It’s a Man Cave–It’s A Studio

She’s never been because… well, you know… it’s a man cave.

Though I didn’t know who he was when I was growing up I still wanted to be Hal Douglas (the voice guy in the trailer for Jerry Seinfeld’s “Comedian”). As it turned out I was not blessed with “the voice.” I didn’t get to be Hal.

Darn!

I went into radio after college and was fine on the air, just not as useful when it came time to record commercials. I was the un-Hal. No pipes!

Flash forward to the present.

I saw a commercial agent yesterday. She said an audio ‘reel’¹ might get me some work so I asked my friend Rick if he could help.

Rick is a professional v/o artist. He voices commercials. No, he voices commercials beautifully. He does much of that work from a studio in his basement.

“He’s got a man cave,” Helaine said after seeing photos of his studio.

She’s never been because… well, you know… it’s a man cave.

I went into an announce booth and threw on a pair of headphones while Rick sat in the main studio wrangling Pro Tools–the standard in audio recording software.

With his help I read a half dozen real commercials. Tonight he’ll add some music and other sweetening.

I am neither Hal Douglas nor Rick. My voice is lighter. I tried for a read that is best described as friendly, crisp and precise.

I’m curious to see if my voice technique is better received today than it was when I was in radio. No matter the result it was cool to be back in the studio standing in front of a mic. It was a trip back to my roots.

¹ – Reel? Sorry. Tape is gone. All audio is kept digitally. Old habits die hard. We still ‘dial’ the phone too!

14 thoughts on “It’s a Man Cave–It’s A Studio”

  1. I half expected to see Atari laying around in the “Man Cave/Studio” somewhere around there…lol. I hope you are enjoying this journey you are on. You are starting to inspire me to write a blog myself…soon as I learn more about blogging.

  2. Old Habits? How do I get my wife to stop telling me to put the milk back into the Icebox?

    Then again, Fridg up-side-down cake just doesn’t have that ring to it, does it.

  3. Voice over work is good because you can do it while working other jobs and it sometimes results in royalties long after the work is completed. I hope you do get some work from this.

  4. I always wanted an Electrovoice RE20 (your microphone picture) for my ham station. Alas it never happened due to lack of “discretionary funds” at the time. Now that I could do it there’s no time for ham radio. Go figure.

  5. I did a double take while perusing the accompanying photos. Your buddy looks like Johnny Fever with the glasses on. Talk about a retro moment!

  6. Ahh tape….I remember it well. I started my electronics hobby with reel to reel tape recorders. Anyone remember Pentron tape recorders. Wilcox? Single track recorders? they only recorded in one direction. then you had to rewind to hear it. no turning the tape over to record on the other side. I made a lota family audio tapes and they are still around. I can’t say that for some of my MP3s that got lost when the computer crashed.

  7. Hi Geoff,

    I knew Allison when he was at WYBC and then at WPLR. I like to think I helped encourage him to send reels, and yes they were reels in those days, to PLR.
    Haven’t talked or seen him in years. Long blond hair is gone, but he still looks fantastic!
    I’m sure he did a great job for you, and your voice should certainly land you some commercial work!

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