Speaker 1: South Africans doing great things.
Speaker 2: Fourteen minutes after ten o'clock, folks, thank you so much
Speaker 2: for joining us as we celebrate to the South Africans
Speaker 2: doing great things. Craig Ross is on zoom? Is he
Speaker 2: on zoom? Craig are you there?
Speaker 3: I am one.
Speaker 2: Clear, great great stuff. Thank you so much for joining
Speaker 2: us this evening. I'm here with Don Don Gonana, He's
Speaker 2: here with me in studio Don.
Speaker 3: Good evening to you, good evening guys having us.
Speaker 2: I just want to thank you both for agreeing to
Speaker 2: talk to us and just to talk to us about
Speaker 2: the work that you're doing with Voica, but also just
Speaker 2: to make time for us at this time of the evening.
Speaker 3: I know that you guys are very very busy, but
Speaker 3: this for us is a very.
Speaker 2: Very very important part of our programming that we celebrate
Speaker 2: South Africans that are doing selfless work like you're doing.
Speaker 3: Let me start with you, Craig. Where does voice us.
Speaker 2: Start from and why is it that you decided to
Speaker 2: go this route and what does this route actually mean?
Speaker 3: Well, you know, Aubrey, it was.
Speaker 1: It was the I think the ninth year of my
Speaker 1: life that you know, I was introduced to voiceover by
Speaker 1: my father, who was introduced by his father. I have
Speaker 1: a brother who is in, you know, in the acting
Speaker 1: realm and a couple of movies on Netflix, one of
Speaker 1: them being One Piece where he was Genzo. My whole
Speaker 1: family has always been in the voiceover industry, in the
Speaker 1: voice development industry, and really what you see today is
Speaker 1: the agreements and disagreements with producers, the different environments and studios,
Speaker 1: the different conversations with engineers, the thousands of scripts that
Speaker 1: we've worked through, the courses we've written, the books, the
Speaker 1: the over two thousand students we've we've taught the blind
Speaker 1: students where we've taken the scripts and turned them into
Speaker 1: Braille and given them opportunity. You know, we've It's really
Speaker 1: is and it's difficult to put it into into one
Speaker 1: sentenced her Voicer. The Voice of the Institute of South
Speaker 1: Africa really is a culmination of all of that. I
Speaker 1: some years ago produced the South African Voice Over Academy
Speaker 1: and we ran that company for a number of years,
Speaker 1: which became Voicer, which became Slo Voice and Production Agency,
Speaker 1: and then, you know, I really wanted to move away
Speaker 1: from the hands on work on the production side and
Speaker 1: really focus on the heart of the business, and that
Speaker 1: is the PM that's people and people's voice and given
Speaker 1: their voice and identity because really the voice is the
Speaker 1: fingerprint of each individual. And so really what we were
Speaker 1: trying to do is go out there and show people
Speaker 1: that they really do have a voice. And what I'd
Speaker 1: like to do, Aubrey, is just to give Don an
Speaker 1: opportunity to talk about what we are doing for these
Speaker 1: beautiful underprivileged children that Don who've lost mom and dad
Speaker 1: completely and in that case, a lot of the time
Speaker 1: you'll understand when I say this, they also lose their voice.
Speaker 1: And I think Don is going to be better at
Speaker 1: explaining that part of the business. We can come back
Speaker 1: to me, but Don please just explain. You know, not
Speaker 1: only is done there, you know, encouraging the voices and
Speaker 1: growing there, but feeding these children on a weekly basis.
Speaker 1: It's just incredible what he's doing. So Don, I don't know, Don, I.
Speaker 2: Mean, and maybe a bit before before you start on.
Speaker 2: I mean, I understand the power of voice. I've made
Speaker 2: my life out of using my voice, but I also
Speaker 2: understand that when we speak a voice, we're not just
Speaker 2: talking about the audibility of the stuff in your in
Speaker 2: your throat right right, You're also talking about the ability
Speaker 2: to express your innermost feelings through the agency that life
Speaker 2: affords you. So it appears to me that even as
Speaker 2: Craig speaks, is not just speaking about just the physical voice,
Speaker 2: although that plays a big part, I imagine in voices work,
Speaker 2: but it sounds to me like it goes a little deeper.
Speaker 2: It is about the finding of one's voice through I
Speaker 2: suppose agency talk to us about that.
Speaker 4: Don good evening to you, by the way, good evening,
Speaker 4: Good evening again, You're absolutely right. I mean, Craig likes
Speaker 4: to say that your voice, you have a personality, but
Speaker 4: your voice also has a personality, So then it does
Speaker 4: become deeper.
Speaker 3: It's not just reading a script.
Speaker 4: It's like the people that connect to you on this
Speaker 4: particular show connect to you on a deeper level. So
Speaker 4: you know, it goes beyond you just being here for
Speaker 4: a job. You know, you're touching people's lives out there.
Speaker 4: People are like I can't wait to tune into a
Speaker 4: Bridge show. And like you've just said, you make You've
Speaker 4: made it your whole life. This is how you make
Speaker 4: a living, you know, and and for you, there's nothing
Speaker 4: better and this is what we're trying to do.
Speaker 3: Voice.
Speaker 4: We're trying to just on earth that wealth that's inside
Speaker 4: these wonderful bodies, you know, these cases. And the voice
Speaker 4: is the one thing thing that people hear first. It's
Speaker 4: something we use to move mountains. I like saying that,
Speaker 4: you know, coming from a religious background, it was it
Speaker 4: was the voice that started everything. It was the voice
Speaker 4: the beginning and the.
