Episode 116: Graeme Judd

Graeme Judd: The Producers, featuring the most respected international talent in the world of audio production and voiceover. Radio, TV, film, and online. In-depth interviews, industry insights, putting you on the inside. This is The Producers Podcast with Ryan Dreen.

Ryan: Hey, welcome back. Producers Podcast time. Thanks, for checking it out. Thanks for your time. And, I say that a little extra because, yeah, we talked a little bit longer this time. You might notice the file or the runtime is a little bit longer than normal. I think it was worth it, personally. I really think it was worth it. Graham Judd is the guest, as you've probably seen. If you don't know who Graham is, in the States, I don't know how you rank them, but he's definitely one of the top promo voices, you know, in the entire country. He's actually up in Canada. We get into that in the episode. Uh-huh.

Ryan: But, you know, one of the very, very top-tier working pros in the entire country, for sure. If you're outside the States, it's possible you haven't heard him, and it's also possible that a lot of people haven't heard his name before. What's, what's cool is he's a hell of a nice guy. He's still, you know, after basically being damn near the top for years at this point, still has that attitude of, you know, hustle, hustle, hustle. You know, keep working. A lot of cool stuff came out of this interview with Graham, and I'll say a hell of a nice guy. He is Canadian. You know, it's a stereotype that Canadians are all nice. I know that's not true. There's got to be some just dicks out there, right? I just haven't run into one yet, but I know they exist. You're— there's a mean Canadian out there somewhere. Damn it, I'll find him or her. But not today. Let's see here, a couple links to check out: GrahamJudd.com if you want to be investigating this dude and see what he's all about. G-R-A-E-M-E-J-U-D-D dot com. GrahamJudd.com. He is on Twitter. I'll throw it out there though. He says it's, you know, his— it's boring and it's his personal stuff, but @GrahamJudd if you'd like to go follow the dude. I will make— let me direct you to 2 links that I have on the podcast page. So if you get this in iTunes or somewhere else and you don't normally hit my website, you might want to check out a little YouTube video I put up there from TMZ. I won't say more about it. We get into it in the show. Also a link a write-up on his studio by the studio company. Again, I won't talk too much about it. We get into it plenty on the show. But for the super geeks, the real audiophiles, the tech geeks, that's definitely something you want to check out. As far as voiceover talents' studios, his is one of the cooler ones out there, I would say. And he's working with some pretty solid gear. And by the way, Graham is not just a guy who talks. He's, you know, neck-deep in the audio world, a very capable producer. I'll say. Oh, and he started way long ago. He started— I won't give it away right now. Let's just say he wasn't talking for a living. Let's see here, real quick to promote what's coming up. I have at least 2 episodes that absolutely will happen. I think sooner than later. A guy who I've wanted to get on the show for a long time and finally working that out, Scott Matthews. Another voiceover talent, big-time radio imaging talent. And, got a little special place in my heart with him because he was sort of the enemy voice on the— when I was in a competitive situation in Dallas between the 2 country stations. And he's just amazing, just, just stellar. So Scott Matthews will be on the show. And I'm gonna bring on, speaking of country, one of the top— one of the top imaging producers, but definitely one of the top country imaging producers on earth, Terry Phillips. Actually, he's been on the show before, but more of a— on a video, on the video side. He was doing a video for radio projects. So anyway, Terry Phillips up in Detroit, he'll be on the show again. Actually an old friend of mine now, so that'll be a fun one. I know what Terry can bring to the table. That'll be a good episode, but be prepared for some tech nerdery on that one, because Terry knows his way around everything in the studio. So that's what's coming up. For right now, let's get into it. Like I said, you will absolutely— if you're in the States, you will absolutely recognize the voice of the guest. Otherwise, Huge talent, super humble, hard worker. he's big time, folks. He is Graham Judd. Critics are calling the new Fox series pitch inspirational, game-changing, the best new drama of the fall. New Life in Pieces, CBS this Monday. We take you to the paranormal with all new episodes of My Haunted House. The Kardashians begins Sunday, May 1st, only on E!. DreamWorks Animation presents an all-new Netflix original series, Elementary: Person of Interest. The new Prime Crime lineup, weeknights this fall on WGN America. Mother is the most talked about movie in years. They've come here to see me. USA Today raves, it will blow your mind. Critics are cheering. Good evening, Zootopia! Zootopia is one of the best Disney animated films since The Lion King. Wherever life takes you— Let's go somewhere, anywhere in the world. Follow your heart. Show him how good life can be. Based on the best-selling novel. You are the only thing that makes me want to get up in the morning. Me Before You.

