Episode 11: Paul Cartwright Filmmaker, Actor, Voiceover Talent

[00:00:02] Speaker A: Hey, everybody, welcome to go to your room and make stuff, the podcast about making art, any kind of art, all by ourselves in a room or a studio, maybe outside. No one is telling us when, where or how, or any combination of those things. This is a podcast for solo artistic adventurers. Those who are doing it and those who want to try it, support ideas and just plain fun. Today's guest is absolutely wonderfully creative, and Paul works in a lot of different areas. So listen to the whole thing. He's going to talk about film, he's going to talk about directing, he's going to talk about voiceover, he's going to talk about doing a lot of it on your own, which is really cool. And I want to give you a background on Paul Cartwright. So Paul spent nearly a decade as a full time actor doing musicals and plays before moving to the UK to get his mfa in acting, the british tradition from the Royal Conservatoire. After working with the best vocal coaches in the world, including the Royal Shakespeare Company, Paul moved to Los Angeles to continue his on camera and voiceover career. Some of the clients Paul worked with are Disney Animation, Mercedes Benz, Pepsi, Samsung, Epic Games, Gen. I'll say it right, Genshin. Genshin. Yeah, Genshin. Impact, Nintendo and more. Paul has since moved to Salt Lake City, Utah, with his family, a full time voice actor and director. And he's going to talk about when do you have to be in LA and when can you be in Salt Lake City? So welcome. Paul Cartwright. Great conversation. Thank you. Paul Cartwright. Thank you so much for coming on. Go to your room and make stuff. And I have never met you in person. I know, it's crazy because the Internet, right? And I remember, like, during the pandemic, everybody ended up online all the time. But voiceover has been online longer than the pandemic. So actually, I haven't met a ton of people in person ever that I do work with all the time. And, Paul, you did my video game demo. Thank you. [00:02:04] Speaker B: Absolutely. [00:02:05] Speaker A: And I get lots of comments on it, and I send some video games off and all kinds of stuff. So welcome. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. And before we dive into details, if we could get to know you a little bit better, can you share a fun or unique fact about yourself that listeners might not be aware of? [00:02:21] Speaker B: Ah, yes. I am a paralyzingly intense introvert. Conferences and things. Ooh, that's hard for me. [00:02:32] Speaker A: And your background, you've got some musical theater in that background. [00:02:35] Speaker B: Yeah, it's crazy. [00:02:36] Speaker A: How's theater? How's that big group atmosphere of dressing rooms. Did you ever tour? [00:02:42] Speaker B: I never toured, but it was one of those things. Yeah, it was one of those things to where when I was on stage, it's like, I know who my character is and what I'm supposed to do, so I'm gonna go do that. So it's okay. [00:02:53] Speaker A: Okay. And then you get your backstage. Okay. [00:02:55] Speaker B: Yes. But then when I'm backstage, I'm like, let me. [00:02:57] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. My background is also musical theater, and. And I'm introverted, extrovert. I can be extroverted. And then I need three days to recover. [00:03:06] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. [00:03:08] Speaker A: And after two, or it was like a month. [00:03:09] Speaker B: This is my domain. This is my domain. It's like, I'll come here and I'll be just fine. I'm happy. And then every once in a while, my wife's like, let's go to a party, or let's go do something extroverted. It's like, okay, give me a day to prepare and two days to calm down after. [00:03:20] Speaker A: Yes, yes. I think it's really good for people to know that some of these people that we see perform or we hear they're in games and all this to find out they're introverted. Because my daughter's a hardcore introvert, and the more she gets to hear the backstories of that, it's okay. And that a lot of creativity comes from there. I just think it's. I think it's really great for us to hear that and to see it in other people and to know, oh, and voiceover is one of those that I tend to find a lot of introverts. Tell us more about your art, medium or mediums. [00:03:54] Speaker B: Yes. So musical theater was, like, my thing, and theater just in general. I was like, this is my jam. This is what I want to do. Like, I'm a. [00:04:06] Speaker A: This podcast is brought to you by the Seattle Voice Academy, and your host runs the podcast and the Seattle Voice Academy. This online voice school specializes in vocal health, singing, voiceover, and public speaking. Come check us out. Seattle Voice Academy Academy.com dot I started. [00:04:22] Speaker B: With musical theater and plays, and that was all I really knew. So I did that for probably 20 years until I got my masters. I went out to England for two years, and I got my masters in acting at the Royal Conservatory and was like, this is it. Like, stage. This is the peak, the pinnacle, working with the Royal Shakespeare Company and the coaches over there. And I was like, yes, moved to LA because I had no interest in pounding the pavement in Manhattan trying to become a stage actor with a wife and two kids. At the time, I was like, that sounds horrific. [00:04:56] Speaker A: Yes. [00:04:57] Speaker B: So I said, if you go to LA, there's film and tv stuff that maybe could bring in some extra income. So moved to LA, and we were there for two years, and I was trying to figure that out and really struggled. But it was in that that I met my dear friend Stephanie Sutherland, who is a rock star voice actress. And she was like, hey, you should look at voice acting. And I was like, what is that? So she took me to vo mastery with Randy Thomas. [00:05:24] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:05:25] Speaker B: Who is the vo goddess. She's the voice of God for the Oscars and the Emmys. Ladies and gentlemen, Brad Pitt. [00:05:31] Speaker A: So good. And she. And she raises large dogs, and she's the most amazing human beings ever, because the voiceover community. Yeah, it was like two degrees of separation. [00:05:41] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. She's just the coolest. Totally cool. And she was. And so I'm sitting there at this conference going, wait a minute, wait a minute. People make a living doing this. What? Met J. Michael Collins. Met Bridget. Real. Met all these people who were like, yeah. Like, you can make a living out of this. So I said, okay, done. I'm going for it. So I went all in. Living in LA, was there for another year after that, and then pandemic hit, and then it was like, why would I stay in LA? Moved back to Utah, bought a home in Utah, built a booth, did all the things in Utah, and then went full time voice acting. So I was a full time voice actor. And then while I was full time voice acting, I saw that there was a lot of film stuff happening in Utah that was going on. There was big tv series, like Yellowstone with Kevin Costner. Costner was getting ready to make his big film series, Horizon. There's like four films that he wants to make, a bunch of other film stuff happening. I was like, well, film would be fun. So I got into the film scene and I started meeting casting directors and started doing all the stuff in here and then started getting cast in a bunch of films here in Utah and have built this kind of film thing. And then after that, I was like, well, wait, I really like film. What if I made a film? And so I wrote a script for a feature and