Speaker 3: Yeah, okay that you know what I mean? So then
Speaker 3: you know, so you will take you will?
Speaker 4: I mean, just just the the supernatural power of the voice.
Speaker 4: It's just too amazing. Everywhere you go, you hear, hey
Speaker 4: you've got a nice voice. Why don't you do radio.
Speaker 4: Hey you've got a nice voice. Maybe you can do
Speaker 4: some ads, you know. But then exactly, but then we
Speaker 4: we take it a step further. So the ones that
Speaker 4: are voiceless, the ones that don't know how to.
Speaker 3: Use that voice, now have a home to go to.
Speaker 2: I was sort of hanging onto Craig's words there when
Speaker 2: you were speaking about the unearthing of talent that is
Speaker 2: hidden in our previously disadvantaged communities.
Speaker 3: And again, I want to be clear about this and
Speaker 3: say that that is not.
Speaker 2: The exclusion of those that come from previously advantaged community,
Speaker 2: because I think it's it's important for us to understand
Speaker 2: that even in those communities there are people that are
Speaker 2: worthy of such opportunities. But I am one of those
Speaker 2: people that comes from a community that would not have
Speaker 2: been understood to have the talent or somebody that can
Speaker 2: exercise that voice. So I I I'm sort of touched
Speaker 2: by that consciousness, Craig.
Speaker 3: I'm wanting to find out what is the from from you? Don?
Speaker 2: What is the the little getting this thing, the the
Speaker 2: ba We're the thing that the fisherman, the rod that
Speaker 2: the fisherman uses to catch the fish. What is the
Speaker 2: rod that you use to catch the voice that is
Speaker 2: in the depths of a township somewhere, that's in the
Speaker 2: depths of a village somewhere.
Speaker 3: How what what what is the rod?
Speaker 4: I mean for me personally, it's spending time one and
Speaker 4: using something totally different, like food to connect. Okay, Food's
Speaker 4: good food. Food is very good. Food is very good, right,
Speaker 4: So I mean personally, that's my rod. So wherever I go,
Speaker 4: like I've done on this show today, I would like
Speaker 4: you to taste a piece of me, right, all right,
Speaker 4: something that I've made something like here cook you cook,
Speaker 4: I do nice.
Speaker 1: He's a qualified chef, he.
Speaker 3: Is after the show. So then that is my rod.
Speaker 4: But the roted voice is really just discovering talent, spending
Speaker 4: time with them here like I mean, now, I'm so
Speaker 4: tuned into hearing like these these rusty voices and then
Speaker 4: wanting to turn that into something amazing.
Speaker 3: Like I always say to Craig, I want to help
Speaker 3: my brothers and sisters who have.
Speaker 4: These beautiful, authoritative voices, but then don't know where to go.
Speaker 3: So in the township. The rod I use is food
Speaker 3: and what about food?
Speaker 5: How to grow it, how to cook it, how to
Speaker 5: take care of it, and and and how to create
Speaker 5: a friendship, how to connect with that person because you
Speaker 5: will never forget that tastes the meal that you.
Speaker 3: Had on that day. Get that conviction. Give me a
Speaker 3: day in the life of Dawn as he catches voices
Speaker 3: with food. Yeah, so I'll take it back. I'll take
Speaker 3: it back to clip down.
Speaker 4: So every Sunday we do we have Sunday school, and
Speaker 4: after we feed the kids, I go to my little corner.
Speaker 3: I have my camera on and I invite the kids.
Speaker 6: Wow.
Speaker 4: And while I'm sending out a message of you know,
Speaker 4: asking for help and thanking our sponsors.
Speaker 3: Some of them are with me and I'm you know,
Speaker 3: I asked them, hey, how was today? Why are you here?
Speaker 4: I'm here for Sunday School. Like I've got this wonderful
Speaker 4: one called away. Like there's we feed five hundred kids
Speaker 4: every Sunday. Ye, so it's two thousand meals. But like
Speaker 4: there are these beautiful little personality that just spring up.
Speaker 4: You know, there's a lot of kids, and then there's
Speaker 4: there's one two that just come up. So it's children
Speaker 4: that you're you're focusing on finding. So it's children that
Speaker 4: are already there, Okay, children that already attend the Sunday School, right, Okay, Yeah,
Speaker 4: and then we use them because out of out of
Speaker 4: every ten, there's one that is.
Speaker 3: Like a stah for sure. Yeah, and then we look
Speaker 3: for those ones. Okay, can I can I just can
Speaker 3: I just come in?
Speaker 1: Yeah, if you don't mind, aub You know what I
Speaker 1: think what we're doing for the kids, and I think
Speaker 1: this also needs to I think this is the broader picture,
Speaker 1: is that it's not just a program, Aubrey, this is
Speaker 1: a return, it's a it's a it's a responsibility because
Speaker 1: somebody once gave donn a shot. Somebody once gave you
Speaker 1: a shot. Somebody once gave me a shot. Put me
Speaker 1: in front of a mic, put you in front of
Speaker 1: a mic, put down in front of mike. I was
Speaker 1: nine years old, and that one moment changed everything for me. Now,
Speaker 1: guess what, it's our turn. So what we're doing is
Speaker 1: we're rallying up and taking kids from communities that often
Speaker 1: get overlooked or be and giving them an opportunity to
Speaker 1: come and see what a studio looks like, to hear
Speaker 1: their voice over a microphone, right to get clothed in
Speaker 1: a voice attract suit.
Speaker 3: But it's more than that.
