To all current School of Voiceover students:

(If you’re just looking for the survey, scroll down)

To keep everyone safe during the pandemic, no matter what, we’re spending thousands of dollars to keep you safe AND to give you better work opportunities regardless of how long the disruption lasts. Look for an email shortly with options and details.

First, we are giving all current and future students:

1. FREE extra training online beyond what you would usually receive in Advanced or Essentials of Voiceover Training.
2. Some FREE home studio equipment (or training and other credit if you don’t need it) PLUS training in use and set up.
3. Home training options via a variety of Skype and Skype-like options
4. In-studio options actually going beyond some sterile work facility germicidal protocols (see below)

Also, we’re putting your regular class lecture and Q&A portion online; you can simply join the conference call by phone or via your computer/laptop/tablet online.

For your on-mic training with Sarah or Dave, you will schedule your time for whenever is most convenient for you. Everyone will be getting at least TWO extra sessions beyond what you’ve paid for plus additional training. You have the option of being coached at home by phone (headset or speakerphone) or in your home studio (we’re providing some free home studio equipment) or coming in to the studio to work live with a coach on mic. (If choosing the latter, read on for how we’re going beyond sterilizing everything before and after your sessions.)

Please respond to this quick poll to let us know your preference:

UPDATE: We’re receiving word that shelter-in-place restrictions are arriving shortly, and will not allow driving to a workplace. We will update options accordingly.

If you want to come in and work on mic, the new studio:

1. Has a private entrance;
2. Has air UVC irradiated before it enters the room (in the HVAV duct), and in the room between sessions (that’s TWO banks of germicidal UVC lights).
3. Huge in-room HEPA filter;
4. Will be empty 30 minutes between people in same space;
5. Will be excess humidified to prevent “breath lingering”;
6. Coach is in a separate sealed room not sharing air with the studio;
7. Continuous air pressure in room germicidally treated before entering the room.

We’ve put more effort into this than any other studios that we know of. UPDATE: We received UVC light sockets in the wrong size to fit our bulbs, so had to re-order and wait. Hopefully we will be fully ready this Wednesday or Thursday, March 25 or 26.

Dave’s background is in research, and his father is a pathologist, his brother, a pediatrician, so we’re doing absolutely the best we can do to keep you safe.

For germicidal irradiation (read more) —we’re using two banks of UVC light (how uv light sterilization works), and HEPA air filtering. UVC is effective up to 8 ft away (read more), and kills virus or bacteria in just seconds at closer range (read more).

For preventing breath lingering: This goes beyond sterile work facility germicidal protocols, but we’re doing it because breath or coughs sometimes might hover in dry air, but will not linger in humid air. So we have purchased five humidifiers covering almost 4,000 sq feet. In dry air, particles can break into smaller “mist” pieces and might hover longer, but humid air prevents “mist” and also directly harms virus particles.

In a recent online class with students via Zoom, one student asked a couple of followup questions to “Why were we doing this?”

Well, we always have. We’ve always changed or added on in response to changes in the market, or in order to meet the changing needs of students. That’s one reason we do the Voice Acting Expo at our cost. We meet hundreds of new students each year and can get a very clear idea of what is needed most by new students each year, and adjust our training to meet their needs.

It’s just that this time, the need for changes have come quicker, so we’re adding on everything we can to make it possible for students to deal successfully with the changes.