found some people who were like, we don't have any money, but we have resources, so should we make a movie? And I was like, yeah. So we made a film. Made a feature film, rom.com called Royal Facade. That's on Amazon right now if you want to go watch it. [00:07:14] Speaker A: Sweet. [00:07:15] Speaker B: In fact, please go watch it. Yes. We had no budget. And you'll see, you'll see very quickly that this is definitely a low budget indie but had a blast and had so much fun. And now all of a sudden I am prepping to show run and direct a new tv series. It's a sitcom that I'm going to start shooting on the 10 August. And it's like, what the heck? How did this happen? [00:07:39] Speaker A: From RSC? I didn't know that Utah had a big film industry. Washington. Up in Seattle where I live, does not. They kind of did. And then the film office closed. There's still some stuff going on up here, but that is, that is really good to know. And you're in Salt Lake, right? [00:07:56] Speaker B: Yes. [00:07:57] Speaker A: Okay. I voice a bunch of stuff for a bunch of companies in Utah, randomly of all things, but yeah. So how, how big is the, the scene in Utah right now? I mean, is it agents? [00:08:10] Speaker B: Yeah. So there's two agencies who kind of own the monopoly in Utah. Yeah. They've basically just over the years said if you're making anything in Utah, just come through us because we have all the talent. Right. Which is good and bad. Bad in that sag struggles to work with them because they, they just sit on top of their throne. Just like we know we own the place so we don't have to follow SAG rules. And it's like, so I have an LA agent for film and tv and my manager. [00:08:38] Speaker A: Yep. [00:08:39] Speaker B: But the Utah scene, they are desperate to make things. There are always films being made here. There are always independent films happening here. And it's a much bigger scene than I had anticipated, which is awesome because there's just people who want to make films here. [00:08:57] Speaker A: Do you get a poll from folks in LA to come back? Yes, I bet. Because I'm here. I have an LA agent too, and several places that were like, just please move back. Please move to LA. Please don't be in Seattle. And I'm like, but we all have these spaces now. We all have things like source, connect and the Internet. It's pretty good. And the only industry I'm feeling at the most is animation. Because you don't work in animation. [00:09:22] Speaker B: It's video games. [00:09:23] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:09:24] Speaker B: Work in animation and video games. [00:09:26] Speaker A: Right. [00:09:26] Speaker B: And I've been back to LA probably four times in the past six months. [00:09:32] Speaker A: Yeah, I believe that. Is it for mocapour video games? It's not even mocap. PCap, FCAp from motion capture, performance capture, facial capture. [00:09:41] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:09:42] Speaker A: They just want you just in the studio. [00:09:44] Speaker B: In the studio where we can direct you in the studio, and just all the actors can come into the same studio. And the, and the directors are overseas on some of them. [00:09:53] Speaker A: I know. I would say both my companies are. Yeah, they're like Australia and, yeah. [00:09:58] Speaker B: And I keep asking my manager, going, hey, well, wait a minute. Like, isn't it cheaper if I just record from home? [00:10:04] Speaker A: Right? [00:10:05] Speaker B: Because my booth is insane. Like, I've had, I've had cast, I've had clients who have said, your booth sounds better than most brick and mortars we were. [00:10:12] Speaker A: Mine's quieter than bad animals out here in Seattle. Yeah. [00:10:14] Speaker B: And I'm like, exactly. So why not just do it from home? And I can't remember the reason they gave me. It didn't make any sense. But, yeah, so they, they've had me out to California four times or so in the past six months. [00:10:26] Speaker A: Thank you for answering that question, because it's really interesting. Julia Bianco Scheffling said, you still can live anywhere, but there is still that little bit of preference. Little bit in some of the studios, for sure, just depending on who you're working with. They're like, nah, just get them in person. In animation. I feel like it's almost 100% that way right now. Except one of the little things I did was at Australia. They didn't care where any of us were. [00:10:49] Speaker B: All my animation that I've done. Yeah. All my animation I've done in the past six months has been from home. [00:10:54] Speaker A: Okay, see, there we go. It's backwards now. Okay, and how do we keep up? Like it's like a Twitter feed. [00:10:59] Speaker B: Right? [00:11:00] Speaker A: I'm just like, what's the difference? [00:11:02] Speaker B: I have a unique advantage. So anyone watching this who's, who lives anywhere else, who's going, oh, yeah, it will work. You need to know I live close enough to LA that I can get a call from my agent the night before. [00:11:16] Speaker A: Yep. [00:11:17] Speaker B: Saying, hey, they want you in studio tomorrow. And I can easily hop a flight that night or first thing the next morning and be in LA by 10:00. [00:11:24] Speaker A: A.M. i would say Seattle, Arizona, Salt Lake. Maybe Denver. Maybe Denver, but maybe Denver Seattle. We're an hour and a half flight. [00:11:32] Speaker B: Vegas. [00:11:33] Speaker A: Vegas for sure. Four hour drive. Okay. But, yeah, you have to be able to be there the next day. Like, literally the next morning. Yep. [00:11:40] Speaker B: Yes. Like, I've had one of my breakdowns. Washington, 09:00 p.m. my manager calls me and said, they want you in studio tomorrow morning at 10:00 a.m. oof. [00:11:49] Speaker A: Red eye. [00:11:50] Speaker B: Is that great. Okay. I'm doing it. [00:11:53] Speaker A: Okay. [00:11:53] Speaker B: So, yeah, yeah. Yes. So you put it, you put it, you put it very well. You need to be prepared to be close enough to make that sacrifice and be able to make that sacrifice because I'm a full time voice actor, I can make that happen. I can arrange that. But not everyone's in that. [00:12:09] Speaker A: My agent knows when she lists me as la talent in audition specs, she'll, she'll send me a quick thing saying, we get on a plane for this one. Yes. [00:12:17] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. [00:12:19] Speaker A: Boom. Okay. [00:12:20] Speaker B: But like, I've had ADR stuff that I won't take right before it doesn't pay because it doesn't. Well, that, that, and it's like, it's like 3 hours notice. [00:12:30] Speaker A: Oh, geez. Yeah. You know, that's just going to cause stress for everyone involved. [00:12:34] Speaker B: And I'm like, that's nothing. That's not fair for me to be like, yeah, put me as ADR. And then they go, okay, we need you in 3 hours. [00:12:40] Speaker A: And for anyone listening, and they're like, they're like, what's ADR? Two voice actors talking to each other. So I'll, okay, so ADR, I think it's automatic, automated. I always do it wrong. Dialogue replacement. [00:12:51] Speaker B: Yes. [00:12:52] Speaker A: And so what's happening? It's dubbing. And dubbing kind of used to be in Texas a lot for a lot of the anime stuff. And then dubbing just went wild in laden and everything is being dubbed. [00:13:02] Speaker B: It's, it's, it's, it's funny because I would love to do ADR because sometimes it's really fun to just do all the backgrounds for movies and, you know, big street scenes and films or tv, but it's turnaround. [00:13:15] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:13:15] Speaker B: Oh, so quick that if you're not in LA, it's just not worth it. [00:13:19] Speaker A: That's, that's what, basically it was Jeff, I'll think of Jeff's last name in a second was he said to me, if you move to LA. