In the second part of my appearance on the podcast "Source Elements On The Mic," hosted by the insightful Mike Aiton, we explored deeper aspects of voice acting. This episode covers emotional and personal dynamics during recording sessions, recommended social media follows for voice actors, and a detailed look at my studio setup. It’s an engaging listen for anyone interested in the global voice-over industry. Below, I’ve summarized some of the key points from our discussion.
The Dynamics of Recording Sessions as a European English Voice Over and Voice Actor
As a European English voice over and voice actor, I thrive on collaboration and value the input of sound engineers during recording sessions. Their extensive experience and insights often enhance the final product. This teamwork is particularly evident in high-stakes environments like TV promo recordings, where achieving a perfect blend of voice and music is essential.
Transitioning Between Diverse Voice Over Projects
Switching between vastly different projects, such as corporate narrations and emotionally charged scripts, can be challenging. I manage this by taking short breaks to reset my mindset, ensuring each performance is authentic and engaging. This practice is crucial for maintaining the high standards expected in European voice-over work.
Social Media Influences and Learning
I follow several influential voice actors and industry professionals on social media to stay updated and continuously learn. Notable mentions include Stefan Johnson, a prominent figure on Instagram and TikTok, and Brent Alan Hagel, known for his work in movie trailers. These platforms provide a wealth of information and inspiration for both new and experienced voice actors.
My Studio Setup for European Voice Over Work
My studio setup is integral to delivering high-quality voice-over work. I use a Mac Mini for booth recordings, complemented by a MacBook Pro for editing and remote sessions. My audio interface of choice is the Apollo Twin, known for its superior sound quality. Additionally, I rely on Beyerdynamic DT 770 Pro headphones and the Sennheiser MKH 416 microphone, which together ensure clear and professional audio output.
Embracing Remote Work
The pandemic has significantly shifted the landscape of voice acting, with remote work becoming the norm. I’ve fully embraced this change, leveraging technology like SourceConnect to maintain seamless collaboration with clients worldwide. This setup has expanded my client base, allowing me to work on diverse projects without geographical constraints.
Advice for Aspiring Voice Actors
For those aspiring to enter the voice-over industry, my key advice is to be persistent, believe in your abilities, and be prepared at all times. The nature of voice-over work often demands quick turnarounds, so having your equipment ready and being available can make a significant difference.
Conclusion
Being a guest on "Source Elements On The Mic" has been a fantastic opportunity to share my journey and insights as a European English voice over and actor. I hope this episode provides valuable lessons and inspiration for anyone interested in the voice-over industry.
Listen to the full podcast episode of Source Elements On The Mic to hear more about my experiences and get a deeper look into the world of voice acting. If you're interested in European English voice-over services, feel free to contact me through my website.
Transcript:
Voice over: [00:00:00] Source Elements on the Mic, a brand new weekly series of conversational but thought provoking podcasts with Mike Ayton, leading voiceover artists, post production mixers, and music engineers. A heady mixture of audio opinion, observation, learning, philosophy, reminiscence, and downright humor. Muse, audio, and remote working with Mike and his guests.
Voice over: Stay well connected and treat your ears to Source Elements on the Mic.
Mike Aiton: Hello and welcome to Source Elements On The Mic with Mike Hayton.
Mike Aiton: In episode 5 of Source Elements On The Mic, we put Flemish voice actor Sergei Demare from Budapest on the spot in What's Your Source and discussed Serge's radio DJ origins. The public's perception of a voice actor and the interplay between sensitivity and critique. [00:01:00] In this episode, number six, we discuss the emotional and personal dynamics of a recording session.
Mike Aiton: Who to follow on social media and why. Serge's studio setup. And peer to peer websites. On The Mic, THE audio and remote working global podcast. Quite frankly, it's rude not to.
Mike Aiton: Okay, so, when you're working in a session, do you like it when sound engineers pip in with opinions?
Serge De Marre: Absolutely. Um, I love it when, uh, when it's teamwork. And a lot of sound engineers, they're, uh, they have very good ideas, they know what they're doing, they Have been in the business for so long, they see a lot more projects coming along than, than voiceovers, I guess because sound engineers are working, [00:02:00] uh, full-time on different projects.
Serge De Marre: How many projects a day can you do Right, as, as a sound engineer? Probably a lot. Um, as a voiceover or not so, no, I do appreciate when people pitch in and, uh, have their ideas
Mike Aiton: and it's, it's interesting you say that because you are making me think now I have a dis distinct memory that when I was doing short form, so trailers.
Mike Aiton: I used to find that you'd have an hour to do the average promo for a TV, and in would come the voice artist, you'd have to record the voice and then mix the M& E and blend it all together and make it all work. And you kind of Have an hour and you, you go through this kind of rollercoaster where you'd almost have to reach your perfect crescendo in the last five, five minutes of the session where you kind of go, that's it, we've peaked, sort of thing.
Mike Aiton: And then, then there was, and then the director would go, yep, that's it, thank you, can you just print, put it where it needs to go, whatever. And then you, there's this huge come down afterwards where you kind of go, Oh, I've got to go through the same emotional ride with the next one that [00:03:00] comes in and you've got to build build up to a crescendo yet again often with a completely different voice artist.
Mike Aiton: Right. I used to find doing promos because I'd put my heart and my soul into it very emotionally draining in that way. I can imagine that. I wonder if it's the same for you where you have to go from, you know, you're voicing a corporate thing about nuclear reactors to suddenly doing something about You know, men's mental health or, or identity, gender crisis, or, or, you know, and you suddenly have to switch gears so much that do you find it draining doing so?
Serge De Marre: I don't find it draining, but it is, it is not easy to switch like instantly. So what I usually do is take a small break of like 10, 15 minutes. If it's something like that, for example, if you're. Voicing, imaging for a radio station or something and like a very, you're shouting and everything and then afterwards you need to record a script that's much more intimate, then I do, it's not [00:04:00] draining to me but it's, I need a break because otherwise I cannot get in the right mood.
Serge De Marre: You gotta get, let the adrenaline out. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, because you're in, you have that rush from that script that's like, that needs all that energy and then you go to something that's much, much softer Then you have to, you have to be able to switch. So, um, what I usually do is take a break. Go, go downstairs, walk downstairs, open the fridge, and drink some water or whatever, and uh Kick the cat, you know?
Serge De Marre: Relax for a couple of minutes and then come back. As an audio engineer, you can't do that, I guess, right? Because, yeah, you have like one hour, and the next hour When I used to smoke,
Mike Aiton: I used to find going out for that cigarette sort of between Used to help, and now I don't smoke anymore, sort of thing. And you kind of think, oh, um A carrot break
Serge De Marre: instead of a smoke break.
