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The VO Bar Podcast: A Year in the Making
57 Plays1 year ago
In this inaugural episode of the VO Bar podcast, hosts Will Vincent, Victoria Prather, and Al Moulliet introduce themselves and share their unique journeys into the voice-over industry. The episode is a blend of personal stories, industry insights, and light-hearted banter.
Chapters
(00:00) Episode Teaser
(00:18) Introduction
(01:18) Will's Journey in Voiceover
(04:44) Victoria's Background and Language Skills
(07:45) Al's Musician Background and Entry into Voiceover
(09:58) Closing Remarks
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Transcript
Introduction to the VO Bar Podcast
00:00:00
Speaker
in three years when we start our next podcast. Probably be a lot more interesting than this one. I like talking about myself. I'm interested. I can't wait to see what happens next.
00:00:18
Speaker
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the VO Bar Podcast, a podcast that has been a year almost to the day in the making, a year and a month, maybe, by the time you hear it. Wow. I can't believe we're actually here. It's about darn time. Right? And so any good podcast, all we needed was Al. And so like any good podcast today, we're gonna start out by talking about us.
00:00:47
Speaker
So who are we?
Meet the Hosts: Will and Victoria
00:00:49
Speaker
My name is Will Vincent. You are? I'm Victoria Prather. And our missing link? Yes, missing link, Al Millett. Al was the catalyst to finally get this ball moving. And here we are. They couldn't find anyone. Well, the truth is we didn't look. That's true. That's true. So who wants to go first? How did we get started in voiceover? Who are we? Why are we doing this?
00:01:18
Speaker
All that fun stuff. You gonna make me go first? Pretty much. Yeah, I will. All right, I'll go first. I went to school for radio and TV back in 97. You know, because somebody said, you've got a good voice, you should be on the radio. On the radio, not a voice actor, mind you. Had I actually pursued voice acting back then,
00:01:46
Speaker
people might actually know who the hell I am by now. I don't know. So I went to school for radio. I was working as a mobile DJ and a nightclub DJ in some of the biggest nightclubs in Minneapolis at the time. Went into the military for a while, screwed up my back, got out early, went back to all the same stuff I was doing before. And finally, I
00:02:14
Speaker
met up with a guy who was actually on the air and said, you know, if you want to be in radio, I'll help you get going again. I'll help you do a new tape. I said, OK, that sounds good. And so I went into the studio and put together a tape and sent it out. Got myself a gig, overnights in Wausau, Wisconsin, baby. Yeah. Oof. Across the border. Yes. So I did that for about a year.
00:02:43
Speaker
And radio doesn't pay very well, and it was overnights, so that sucked. And came back home and went back to all the stuff I was doing before. And then finally decided, OK, it's time to grow up and get a real job. And so I went and started doing software development, and I've done that for the past 20 years. And about three, four years ago decided, you know what? It's time I do something with what I went to school for.
00:03:12
Speaker
So, voiceover, which has nothing to do with radio, really. You mean something other than accumulate student debt? Well, I didn't really accumulate much debt because it was a certificate program. It was only nine months. Oh. So bragger. Chaching. Chaching. There was that time in community college for computer science that was wasted.
00:03:38
Speaker
I thought he was gonna say band camp. No, I never went to band camp. That time at band camp. No. So here I am. I have trained with several people, some of the best of the best. Got lots of demos. I'm doing the thing. I book occasionally, not as much as I want, but we're working on it.
00:04:05
Speaker
And that's why we're
Will's Journey to Voiceover
00:04:06
Speaker
here. Insert applause. Are we here to be booked more? Is that... We're here to help them. We're here to help me? Sweet! What? There are things to learn, buddy. Teach me all of the tricks. All of the booking tricks. You're booking all the time, right? All the time. No, that's Victoria. Victoria books all the time. This is so much crap already. Wow. Thanks. Yeah. Victoria, that's what I hear.
00:04:34
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, yeah. That is the word on the street. Oh, by the way, I am drinking today's drink of the day, because this is a bar after all, which is hot chocolate with frangelico, because it's winter. You need a nice, toasty, warm drink in a tiny booth that started out already a little warm. It may have been a bad choice. Time shall tell. There you go.
00:05:02
Speaker
Well, I also started in radio, kind of sort of. My first job right out of high school was working in radio. Nice little light 101 FM. And I did the weather, and I thought that was great. And then I spent a lot of time doing stuff. What did he just do? I missed it. What did you do? He wants you to keep going. Oh.
00:05:28
Speaker
That actually was it. So I didn't do live radio there. That wasn't that time. But this was when things were still reel to reel. It was like back in the day. Making yourself sound old. I thought you were only 21. Yeah. Well, according to the birthday candles, that's what my cake said. It said 21. I'm still laughing about that. My family knows me well.
00:05:57
Speaker
But yeah, and then I just did a lot of volunteering at different radio stations. I was overseas working for AFN.
00:06:09
Speaker
doing live radio there, did a morning drive program that was so much fun, way too much fun, and I was doing traffic there, which was fun because I could translate from the, I lived in Germany. I'm not doing this very well, talking about my life. That's okay, I didn't do very well either, so. Sucks. I went to school and studied art, culture, psychology, and communications, and have a master's degree in education.