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But just, and I know, I know some folks, though, doing not so much wallet and looping, but some of the, and that's like the background sounds. All that stuff they were doing. She was doing ADR from her studio in LA. In LA from her own studio. And I'm curious with ADR, how you do that online these days. How do you read your picture? Yeah, it's crazy stuff. [00:13:47] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. So I've got a setup in my booth where I've got my iPad and everything, so I can do dubbing from my booth. [00:13:54] Speaker A: Okay. Yep. [00:13:55] Speaker B: But. But it's. But even then, it's still. Still interesting, you know? Like, I wouldn't. I wouldn't, but, you know, this is. Nobody probably cares about this, but I'm building a brand new booth in my backyard. Full studio. I just bought a la vocal booth. Everything. Like, it's. Oh, yeah, it's all going out back there, and that'll have a monitor, and I'll be able to do all that. [00:14:15] Speaker A: Ooh. [00:14:15] Speaker B: Right now? [00:14:16] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:14:17] Speaker B: Like, it's just too much for me, that. [00:14:19] Speaker A: Yeah. Cool. Thank you. Thank you. So I guess that leads right into my next question, which is, like, tell us about your room. Where do you work when you go to be creative? What is that? Like, right now? And then, what are you planning for the backyard? [00:14:33] Speaker B: Yes. So 91% of all my work is right here at my desk. If I were to turn the camera around, you would see three monitors and a raising desk. And so I'm standing, and I'm sitting, and I'm just working. And this is where I'm screenwriting. This is where I'm editing my auditions. This is where I'm answering emails. Like, this is where I work. And then the other 9% is probably going to be in the booth, whether I'm doing bookings or auditions or whatever else. And that's really just a small walk in closet. But I tore everything out, the shelves and everything, and put soundproofing foam all in the entire thing, top to bottom. Yep, yep. So it's. It's now. And then I put an iPad holder in there. So I've got my iPad in there. I've got my microphone. I've got my audience preamp in there, and it's just. That's my jam. But this room now needs to become a bedroom. [00:15:29] Speaker A: Yeah. Got it. [00:15:30] Speaker B: Growing. Our family's growing. And so I'm building an eight foot by 22 foot studio in the backyard. [00:15:40] Speaker A: Great. [00:15:41] Speaker B: And then I bought a la vocal booth that is going to go into there. [00:15:46] Speaker A: Yeah. Room within a room. Yeah. [00:15:48] Speaker B: All of this is going to. Cause initially, I was going to soundproof the actual building. [00:15:53] Speaker A: Okay. [00:15:54] Speaker B: And I was like, that's going to be expensive. [00:15:55] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:15:56] Speaker B: I don't know about resale. And, like, what are people going to do with the soundproof building? And so I just, you know, just buy a vocal booth. [00:16:01] Speaker A: That's what I will do if I ever move out of my Harry Potter under the stairs, which my husband went all the way down to the studs and did, like, green glue and drywall and air space. I mean, this thing is negative 66 decibels. For those of you who don't speak voice over, it's really quiet. [00:16:15] Speaker B: It's really quiet. [00:16:16] Speaker A: I mean, and it's. My husband can watch tv. Maddie can be upstairs. The neighbors can mow the lawn. I'm good. [00:16:20] Speaker B: It's amazing. [00:16:21] Speaker A: If the corgi barks, I have to hold. Cause corgis. Okay. Yeah. And. Wow. So, yeah. So you've got a room within a room, which I think is the best way to do it. Cause then you can also. You have a lot more control. [00:16:33] Speaker B: And it's a triple wall. [00:16:34] Speaker A: Good. Oh, thank goodness. Right? I know if I buy one, it's gonna be a triple wall. [00:16:38] Speaker B: Like, I'm just, like, I'm gonna. I'm not risking anything. Like, I want to be in my booth and not ever have to worry about stopping for sound. [00:16:46] Speaker A: Yes. [00:16:47] Speaker B: So, yeah. [00:16:48] Speaker A: Oh, man. Congratulations on that. Yeah. Now, here's a question I have. How much of your time in voiceover particular? Not so much film yet. Do you spend much time editing with the kind of work you do? Because I know you're mostly animation or all the voiceover work you're doing. Are you having to do much editing? [00:17:08] Speaker B: You mean as a final file or. [00:17:10] Speaker A: As an audition file, even auditioned file? Like, how much. How much your time are you spending doing that? Because I know some people are really, as beginners, they're spending a huge amount of time. Right? [00:17:18] Speaker B: Yeah. Oh, yeah. [00:17:19] Speaker A: So I want to ask, at your level, how much time goes into it? [00:17:23] Speaker B: So, at my level now, typically, I'll get anywhere from 15 to 25 auditions a day. That's kind of like my intake. And of those, I would say probably five or six or video game, obviously. Now with the strike, I'm not doing any video games right now. Yep. But when I was, I would go in the booth, I could do 5610 characters in 20 minutes. [00:17:48] Speaker A: Okay. [00:17:49] Speaker B: Go in the booth, record for 20 minutes, 5610 characters, because typically, it's only three, four, five lines for these characters. [00:17:54] Speaker A: Right. Five, maybe some action sounds, maybe. Yeah. [00:17:57] Speaker B: Yeah. And typically, what happens is I'm what I call a gut truster. So when I'm in there reading it and when I'm doing it, if I feel good, I'm just going. I don't come back and listen to it and go, well, now that I'm listening, I wonder if it takes a lot for me to do that and go, I need to go record. I trust my gut. I say, I'm in the booth, I'm reading it, and I'm going, this is how I feel. This is what I think. Let's do it. And I'm booking. So I'm like, why change that? [00:18:26] Speaker A: Right? [00:18:27] Speaker B: Why would I not do that? So then when I sit at the computer after my 20 minutes of recording, I can get those all edited in about 20 minutes as well. [00:18:33] Speaker A: So you're doing a batch. That's. That's what I wanted to. That's what I wanted to highlight because I think the folks who are, who are really doing a lot of bookings at this point, they do all the recording and they come and do all the editing. They get them out the door. [00:18:44] Speaker B: Yep. [00:18:44] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, I'll do that. [00:18:47] Speaker B: So if I include all the other auditions. [00:18:49] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:18:49] Speaker B: Which is what I'll do. I'll get in the booth at probably 930 at night. I'll record till about 1010 15. And then I spend the next 45 to 50 minutes. Just edit, tweak, cut, send, edit, tweet, cut, send, edit, tweet, cut, send, and batch them all up and get them. [00:19:10] Speaker A: Out before they're due. Awesome. Cool. I have to. So tell us a little bit about your family because we've seen two of them walk in. [00:19:18] Speaker B: Yes, you have. [00:19:19] Speaker A: Yeah. So you do all this, by the way, with all these lovely people in your environment. So, yeah, tell us about your family. [00:19:28] Speaker B: And this is what's interesting, is that also partially the need for an exterior building with a proper locked door that I can, you