Serge De Marre: Bring carrots with you. Carrot break. Go outside, eat some carrots. Love it. They're perfect. You have to eat them, don't, don't light them. Don't smoke [00:05:00] them. Oh man, I'm on, I'm on, I'm doing 20 carrots a day now. Oh God. I've never been so unhealthy. Yeah. Now we need labels on carrots as well.
Mike Aiton: Yeah, don't smoke these kids.
Mike Aiton: Don't, don't smoke. Yeah. So do you prefer open or closed talkback between takes? What do you mean by open or closed talkback? Uh, okay. Um. In the old days, talkback was always off, and second you'd finish a take, you'd be sitting there in the studio or down the line waiting for God to sort of review, think, watch again, and then come up with his direction.
Mike Aiton: A more modern trend is to have, the second you finish your take and the transport stops, talkback opens and you can hear discussion. Do you, some people like that sense of discussion and being involved and hearing everything. Other people kind of like, oh, I need a moment to sort of reflect, what did I do myself?
Mike Aiton: You know, how did I feel about that? Before God talks to them [00:06:00] over the headphones and says, Can we have the same again, but different, please?
Serge De Marre: Bring me another rock.
Mike Aiton: Yeah, can I have it, uh, faster, but sounding slower? Yeah. Something
Serge De Marre: like
Mike Aiton: that.
Serge De Marre: Uh, if it's that, then I prefer not to hear it, but Yeah. But, uh, but no, in general, I do like The open talkback, yeah.
Serge De Marre: When it's closed, uh, then you're thinking, what are they saying? You see the mouths going and they're like having a discussion like, what are they saying? They're probably like, he's terrible, we should get someone else. He wears Crocs, I'm never letting him in my studio again. Yes. Right. We're not paying him.
Serge De Marre: Yeah. And they're probably just talking about, hey, um, what are we having for lunch? Instead. But you don't know, so I'd rather have the open talkback. the talkback open, um, and when they're doing that, it's fine. I can still disconnect from that and reflect myself on what I just did. Would there be any voice actors saying, well, no, I don't want to hear what they're saying?
Serge De Marre: I don't
Mike Aiton: know. [00:07:00] Some people like that kind of sense of silence and solitude and peace. But in general, I'd say as a ratio, more people preferred open rather than closed. But I think it depends on the dynamics of the session. Yeah,
Serge De Marre: no, that's true. Yeah.
Mike Aiton: Because if you're doing a big commercial and you've got a room full of creatives.
Mike Aiton: Oh, yeah. Often, they like to have the, who's most important in the zoo type discussion. And everyone's got to say, I think one frame forwards. He goes, no. One frame backwards, and I'm more important than you, and they need to have all that, and then, and then distill it all down, and then go to the voice talent, yeah, we loved it.
Mike Aiton: Right.
Serge De Marre: Yeah, no, I totally agree, there needs to be, if there's like 20 people in a room, no, I don't want to be, I don't want to listen to that. There needs to be one person, Who tells you what they actually want, who summarizes everything, like, okay, we liked everything, but who makes the decision, basically, right, and tells you, okay, this is the decision we made, and we need you to do this, because otherwise it's just, but if it's only like three, four people, then, then I'm [00:08:00] fine with it, and I'd love to listen in and be part of the discussion, because sometimes you can just be very helpful as a voice actor, just like the sound engineer can be very helpful with, uh, Sound engineer?
Serge De Marre: Sound
Mike Aiton: engineer? Helpful? Surely not. Yeah. So how do you think Learning in the industry has changed, for better or for worse. Oh,
Serge De Marre: how it has changed? Yes. Um, I think, I think it's always been there, right? I mean, it's just different. There is no one, you're not going to a voiceover school where someone tells you how to do stuff.
Serge De Marre: So you have to figure it all out yourself. It's less formal. Yeah, it's less formal. You have to figure it out yourself and try to connect with, with people and coaches and, and, um, cast, casting directors and audio engineers and try to be like, become friends with them or I don't know what, and just try to learn from them.
Serge De Marre: I don't think it has really changed these days. Maybe [00:09:00] I'm getting old and maybe there is like this institution where you can, where you go through and then at the end you're, you become
Mike Aiton: It's like the Monty Python school of
Serge De Marre: voiceover. Something like that. Like
Mike Aiton: next to the Ministry of Silly Walks.
Serge De Marre: Yeah, I don't think it really exists.
Serge De Marre: I wouldn't have time to teach other people how to be a voiceover. So, I do think the people that do have the time, probably aren't doing the work. For whatever reason, right? Because maybe their voice isn't good enough anymore. It's too weak, or they're getting too old, or they don't like it anymore. Or they I just prefer to be on a schedule instead of like, uh, don't know, you don't know when you're going to work or whatever.
Voice over: Do
Mike Aiton: you have any YouTube channels or Instagram accounts or people you particularly follow or watch, either for learners or even indeed for experienced people?
Serge De Marre: Are there any [00:10:00] people you can recommend? Uh, Stefan Johnson, he's an American. He is very popular. I'm not on TikTok, but apparently he has like over a million followers or even more on TikTok.
Serge De Marre: He's on Instagram too, and he, he posts his best stuff on Instagram, uh, which is more than enough for me. But he's really good, and he's really good at the social media thing too. And I love to watch these things. Recently revamped, well a couple years ago, revamped my whole Instagram and tried to make use of the algorithm and just get rid of all the personal people.
Serge De Marre: Uh, from my Instagram account and start, I started following a lot of voice actors, casting directors and that makes that every time I open up, uh, Instagram, I see all those voice actors posting stuff. Like some, some things are not interesting. A lot of things are very interesting. They post good tips. Some tips are rubbish or, well, I mean, that they're just posting to post something, which is fine.
Serge De Marre: They're not, yeah, they're not relevant or I already know them because I'm so sick of it. [00:11:00] smart. Right. But, uh, yeah, Stefan Johnson. Uh, oh my God, I have, I have so many people on my Instagram, uh, that you, uh, that you should follow. Are you a follower of Booth Junkie at all? Oh yeah, I like him too, but he's more like the technical, uh, he does more like the technical stuff, right?
Serge De Marre: Um, I like him too. He's very, yeah, he's very good. I follow a lot of, uh, people. Dutch and Belgian voice actors international, uh, voice actors. Uh, there's this one guy in, uh, Thailand. His name is Crit Tone. Okay. Dunno. Him. He is, I think, I believe he's fairly young, but he voices like these, all these, uh, car commercials in, uh, in English.