Speaker 1: We're giving these children belief, belief in themselves, belief in
Speaker 1: their second fingerprint, which is their voice, you know, teaching
Speaker 1: them to buy that car for the incredible price of
Speaker 1: only six ninety nine, or maybe selling or maybe selling something,
Speaker 1: or maybe selling a lovely adventure in Dubai.
Speaker 3: It might be something just like that.
Speaker 1: So whatever it is, we need to show them in
Speaker 1: their languages as well, so so belief in their voice.
Speaker 1: That's that's what it's all about, and that's really what matters. Okay,
Speaker 1: that that they can walk into a space and and
Speaker 1: just be heard or be It's this, It is such
Speaker 1: an important thing for these kids that I mean in
Speaker 1: their communities have lost mom, lost their dad. They don't
Speaker 1: think that they have a voice anymore. They don't think
Speaker 1: they have a voice anymore. Often your voice is developed
Speaker 1: through mom and dad. The confidence about who you are
Speaker 1: is the mom and dad. And this is kind of
Speaker 1: We're not saying we going to be mom and dad,
Speaker 1: but what we want to try and do is try
Speaker 1: and fully gap and explain to these children that that
Speaker 1: they can turn their talent into opportunity and they can
Speaker 1: take their How would one say, they could take their
Speaker 1: their pain and they could turn that into power.
Speaker 2: Talk to me and talk to me about about the
Speaker 2: various incidents of pain that you've come across. Maybe done
Speaker 2: you could tell me about this, I mean, what don't
Speaker 2: what are some of the the incidents of pain that
Speaker 2: some of these kids would have gone through that your
Speaker 2: work with them has perhaps become therapeutic.
Speaker 3: Sure, yeah, sure. Death is a big part of it.
Speaker 3: Sexual abuse, You're huge.
Speaker 4: Somebody like just them witnessing somebody being stabbed and the violence,
Speaker 4: just somebody dying on the skills, so it really has
Speaker 4: like a negative effect on their psyche. But now I
Speaker 4: heard something amazing from Cliptown and it was at a funeral,
Speaker 4: and the one lady said, we live in checks, but
Speaker 4: our minds are not checks. So the amount of positivity
Speaker 4: that comes out of that place, even under those dire situations.
Speaker 3: You know, father is.
Speaker 4: Under alcoholism, beating, mother physically swearing, going on, just commotion
Speaker 4: in the family. Now they're all looking for a solace,
Speaker 4: like a place where they can go and be kids.
Speaker 4: Now you find the fourteen year old taking care of
Speaker 4: the nine year old, the nine year old taking care
Speaker 4: of the four year old because mom is high on
Speaker 4: meth is out drinking.
Speaker 2: So and again it's one of those unfortunately quintessential South
Speaker 2: African stories. In fact, we were talking about Cliptown yesterday,
Speaker 2: as you probably know that yesterday was the seventieth anniversary
Speaker 2: of the Freedom Charge, and as you know, it was
Speaker 2: adopted in Cliptown, and many of the conversations actually gravitated
Speaker 2: towards a orbs. This wonderful document was written and adopted here.
Speaker 2: But if you come here and you come and look
Speaker 2: at the place, it's a slum. And that is an indictment.
Speaker 2: And I suppose upon all of us who through one
Speaker 2: corner of our mouths speak about this wonderful document that
Speaker 2: was adopted at Cliptown, but we haven't done much to
Speaker 2: improve the conditions of that.
Speaker 3: Place, right like forgotten, it's completely forgotten.
Speaker 2: Think that the story of the kids that you guys
Speaker 2: deal with have that same kind of story of a
Speaker 2: document that is potentially a life changer for a whole country.
Speaker 2: But if not looked after, if not given the chance,
Speaker 2: if not given a platform to exercise the voice, then.
Speaker 4: We have a slum right now, Now you've touched me
Speaker 4: in a in a deep place because the children we
Speaker 4: work with are from Sky Foundations.
Speaker 3: So it took kept on Youth YEP.
Speaker 4: And that was run by Bob name yes, and he
Speaker 4: ran it for over thirty six years until he passed
Speaker 4: and now in April we buried him. But in Sunday School,
Speaker 4: this is what he was preaching, the freedom chatter. There
Speaker 4: are kids in this Sunday School that can recite their
Speaker 4: entire freedom children and this work that Bob did, letting
Speaker 4: them know where they come from, what was achieved in
Speaker 4: this place where they could go.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean so so so tell me, Craig, I mean,
Speaker 2: from your perspective, mm hmm, what is what is the
Speaker 2: thing that is the main catalyst for for helping a child?
Speaker 2: And I don't know what is the age groups that
Speaker 2: you guys are functioning with, but you let me know.
Speaker 2: But what is the main catalyst for for helping a
Speaker 2: child who comes from such conditions as that you've described
Speaker 2: be able to experiment with the idea that hey, I
Speaker 2: have a voice, I got something to say. Not only
Speaker 2: have I got something to say, but I've got this
Speaker 2: this thing called a voice physically speaking, that I can
Speaker 2: use to do so, I.
Speaker 1: Mean, it's for me, it's pretty simple. Or we you know,
Speaker 1: we know what it feels like to be overlooked, you know,
Speaker 1: to have talent, potential, even hunger, but not have a
Speaker 1: platform to expose it. I don't want to say, hey,
Speaker 1: you know you've got something. My bad, You've you've got something. Listen,
Speaker 1: listen to you Wow, like what ducky. They wouldn't have
Speaker 1: known if if we didn't come and tell them. You know,
Speaker 1: that's really the fire, that's the catalyst, that's the fire
Speaker 1: behind this, because I mean we're not I mean we're
Speaker 1: not really waiting for the next voice over start to
Speaker 1: show up at our door. I can tell you that.
