Audio Branding

“But we do have to remember that when we are communicating, when words are coming out of our mouths and reaching somebody's ears, that's a connection, that's a strong connection, and if we are not really believing in the things that we are saying, or feeling the things that we are saying, or able to create a feeling that's strong, then that connection won't be strong enough. And that's really important in both communicating and advertising and providing information, and all of the things that we do as voice people. We are communicators first and foremost, always.” -- Dan Friedman

This episode's guest has been in the voiceover industry for nearly two decades, voicing projects for Crowne Plaza Hotels, Hulu Plus, Walmart, Hardees, Aetna, and many more, and a professional audio engineer for twenty-five years.  He's produced, directed, and provided his voice to thousands of audio productions, and in 2010 he published a book called Sound Advice: Voiceover From an Audio Engineer’s Perspective. A first of its kind in the industry, the book covers audio engineering and studio session etiquette as it relates directly to voiceover talent.

He continues to write a popular blog on his website, Sound4VO.com, and he's a well-known voiceover coach, teacher, and home studio consultant., as well as a certified coach in the Roger Love Voice Method. His name is Dan Friedman, and I'm looking forward to sharing his perspective on how we can learn to better communicate. He's seen it all, from both sides of the glass, so I know he has lots of golden nuggets to share.

As always, if you have any questions for my guest, you’re welcome to reach out through the links in the show notes.  If you have questions for me, just visit www.audiobrandingpodcast.com where you’ll find all sorts of ways to get in touch. Plus, subscribing to the newsletter (on the www.audiobrandingpodcast.com webpage) will let you know when the new podcasts are available.

Hearing and Getting It

We start things off with a look at Dan's earliest memories of sound. He tells us about the first song he ever fell in love with and the chills that Mary Clayton's voice in "Gimme Shelter" still gives him. He recalls his early career, and how a surprise job opportunity as an audio engineer inspired him to pursue a deeper understanding of the science of sound.  "Here I was," he says, "working for these big acts at times, and just thinking 'I get it, but I don't get it. I can hear it, but I don't get it."

An Emotional Connection

Dan tells us about his experience becoming a certified Roger Love Voice Method coach, how he discovered an unexpected talent for singing, and the further insight it gave him into the different elements of voiceover and voice performance. “All of these things,” he explains, “are interesting nuances that I can add to my repertoire of coaching and direction, and that’s just really been transformational.” But the most important aspect of voiceover is something less tangible: “To be successful,” Dan says, “you have to have an emotional connection in some way.”

We Are Communicators

We continue as Dan elaborates on the emotional core and personal connection that voice can provide between the speaker and listener. He explains how a voice coach can help with forging that connection, and talks about some of the mistakes that even highly trained professional voiceover artists can make. As he puts it, "people don't hear their own voices that way. So when you work with a coach, when you work with a director, they're able to steer all this so that it's a cohesive package."

All the Pieces of the Puzzle

The first half of our interview ends with a look at how a flexible tone and sense of nuance can bring a script to life, how experienced performers can sometimes find the process even more of a challenge than artists who are just starting out, and how a voice coach can help them both. "Part of the benefit of coaching," Dan says, "is that we get you to slow down and think a little bit, so that we can make sure that you're putting together these things so that all the pieces of the puzzle are there."

Episode Summary

• Dan’s first musical love and how he became a sound engineer
• His experience with the Roger Love Voice Method
• Forming an emotional connection with the power of voice
• How directors can help create a more dynamic performance
• Finding the heart and the story inside each script

Be sure to tune in next week for the second part of our interview as Dan offers some practical public speaking advice, as we talk about the differences between video and audio roles and how social media is blurring the lines. We also take a more personal look at his life as a proud husband and father.

Connect with the Guest:

Website: www.Sound4VO.com

Follow Dan Friedman on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dan.friedman.sound4vo

Connect with Dan Friedman on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danfriedmanvo/

Dan has also very kindly offered a $30 discount on your 1st coaching session with him - or 1 free session if you book 12 -

through The Studio resources page that you gain access to after subscribing to the podcast newsletter at https://audiobrandingpodcast.com .

Connect with the Audio Branding Podcast:

Book your project with Voice Overs and Vocals https://voiceoversandvocals.com

Tweet with me on Twitter - https://twitter.com/JodiKrangle

Watch the Audio Branding Podcast on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/c/JodiKrangleVO

Connect with me on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jodikrangle/

Leave the Audio Branding Podcast a written review at https://lovethepodcast.com/audiobranding

or leave a spoken review at https://voiceoversandvocals.com/talktome/ (Thank you!)

Get my Top Five Tips for Implementing an Intentional Audio Strategy

https://voiceoversandvocals.com/audio-branding-strategy/

Editing/Production by Humberto Franco - https://humbertofranco.com/

“Tap into who your consumer is, really know. And I don't mean like ‘males 25-34 years old who live in cities.’ No, it's like ‘what's important to this person, where do they spend their time,’ you know, those kinds of things, really thinking about who that person is and then what your company's role, what your brand's role, plays in their lives. And then, just naturally, you know how music can kind of work in there, and I think from there you'll start to see some natural potential opportunities. And if you brainstorm that internally with your colleagues, I think some things will just shake themselves out.” -- Sam Parvin

This episode's the second part of my interview with music supervisor and branding expert Sam Parvin as we talk about how different branding perspectives can lead to very different licensing strategies, Sam’s three best practice steps when it comes to music branding, and how a more fluid and mobile audio landscape is creating both new challenges and opportunities for musical marketing.