Serge De Marre: And his voice is just so. Yeah, I mean, it sounds like a mismatch. I'm, I'm, I hope I'm not insulting him when he, when he hears this. But I mean, he has, yeah, his voice is very [00:12:00] different from what he looks like. You wouldn't expect.
Mike Aiton: I, I find that quite common, actually, that it's quite interesting that I often play a mental game myself of imagine what someone looks like.
Mike Aiton: Based on the sound of them, and often your preconceived ideas are so wrong.
Serge De Marre: Well, I mean, they're probably 100 percent of the time. And some,
Mike Aiton: some of the people who, who sound really butch sometimes are, you know, you think, Oh, I was expecting you to be seven foot tall and 260 pounds and you're like me, five foot eight and sort of slight, you know, I wish I was slight, but, um, but that's.
Mike Aiton: You know, that's success and that they're selling or convincing me of something that is not my expected.
Serge De Marre: Another guy who you need to follow on Instagram is Brent Alan Hagel. He is in California. He does a lot of movie [00:13:00] trailers, so that's why I follow him. And same thing there, he can change his voice. Make it a lot deeper.
Serge De Marre: In a world.
Voice over: Source Elements.
Mike Aiton: Okay, what nuggets have you learned early on in your career that have stayed with you?
Serge De Marre: I'd have to say the um, talking to a friend thing. In radio that's a huge thing and obviously in voiceover as well. It was very difficult for me to get rid of that tone when I was hosting my radio shows too.
Serge De Marre: And I, at one point, it just clicked for me, I guess. I don't mean that with like, it was one day I just was, you know, Not doing it and the next day I was able to do it was just like gradual But there was one point that it just clicked like okay Conversational now.
Mike Aiton: Yeah. Yeah, I get it. Yes.
Serge De Marre: Yeah, I [00:14:00] get
Mike Aiton: awakening.
Serge De Marre: Yeah, I always got it But it was difficult to produce it to sound like you're not reading from a script.
Mike Aiton: Yes,
Serge De Marre: because Mike I've been reading from a script all the time for like an hour and 15 minutes right now or 45 minutes How long have you been? This is all pre scripted. No, I'm just kidding. I wish.
Serge De Marre: Don't you like how conversational I sound? That's the most important thing I've learned, I guess, in my whole career.
Mike Aiton: Okay, uh, what advice would you give your younger ambitious self? Calm down. That's interesting. Yeah. Yeah, calm down. Tenacious and your tenacity has really come across that you really have just never given up You've always kept pushing and kept elevating and kept
Serge De Marre: yeah,
Mike Aiton: but it's interesting that you say to yourself calm down
Serge De Marre: Um, no, I mean it.
Serge De Marre: I mean, yeah, I mean it like in in uh, i've always been like And I still am, in a [00:15:00] way, I'm worrying about things, thinking about, oh, I want this, but I, but it's not working out, so I'm worried about why isn't it working out, I just, I've gotten better at it, like, calming down, like, easing my mind, not that, that running all the time, like that energy or that, um, anxiousness in your, in your body, uh, but it used to be, like, very bad, like, yeah, stressed about things that didn't happen or things that went wrong and, And looking back at it now, I'm like, yeah, a lot of things went wrong and terribly wrong sometimes.
Serge De Marre: But, um, I'm still here. We're still alive. The world's still here. I've often said to
Mike Aiton: people that, um, I'm glad I'm a sound mixer, because I can always rewind and do it again and drop in, uh, and not a pilot. Yeah. Well, you can't do that in radio, for example. No. No, but that's why I gave up live TV. I preferred post production.
Mike Aiton: Because I always thought I had this sense of, good enough never appealed to me. I always thought I could do it better. I want to have [00:16:00] one more crack at that. I could do I've got another idea. Or, but that's why It gives you stress,
Serge De Marre: no?
Mike Aiton: Yes, that's why I discovered for me that I hated the sense of, I got away with it.
Mike Aiton: I don't want to get away with it. I want to do the best I can. You And for me, that meant quite often having a second attempt at things, and I really liked, and one thing that was said by, oh, who was it? Ben Burtt, I think it was, who said the quote about sound design that, you know, it's being not frightened to go down nine wrong turnings to get to the right one.
Serge De Marre: But aren't you, like, when you can, when you have a do over, You are much more critical of yourself and then I sometimes have like I'm not satisfied ever I'm not I'm never gonna be satisfied because I always think there's something that I can do better That's
Mike Aiton: an interesting question that raises the the sort of no the sting philosophy of A mix is never, uh, finished.
Mike Aiton: It's merely abandoned due to transmission. Right. Yeah. You know, the creative person [00:17:00] can keep on creating and honing and infinitely polishing till it's, you know, you can, till you get past the Japanese state of, of perfect, you know. Uh, but
Serge De Marre: it's still not good enough. Yeah, yeah. And that's, that's the problem.
Serge De Marre: That's the pro of doing stuff live, well you cannot, you cannot do it again, so it's out there, it's done, and you don't have to worry about it anymore.
Mike Aiton: I think it depends on which side of the fence you sit on. Because it is what it is. For me, a greater sense of satisfaction came from the second attempt, or the third attempt, or the fourth attempt, than the first attempt of nearly, yeah that wasn't bad, or that went quite well.
Mike Aiton: I understand that pleasure, but it was never as great as the, the, the former for me. Yeah.
Serge De Marre: But then again, if you're doing, for example, live TV, you rehearse like 50 times, I'm exaggerating, of course, but, uh, and then, and then it gives some kind of satisfaction when you actually nail it when it's actually live.
Serge De Marre: No? Although even if it's not really perfect.
Mike Aiton: That is actually a fair, [00:18:00] a fair point. Although I always found in television that 95 percent of the rehearsal was all about. camera moves and the look. Less so about the sound. You know, they'd have standard members of the pop band there pretending to play while they're worried about the camera moves rather than actually, can we have the band playing another three times and get the mix perfect?
Mike Aiton: But, hey. You're probably right. Yeah. And sound, it's just assumed you will get it right. Yeah. Because you always do. Right. You're the defender. You just don't make mistakes.
Serge De Marre: Yeah.
Voice over: The world is a melting pot of ideas. Connect to the global creative village. Collaborate with class leading synchronization, audio and picture. Innovative, affordable and flexible solutions. With enviable support. Be a part. Create together. [00:19:00] Source elements.
Mike Aiton: Okay. So let's now have a little talk through your setup.