Speaker 1: But we are going out to find them in classrooms,
Speaker 1: in corners, in the chaos that is South Africa, because
Speaker 1: guess what, somebody has to open the gate and we
Speaker 1: I mean, look, access is everything. Come on, you would
Speaker 1: agree with me. Access is everything. Exposure is everything. You know,
Speaker 1: once you year session with one of these kids, can
Speaker 1: can change their whole identity. You know, one adult saying,
Speaker 1: I mean don just going there and saying, you know
Speaker 1: you belong here, like can can flip his entire future list.
Speaker 1: So that's right, I mean, that's that's that's the catalyst.
Speaker 1: And I think just to end off there, like we
Speaker 1: remember what it was like to need somebody to believe
Speaker 1: in us, you know, now we're becoming that for somebody
Speaker 1: else in the next generation.
Speaker 2: So so, so, here's a couple of kids at the
Speaker 2: Sunday school and you're right, there's always two or three
Speaker 2: little stars in that space.
Speaker 3: I can almost see that scenario.
Speaker 2: And you find this one kid or maybe at the
Speaker 2: mall somebody was calling out to somebody.
Speaker 3: You can hear the day there's something there, Right, what's
Speaker 3: the next step done. All right. So so I mean
Speaker 3: just to give you an idea.
Speaker 4: So everyone that says that you've got a nice voice,
Speaker 4: that person there's nowhere to go. So yes, maybe they
Speaker 4: might go on Google and search you know, voiceover academies
Speaker 4: or how do I get my voice trained? And then
Speaker 4: there's a whole thing that will come up. And then
Speaker 4: you'll find that there are like just things put in
Speaker 4: front of you, like hurdles, right, so you you have
Speaker 4: to jump this hurdle. So this guy is charging forty
Speaker 4: two thousand for this, and that guy is charging that
Speaker 4: for this, and everyone is looking out for the money
Speaker 4: and they're not really looking after the talent.
Speaker 3: So I would say go to voice that.
Speaker 4: There you will find a group of people who care
Speaker 4: about you and who have made plans for you to.
Speaker 3: For it to be more affordable to you. All right.
Speaker 4: So yes, if you have the lump sum, pay the
Speaker 4: lump some choose your course paid them. But if you
Speaker 4: don't have it, then there is a way that you
Speaker 4: can take this ten rand and break it up into
Speaker 4: one rands over time.
Speaker 3: Yeah yeah, yeah. Then the focus is while that is happening,
Speaker 3: your voice is being trained. Yeah, you are being coached.
Speaker 4: You have you walk out of the studio with a
Speaker 4: demo market ready now on Monday, you can go to
Speaker 4: seven o two and say, hey, listen, here's my demo.
Speaker 3: Just please listen to. I want to tell you guys
Speaker 3: both my story. Yes, yes, please, please please.
Speaker 2: And I'm using this occasion to also thank the people
Speaker 2: that were, as you say, gave me a break because
Speaker 2: I didn't have the credentials to be able to say
Speaker 2: I've done this before, I've done that before. I didn't
Speaker 2: have cred Just show. David O'Sullivan, who used to be
Speaker 2: a person here on the show on the show, was
Speaker 2: doing a was doing the ofternoon Drive at the time.
Speaker 3: That was his show.
Speaker 2: It was right smack bang during the World Cup, the
Speaker 2: South African World Cup, and I was sitting with her
Speaker 2: there with my best friend, and I say I could
Speaker 2: do this. I'm listening to him talk right, and I'm
Speaker 2: thinking I could do this, and my friend, he's still
Speaker 2: my best friend.
Speaker 3: He he looks at me. He's got this ry, sort
Speaker 3: of sober, sort of board look on his face. So
Speaker 3: why are you telling me? Why didn't you tell him? Yeah? Like,
Speaker 3: how am I going to tell him?
Speaker 2: He says, You've got a computer sitting right there in
Speaker 2: front of you, and David constantly tells you what the
Speaker 2: the email address his email address is, Send him send
Speaker 2: a mail, Send him a mail right there. And then
Speaker 2: why we were talking, I sent David O'Sullivan man, I said, listen,
Speaker 2: I think I can do what you can do.
Speaker 1: Right there.
Speaker 2: And then about fifteen minutes later, David O'Sullivan writes back,
Speaker 2: I nearly fell off my chair. I nearly fell off
Speaker 2: my chair. So I ran out of the room, right
Speaker 2: I literally ran out of the room. He looks at
Speaker 2: it is what you're doing? I said, he just responded.
Speaker 2: On the email, David O'Sullivan writes, Now, I'm not the
Speaker 2: guy to speak to, but this is the guy to
Speaker 2: speak to. His name is Alistair Tealing Smith. He is
Speaker 2: the bro programming manager for seven oh two. He's the
Speaker 2: guy that basically decided what goes on air and what
Speaker 2: doesn't go in air. I have I have c seed
Speaker 2: him right and give him a call on this number.
Speaker 2: So I say, okay, well I'm going to do it
Speaker 2: right now. So I take the number that he's given
Speaker 2: me and I call and guess who answers the phone.
Speaker 2: Alista Tealing Smith. And I'm thinking to myself. So I
Speaker 2: said to Alistair Tilling Smith, this is how I got
Speaker 2: your context. Alice says, no, and I can see it.
Speaker 2: I guess your conversation on the email with David O'Sullivan.
Speaker 3: You've got a bit of Ye, that's what you need.
Speaker 3: I'm speaking on the phone's nerve.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 2: So I'm speaking on the phone with Alistair Tealing Smith
Speaker 2: and he says, is that how you speak? So?