As always, if you have any questions for my guest, you’re welcome to reach out through the links in these show notes.  If you have questions for me, just visit www.audiobrandingpodcast.com where you’ll find all sorts of ways to get in touch. Plus, subscribing to the newsletter (on the www.audiobrandingpodcast.com webpage) will let you know when the new podcasts are available.

What Your Music Means

We begin the second half of the interview with a look back at some of Pepsi and Coke's most famous advertising campaigns, and how their distinct marketing strategies and approaches to branding led to very different choices when it came to licensing music. "They're using music in different ways," she explains, "because of what their brand DNA is as well as the campaigns that they're working on at different times." She tells us how a famous song isn't always the best marketing choice and shares a success story that came from adapting a licensed composition to meet her client's needs.

A Living, Breathing Vessel

“Your brand is a living, breathing vessel,” Sam tells us, “and so too is your music strategy.” Music, she explains, has a more dynamic, versatile quality than more visual forms of marketing, and how there’s a much more diverse range of music and audio inspiration available out there than many companies have considered. “They're getting their music choices either from Spotify or production libraries,” she says. “But there is an entire world of amazing music in between those two.” We talk about her three best practice tips when it comes to audio branding, from finding your company’s musical point of view to making sure that you have somebody overseeing your musical brand from start to finish.

The Democratization of Music

We wrap up the interview with a look at what she calls the democratization of music, and how everything from Spotify playlists to innovations in augmented reality are changing the role music and musical branding plays in our lives. As she puts it, "brands' biggest challenge now is being flexible and being able to move quickly, because the whole world is moving quickly." We talk about the deepening connection between musical branding, marketing, and culture, and how they're only becoming more interconnected over time. "They're the ones who are telling us what's okay in the world and what's acceptable in the world," Sam notes. "It's a great responsibility that we have as marketers."

Episode Summary

• Marketing strategies and meeting a wide variety of musical needs
• The dynamic quality of music and its cultural flexibility
• Sam’s three best practice steps for a successful musical brand
• The future of music marketing and how branding shapes the world

Connect with the Guest

Website: www.parvin-music.com

Follow Sam Parvin on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/parvinmusicusmx

Connect with Sam Parvin on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/samparvin/

Follow Sam Parvin on Twitter: https://twitter.com/samparvinmusic

Click here to download Sam's “Choosing the Right Music for Your Brand” worksheet: https://voiceoversandvocals.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/ParvinMusic_MusicPOVWorksheet_Blank.pdf

Connect with the Audio Branding Podcast:

Book your project with Voice Overs and Vocals https://voiceoversandvocals.com

Tweet with me on Twitter - https://twitter.com/JodiKrangle

Watch the Audio Branding Podcast on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/c/JodiKrangleVO

Connect with me on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jodikrangle/

Leave the Audio Branding Podcast a written review at https://lovethepodcast.com/audiobranding

or leave a spoken review at https://voiceoversandvocals.com/talktome/ (Thank you!)

Get my Top Five Tips for Implementing an Intentional Audio Strategy

https://voiceoversandvocals.com/audio-branding-strategy/

Editing/Production by Humberto Franco - https://humbertofranco.com/

“The way that advertising agencies, for example, are structured now is still based on the Mad Men era where only billboards and print existed. So we have an art director and a copywriter on every project, but we don't have a sound person, we don't have a sound director. And so much of the way that we interact with the world, or 'consume' content, is through audio. I think it's just about thinking about us as humans, and how we intake information and interact with external things in our world, and audio is just always there.” -- Sam Parvin

This episode's guest specializes in helping senior-level brand marketers use and strategically execute music to create a stronger brand that also creates value for their consumers. She's a globally-awarded music supervisor for brands like Coca-Cola, Maker's Mark, Corona, and GMC, and she's passionate about sharing her very specialized expertise in navigating the music licensing space to help people inspire the world with their marketing communications.

Her name is Sam Parvin, and if you’ve been wondering how you can use music to enhance what your brand offers to the world, this is going to be a discussion you'll definitely want to hear.

As always, if you have any questions for my guest, you’re welcome to reach out through the links in the show notes.  If you have questions for me, just visit www.audiobrandingpodcast.com where you’ll find all sorts of ways to get in touch. Plus, subscribing to the newsletter (on the www.audiobrandingpodcast.com webpage) will let you know when the new podcasts are available.

Music Has Been My Path

The interview starts with a look back at the way sound shaped Sam’s earliest memories from the soothing lull of watching televised golf with her grandfather to the Bonnie Raitt concerts and her first job handing out band flyers in Atlanta. She remembers studying the business of art in college and how it connected her back to the music industry. “I didn't realize I was the person who always knew what I wanted to do,” Sam tells us, “but in retrospect, music has always been my path.”

Making an Impact

“My clients typically come to me and say ‘we've got this new project, here's what we're trying to achieve with it, we know we need music: help.’” Sam goes on to talk about how her early career led to a deeper appreciation for working directly with her clients and helping to perfect the audio identity for each one’s particular brand. “I saw an opportunity,” she recalls, “for brands to mainly structure the way that they handled music differently, to be more effective and also efficient.”

