audio book narration – T. Hoffman Audio

It’s been sometime since I’ve updated this website, and it’s time for a fresh coat of paint. For one thing I’d like something that’s a little less grey, blocky, and just “belgh” would be good. For another I know I can do much better with my audiobook demos.

On top of all of that is the fact that I need to create demos for other voice acting roles that I wish to do. The thought of making demos is weird to me. I’ve never really needed demos before and I’m not exactly sure how to go about making them. I was taught how to be a stage actor and we don’t exactly have demos for that – just monologues on hand. (Though I should really get some new monologues developed too.)

While the world is still being gripped by the need for social distancing, I should be taking this time to learn what I need for a demo. Like what is the material that’s expected, what are the kind of ranges you should consider, ect. There are a few places I can ask around, and I should look up voice actors websites to see if they have good demos I can listen to.

The challenge – as it ever is – is to get it all done. With so many other things to work on, I am fortunate enough to still have a day job during this pandemic, it can be a challenge to balance things. Especially with days bleeding together and everything feeling like they’re in suspended animation.

Regardless – I would love to come out of this pandemic with a freshly designed website, new audiobook demos, new demos for new types of acting, and my feet planted firmly in the ground.

Hello, hello, hello!

After a mixture of bad weather, a sudden fever, and sometime off I have returned. I took sometime to myself to rest, something I don’t do often enough. I often push myself (which is good!) and never take anytime to rest (which is bad!). I’ve been trying to schedule in a couple of days a month to rest, rather than working everyday. I’ll adjust this as time goes on, but I needed to start somewhere and having a healthy balance between work and rest is important.

These past two weeks I’ve been dealing with terrible weather. Having to dig my way out of the house every week and prepare for a snow/ice storm eats up a lot of time, but fortunately I can usually navigate around that. However – something I can’t really navigate around is becoming ill. If I’m sick there’s not much I can do to change that except take the time needed to recover.

I’m currently on the mend, but this is day 3 of being ill and I’m almost certain I’ll remain sick tomorrow. My hope is that by Monday I’ll be back in fighting shape!

Before I got sick I did manage to finish recording my final project and now I only need to edit and polish it. I was surprisingly satisfied with what I had produced when I finished recording on Monday. Hopefully when I comeback to edit I’ll still feel I did a good job.

I’m particularly interested in going back to one section in particular. I found myself falling into the text with ease and was extremely happy with the bit I recorded. At the time of recording I felt it was one of my better pieces. I often struggle to really connect with the text as an actor, but in that moment I felt at ease as I did so. I’ll often have to do a lot of start-stopping to keep myself from going neutral as I read. This is where slowing down has helped me a ton. It’s much easier to connect with something when the words have a chance to land rather than rushing right through them. I’m looking forward to continuing to perfect and improve upon my craft!

But I could go on for hours about these details. In the meantime here’s a picture of Cooper. Pretty sure I shared this one already, but I love it.

Tag: audio book narration

Almost time for an update…

Back from a (surprise) week off!