Speaker 3: I said, that's how I speak? Is it? Come here?
Speaker 7: This is what?
Speaker 1: So?
Speaker 3: What do you mean? Come here?
Speaker 2: Just come here now? He says, come here now. I
Speaker 2: get into the car, drive from Mammy Lodi to Joe
Speaker 2: Burke to the studio. There he sits there and he
Speaker 2: tells me about seven o two and I didn't really
Speaker 2: know about him. I was in a big honestly, I
Speaker 2: wasn't a big seven o two consumer. My parents were.
Speaker 7: Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 2: So I'm sitting in front of Alistair Tealing Smith and
Speaker 2: we're talking about all of this stuff and I'm yeah,
Speaker 2: I understand that.
Speaker 3: And he's telling me about you know, you got to
Speaker 3: you've got to be willing to be disagreed with.
Speaker 2: I'm like, yeah, I'm sure. Yeah, he says to me
Speaker 2: what do you do tonight? I'm like, what do you mean?
Speaker 2: What what am I doing tonight? This was in the
Speaker 2: middle of the.
Speaker 3: Of the World Cup. So I said, no, I'll probably
Speaker 3: be sleepy. He says, no, you're not.
Speaker 2: Come here tonight at midnight and let's see how you do.
Speaker 2: I remember driving coming here at round about twelve o'clock
Speaker 2: and osint A Dying was right where she's sitting right now. Wow,
Speaker 2: we'll be working together for sixteen years. However long how
Speaker 2: long is fifteen years?
Speaker 3: Years?
Speaker 2: We've been working together for fifteen years, and that's how
Speaker 2: it started. That's how it's been. It was David O'Sullivan
Speaker 2: who gave me a break. It was Alisa Tealing Smith
Speaker 2: who said, let's try you out. It was John Robbie
Speaker 2: who at three point fifteen every morning passing through here,
Speaker 2: who after my show would say, listen, don't do that.
Speaker 3: Do this?
Speaker 2: Well, yeah, stop doing this, because he'd be listening to
Speaker 2: the show as he drives home, as he drives to studio,
Speaker 2: and don't do that, don't do that. I received coaching
Speaker 2: from the best Keno Cummies was the guy that I
Speaker 2: used to follow straight after the show, and he'd say
Speaker 2: to me listen.
Speaker 3: I was listening to your show. That was good.
Speaker 2: But don't do it like that because you're alienating those
Speaker 2: people unless you want to alienate them. And I had
Speaker 2: the best coaching from people that had no reason to
Speaker 2: help me.
Speaker 3: I mean, why then they did?
Speaker 2: And I get the sense that you guys are that
Speaker 2: for many, many, many people out there that wouldn't have
Speaker 2: gotten the chance to for for me, that was the
Speaker 2: chance it was. It was a David O'Sullivan, it was
Speaker 2: a it was a John Robbie. It was an Alistair
Speaker 2: Tealing Smith. It was a keynot cummies. It was a
Speaker 2: Jenny Chris Williams. I mean Jenny Chris Williams to this
Speaker 2: day will give me a random call and say I
Speaker 2: liked what you said there, but stop being so cheeky,
Speaker 2: stop being so strident. No no, no, no, no, Remember
Speaker 2: I told you this. And these are some other people
Speaker 2: that have shaped my life in this career where I
Speaker 2: can feed my children, I can say I have a home,
Speaker 2: I have these kinds of things.
Speaker 3: So what I'm trying to say, I suppose is that
Speaker 3: the work that you guys are.
Speaker 2: Doing in finding talent in some of the most unlikely
Speaker 2: places to find voice talent is the Aubrey Masango story.
Speaker 2: It's my story and that's why I relate to it
Speaker 2: so strongly. And so I want to ask you. I
Speaker 2: want to ask you this question. Are you are you
Speaker 2: identifying some potential stars. I'll tell you why I'm asking
Speaker 2: that question. Maybe one day we invite them here, yes,
Speaker 2: come and talk to me, do a show together. I
Speaker 2: don't know, I'll have to ask the bosses, but talk
Speaker 2: and maybe we find another another talent.
Speaker 3: You know what I mean.
Speaker 4: I mean, you say that on one of our videos,
Speaker 4: and I'll show you, you know, maybe just after the
Speaker 4: show Ross is doing is doing the voice over on
Speaker 4: that video, and it's just you know, pictures, a collection
Speaker 4: of pictures that we take every Sunday, and he's like,
Speaker 4: maybe the next bonang, my tabor is right on the street,
Speaker 4: the next the next yeah, the next yeah yeah. And
Speaker 4: it is so amazing to be able to build confidence
Speaker 4: through the voice.
Speaker 6: My little story next a breamsango, yeah, yeah, my little story.
Speaker 6: As as as as you have mentioned, I'll be quick
Speaker 6: through my one maybe one hundred and fifty plus people said.
Speaker 3: You have a very nice voice. You do it, by
Speaker 3: the way, Thank you, really you have a great voice.
Speaker 3: Thank you so much.
Speaker 4: But I didn't do anything about it until this German
Speaker 4: lady on a Sunday when I was looking for property
Speaker 4: with my wife, said, as I walked through this house,
Speaker 4: she's like oh. And all I said was hello, and
Speaker 4: she's like, oh, Michael, you have such a beautiful voice.
Speaker 3: Are you doing TV? Are you doing radio? What is
Speaker 3: your problem? Are you doing something about it? Yes? And
Speaker 3: I said no.
