletes and they have to be told how to do it, but somebody like you, it’s like, I would say, “Okay, here’s the inspiration, show me what you think. ”
Carrie Olsen (49:20):
Yeah.
Brad Burrow (49:20):
And that’s where the real special performances come from in acting world. And I think that’s probably true with you as well.
Carrie Olsen (49:28):
Yeah. For me, that’s my preference. And I think that’s important for directors to, I think, have that type of mindset, especially if you trust your actors. So if you’ve gotten the right people, and that goes back to that whole process of how do you select them, and if you trust that they have that ability to … You could just kind of give them the inspiration and then they will latch onto something. Something will come up for them and they’ll be able to perform and then give them another piece of inspiration and they latch onto that. And they’re able to, again, deliver something based on that versus line reading
Brad Burrow (50:08):
People
Carrie Olsen (50:09):
And kind of telling them exactly what to do.
Brad Burrow (50:11):
Right, right. The big difference, but having good actors makes a huge
Carrie Olsen (50:16):
Difference. Yeah. You have to have the good actors who can do it, or else you do get to that point where you have to line read, which-
Brad Burrow (50:24):
It’s not going to
Carrie Olsen (50:25):
Come
Brad Burrow (50:25):
Across well.
Carrie Olsen (50:26):
Right.
Brad Burrow (50:26):
Yeah. It’s
Carrie Olsen (50:26):
Not going
Brad Burrow (50:27):
To come across well. All right, so let’s wrap up. So how would somebody get ahold of you? Let’s say, all right, I want to get into voiceover work. How do I get ahold of you? Where do I find you? Give us all of the … And you talked about maybe giving away something. So tell us all those things.
Carrie Olsen (50:42):
Sure. So my website is carrieoulsonvo.com and I’ll spell that out. So it’s C-A-R-R-I-E.
Brad Burrow (50:50):
Could you do that inspired way?
Carrie Olsen (50:52):
Let’s see.
Brad Burrow (50:53):
Maybe very promo-like or …
Carrie Olsen (50:55):
Very promo. Go to CareOlsenvo.com. C-A-R-R-I-E-O-L-S-E-N V-O.com.
Brad Burrow (51:03):
That’s awesome. That’s good. Yeah. So they would go there.
Carrie Olsen (51:06):
Go there.
Brad Burrow (51:07):
And so there’s programs they can find on your website
Carrie Olsen (51:11):
And that kind
Brad Burrow (51:12):
Of thing.
Carrie Olsen (51:12):
Yep. I have a free guide that I give away. There’s like a mini course you can take. And also if your audience is interested, I have a gift I can give away. If they’re interested in either voiceover or just starting their own creative project, I coach you around that as well. So you can go to carrieOlsenvo.com/realmedia and I’ll have an opt-in there that they can take advantage of that. Yeah.
Brad Burrow (51:38):
Awesome. I may be trying that out myself. Okay. So the last thing, if you’ve watched any of our podcasts, this is going to be so funny, because I always have people do the movie voice, because that’s how I kind of got my little shtick was doing the inner world that … So I’m not going to tell you how to do it. I just want you to give me your take on the In a World Real Media podcast.
Carrie Olsen (52:01):
Okay. Do you mind if I do an ABC?
Brad Burrow (52:04):
No, that’d be great. Whatever you want to do. You can do several if you want.
Carrie Olsen (52:08):
Okay. So because I was thinking about this because I know you did this. And so the thing is with my voice, I’m never going to sound like you. I’m never going to do that in a world. So I’ll do kind of a version of that and then just kind of two alternatives. Awesome. That sound different. Awesome. All right.
Brad Burrow (52:25):
This is like the highlight of my day, by the way.
Carrie Olsen (52:28):
All right. In a world with real media. In a world with real media. In a world with real media.
Brad Burrow (52:39):
Awesome. Well, that’s awesome. Well, thank you so much, Carrie. This is
Carrie Olsen (52:43):
Awesome.
Brad Burrow (52:43):
I hope we can do some more stuff like this. This is really
Carrie Olsen (52:46):
Fun. Yeah, I would love that.
Brad Burrow (52:48):
I think you could help a lot of people, which is really cool. Awesome. I’m glad to. Live out their dreams. They can work from home.This is our world now, I think. So very cool. So well, thank you everybody for joining us. This has been a lot of fun. I hope you got something out of this. This is a lot of great information. Go to Carrie’s website. If you’re interested in VO work, go there, get on her program, learn how to do this and share this with all your friends because we want to get the word out about real media and what Carrie’s doing with her voice work and we’re going to be listening for her. Now I’m going to hear you everywhere probably. So thank you for joining us and we’ll see you on the next podcast. This has been in a world with Real Media.
(53:30):
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