Mike Aiton: We'll change gear a bit here. Mm-Hmm. De philosophies and, and up the technical ante here. So you've said you are a Mac, are you a
Serge De Marre: a laptop or a mini, or a iMac? I have a, uh, MacBook Pro and a mini. For the booth, I have a Mac Mini, um, and then I have the MacBook Pro on my work desk, which I use that one with an external display.
Serge De Marre: And I can take the computer with me when I go, when I travel and I need to record on location. But the Mac Mini is separate and it also gives me the opportunity to, when something goes wrong, I can switch out the computers and just continue my work with the other computer. But the Mac Mini is great. You have a spare.
Serge De Marre: Yep. Yeah, always a spare.
Mike Aiton: So, um, what audio interface do you, I think you're an Apollo twin guy, aren't
Serge De Marre: you? Yes, I am. Uh, I had a [00:20:00] Apogee for a long, long time, and then I don't, yeah, that one. Um, and I, I'm not really that technical. I mean, I mean, I'm probably more, I know more about. Uh, the technical stuff than the average voiceover, I think, but I'm not like a tech guy.
Serge De Marre: So I asked someone, would you recommend me an audio engineer? And he said, well, you have to go for the Apollo twin universal audio is so good. Um, so I've said, okay, we'll buy that one. And then I got it and was like, Whoa, this is great. I love
Mike Aiton: it. You really noticed the difference.
Serge De Marre: Oh, absolutely. And all the things that you can do with the plugins and.
Mike Aiton: Yes, there is a huge difference, absolutely. Because you can record with plugins on the way in, can't you? Because it's got the DSP.
Serge De Marre: Yeah, not that I'm doing that myself, I usually get someone to do it for me, but then I'm like,
Mike Aiton: oh yeah, this is awesome.
Serge De Marre: Okay, and which digital
Mike Aiton: audio
Serge De Marre: workstation do you like to use?
Serge De Marre: I always [00:21:00] worked with Kool Edit back in the day, in the late 90s, early 2000s. Ah, CP. Yeah. I kept, uh, I kept working with that, with, uh, which is, it's now Adobe Audition, of course, but, um, I'm very familiar with that, I can do, probably not using every feature, but, uh, it's still fairly similar to the old cool edits, and, uh, I can work fairly quick with it, so, yeah, that's my preferred one.
Mike Aiton: I always wondered, was Sadie a big one in Holland with Radio People, because it's huge in the BBC.
Serge De Marre: Oh, no, I don't think so.
Mike Aiton: Headphone wise, you're a Beyerdynamic man.
Serge De Marre: Mm
Mike Aiton: hmm. 770 Pros, I think you said earlier, wasn't I? Yeah,
Serge De Marre: they're very comfortable on your head. And they're not that expensive. They're fully enclosed, aren't they?
Serge De Marre: Yeah, they are. The sound is good, too. Um, you can turn them very, very loud, which I used to do when I worked at the radio station, which is not good for your ears, but yeah. Yes, no.
Mike Aiton: A lot of radio people do like it. Yes, [00:22:00]
Serge De Marre: the louder the better, but it's not good for your ears. Don't do it! No,
Mike Aiton: no, remember children.
Mike Aiton: Right, remember children. Disclaimer. Yeah, microphones. What's your poison of choice?
Serge De Marre: I think, just like a lot of American voiceovers, I have the same things. It's the Sennheiser. MKH 416 that I'm speaking into right now, and I also have the Neumann TLM 103. I have two of them. I think that's enough.
Mike Aiton: Yeah, why the two?
Mike Aiton: Do you have a just, just because in case you connect to a client who wants something sounding a bit different or? Yeah. If I put a shotgun to your head, excuse the shotgun pun, and said, You can have one desert island microphone, would it be the 416?
Serge De Marre: Yes, yeah, absolutely. Uh, I think the Neumann is, is, is, is amazing, is very good, but it picks up too much other stuff.
Serge De Marre: Yes, it's very, very sensitive. It's so sensitive. And it's very low noise as well. Yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely. Lower [00:23:00] noise than the Sennheiser. Uh, but it's, the Sennheiser is still cool. And you can
Mike Aiton: scream into it as well. It'll take, it'll take a lot of input. I seem to remember, I think I recorded my electric guitar with one once.
Mike Aiton: Yeah. Quite, at 105 dBs and went, it sat there and went, yeah, and? It was like, yeah, sure, okay.
Serge De Marre: Doesn't hurt me at all. Yeah,
Mike Aiton: my ears were giving up before the microphone was,
Serge De Marre: but hey. That is crazy.
Mike Aiton: Okay, let's now talk about your booth. This is obviously a point of much interest for many in your community. Yeah.
Serge De Marre: Uh, I have a Studio Bricks booth, the Studio Bricks 1 voiceover edition, but it's a little bit customized, uh, because I'm, I'm quite tall. Ooh. Yeah. Hark at you. I know, I'm quite tall. So I needed a, I needed a raised roof. So that's what I did. I put an extra, uh, Uh, section on it so it's higher.
Mike Aiton: A convertible! I love it.
Serge De Marre: My booths, I have a convertible. It's like a VW with a raised roof. Yes. And I can say it's a custom booth, right? Although it's [00:24:00] really not, but I can say it. It's custom. Nice. And, uh, yeah, I like it a lot. It's a huge difference from, uh, from my walk in closet.
Mike Aiton: In fact, everyone who I've, uh, spoken to, who said, I now have a booth, has said, I wish I did it earlier.
Mike Aiton: Right, yeah. And I didn't, I didn't endure with that, with the closet or the wardrobe for so long.
Serge De Marre: I wish I could get a bigger booth though, but yeah, I mean it's, it's great for what it is.
Mike Aiton: What about, are you a sitter or a stander? Cause some have said that studio chairs are Uh, odd because sitting is the new smoking. Mm hmm. Are you a sitter or a stander?
Serge De Marre: I do both. Um, for, for the longer work, I'll definitely sit. Uh, because I'm an old man and my back hurts. After a while. Uh, but for, for like commercials or for, Uh, stuff that needs lots of [00:25:00] energy, I'll stand up.
Serge De Marre: Um, but I'm sitting right now, I mean, because we're having a nice chat, I want to be comfortable as well. So if it's like low key stuff, like e learning, well, you still need some energy in e learning, obviously, but still
Mike Aiton: Not as much as a full sort of character animation thing, or Yeah.
Serge De Marre: Yeah.
Mike Aiton: And presumably All radio shows are done sitting down, aren't they?
Serge De Marre: Um, so that's the interesting part. Um, they were, I was standing up at the, at the Q Music, the national radio station. We weren't allowed, well, we were allowed to sit, obviously, but they preferred us to stand up, and I kind of like that standing up thing. Like, you have more energy, you have more control over all the over the board and like, we stood up.