Speaker 4: But on that Monday I called the ABC. I was like,
Speaker 4: they say, have a nice voice. Where can I get training?
Speaker 4: And you know, the lady on the phone said to me, no,
Speaker 4: we don't do any training here, but I will give
Speaker 4: you a lady called Mariette younger Man, Yes, who trains
Speaker 4: everybody in this studio, all the radio stations, everybody Like.
Speaker 3: I was like, wow, praisingly, I said, yes, give me
Speaker 3: give me her number. Yeah.
Speaker 4: I called her up and she's like, Michael, I can
Speaker 4: only give you an hour a week because I'm so busy, right,
Speaker 4: And I was like, I'll take that hour week. That
Speaker 4: hour turned out into two hours in a session. She
Speaker 4: gave me a price. I paid it and we were
Speaker 4: in session for four weeks. But now, when I say
Speaker 4: four weeks. It sounds like it's nothing right, but it's
Speaker 4: four weeks of reading script, four weeks of practicing, of doing, doing.
Speaker 3: Doing doing.
Speaker 8: Like I remember I had, I had, I had a job,
Speaker 8: and I was working night shift and on my on
Speaker 8: my lunch break, it's me and the file in the
Speaker 8: dark car with a light and I'm just reading script.
Speaker 3: And at that time I didn't know like I would
Speaker 3: end up being the marketing director of.
Speaker 4: A voice And you should have said, thought, wow, at
Speaker 4: that time, I didn't know, and and and and and
Speaker 4: here's the kicker. She I went to her for voice
Speaker 4: training and voiceover training, and she said to me, I'll
Speaker 4: give you a bonus. Your voice is so dynamic, you
Speaker 4: are gonna be on radio one day. Let me give
Speaker 4: you free radio training.
Speaker 3: And I was like what.
Speaker 4: I didn't understand it. But then when I landed my
Speaker 4: first gig Ato Communes radio station, then I understood. She
Speaker 4: gave me that confidence, she gave me that proper training.
Speaker 2: So here's by the way, we are talking to Craig Ross,
Speaker 2: veteran voice over artists and founder of Voicer, together with
Speaker 2: Don Gonena, who is the director at Voice or the
Speaker 2: marketing director at Voicer.
Speaker 3: We're just talking about the journey.
Speaker 2: That young people go through to find their voice, both
Speaker 2: physically and literally but also figuratively. The ability to express
Speaker 2: their innermost feelings a privilege I have every day, every
Speaker 2: single day.
Speaker 3: And that's you know, it's not about me, But I'm
Speaker 3: just simply trying to illustrate how powerful your guys work is.
Speaker 2: If indeed we are able to follow through on some
Speaker 2: of the talent that is there, what sort of training
Speaker 2: do the youngsters get once you've identified talent?
Speaker 3: All right, Greig, I think you can take this one.
Speaker 3: I mean, you can put it so nicely.
Speaker 1: Well, I think it starts in a number of places.
Speaker 1: You know, what we do first is we try and
Speaker 1: identify who wants to step forward. We don't force people.
Speaker 3: You've got to want to want to write.
Speaker 1: Love doesn't force, and we teach in love. And so
Speaker 1: those who step forward to get an opportunity to step
Speaker 1: up beyond the mic in a professional environment with proper headphones.
Speaker 3: Scripts.
Speaker 1: A lot of the times some of the kids aren't
Speaker 1: up to scratch with reading, and that's okay. We have
Speaker 1: short sentences that we shoot at them and they remember them.
Speaker 1: Very good at remembering and reciting back, which is really
Speaker 1: really amazing. And you know what's really fun to watch
Speaker 1: is how these beautiful children just love taking direction, you know,
Speaker 1: they want to try it in a different way. And
Speaker 1: then they hear that they've you know, inflected on a
Speaker 1: certain word, you know, in an incorrect way, and they say, no,
Speaker 1: but that doesn't make sense. Can I try this hitting
Speaker 1: this word? And I'm like, yes, that's brilliant that you're
Speaker 1: seeing it for yourself, you know. We we we teach
Speaker 1: them how to read with clarity. You know, it's very
Speaker 1: important to do that, and not just in a school setting,
Speaker 1: but in a in a peer to peer to peer
Speaker 1: setting in your family set up. How to control your
Speaker 1: energy in the voice, very very important, like I was showing,
Speaker 1: like I was showing you before, you know, like buy
Speaker 1: that car versus, you know, buy that ice cream, you know.
Speaker 1: And how to also sound natural and not not forced.
Speaker 1: You know, these are the things we teach them. We
Speaker 1: teach them about timing, We teach them about you know,
Speaker 1: breathing delivery patterns, you know, and then they get to
Speaker 1: hear themselves back with some nice music and it's it's
Speaker 1: or a kid like that in those circumstances to come
Speaker 1: in to get into a studio and to hear their
Speaker 1: voice of a professional piece of music and go, wow,
Speaker 1: that could play on radio. Aubrey, You cannot, in I cannot,
Speaker 1: don nobody can accurately in words, describe the moment that
Speaker 1: that child goes.
Speaker 3: Through h oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah. One of
Speaker 3: the big debates circa two thousand and.
Speaker 2: Fifteen twenty nineteen, twenty twenty was a big debate in
Speaker 2: radio circles, especially for those of us who do talk radio.
Speaker 3: Right, was how do we become more relatable to our audience.
Speaker 2: And you'll remember, Don, I mean a Craig that there
Speaker 2: was a time when the script was that good old
Speaker 2: BBC type of radio, whether the sound had to be
Speaker 2: of a particular nature, in a particular style, you had
Speaker 2: to pronounce words in a particular way, it was for
Speaker 2: a particular.