Ryan: All right, so there you go. You know that voice. Every— literally everyone listening to this podcast knows that voice. My guest today, the incomparable Graham Judd. Graham, you sound like an awesome dude, but thanks for joining the show, man. Appreciate it.

Graeme Judd: Thank you for having me.

Ryan: So, Canadian, huh?

Graeme Judd: Yeah, yeah, we're gonna go there first, huh? Okay, yeah.

Ryan: I like to try to throw something out. He's like, oh, so he started there.

Graeme Judd: Okay, all right, set the tone early. I appreciate it. I'll get my back up. No, yeah, proud, proud Canuck, man. I live in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. I was born just outside of Toronto, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, and moved to Calgary when I was 2, and I've been here ever since, so.

Ryan: Now, my Canadian geography isn't great, but that's west?

Graeme Judd: West-ish, yeah. It's not quite central. It's west of central, but it's not full West Coast. So we're sort of a straight shot north of Montana.

Ryan: Okay, okay, cool. No French though, right?

Graeme Judd: You know, they tried. You know, it's not common around these parts, but you know, in junior high and high school, you definitely— they encourage you to take it as sort of an option. But I've forgotten everything, and if you asked me for some French, I would laugh I'll let you down big time.

Ryan: No, I won't do that. I won't do that. Okay, here's another one. I was thinking of starting this way, but you might be the first guest I've had on that was featured on TMZ.

Graeme Judd: Ah, yes. Maybe. So that was cool. That was a really surreal experience, I swear. We spent about 5 minutes with this guy, and he said he was from TMZ, but he certainly did not look like he was from TMZ. More like he found a a video camera in the alley or something.

Ryan: Sure, or on the back of a truck.

Graeme Judd: Yeah, kind of thing, you know? And so, I swear the entire interaction, they were— I will say this, they were very kind to me when they edited the piece because—

Ryan: They were—

Graeme Judd: For the most part, it's me staring blankly at him and then turning to my left, who I was with, my agent Jessica and my manager, Jonna, who you— she's off frame, but kept thinking, they're punking me. They had to have just set this up. There's no way this is real. So I spent the entire entire time. They cut it all out, but most of the time I'm staring at her going, you're messing with me. There's no way this is actually happening. So, that was very surreal. It was— I thought for sure, you know, this poor guy, he's having a slow celeb night. You know, we were at a restaurant where, you know, my understanding was Taylor Swift might have been there the night before, or the Kardashians are probably there all the time.

Ryan: I've been there, actually. I've been to that one.

Graeme Judd: I've been there too. Yeah. So, it's a happening place. spot. We were on a Monday night, so it happened to be pretty quiet.

Ryan: But I was, I was gonna say, I, I'll throw the video up on the site so people can check it out. Of course, people are pretty aware of Google, so they can find it.

Graeme Judd: But, yeah, it's on mine too.

Ryan: I, I saw it kind of start, and I'm like, whoa, that— I mean, that's cool, but where are they gonna go with this? And they just made you look cool. I mean, they did not— they didn't screw with you, you know. They just made you look cool on the show. It was neat. It was really cool.

Graeme Judd: Yeah, I mean, I, I, I, I'm not sure who I you know, who I have to send the check to. But they were very kind to me, and I know they aren't that with everybody. So it could have very well been something. But I'm also not, you know, anybody that anyone really knows or truly cares about in terms of like the general public. So it was more just kind of a quirky thing. I'm sure it was filler content. Again, slow news day, right?

Ryan: I guess, man. But that's cool.

