Just Be Yourself…On Purpose

hey there it’s David H Lawrence the 17th
and I’m just getting ready to go teach
getting started in voiceover at a local
theater here in Los Angeles and earlier
this week I had done a live Facebook
live session with my buddy Dan O’Day and
we were talking about taking questions
from people we were talking about the
common question that we get that we’ve
talked about in other videos here about
the difference between a sort of an
announcer reread and a more
conversational or natural read and what
do people mean by that when they say
that what do casting directors mean what
do directors mean when they put in the
breakdown natural read no no DJ voices
no announcer e voices and it seems
pretty obvious but for some people it’s
it’s kind of a quandary well this is how
I sound and one of the things that Dan
mentioned I thought was a brilliant way
to put it
he said when people ask questions like
that
I often say you want to be yourself but
you want to be yourself on purpose and I
loved that I loved that notion of be
yourself on purpose because when you get
rewarded for being a certain way on the
air or when you get rewarded for having
a certain type of delivery that is
bombastic or announcer like or big or
presentational or any of the other
adjectives that are the opposite of
natural and conversational and and that
kind of thing it means that you really
have to specify for yourself before you
sit down to do the work in front of a
microphone that you’re just going to be
yourself and you’re going to do it on
purpose and as we said in the session in
the Facebook live it’s hard sometimes it
really is hard to grasp the idea and
accept the idea and lean in and value
the idea
you are enough that you being yourself
on purpose is exactly what they want
because you think yourself no no I had
to train to become a radio air
personality
I had to acquire this presentational
style that’s what makes me money and
that’s the big difference between
broadcast and voice-over is that
presentation needs to be stripped away
sometimes when the copy calls for you
just being a normal human being you know
I remember when I first started in radio
I wanted to be Rick Dees I wanted to be
John Lanigan I wanted to be the real Bob
James who were DJs that I grew up with
in Cleveland and I was fortunate enough
to become really good friends best
friends with Bob James and he actually
mentored me in radio but he doesn’t talk
that way when he does voice-over work he
talks that way when he’s on the air but
he doesn’t do that when he’s in voice
and that’s why he’s been successful and
I think the people that are successful
that are in radio now that want to
translate that success in – voiceover
really need to understand that concept
that Dan came up with which is be
yourself on purpose call attention to it
notice it and really truly fight against
the urge to put on the announcer voice
you know it’s gonna be your new
moneymaker and I’m really excited about
that for you if you’ve got comments on
this I know that a lot of you that watch
these videos are in broadcast and want
to do voiceover certainly I’d love to
have you as one of my students or
clients in VO heroes but I’d love to
know what you think about what I said
today so in the comments below let me
know if this resonates with you let me
know if this means something to you and
let me know if it’s difficult for you to
shed that and be yourself on purpose if
you’d like to join my list and get
notified when these videos come out I’d
love to have you there’s a little box
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I’d be happy to let you know when these
videos come out I’m David H Lawrence the
17th I thank you so much for watching
got to go teach now and I’ll talk to you
tomorrow.