Emotional Beings

We go on to talk about the importance of sound and how deeply it influences people and emotionally connects us with them in ways that go beyond the marketing lingo. Sam tells us about the importance of knowing what the brand means to the world, and how she works with her clients to make sure that the right music is licensed, adapted, or even composed from scratch to fit their marketing needs and connect with their audience. “The people who are in charge of or own who the brand is for the world,” she tells us, “…should also be clear on what that looks like from a music and audio perspective.”

Audio is Always There

As the first half of our interview ends, Sam talks about how brands have their own personalities and, even without a jingle or slogan, sound plays a vital role in expressing that identity. We discuss the tools she uses to find a brand’s personality, from workshops and interviews to a worksheet you can download by following the link below.  “Audio is always there,” she explains, “and music is very often, and so that's why it's always important to have music in production.”

Episode Summary

• Sam’s early life and the sounds that have stayed with her
• Helping clients find the right audio marketing for their brand
• How Sam’s career has given her deeper insight into her clients’ needs
• Using sound to engage an audience on an emotional level
• Audio branding’s integral role and importance in our daily lives

Stay tuned next week for the second half of our interview as we talk about Sam’s process for putting together licensed and original music for her clients as well as some of her most recent success stories, and where she sees commercial music and sonic branding heading in the future.

Connect with the Guest

Website: www.parvin-music.com

Follow Sam Parvin on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/parvinmusicusmx

Connect with Sam Parvin on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/samparvin/

Follow Sam Parvin on Twitter: https://twitter.com/samparvinmusic

Click here to download Sam's “Choosing the Right Music for Your Brand” worksheet: https://voiceoversandvocals.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/ParvinMusic_MusicPOVWorksheet_Blank.pdf

Connect with the Audio Branding Podcast:

Book your project with Voice Overs and Vocals https://voiceoversandvocals.com

Tweet with me on Twitter - https://twitter.com/JodiKrangle

Watch the Audio Branding Podcast on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/c/JodiKrangleVO

Connect with me on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jodikrangle/

Leave the Audio Branding Podcast a written review at https://lovethepodcast.com/audiobranding

or leave a spoken review at https://voiceoversandvocals.com/talktome/ (Thank you!)

Get my Top Five Tips for Implementing an Intentional Audio Strategy

https://voiceoversandvocals.com/audio-branding-strategy/

Editing/Production by Humberto Franco - https://humbertofranco.com/

“Through our research, we also found that anything beyond four notes, if we were to create a pattern that had more than four notes in it, that it started to sound too much like a jingle and just out of place for an automobile. Automobiles really just had single-tone dings, and so we knew we couldn't stray too far from that, or we would start sounding too much like a cell phone or something out of context." -- Sean Beeson

This episode continues my interview with Jon Brennan and Sean Beeson, formerly of Sonic Signatures.

As always, if you have any questions for my guest, you’re welcome to reach out through the links in the show notes.  If you have questions for me, just visit www.audiobrandingpodcast.com where you’ll find all sorts of ways to get in touch. Plus, subscribing to the newsletter (on the www.audiobrandingpodcast.com webpage) will let you know when the new podcasts are available.

Keeping Your Brand Current

We begin the second half of the interview with a look at what might happen when a product or company changes, and how an existing audio brand can be impacted by something as simple as a new speaker design.  “The more specific you're intentionally creating audio for something,” Sean explains, “the more often you have to go back and fix things when something changes.” Jon tells us about the detailed audio guidelines that Sonic Signatures uses to help guide their clients through such changes and offers an important tip about making sure that your sonic branding is up-to-date.

A Human Touch

The episode continues with a firsthand look at the work Jon and Sean have done for such clients as Union Home Mortgage and KeepTruckin. We start with Union Home Mortgage’s sonic logo, how it combines technological innovation with a warm, human touch to reflect the company’s brand, and the process used to create its distinctive sound. As Sean puts it, “we continued to make the harmonics richer by layering sounds that really only serve to... add to the overall richness and brilliance.”

Listening on the Road

We then listen to samples of the audio interface Sonic Signatures designed for KeepTruckin's vehicle monitoring devices and discuss how they met the challenge of creating distinctive sounds based on chimes and mid-range tones that the fleet drivers would recognize right away without becoming distracted or irritated. “We kept having the sounds get closer and closer to the sound of a car,” Sean says, “because that's what the drivers are trained to hear.” We talk about the research that goes into such an innovative audio interface, and wrap things up with a peek at their upcoming projects.

Episode Summary

• How business and product changes can affect an audio brand
• Sonic branding and conveying the essence of a business through sound
• Vehicle interfaces and creating a safer, more pleasant user experience
• Upcoming audio projects and how to get in touch with Sonic Signatures

Connect with the Guests

Website: www.sonicsignatures.io

Follow Sonic Signatures on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sonicsignatures

Connect with Jon Brennan on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonbrennan/

Connect with Sean Beeson on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonbrennan/

Follow Sonic Signatures on Twitter: https://twitter.com/sonicsignatures

Connect with the Audio Branding Podcast:

Book your project with Voice Overs and Vocals by visiting https://voiceoversandvocals.com

Connect with me on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/jodikrangle/

Watch the Audio Branding Podcast on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/c/JodiKrangleVO

Connect with me on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jodikrangle/

Leave the Audio Branding Podcast a review at https://lovethepodcast.com/audiobranding (Thank you!)