Graeme Judd: I'm happy to have it. It's a nice promo piece. I'm happy to have this kind of fun.

Ryan: Oh, absolutely. Let's start a little techish side.

Graeme Judd: Sure.

Ryan: 'Cause I know you're a tech guy, but your background, in fact, I kind of double-checked this, you have a tiny little bit of background in radio. So tell us exactly how you started, what were you doing in the beginnings, and how that led you to voiceover?

Graeme Judd: Okay, so I'll try and keep it brief.

Ryan: Sure, sure.

Graeme Judd: So if you go back far enough, I'm in theater and whatnot in high school. Go back even farther, I was in the Calgary Boys Choir. Music, recording, performance is all sort of a part of my makeup. After high school, ended up in a band, a boy band. We did that for about 2 years. The takeaway with the band was wrong place, wrong time. It was— the pop stardom was sort of never in the cards, but what was cool—

Ryan: Yeah.

Graeme Judd: was we got opportunity to record in some pretty major recording studios. We even had a week in Los Angeles. We recorded at Capitol Records. We recorded with David Foster.

Ryan: Wow.

Graeme Judd: You know, he invited us to his home studio in Malibu to listen to sort of a final mix. And, you know, I was 19 at the time or something. You know, it was like totally trippy from Calgary. Like, what? You know, that never happens. So that was like the very early— I didn't know what I was experiencing, but I knew I liked the environment. I loved being in studios. I loved the process of creating music at the time. And, —

Ryan: Did you say the name of the band?

Graeme Judd: Off Limits.

Ryan: Okay.

Graeme Judd: With a Z.

Ryan: Of course it is.

Graeme Judd: Of course it is. Anyway, moving past that. so, you know, after that, you know, early 20s, trying to figure out what I wanted to do. And, And it was actually my mom that was sort of pushing me to get back into some sort of education after the band had sort of folded. And she, you know, it was her suggestion actually, get into broadcasting. You know, you have an interest in the performance, but, you know, obviously being a theatrical actor in any city is challenging, let alone Calgary, Canada. You know, it wasn't necessarily a hotbed for making a solid living.

Ryan: Right.

Graeme Judd: Yeah, she suggested broadcasting. And she herself was faculty at the university, one of the universities here, and in the nursing program, and she knew the broadcasting department. So she set up an interview. And that's sort of the beginning of this. So I had enrolled in the program, and it was sort of first-year radio, second-year television. It was sort of an overview of news and production and—

Ryan: Right.

Graeme Judd: and creative all sort of rolled into one. So you didn't really have to know what you wanted at the beginning, but come out the other end, you hopefully had a really good sense of whether you were going to be a reporter, if you're going to be in production, if you're going to be a creative writer for commercials and things like that. So that was a hugely beneficial time in my life because I got exposure to things that were very interesting and sort of parallel with the music recording and the studio stuff. That was when I got my first job as an overnight operator at a radio station. So local top 40.

Ryan: Board operator.

Graeme Judd: Board operator. Literally before automation, I was the guy that kept the music going overnights, just no cracking the mic. So I was—

Ryan: I was gonna say, never opened a mic though.

Graeme Judd: But yeah, no, I was never on air. And I'm thankful for that because quite honestly, I'm not, I'm not an on-air guy. I'm a, you know, I'm a performer. I'm good with, you know, if you give me a script and I can record it and screw it up a bunch of times before the final. Sure.

Ryan: Yeah, absolutely.

Graeme Judd: But I'm not the guy that comes up with the stuff on the— I have much respect for that. That's a completely different animal, being good on air and being an entertainer and someone that can kind of come up with stuff off the cuff. That just never sort of clicked with me. But production, there was opportunity to do sort of modest commercial production and things at the radio station. as an extension of doing the operating stuff. So that was my first kind of broadcasting job. It happened while I was— so I was overnights and evenings and weekends and stuff for them while I was still at college. And I would say the voiceover thing sort of clicked. We had a guest speaker by the name of Paul Boucher, who's also another Calgary-based voiceover guy.

