Jodi Krangle

905 836 5444

Jodi@VoiceoversAndVocals.com

voice over

Interview with Audio Producer & Voice Talent, Macha Gruber – Part 1

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I’m so excited to chat with Macha Grueber. She’s done some amazing things in the audio world and I have to tell you –  I’ve been looking forward to hearing her perspective on the current status of the audio branding world. Macha is a professional voice actor and has spent the better part of 15 years in the audio industry, doing everything from voice acting to now being part of the elite creative team at iHeartRadio. This is quite the interview and we had so much fun chatting!

Tune in to hear Macha and I discuss:

  • Macha’s take on COVID-19
  • How helpful having a home studio has been
  • Her first introduction to audio- being part of a pirate radio studio
  • Going to college to be a chiropractic doctor
  • How she transitioned away from chiropractors to being a radio show host
  • Her first take at doing her own audio imaging
  • How making promos led to her going to broadcasting school
  • Transitioning away from being ON air into creating audio imaging 
  • Where imaging for radio came from
  • The background on radio station imaging and how it affects ratings 
  • What’s changed now- length of promos and what promos sound like
  • The places radio shows up now versus 20 years ago
  • Listening to radio stations at home on smart speakers
  • Transition into iHeartRadio
  • Being kicked out after her first internship 
  • Her first gig with Clear Channel
  • The in between time- working in the real world and doing audio imaging on her own
  • Her experience creating demos and doing voice over
  • Trends Macha has seen in commercials- both visual and audio
  • The effects of the millennial craze
  • What makes good audio branding 
  • The impact of writing on a good commercial 
  • How audio recordings happen in the commercial world
  • The importance of theater of the mind for commercials versus a voice over
  • How sound design affects the entire commercial
  • Turn around time for commercials 

 

If you’d like to get in contact with Macha Gruber, you can find her:
Website: www. machacreative.com
Instagram: www.instagram.com/machacreative or www.instagram.com/machagruber
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/missmacha

 

This episode was very skillfully made to sound beautiful by the talented Humberto Franco (http://www.humbertofranco.com/).

Would you consider reviewing the Audio Branding Podcast?  If so, here’s the Apple Podcast link: https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/audio-branding/id1489042453  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 – 5 Tips For Implementing An Intentional Audio Strategy at https://voiceoversandvocals.com/audio-branding-strategy/

Interview with Creative Director, Hannah Strenger

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Show Notes:

Hannah and I talk about what she considers audio branding to be, how it affects the clients at her ad agency, and what she does to help those clients come up with their brand’s consistent sound.  She also reveals how she created an animated short and chose voices and music for that project.

For more information on Hannah, visit:

Hannah’s Instragram: https://www.instagram.com/hannahstrenger/ (lots of pictures of her adorable rabbits here too!)

and Hannah’s Website (she’s also a creativity coach!): hannahstrenger.com

Would you consider reviewing the Audio Branding Podcast?  If so, here’s the Apple Podcast link: https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/audio-branding/id1489042453  And if you like what you hear (and read!) – please do share it with anyone you think might be interested. Thanks so much!

 

Time For A Transition

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Those of you who have been following this blog and accompanying podcast, have seen the direction I’ve been going with this. I know a lot of us are Creatives.  A lot of us need help understanding how not to beat ourselves up in our own heads. And helping people with that (in a distinctly NOT professional capacity!) will never stop being a priority for me.

If you’re still interested in that topic, I’ve created a Facebook Group, just for you. If you’re looking for a place to share your Creativity and get encouragement from fellow Creatives, I invite you to join me there.

HOWEVER, my passion is also sound.

Specifically, voice overs and music.  I use my voice both for my day job and for the pleasure of singing. I’d like to delve deeper into how that works in the greater context of branding – both mine and my clients’.

So while the Silver Linings blogs and podcast episodes will remain out there, and I hope you find them useful, I’ll be transitioning to a new podcast in a month or so.

I’m calling it: Audio Branding: The hidden gem of marketing.  And it really is a “hidden gem”.

In a lot of cases, people forget just how much audio – voice overs, music and sounds in general – influence our behavior on a regular basis.  We’ve gotten used to so many places sounds play a part.

