"Read it more magenta"?
"Give me rage, but lean toward anger"?
"Sound like a potato"? In this week’s episode of The Pro Audio Suite, Robbo, AP, George, and Robert dive into the hilariously bizarre world of VO direction that makes absolutely no sense… and yet somehow still happens every day. Pulled straight from Robbo’s viral LinkedIn thread, this episode is packed with laugh-out-loud moments, real-life war stories, and a bit of therapy for anyone who's ever heard:
“That was perfect. Let’s do one more.” 😵💫 PLUS: Why weird direction is your real job to decode as an engineer or producer, and how to turn “less voice, less you” into a usable note. 🎙️ Edited by Andrew Peters
🎧 Mixed by Robbo 👉 Grab the free "Direction Dictionary" we talked about here: voodoosound.com.au/vo-dictionary 🎙️ Sponsored by:
- Tribooth — The portable vocal booth that's more than just a tent. https://www.tribooth.com
- Austrian Audio — Makers of the OC818 and OC18 microphones we use on this very show. https://austrian.audio
A big shout-out to our sponsors, Austrian Audio and Tri Booth. Both these companies are providers of QUALITY Audio Gear (we wouldn't partner with them unless they were), so please, if you're in the market for some new kit, do us a solid and check out their products, and be sure to tell em "Robbo, George, Robert, and AP sent you"... As a part of their generous support of our show, Tri Booth is offering $200 off a brand-new booth when you use the code TRIPAP200. So get onto their website now and secure your new booth... https://tribooth.com/ And if you're in the market for a new Mic or killer pair of headphones, check out Austrian Audio. They've got a great range of top-shelf gear.. https://austrian.audio/ We have launched a Patreon page in the hopes of being able to pay someone to help us get the show to more people and in turn help them with the same info we're sharing with you. If you aren't familiar with Patreon, it’s an easy way for those interested in our show to get exclusive content and updates before anyone else, along with a whole bunch of other "perks" just by contributing as little as $1 per month. Find out more here.. https://www.patreon.com/proaudiosuite George has created a page that is strictly for Pro Audio Suite listeners, so check it out for the latest discounts and offers for TPAS listeners. https://georgethe.tech/tpas If you haven't filled out our survey on what you'd like to hear on the show, you can do it here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/ZWT5BTD Join our Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/proaudiopodcast And the FB Group here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/357898255543203 For everything else (including joining our mailing list for exclusive previews and other goodies), check out our website https://www.theproaudiosuite.com/ “When the going gets weird, the weird turn professional.” Hunter S Thompson
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(Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai. Go Unlimited to remove this message.) Y'all ready to be history?
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Get started.
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Welcome.
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Hi.
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Hi.
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Hi.
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Hello everyone.
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To the Pro Audio Suite.
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These guys are professional.
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They're motivated.
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With Tech the VO Stars.
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George Witten.
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Founder of Source Elements.
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Robert Marshall.
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International Audio Engineer.
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Darren Robbo-Robertson.
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And Global Voice.
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Andrew Peters.
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Thanks to Triboo.
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Austrian Audio.
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Making passion heard.
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Source Elements.
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George the Tech Witten.
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And Robbo and AP's international demos.
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To find out more about us, check theproaudiosuite
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.com.
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And welcome to another Pro Audio Suite.
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Thanks to Triboo.
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Don't forget the code.
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T-R-I-P-A-P-200.
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To get $200 off your Triboo.
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And Austrian Audio.
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Making passion heard.
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Now what are the weirdest things you've heard
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during a session?
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Well that was the question that Robbo put
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up on LinkedIn.
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And the response has been quite astounding to
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say the least.
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Even the weirdest things spoken or the weirdest
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things just heard?
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Well the weirdest direction.
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Direction.
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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It was the weirdest direction.
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Right?
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So I mean stuff like this a mate
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of mine, David Kirsten, came back with and
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he said, direction I was once given by
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a global pharmaceutical brand.
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Can you pronounce the possessive apostrophe?
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What?
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What the?
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What?
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Exactly.
