Archives for February 2025

Voice Actor Genevieve Baer is a Reed Award Finalist!

February 21, 2025 by GenevieveBaer

I am so delighted to announce that I have been named a Reed Award finalist for 2024!

I submitted work in the category for Best Political Attack Ad and was thrilled to learn that my submission received a nomination. The nominated commercial is political ad against Congresswoman Marionette Miller-Meeks (Iowa)–highlighting her extreme views on abortion rights.

Best Political Attack Ad Nomination

You can watch my nominated political commercial HERE

Political Voice Over Work

I was lucky enough to do a lot of political voice over work in 2024. I absolutely love doing it. I thrive on the fast pace and the variety of deliveries the work calls for. I love the urgent nature of it. And I love the feeling that my voice over skills might actually be making a positive difference in our country.

Why this Particular Political Ad?

I chose this particular commercial because I felt like my voice over delivery struck the right balance of “real person” and authenticity while conveying the frustration and urgency at the same time. I’m so happy the judges agreed!

The Reed Awards and Conference

My Most LOVED Voice Over Clients

February 8, 2025 by GenevieveBaer

I Love my Job and Appreciate All my Clients

And that cannot be understated. Even after 20 years, I am in awe of just how much I adore being a voice actor. I love it so much. I love the variety that every day brings. I love being creative every day. I love using my acting training and getting into character. I love working from home. I love the fact that the sky is the limit and there are always new goals to strive for and new voice over genres to tackle.

People often ask me who my favorite clients are. I think the answer surprises them. They assume that I am going to name the client that pays the most or who provides the voice over jobs that are the highest profile.

But being a fantastic voice over client is a lot more nuanced than that.

February is the Month of Love

Or so the Hallmark holiday says. And in honor of Valentine’s Day, I thought I would share a few of the things that my MOST LOVED CLIENTS do that make me appreciate them immensely.

•They are Great Communicators

My favorite clients communicate with me. Clearly and effectively. They help me help them by telling me exactly what they want…without me even having to ask. If they have time, tone, file format or any other specific needs, they LET ME KNOW. This results in me being able to get them their audio files quickly and to provide them exactly what they want the first time around.

They also just communicate with me in general. You have no idea how much I appreciate a quick reply back saying “file received!” or “submitted your invoice to accounting”. I care deeply that my clients are satisfied. When I don’t hear from them, I worry that the file somehow didn’t reach them. And yet, I don’t want to bother them with excess emails.

A super quick email confirmation eliminates all that headache.

And ditto with the invoice confirmation. Look, I love my job but I also want to get paid for it. I really love those clients that keep me posted in regards to receiving and submitting my invoices.

•Don’t Make Me Chase Payments

And while we’re on the subject of payment…I have massive love and appreciation for the clients that just make getting paid SIMPLE and HASSLE-FREE.

I have quite a few clients that I completely trust and really don’t have to think about in regards to payment other than submitting my invoices to them. I know that they will pay me within a certain period of time without my having to follow up.

Others, not so much.

Chasing down payments and sending follow-up emails feels like a whole additional job that I really never asked for. It’s so important to me that I fulfill my clients needs quickly and to full satisfaction. If they need a file within the hour? I make it happen. I only ask that my need to get paid without extra hassle would be prioritized as well.

And I LOVE the clients who respect that need.

• They Express Appreciation

I care. I care a lot. And I think that is one of the things that has increased my success in the voice over industry. That care comes through in my work and my business conduct.

You have no idea how far a simple “thank you” goes.

Of course, I will do just as good a job for you whether you express gratitude or not. But a simple thank you and expression of appreciation fills me with the warm and fuzzies.

It feels good to know that my work is acknowledged and appreciated!

My favorite clients go out of their way to recognize how hard I work for them and let me know that they appreciate it. Their notes of gratitude truly make my day.

•They Provide Proper Phonetics

Oh boy, this could be an entire blog post in itself. Please understand, I want to make you happy. I WANT to nail all of your desires and wishes for your voice over project and I want to do it as efficiently as possible.

