Paul Boucher - Blog #Audio FilePaul Boucher - Blog #Audio Filehttps://www.paulboucher.com/blogs/tag/Audio-FileWed, 25 Mar 2026 18:18:11 -0700http://zoho.com/sites/<![CDATA[Is the Voice Actor REAL Enough?]]>https://www.paulboucher.com/blogs/post/is-the-voice-actor-real-enough

    Have you ever considered how important the personal authenticity of the voice actor you hire is?

     

    First, thank you to Donita Fowler, Performance Coach here in Calgary, for the catalyst moment. She shared Creator Report 23 from Linktree, which made me reflect on various aspects of my craft and presence online as a voice actor.

     

    Before becoming a full-time voice actor in 1999, authenticity was one of the biggest personal challenges I'd faced as a radio personality (1977 to 1999).

     

    I don't mean that I wasn't a version of myself or that I said false things regularly (OK, we may have exaggerated the Backstreet Boys' musical prowess); I didn't feel that I was *enough*.

     

    In voice acting, the lesson of feeling confident and anchored in my authentic self has been hammered home by acting teachers (thank you, Lori Ravensborg) and the best voice performance coaches (thank you, again, Marice Tobias).

     

    If the narrator or voice actor you hire has a tenuous or no connection to their personal authenticity, here are some things your project might be missing out on.

     

    1. Connects with the Audience: The voice never lies. People have better bull***t detectors than they've ever had. So… performances need to be anchored in something real.

     

    An ability to convey genuine emotions, portray diverse characters, and connect with an audience hinges on authenticity. It's not just about using the right tone or pitch; it's about your voice actor embracing their individuality and using it to create memorable and relatable characters.

     

    2. Versatility: Authenticity is what allows a voice actor to tap into a wide range of emotions and characters. Whether they're voicing a heroic protagonist, a quirky sidekick, or a "vanilla" eLearning narrator, infusing performances with authenticity gives each scenario added believability.

     

    3. Longevity: In a competitive industry like voice acting, authenticity can set the best apart from the rest and contributes to long-term success. If a voice actor counts relationships with their best clients in years, decades even, you're likely in good hands. (In my case, three key client relationships go back to 2000.)

     

    4. Adaptability: Being authentic doesn't mean your narrator can only voice characters who mirror their personality. On the contrary, authenticity allows you to sympathize or empathize and understand characters from various walks of life.

     

    5. Emotional Resonance: Authenticity allows vulnerability, which in turn permits genuine emotions to come through in the voiceovers for your project.

     

    As someone with a dual performance personality thanks to being bilingual – distinct in the French I was raised in and the English I learned and loved from the age of 10, I've traveled some exciting roads to discover my authentic selves. That serves projects in rich, unexpected, and sometimes powerful ways.

     

    When hiring a voice actor, why not treat the casting process as finding an extension of your own authentic expression? Someone comfortable expressing things you've dreamt up and put down on paper. Be the real you. Hire a voice actor who embraces their authentic selves and is a conduit for yours.

]]>Mon, 22 Jan 2024 02:51:57 +0000<![CDATA[Moments of Truth In Your Biz]]>https://www.paulboucher.com/blogs/post/moments-of-truth-in-your-biz

    This week’s thoughts for the voiceover business were prompted by… Apple’s iOS 17 and Watch OS 10 Updates. You may be thinking… the boy’s lost his marbles. One too many gadgets!

     

    So first, let me quickly clarify what I mean by moment of truth.

     

    Every time you interact with a client is a moment of truth for your relationship with that client, and for your business. It can be positive, negative, or maybe worst of all, leave NO impression.

     

    Now back to Apple. Both the iPhone and the Apple watch are mature products. Millions of us have been using one iteration or another of both products since they came out.

     

    Any time Apple does anything to change our devices – via updates in particular - is a moment of truth for Apple. In past years, these have become so routine, that yeah, some of them are positive, some are negative, and some leave you with a big “meh” of an impression.

     

    This week’s operating system update for both devices was game changing. There were a LOT of new features, some of which completely change the way we’ll use the devices, in whole or in part, going forward.

     

    The features though aren’t the big thing. It’s what the features accomplished that makes the updates a big deal.

     

    They renewed and rejuvenated our relationship with something familiar in a way that made them feel like new toys all over again.

     

    That feeling of these devices almost being magical was refreshed.

     

    Do you see where I might be going here?