know, have my privacy because I love my kids, obviously, and they can come in. There have been times where sessions or whatever else, my kid just comes waltzed right in. And this is what's so great is I've never had a client who struggles with it. It's always like, oh, is that your kid? Oh, that's so cute. But as the professional actor, I'm like, mortify. [00:19:59] Speaker A: I have that feeling, that. That moment. Yes. [00:20:01] Speaker B: Like, yes, this is my job. Like, you're not supposed to be walking in here. And so I have five children. The oldest is eleven. [00:20:10] Speaker A: Okay. [00:20:11] Speaker B: It's my daughter Rachel. [00:20:11] Speaker A: Preteen. Preteen, yes. [00:20:14] Speaker B: Very, very preteen. [00:20:15] Speaker A: I got you. Okay. [00:20:16] Speaker B: Another daughter who's nine, Alice. And then the older of the two you saw, Lachlan. He's seven. [00:20:23] Speaker A: Okay. [00:20:24] Speaker B: And then young William, who's three. And then little baby Kate. Yep. Little baby Kate who's one year old. [00:20:31] Speaker A: Okay. Okay. [00:20:33] Speaker B: So it's a busy house, and that's. [00:20:35] Speaker A: Why you're working at 930 at night too. [00:20:37] Speaker B: Yes. My most productive hours are 09:30 p.m. to 04:00 a.m. when I am. [00:20:43] Speaker A: When Maddie was little, I was in here doing audiobook work, mostly to begin with, and then some commercial stuff, and it was. It was the 930 to 1230 were my sweets. That's my sweet spot hours. [00:20:55] Speaker B: Yep. [00:20:55] Speaker A: Now that she's a teenager, it's when she's at school. Ben's gone, everyone's gone. It tends to be now, for me, it shifted to this. 10:00 a.m. 10:00 a.m. to three is my sweet spot. God forbid. I tried everything in the evenings. Now that's what you know. So, yeah, yeah. Which has been a little bit easier for sessions, unless it's an animated series, something. And they're like, hey, available at 02:00 a.m. and I go, okay. [00:21:17] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. We're still at the point where I say where I have to block out my calendar with my wife because she has to either take the kids in the basement or take them out back or be gone. [00:21:29] Speaker A: Yes. My dogs. My dogs go in the far bedroom. And they're real good. They've learned. If I say, I need silence, you guys, and they know they're gonna get treats, and they're great as long as I put them in the room. They used to be crates when they were little. Now they don't need the crates, but if they're free out like that, they're out right now. If a UPS comes up while I'm interviewing you, it will be so loud, and so I make sure that doesn't happen. The only time we had trouble during a session, we had a guy come and photograph our house, and the dogs could tell there was someone around, and that was the only time. Again, it's that mortifying. We're gonna take a quick break. I'll be right back. It's only happened to me once. Once. Wood, wooden. But, yeah, it's a terrible feeling. That was a commercial. [00:22:13] Speaker B: Terrible feeling. [00:22:14] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:22:14] Speaker B: Yeah. There was one session that I had just two days ago, I was doing a commercial for Liberty mutual. [00:22:19] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:22:20] Speaker B: For their new. For their new campaign. And I'm sitting there doing these lines, and then all of a sudden, the. The audio guy stops me. He's like, hey, sorry, I think there's some background noise going on. [00:22:28] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:22:28] Speaker B: And I was just kind of in it, and I stopped. And directly under my booth is the front entry to the house. [00:22:35] Speaker A: Yes. [00:22:36] Speaker B: My little boy William was singing at the top of his lungs and just doing. And I'm going, oh. So just one moment. Turn off my mic, step out of my booth. I'm recording. [00:22:50] Speaker A: I do the same one. Oh, the door goes up and I shout that way. Yes, yes, yes. Oh, yes. Oh, my goodness. [00:22:56] Speaker B: And again, I come back in and turn on the mic. Sorry about that. He loved it, you know, which helps. Mortified. [00:23:02] Speaker A: I know. [00:23:03] Speaker B: Mortified. [00:23:04] Speaker A: Okay, so do you have any mentors who, when, why? Who's been influential in your creativity? [00:23:12] Speaker B: So I operate under the guise of. I don't believe in prominence or status. Meaning when I started off and had no idea what I was doing, I just emailed my favorite voice actors and said, hey, can we learn some things? And I reached out to pat fraley, who was the voice of my childhood. [00:23:38] Speaker A: I love him so much. [00:23:39] Speaker B: Yes, he's the best. He reached out to pat fraley and just told him, hey, I'm thinking about voice acting, and I don't really know what I'm doing, but would love to talk to you. And he goes, oh, well, why don't you come on over? [00:23:51] Speaker A: Yeah, that's pat. [00:23:53] Speaker B: I went to his house. [00:23:54] Speaker A: Yes. [00:23:55] Speaker B: And spent 2 hours just shooting the breeze with pat. Went up into his booth, recorded some things with pat, and he goes, yeah, you're definitely ready for this. You're made for this. Go do it. [00:24:05] Speaker A: Like, oh, yes, pat Fraley. [00:24:08] Speaker B: Like, did you come to my house? [00:24:09] Speaker A: If you guys don't know, pat fraley is crying from teenage mutant ninja turtles back in the brave star. Brave star. He's the voice of brave star. He's done so much. So, so, so much. And he came up to Seattle when I was brand new voice. Brand new voice actor. And I went, and someone I. Yeah, someone said, hey, you have tape Pat's class this weekend? And I. It was sold out, but I got in, it was at bad animals. And. Yeah. Cause he walked up to me afterward, he goes, you gotta. You gotta do this. Yeah, yeah. Taking classes with him. It was. Yes, he's from Seattle way back when. He has family up here. And that's how we got lucky to have him in person. This is all ten years ago was when I got. Oh, man, Pat Fraley. Yes. And he's got. For anyone going, oh, I'm not in LA. I don't. Guys, he's got a ton of stuff online. Go to his website. [00:24:56] Speaker B: Yes. [00:24:57] Speaker A: He has free resources that will last you a good year of training. And then if you want to buy his classes, buy his classes, too, because they're so good. But I will tell you that his just the free stuff is phenomenal. [00:25:09] Speaker B: He has these nuggets that are just gold to just be like, oh, yeah, that's right. I should think about that. Or I should remember that he's so good at all that. And so Pat Fraley was one, and then another one's obviously Jim Cummings. [00:25:24] Speaker A: I've not met Jim, so tell me all about Jim. [00:25:27] Speaker B: So, okay. Jim Cummins is the most remarkable individual. Obviously, with his workload, he won't even remember this. But the first time we met was at Atlas, so I was signed with Atlas. [00:25:40] Speaker A: Atlas is an agency? Yep. [00:25:41] Speaker B: Alice is an agency in LA. And I was in there signing all the paperwork, and I was like, oh, my gosh, this is a dream come true. Like, I've always wanted to be represented by Atlas. This is crazy. I'm sitting there signing the paperwork, and all of a sudden I hear this laughter, and I turn around, and in walks Jim Cummings. And I'm sitting here going, I am signing with the agency right now that Jim is with, and he comes in there, big old smile on his face. How's everyone doing? Chatting everybody up. And I'm just going, this isn't happening. How is this real life right