Auditioning like CRAZY but not booking?? It might not be your performance or even the quality of your mic. It could simply be what you're doing to your auditions AFTER you've recorded them. 

5 Things You Should Never EVER do in your Auditions! - 5:58

Hey everybody, it’s Gabby. Thanks for joining me. Today, we’re gonna talk about something near and dear to my heart, and I'm going to introduce you to a friend of mine. This is Rob. Rob is a very special voodoo doll friend. And the deal with Rob is pretty simple. If you are one of the voice actors who does really stupid [beep] with your auditions, Rob and I are gonna take it out on you.

OK, now that I've taken my aggression out with my voodoo friend, here's the thing, guys. Voiceover actors, and casting directors, and talent agents, and pretty much anybody who’s in a position of receiving voiceover files will tell you that some of the ridiculous things that voice actors do in their auditions is mind-numbingly stupid. So we’re going to go over a little list of things. These are Gabby's list of things that you should never, ever, ever do when you’re submitting an audio file for a job.

Thing number one, do not leave some enormous, gigantic, blank space at the beginning of your audio file or in between your slate and the actual audition. It sounds really, really bad. “Hi, this is Gabby, auditioning for the role of awkward silence. [5-second silence] Have you ever noticed how sometimes when people speak [LAUGHTER] there are these really weird, awkward gaps?”

Thing number two, never, ever, ever put tones, or beeps, or any kind of noise or sound effect in between your takes. That is beyond amateur hour. I don't know where that trend started or came from or why for that matter. Nobody needs a booop in between your slated takes.

Item number three, do not have stupendously long slates, especially those weird ones that you’re trying to use as some kind of sales pitch. You’ve got to be kidding me. Your slate should be no more than your name, the role you’re auditioning for and the number of takes you’re providing. That’s it. A slate should take less than a few seconds. If your slate is 5, 10, 15 seconds of your audition, trust me, no one’s listening! They stopped listening the minute they realized you were being a bonehead. “Hi, this is Gabby and this is my audition. I'm so happy that you’re listening. If you like what you’re hearing, you can email me at gabby@voiceovervixen.com, or you can call me at 704-[beep]-me.” [laughs]

Number four, excess processing and excessive compression. “Hey, this is Gabby and I'm auditioning for the role of big, over-processed, super crunchy, gated compression. Doesn't this sound really, really bad? Yeah, I think so too.” Your audition file is supposed to be an accurate representation of the type of sound and studio quality that you can deliver from your home studio. If you’re over-processing and over-compressing, you are negating that natural sound that your studio is capable of providing. Also when you over-process like that, it’s kind of amateur hour. It ends up making your auditions sound more like a radio produced commercial, and nobody wants that in voiceover.

Number five, make sure that your volumes are neither too hot nor too low. Again your audition is absolutely indicative of the quality of the recording that you’re able to provide as a voiceover, and it’s also how you’re being compared against other actors who auditioned. If your volume’s too low, then your material doesn't sound rich and full and isn't going to fill that space against other voice actors who probably normalized their file. And if it’s too hot, you run the risk that it’s over-modulated or sounds kind of crunchy against everybody else's recording, and that’s no good. “Hey, this is Gabby, auditioning for the role of completely over-modulated totally crunchy audition. It probably sounds really, really bad.”

So there you have it, guys. Five things to never do inside of your auditions, especially if you want to avoid the wrath of the voiceover voodoo gods. Yeah, we don't want to piss them off. No. Not good. If you want more of my audition tricks and tips, and you want me to take a look at the auditions that you’re currently submitting, and give you an assessment of those auditions, and let you know what’s working and what’s not, I’m available to do that in private classes that you can find on my website under coaching at GabrielleNistico.com.

>> Oh my God, Gabby. Do you need a Band-Aid?

Gabby: Very much so. Yes. I stabbed myself. Yeah, I stabbed the [beep] out of myself. I think I stabbed myself more than once, actually. It’s ok. Sometimes you know, you got to just go hard or go home. Woo! Thing number three, don't stab yourself with the voodoo pin. Do not turn yourself into a human in concussion.

If you want to learn more, you can check out my latest video here or you can also take a look at this video that I did about inflection. It’ll teach you all the things you’re doing wrong and don't even know about it. Check it out.

704-674-8294 / GabrielleNistico.com / gabby@voiceovervixen.com

Gabrielle Nistico, Gabby Nistico, The Voiceover Vixen, The Business First VO Coach, #VoiceoverVixen #VoiceOnFire #BusinessFirstVOCoach Voiceover, Success, Entrepreneur, Voiceover Coaching, VO Coaching, Voiceover Coaches, Working Actors, Los Angeles, New York, Charlotte, North Carolina, auditioning tips, audition help, voiceover tips, VO vooodoo