A few days ago I sat in the production studio at my radio station to listen to some radio imaging jobs and jingles they have produced.
I watched their excitement as they played them one after the other, eargerly looking at my face for signs of approval. I smiled.
Indeed, they have done well. Scripting was brilliant, sound production was great. It could have been a hundred percent fantastic job but for the voice acting. It wasn't "quite there".
So i told them.
While I was trying to explain what I meant, I realized I needed practical examples. If I was going to get through to them, they needed to hear what great voice acting sounds like; the cadence, the emotion, the pitch and tone and all the subtle vocal effects that makes great voice acting.
I told them about voiceover gods like Femi Obong Daniel, Daddy Freeze, Mazino, Chioma Okpala...etc but it wasn't enough. Most of them have never even heard of these amazing voices before and the most heartbreaking part of it all, they haven't heard their work!
No worries I thought to myself. I was going to scour the internet for samples of their jobs and show them. And so I set forth to do just that. And I was heartbroken again.
Nothing. Nada. Zilch.
Nothing on their profiles linking to samples of work done. I was sad.
Sad because everyone who is anyone in this industry KNOWS these are the names you go to for professional and outstanding voice acting and they are also veteran broadcasters.
I started to think about the rest of us. The entire audio broadcast industry. While we move from one media organisation to the next and from one stage of career growth to the next, how much of our work do we document and preserve for the next generation to learn from?
This isn't about building a personal brand now (some of us have managed to do that). This is about leaving something behind for posterity.
Yes. A lot of us are still active and are not done yet; the more reason why our work should be out there.
Actors have their show reels, photographers and digital Artists have their portfolio, writers have their muckrack. Why should broadcasters not have their show reels/work samples available online?
Work samples should not only be put together hurriedly when pitching for a job. It should be a consistent part of your digital profile.
SoundCloud, YouTube, Audiomack or Spotify; whatever platform you choose, please get your work out there. Let it be part of your digital footprint.
Register your own domain, get a one pager profile website or if you're so inclined, a full website complete with a blog and full social integration.
Share your greatness with the world. Open yourself to bigger and better international opportunities.
Do it for posterity.
(Need help in getting started? Contact me!)
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