now? [00:26:13] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:26:14] Speaker B: And just the most beautiful man and so kind and generous, and I'm confident. I came across a super fanboy, so he won't remember anything, but it was one of those that, like, I look at his body of work and I go, that's what I aspire to. I aspire to just everywhere, being. Doing all the things but making it all unique and interesting. [00:26:38] Speaker A: Jim Cummings, what are your favorite things he's done? [00:26:42] Speaker B: Oh, just Winnie the Pooh and Tigger. [00:26:44] Speaker A: Yeah, those two. The tigger. Tigger's the one that gets me all the time. [00:26:47] Speaker B: His tailspin. [00:26:48] Speaker A: You guys have heard him in everything your whole lives. You've been hearing Jim Cummings, everything. [00:26:51] Speaker B: You go, IMDb. Pat Fraley and Jim Cummings. [00:26:53] Speaker A: They'll go, you'll see your whole childhoods right there. They'll be right there. That's awesome. Okay, here's a question. Did anyone ever say exactly the right thing to get you where you are today? [00:27:04] Speaker B: Ooh, I like this question a lot. Several people have. I don't remember who they are, but it's one of those things that you hear a lot, but you don't really, like, take note of it. And then once you understand, you go, oh, it's always later. [00:27:25] Speaker A: It's later, right? Yeah. [00:27:27] Speaker B: And the phrase is, you know, the idea is, nobody knows what they're doing. [00:27:33] Speaker A: Oh, yeah. [00:27:35] Speaker B: Nobody knows what they're doing. Everyone's just trying to figure it out. Everyone's just trying to make it work. Like, when I started voice acting, I started looking at what other people were doing and tried to do it their way and didn't really have any success. So then I said, well, I'll just do it my way, even if it's wrong. And then I did it my way, and I learned a bunch of things, and I made a bunch of mistakes and went, oh, I'm just kind of figuring this out. And then when everyone's just figuring this out, everyone's just trying to figure this out and make it work. Oh, nobody knows what they're doing. Great. That means I now have permission to do whatever I need to, to do whatever I want and not follow the rules, because there's not rules. Like, right? There's not. And so, yeah, that. That, to me, is the one piece of advice that I keep remembering. Like, nobody knows what they're doing. We're just figuring it out as we go. [00:28:20] Speaker A: Just do it. Is the other part of that, right? Just do it because nobody knows what they're doing. [00:28:24] Speaker B: Yeah. There's no such thing as failure. Failure is as if you quit. [00:28:29] Speaker A: Agreed. Yeah. That is the only way to fail is to. [00:28:31] Speaker B: That's the only way to fail is quit if you just keep going, oh, I made a huge mistake. Oh, okay, great. Well, what do I learn from that mistake? Okay, I learned this and this. Great. Going forward, I won't do that anymore. One of the biggest mistakes I made was when I was starting off early on. I did national spot for Toyota. And I'm on the phone with the client and everybody, and it was a zoom session. [00:28:48] Speaker A: Right? [00:28:48] Speaker B: So we do the whole Zoom session. Everything's done. We finish. I never hit record. [00:28:55] Speaker A: Oh, yeah. [00:28:56] Speaker B: Never recorded the session. [00:28:57] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:28:58] Speaker B: And this can happen. I'm like, well, I'm gonna get blacklisted. This is it. I'm never gonna work again. Everyone's gonna spread my name around as this don't work with this guy. He's unprofessional. Da da da. Call back the client. I said, I I'm so sorry. I did not hit record on the session. And all they said was, oh, yeah, it happens all the time. We'll have to do a session tomorrow. We can't pay you for that session. No, no, of course not. Like, oh, I get it. I get it. Yes. Oh, my word. Thank you so much. No, no, we get it. It happens. [00:29:26] Speaker A: It does happen. It sure does. Oh, yeah. [00:29:28] Speaker B: If I had shut down. If I had said, oh, well, my career's over. I better quit. I better stop, because, like, that's ridiculous. [00:29:36] Speaker A: Right? [00:29:36] Speaker B: Just keep going. Just learn and just keep moving. Yeah. [00:29:39] Speaker A: Awesome. Cool. Okay, so here's. Here's the. Here's the flip side of that one. Has anyone ever said the wrong thing to you? And how did you. [00:29:47] Speaker B: So I think we need to define wrong. [00:29:49] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:29:50] Speaker B: So, for me, I'm going to define wrong as a paradigm. So they told me their paradigm of what it was, and I went against that because I didn't agree with it. [00:30:07] Speaker A: Right. [00:30:07] Speaker B: So I was told somewhat early on that there's a specific way that you need to audition and that you have to make sure you follow the rules of auditions if you want to succeed. And I auditioned that way for quite some time and never really booked anything. [00:30:28] Speaker A: Okay. [00:30:30] Speaker B: And then said, this is ridiculous. Why am I doing this? Went completely opposite to their paradigm and started booking nonstop. So, yeah, it was kind of a paradigm thing, because in their mind, they, I guess, felt like that was the right way to do it, and they wanted to help me by saying, you can't do it another way. This is the way you have to do it. And it did not work for me, so I kicked it out the door, and then I took off. [00:31:01] Speaker A: And I would imagine this is a guess that you. If you were doing it the way they said to do it, you would have sounded like everyone else, maybe. [00:31:08] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:31:08] Speaker A: And then when you shifted, you stood out. [00:31:11] Speaker B: Yep. [00:31:12] Speaker A: Okay. [00:31:13] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:31:13] Speaker A: That makes a lot of sense. [00:31:15] Speaker B: It was the. It's the. It's the idea. And this. And this works in every medium, whether it's film or tv or musical theater. Everything else. Mediocrity can only get you so far. [00:31:26] Speaker A: That's true. [00:31:27] Speaker B: Like, it might get you in the door, and it might get you in a comfortable place of just, here I am, but it's never going to get you where you want to go. And I was sitting in the middle of the pack, and I was like, I don't want to sit in the middle of the pack. This is ridiculous. So I said, forget that. I'm going to audition however I want to audition. I started doing reads that people would be like, why in the world did you submit that? And I'm booking. [00:31:56] Speaker A: Having listened, I think. Who was it? It was Liz Atherton, who's an amazing manager, talent agent. She did a podcast where she let everyone hear, it's like 25 auditions of some of the best people in the industry. And the reads that were shockingly different were instantly in the pocket because otherwise everybody was just doing it the same way. And these are the best people out there. And I went, oh, oh, that. And there were reads that were shockingly weird. Yeah. If I'd heard, if I'd heard it by itself, if someone had played for it, played it to me, I would have gone, what the. [00:32:32] Speaker B: Yeah, what is this? [00:32:34] Speaker A: But it totally worked in the context of listening to all those auditions back to back to back to back. [00:32:40] Speaker B: The number of bookings that I have had where the client has said, we didn't even think to go the direction you did. [00:32:48] Speaker A: Ah, yes. [00:32:48] Speaker