Speaker 3: For a particular.
Speaker 2: Audience, and it really was was really really, really tightly controlled.
Speaker 2: How you delivered tightly tightly controlled. I remember the conversations
Speaker 2: during those days. Was sure that might work in a
Speaker 2: particular environment in a particular country, but how do we
Speaker 2: make the people whom we are talking about engaged be
Speaker 2: part of the.
Speaker 7: Conversation that's so it's you know, you talk such a
Speaker 7: It's what's interesting, Aubrey is that it sounds like you know,
Speaker 7: you've you've been in the voice industry for ages, but
Speaker 7: you have been you may not have been maybe in
Speaker 7: the voice artist industry, but you have been in the
Speaker 7: voice And this is why you ask such pertinent questions.
Speaker 1: And I think what you said, like how do you
Speaker 1: become more relatable? And and you know, well what I'm
Speaker 1: there's a big drivered voice there to stop people performing,
Speaker 1: you know, I say to people, yeah, and start connecting
Speaker 1: right because creative directors are throwing away demos that are
Speaker 1: remotely performed anymore.
Speaker 3: You know, they don't want voiceover artists that.
Speaker 1: Are you know, by that last pair of shoes on
Speaker 1: the shelf, because you're going to miss out. Yes, there's
Speaker 1: there's there's place for it. But you know, scripts are
Speaker 1: written today so that they could they connect with people.
Speaker 3: People.
Speaker 1: People want to hear a voiceover artist experiencing a script
Speaker 1: rather than delivering. So back in the day, you like,
Speaker 1: voiceover was all about, like you said before, it was
Speaker 1: like the voice of God was like deep and polished
Speaker 1: and perfect. But today but it doesn't land anymore. What
Speaker 1: animal don't know, They don't they they want to be
Speaker 1: spoken to. They do not want to be broadcasted at. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you see, they want to hear real they they not
Speaker 1: a not a radio voice anymore. Like you, you're not
Speaker 1: going You're not going you know, welcome to seven or two.
Speaker 1: My names all and welcome. No, you're not doing that.
Speaker 1: You're talking to us as you're real authentic conversation. It's
Speaker 1: not there's no there's no artificial melody there, there's there's
Speaker 1: just truth. There's honesty, this warmth. It's it's it's effortless clarity.
Speaker 1: I mean, that's really what you're what you're giving us.
Speaker 1: And and I think that's really what it is. It's like, hey,
Speaker 1: drop the act, kill the sing song and speak like
Speaker 1: a person.
Speaker 2: You know you you got to remember some of the
Speaker 2: personalities during that time, right, I'm talking about what twenty
Speaker 2: ninety our audience don don't know much of what goes
Speaker 2: on in the background, How how the the ethos of
Speaker 2: a radio station such as similar two is built, What
Speaker 2: sort of conversations, what sort of disagreements are taking place
Speaker 2: in the in the background in order for us to
Speaker 2: deliver a particular sound right. It's and it's a harrowing process.
Speaker 2: I mean it's you've got the big bosses that get
Speaker 2: that get challenged by the voices the presenters on the
Speaker 2: on on on air and sometimes thing yeah yeah, and sometimes.
Speaker 3: We as we as presenters will disagree.
Speaker 2: And you got to understand that these are very powerful
Speaker 2: personalities just naturally, right.
Speaker 3: I mean, think, think, think, Think about.
Speaker 2: A readcha before example, and yous Mackasa all right, or
Speaker 2: Africa Milani in the same room having a conversation about
Speaker 2: how to present a Quino Kamis present John Robbie having
Speaker 2: a conversation about how to present each of them brilliant
Speaker 2: at what they do. I mean, take a guy like
Speaker 2: like like like Bomani being well for example. Really, I mean,
Speaker 2: these are some of the best broadcasters in the world
Speaker 2: in my opinion, right, a guy like like Aquino commies
Speaker 2: uh oh, now I forget the different names, but but
Speaker 2: imagine putting those people in a room, right.
Speaker 3: And then they disagree combustion. Yeah, it's it's it's something
Speaker 3: amazing to watch.
Speaker 2: And I was sitting the new so I'll be sitting
Speaker 2: there in the corner and just watching these guys disagree.
Speaker 3: The eloquence, the energy.
Speaker 2: The power in their logic and how they present and
Speaker 2: ultimately delivers a policy, right, delivers a way that we're
Speaker 2: going to speak.
Speaker 3: And then you'll have a quiet voice that will just
Speaker 3: drop everybody. I mean.
Speaker 2: It is the quiet Masaka by the way, Asasaka just
Speaker 2: quietly say something that will just drop everybody, just quietly, no, no, no,
Speaker 2: assuming stuff, drop everybody. And you're sitting in this room
Speaker 2: and you're watching all of these personalities that literally drive
Speaker 2: South African conversation have a conversation, and then you watch
Speaker 2: the consensus that that comes out of that, and then
Speaker 2: you watch how it operates on air and how people
Speaker 2: It is the most beautiful thing to watch, right, And
Speaker 2: I'm and I'm getting the sense that that is the
Speaker 2: kind of thing that you guys want to bring for
Speaker 2: those youngsters that the voice is trying to bring to
Speaker 2: the what's to name?
Speaker 3: Why are you not bringing them to radio stations such
Speaker 3: as this to come and experience.
Speaker 4: I mean, you say that, and I can show you
Speaker 4: an email that I've sent to this radio station.
Speaker 3: I won't mention names. It's gonna happen now. Thank god,
Speaker 3: we're here to sort of pave the way to interview.
