Latest / The Starfish Storytellers / Season 4, Episode 8: The Power of Voice in Storytelling with CJ Merritt

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Season 4, Episode 8: The Power of Voice in Storytelling with CJ Merritt · The Starfish Storytellers

0:00
Welcome to the starfish storytellers the podcast
0:03
that makes a difference one story at a time by
0:05
bringing storytelling to life All the time that
0:20
I froze up in a professional recording session
0:26
out in LA where I got booked to to an online
0:32
spot for a food brand. I won't say it, but they
0:38
had me audition for the spot. I was surprised
0:42
that I landed it, and they had me drive out to
0:44
LA, which I did. I wasn't happy to. I live about
0:49
30 to 45 minutes at a good time driving out there,
0:53
but they wanted me to come out around 4 p .m.
0:57
or something like that, and I'm like... okay
0:58
cool so those 30 to 45 minutes now just became
1:02
two to three hours of driving yeah the traffic
1:05
is that bad but um so uh depart make my way there
1:11
um get to the studio i meet the people that i
1:14
spoke to on the phone and uh auditioned with
1:16
and stuff right and then they put me into the
1:19
studio i'm working with another actor um jordan
1:22
he was a phenomenal a person who, you know, relayed
1:26
my lines off of and stuff. And we went through
1:29
the script a few times and stuff. And at this
1:32
point in my career, I had taken some acting classes
1:36
just to kind of get my foot into the door of
1:38
voice acting, but I wouldn't say I was a professional
1:40
just yet. I wouldn't even say I'm a professional
1:42
now, but I'm a little bit better than what I
1:44
was. And... I'll never forget. They were like,
1:48
all right, guys, we got the scripts. We're still
1:51
recording. But while we go ahead and prep the
1:53
files and stuff like that, why don't you guys
1:55
run through a scenario where you guys are just
1:58
playing improv off of each other? And I'm like,
2:01
oh, improv. And just complete silence on my end.
2:06
And he's just, you know, he's saying his lines
2:07
like, hey, CJ, we should come down over here
2:11
to the store. And I'm just frozen. I'm like,
2:13
uh, um. that store over there and yeah, that
2:18
store over there that I just said, you know,
2:20
and part of improv is that you have to yes and
2:23
so for him to just kind of agree and I'm like,
2:26
I kept like reinforcing the questions like, oh,
2:29
okay, yeah, I guess we should. He goes, yeah,
2:31
we should. And it just became this entire mess
2:34
where I could feel the heat in my face of embarrassment
2:37
and. I'm just kind of like eyeballing the the
2:41
producers out there and I'm just kind of like
2:42
save me guys because I'm lost I don't have anything
2:45
and they're just like okay we're good you know
2:48
we're we thank you for trying we appreciate that
2:51
you know no worries we got our lines and we're
2:53
good and I just I felt like I left that session
2:55
that day just like I should probably go take
2:57
some more acting classes Hello, my name is Liana
3:28
Henry and welcome to the Starfish Storytellers.
3:31
I'm the CEO of the Black Dog Group, a MarCom
3:34
and project management firm headquartered on
3:36
the east coast of the U .S. in quaint colonial
3:38
Bedford, Massachusetts. I'm your host and passionate
3:42
about storytelling. I'm actually on a mission
3:44
to raise up the next generation of storytellers.
3:47
We've named ourselves the Starfish Storytellers
3:49
after the Starfish Story. The moral of the Starfish
3:52
Story is based on the power of one. No matter
3:55
how big the challenge, each action we take makes
3:58
a difference and has an impact. One step, one
4:01
starfish, and one story at a time. Every episode,
4:04
we welcome a new storyteller who will share their
4:06
story meant to inspire and connect with you.
4:09
Then we'll break it down and offer tips for any
4:11
listeners who are ready to tell their own stories.
4:13
So thanks for tuning in. Now let's get started.
4:17
Today's episode is The Power of Voice in Storytelling
4:20
and with me today is CJ Merritt. CJ is a voice
4:23
actor based out of Los Angeles who specializes
4:26
in providing voiceover services to recognizable
4:29
brands such as the NBA, Acura, and Snapchat,
4:33
making their commercials and videos memorable.
4:36
So thank you for being on the show, CJ. I'm really
4:38
looking forward to having this conversation with
4:40
you today. I'm excited, too. Nervous, but excited.