Share your passion effectively with these Tips for Sounding Your Best as a Podcast Guest!

https://voiceoversandvocals.com/tips-for-sounding-your-best-as-a-podcast-guest/

Get my Top Five Tips for Implementing an Intentional Audio Strategy

https://voiceoversandvocals.com/audio-branding-strategy/

Editing/Production by Humberto Franco - https://humbertofranco.com/

“I think that the future of audio is one that's customized, personalized, interactive, intelligent and dynamic, you know, instead of always treating audio as on and off, we need to treat it in a way that's delivered to each person as a unique experience.” -- Sean Beeson

This episode features a rare two-for-one interview with a powerful sonic duo, Jon Brennan and Sean Beeson, formerly of Sonic Signatures. Jon Brennan's a music composer and sound designer with twenty years of experience creating sound for iconic brands and multimedia platforms. With the rise of voice, podcasts, and streaming, he founded Sonic Signatures to enable brands to effectively use branded audio across every campaign and platform. He's created audio logos, original music, and sound design for leading brands including Amazon Alexa, Tide, Southwest Airlines, IBM Security, Mercy Health, Union Home Mortgage, and KeepTruckin. His film scores include internationally distributed feature films and documentaries, and he has an MFA in Music Composition for the Screen from Columbia College Chicago. Very recently, he decided to work with Sixième Son in the US.

Sean Beeson is a composer and sound designer who's worked on hundreds of scores for video games, ads, trailers, and podcasts for clients like Google, Disney, McDonald's, Taco Bell, State Farm, Wizards of the Coast, Neoglyphic, and Sony. He helped develop the sonic identity of Google's Pixel phone, Pixel Buds 2, and Google's Home and Max speakers. He's contributed to three Emmy award-winning projects and has been nominated for multiple Game Audio Network Guild Awards. He's now doing independent music and sound design work.

If you want to understand why audio is so important to your brand, Jon and Sean have a thing or two to tell you about that.

As always, if you have any questions for my guest, you’re welcome to reach out through the links in the show notes.  If you have questions for me, just visit www.audiobrandingpodcast.com where you’ll find all sorts of ways to get in touch. Plus, subscribing to the newsletter (on the www.audiobrandingpodcast.com webpage) will let you know when the new podcasts are available.

The Essence of a Project

We start off with a look at the early influences that shaped Jon and Sean's interest in sound. Jon tells us how his older brother's Depeche Mode album sparked a lifelong career in music, while Sean recalls his very first encounter with audio branding when he played Sega video games as a child.  The topic turns to the versatility of sonic branding in everything from mobile games to casino slot machines. The goal, as Sean explains it is, is "to boil down the essence of a project or product or brand to what really makes it unique and what really helps make it relate to the consumer or the user of that product."

Supporting the Brand

The interview continues with the story of how Sean and Jon met at a gaming conference, and how their combined experience in commercial music and interactive audio gave them a unique perspective when it comes to audio branding and marketing."We feel that we can best help a company through our one-on-one relationship," Jon says, "and it's through that personalization that we can come up with the most custom and creative results that are the most effective in the long run."

Everything is Interactive

Next, we talk about audio branding, what it means to them, and how video games in particular have always been ahead of the curve when it comes to dynamic audio and using sound to continually shape the listener's experience. Jon sees interactive audio, guided by machine learning, playing a more vital role in our everyday lives as smart devices become widespread: "Sonic branding," as he explains, "extends beyond just having a jingle or a piece of music, and it really needs to kind of aid the user to be able to identify, interact and interpret the audio so that it creates a better experience."

Delivering a Unique Experience

Jon and Sean tell us about the process of creating a sonic brand for a client, and how it can vary from one project to the next. “It's less about what you personally like and dislike,” Jon says, “as opposed to what has been shown to work the most in testing.” We look at how they communicate with and work to keep their clients engaged in the process, whether it’s creating a variety of audio logos for a new app or testing the sound interface for a new piece of hardware.  “Everybody is integrated into the process,” Sean tells us, “from the creative planning parts to the actual creation to the implementation.”

Episode Summary

• Jon and Sean’s first memorable experiences with sound
• Casino sounds and the importance of creating a positive impression
• What modern sound interfaces can learn from video games
• How machine learning and voice-first technology are changing sonic brands
• The importance of working with clients to create a unique audio package

Check back next week for the second half of our interview as we take a closer look at some of the clients that Jon and Sean have helped, and actually listen to the audio brands and interfaces that Sonic Signatures has created for such companies as Union Home Mortgage and KeepTrunkin.

Connect with the Guests

Website: www.sonicsignatures.io

Follow Sonic Signatures on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sonicsignatures

Connect with Jon Brennan on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonbrennan/

Connect with Sean Beeson on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonbrennan/

Follow Sonic Signatures on Twitter: https://twitter.com/sonicsignatures

Connect with the Audio Branding Podcast:

Book your project with Voice Overs and Vocals by visiting https://voiceoversandvocals.com

Connect with me on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/jodikrangle/

Watch the Audio Branding Podcast on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/c/JodiKrangleVO

Connect with me on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jodikrangle/

Leave the Audio Branding Podcast a review at https://lovethepodcast.com/audiobranding (Thank you!)