Speaker 4: And and you know, when you let the almighty run
Speaker 4: your diary, this is what happens beautiful for moments that
Speaker 4: just click right.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yes, so you are you are, you are very
Speaker 3: much correct.
Speaker 4: We are taking them to community radio stations because that's
Speaker 4: where it all starts.
Speaker 3: And then we look to commercial as like the big tickets.
Speaker 4: Okay, and to me, it shouldn't be like there, it
Speaker 4: should be let's take a walk to seven oh two,
Speaker 4: because we know that's why said and you know, because
Speaker 4: this is what we do. I mean we are literally
Speaker 4: in the same sort of showing space. Yeah yeah, absolutely
Speaker 4: so so way.
Speaker 3: Too from here.
Speaker 2: Do we have any potential stars that we can look
Speaker 2: to see coming out of voice?
Speaker 4: Yes, absolutely, Craig I mean Craig is doing amazing work
Speaker 4: every single day.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, one hundred percent. We are we identifying identifying stars.
Speaker 1: I mean yes, we are, but not in like a
Speaker 1: how would one say, not like in a fairy tale
Speaker 1: sense or B. You know, we're not handing our trophies
Speaker 1: or making like empty promises. That's not what we're about.
Speaker 1: What we're trying to do is step into spaces where
Speaker 1: these voices have been ignored and we're opening our ears
Speaker 1: and we're listening, and we're saying, we want to show you, right,
Speaker 1: the potential that you have.
Speaker 3: We want to just show you.
Speaker 1: We want to we want to show you something that
Speaker 1: you otherwise would never have been shown.
Speaker 7: Right.
Speaker 3: And we are watching who steps up?
Speaker 1: We we are We're watching who wants to take direction
Speaker 1: and looking for people that are, yeah, that that just
Speaker 1: want to live this out because we've got the resources
Speaker 1: to make it possible for them and so and so
Speaker 1: that's what we're That's what we're trying to do every
Speaker 1: single day. And yeah, that's it.
Speaker 3: It's a tough industry.
Speaker 4: It's not an easy type of thing. It's yeah, yeah, no, absolutely,
Speaker 4: I mean yeah, yeah, I mean believe us when we
Speaker 4: tell you, right. I mean, you know, if you take,
Speaker 4: for instance, I'm a chef that cooks most of the time,
Speaker 4: but in my whole life, I can find time to
Speaker 4: become a sales and marketing director of the Voice Institute,
Speaker 4: find raw talent, bring it forth, encourage them to come
Speaker 4: on board and start the journey.
Speaker 3: Right. Most of them have said, oh, but where do
Speaker 3: I go? How do I do it? And now we
Speaker 3: have the answer. Listen, guys, it has been an awesome.
Speaker 2: Encounter with you guys, and as I salute you the
Speaker 2: work that you guys are doing and just thank you
Speaker 2: for going to those crevices of our society to find
Speaker 2: perhaps the next Quino Kamis, the next John Robbie, the
Speaker 2: next Red. I want to thank you so much for
Speaker 2: the work that you guys are doing. I want to say,
Speaker 2: please don't stop, Please don't stop. How do people give
Speaker 2: me time? To you by the way down?
Speaker 4: All right, so you can go to w W dot
Speaker 4: v O I s a yoda, that's voicer. We do
Speaker 4: have a boost camp that's coming up on the fifth
Speaker 4: and sixth of July twenty twenty five. It's it's it's
Speaker 4: going to be held at Evan Bruce Studios. We're starting
Speaker 4: there in fun day. Yeah, okay, right here, I live
Speaker 4: very close to Oh Wonderful. Yeah, maybe you can.
Speaker 3: I'll just come home drop that.
Speaker 4: Yeah, that will be amazing. Craig, Craig, I mean, hey,
Speaker 4: you're living here, brother, Yeah. I mean if I pray
Speaker 4: the spirits over you, you die. You know, so you
Speaker 4: actually walked you Oh Wonderful.
Speaker 3: For six July.
Speaker 4: Will will We'll see you there. I think Comoso is
Speaker 4: also going to be coming. We started nine and ended
Speaker 4: three four Thursday, Saturday, and second day is Sunday. It's
Speaker 4: going to be jampacked. It's going to be beautiful. Yeah,
Speaker 4: we are taking a small.
Speaker 2: Group, you know, just so that we can give you
Speaker 2: how old, what age groups are we talking about you?
Speaker 3: All right?
Speaker 4: So, I mean here we've got adults. We've got adults
Speaker 4: that have signed up. I think on in August, we're
Speaker 4: gonna we're gonna take some kids, you know.
Speaker 1: Yeah, our kids in kids in August. This is more
Speaker 1: sort of up from about seventeen all the way up.
Speaker 1: I mean, we have people in their fifties sixties who
Speaker 1: get in touch. But I just want to just lastly say,
Speaker 1: if I can last ten seconds, if you're listening to
Speaker 1: this and something in you is stirred up, that is
Speaker 1: your signal. Okay, don't ignore it. Come to booth camp.
Speaker 1: Like Don said in the fifth and sixth check us
Speaker 1: out via I SA Dot. Come and find your voice.
Speaker 1: And if you already know your voice, right, come and
Speaker 1: sharpen it and yeah, use it, use it to lead
Speaker 1: and then do other really cool things. So I just
Speaker 1: want to say again for myself, Craig Grass your seven
Speaker 1: or two. Thank you you have. I will remember this
Speaker 1: for the rest of my life, so thank you Aubrey.
Speaker 1: This has been one of the best interviews literally I've
Speaker 1: ever had on radio.