Ryan: Yeah.

Graeme Judd: artist. And at the time, he had— I don't know how long he had been freelance voiceover, but he himself was a former jock who decided voiceover was the answer. So he was actually a guest speaker when I was in college, and that was sort of my lightbulb moment. He and I have stayed friends, and I've told him this on many occasions. He was sort of that, like, oh, you can get paid to do that? Okay, sweet. Okay, that sort of made sense. So that was the— throwing back to the performance and the acting and that kind of stuff that I had enjoyed so much in my youth.

Ryan: First paid voiceover gig?

Graeme Judd: Oh, good question. I mean, I dabbled in— as we all do, how do you actually find clients and whatnot? So I spent a short period of time working on a site where I was listed by first name only, and I was making I think it was $10 a script or something like that.

Ryan: Sure.

Graeme Judd: And it was like a month or two. I mean, and I would bang them out and it was like, oh, sweet. By the end of the month, I felt, you know, I'd done 30 spots or something and made $300 and thought, oh my goodness, that's beer money. That's sweet. That's $300 more than I had at the beginning of the month. And then luckily, I didn't spend much time on that path and I had someone sort of pull me aside. It might have even been Paul Boucher who said, you know, There's a certain level and you got to sort of hold the bar and charge what it's worth. Like, let me quick bring you up to speed. So, you know, I maybe did that for a month or two, realized that that wasn't really the greatest way to sort of build a foundation for a successful business. Sure, you make a few bucks here and there, but it was a lot of work for what I now know is, you know, not what it should be.

Ryan: And so after that, then what was the next transition? Did you start hustling and contacting clients? Did you get representation?

Graeme Judd: Yeah, I produced a pretty local commercial demo and sent it out. There's a few shops in town, audio post places that do radio and audio for television here even in Calgary. So yeah, I would say that's probably where I started. I had a fellow by the name of Brad Belcher who actually ended up becoming my boss. I had moved to sort of a medium market. just outside of Calgary for my first radio— or first, pardon me, my first job outside of broadcast school, which was in television writing, producing for sort of a local news channel. So I was doing not only news promos and things for the station, but we were also sort of the creative hub for local businesses. So we did Jack's Car Dealership TV ads and things like that.

Ryan: For sure.

Graeme Judd: being booked by Brad Belcher at the time. It was GGRP Alberta, but it's now the Forge Audio Company. He hired me to do some— I think it was 4 radio spots, and the pay was like $750 or something. So it was like $200 a spot or something, whatever.

Ryan: So more than $10.

Graeme Judd: Definitely more than $10 a spot. And that was sort of the Oh, okay. So I'm good enough, I can be picked for jobs where the rate is closer to what it should be. Now, this was a local, kind of Calgary and area only spot. So at the time, it was pretty reasonable pay. So I ended up coming to Calgary from where I was living at the time and doing the session with him, and then hung around afterwards and thought, this is that studio feeling. This is that—

Ryan: Yeah.

Graeme Judd: you know, I wasn't just recording at my little condo with, you know, my little laptop and a microphone. I was, you know, back in a real recording studio, probably for the first time since being with the band. So, you know, that was, that was like, oh, I miss this. I miss being in audio only.

Ryan: Right.

Graeme Judd: And, and so I sort of hung around after the session and asked him if he needed help and If he ever wanted to sort of not be the— at the time he was a producer, engineer, you know, all things. He was wearing all the hats. So I thought, well, why don't you become the producer and I could be your engineer? And, you know, that was sort of the transition back to doing more audio and becoming more of a focused audio engineer.

Ryan: Sure.

Graeme Judd: You know, within Pro Tools and really learning the tools of the trade specifically for audio production and then You know, even more specifically voiceover, so learning ISDN and preamps and compression and EQ and all that kind of stuff.

Ryan: Sure, sure.

Graeme Judd: Let me—

Ryan: I don't know if I'm jumping ahead too much, but I'm curious if there was a job or some situation that was a big leap, you know, like, okay, so now this is big. It's going to be full-time. It's going to be real, 100% voiceover, that kind of thing.