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Can you pronounce the possessive apostrophe?
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And how would you reply to that?
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Because even I've read that now about half
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a dozen times.
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I still have no idea.
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Howard's microphone.
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No.
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We need that.
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We need that possessive.
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Howard's.
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Howard's.
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What is that?
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I don't know.
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You can't pronounce that.
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It's crazy.
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Right?
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It's just ridiculous.
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There's another one here.
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I once had a senior agency creative ask
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me to direct the voice talent.
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Can they give it a little more magenta?
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Yes.
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I saw that.
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I thought that's a joke when they're like,
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read it more purple.
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That's like the joke, but I guess.
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Yeah.
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But he's obviously heard it.
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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That color?
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Magenta.
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Or you always get the brown.
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I know.
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Crazy.
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Right?
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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Another one is, uh, here we go.
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Being an actor for many years, I've been
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directed usually in an audition by a director
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or casting person saying something like, can you
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give me more anger?
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Actually give me more rage.
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I want more rage, but lean and, uh,
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lead toward anger.
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So the emotion sits in the middle of
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anger and rage, but leave it more toward
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rage, uh, but not too much.
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I, I, I, I think I've heard crazy
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stuff like that.
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Oh my gosh.
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I like the, the read it, read it,
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read it faster without sounding faster.
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Oh yeah.
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That's a classic.
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That's the one I started with.
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Cause that's the one everyone's heard.
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Right.
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You know, you hear that so often.
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It's like, yeah, can we, can we do
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it a bit faster, but, um, yeah, just
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make it sound slower.
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Would that be okay?
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Yeah.
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But the one that always gets me right.
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And, and, and someone actually did mention this,
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but the one that I always laugh at
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is like, that's perfect.
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Can we just do one more?
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Yeah, that's right.
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That's the one that always has me going.
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One more for safety?
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What was wrong with that?
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Why?
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Yeah.
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True.
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I remember, I remember talking to, uh, Richard
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Lush, who was the, one of the Beatles
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engineers and he was doing some music for
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the 2000 Olympics in Sydney.
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And it was cause he's, he's a man
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of tape, but it was being worked on
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in Pro Tools.
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And um, anyway, they did a take and
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then a couple of takes.
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And then, um, the engineer said, do you,
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do you want me to keep those?
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And he said, well, I just asked you
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to do another take.
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So obviously, no, I don't want you to
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keep those.
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So why are you keeping them?
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If we're going to do another one, we're
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doing another one because those ones are not
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good enough.
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So yeah.
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It's ridiculous, right?
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Oh, here's another one.
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This is a good, this is, tell me
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what this one is.
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This one was actually for a funeral directors
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and the direction was read it like you're
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dead inside.
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Was this written by a 17 year old?
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Inside what?
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Exactly.
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What the hell does that mean?
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It's like, I don't know where people, and
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someone actually said, and this is true, right?
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Someone actually said directing voice is a bit
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like describing a red wine tasting.
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And it's kind of true, right?
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It's sort of like, you know, I get
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hints of cinnamon and tea and you know,
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blah, blah, blah.
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It's, it's, it's not just voice.
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It's audio.
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Audio has that weird thing, like all the
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words, like unless you're in the audio industry.
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But here's the thing, right?
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Robert, here's the thing that, that I'm interested
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to know from you because we're the ones,
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we're the conduit, right?
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We're the ones between the client and the
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creatives at the back of the room.
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And we're the ones communicating with the talent
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in the booth.
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Well, we're the ones that take, take, take
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that direction when they go, can you read
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it more magenta?
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And you're like, that means go up at
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the end.
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We're the ones that left to interpret that,
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right?
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We're the ones that are going to go,
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what the fuck does he mean?
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Hang on.
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Uh, yeah, look, I think it's probably, or
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you're rolling your eyes through the glass at
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them because they're looking at you like, what
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was that?
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And you're sort of rolling your eyes going,
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oh, I don't know either.
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Well you have to suddenly throw your direction
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in there, which is enhanced.
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Without making the client look stupid.
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Yes, exactly.