4:45
And I apologize if I dot these little intersections
4:48
with my ums and ahs, because I'm always, you
4:51
know, doing that. But, you know, I bring you
4:53
the real me, so. We'll take the real you. I'm
4:55
sure when you have to do your recordings, you
4:59
have to be, like, on. Pretty much. Pretty much.
5:03
You can relax today, which is good. Exactly.
5:06
Exactly. So at the beginning of every episode,
5:09
we have our guests introduce themselves. Would
5:11
you like to tell our listeners a little bit more
5:13
about you? Sure, sure. As you guys know, my name
5:17
is CJ Merritt. Obviously, I'm a voice actor,
5:21
but I've always basically lived in Southern California
5:24
my entire life. I went to high school, graduated
5:29
high school. It's funny, I didn't even actually
5:31
think about getting into voice acting as a young
5:35
kid and stuff. It's amazing. I didn't even realize
5:38
much later until like my late teens that someone
5:42
was providing those voices for TV commercials
5:45
and radios. You don't even think about it back
5:48
then. You just hear the ad and you're like, oh
5:49
cool, Coca -Cola or NBA or whatever. But it's
5:54
funny, I didn't know what I wanted to do. As
5:58
a career as a young age, you know, I had like
6:00
great ambitions and stuff like that on stuff
6:02
It's like, you know, maybe I want to be like
6:04
a football player or you know Join the Marines
6:08
or something or you know, maybe become like a
6:10
brain surgeon and stuff But you know, it's crazy
6:12
how life takes you down these crazy paths and
6:15
stuff but I definitely didn't know what I wanted
6:16
to do when I was younger and but I actually found
6:19
myself like involved with a lot of multi -level
6:24
marketing like companies as a young age and stuff
6:28
so um kind of a very weird start there at the
6:32
beginning but i kind of righted my path and found
6:37
something a little more um fulfilling actually
6:41
doesn't say sustainable but fulfilling is the
6:43
right term um so yeah i'm happy that i get to
6:47
do this now Well, I think that's what do they
6:51
say, you know, when you find your calling, you're
6:53
not really ever feel like you're working because
6:55
you're doing what you really want to be doing.
6:56
Right. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. And I did training
7:00
for this too. And so my coach kind of reinforced
7:03
me with like, hey, I think you kind of found
7:05
your calling. And I'm like, oh, well, let's go
7:08
for it. So, yeah, no, no, it's great. Thank you
7:13
for sharing your story with us and sort of your
7:16
honesty and You know, so often when those of
7:21
us that are sort of, you know, as a marketer,
7:25
I tend to be behind the camera more than I'm
7:27
in front of the camera, but I have my moments
7:29
and sometimes I find that like I stumble over
7:32
my own words, the words that I wrote and I'm
7:36
stumbling over them. So I can totally appreciate
7:38
that. We did want to talk today about your voiceover
7:44
work and how you really use that. to tell stories
7:48
and how important voiceover is in really setting
7:52
the tone for the different projects that you
7:56
work on. You know, great storytelling isn't just
7:59
about words, it's about how they're spoken, right?
8:02
And voiceover brings stories to life, it adds
8:05
depth, it adds emotion, it adds personality.
8:09
I mean, I've heard some of your demos, you know,
8:11
they're very, very different from the different
8:13
projects that you work on. Because it could be
8:16
the excitement of a product launch. It could
8:19
be the clarity that you need to portray in an
8:22
explainer video. It could be the authority in
8:25
an instructional video, because I know you work
8:27
on those too. The right voice is going to make
8:31
all the difference. And a compelling voiceover
8:34
doesn't just inform, it actually connects. People
8:37
connect with the sound that they hear, engages
8:41
people. and it will stay with the audience long
8:44
after they've heard it. They'll remember that
8:46
ad because of the voice that they heard. So does
8:51
that sound like does that sound about right?
8:54
No, 100 percent. It's 100 percent correct. Pardon
8:57
me. That's 100 percent correct. I fully agree
9:01
with you on those on those aspects of it. And
9:05
while it is about connecting with your audience
9:09
and stuff, I think a lot of people I wouldn't
9:12
say fail, but I think they don't realize that
9:16
a lot of acting is taking place even when you're
9:20
portraying these messages and bringing that story
9:21
to life, you know? So, you know, it's amazing
9:26
how people can be like, hey, I heard I had a
9:28
great voice, you know? How can I get into voiceovers?
9:31
And it's like, you do have a great voice. I'll
9:33
agree to that, but can you... Use that voice
9:36
to connect with your audience, you know Betray
9:39
the message. Can you bring the story to life?