My favorite voice over clients provide proper phonetics for ANY and ALL questionable words in their voice over copy.

We’re not just talking about technical or medical terms. There are names of towns that only locals know how to say. There are names of individuals that are not easy to decipher. Local store names, foreign names, etc. When in doubt? Provide a phonetic.

And not just a badly written phonetic. A proper phonetic that includes WHICH syllable gets the emphasis. You would be surprised how often that is missed. For added bonus points, add a reference link or a “rhymes with…” to the note.

I have many clients who will slow down the process by making me ask for phonetics (that are not easily looked up on Youtube) or their phonetics are so poorly written out when provided that they are useless. This just slows down the process.

My favorite clients take the guesswork out of the equation for me. They automatically provide the phonetics in a proper and detailed manner.

Sharing the Love

I hope this list was helpful and enlightening to all of the commercial producers, video producers, instructional designers, promo producers, etc. who interact with me and other voice over artists on a regular basis.

This month of love, and all other months, I see you. I appreciate you. I LOVE you!

What to do when NOT recording Voice overs?

February 4, 2025 by GenevieveBaer

So you’re a voice actor and you’ve found yourself with a few moments when you have no voice over projects or auditions in your inbox. GREAT! Time to take a nap or watch some TV right?

Wrong.

Although building downtime into your overall schedule is important for your physical and mental health, there are always things you can be going to increase your VO skills and booking rates.

Here are a few important things all voice actors should be doing when they’re not recording:

1) Work on Your Craft

A great voice actor is always training and honing their skills or working on new ones. So when you find yourself with time on your hands, that is a great opportunity to:

•Train privately with a new voice over coach

•Coach in a new voice over genre that you haven’t tackled yet

•Attend group voice over “work outs” or group lessons with fellow voice over colleagues

2) Market Your Voice Over Services

Finding potential voice over clients and marketing to those leads takes time. I will often have an on-going list of potential clients to reach out to. When I find myself with a few minutes, I might tackle a handful of them until the next voice over project comes in.

Some potential people/groups to reach out to are:

•Creative Agencies

•Audio Production Houses

•Voice over casting directors

•Past clients that you haven’t heard from in a while

•There are so many more from web video producers to instructional designers, etc.

3) Work on your Voice over Website

Having a professional website is crucial in this business of voice acting. And–if built properly–you may even find yourself getting voice over gigs simply through a client finding you on Google.

I personally still have a lot to learn about SEO and it’s complicated and constantly-evolving nature.

When I am not recording a voice over job in my home studio, I am still sitting in my Whisper room working on this very website! I have a massive to-do list which includes building out many more niche voice over categories in addition to the larger Commercial voice over, TV Promo Voice over, Voice over narration, Radio Imaging, etc.

4) Listen to Voice Over Podcasts

I have actually been shocked at the amount of knowledge and inspiration I have picked up from various voice over podcasts! So many guests drop priceless nuggets of wisdom throughout these conversations–from equipment to lead-finding to self-marketing.

I’ve also been inspired to work with various voice over coaches just from hearing them speak in these conversations.

I almost always finish a podcast inspired to take action in some area of my career.

5) Listen to more Voice overs

Now would be a great time to go to the website of en elite voice over agency or perhaps a voice actor whose career you admire and listen to their work. You can learn so much about current voice over trends and what kinds of deliveries are booking.

Even when you settle down in front of the television, it’s important to listen to those commercials. I personally find it particularly fascinating when I hear a commercial come on that I auditioned for. I learn so much from hearing the voice that booked and how the final spot came out.

Find Balance

In the end (like everything in life), it’s about finding balance. It can’t be ALL work ALL the time or you will burn out. But hopefully this gave you some ideas and a bit of motivation to tackle some items on that “Business of Voice over” checklist.

I look at it this way. I honestly think I have the best job in the entire world. If I can do anything at all that helps keep the work coming and my career going? Then I am all in.

A couple weeks ago, I took some time in

between gigs to order some new gear–

including these pretty aqua headphones!