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That's right.
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Yeah.
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Yeah, exactly.
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You're just, and one other thing, try it
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like this, which really is kind of like
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co-hosting a podcast.
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All right, Robert.
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So he's, he's a pop quiz and these,
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again, these are real ones.
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Can you sound taller?
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What would you tell the talent?
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Oh my God.
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Okay.
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Taller.
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I would, I would say, um, taller.
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Can you like, like, like, like more, more
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open sounding and less.
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My mind, my mind went to, my mind
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went to, do you want them off mic?
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Do you want them up here like this?
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Hello?
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That's me too.
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Like, have them literally get farther from the
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mic, I guess.
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What about this one, Robert?
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What about, do I sound taller now?
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How about now?
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I'm very tall now.
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Does that sound tall?
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What about this one?
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What about sound like a potato?
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It doesn't need to be a little bit
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like this.
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I'm a potato and I'm under the ground.
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Yeah.
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It just make it sound like you've got
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a bunch of potatoes in your mouth, like
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make it sound more Brown.
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Yeah.
00:06:03
No, I mean like you have a lot
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of eyes.
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Sound like you have a lot of eyes
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like a potato.
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Oh, what?
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Here we go.
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What about this one?
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Make it feel grounded, but lifted.
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What the hell does that mean?
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I don't know.
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Oh, geez.
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So, so I think grounded is like more
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serious sounding and, and like, and somber.
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And then lifted is like with, with like,
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you know, uh, up, up at the end
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and brightness.
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And it's kind of, it's that typical direction
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where it's two opposites and you're like, how
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the fuck do I do that with authority,
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but with a smile, AP, here's one for
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you.
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I want to know how you'd handle this
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direction.
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All right.
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Okay.
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Bags of energy, but laid back.
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It's always the two opposites, always the opposites.
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Yeah.
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Well, this one for a cremation company, brighten
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it up, but keep it respectful.
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Come on now, you're yanking our genes now.
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No, this is all, this is all people
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have posted on LinkedIn.
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It's just crazy.
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There's gotta be some joke writers in our
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LinkedIn, but I'll tell you what, 40 odd
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lines of gems, just stuff you go, Oh
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my God, but isn't it crazy?
00:07:20
The four of us all go, well, it's
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not surprising you're hearing shit like that, you
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know, it's just because we've, I, I wish
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I had a memory for some of it,
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but I, I know I've heard insane stuff
00:07:33
and I've definitely been in the position where
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it's like, I got to interpret that one
00:07:36
for them because that no one's going to
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understand that.
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Yeah.
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I've heard the opposite where the voice talent
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has turned it back onto the producer.
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It's like, okay, we want you to voice
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it.
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You're in a crowd, a crowd of people.
00:07:52
And the voice talent came back and said,
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whereabouts in the crowd?
00:07:55
I think you told me that story.
00:07:57
That was Gibbo, right?
00:07:59
Yeah.
00:08:00
And I can imagine Gibbo doing that too.
00:08:03
Oh, you're in a concert.
00:08:04
Which row?
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Yeah, that's right.
00:08:06
And who's on stage?
00:08:08
Beatles or Zeppelin.
00:08:09
Yeah, that's right.
00:08:10
Exactly.
00:08:10
And is my chair comfortable?
00:08:12
Does it have a pad or is it
00:08:13
kind of uncomfortable?
00:08:15
No, no.
00:08:15
I need to know.
00:08:16
I need to, if you're going to go
00:08:17
here, I need to know everything.
00:08:20
Is it the Hollywood bowl where it's kind
00:08:22
of crisp and cool in the evening or
00:08:24
is it more of an uncomfortable, sticky summer
00:08:27
evening?
00:08:27
Did I pay for the tickets or were
00:08:30
the tickets given to me?
00:08:32
Yeah, that's right.
00:08:34
If you paid for the tickets, you'd sound
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a bit annoyed.
00:08:37
If they were free, you don't care.
00:08:38
I'll give this one to George.
00:08:40
Less announcer, less voice, less you.
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What?