B: But when we heard your audition, we were like, oh, that's what we want to do. That happens to me all the time. [00:32:55] Speaker A: I have a question. When you get the audition, what's your process? [00:33:00] Speaker B: Yeah, so it varies for every single genre. Okay, so, well, let's just go. So we're not here all night. Let's just talk about commercial video game and animation. [00:33:11] Speaker A: Done. Okay. [00:33:12] Speaker B: Okay, so commercial video game animation. So for commercial, I typically don't spend much time on commercial auditions and scripts. I've done enough script analysis through my theatrical training, through my MFA, my master's training, all that I can look at a commercial script and instantly go, okay, here's the demographic, here's what the client wants. I'm just going to switch into my commercial mode and read it three or four times and pick whichever one I like the most. [00:33:38] Speaker A: Yes. [00:33:39] Speaker B: And I'm booking commercial like crazy. [00:33:41] Speaker A: Okay. [00:33:42] Speaker B: So it's working. So I'm going to stick with it. That's how I do commercial work. I don't spend much time on the script. [00:33:47] Speaker A: Do you ever read the specs? Do you spend much time in the specs? [00:33:50] Speaker B: I rarely read the specs. [00:33:51] Speaker A: That's what I wanted to get to. That. Good. I know, right? So anyone listening to this? You guys don't read the specs. Look at the spot. Look at the spot. Make decisions based on that. Yeah. [00:34:00] Speaker B: Now what I will read the specs is if they have a reference track. [00:34:04] Speaker A: Yes, that makes sense. Well, sure. [00:34:06] Speaker B: If they send a reference and say, here's a reference track, I'm going to listen to the reference track. And if the reference track is, like, completely opposed to what I originally had on my mind, then I'll go read the specs and be like, okay, so obviously I'm missing something that they really want, because for me, a reference link is they're very specific about how they want this. If that's the case, great. I'll go back to the specs and give them the read that that they want. But if there's no reference track, whatever comes out, comes out. I don't read specs. I just. Here's the script. I read the script and go, what is that? For me? That's what this is. Boom. And I do it. [00:34:40] Speaker A: Sweet. [00:34:41] Speaker B: So that's commercial. [00:34:42] Speaker A: Yeah, the next one. [00:34:43] Speaker B: So video game, I turn on my vocal effort switch. [00:34:49] Speaker A: Yes. [00:34:49] Speaker B: Which is basically for those who don't know. So vocal efforts are the. [00:34:56] Speaker A: Good sounds. [00:34:57] Speaker B: All the little sounds that come out, you know, when we do whatever. Now, video games, especially nowadays, have become much more in the animation vein. I of mostly realistic with some of these main characters. They don't want crazy, you know, kooky voices. You know, like, now, most video games, they want real sounds and they want a little more filmic to where it's. Where the mics right up there. And you're just going for it. [00:35:23] Speaker A: Yep. [00:35:24] Speaker B: So I'll read through all the lines. I'll read through the character breakdown. I'll read through the lines again, and then I'll record. [00:35:32] Speaker A: Yep. [00:35:33] Speaker B: And if I'm. By the, by the end of my. That recording, if I don't feel like, yeah, that felt good, I'll do it again. [00:35:41] Speaker A: Okay. [00:35:41] Speaker B: But it's. I'm a, I'm a gut person. You do one or two takes, I'll shoot one take. [00:35:47] Speaker A: Okay. [00:35:48] Speaker B: I don't do two takes on video games. I do one take and I listen back. And if I'm like, that's the character I want. That's what I'm confident in. I executed what I thought about this character. Great center, and you're in. [00:36:00] Speaker A: Okay. [00:36:01] Speaker B: I don't, I don't. I don't double take. Everyone's mostly. So switching to animation now. Yes, animation. I'm always looking for the funny. [00:36:10] Speaker A: Yes. Yes. [00:36:12] Speaker B: Pat Fraley, always looking for the funny. [00:36:14] Speaker A: Yeah. Eight points. [00:36:15] Speaker B: Because nine times out of ten, the animation is a kids show or a comedy show or something where they want the funny. [00:36:23] Speaker A: Yes. [00:36:23] Speaker B: So I'm just, I'm fine tooth. I'm fine comb, you know, combing through to see where's the funny and where can I play it up? [00:36:30] Speaker A: Yes. [00:36:30] Speaker B: Um, so typically what I'll do, and especially with comedy, oftentimes, it's easy to get inspiration as you do it. So for my animation auditions, I'll look at the specs for the character just to see if there's anything specific where they're like, we really want this character to be nasally. [00:36:46] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:36:46] Speaker B: It's like, if they're very specific about. [00:36:48] Speaker A: That given circumstances, I honor the given circumstances. Yeah, yeah. [00:36:52] Speaker B: If they give me those, I'm like, okay, I'll give you one take like that. But I'm also going to to give you a second take. So for animation, I always do two takes. Okay. Unless they're like, no, we have to have just one take. [00:37:05] Speaker A: They follow their rules first, but then, yeah. And after that, yeah. [00:37:08] Speaker B: But if they don't give me specifics, I'm always doing two takes. And I'm going so far, crazy town, out of the realm of the specs that they go, holy cow. These are two completely different characters, but that shows range, and we like that. [00:37:23] Speaker A: So they want that. There's the art of the audition. There's the art of the gig. And I swear they're different things. [00:37:29] Speaker B: Uh huh. 100%. I've had auditions where they were like, we loved your audition. It was so crazy and out of the box, and it was awesome. We're not going to do that. We're going to do what we wanted in the specs, but we sure love you, but you got the job because you, you went crazy. And we were like, wow, that's awesome. Range. But then they were like, but we're going to force you back into this box for the specs. That's the job. So you go, okay, great. That's the job. I'm doing it. [00:37:55] Speaker A: Cool. [00:37:55] Speaker B: So that's my method for commercial video game animation. [00:37:59] Speaker A: Thank you for sharing that. That's awesome. Let's see. Have you ever had. Okay, on a bad or a discouraging day, especially, like, maybe with. Even with film and some of the other stuff you're doing on a bad, especially if you're producing on a bad, discouraging day, how do you go into the room and make this so I. [00:38:19] Speaker B: Find it's a lot easier for me having five children and a spouse that I kind of don't get to complain about anything. I'm a full time voice actor. I wake up every morning whenever I want, unless I have a booking, and I do voice acting for a living. Like, that's insane. [00:38:39] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:38:40] Speaker B: So for me, when I get to those moments and this happens to all the time where I've had a long day, I'm tired, I'm exhausted. I finally got the kids to bed with my spouse. I come in and I've got 17 auditions that I have to do. [00:38:56] Speaker A: Yep. [00:38:57] Speaker B: And I'm just like, I just don't have the energy and I don't want to. And they're all due tomorrow morning. They're all due the next morning. 