Graeme Judd: You know, I was always trying to be— you know, I wanted to be cautious about it. Obviously, I dreamt that I would pay the bills completely and that it could be my full-time endeavor. The thing about my— the way I had organized the engineer job was that, you know, sort of in between sessions for Brad and his company, he was cool with me running the voiceover stuff. So I sort of had best of both worlds, which isn't You know, it's like, I think back and like, wow, it was sort of like the perfect scenario where I had a day job, you know, that was sort of covering the basics and allowing me to also be kind of hands-on with all this gear. And then in between stuff, I could bang out my own voiceover work.

Ryan: Sure.

Graeme Judd: And so I probably hung on to my day job longer than most would just because it was too convenient to be able to do stick with that while still doing the voiceover stuff. So a couple of things. So there was a few sort of big gets commercially. There was one sort of national ad campaign that ran in the States too, which was for Hampton Inn Suites, the hotel chain, which was—

Ryan: Sure.

Graeme Judd: That was back almost 10 years ago probably now, but what that allowed for me to have was this sort of national— a piece of national work that I could sort of use to garner some major market attention. So I took that and found— ended up finding Jonna Gottlieb, who's now to this day, she's my manager. At the time, she was offering voiceover consulting from a business perspective. What I liked about When I reached out to Janna, she's in New York, and I thought her background is promo voiceover agent. So I'm not sure where along the line I decided promo and trailer was sort of right for me. But I knew that it didn't really exist in Calgary, and it definitely, you know, barely existed in Canada for promo opportunities. I knew that if I was going do promo, I wanted to do it— I would have to do it out of New York or LA and have connections in those markets. So reached out to Jonna, and at the time she was literally just consulting, kind of career consulting. So she had this sort of history of being a voiceover agent. She wasn't at an agency anymore and was sort of consulting, and so I was happy to kind of pay her to— To help you out. to better understand what it is, being outside the market, how does the industry work really from the business side? I'm not interested in another voiceover talent who also coaches. I don't necessarily need their perspective right now. I need someone that's sort of uncolored and it's just the business side.

Ryan: Right, right.

Graeme Judd: Which was hugely valuable. That was back in 2009. I originally reached out to her and it was sort of a bit of a divine connection. I mean, we worked together for a number of months. She helped me produce my first promo demo. And then she sort of pulled me aside after we did the demo. And she's like, listen, I don't know why, but I feel like I want to manage you. There's something about you that I just— I don't want to just send you off into the world. I feel like I can help kind of cultivate something.

Ryan: Right, right.

Graeme Judd: Again, that was sort of like the strangest— I reached out to her with no expectation. Certainly at the time, she was not managing people, so I was not calling her as a manager. I didn't necessarily need anything from her other than her expertise that I was willing to pay for.

Ryan: Did you ever actually move out of Canada? Did you ever live in the States?

Graeme Judd: No, I didn't. Okay.

Ryan: I didn't think so.

Graeme Judd: I teetered.

Ryan: Sure.

Graeme Judd: There was a point where we were kind of contemplating it. But, you know, so the thing that was sort of the beginning of the transitioning to full-time voiceover was she introduced me to my first agent in New York. And on my second audition after being with the agency for, I think it was only 2 weeks, I was selected as the voice of Nickelodeon.

Ryan: Okay.

Graeme Judd: So this was, again, 2000— early 2009. It was late 2000, like fall of 2009. They were rebranding to Nick, and they were looking for— it wasn't me completely, but they were looking for a sort of a younger complement to 2 other voices they already had used, you know. And so that was like the first big promo gig that sort of set it all off. And it was sort of right place, right time, and sort of a lot of work, a lot of effort, but also, you know, a little bit of luck. So, but then from that, you turn it into more. So we use that as sort of a foot in the door with LA agencies. You know, we're able to sort of say, hey, you know, got this guy, he's now doing Nickelodeon, would you like to meet him? And I was able to sort of take some meetings and end up with an LA— Yeah.