Share your passion effectively with these Tips for Sounding Your Best as a Podcast Guest!

https://voiceoversandvocals.com/tips-for-sounding-your-best-as-a-podcast-guest/

Get my Top Five Tips for Implementing an Intentional Audio Strategy

https://voiceoversandvocals.com/audio-branding-strategy/

Editing/Production by Humberto Franco - https://humbertofranco.com/

“Yes, bring in new voices. Yes, you know, do it, go for it. But if it doesn't work with the first diverse voice – non-whites, I'm talking about non-whites now – that doesn't mean it's a failure. You know, keep going, keep working on it, these are systemic problems that have been in place almost since the beginning of audio, and so it's going to take time to what I call undo the bias.” -- LaTonya J. Pegues

This week is the second half of my interview with inclusion expert, executive coach, and unconscious bias trainer LaTonya J. Pegeus as we talk about the importance of positive representation, the effort of diversifying the workplace, and her firsthand struggles with bias as a business owner.

As always, if you have any questions for my guest, you’re welcome to reach out through the links in the show notes.  If you have questions for me, just visit www.audiobrandingpodcast.com where you’ll find all sorts of ways to get in touch. Plus, subscribing to the newsletter (on the www.audiobrandingpodcast.com webpage) will let you know when the new podcasts are available.

What Makes You Uncomfortable

The second half begins with a look at ways to overcome unconscious biases, such as listening to the concerns of diverse speakers and identifying the real source of our discomfort, and we talk about how positive representation in such movies as Black Panther is helping to change longstanding assumptions in Hollywood. "They could have had British accents," she says, "but they chose to go with the authentic region of that continent, and boy did that resonate with the rest of the world."

Expected to Win

“Those things that are well-funded,” LaTonya notes as we talk about the challenge of fostering workplace diversity and supporting diversity directors and departments, "are those things that are expected to win” We discuss how many companies have tried, and too often failed, to challenge the longstanding biases within their corporate culture. “I think,” she observes, “that's because they weren't supportive. They were just a box to check and the company did not take it seriously.”

Recognizing Our Bias

We conclude the interview with a look at LaTonya’s upcoming book Unconscious Bias Revealed: How to Recognize and Undo Bias, and her work as a voiceover artist in commercials and on the radio. LaTonya also shares with us some of the personal challenges that she’s faced as an African-American woman in the business world. “There've been countless times that I have not had opportunities to provide services, even as a business owner, you know, for clients, for whatever reason.”

Episode Summary

• How to recognize and overcome our unconscious biases
• The way movies and media are challenging old assumptions
• Supporting diversity departments and a more inclusive workspace
• LaTonya’s upcoming projects and experience with bias

Connect with LaTonya:

Website: www.theUBtrainer.com

Follow LaTonya J. Pegues on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theUBtrainer

Connect with LaTonya J. Pegues on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/latonya-j-pegues-unconscious-bias-trainer-2321622/

Follow LaTonya J. Pegues on Twitter: https://twitter.com/theUBtrainer

Connect with the Audio Branding Podcast:

Book your project with Voice Overs and Vocals https://voiceoversandvocals.com

Tweet with me on Twitter - https://twitter.com/JodiKrangle

Watch the Audio Branding Podcast on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/c/JodiKrangleVO

Connect with me on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jodikrangle/

Leave the Audio Branding Podcast a written review at https://lovethepodcast.com/audiobranding

or leave a spoken review at https://voiceoversandvocals.com/talktome/ (Thank you!)

Get my Top Five Tips for Implementing an Intentional Audio Strategy

https://voiceoversandvocals.com/audio-branding-strategy/

Editing/Production by Humberto Franco - https://humbertofranco.com/

“The ability to share information and to help other people have opportunities to provide their voice, if you will, to a read can make such a huge difference in what happens and how the audience receives it and how even the customer or the client receives what's being read.” -- LaTonya J. Pegues

For years LaTonya J. Pegues has been known as a person who can provide simple explanations for complex concepts and ideas.  With a background in the performing arts, not to mention having worked as a low-temperature physicist and satellite engineer, LaTonya is a skillful trainer who applies her knowledge and experience in facilitating and guiding clientele towards realizing, meeting, and exceeding their goals and objectives. We're going to speak particularly about how to overcome unconscious bias in audio: where it's showing up for people and how it can be overcome.

As always, if you have any questions for my guest, you’re welcome to reach out through the links in the show notes.  If you have questions for me, just visit www.audiobrandingpodcast.com where you’ll find all sorts of ways to get in touch. Plus, subscribing to the newsletter (on the www.audiobrandingpodcast.com webpage) will let you know when the new podcasts are available.

What We’re Picking Up

The episode begins as LaTonya recalls her first memories of sound: the voices of her parents and the joy their excitement brought her as a child. We talk about where our unconscious biases come from, and how pervasive a part of the world they can be, particularly when it comes to audio. "It's because of these social stereotypes that we get just from the air in some instances," she explains, "what's traveling through the air, what we are picking up, and what our brains keeping."