07:00 a.m. eastern. [00:39:04] Speaker A: Yep, yep. [00:39:05] Speaker B: And I'm like. And I just go, this is the money. This is your lifestyle. If you don't go in the booth right now and give 100% on all these auditions, you don't get to keep this lifestyle. It's like, okay, fine, let's do it. And so I'll take the hour and a half, 2 hours to do it all, and then this happens every time. Every single time. Hitting record and going into my booth is 95% of the difficulty. [00:39:38] Speaker A: Once you're there, you're there. [00:39:40] Speaker B: When I'm there, I'm there. But, like, sitting at the computer and there's social media or there's a film I want to watch or there's other things, and I'm like, I just don't want to do the recording and the auditioning, and, oh, I did this every night. Every day, I'm in the booth recording. If I can just hit record and get out of my seat and just go in the booth, then it's slow, it's flow. [00:40:00] Speaker A: There was someone recently who said something that really, it helped me even. We know that we're lucky to get to be voice actors, but one guy said, hey, go, go. Follow your dreams. You don't need to be a mathematician or you don't have to be a lawyer, but you do have to treat the arts like a job, 100%. And I think that that's what I hear from you, is you show up. [00:40:19] Speaker B: You have to have the discipline, you have to do the job. And what I see, I mean, I coach a lot of beginning voice actors. [00:40:27] Speaker A: Yeah, you do. [00:40:28] Speaker B: I've put myself in a position to be like, look, here's how I got to where I did so quickly. I'm happy to share my experience. I am not a get rich quick, and here's how you make money. That's not what I believe in. What I believe in is, let me tell you my experience, and if you can glean from that or if you can do that, too, great. And it is amazing to me, the number of people who just don't want to do the work. [00:40:55] Speaker A: Yes, I know this, too. [00:40:57] Speaker B: I walk through everything that's required, and they go, okay, yeah, that sounds great. And I say, okay, well, email me. Like, let me accountable. [00:41:05] Speaker A: Sometimes. Sometimes they do, but sometimes they. But they. Then they'll tell you why they couldn't get them to you. You know, it was loud. The cats. I got home late. I was tired. I know. [00:41:16] Speaker B: Yeah. You think I don't go through that? You think with five kids, I don't go through sound through my house. [00:41:22] Speaker A: There are things that come up. [00:41:24] Speaker B: You've got to do the job. [00:41:25] Speaker A: Yes. [00:41:26] Speaker B: Like, I tell, oftentimes I tell us. And I did this at Sova. So I was, I did a keynote at the, that's voiceover in November. Yeah, just this past year. And one of the main points of my story was I had a nine to five job and then I worked, took care of my family from 05:00 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. until my wife went to bed. And when my wife went to bed and when my kids went to bed, I stayed up till two, three, four in the morning, three nights a week, just trying to figure out the industry and trying to figure out, like, how do I do this and how do I be a voice actor? And I did that for two years. [00:42:00] Speaker A: Yes. [00:42:01] Speaker B: Like, you have to put in the work. You can't skip that part. There's no alternative to getting the work done. [00:42:09] Speaker A: And then the work continues. There was someone else, I think it was Jennifer Hale. I'm gonna, hopefully, I'm quoting her correctly here. She was on LinkedIn and she said something like, you've got to put popcorn in the shaker over the stove and you've got to shake that popcorn. And if you've got it, just pop. And then pop, pop, pop, and then eventually lots of popping. But if you don't continue to put popcorn in, you suddenly wonder why there's no popcorn. I'm totally paraphrasing how she said it, but that was so good because every once in a while I'll think, wow, things are great. Things are great. Why are things not keep going? Because that you've got to be keeping that pipeline of the auditions moving every night. That's the work, is the auditioning. [00:42:47] Speaker B: And the number of times that I've said, oh, I really don't want to do this, but I have to do it. And then two days later, I got a booking off one of the auditions. [00:42:57] Speaker A: I know. [00:42:58] Speaker B: And it's like, if I hadn't, if I'd been like, no, I'm just too tired. I'm just not going to do these auditions. I would have missed that booking. [00:43:05] Speaker A: Yes. [00:43:05] Speaker B: Can't miss bookings. Like, if I'm doing this full time, I can't miss any bookings, which means I have to do all these auditions even if I don't want to. That's the discipline. And people, and I get it. Sometimes people go like, what do you mean? You get to do the auditions like, you're a voice actor. Aren't every, isn't every audition great? When I get in the booth and I've got seven commercials, there can be a lot of the worst scripts I've ever read. [00:43:29] Speaker A: Yeah, I know. [00:43:30] Speaker B: Yes, it gets daunting sometimes, at least commercially. Yes, it's boring sometimes, right? [00:43:34] Speaker A: Yes. [00:43:35] Speaker B: Yes, it can get boring sometimes. Yes. It cannot be fun to go do auditions. Yes, it can. It cannot be fun. But at the same time, I can't complain. Are you kidding me? I'm a full time voice actor. I live in a house with my family, and I get to see my kids all day. Like, I can't complain about anything. [00:43:50] Speaker A: I have no real gratitude. I'm hearing that as a theme throughout this whole list, this whole season of podcast guests is the theme of gratitude for that question, I think has come up with everyone. [00:44:01] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:44:01] Speaker A: Which I love, it's that you're grateful you get to be a voice actor every day. [00:44:06] Speaker B: Yeah. Like if someone said, whenever people say, walk me through your journey, my journey is gratitude for everyone along the way who said, yeah, we'll take a chance on you. Like, if the people that I had met on this journey had said, no, I might not be where I am today if people hadn't, like, taken a chance on me. So my entire career, my entire lifestyle is based on gratitude for others who took a chance on me and who said, you know what? Yeah, let's get Paul. [00:44:36] Speaker A: Let's try it. Let's try it. So what kind of projects do you have coming up right now? [00:44:42] Speaker B: Oh, my goodness. [00:44:43] Speaker A: Talk about your project. [00:44:43] Speaker B: I'm very excited for AAAA video game that's going to be coming out soon. [00:44:50] Speaker A: And thankfully it still gets to come out because we, even though the strike is happening. And right now it is July 29 of 2024. Whenever you're listening to this, it's currently a SAG AFTRA video game strike. [00:44:58] Speaker B: Yes. I recorded this a long time ago. [00:45:02] Speaker A: Probably a couple years. Right. And that's because mine's coming out in October. Oh, good. [00:45:07] Speaker B: Not two years. It was shorter than that. [00:45:09] Speaker A: Good. That's good. [00:45:09] Speaker B: But, yeah, so some awesome video games that I recorded way before the strike that will be coming out eventually, some really fun national commercials for radio that'll be coming out, which are really fun. For those of you who don't know, I'm navigating my NDA, my nondisclosure agreements, meaning I signed a paperwork saying I can't talk about it. That's why you're not getting specifics. [00:45:36] Speaker A: Oftentimes they'll say, yes, I'm doing a thing that's coming out later. [00:45:40] Speaker B: Yes. [00:45:40] Speaker A: Yes. [00:45:40] Speaker B: A thing