9:41
You know, can you make it sound like you're talking
9:43
to your friend? Basically, well, I would imagine
9:46
I mean you just you just touched on a really
9:48
important part of this and you're right I think
9:51
that people just make assumptions about voiceover
9:53
just being voice But it really does require I
9:56
would imagine a level of comfort with some acting
10:00
because your your like recording of something
10:06
for the NBA is going to be different than you're
10:10
recording for, say, somebody that's doing a university
10:14
course or something, right? I mean, you would
10:18
have to be able to drum up that excitement, right?
10:22
In like an NBA ad, perhaps versus sort of that
10:26
very informational, easy to follow. Right. Somebody
10:31
is listening to an instructional course. They
10:33
have to really be able to follow. Like, can you
10:36
talk a little bit about the differences there?
10:38
Yeah. Yeah. And I think this is where I always
10:41
tip my hat to content writers and like marketers
10:45
and stuff like that, because I think they're
10:47
the real like heroes behind these spots. You
10:50
know what I mean? Because for me as a voice actor,
10:52
it's just me getting the instructions. you know
10:55
but those instructions are a big part of what's
10:58
important about it because um for an NBA spot
11:03
like you said you know i've seen commercials
11:05
uh you know plenty of times as i'm watching tv
11:09
or watching youtube and stuff and i'm always
11:15
What intrigues me is how do they figure out that
11:18
an exciting, loud, come check out our game, you
11:22
know, would be the selling point for that, you
11:24
know, rather than someone calm, just being like,
11:27
hey, you like basketball, come check out our
11:28
game, you know, and just super calm about it,
11:31
you know, there's always a different point. And
11:32
I always find that super intriguing, you know.
11:35
And when it comes to those instructions, that's
11:39
a big play, you know, because when you... Turn
11:41
over from an NBA commercial to an instructional
11:44
video. Well now you have different levels of
11:46
that instructional video You know, it's who's
11:49
your audience? What is the age of that audience
11:51
and how technical is the terminology? We're talking
11:55
about a lot of big tech terms with technology
12:00
or medical technology or terminology You're probably
12:04
gonna have to read a little bit slower Enunciate
12:07
a little more, you know to really portray the
12:11
message and the instructions exactly. So, you
12:14
know, people don't mess up with the videos or
12:18
whatever process that they're watching and stuff.
12:21
So. So it is. It's not just tone. It's also pace.
12:25
Definitely. Definitely. I found myself. Oh, sorry.
12:28
Go ahead. And I was just going to ask, like,
12:30
did you ever like I always think about, like,
12:33
broadcasters? news, news people, news anchors,
12:36
right? They they take classes to be able to enunciate
12:39
their words. So they're not like chewing their
12:41
words and they're not stuttering or whatever.
12:44
Did you when you did some acting training, did
12:46
you also have to sort of do any or do I think
12:49
you said you had a coach like did you have to
12:51
do some speech work, too? I guess I would qualify
12:56
it as speech work. So I took my acting classes
13:00
just to kind of get the the emotions down on
13:03
how to on certain scripts and stuff, but my voiceover
13:09
coaches, they taught me how to enunciate certain
13:16
terminology on the scripts and how fast or slow
13:20
to read it, depending on if it's a TV spot or
13:23
a radio spot, you know, if they come at you with
13:25
a script and saying, Hey, we need these three
13:27
paragraphs read in 15 seconds, then You got to
13:31
speed that up, you know what I mean? I don't
13:33
even want to pretend like I'm reading a script
13:34
right now, but you know what I mean? You got
13:36
to really bring that speed and the power and
13:37
stuff. So my voiceover coach has kind of taught
13:41
me that side of the voiceover business, because
13:44
acting classes ain't going to really teach you
13:45
about the speed. It's more bringing the story
13:49
to life, which I can appreciate. But the voiceover
13:52
classes are going to teach you how to highlight
13:53
certain terminology, how to fit a certain amount
13:58
of words into a certain amount of time frame
14:00
and stuff. And so if you're looking to get into
14:03
it, I would definitely look into acting classes
14:05
as well as voiceover coaching with reputable
14:09
coaches. I am a scriptwriter for a radio show
14:14
and I have to also produce scripts for ads that
14:21
are part of the hour that the client has. The
14:25
radio spot so they do the show they have other
14:28
people come in with their own stuff, but I write
14:30
for one person and but the one person is the
14:33
ceo of this financial firm and We also have to
14:37
do the the ads 30 second reads 60 second reads
14:41
and I have to when I write them I have to time
14:45
them before I send them to make sure that they
14:47
fit into that window and what you were just saying
14:50
I thought was really interesting was certain
14:53
words Don't work when you have a timed read You
14:59
know certain words are just too much. There's
15:01
too much to chew on You know, it just doesn't
15:03
flow and they're gonna she's gonna stumble So
15:09
do you ever have to I'm gonna use the word advise
15:15
the people who give you instructions but have
15:18
you ever had to sort of go back to them and say
15:20
hey, you know, I'm doing the read and This sentence
15:23
isn't really working. What do you what do you
15:25
think about doing it different? Do you ever get
15:27
any any say in any of that? Do you get to participate
15:30
in any of that? Right off the bat, I try not
15:35
to say anything. I'm going to I'm going to open
15:40
up the back doors into my little process here.