00:06:38
Speaker
How's that communication degree working? Yeah, so good. I actually do use it pretty much every day, except when I'm talking and haven't prepared a speech. Except when I'm podcasting. You know what? I figured it out. So in three years when we start our next podcast, we'll write each other's bios. There you go. And read them. Maybe 59 and a half seconds, though.
00:07:04
Speaker
Yeah, because a minute's too much. 30 seconds isn't enough. Exactly. You speak multiple languages, right? Kind of, sort of. I speak fluent German. Is that like Spanish? It's almost Spanish, almost English. Just enough to get you arrested. What is in your drink, Al?
00:07:28
Speaker
Oh, since it's my turn, I am doing a Great Lakes Brewing Christmas Ale. Spices and honey and ale. It's those spices. It's the spices. Oh man, your backgrounds are amazing compared to mine. That's just black. Blue. Blue. Blue. Okay. Now we have colors.
Victoria's Radio Experience
00:08:00
Speaker
I've been doing, well, as you can see by the guitar in the background, I'm a former musician.
00:08:09
Speaker
from New Orleans, played a lot of heavy metal, a lot of rock and roll, moved to Minneapolis, played a lot of rock and roll. Yes? I have a question. Former musician, hard metal, or heavy metal in New Orleans? I'm sorry, I don't... It's all cover bands. Yeah. It's not all jazz. It's not as romantic as you think. It's a dump. Okay.
00:08:37
Speaker
But you got the guitar, so you're not a former. You could still play. I still have a couple of guitars hanging around the house. He's a reformed. A reformed musician. Yes. Reformed. Yes. Reformed musician and recovering Catholic. I actually got into voiceover by accident. I was listening to the radio, XM, and Rock DJ.
00:09:05
Speaker
if I can mention his name, Eddie Trunk. He said before, when he got out of college, he did voiceover work before he got into radio and you can make some good money that way. That's all I needed to hear. Celestial head equipment, bought an interface, put a mic together. Did the number one cardinal sin. I put together my own demo. Cranked up and said,
00:09:35
Speaker
January 1st, 2017, so about six years ago. And 15 days later, I booked my first job. And it's been nonstop ever since. All the time. That same job.
00:09:52
Speaker
No, that's not true. It's just a one job. Yes, I did a long script. That's called employment. Yes. So that's the way it's been. I'm lucky enough to learn a few things from you guys, coaching and stuff. And here we are having a podcast.
00:10:15
Speaker
Here we are having a podcast. And future episodes will probably be a lot more interesting than this one. I don't know. I like talking about myself. I'm interested. I can't wait to see what happens next. OK, I do have a quick question now. So you started off with an XLR mic? Al? Oh, yeah. And Will, you as well?
Al's Transition from Music to Voiceover
Microphones and Recording Spaces Discussion
00:10:41
Speaker
Well, I had some.
00:10:44
Speaker
I bought one specifically for VO but I already had some others because I did film before and I've done a lot of, you know, crew film work. Okay. Not as much in front of the camera. Gotcha. So I had some but I bought a large diaphragm condenser when I started.
00:11:04
Speaker
And it sounded awesome when I was in my little blanket fort. Once I moved in here, it picked up too much of the room in my whisper room. I've still, I've added so much padding. Whisper. Whisper. I've added so much padding to try and deaden it that, you know, it's still, unfortunately, a box. And it sounds like a box. Yeah, this is actually, I finally upgraded to the 416, which,
00:11:34
Speaker
Sounds pretty good. I love the sound of the 4.16. I love my 4.16. Yeah. I had a USB mic to start. Nobody judged me then. It wasn't until 2020 the judging started. Man, it hit hard when it started. Dang. It was like, okay. So, and I did, I mean, I'm sure we can cover this in a podcast, but I did not choose the right mic. I mean, it was 2020. You weren't going into, you know, test out.
00:12:04
Speaker
Sure, SM7B. Okay, well, I mean, you know. Yeah, it's a great podcasting mic. What was your USB mic? An A Audio Technica 2020 USB plus. Okay, okay. And actually a little bit surprised that it wasn't the blue
00:12:29
Speaker
No, it was out of Blue Yeti. The Yeti? No. Yeah. No, no, no. The Blue Yeti. Nope. But, you know, that mic is... I think my name is better. The Blue Whatever The Hell. Blue Whatever The Hell. Yeah. Did not have that one. No. I mean, it's a great mic, you know, for what it is. It wasn't really made for anything specific. Well, you know, and the thing is, like, yes, USB mics are not as good as XLR.
00:12:57
Speaker
But if your space is good, and we'll definitely get into this in a future podcast, if your space is good, a mediocre USB mic can sound every bit as good, if not better, than a fantastic super high-end XLR mic in a mediocre room. Right. And the Yeti actually came out in an XLR also.
00:13:21
Speaker
version. I did not notice. So does that eight 2020 that's available. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. So listen, guys, you hear what we're saying. There's going to be more. It's going to be better. Stick with it. Stick with it. At least be different. It may or not be better, but it'll be different. Fair. It's totally fair. So I guess, uh, happy new year and we'll see you next week.