Hi everyone. I'm a voice recording artist based in London. I've had a pretty steady line of work in advertisement for a number of years. I mostly work with furniture companies (announcing sales) and I also have a steady gig with a cleaning company. I've become what the industry calls "a household voice".
But my real passion has always been poetry. I'd like to make a living as someone who reads poetry for anthologies, or maybe even at literature events.
I'm pretty confident in my ability (having done voice work for so long) but I want to get an outside opinion before I make the big plunge. I've recorded myself reading one of my favourite Housman poems from A Shropshire Lad (pictured). I'd really appreciate it if you could give me some honest feedback.
that was the worst poetry reading I have ever heard
you clearly had no connection with the text, slowing nowhere appropriate and speaking without the slightest hint of gravity, and bounced on all the beats like it was a fucking sing along
9/10 (you)
Jaxon Sullivan
Gross, why would anyone want to read poetry out loud.
Hudson Martin
nice voice for advertising, but I don't think that tone will work for most poetry (not saying that's all your voice can do), can you record yourself reading something in a more """"poetic"""" or serious voice? There are lots of people into audiobooks and stuff, so I think you could probably record yourself reading poetry, though you seem to be modulating your voice a lot in e what you linked, just let the sounds come out naturally my brother
Gabriel Butler
Oh dear, I'd had higher hopes. Can you be a bit more specific about what I should change? I thought I was being "poetic" and "serious".
James Gutierrez
bump
Brody Hughes
stop trying to please the listeners you soyboy
get a feel for the poem, mull on it, then read it the way YOU like
Anthony Smith
Yeah, okay pal. I'll take your word over my 12 years of voice-acting experience. O-kay
Aiden Allen
>please validate my intrinsic bias and tell me I'm great
Fuck off faggot
Jack Davis
I don't need your validation, I've got my 50k per annum for 10 hours per week to do that for me
Jayden Garcia
Really poor bait dude. Really poor. I'll give you a 2/10 for effort.
Henry Brown
Hey guys I'm really good at thing Here is an example of thing in an absolute dog shit manner Don't say bad things about thing You guys are just projecting
Connor Clark
You sound like "Joe goes" when he's doing that stupid voice.
Logan Nelson
not that guy, but you gotta feel it. pretend you are the author who wrote it. understand it, dont just recite words. the listener can tell if you mean it . doesnt mean you go full soy of c
there's something annoying about how your voice sounds here, but that's not the main issue. this is a pretty good reciting of the poem, if someone held a gun to your head and told you to pretend you're singing a sesame street song.
realistically, the only solution to how to read better is to >become more intrinsically interested in language and >develop a more sophisticated appreciation for the relationship between sound and meaning as they interact in verse
Parker Hughes
OP here
I've taken your feedback on-board and had another go. This is from Paradise Lost, my favourite epic. It meant a lot to me during a time when I questioned my fate, and I hope some of that emotion has found its way into this recording. I intend to read the whole thing as an audiobook one day. Enjoy:
To whom the Angel. Son of Heav'n and Earth, Attend: That thou art happie, owe to God; [ 520 ] That thou continu'st such, owe to thy self, That is, to thy obedience; therein stand. This was that caution giv'n thee; be advis'd. God made thee perfet, not immutable; And good he made thee, but to persevere [ 525 ] He left it in thy power, ordaind thy will By nature free, not over-rul'd by Fate
Cooper Phillips
kek nice troll op
Bentley Brown
...
Parker Martinez
g-guys, d-d-did we just get trolled?
Luke Wilson
sounds way too compressed and like you're reading it instead of acting it out, pretend you're reading Shakespeare for a radio show or something, stretch out your words, read less of an excerpt if that's what's messing you up..
