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Edge Studio - Are they reliable?

T

TheJudge

Guest
Does anyone know anything about Edge Studio in NYC?

I recently decided to try to get back into the VO business after many years of doing computer programming.

Edge Studio in NYC has a half-day "evaluation" workshop in which they claim they will
. find your vocal strengths
. determine if you have talent
. determine your most marketable niches

Well, I decided to try the workshop. I was in the class with four other people at the Edge Studios and I was fairly happy with the results. We each got some microphone time, reading a few scripts. After the workshop, each of the participants got a 10 minute private meeting with the instructor to get an evaluation of our potential.

In my evaluation, the instructor told me I had "a fantastic voice." To be truthful and with as much modesty and humbleness as I can muster, the playback of my studio takes did sound pretty darn good. I was very surprised at how smooth I came across. But "fantastic.....?" I don't know.

So my question is.... does anyone know if Edge Studio is a reliable outfit? Are they telling me I'm "fantastic" just to get some more money out of me to take their VO courses? Or should I go with their recommendation and shell out $800 bucks for lessons and production of a demo?

Has anyone else had any experience with Edge Studios?

Thanks in advance for your replies.
 
Hi. As a voice talent with 36 years in this industry I can clue you in on a few suggestions that might point you in a more orderly direction.

First if I wanted to sell you a suit, I would tell you that you look "fantastic" so you would want to buy the suit. (exchange the words "look" and "suit" for the words "sound" and "announcer course" and you may get the drift. But that is not a bad thing by itself.

Of course Edge Studio wants to sell you the course. When they say you sound fantastic the will tell you that they can help you polish your natural talent, and provide you with a finished demo and a current copy of the Yellow Pages for only 800 dollars!

If they told you that you sounded terrible..they would follow that up with.."but we can fix that for just 800.00 when you sign up for our course" They may very well be able to guide you towards a viable path, but don't expect a few weeks of "mic time" to cause a mad dash to your door..not just yet anyway.

The sad truth is that there are relatively few places anyone can go to learn something about this "craft" at all. Radio stations are becoming a hard nut to crack, and most of what you learn is how to stare at a computer running Prophit, and make coffee for yourself because there's nobody else working there but you.

A fantastic voice is great..but if you listen to many of the harder working talents out here you'll find a buffet of voices that are not only basso-profundo, but airy, streetlike, conversational, and comical. They all make great livings, and enjoy success.

So..if you really want to give this a shot. Take a couple of humble suggestions and pointers on what to really work on during your journey.

1. Learn to read! No I mean it...learn to READ to SELL...out loud..and often. Like a muscle your "chops" need to be flexed and reading anything, newspaper ads, magazine articles, milk cartons..anything will help to make you better at verbalizing someone else's words.

2. Take Direction Gracefully! You will eventually get a client who will test your patience and sainthood. These people write much of thier own copy and they have a "sound" in thier heads as to what they want. Allow them to mold your delivery to thier liking..to a point. Always remain grateful for the work, and professional in your dealings with people..everytime.

3. Price yourself and your services fairly! When dealing directly with potential clients (especially when starting out) resist the urge to put a firm price on a project. GET THE GIG! A working voice talent always gets more work because of it.

4. Check the ego. We are all proud of what we do, and most of the well liked voice people around are well liked because they don't need to impress anyone. This is a job, and we make a living doing it, and lot's of us make friends along the way. These casual contacts will serve you well via new business when you rarely expect it.

5. Make your demo brief, and compelling to listen to. No need to include the full versions of any sample commercials, or narrations. Highlight your strongest type of reads first, and vary the delivery style as you feel comfortable. Don't let it run longer than 5 or 6 min. Make the CD look as profesional as you can afford. Computer generate a good looking label. DO NOT write your name and cell number on a Maxell CD with a Sharpie and expect a positive response. Better yet is if the studio is going to do it. If they are reputable they will provide you with 100 or so CD's that are packaged to look good. No cassettes, no reel to reels (what's that?) BTW this costs something and should be a portion of that 800 clams.

6. Target ad agencies, and talent casting companies who hire the talent. Don't waste time sending your CDs out to every "aadvertising agency" in the Yellow Pages. Folow up any sent CD's with a phone call to the person you sent the disc to, and ask if there are any projects coming up that you could do a sample read for. Sample reads are one of the best "closers" you can have, and the time spent will only improve your abilities with regard to Step 1 above...