15:42
Hope nobody minds, but I'd love that. Here's
15:45
a little hack that I will do sometimes. If it's
15:47
a five second read and I'm having trouble fitting
15:50
it within those five seconds, but I'm able to
15:52
at least hit 5 .2 or 5 .3, I will use the in
15:58
software to speed up my read just a bit to fit
16:01
it under that five seconds. Not enough to where
16:05
it doesn't distort the audio in any way, but
16:08
it's still legible and can be heard and portrayed
16:11
correctly. If I can't do that, then after four
16:17
or five attempts, I will be like, I don't think
16:20
we can actually do this. If we can just find
16:22
a way to say it differently or remove a couple
16:26
of words, that'd be great. But I'm really struggling
16:29
with this one. Funny story, I've actually had.
16:33
There was one time I was struggling with a read
16:35
and I told a client I was like, I don't think
16:37
I can get it done. And then the very next demo,
16:39
they sent me an audio file of them doing it.
16:42
And I'm like, okay. Again, very early in my career
16:49
when I was still learning the ins and outs, but
16:51
those little moments right there are very telling.
16:54
Yeah. But I think, you know, you're going to
16:56
have... Know as a marketer to like I don't I
17:00
don't know the ins and outs of voiceover You
17:02
know what I mean, and I know oh, I want to say
17:05
all these things these things have to be said
17:08
and you know when you're going through and and
17:12
and you know and I've had to record myself for
17:14
social media videos and stuff and you know, there's
17:18
a window of time and And I think you probably
17:21
can appreciate this and maybe marketers don't
17:24
understand this. It's not good enough like The
17:27
window of time is the window of time. Five seconds
17:29
is five seconds. Like, you know what I mean?
17:31
And I think people don't always get that. They're
17:35
like, oh, no, no, just, it's fine. Just cram
17:37
it in there. It's like, okay, it doesn't fit.
17:39
You know, it just doesn't fit. Exactly. It's
17:42
not even on the writers themselves. It's the
17:44
video, you know, in the client. It's like, it
17:48
has to be five seconds, guys. You want me to
17:51
change it, but I can't, you know, it's on the
17:52
client. So, no, I understand. I agree, and I
17:57
can appreciate the clients who are a little more
18:00
flexible with that. There are times where I do
18:04
live sessions, kind of like how we're talking
18:06
right now, where they will mute themselves and
18:09
I will do the read while another person in the
18:12
meeting is kind of keeping time with a little
18:14
timer. Even after three or four times we don't
18:18
hit those 15 or five seconds that we're trying
18:21
to aim for The producers will step in and be
18:24
like, hey, you know, I'm realizing he's struggling
18:26
a bit You know instead of forcing him to do this,
18:29
you know, let's try to rework the script a little
18:31
bit or something like that You know, but the
18:33
luck on that side is that the producer is from
18:35
the the clients side, you know They have that
18:39
power to make that change but The flexibility
18:43
just being there is super helpful, you know.
18:46
What do you prefer? Do you prefer as a voiceover
18:50
talent, do you prefer having that sort of a setup
18:53
where everybody's in the room and you're doing
18:54
the reading or is that like intimidating for
18:56
you? Do you prefer to just do it by yourself
18:58
in your in your box? Well. Does it depend? Does
19:08
it kind of depend? It really does. But me personally,
19:12
as a performer, I still suffer from performance
19:14
anxiety. So while I don't mind doing live sessions,
19:18
I will be griping on that for the last hour.