00:08:45
Less announcer, less voice, less you.
00:08:49
Well, that to me sounds like they're working
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with a professional voice actor and they want
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them to just not sound like a professional
00:08:55
voice actor and sound like they're mumbling and
00:08:58
not really giving a shit and kind of
00:09:00
letting it roll out of their mouth and
00:09:01
just giving a throwaway read, you know?
00:09:04
My favorite one is always like, just make
00:09:06
it conversational.
00:09:08
Right.
00:09:08
And then they direct the, make it conversational,
00:09:11
but can you highlight, sorry, but can you
00:09:14
highlight this word and that word and this
00:09:16
word?
00:09:16
And I'm like, well, I was going to
00:09:18
say the ultimate irony is the script says,
00:09:20
get down to Harris Farm Markets this week
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because they've got oranges on special for $2
00:09:23
.99. You know, just make that conversational, please.
00:09:26
Yeah.
00:09:27
I say that shit all the time.
00:09:28
Exactly.
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I know.
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Crazy, right?
00:09:30
It's just ridiculous.
00:09:31
Or two guys in a pub talking about
00:09:33
something that's completely irrelevant and nothing you would
00:09:36
talk about in a pub.
00:09:37
Did you know that the Baxter Insurance Company
00:09:39
has excellent rates?
00:09:41
Right.
00:09:42
Exactly.
00:09:43
Exactly.
00:09:43
Exactly.
00:09:44
That's conversational because it's written as a conversation.
00:09:47
And look, it's in inverted commas so that
00:09:49
someone's saying it.
00:09:51
It seems so authentic.
00:09:52
Yeah.
00:09:53
Classic.
00:09:54
Oh dear.
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I know.
00:09:56
I'm going to write a book after all
00:09:58
this.
00:09:58
I'm going to put them all together and
00:09:59
turn it into a book, I think, because
00:10:01
that's hilarious.
00:10:01
Someone should make the direction dictionary and it's
00:10:04
just like, like Magento.
00:10:07
Well, maybe I'll do that.
00:10:08
But it's just going to be like more
00:10:09
bright.
00:10:10
So, so like, like really end with an
00:10:12
up pitch at the end and everything will
00:10:14
just boil down to like three directions.
00:10:17
Well, I'll tell you what I'll do.
00:10:18
I'll chuck all these quotes, I'll copy, copy
00:10:20
and paste them from LinkedIn into ChatGPT and
00:10:22
I'll tell ChatGPT to write me a book,
00:10:25
a direction, you know, and I'll, just for
00:10:27
a laugh, I'll put it out there for
00:10:28
our listeners.
00:10:29
They can, on the Facebook page, they can
00:10:31
go and download it and have a look.
00:10:32
No more effort than that.
00:10:34
All black and white.
00:10:35
Just print it out.
00:10:36
AI.
00:10:36
Yeah.
00:10:37
I would be interested to see what ChatGPT
00:10:39
does with it.
00:10:39
AI is going to be like, this makes
00:10:40
no sense, I refuse.
00:10:42
And if you're really into wacky quotes and
00:10:44
voiceover sessions, go and watch Toast of London.
00:10:48
Oh, really?
00:10:49
Right.
00:10:49
Okay.
00:10:50
Well, you've got me now.
00:10:50
That is a great series, comedy series.
00:10:53
Toast of London.
00:10:54
Well, that was fun.
00:10:55
Is it over?
00:10:56
It's over for me.
00:10:57
The Pro Audio Suite.
00:10:58
With thanks to Tribo.
00:11:00
And Austrian Audio.
00:11:01
Recorded using Source Connect.
00:11:03
Edited by Andrew Peters.
00:11:05
And mixed by Robbo.
00:11:06
Got your own audio issues?
00:11:08
Just ask Robbo.com.
00:11:09
With tech support from George the Tech Whittam.
00:11:11
Don't forget to subscribe.
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And join in the conversation on our Facebook
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So leave a comment, suggest a topic, or
00:11:18
just say g'day.
00:11:19
Drop us a note at our website.
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