When Bias Gets in the Way

We take a look at the reasons we hold onto our biases, and how the thought process behind them isn't always a bad thing. It's when a bias is based on misinformation, LaTonya tells us, or a perspective that's too limited, or by our own relationships, that it can keep us from seeing the world as it truly is.  "Sometimes we have these tendencies to just want to hear from certain folks," she says, "for whatever reason, and not hear from others, and that also can cause unconscious bias."

Beyond the Comfort Zone

The conversation continues with LaTonya's thoughts about how unconscious biases are reflected in the world around us, and how they limit our opportunities as well as the authenticity of the movies and pop culture we take for granted. We discuss the lost art of brainstorming, and how helpful going outside your comfort zone to seek out new perspectives and experiences can be. "My experience has been that every time that there's a brainstorming session, we're better off at the end than we were at the beginning because we've all come together and we've shared our ideas."

Popping the Bias Bubble

LaTonya tells us about what she calls "bias bubbles," the news and social media filters that surround us and often just reinforce our own opinions. She recommends seeking out other points of view, even just spending five minutes apiece on each news network instead of just our favorites, and occasionally shaking up our comfortable habits. "Listen to different music," she tells us, "go to different venues and try different foods. My goodness, go across the railroad tracks and try a different part of town." As she puts it, "when you're in a position to actually do something to make a change, do it!"

Episode Summary

• LaTonya’s childhood memory of her parents and family
• How invisible biases surround us and influence our thinking
• The obstacles that keep us from recognizing bias
• Brainstorming and the importance of diverse voices
• Media bias bubbles and how to push beyond our comfort zones

Be sure to tune in next week for part two of our interview as we examine racial stereotypes and representation in the media, discuss the challenge of truly supporting diversity in the business world, and talk about LaTonya’s upcoming book as well as her career as a voiceover artist.

Connect with LaTonya:

Website: www.theUBtrainer.com

Follow LaTonya J. Pegues on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theUBtrainer

Connect with LaTonya J. Pegues on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/latonya-j-pegues-unconscious-bias-trainer-2321622/

Follow LaTonya J. Pegues on Twitter: https://twitter.com/theUBtrainer

Connect with the Audio Branding Podcast:

Book your project with Voice Overs and Vocals https://voiceoversandvocals.com

Tweet with me on Twitter - https://twitter.com/JodiKrangle

Watch the Audio Branding Podcast on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/c/JodiKrangleVO

Connect with me on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jodikrangle/

Leave the Audio Branding Podcast a written review at https://lovethepodcast.com/audiobranding

or leave a spoken review at https://voiceoversandvocals.com/talktome/ (Thank you!)

Get my Top Five Tips for Implementing an Intentional Audio Strategy

https://voiceoversandvocals.com/audio-branding-strategy/

Editing/Production by Humberto Franco - https://humbertofranco.com/

“You set the tone for your podcast by how you sound and how you interact with the audience. So there are a lot of elements to it, you know, obviously preparation and planning and practice, all those things." -- Dan Friedman

This week continues our Clubhouse discussion as voiceover artist and sound engineer Dan Friedman answers questions about voice training, keeping listeners engaged, and overcoming stage fright.

As always, if you have any questions for my guest, you’re welcome to reach out through the links in the show notes.  If you have questions for me, just visit www.audiobrandingpodcast.com where you’ll find all sorts of ways to get in touch. Plus, subscribing to the newsletter (on the www.audiobrandingpodcast.com webpage) will let you know when the new podcasts are available.

An Audio-Driven World

We continue the Clubhouse chat by talking about how subtle changes to pitch and tone can change a listener’s impression of your voice, and the challenges and successes that artists coming from different audio industries, such as radio and lecturing, can find in voiceover work. “Because we are in such an audio-driven world now,” Dan says, “it is really important that if, especially if you're running a podcast and you want more listeners, or you want listeners to stick with you, you have to be compelling enough that they are going to want to continue to listen and to tune in every week.”

Getting Out of a Rut

Dan warns us about some of the traps of voice rehearsal, how easy it can be to get stuck in a loop of negative self-criticism when listening to your own voice, and some creative ways to break out of that vicious circle. "One of the most fun and extreme things to just really get out of your rut," he suggests, "if you realize you're in a rut, is to do your script as a cartoon character." He explains that once you've done so and then immediately switch back to your regular voice, you'll probably find that the performance feels fresh again and you can jump back into it with a different energy.

They Want to Hear You

“If you think about it,” Dan says, “communication is a connection between somebody making sound and somebody listening to sound, and if you're trying to make sound and spread that connection out to a hundred people, that connection's going to be pretty weak.” We wrap the Clubhouse chat up with a look at the challenges of public speaking and different strategies for overcoming stage fright, such as imagining an individual that you’re speaking to or even focusing on one person in the audience rather than trying to talk to everyone at once. “Most of the time when you are up there speaking to a roomful of people,” he assures us, “those people are there because they want to hear you.”

