CVAUDIO

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How produce a good radio demo and audition to become a radio personality in a larger radio market by impressing the program director with your great airchecks.

An American point of view, has some really good points - some, a little less relevant for an Australian market.

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BBC Radio CV Advice

Advice from the UK for the UK radio market - some points aren’t as relevant to the Australian market but really makes you think and assess your paper and audio applications.

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Your cover letter is your stand-in until you get an interview. Don’t let your understudy blow your chances.

Handy tips regarding your cover letter

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My blurb

I thought i’d share my thoughts as to why i’m helping people give them a chance to break into the radio industry and/or progress higher up the very competitive media ladder! My Name is Sam Phelps and i'm a professional high end audio engineer and sound designer. Throughout my career people have been asking me "Help me with my sound production!" I've assisted with their job applications, demos,  course enrolments, competitions, award nominations and other things that require audio to be heard by a third party.  This is great news for the people that know me… not so if you are competing against them… they have a distinct advantage - They have help.

Who do you turn to for help when you need someone to help you with personal audio? BOOM! CV Audio was born! 

I'm here to help you just like I help my friends.

From experience I found that creative based roles are all perceptive based… there's no right person for the job… but there are better and worse people. The problem is you might be better than your competition, but if you are having trouble proving that, how do we know? I don't think it's fair that you need to be a skilled audio engineer, with expensive equipment and the knowledge of a craft you never want to pursue professionally.

It is true, good teachers and great leaders more often than not can identify potential, but let's make it obvious for them just in case and help along the people that i will politely say… may not be so naturally gifted in spotting talent.

Have you ever seen the picture of the Leonardo Da Vinci's Mona Lisa? I haven't met anyone who hasn't. Imagine it right now… yeah you see it don't you? You know what it looks like… or do you?

Hold off google image searching just yet… keep it in your mind for now... you can probably describe the picture… a women sitting calmly with that long black hair and that oh so faint smile… yeah? can you describe anymore? is there anymore to describe? You know the picture… but can you tell me what is in the background of the picture?

I have never met one person that can answer me that question without having to look again at the picture. this includes art students and art teachers.

So the most famous painting in the world, the most viewed… we can even see it in our heads, yet have not even noticed ANYTHING in the background. Why? Because our attention is focused on the foreground, the Mona Lisa herself, but i dare you to found someone that would say that it doesn't need a background. If there was no background, say just white canvas i'm pretty sure it would be very obvious and noticeable for all the wrong reasons.

"Just because you don't notice something, doesn't mean it's not important"

There is a big lie that sound somehow doesn't matter, or the quality doesn't matter, or the packaging, delivery and arrangement doesn't matter… "what does it matter???… if you are good, you are good, right?" Wrong! No such thing as right or wrong in this context… it's the perception that makes something good or not. Otherwise we would like and dislike the exact same things in life.

That's where I and the team come in… let's line up your reality and others perception to ensure the best possible chance at getting that dream job, and getting it today.

You work will just sound … better…  people may not know why, or even realise, but it just sounds better.

I asked my dad early on in my career "what does sound quality matter if no one can hear the difference?" he said "well son, they may not hear the difference, but they can feel the difference."

We are all looking for a secret weapon…here's it is if you want it.

www.cvaudio.com.au

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Q It Up: This question is for all of you who either make a living doing voiceover, or who supplement your income doing free-lance voiceover. What do you do to keep your voice-over business thriving, whether you’re making six figures doing voiceovers, or one of the many who supplement other...

VOICE OVERS ARTICLE!

My mate Jeff Berlin talks about voice overs - he’s a big deal in the US! Some info might be more towards a US market but a lot of the basic principals still apply 

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Visit Original Link

My name is Sam, and i’m an audio engineer. Have been for a decade now, and you learn a thing or two along the way. This was my response to my friend Tian who showed me a commercial he made. I hope aspiring audio producers can take something away from this.

I really like this ad - really well done. Something i learnt from making CASH FM, there's a constant struggle between - real - audible and believable - something might be a sound effect from me closing a window - so it's real - but it may not be believable (I don't imagine a window closing when i hear it) Believable is more important than real - hollywood's rule is if you can see it, you can hear it - every door in hollywood squeaks, ever sword drawn has a metallic sound even if it's from a leather pouch, ever punch has an epic sound even though a real punch makes little noise, but none of that is important if it takes away from the 'foreground' or whatever it is your trying to notice - have you ever noticed how in TV shows, when the TV is on in the scene you only hear the part you as the audience is supposed to hear, then it goes quiet - because the dialog following from the characters is much more important the the 'reality' that the TV wouldn't just go loud for that small part and go quiet again.In your ad.

Your shower sfx are beautiful - perfect - it's real AND believable but unfortunately, it takes away from the clarity of what's being said - i couldn't understand it on my mobile phone, and with great studio headphones i could hear it, but i had to concentrate .... the good part is, there's no right or wrong here, the commercial still makes it's point, but it's something to think about for future commercials.

