The Harry Truth: Travel and Emergencies…What’s Your Voice-Over Safety Net?

Thanks to Harry Legg for this latest installment of “The Harry Truth.” Especially with holiday travel, and disasters like Superstorm Sandy, it’s important to have a backup plan when your voice clients are counting on you to come through.

With the recent devastation and power outages in NYC and along the east coast, it became clear that having battery operated back-up capability was the way to go.  I was very fortunate to not lose power during Sandy, but was prepared should the power go out.  As you venture further into your VO career and have more clients to service, more auditions to voice and so on, downtime is a big problem.

If my Pro Tools system crashes, I can still voice for my clients with my back-up Zoom H4 recorder or with my iPhone.  I use the Tascam adapter, which provides phantom power to my studio mic and it allows me to e-mail or ftp the file to my client from my phone – all without a desktop or laptop computer.  Granted there has to be power somewhere with an Internet connection, whether it’s your cellular Internet service or the Wi-Fi in tons of coffee shops, restaurants, hotels, public parks and so on – there usually isn’t a huge problem finding a place to connect.  What about when you go on vacation or are away for business?  I love the portable set-ups because I value my freedom and don’t want to be chained to my studio.  I like to travel…  I voice Benztown’s CHR and News/Talk formats and it never fails that when I’m out of town or away from my studio for just a day or two some major celebrity dies or there’s major breaking news.

We’re in a business that demands quick response – and if you’re regularly able to provide it to your clients, you will be that much more valuable.  There are a lot of options out there equipment-wise.  It would be helpful to all for you to comment below and share your equipment suggestions.   It does not take a large budget – I highly recommend minimizing downtime by strengthening your VO business with back-up capabilities for the day your computer crashes or the power goes out…and to make traveling away from your studio that much easier.