19:21
I'll be like, oh, man, here it comes. But it's
19:25
never an issue. As soon as the camera comes on
19:27
and the mic turned on, it's me. I'm CJ. I'm there
19:30
in the mic. They're going to get through the
19:32
line. Oh, sorry. Gosh, it's funny. I actually
19:42
would prefer live sessions now. I think so. And
19:46
I'm only leaning that way because I've been working
19:49
with, I do promos for NBC. So a lot of their
19:53
promos, they need it to sound in a certain way
19:56
within a certain timeframe. So with those producers,
19:59
I'm on the phone calls a lot with them. And so
20:02
they're always listening in and I'm starting
20:04
to get more comfortable with that side of it
20:07
now. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I think once you develop
20:09
a relationship, right, and that trust is there,
20:12
it makes it a lot easier. Yeah. That is a big
20:16
factor. Yes. When it's a new client, I'm like,
20:18
oh, no, how are they going to be? Are they going
20:20
to be cool or are they going to be, you know,
20:21
which 99 % of the time they're cool, you know,
20:23
because they just want their life, right? So
20:26
they're just like, hey, let's just get it done.
20:29
Yeah. Yeah. You know, in a situation like that,
20:32
so what is the process? So you have the read,
20:36
you do the read with them. Are they capturing
20:40
the recording and then taking it, or are you
20:42
capturing the recording and then sort of editing
20:44
and then providing them with the file after?
20:46
Like, how does that work? There's actually a
20:49
couple of ways to do it. So there's Source Connect.
20:51
Which is kind of like a pro. Well, actually,
20:53
I'm sorry. There's source connect, but there's
20:55
two variations of it because they're source connected
20:57
now, which is kind of like an in browser connection
21:00
that relies more on your sorry, how fast your
21:03
Internet is basically. But the other one is source
21:06
connects source connected. No, I'm sorry. Source
21:10
connected pro, which is more software based.
21:12
And you just kind of it's still Internet speed,
21:15
but it's a lot less tenuous on your connection.
21:19
if that makes sense, you know? But basically
21:21
what Source Connect does is it allows your studio
21:24
to connect with their studio so it acts like
21:28
you're basically in their booth. It just makes
21:30
it sound like I'm in their studio so all the
21:33
broadcast quality is there. And that goes for
21:37
another program called SessionLink Pro, which
21:39
is kind of getting more popular now. I have more
21:41
clients starting to ask for SessionLink Pro more
21:43
than Source Connect. Those are ways for them
21:46
to capture the audio on their end. But a lot
21:48
of times clients just want to connect on Zoom
21:51
and just have me record on my end. I think as
21:54
long as they can hear that the lines are being
21:57
recorded the way they want it to be said, then
21:59
they're fine with it, you know, which is a hundred
22:02
percent on them. You know, I have both. I have
22:04
access to all three programs, actually. So all
22:07
you need to do is just tell me how you want to
22:09
connect and I'm there. You're there. Yeah, right
22:12
there. How do you feel about the quality on Zoom
22:15
of the audio? In terms of like, do you like it?
22:21
Do you not like it? Do you have a preference
22:23
as the voice person as a voiceover talent? So
22:28
if we're going to be working on a project, I'll
22:30
be recording on my own, my digital audio workstation.
22:35
That's what it's called on my computer. So I'm
22:37
capturing all the audio on my end, which is high
22:39
quality already. So. the Zoom audio quality won't
22:44
be captured. Gotcha. That makes sense. Yeah,
22:47
that absolutely makes sense. But at least on
22:49
Zoom, they can see and hear you and they... Precisely.
22:53
And then after that, they, you know, after the
22:55
session usually ends, they're just like, hey,
22:57
thanks, CJ. Just go ahead and save everything.
22:58
No need to edit anything. Send it to this Dropbox
23:01
link. I'll have it in a few seconds. And then
23:03
the audio is mine. So. Cool. Super easy. Yeah.
23:07
Hey, we like easy. I don't think she's awesome.
23:10
Yes, it is. We've talked about today, we talked
23:14
about tone a little bit, we've talked about speed.
23:21
With the tone of voice, is that something that
23:26
you recommend when you read a script or you read
23:29
instructions? Or is that something that your
23:35
client tells you, hey, can you read this in this
23:37
tone? Do you ever get people that come to you
23:43
and are like, I have no idea. Can you help me
23:46
here? Oh, actually, I've never encountered someone
23:50
who really didn't know what they were looking
23:52
for already. I think I would be comfortable with
23:56
suggesting something if they didn't know. In
24:00
fact, if they didn't know what they wanted, I
24:02
think I would actually probably hop on a Zoom
24:04
call with them and then try to give them a few.