Serge De Marre: I
Mike Aiton: didn't know that. I mean, admittedly, my background's TV, so I never went to broadcasting house very much, so it didn't have much to do with the radio side of the BBC, but
Serge De Marre: I'm sure they're sitting at the BBC on a chair instead of standing up. Yeah.
Voice over: Source Elements
Mike Aiton: [00:26:00] Let's now think about the pandemic and remote working.
Mike Aiton: How's the pandemic affected your work?
Serge De Marre: It's difficult to compare actually because yeah, I mean you're in the middle of a pandemic and you don't know what would have happened if the pandemic wasn't there. But if I compare it to the year before the pandemic happened or hit, I think the amount of work was Slightly more?
Serge De Marre: Um, so I'm not sure if I can Since? No, no, during the pandemic. Yeah, since the pandemic. Obviously, like, the first two months were, like, terrible. Because everyone was like, ah, we're just gonna, we don't have the budget anymore, everyone's working from home, adjusting, adapting, blah, blah, blah.
Mike Aiton: We'll sit this one out, yeah, for a month or two, yeah.
Serge De Marre: Right, uh, but then after a couple of months when everyone was used to it, they were like, okay, let's start it up again. And no, I had a quite a good year actually. 2020 wasn't that bad. [00:27:00] So, it was better than 2019, so yeah.
Mike Aiton: And you said earlier that your work is now 100 percent remote, pretty much.
Serge De Marre: Yeah, that, I think that helped too.
Serge De Marre: I bought my booth obviously before the pandemic hit. And, um, it really helped me because, yeah, suddenly, uh, a lot of, Uh, clients were like, yeah, uh, well we cannot go to a studio because of the social distancing, etc, etc. So we need someone who will, who can record from home. I had everything I needed. I was ready to go.
Serge De Marre: It was like, yeah, here I am. And you can even You got your timing was bang on. Yeah.
Mike Aiton: I think so. Okay, so how do you see working in post pandemic times, if there'll ever be post pandemic indeed?
Serge De Marre: Yeah, that's the question, right? People are, people have adjusted, and they're like, um, they work from home, they do like it in general, I guess, so they, you know.
Serge De Marre: Much better understand that you are not able [00:28:00] to come to studio. I can go to a studio in Budapest or I can, I can fly out to wherever you want me to go, but that's going to be too expensive to buy a plane ticket and fly to Brussels or London or wherever it is. I've had over the past, before the pandemic, I had, I had like several clients like being disappointed, like, Oh, you cannot come to Brussels?
Serge De Marre: Oh no, we'll have to look for someone else. I'm like, Oh, okay. Because they didn't, didn't even want to know, uh, use, uh, SourceConnect or something similar or something. Um, didn't know how to use it or, I don't know. Knife fools! Yeah, yeah, right. But I think people have adjusted and they're much more open to it.
Serge De Marre: Like, oh, okay, yeah, I'm sure we can make the, the distance work. That's not a problem at all. I mean, especially with, uh, with, with SourceConnect. It's just, I've had sessions with, uh, with people all over the world. From South Africa to the, to the United States to, uh, yeah.
Mike Aiton: So in a way, it's kind [00:29:00] of enlarged your client or the possibilities of your client base because you're connected to the global village, effectively.
Serge De Marre: Yeah.
Mike Aiton: You are part of
Serge De Marre: that
Mike Aiton: global village.
Serge De Marre: Yeah, yeah. You know, especially since I'm speaking international or global English.
Mike Aiton: Yes.
Serge De Marre: Your clients are all over the world because someone, for example, in South Africa wants, to produce a commercial that will be broadcast worldwide. Well, yeah, now it's easier for them to find me and for me to be found, I guess, and to be able to work for them.
Mike Aiton: So how, how do you personally find working remotely?
Serge De Marre: Uh, I love it. I've, yeah, I've been doing it for so long. working from home. Yeah, and the remote part is fun too, because, um, you actually, it kind of feels like you're in the studio. You're actually still going to a studio, but not really physically going, right?
Serge De Marre: Yeah. It's just your voice that travels to that other studio.
Mike Aiton: The analogy I always like to use is the, the piece of string between the booth and the sound desk. Just [00:30:00] happens to be about a thousand miles long rather than 10 foot long.
Serge De Marre: Yeah, absolutely. And some, some studios also have like a separate voice booth without a window, for example.
Serge De Marre: So yeah, you don't have to be in the same room or physical space. or city or whatever. You can be anywhere. And, uh, just like we're talking right now, right? We're talking right now, and it just, it feels like you're sitting next to me. I can't see you, but I can hear you clearly.
Mike Aiton: Yes. And emotionally, we're close
Serge De Marre: together.
Serge De Marre: Oh, yes, we are, Mike.
Mike Aiton: How do you think your clients find working remotely?
Serge De Marre: Since a lot of the clients are still working from home, especially in Europe, I'm not sure how the situation in, uh, well, UK is not part of Europe anymore, right? Well,
Mike Aiton: sorry, I think I need to swiftly move on from this one. I can't be political.
Mike Aiton: It just makes me cry. Okay, no worries. [00:31:00] Uh, . Oh, well, so you, you think most of your clients enjoy working remotely?
Serge De Marre: Well, most of them are actually still working from home themselves. And they enjoy it. They can, they have more, they, they're not in a traffic, uh, in the morning rush, a traffic jam when they're going to work or from work or, um, they can spend more time with their kids.
Serge De Marre: Um, so I think they'll, they're kind of used to it by now, most of them. A lot of them. And, um, so it's fairly easy for them to just book someone who has his own studio and just everything is taken care of. You don't have to book the studio anymore, you can dial in into the studio if they want, they don't have to.
Serge De Marre: And afterwards I just send the WAV file via email to them and it's all said and done and we're up, we're done.
Voice over: Source Elements
Mike Aiton: At Source Elements we have a philosophy that when we're apart, Making things together helps us stay connected as human beings and creates a bond. How do you feel about that [00:32:00] statement?
Serge De Marre: I think it's the next thing. After actually being in the same space, right, like connecting with other people over a cup of coffee while you're in the same room, obviously, is probably a little bit better, I guess, because you can, you can see facial expressions and you probably have a little bit more time to get to know each other, but this is the next best thing after that.
Serge De Marre: The sound quality is so amazing. It feels like you're in this, I mean, if I wouldn't have, like, headphones on right now and you'd be on speakers and just close my eyes, I can still close my eyes with headphones on, obviously, but, Um, then, then you, yeah, maybe, it, it would feel like you would be in the same room, I guess.