that's coming out later. [00:45:42] Speaker A: Especially video games, especially animation. Some commercials. [00:45:44] Speaker B: Yes. [00:45:45] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. [00:45:46] Speaker B: So I have many things that are coming out later. [00:45:49] Speaker A: There you go. That's a great answer. [00:45:51] Speaker B: So, so excited. I told you earlier, though, I am working on this news tv series that I'm going to be show running and directing, which we start shooting August 10. [00:46:00] Speaker A: Beautiful. [00:46:01] Speaker B: Which is so fun. I've got a film called six days in August that's coming out in October, in theaters. [00:46:06] Speaker A: Okay. [00:46:07] Speaker B: I've got another film called raising the Bar, which comes out in April next year that I'm in. Some really fun stuff. [00:46:19] Speaker A: Yeah. So you're not bored? [00:46:22] Speaker B: I'm not. [00:46:23] Speaker A: How do you guys handle family vacations, time off, all of that. And do you take your mic with you or not? [00:46:28] Speaker B: Okay. This is the most ridiculous thing ever because everyone talks about it. It's real when you book out, meaning you tell your agent or whoever that you're. You can't work because you're gone. When I book out, I get bookings. [00:46:45] Speaker A: Of course you do. No, we all do. No, that's how to get work. You guys just get an international plane ticket or tell people you can't work. Either one. You are guaranteed a booking pretty much that day. Yeah. Which is why I take my. Anyway, you could tell your story, tell you more. [00:47:00] Speaker B: And this has, this has been, and I've been keeping track because it's so, so ridiculous. [00:47:04] Speaker A: I know. [00:47:05] Speaker B: The past seven trips. [00:47:08] Speaker A: Yep. [00:47:08] Speaker B: I've taken my family. All of them. Every single one of them. I've booked out. And without fail, I've had my manager or someone reach out and be like, hey, this client really needs you on this day. I know you're booked out, but it's a booking. So because of that, I do bring my equipment. [00:47:26] Speaker A: Yeah, I do. [00:47:26] Speaker B: So I bring my 416. My Sennheiser 416. [00:47:29] Speaker A: I bring a 416. [00:47:30] Speaker B: I bring a 416 when I travel. And I bring my scarlet preamp. [00:47:34] Speaker A: Yep. That's the exact kit. I bring that. Just that. [00:47:37] Speaker B: And I record on the go all the time. [00:47:40] Speaker A: Cars are great. Yeah. I got stuck in Ireland for five weeks and did a whole lot of voiceover because I had that kit with me. [00:47:47] Speaker B: Yeah. And it's just one of those things now that the only time I don't bring them with me is when I go camping. [00:47:55] Speaker A: Oh, agreed. Cars. Birds. Birds. Birds, man. Birds. [00:48:00] Speaker B: And if I'm going camping. I don't tell my agent or manager until, like, the day before. [00:48:05] Speaker A: Me too. And so you end up with, yes, because I just came back from the Highland games. I was not booked, nor did I take. Oh, you can imagine bagpipes. Can you even. I can't even fathom. [00:48:16] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:48:16] Speaker A: The recording could not have happened in a vintage trailer. I don't record in a vintage trailer. Or intent or backpacking or. [00:48:23] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:48:24] Speaker A: Good heavens. [00:48:25] Speaker B: So last year I had two camping trips that I specifically waited until the last possible second until I said, hey, I'm going to be gone without Wi Fi. And they're like, okay, great. Yeah, no worries. And then no bookings came through. But the past, so far this year, the seven trips that I've gone on this year, I know all of them. I've had bookings. [00:48:42] Speaker A: I mean, it's not really. I can't say that would happen to absolutely everyone, but I will say, I think there's. There's something about the universe that you tell people that you are not available and suddenly everyone has work for you. [00:48:51] Speaker B: So I. So my wife and I have basically negotiated that because we live this lifestyle and because we're so grateful that we can pick, because our kids are homeschooled. [00:49:02] Speaker A: Yes. [00:49:02] Speaker B: So we can literally go anytime we want, anywhere we want. [00:49:05] Speaker A: Perfect. [00:49:05] Speaker B: We are free to do whatever we want. So the discussion with my wife is because we have that freedom, we have to take the golden handcuffs of, we might be on vacation and we might have had a fun day planned, but we have to take 4 hours out of it for me to go back to the hotel to do a booking. [00:49:25] Speaker A: Do a quick booking. [00:49:26] Speaker B: Yep, yep. And then continue our party. Like, that's just where we live now in Edinburgh. [00:49:31] Speaker A: Last year I had a quick booking and I was staying in what was basically like a castle. No recording in there. So I booked a studio. And how fun was that to be on the Royal Mile and run up and you had to. We had to be way above the royal mile because bagpipes. So, you know, up on the 6th floor. But what fun to get to jump in there and just do a quick, you know, it was a quick, quick session. And then I got out of there and was back in the madness of the Royal mile. Yeah, yeah. Oh, my gosh. Thank you for sharing that. I mean, that's helpful for people thinking, well. Cause I know some people, they're like, nope, I closed the door and that's it. And I know a lot of us that bringer. I bring my gear, hoping that I won't have to do it very much. Yeah. But it's there in case I need to. [00:50:09] Speaker B: Yes. It's always there just in case. And I'm all about. [00:50:13] Speaker A: Just two more questions. When you are not creating, what do you love to do? [00:50:17] Speaker B: I love trips with my family, vacations or even just, like, activities. Even just like family. Let's get in the car and go on a hike, or let's go to the park. Like, honestly, if I'm not recording and doing what I love, I'm just hanging out with my kids. [00:50:31] Speaker A: Yes. That's awesome. And what most inspires you creatively? [00:50:38] Speaker B: I think for me, it's the idea that if I can think it, I can make it. [00:50:44] Speaker A: Oh, I love that, too. [00:50:46] Speaker B: That, that to me, I mean, I've written seven screenplays this year. [00:50:50] Speaker A: Wow. [00:50:51] Speaker B: And these only existed in my head. [00:50:56] Speaker A: Yep. Yep. [00:50:57] Speaker B: I created them and put them on paper, and now they're a thing. Now it's real, which means if I can think it, I can make it. [00:51:05] Speaker A: Having done that now once myself with the show, about what happened to me. Yes. And I think sometimes it's just. Just do it because nobody knows what they're doing. I love that, too. [00:51:16] Speaker B: Nobody knows what they're doing. [00:51:17] Speaker A: Nobody knows what they're doing. So do the thing. [00:51:19] Speaker B: Do the thing. [00:51:20] Speaker A: Yeah. Paul, thank you so much for talking. I appreciate this conversation so much, and I look forward to seeing you in person at one of these. It's gonna happen one of these times. We're totally gonna make it happen. So thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Hey, everybody, thanks for listening. To go to your room and make stuff. The podcast for artists of any kind who want to make arth themselves. Be sure to subscribe to our podcast. In all the places where you find podcasts, find us on social media. And if you ever have any artists you would like to see featured, please let us know. Now. Go to your room and make stuff.