24:07
samples of what they wanted, you know, just because
24:09
I really wouldn't know exactly. I would guess,
24:12
you know, just based off that tonality, I'd be
24:14
like, well, we're reading for a sports drink.
24:16
So I'm assuming you want something a little more
24:18
edgy, you know, and, you know, you play sports
24:21
and you sweat, get those electrolytes back with
24:24
good sport. You know, I assume you want something
24:26
a little more edgy like that, you know, but it
24:29
really depends on the client. You know, I've
24:31
had some where we were showcasing a cooler. you
24:36
know for you know drinks and stuff and food and
24:38
i thought it was gonna be like this whole like
24:40
hey you know this this cooler can do all these
24:42
cool features you know get it you know come to
24:45
our um patreon support us and you know buy one
24:48
but it wasn't that at all they wanted like the
24:51
whole like because they were showing it off with
24:53
like lights zooming by it and stuff so they wanted
24:54
like this cooler can rock your world like like
25:01
that so i'm like okay yeah let's let's do it
25:03
and stuff but um yeah um 99 percent of this time
25:07
the client usually knows what they want but um
25:10
it's always fun to just um you know always ask
25:14
them during sessions i'm like hey can i can i
25:16
just try one in the tone that i think would be
25:18
kind of cool you know and after time they won't
25:20
go for it but the other times are like let's
25:23
save that one because i might want to might want
25:25
to use that i'm like okay It's always fun to
25:27
give my input to you. Yeah. Yeah Can you give
25:31
me an example of? And this might be a little
25:35
comical, but can you give me an example where
25:38
a wrong tone would really be a problem? with
25:42
a message I'm gonna say I'll joke around all
25:50
my friends and duties, but um one thing that
25:53
I like to do is um Uh, like, you know, hospital
25:57
spots have to be super soft and somber, you know,
26:02
as a hospital, we care, you know, we care for
26:05
our patients and stuff. But I always think it's
26:06
always kind of funny to just come in with like
26:08
a, Hey guys, here at healthcare, we care for
26:12
our patients. Are you totally dying? Don't worry
26:15
about it. You know, that would definitely be
26:17
the wrong tone for something. I think joking
26:21
around with it would be fun. I've actually had
26:23
clients before who I think just to kill studio
26:26
time, they were just having fun with me. But
26:28
they got their lines down, but they were asking
26:32
me, they were like, hey, can you read it like
26:33
you were super angry at your friend or something?
26:36
And I'm like, sure, why not? Listen to Amazon
26:41
Music today. It has great music. But then after
26:45
that, you can hear them laughing in the background.
26:47
So you're like, OK, I think they're just having
26:49
fun, but. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well,
26:52
obviously, it shows your range as a voice actor,
26:55
right? Yeah, yeah, definitely. Yeah. Do you feel
26:59
do you ever feel like I mean, I'm sure you enjoy
27:02
what you're doing. You said you do. But do you
27:04
ever feel like there's some projects that you
27:08
that you like better than others? Oh, man, good
27:14
question, because I equally love doing commercials
27:18
and e -learning. But commercials are so rare
27:22
and few in between that it's still exciting when
27:26
I get one, but mostly I do e -learning. So I
27:30
find the excitement to be there, but yeah, I'm
27:34
sorry. I didn't, I don't even think I answered
27:35
that properly. But yeah, I find commercials and
27:38
e -learning to be super fun, but I don't do commercials
27:42
as often as I do e -learning basically. You work
27:47
on both B2C and B2B campaigns and Obviously,
27:50
the storytelling approach is different for each
27:52
of them. So tell me a little bit about how your
27:56
voiceover styles would change between something
27:59
that is clearly consumer facing versus something
28:03
that might be more like a business focused project.
28:08
Absolutely. Yeah. So for more like consumer based
28:11
reads, I find that they want you more or less
28:16
to Connect with the audience as if you were like
28:19
a best friend or like a guy next door talking
28:21
to them and stuff like that You know, um, I I
28:25
don't see really a lot of like hard -selling
28:27
kind of things when it comes to consumer -facing
28:32
stuff. I don't think people like to be sold on
28:34
stuff. They like to be reminded, but they don't
28:35
want to be sold on things. So consumer -facing
28:39
is a lot more personal. Bring the emotion there.
28:42
Don't make it sound like you're reading. Just
28:43
make it like, hey, we're just talking about something.