Serge De Marre: If you have very good speakers. Yeah.
Mike Aiton: How long have you had SourceConnect then?
Serge De Marre: I do find that a lot of Europeans are a little bit wary of the SourceConnect thing because it's quite expensive, I think, especially if you, uh, buy [00:33:00] the license forever. and the Dutch and the Belgians are like, um, They keep their budgets in mind, so they're like, oh, let's, let's not use, or let's use something cheaper or different.
Serge De Marre: Something different. But Americans, for example, and people in London, in the United Mm-Hmm. In the uk, United Kingdom. Yeah. They love it. And that's why I need to have it, because I want to connect with everyone over all over the world.
Mike Aiton: Yeah. Yeah. I mean the, the monthly rental of. SourceConnect is, what is it, 35, I think.
Serge De Marre: Yeah.
Mike Aiton: If you can't earn that in the first 20 minutes of your session,
Serge De Marre: you're in the wrong job. True, no. I mean, for me, I mean, I would pay for it, I wouldn't mind. But a lot of the studios are, Worry of that? I don't know why. And it's just like the chicken and the egg, right? I have it, but if studios don't have it.
Serge De Marre: Or the studio has it, but the voice actor doesn't have it. And, yeah. Yeah.
Mike Aiton: I don't know. It's so weird. My answer [00:34:00] always to that is use a better quality of voice artist. Yes. Ha
Serge De Marre: ha ha. True. So true. So true.
Mike Aiton: Okay. So what advice would you pass on to someone trying a remote workflow for the first time? Thank you.
Serge De Marre: In my experience, it's very important to be available. You have to be available because a lot of the, the voiceover part is the last part, usually, and you as an audio engineer can probably confirm. This is the last part that comes to creating the project most times. Um, so they're like, okay, we have, we have one hour left and we need a voice right now, and if you can say yes to that, yes, I'm available, then you're the guy.
Serge De Marre: And if you're ready technically for that. So they can dial in and listen, listen in and direct you, or not, if it's a self directed, uh, session. Then, uh, then you've got the job and you're making money. Uh, if you have to say, well, I'm not available today, but, like, maybe tomorrow or [00:35:00] next week, because I'm, uh, I'm away, or I'm too busy with other stuff, then, uh, yeah, it's not gonna work out.
Serge De Marre: So availability is, like, very important, I believe.
Mike Aiton: Availability and also preparation seems to be from what you're saying. Oh yeah, everything, you have to, yeah. Being ready to record at a moment's notice.
Serge De Marre: Yes, yeah, your gear has to be ready. You have to be able to just, the computer has to be on, basically.
Serge De Marre: That's, that's what I do. My computer is always on and I just have to hit that record button and, uh, and record and that's it. And sometimes clients are like, we need this very, very quickly. We have one hour because Yeah. Yeah, because, uh, we've contacted a voice artist before and he's not available and you're actually your second choice, blah, blah, blah, and you're like, ow, this hurts.
Serge De Marre: But, uh,
Mike Aiton: I'm going to make him my first choice in future.
Serge De Marre: Yeah. Yeah, they will. They might. They might do that. Yeah. Yeah. And then you have an extra client because you're quick. Absolutely. And good. Yeah. What do you think are the pitfalls to avoid? [00:36:00] Uh, that's a tough, tough one, I guess. The pitfalls.
Mike Aiton: Interestingly enough, I mean, voice people find this a harder question.
Serge De Marre: Yeah.
Mike Aiton: Because the, the elephant in the room for sound engineers quite often, or, or editors, or other people who are remote working, um, voice people always have headphones on because they're in a booth. But it's surprising the amount of people who expect to have Remote collaboration and don't wear headphones.
Mike Aiton: So the other end, you hear yourself coming back when the other, uh, over the other end's microphone. And that can be quite disconcerting. That's true.
Serge De Marre: Yeah. Um, but is that really a pitfall?
Mike Aiton: Uh, I think so. Because personally, I think it's, if you start with your headphones on,
Serge De Marre: Yeah.
Mike Aiton: Um, no one's going to sort of say, I can hear myself coming back.
Serge De Marre: Yeah. No, that's true. Yeah.
Mike Aiton: And if they do, it's a routing issue on your, on your desk. Not. Not anything to do with your loudspeakers. [00:37:00] True, true. Yeah, that's very true. Okay, let's now consider what would you say is the recipe for your success? What's your top ingredient?
Serge De Marre: Believing in myself. Like, going for it.
Serge De Marre: Persistence. Being persistent and just doing stuff. And not that I'm like someone who does. Everything all the time. I'm a procrastinator, uh, as well, once in a while, and
Mike Aiton: Why put off today what you could do tomorrow? Right, yeah,
Serge De Marre: yeah, that's me. But on the other hand, if you really want something and you go for it and you succeed, yeah, that's, that's amazing.
Serge De Marre: I think if you're able to do that and focus on the right stuff
Mike Aiton: Okay, what would you say is the thing you'd most like our listeners to take away from this interview? Okay. That
Serge De Marre: SourceConnect is the best. No, uh,
Mike Aiton: Very good.
Serge De Marre: Right? I didn't, yeah, I didn't get paid for this, by the way. [00:38:00] Um, I think the takeaway is, especially if you're new, voice artists or, uh, even an, an audio engineer, just make sure that you're ready.
Serge De Marre: Not only you, yourself being ready to analyze a script or to, um, know how to work with your DAW or, but like the technical stuff needs to be ready too. And make sure you have a backup plan for when it goes wrong, that you can still. Get the work done in a timely manner. Yep. So have that SourceConnect subscription ready.
Serge De Marre: Yeah, oh yes. Very
Voice over: good. How would
Mike Aiton: you
Serge De Marre: like to change the industry, if you could? I think, um, what's not going well in the voice stuff, talent, uh, industry is the, the, the rates are going down, which is not good, I think it should, they should be going up. Uh, so that's something that should change. If I could, I would change that, but it's not gonna [00:39:00] change, obviously.
Serge De Marre: Do
Mike Aiton: you think rates are going down because of the flood of practitioners and it's becoming a race to the bottom in terms of price,
Serge De Marre: or? I don't like to use the race to the bottom. thing, because I'm not sure if that's really true, but, um, it is true that, for example, like the Fiverr, people on Fiverr, um, they don't know what they, people that are voice artists on there, they don't know actually the standard rates, they don't know what's, what a fair rate is, yeah, they might ruin it for, for like the professionals, I guess, uh, because your clients are getting used to that, right?
Serge De Marre: Like, lower quality, lower, uh, lower rates. But right now there's still enough clients who still like the professionals and the good equipment and the good sound quality and obviously there is a difference.