Ryan: I'm interested in your trajectory, especially at that point. As you look back, I mean, no hyperbole, when people turn on the television today, they're going to find you somewhere. You're doing very well. I'll just be the first to tell you that, Graham.

Graeme Judd: Thanks, man.

Ryan: You're doing very well. Your career trajectory at that point, did you feel like it blew up or did you still Feel a little of that, all right, I got to keep hustling, got to keep working. It's a slow burn.

Graeme Judd: It is always a slow burn, and you always have to keep at it. There is even, you know, some on the outside might look at where I'm at and think, man, he's got it made. But man, I got to tell you, there's this— every day is, you know, what are we going for next? What else can we be looking for? You got to stay fresh, you know. You know, tip number 1, never get complacent. Never think that you're sort of a made person. You know, you get that big gig and, you know, every big gig is exciting. It's an absolute honor to be chosen and all those things, but it's also going to go away.

Ryan: Yeah.

Graeme Judd: It will end, whether it's 10 years and you have the, you know, the the pleasure of being a brand voice of a TV network, or you're just on a show for CBS or Fox, or you get a chance to be the promo voice for a show. That show might get cancelled. It might not. They might change their creative focus and just try someone new. And there's so many things we can't control as the talent—

Ryan: Mm-hmm.

Graeme Judd: —that you just have to be prepared for things to sort of ebb and flow and come and go. I mean, you get a big job, and then you lose a big job just as easily. So I've been fortunate. I've had some opportunities afforded me that I realize not everyone will have the chance to have gigs like some of the ones I have. But it's all been on purpose. So again, Nickelodeon turned into LA representation, and then LA representation after some floundering and finding my way and trying this agency and that didn't work and trying this agency, I ended up— I've been with SBV. We were just talking to Jessica, my agent, yesterday. I think it's been 8 years now. And, you know, it's like you sort of seek out these relationships. Let me be very clear. What I bring to the table is only a portion of the equation. You need people that are finding the opportunities, that are, you know, putting together good deals, that are getting you the at-bats. I mean, that's the— it's literally, it's at-bats. You need as many opportunities as possible to book.

Ryan: Yeah.

Graeme Judd: a handful of things. And so the critical thing for me has been having the right team. So, Jonna is sort of at the— she's as my manager, she's like a business partner. She and I talk daily. I don't make any real big decisions without sort of bouncing things off of her. It's critical to have people like that that are sort of unbiased. They're not other talent. They're not—

Ryan: Yeah.

Graeme Judd: competitors, but well-meaning peers and whatnot. It's really someone that benefits when you benefit and has knowledge on an expertise in a certain part of the business that I don't have. I don't have 30-plus years of knowledge of being an agent and representing talent and stuff, but she does. She brings that to the table. So she and I are a great duo. And then agents and other representation is on top of that. And everyone, you know, you find your way. I've had people that I've tried for a number of years that I had high hopes for and relationships sort of didn't and work didn't materialize. So you got to try something else. And that's the other part of it too is you have to be willing to find the right fit. Not everyone— there's a lot of great people, but— And working especially on sort of the agency side. But not everyone is going to be the right fit for you. So I spent some time finding a great home. I feel very, very well looked after at SPV. And, you know, I'm going— this is my sort of midway through my 8th season on CBS, which was sort of the first big get that they— first big booking they had for me.

Ryan: Sure.

Graeme Judd: You know, and it's sort of an ongoing thing. And they've had me on— I wish I had kept a tally of how many shows I've been on. And this is where you sort of feel like, wow, I'm completely— you know, feel like a bit of a totally lucky duck here because CBS, you get on one show, you do a good job, but the show doesn't do well, you could just as easily be forgotten and not be on any more shows. And I've been fortunate that CBS has thought of me for new projects. And has had me on at least something pretty much at all times over the last 8 seasons, which is crazy. So I'm very thankful, but obviously I'm supporting their business by being available and giving a good product. So it's not totally one-sided.

Ryan: And to get over to the training side, how much coaching did you have either early on or have you done in your career?