Think about it for a bit.

We expect a car to sound a certain way (and am I the only one who’s freaked out when I’m in a Prius or a Tesla at a stop light??), even if that sound is changing. That’s why our phones still “click” when we take a picture, even if they don’t need to.  Or why that vinyl scratching sound is used in ads all the time to audibly tell us an interruption is happening – even if it’s rare that people listen to records anymore.

The sounds used in advertising, make us automatically familiar with a brand (like McDonalds’ “I’m Lovin’ It” (ba da ba ba ba!), the sound of the Taco Bell bell, the Intel sound logo, or the trill of the NBC logo).  We even recognize that an animated cartoon is The Peanuts (or a parody of it) by the trombone sound that happens when the adults speak.

We could all stand to learn something about audio branding.

Even those of us who make a living in the sphere.  ESPECIALLY those of us who do that. Learn how to leverage your own audio branding – whatever that may be – and you win at marketing.  The shortest bit of sound can be associated with your brand.  It can automatically identify you and bring you to mind.  And really – when it comes to marketing – that kind of instant recognize-ability just can’t be beat!

That’s why a lot of podcasts have musical and voice over intros (And if you need a voice for that sort of thing, that is certainly a service I offer. Feel free to get in touch).  It’s why TV shows have recognizable theme songs.  It’s why there are some pieces of music in a film that are automatically associated with a character – like Darth Vader’s Imperial March.  (And wouldn’t it be cool if we all had theme music?)

I’m certainly not the first one to talk about this …

… but maybe my perspective as a voice actor and a singer will be helpful in digging a little deeper.  And I fully intend to enlist the help of some very knowledgeable friends and colleagues who can also provide some insights.

For now though, I found a blog post on Gary Vaynerchuck‘s website that describes what “audio branding” means, and how he feels it’s the wave of the future.  I couldn’t agree more (and check out his own audio branding.  Pretty cool stuff!)

Here’s a quote from the article:

Over the next decade or two, what your brand sounds like is actually going to be an unbelievably crucial variable of success in a world that will be driven primarily by two things: voice and brand.

The Rise of Audio Branding

Would you consider reviewing the Audio Branding Podcast?  If so, here’s the Apple Podcast link: https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/audio-branding/id1489042453  And if you like what you hear (and read!) – please do share it with anyone you think might be interested. Thanks so much!

Advertising At Cannes? You Bet!

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      AdvertisingAtCannes-Spoken-JodiKrangle - Jodi Krangle - voiceoversandvocals.com

Catching the attention of an increasingly distracted audience, is … well… really hard.  We’re being inundated with advertising from all sides.  Interspersing them in online videos, the obvious television and radio commercials, and of course, product placement in our movies and television shows, are all methods that have been done in the past.  They continue to be used, though to varying degrees of effect.  Stunts are rare, and sometimes backfire.  But when they work?  That is advertising gold.

Edelman is particularly good at cutting through the noise.  This isn’t a surprise or anything.  They’ve been in business since 1952, after all.  And as a global communications firm that partners with some of the biggest businesses out there, they’ve learned a thing or two.

Their campaign to introduce Taco Bell in the UK, is being featured in the Cannes Film Festival this week – and I can definitely see why.  This is clever advertising at its finest.  But not only is it good advertising – it creatively uses the environment where it’s being presented – namely, the fact that Big Ben is silent for a while.  So who else can provide a worthy bell?  I’ll give you three guesses – and the first two don’t count.

Here’s the video (and though I don’t know the voice actor that was used, he does a stellar job!):

 

Voice Over for Unisom Sleep Tabs

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I would categorize the spots I do for Unisom as “sympathetic” and “hopeful”.  There’s a problem, of course.  It’s hard to turn our brains off after a long, complex day (there’s the sympathy).  So when I’m talking about solving that problem, hopeful is what’s needed. I recall traveling through Columbus Ohio and hearing this spot on the TV at the hotel bar while I was having breakfast elsewhere in the restaurant.  I won’t lie.  I had a Moment. 🙂  No matter how many years I do this voice over thing, hearing myself on TV never gets old.