A new class with Thom Pinto is always an event – but how about “Men Only: WELCOME TO ANNOUNCERVILLE!” You’ve seen the specs: “NO Announcers…” “We want REAL and CONVERSATIONAL…” “Announcers will be SKIPPED…” and only in about 11 out of every 10 auditions you receive, right? So you might assume “announcers” have gone the way of the Dodo (not to be confused with any of our statuesque he-men in the class pic, btw). But if you pay attention to what’s actu…ally getting produced these days, you find there’s still a LOT of “announcing” going on out there – and it’s up to a good voice actor to figure out just how much “announcing” to do! Some lucky ‘Traxers learned from the best this weekend, and here’s what a few of them had to say:
“It was an insightful look into the world of announcing as it relates to the auditions we get everyday. I definitely feel like I have a deeper understanding myself of what an announcer is and is not. Pinto worked his magic once again.” – Devin Glischinski
“As it is in most types of voiceover, the lesson here was much more prevalent: pick your moment(s), let most of the copy do the leg work, but put your mark on it by finding a moment in which to put your own personal accent on the piece. Thus making it memorable and competitive.” – Aaron Miner
“We were given permission not just to be announcers as an exercise, but to see and accept announcing as okay (or necessary, sometimes) in the real world, even when we’re confronted with specs that explicitly say it’s not. Learning how to think of and approach announcing as varied and, dare I say, subtle, rather than a binary choice of being bad or not being bad was important and revelatory.” – Christian Nielson-Buckholdt