Graeme Judd: I have a coach that I work with every 2 weeks, even to this day still. Specifically for me, that is more on the movie trailer side because in the last couple of years, that's been sort of my dream/primary focus is sort of making inroads on that side, which is a very tough nut to crack. Promo will always be something that's that I very much enjoy doing and will continue to do. And the nice thing about promos, it's sort of the daily stuff and then the—

Ryan: Sure.

Graeme Judd: You know, or weekly opportunities. And, you know, it's ongoing is what I mean to say. And then the trailer stuff sort of comes and goes and you get opportunities and then it sort of goes away. And, you know, you're sort of always singing for your supper for the trailer stuff. So it keeps it really exciting and fresh, right? Because they're such short-lived campaigns. And a movie, they promote it for a few weeks and then the movie comes out and then sort of, you know, it goes away and you have to find the next one.

Ryan: I would imagine that had to be very key in the audition process because it's one thing to get access to the jobs or to the work, but you got to nail auditions. And obviously, you're a person who figured out how to do well with those early on. Is that— I mean, that's probably the case?

Graeme Judd: I would say the biggest thing, yes, as a self-directing and being confident and knowing your abilities and all is imperative.

Ryan: Mm-hmm.

Graeme Judd: And you can hear when someone's not fully confident in something that they're doing. And those that are confident will somehow stick out. And so confidence is critical. I would say that the biggest thing that the training does for me at least is it's reinforcement that my instincts are correct for me. And what I mean by that is I've spent— early on, I would say that I sort of knew what I was doing enough, and I got some opportunities and made something of them. The last 2 or 3 years, I would say I'm really trying to find what is my sound, what is my authenticity and my sort of authentic sound and self, right? Everything that you hear now is rooted in reality for me. It's not sort of a read that I'm doing, oh, I think promos sound like this, so I'm doing a promo sound.

Ryan: Let me clarify real— so you're kind of saying in the last 2 or 3 years, when I hear you doing a promo for E! or CBS, you feel like you're delivering it more as an authentic you than maybe you previously had been doing?

Graeme Judd: Sure. Yeah, exactly. So, while you still have to find sort of the energy that works for the product, so, you know, if it's a 2 Broke Girls, Girls, high-energy sort of sitcom, there's still sort of an expected energy level needed to kind of sell the product, sell the show. Something like Young Sheldon, which I'm on right now for CBS, is a much calmer, kind of warmer kind of show.

Ryan: Many notches down.

Graeme Judd: It's very close to being conversational almost in promo, as conversational as you can get with promo. And I would say that rather than worrying what I think someone wants me to sound like, I'm just sort of— I'm now able to be confident in what my sound is and just throw stuff out there when the auditions come. And why it's critical is, listen, I book way less than I audition for. It can be hundreds of auditions to one booking.

Ryan: Sure.

Graeme Judd: But that one booking is going to put pick me because they want me and no one else can bring that.

Ryan: And we're talking in still the promo world?

Graeme Judd: Yeah, promo and trailer. Or commercial. I mean, I really think it applies to sort of all the things. And sort of as— the one thing we can do as talent is just be authentic. And it's such an obvious thing, and everyone says it. Be yourself. It's easier said than done. It's taken me— You know, like I said, 2009. So what are my 9 years doing kind of national promo work? And—

Ryan: And you're saying that only in the last 2 or 3 years do you feel like you're finally really being you?

Graeme Judd: Yeah. Yeah.

Ryan: Yeah.

Graeme Judd: That's interesting. And every day more and more so. And so the training allows you to have that professional sounding board and someone that, in my case, The fellow I train with biweekly, his day job is movie trailer sort of producer. So, you know, he knows what he needs and what the industry requires and what the trends are and whatnot. And I can sort of— it's like an opportunity to do reads for him like their jobs, like he would be directing me if it was, you know, a project he was working on.

Ryan: Right.

Graeme Judd: But it's an opportunity to have him— for me to sort of test my instincts. You know, so we read a variety of different copy and typically stuff that's already on air. You know, and we just sort of copy down the words and, you know, I try and take my—

Ryan: Mm-hmm.