To recap - the order of importance is 

Audible/Understandable

Believable

Real

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Make your audio demo count!

Here is an excerpt from an article written by Dave Foxx. For those who don’t know who he is, he’s a world class voice over artists and client services director at the number 1 station in the number 1 city in America... I’ve personally had exchanges with him, and not only does he know what he’s talking about, he really cares, no matter how beginner or advanced you are. The context of this is regarding voice overs and production demos but the advice is transferable to other fields of radio. “In a letter I got from a budding voice artist, comes the question:What should I put on my demo reel? How long should it be? What’s the best strategy for building it?Considering that many producers have asked me the same question about their demo reels, I’ll answer that here because it’s all the same.Like we should do with everything we produce (or voice), think about the end use. Who is the audience? Under what circumstances are they going to use it? How busy are they? What do they need to know about your work? What will the final reel say about you as a person and your work habits? Get all that figured out and the reel almost builds itself.Most Program Directors (your audience) are going to hear your work as part of a series of reels by several other producers or voices. They will be listening almost under duress as many won’t even want to listen but feel compelled. If your demo is longer than 90 seconds, you are wasting your time. Most programmers will not sit still for it unless you are presenting one amazing piece after another. Let’s face it, the best of us would be hard pressed to come up with that much material that is so outstanding that it’ll keep your potential employer glued to his or her seat for the full 90 seconds. Most of the time, you’ll be lucky to get 15-30 seconds of their undivided attention, so you’d better front load your reel with your most devastating work. Knock it out of the park immediately or you won’t get a second listen. Whatever you do, do NOT include complete pieces. Your 90 seconds should include pieces of 6 or more tracks. The longest any one piece should run is 20 seconds, and it better be amazing. If you want to post your full length work somewhere and refer to the URL in your Bio, that should suffice.One final bit of DEMO advice, do something different with the way it’s presented. Don’t put it on a reel for Pete’s sake. Make it a CD, or even better, put it on a thumb drive. I know you hope they’ll hang on to your CD for future reference, but I can almost guarantee it’ll end up as a coaster on their desk. If you use a thumb drive, get it printed with your name and maybe a tiny logo, but make the drive itself erasable. That way, if they opt to erase your demo (horrors!) and use the drive for other stuff, they’ll still see your name and logo every time they get it out.”

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a great post on onnair.com.au - really simple but powerful tips to improve your announcing game

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Radio is an interesting journey - there are very few people that woke up one day and thought 'I'd like to work in radio' and then *insert flanging chimes

We all have a story, we’ve all been on a journey, we’re all still on that journey. Some of us, our story ties in closely with the broadcasting industry in Australia, some hope it to be. Here’s something to think about.

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An article I typed up for Onnair.com - Australia’s newest radio industry networking site.

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I hear of this in radio all the time. A young person starts out and could reach out to their role model in radio, it’s really easy now, if you know their name you can, yet so many don’t. This vid might explain why. This video might empower you to do what you want to do, You are allowed to ask and bang down doors, make contact, it’s up to the other person to decide whether they will let you in or not, and you might be surprised by the outcome.

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How we get interviews for a job is changing, here are tips for the modern day (audio resumes not included, this is general advice for general applications, not specific for radio)

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Although this is American, it makes some excellent points for the modern age, our paper resumes in radio need to be just as good as our audio resumes. Why? Most big radio networks filter candidates through HR and they come from a traditional business approach, so make their job easier for your sake.

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Brilliant advice for aspiring voice over artists, or broadcasters in general

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Career envy

“Comparison is the thief of joy”

There’s a lot of people that look up to ‘the stars’ in radio and there’s plenty of people that work in that dream job. But the dream jobs often aren’t what we imagine - I was offered a job to be Kyle and Jackie O’s audio producer, but after reviewing the position and situation, i turned it down - On the surface it seemed like a dream job but it really wasn’t, the only reason i would be taking it is because of the ‘name’ every other aspect was terrible, so i made the hard choice and declined the position.

Do you look at others lives as your guide to where you should be...  Most people's lives are a lie...  Not to them necessarily but your perception of them.  Do you someone with a big house and a nice car and think they are successful....  Maybe they have uncontrollable debt,  or all of their children have disowned them,  or maybe they suffer from a serious condition.  There is so much we don't see,  we can't read minds,  we can't feel what they feel,  we don't know the costs of their life choices...  Don't envy someone if you're not prepared to make the sacrifices they made for their result...  Be you and who you are,  be kind to yourself, work on yourself and be proud at what you achieve.  Celebrate your successes, learn from your mistakes. Don't forget your past enjoy your present and focus on your future!

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It’s pretty exciting, CVAudio is starting to get moving! Good things are happening!

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Its nice to think about possibilities, but it's so fulfilling to live your dreamed realities