28:46
You should come check this thing out. And for
28:48
business, I find that while I will try to bring
28:53
some kind of storytelling element to it, mostly
28:56
you're dealing with like... like internal communication
29:00
teams for big businesses and stuff like that,
29:02
you know, in which really they're just trying
29:04
to relay information out there as clear and as
29:08
communicative as possible, you know? So, again,
29:14
while I will try to communicate some kind of
29:17
emotion or something to it, it's more or less
29:19
just like... Hey guys, we're here with the business.
29:23
Um, this is going on here. We got this this dischanging
29:25
Okay, that's going on here and then we're done,
29:27
you know, yeah. Yeah. So yeah So so and it when
29:34
it comes to authenticity, right? So you're You
29:38
know, I can see with a with a b2c That sort of
29:42
more friendly familiar. Yeah home, right? How
29:47
do you plug that sort of authenticity into the
29:50
business focus side? I Think I just try to bring
29:55
that same. Um I'm sorry, uh Persona person. What's
30:01
the word person ability? You know what I'm trying
30:03
to say? Yeah. I think I try to bring that into
30:07
the the same atmosphere, but maybe like as someone
30:10
else. So maybe like as a boss or like as a co
30:13
-worker or something like that, you know, where
30:15
you would be connected. But it's not on the same
30:17
like buddy -buddy level that you would like your
30:20
neighbor or your best friend, you know? Got it.
30:23
Yeah, I could see how the tone would be different
30:25
for sure. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, for sure.
30:29
Yeah. All right. We do this at every every storytelling,
30:34
especially this year. Let's talk about AI. Because
30:38
everybody's talking about AI. Oh, yep. So there's
30:43
AI voiceover apps out there and they're pretty
30:45
common. And there's automated captioning, which
30:50
can also change the messaging. Excuse me. So
30:54
this is this must be a challenge for you in your
30:57
work. Like, how do you how do you tackle that?
31:02
OK. I'll just come out and say it straight up.
31:07
I don't like AI. I'm afraid of AI. I fear it.
31:12
They say don't fear it and just use it to your
31:14
advantage, but I'm not going to lie, man. I feel
31:16
like that is a... I don't want to say it. I feel
31:22
like it's a big detriment to careers, especially
31:26
ones that aren't properly managed. I'll say that
31:33
at first. And with that off my chest, I will
31:37
say that I am getting a little more comfortable
31:39
with it simply based off the fact that I've realized
31:43
that AI can't yet do all the human emotion things
31:51
that we can currently do now. Like that little
31:53
broken up sentence I just did there with the
31:55
human emotion part. Like they can't do that yet,
31:57
you know? So I have faith in my own abilities
32:01
still that I'm going to be eons. better than
32:05
any AI out there, you know? But there's also
32:08
the other side where I'm like, are any clients
32:11
secretly capturing my voice? Which is probably
32:16
like a irrational fear, you know, it's probably
32:19
not something they can do because it's probably
32:20
like highly illegal, you know, especially with
32:22
how prevalent AI is in the government and stuff
32:25
like that, you know, but yeah, that's how I feel
32:29
about it, man. People say to try to utilize it
32:32
as best as you can, but well, I think the thing
32:36
with the AI voiceover apps a first of all, and
32:39
I've seen it with like the AI images, you know,
32:42
because when I have to get stock images and things
32:46
like that to put into ads and things like that.
32:51
Some of the AI images are kindly, frankly, a
32:53
little creepy. And if you try to generate an
32:56
AI image, sometimes it doesn't have like. the
32:58
right hands, the right number of fingers, too
33:02
many eyes. I notice some of the images will look
33:07
right through you. They're not looking at you
33:09
like a person would look at you. They look through
33:11
you. There's this blankness to them. I think
33:14
it's kind of the same thing. I've heard the voices
33:18
on the voiceover apps, and they're very mechanical
33:21
sounding. And they and I've heard them they they
33:25
capture other people's voices, you know, I've
33:27
heard different celebrities voices and things
33:30
like that but they are It they lack appropriate
33:36
timing for inflection Um So I my my you know
33:43
My question for you. I mean you sort of answered
33:46
it but you know, do you think that there's other
33:48
any other misconceptions that people have about?