Episode Summary

• How inflection can change the impression you make
• Keeping your listeners engaged
• Tips for breaking out of a voice performance rut
• Public speaking and overcoming stage fright

Connect with Dan:

Website: https://sound4vo.com/

Connect with Dan Friedman on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danfriedmanvo

Follow Dan Friedman on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Sound4VO/

Follow Dan Friedman on Twitter: https://twitter.com/DanFriedmanVO

The Power of Sound club on Clubhouse: https://www.clubhouse.com/club/the-power-of-sound/

Connect with the Audio Branding Podcast:

Book your project with Voice Overs and Vocals https://voiceoversandvocals.com

Tweet with me on Twitter - https://twitter.com/JodiKrangle

Watch the Audio Branding Podcast on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/c/JodiKrangleVO

Connect with me on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jodikrangle/

Leave the Audio Branding Podcast a written review at https://lovethepodcast.com/audiobranding

or leave a spoken review at https://voiceoversandvocals.com/talktome/ (Thank you!)

Get my Top Five Tips for Implementing an Intentional Audio Strategy

https://voiceoversandvocals.com/audio-branding-strategy/

Editing/Production by Humberto Franco - https://humbertofranco.com/

“When we're talking about audio-only formats, it's especially important that you capture your audience using your voice and it should be impactful so that they tune in and want to continue listening. It only takes seven seconds for somebody to decide they want to change the station, whether that be a song they like or don't like or something that they're hearing that they're not liking." - Dan Friedman

Using your voice to communicate isn't as easy as it sounds. So what do you do if you feel your voice is letting you down? Would you like some personal techniques to help you improve how you sound and your confidence in speaking? Then this is the right podcast for you. I recorded an excellent Clubhouse discussion with Dan Friedman, an expert in the field of public speaking who's certified in the Roger Love Voice Method. Those of us in the voice-over industry already know Dan as an accomplished audio engineer, but he's also a singer, voice actor, and voice coach, and I'll be having a more in-depth interview with him a little later on. So settle back and let yourself be a fly on the wall as we discuss the power of using your voice for more effective communication.

A few things to note. First, I was hearing and answering people a little ahead of when the audio was being recorded. That's why my occasional comments are slightly out of sync: it didn't sound that way at the time. And, just so you know, everyone in the room was aware that it was being recorded and would be released in a future podcast episode. To those who raised their hands to participate in the conversation: thank you. When you asked for advice, you helped everyone understand the issues better. So well done! I'll have more of these types of discussions in the future – they're on Wednesdays at 2 PM Eastern Time – so keep a lookout for the schedule of upcoming events in the Clubhouse club, The Power of Sound.

As always, if you have any questions for my guest, you’re welcome to reach out through the links in the show notes.  If you have questions for me, just visit www.audiobrandingpodcast.com where you’ll find all sorts of ways to get in touch. Plus, subscribing to the newsletter (on the www.audiobrandingpodcast.com webpage) will let you know when the new podcasts are available.

The Sound of Your Voice

We begin the chat with a talk about ways to build confidence in our speaking, and how awkward just hearing our own voice can be at first. “The lack of confidence,” Dan explains, “usually comes from people hearing their recorded voice for the first time and not really realizing how they actually sound.” He suggests ways of breaking out of a monotone, such as singing just a little, and listening carefully to the natural rhythm of your voice so you’ll know how to change things up. “Everybody needs to be able to communicate effectively these days,” he says, “especially through audio only.”

Going Over the Top

“Voiceover,” Dan tells us, “is really kind of you at your very best in whatever emotion you're in.” We discuss the value of tone and pitch, and how well a monotone voice can work (or NOT work) without visual cues. Dan notes that in audio directing, emotions are often a little over the top, and he answers questions about improving your voice, becoming comfortable with it, and the trick to understanding how you’re being perceived by your listener. “Getting to like the sound of your voice really does take time.”

Imagine You’re a Balloon

Dan takes a question from Lisa about the importance of matching your listener’s tone, and tips on how to avoid the glottal stop that many of us have when it comes to vowel sounds. We also talk about how to overcome vocal fry by breathing and speaking through your diaphragm, as if you’re a balloon.  “When you breathe, you should be breathing in through your nose as often as possible and not through your mouth... one of the biggest reasons that we should be breathing in through our nose more than our mouth is because our nose is designed to moisturize the air coming through the vocal cords.”

Hitting the High Notes

Next, we talk about singing, and Joe asks about how men can learn to be more comfortable with the higher registers of the human voice. Dan offers his advice on improving your vocal range by practicing speaking with both a higher and lower pitch, and how developing a more flexible tone can lead to a more versatile voice performance. "Pitch is a huge tool for emphasis," he says, "and as a voice actor, we need to use pitch to emphasize words and phrases, and as humans, we need to do that too."

Episode Summary

• Becoming comfortable with your voice
• How to speak with more inflection
• Expressing emotion through pure audio
• Speaking and breathing through your diaphragm
• Using pitch for a more flexible performance

Connect with Dan:

Website: https://sound4vo.com/

Connect with Dan Friedman on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danfriedmanvo

Follow Dan Friedman on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Sound4VO/

Follow Dan Friedman on Twitter: https://twitter.com/DanFriedmanVO

The Power of Sound club on Clubhouse: https://www.clubhouse.com/club/the-power-of-sound/

Connect with the Audio Branding Podcast:

Book your project with Voice Overs and Vocals https://voiceoversandvocals.com

Tweet with me on Twitter - https://twitter.com/JodiKrangle

Watch the Audio Branding Podcast on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/c/JodiKrangleVO

Connect with me on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jodikrangle/

Leave the Audio Branding Podcast a written review at https://lovethepodcast.com/audiobranding

or leave a spoken review at https://voiceoversandvocals.com/talktome/ (Thank you!)

