Leaving Slack and Failing Faster in the Voiceover Studio – Tuesday Tech Tip

*Mics rigged and ready, the workplace has been refreshed.*

Upgrading the isolation and treatment of my voiceover recording booth was stressful but ultimately rewarding. It’s disorienting to strip your “office” to the bare walls. At each stage of my recent booth renovation project, I’ve tried to remove a bit of friction, reduce the number of inefficiencies, and create a less complex solution. It feels better when things are simpler.

Through the process of setting up many recording spaces for other people, and addressing all of the inadequacies of my own studio, I’ve been able to distill some truths.

Any knowledge I’ve gained in terms of studio workflow stems from a personal moment of “hmmm… that didn’t work…” Each time I’ve found my way into failure, it has paid positive dividends.

Back when I first read “Creativity, Inc.”, Ed Catmull’s book about Pixar and the process behind their continued progress, the clarity of “failing faster” kind of took my breath away. I realize that probably wasn’t the first place that idea surfaced in print, but the story of implementation resonated deeply for me.

That process doesn’t work without a commitment to bring your best self to the task. The process of failing faster is in no way an excuse to just go through the motions or generate shoddy work. It means being ready to refine those parts you realize aren’t quite “there” yet. Trusting the iterative process of refinement.

As I mentioned last week, I’m still keeping things a little loose in the final stages of my VO booth renovation process. After all, it took me 10 years of tweaking to get the last setup refined. An extra week or two is nothing in the scheme of things, and I’ve already had a couple of moments of “y’know what would make this even better….?” I’m happy to leave enough slack in the system to accommodate creative sparks amidst the specific challenges.

The same is true in the larger picture of running our own voiceover business. Immediate demands pull us in a variety of directions. We balance between the excruciatingly technical, exceptionally creative, and forecast-focused strategizing of greater goals. As with damping reflections and isolating in our space, the big fixes are often obvious. However, it’s showing up with focus and giving attention to repeated refinement that really moves us forward.