33:52
voiceover AI voiceover Any misconceptions about
33:58
it. Oh that's a very good question because I
34:03
You know, I I was I should be I should be a lot
34:07
more open -minded I will admit that off the bat,
34:09
you know, cuz I find myself super biased about
34:11
it You know, so anytime anyone brings up anything
34:14
AI voiceover, I'm just kind of like, Oh God,
34:17
can we not discuss this? You know, in fact, I
34:19
was on LinkedIn the other day and I had some
34:21
potential clients asking about using AI voiceovers
34:26
in their projects, you know, and there was some
34:29
project managers who came out and they were like,
34:31
don't use it for final spots, but it's okay to
34:34
use it if you're just trying to get the vision
34:36
out there. Part of me was scratching my head
34:39
like, I guess I can kind of halfway agree with
34:42
that, but also maybe you should just hire a human.
34:48
Gosh, the biggest misconception I would think
34:52
is just, it's not ready yet. Um, I I realize
34:59
i'm not in a position to even talk about where
35:01
the technology is at right now But I just know
35:04
that what i've heard it's definitely not ready
35:06
yet, you know Well, but I think in in your I
35:09
mean for when it comes to you and what you do
35:11
Being able to really talk about with potential
35:14
clients About those lack of human nuances, you
35:19
know, um, you know the lack of sort of that emotional
35:23
depth That a voice over ai is going to have that
35:27
you bring. Yes. Right. Yes. Yeah. And I think
35:33
that's just, um, that just now falls back on
35:37
me. Right. I think that's just my responsibility
35:39
now to make sure that my skills are top notch
35:42
and I'm always going to be relatable to my audience.
35:44
You know, so in a way AI motivates me to always
35:49
keep getting better. There you go. Exactly. There
35:53
you go. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, I'm all for responsible
35:57
use of it. But I think that that piece with the
36:01
human connection. Yeah, yeah. It's really weird,
36:08
because I've had some people be like, if you're
36:10
not, if you don't like AI voiceover, then you
36:12
shouldn't like any AI. And I'm like, OK, well,
36:16
I don't like AI voiceovers and I don't like AI
36:18
images. But. The AI writing that can actually
36:22
improve what you've kind of like written down
36:24
and just want to like brush up on it a little
36:26
bit. I can kind of get behind that. You know,
36:29
it's, I don't know, but I don't want that to
36:32
go so far as to we're replacing script writers,
36:38
you know, and people who, you know, a writing
36:41
team for a movie, you know what I mean? Cause
36:43
I think it's just going to do the same thing
36:44
as AI voiceover where it's just going to fall
36:46
flat. You know, I, you know, I use. AI for for
36:52
writing because it gives me sort of I have to
36:55
crank out so much content. It sort of gives me
36:57
some volume that I can work with. But in the
37:00
end, I still have to go through all of the content
37:02
it creates and I have to personalize it because
37:04
it's none of it is personalized. It's it's the
37:08
same. It cranks out the same stuff over and over
37:11
and over again. Yes. And it says there's nothing
37:14
new, you know, so it is. Go ahead. Oh, sorry.
37:20
I was, I didn't mean to interrupt you. I was
37:21
going to say it sounds like you found a way to
37:23
like use it as a tool rather than like as a replacement
37:26
for what you do. Exactly. That's awesome. See
37:29
that, that I can get behind, you know, but no,
37:33
it's, it's, it's, it's super fearful though.
37:36
When you look at some of these big corporations
37:40
with billions of dollars behind them and you
37:42
see them like actually putting out Spots on,
37:45
you know broadcast TV and broadcast radio that
37:48
are using AI and they're fine with it, you know,
37:50
and it's just like oh no Let's not head this
37:53
way, please Yep. Yep. Keep creativity human for
37:58
as long as we can, please Absolutely. Absolutely.
38:01
A hundred percent. Yeah. Yeah, that's just That's
38:05
just how I feel. Yeah Well, this has been a great
38:10
conversation You know, thank you so much for
38:14
being here. Before we wrap it up, though, where
38:19
can our listeners connect with you? Where can
38:21
they go to learn more about you? I think the
38:25
main way to connect with me would be my website,
38:27
which is www .cjmerit2rs2ts .com. So you can
38:36
find my contact information there. You can find
38:37
my demos. I have a Bunch of videos up there of
38:42
projects that I've worked on so you kind of can
38:45
get to see the whole voiceover spectrum of me
38:49
And to our listeners whether you hear us locally
38:53
from the btv studios in bedford massachusetts
38:55
or across the globe on such podcast channels
38:58
as spotify apple podcasts or amazon prime Thanks
39:01
for listening. We hope you enjoyed the episode
39:03
and we'll see you next time happy storytelling