Mike Aiton: There's a nice quote I once read that says, if you think it's expensive to hire a professional, try hiring an amateur.
Serge De Marre: Yeah, that's true. And [00:40:00] professionals get work done quickly, usually, and they're more expensive, but in the end they're gonna be cheaper, and that's what you're saying, right?
Mike Aiton: Yes, and to a higher quality, with less artifacts and less problems. And they're consistent, and if they do pick up, they match themselves, they don't sound very different in their intonation every time they change.
Mike Aiton: That's the difference between a professional and an amateur, I always think. Right.
Serge De Marre: Yeah, no, for sure, and that's why I like Mac too, because it is more expensive, but I can keep my MacBook, for example, for like five years, and it still works after five years, and I can sell it, and still get some decent money for it.
Serge De Marre: I used to work with PC a lot, and, oh my god, it was so horrible after a couple of years, just one, two years, your computer was just You realize
Mike Aiton: you have just lit the blue flame and the internet is now on fire. Yeah, right? With Mac VPC.
Serge De Marre: Patron. Yes. Oh! Calm down internet. It's okay. [00:41:00] Yeah. Well, people are allowed to use PC if they prefer it.
Serge De Marre: It's fine. I'm just talking about my preference.
Mike Aiton: It's okay to be misguided. That's not a problem. Right. Yeah. No, I'm only kidding. I have used both in my time. What would you like as your audio epitaph? I'm sorry, what is, what is that? An epitaph is your inscription on your gravestone. Oh, okay. Uh,
Serge De Marre: audio, audio
Mike Aiton: epitaph,
Serge De Marre: um I, I always have to think about this song, I can't remember which band it's from, but it's They have a song, uh, called Hey Look Ma, I Made It.
Serge De Marre: That's one of the lyrics, and I love that. Oh, that's cool. Uh, I love that lyric, so it, that pops to mind, like.
Mike Aiton: Yeah.
Serge De Marre: And every time I have a little success, I'm like, Hey Look Ma, I Made It. That's very cool. So yeah, probably that one. I love that one.
Mike Aiton: Okay.
Mike Aiton: I'm gonna ask, um, a question that I tend to ask [00:42:00] all, all, all the sort of, uh, The women, which is, are you aware of any sort of gender issues? What's it like to be a woman in a sort of slightly male orientated world? But I kind of feel, to ask the balance, I need to ask the men the same question as well. Do you feel it's a male dominated industry?
Mike Aiton: And do you think there are gender identity issues within our industry? Um, I,
Serge De Marre: I don't feel that, but that's probably me, I guess, because I'm sure, I mean, if women are saying that there are issues, then there are issues, I guess. It's not that I, it's not that I, if not, if I can see them, it's not that they're not there.
Serge De Marre: So, I don't know. They don't come from you. I'm sorry? The, the issues don't come from you. Well, I don't know, maybe I'm part of the issue, I don't know, I hope not, but I try to be open and, uh, and, [00:43:00] and get someone else's thoughts about this and, and, and learn. from other people's experiences. But yeah, there are, there are a lot of men in this, in this business and not enough women, I guess.
Serge De Marre: Um, that's for sure. If I'm not sure if it's really an issue, I mean, I don't feel that as it is an issue, but it probably is an issue if you understand what I mean. Yeah,
Mike Aiton: totally. What you're saying is I'm not empathetic. If there are issues, I'd like to hear them and understand them and see what I can do, but I just not.
Mike Aiton: Sure, I'm totally aware of what they are,
Serge De Marre: right? Yeah, that's what I'm saying.
Mike Aiton: Yeah. Okay, and the same way I mean, I kind of agree with you to a degree in that whenever I hire someone to work for me It's always a case of number one. Are they fun to work with? Uh huh number two Are they good at what they do?
Mike Aiton: Number three, can I afford them? And number, number 647 trillion is, are they a man or a woman? [00:44:00] You know, I just don't care. I don't think of people's gender. Uh huh. At all. I think of them as people. Yeah. So, for me, gender's a non issue. But, I think it's very easy, it's a bit like saying, for the average white person, racism's not a problem.
Mike Aiton: Right, yeah, yeah, yeah. What racism?
Serge De Marre: Yeah. It's, it's, yeah, I think it's very similar, yeah. Because we're not aware of any problems. But that doesn't mean that there aren't any problems. Yeah, um, so, yeah. But it's a, it's a, it's an interesting discussion to have. I don't have the answer to that discussion. But it's a very interesting, um, discussion to have, I guess.
Mike Aiton: Yeah, I'm, I'm slightly loath to ask the question. But then, Loathe to ask the question in terms of not because I don't want to hear the answers, but because I don't always understand what the problem is. And partly, if I'm having to ask the question, it means there is a problem, which means it's a shame that I have to ask the question.
Mike Aiton: Yeah. [00:45:00] In the same way, there's a huge outcry at the moment about safety for women in Britain because a police officer was recently convicted of murdering someone. Oh, wow. While he was off duty. Yeah. And, it's, it's brought up a lot of issues about women, women's safety in, in Britain. And everyone's saying, oh, we should have apps that allow women to be safe.
Mike Aiton: And people are saying, no, no, no. What we should actually be doing is, is addressing the fact, why do our men in our society think it's okay to attack women? Mm hmm. That's what we need to be addressing. Not teaching women to defend themselves.
Serge De Marre: Yeah. I'm, I'm sure you're right, I don't, yeah, I don't have the, I don't have the answer, unfortunately, I wish I could solve those problems, uh, but it's very No, I don't either.
Serge De Marre: It's, it's important to read up on this, on these things, and I'm not sure if I really want to be part of that discussion. I don't think I have a lot of knowledge [00:46:00] to add to the discussion. But I like to listen. But we can still be empathetic. Oh yeah, we can be empathetic and we need to listen to these things and just make sure that we at least try to understand them,
Voice over: yeah.
Mike Aiton: My last question kind of is about work in terms of how do you find using an agent versus getting self generated work?
Serge De Marre: Uh, a very interesting question as well, because especially on the mainland in Europe, uh, we don't have agents actually. There are a couple of agencies in Europe, like in the Netherlands I'm working with voicebooking.
Serge De Marre: com for example, but they're not really agents. They're just, they're just agents. They're, they're an online websites. They try to find more work online from, from people that are looking for, for voiceovers for online. But now that I'm starting to get into the United States markets, I have to learn to work with, uh, with agents and that's, [00:47:00] it's interesting.