     

    This particular moment of truth for Apple will deepen the loyalty that Apple fanfolk feel for the brand and their devices. They satisfied a wish list an arm’s length long from their users. They also did one of the things that Apple does best, they’ve anticipated the potential of the devices in ways we hadn’t thought of yet despite these things having been around forever.

     

    Now – think about your business. YOUR touch points with clients. Not EVERY single instance can be that momentous, BUT this kind of change is a terrific opportunity for us to think about ways we could re-excite our clients about our services, our craft, our attention to detail, our sincere investment in the best possible outcome for their projects, while making sure we’re still doing all the things a successful business does.

     

    These changes to our devices are more than cosmetic. In some cases, they’re fundamental changes in the way we use our devices – and for the better.

     

    When was the last time you did something in your client relationships that left a client with that sort of impression?

     

    What offer can you make that might do that? What change in the way you approach your every day could result in an impact that makes a client actually pause and say “Whoa! That’s impressive!”

     

    Think about that. We’re headed into a seasonal upswing in voiceover work in pretty much every domain. Think about ways that you could create a special moment of truth that does everything that these system updates did for Apple devices: Deepen loyalty, make it seem magical again, give them a reason NOT to think about any other option. Good luck!


]]>Mon, 22 Jan 2024 02:45:55 +0000<![CDATA[If Bugs Sounded Like Dora]]>https://www.paulboucher.com/blogs/post/if-bugs-sounded-like-dora

    What if BB sounded like D the E, if the Thunderbirds spoke like Sponge Bob and Patrick, or if Homer had Foghorn Leghorn's voice? Wait a minute… THAT one might work.

     

    Damn, but we have fun as voice actors!!

     

    Have you ever seen an animated movie and been surprised that a character's voice in the film was one of your favourite actors? 

    • Charlize Theron as the monkey in Kubo & The Two Strings
    • Mark Hammill as Batman
    • Mila Kunis as Meg in Family Guy (since the second season), and
    • Samuel L. Jackson as Lucious Best in The Incredibles. 

     

    That doesn't count the thousands of standout performances from non-celebrity voice actors.

     

    I'm a huge fan of animation's unbridled possibilities for voice actors. I've actually had those days where I'm playing so much in an animation studio that the day honestly lives up to the old cliché "living the dream!". 😁

     

    Telling stories... no... inhabiting stories... and then telling them from inside the looking glass, that's part of the magic of voice acting in animation.

     

    Animation, like improv, can take you out of your comfort zone. And that's GOOD!

     

    If your daily default is corporate narration and eLearning, and for many voice actors outside the major markets, it is, then an animation session is a GIFT.

     

    Walking out to the edges of your capabilities and inventing a characterization from whole cloth or synthesizing something fresh from old influences feels like walking on a high wire with no net. The adrenaline that flows, the FLOW that results when you find the zone (often guided by very skilled and VERY patient directors), will spill into everything else you do for weeks.

     

    I was in a networking seminar this week, and we briefly touched on how, as adults, we've largely lost our ability to PLAY. I'm here to tell you that as voice actors, we have more chances than the average bear to play in our work, and we are allowed to break more than a few plates in our carefully constructed China-shop lives by being animated characters. OPA! 

     

    A good guy. OK, thanks. A villain. YEAH! Playing a kid when you're past middle age? Again, yeah! Playing a person older than your parents (and getting to make fun of your parents as you do it), BONUS!

     

    If the topic of this post didn't make me vibrate with so much joy, it would be about gratitude.

     

    I'm grateful for the high school counselor who told me I was best suited to becoming a priest (um, no, on several counts) because I imitated his voice playing a well-intentioned pompous buffoon many years later.

     

    I'm grateful for every instructor/director/mentor who WASN'T satisfied and pushed harder, made me go deeper, made me get out of my head, made me stop thinking, and just made me feel, from second to second, what it was I was trying to do, not what I was trying to say.

     

    The rewards of animation voice acting are remarkable. It's the joy of seeing a character you've brought to life on screen, hearing the audience's laughter or gasps of surprise, and knowing that your voice has played an integral role in their experience. It's the opportunity to work with incredibly talented animators, directors, and fellow voice actors who share the same passion for storytelling. From a freedom-in-your-art perspective, it's the equivalent of jumping off a cliff in a wingsuit at work and pushing the boundaries of what your voice can achieve. I'm a baritone? I ain't no stinking baritone TODAY!

     

    Voice acting in animation is a journey filled with endless possibilities, where the only limits are the extent of what you're willing to risk and explore. 

     

    So, risk, explore, and play.

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