7. Learn something about the technical aspects of building your own small studio. There are lot's of great people on this very board who will be glad to help.

8. Don't quit a solid job that pays your bills until what you are making from being a voice talent outweighs what you are making from your job. Even better to have a few bucks saved up during your "learning process".

Finally, and sincerely..GOOD LUCK to you! This is an awesome way to make a career for yourself.

As for your orginal question regarding Edge Studio - Are They reliable?

I dunno.
 
Good advice! If I may, I'd like to add to a couple of these...

3. Price yourself and your services fairly! When dealing
> directly with potential clients (especially when starting
> out) resist the urge to put a firm price on a project. GET
> THE GIG! A working voice talent always gets more work
> because of it.

Don't under-price your services either. Think about this: If you go to a car dealership and find a car that should cost $10,000, but they'll sell it to you for $8,000, you think you're getting a deal. But if you see that same car at another dealership for $2,500, you're going to think there's something wrong with it. Work with clients to come up with a fair price...Fair for the client and also fair to YOU! You will charge less ONLY because you're not as experienced as other clients...NOT because they have more talent.



1. Learn to read! No I mean it...learn to READ to SELL...out loud..and often.
> Like a muscle your "chops" need to be flexed and reading anything, newspaper
> ads, magazine articles, milk cartons..anything will halp to make you better
> at verbalizing someone else's words.


Don't just practice reading. Also practice LISTENING! Listen to big talents. Listen to the way they inflect, the way they breathe, etc. Practice trying to sound like other big name voice guys. I'm not saying you should steal someone else's reads, but being able to immitate all kinds of different reads will vastly improve your flexibility. Doing this will also help you learn what your own voice can do, which is one of the hardest and most important things about doing voiceover work.

Voiceover cannot be taught. But it can be learned. Instructors can tell you things that have the potential to improve your abilities...What you do with that potential is up to you. No schooling, training or any other method of teaching can make you "good"...But it can help you make yourself better!
 
Thanks!

Thanks for your candor and the great information!
 
Re: Thanks!

Listen to Brother Emmett..he speakith the truth...That's so true about pricing. It's a big ball game, but there's no debate about the fact that IF we have work running on-air out there, someone will hear it and perhaps offer us more work. But look, I can work for NBC for free, and I wouldn't because then that's my new rate..free. It's a matter of balance as a new talent, and a matter of knowing when someone is trying to bone you. But I can say that in all these years one twice has that happened..and that was because I did a favor for someone and got "took" It was a fair price for the lesson.

Emmett also hit on something that makes HUGE sense.."want what they got, but get it your way" someone said once. Keep an open ear to the ones that are in the business, and making it work for them.
 
Re: Thanks!

This post makes me think of two more important tips...

1. Don't be afraid to do favors for those who can help you in the long run. Always take really good care of your first few clients. They will be small, but if you treat them like gold, they'll always be a reference for you.

2. Pro's will help you. Don't be afraid of them. Jeff has some pretty high profile clients...But he still happily takes time out of his day to come to this board to post information that is helpful to beginners and pros alike. I have found that many of the people I look up to, are thrilled to help me out. Even people I have never worked with, have been willing to help me out...Just because I asked for their help. There have been people I've e-mailed where I've expected a response of "Go f--- yourself, I'm busy!" and instead I've gotten, "Sure! I wanna help you any way I can. Let me know what I can do!" If you have a favorite voice talent that you want to talk to, contact them!!!


> Listen to Brother Emmett..he speakith the truth...That's so
> true about pricing. It's a big ball game, but there's no
> debate about the fact that IF we have work running on-air
> out there, someone will hear it and perhaps offer us more
> work. But look, I can work for NBC for free, and I wouldn't
> because then that's my new rate..free. It's a matter of
> balance as a new talent, and a matter of knowing when
> someone is trying to bone you. But I can say that in all
> these years one twice has that happened..and that was
> because I did a favor for someone and got "took" It was a
> fair price for the lesson.
>
> Emmett also hit on something that makes HUGE sense.."want
> what they got, but get it your way" someone said once. Keep
> an open ear to the ones that are in the business, and making
> it work for them.
>
 
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