Serge De Marre: It's different. And I kind of like it at some point because you can actually. hand over some extra work, work that you're doing yourself, I guess, you can hand it to the agents like, Hey, you look for the client, you negotiate with the client and let me know when you're ready and you've done, you're done negotiating.
Serge De Marre: I do the art, you do, you do the science. Yeah, that's, that's very convenient and fun. Yeah. To be able to do that. Yeah,
Mike Aiton: but in a way, there's there's kind of in the U. S. It would seem that because of this sort of reliance on the sense of agents that there's a to degree some obfuscation where you're not taken seriously unless you have an agent.
Mike Aiton: Uh huh.
Serge De Marre: Yeah, to a degree. That's true. That's that's the way that's that's just the way it works in the United States, I guess. Up until now, I'm sure it's going to change eventually, I don't know.
Mike Aiton: And I wonder if that's because in the States, there's a great thing of whether you're union or [00:48:00] non union. True.
Mike Aiton: And it's a concept that I'm not sure about in Belgium or how you've experienced life in Budapest, but in the UK, the kind of there's no such thing as union on non union gigs and the concept in America where most things are union rates are kind of applaud the sensation of keeping rates where they're looking after everyone's.
Mike Aiton: Well being and all this sort of thing and keeping rates to a sort of professional standard. It's a dynamic that I can't understand because I'm not in it because we don't have such a thing in the UK. I find it quite alien, this concept of union v. non union. Right,
Serge De Marre: but I think since since 2008 or something There's a lot more non union work in the United States as well.
Serge De Marre: The union Apparently, the way I understand it, and I'm not a specialist on this, but, uh, the union is getting smaller and smaller, union work is less, less, less in the past years, and a lot [00:49:00] more people and agents are working non union, so I'm not sure if it's going in the right direction in the United States, if you'd like me to Which, interestingly
Mike Aiton: enough, can be quite a paradox, because, yes, it's great that it opens up, and all that sort of thing.
Mike Aiton: And I think it's very good to sort of have a sense of open free markets. Uh, I've always been a believer in that within, in the sort of the European market. I can say that quite confidently as an ex European, sadly, but I think the other side of the coin is that if you get too much deregulation, that you can get a flood of people looking for work.
Mike Aiton: You can get too many fivers. There can be a case of deregulation to the point where you get like the American health system where it becomes a complete zoo.
Serge De Marre: Yeah, that's true. On the other hand, going back to the Fiverr thing, I have [00:50:00] noticed several clients that were on Fiverr. P2P website, not my clients, but in general, big production companies being on P2P websites.
Serge De Marre: And then later on, I heard, well, they moved on from, from that and went to an agent because they were like, Oh, we were getting a lot of rubbish as well. People that were trying to attempt voiceover work, but weren't actually really ready. Couldn't quite cut
Mike Aiton: the mustard as we say.
Serge De Marre: Yeah. And so they get like a hundred, 200 auditions and like, 75 percent is bad.
Serge De Marre: If you go to an agent, the agent does all that work for the client as well. Yes.
Mike Aiton: You're choosing which cream do I like. And you're not having to worry about the milk.
Serge De Marre: And so I think, I think Especially the bigger clients, the bigger production companies, they're like, we don't have time to sift all, through all that rubbish.
Serge De Marre: So we need to have like the good guys immediately make sure, we want to be [00:51:00] sure that whenever we need them, actually tomorrow or whenever, that they're actually ready and they're good and they can analyze the script and they're ready. Their, uh, their equipment is good, etc, etc. Maybe, I don't know, maybe there are, there will always be enough work for, uh, for the higher tier, uh, jobs.
Serge De Marre: I don't know.
Mike Aiton: I hope so. I mean, I've always thought that
Serge De Marre: there
Mike Aiton: should be. What I would not like to happen is for the music world where The same paradox has kind of happened with record labels, where, you know, in the 80s, it was really, really hard to get signed as a group and a band. Yeah. And the A& R artists were in total control of who, who became signed artists and who could release music.
Mike Aiton: Now, anyone and their dog can release music, which is great, but the trouble with that also is everyone and their dog does release music. So actually, how do Waze consumers find good music? Because there's so much to sift through, it's a bit like YouTube's lovely, it's [00:52:00] brilliant, but there's an awful lot of rubbish on YouTube as well.
Serge De Marre: Yep, yeah, true. And that's maybe where radio stations come in, right? They can make that selection for you, so you switch on the radio station and then you're listening to some quality music. At least the quality of the recording is gonna be good.
Mike Aiton: Yes, so with freedom and technology. Democratizing everything is, is a good thing, but there's also the paradox of too much freedom, too much choice can be quite a bane as well.
Mike Aiton: Yeah,
Serge De Marre: yeah.
Mike Aiton: And it'd be interesting to see how the market settles over time. Uh huh. And over history, looking back, I don't feel very sorry for the record companies, I have to say. No,
Serge De Marre: true. Yeah, I guess I
Mike Aiton: feel more sorrow for the music for the music artists who I think are being sort of screwed by the Spotify's of the world.
Serge De Marre: Yeah, yeah, true. That's absolutely true. But I think it probably all comes back to who, which artist is the king. Most creative right because you said there's a lot of rubbish on [00:53:00] YouTube. Well, if you're creative Yes, and you make quality stuff, then you're probably gonna come up with a way to Be popular on YouTube some some way of or another.
Mike Aiton: I agree. I've always thought cream rises Some people turn around and go, sh floats. That's true with the, with the largest common denominator sort of thing, but it, if you do come up with the goods and in the same way, I think there's, as a Voight artist, if you keep delivering the goods and to a high level.
Mike Aiton: And keep coming back with customers that are happy. Your customer base will expand. Word of mouth will work, you know. There is future and there is hope. Just because you can go and buy a 100 USB mic, sit there and go, why can't you Zoom? It's free. It doesn't mean you're going to have a successful career.
Mike Aiton: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Because you can. Just because you can, doesn't mean you should. Yes. Totally. So I think that's a [00:54:00] very good note on which to end and say thank you very much for your time, Serge. It's been absolutely fascinating talking to you. I've really enjoyed it. My pleasure.
Serge De Marre: This was amazing. Thank you, Mike.
Serge De Marre: Love talking to
Mike Aiton: you. And, uh, keep spreading the word about Source Elements. Keep evangelizing. I will. Okay, thank you, Serge.
Serge De Marre: You're welcome. Talk to you next time.
Mike Aiton: Okay, take care. Bye bye.
Voice over: Source Elements on the mic, was recorded using Source Connect.
Voice over: Source Elements on the mic. The audio and remote working podcast for thinking ears.
Voice over: Source Elements.
Commentaires