Get my Top Five Tips for Implementing an Intentional Audio Strategy

https://voiceoversandvocals.com/audio-branding-strategy/

Editing/Production by Humberto Franco - https://humbertofranco.com/

It's been over two years since the pandemic started, and for many of us, our daily lives have changed in ways we hardly imagined when this decade began. More and more of us are working from home these days, and we're staying at home even when we aren't working. We're more isolated than we used to be, and dealing with a lot more stress and uncertainty. Finding time to take care of our mental health can be a challenge, but it's just as important as ever – and sound has come to play a vital part in that effort, from guided meditation and affirmations to binaural beats and ASMR videos.

Two of the most popular and successful forms of sonic therapy are mindful meditation and positive affirmations, and they’ve both come a long way over just the past few years. Mindfulness is the art of being precisely in the moment, without worrying about the past or thinking about the future, or being distracted by anything at all. Completely clearing our thoughts can be tricky, and that’s where guided meditation, which uses sound and music to help lead the way, can help.

Studies have shown that the health benefits range from lowering stress and improving our mental well-being to bolstering the immune system and reducing inflammation. Although its roots are thousands of years old, the modern practice of mindful meditation has evolved into high-tech pods and meditation apps you can download for your smartwatch. Some of them can get a little pricey, but if you’re just starting out and want to give it a try, you can find a link to UCLA’s free Mindful app, and a separate list of guided meditation tracks that you can download, on my blog.

https://www.uclahealth.org/marc/mindful-meditations

Positive affirmations are another way to help change our mindset, to bolster our self-esteem and sense of optimism. Psychology and even MRI studies have found that they have a positive effect on our behavior and sense of wellness, although they also found that, for people with low self-esteem, affirmations in the future tense work better than the present. So if you find that starting a sentence with “I am” just doesn’t feel right, try saying “I will” instead. I’ve also included a YouTube link on my blog to a morning affirmation video presented by voice artist Prachi Chaube (Prah-chee Chau-bay).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WzqFQ9J7YXQ

Binaural beats are a much more recent discovery when it comes to audio therapy, one that’s still being researched. The idea behind them, though, is fascinating. If you take a pair of headphones and play a sound through them with a slightly different frequency for each ear, your brain blends them together into a new sound that’s the difference between them. So, for example, if the left earphone plays a 300-hertz tone and the right earphone plays a 280-hertz tone, we perceive it as a 20-hertz tone. That’s almost too low for us to hear, but our brains still process it, and different frequencies might resonate with our own neural oscillations to trigger different states of awareness.

Listening to that 20-hertz tone, for instance, could cause the brain to enter a beta wave pattern, which can help us feel more awake and alert. A lower binaural beat, such as a 2-hertz tone, might lead to a delta wave pattern, the deepest stage of sleep. Do binaural beats really work? The scientific verdict's still out, but the good news is that studies have shown there's no harm to listening to them, so long as you don't turn the volume up too loud. If you want to try it out for yourself, I've included a video link on my blog. Just make sure you're wearing headphones, or the effect won't work.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9TD9SM-5XSk

One of the most recent developments in sound therapy and mental wellness is ASMR: it first emerged as an online phenomenon around 2007 and has become immensely popular since then, with over fifteen million YouTube videos as of last year. Short for "autonomous sensory meridian response," a name given to it by ASMR proponent Jennifer Allen in 2010, it refers to both a pleasantly tingling sensation along the spine that certain soft, rustling sounds can trigger, and to online relaxation videos that aim to create that effect for the viewer with whispers, props, music, and other sounds.

Some psychologists think the sensation of ASMR might be a kind of synesthesia, with our minds experiencing certain sounds as touch, while MRI brain scans suggest it might even be connected to our grooming instincts. What started with hosts simply whispering to the viewer has grown into a whole online genre of videos featuring elaborate scripts, costumes, set designs, and even special effects. You can find links on my blog to a YouTube video by one of its most famous "ASMRtists," Goodnight Moon, as she plays a shopkeeper selling the viewer a pet dragon, and to another one of my favorite artists, Moonlight Cottage, as she helps the viewer choose a magic wand. Even if you don't end up experiencing the tingles, I think you'll have a lot of fun with both of these videos.

Goodnight Moon: Dragon Egg Shopping at Maybell’s Menagerie (ASMR)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kocWXDJCNLo

Moonlight Cottage ASMR: Wand Shop

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBEHMxOMLx4

From virtual classrooms and remote workplaces to Zoom calls with our friends and family, we're spending more time online than ever before. Just as our days have become more virtual, though, so have our resources for managing stress and anxiety. And sound, whether it's a meditation app that guides our breathing technique, a binaural beat that subtly rewires how we think, or a relaxing YouTube video about a whispery fantasy world, remains an essential part of nurturing our well-being.

Connect with the Podcast:

Would you consider giving this podcast an honest review? You can do that here: https://lovethepodcast.com/audiobranding.  And if you like what you hear (and read!) – please do share it with anyone you think might be interested. Thanks so much!

And if you’re interested in crafting an audio brand for your business, why not check out my FREE download – Top 5 Tips For Implementing An Intentional Audio Strategy at https://voiceoversandvocals.com/audio-branding-strategy/