Graeme Judd: What would I do with this? What would be a valid choice, still work for the genre and stuff? I'm not trying to necessarily reinvent the wheel, but You know, I recognize also that I'm not the big epic movie, you know, big barrel-chested sound that a movie trailer— we've become sort of used to hearing, right? There's a lot of guys that do it. Basically, the 5 guys that do the movie trailer sound effects. There's a number of terrific guys that, you know, names come to mind, and I'm fans of all of them, and the reality is that they sound very different than me. I'm coming with a very different approach, especially if I I do my own thing and not try and do, oh, this is my version of a Howard Parker or Ashton Smith or Scott Rummell or all those guys. They're already doing that. So my best shot at booking and staying and having a shot at staying in the business is sort of coming up with my own thing and have that win out.

Ryan: Why do you want to go after trailer work so much?

Graeme Judd: I don't know. Being honest, it's sort of like, that's the one piece that probably came, in terms of dreamland, if you do voiceover, what aspect of voiceover really sort of drew you in? I've always really been a fan of movie trailers. Maybe it was—

Ryan: Let me put a footnote on my question real quick and then keep answering. But in my mind, the film industry has changed drastically. TV is getting bigger and bigger. A lot of the art is just getting a lot bigger and better on television. But also in the trailer world, to me it doesn't seem like it's the way it used to be. You don't have the trailer voice explaining the movie for 30, 60, 90, 2 minutes. You know, oftentimes it's a rated PG. You know what I mean?

Graeme Judd: Totally.

Ryan: So it feels like the trend in the trailer industry would make you think, eh, maybe I shouldn't waste my time on that.

Graeme Judd: Absolutely. No, I think there's a lot of truth to that statement. There is an awful lot of just title and rating. And yeah, I mean, it's hard to compete when it's just the title of the movie and rating. We just put one of the normal guys on it because why would we bother getting creative with our voice choice when it's literally just the title and the rating and we know who does a good job and just give it to them?

Ryan: Yeah, you're doing tags at that point.

Graeme Judd: So again, absolutely, the industry has shifted. What little I have learned about it in the last few years is certainly not what it used to be. I think if you would ask any one of those guys, they They would tell you the same, and they would have the track record to say, here's what it used to be like. Obviously, I wasn't around during those times. For me, trailer is sort of an extension of promo, and it's just other opportunities. And maybe what I like about it is sort of the immediacy. I like the rush. A lot of times, it's sort of quick turnaround.

Ryan: Yeah.

Graeme Judd: And again, it's condensed. So you've got maybe 3, 4 weeks of— if you're lucky enough to be on a campaign. You know, you work intensely for, you know, leading up to the release of the film, and then it sort of falls off.

Ryan: Yeah.

Graeme Judd: So it's like this insane rush to sort of satisfy and to do a good job. And then you're on to something else, and you sort of can reinvent yourself each time. So each movie is sort of every chance you get. You know, I'm hoping that I don't necessarily just find one area of movie trailers and only do one sound, and, oh, that's that guy that does that one read.

Ryan: Sure.

Graeme Judd: I love to have the variety, just like my promo stuff. I've had the opportunity to read really dramatic stuff and then a lot of comedies and somewhere in between reality and action and things like that. So I think the promo stuff is awesome because it's ongoing. It's a lot of fun, but, you know, you get into a groove with a show and week over week, it's not like you're trying a different sound or something like that. So maybe the— probably the most interesting thing about trailer is just the rate at which you're sort of on to the next project.

Ryan: We don't need to just talk exact financials though. I think a lot of this is sort of set rate, you know, where— I don't know what rate structure, and it doesn't matter. If you do a trailer for a, you know, a big film and you say it's about 3 weeks worth of work, you might do a number of sessions, you're doing a variation, whatever. What's the money for that like versus, you know, is it worth a week's worth of promos for one TV show? Is it a month? Is it one day? You know, give me some apples-to-apples comparisons.

Graeme Judd: Well, yet again, I mean, I'm on the inward, you know, I'm trying to make my way into the industry, so I'm not the expert on all the different— I haven't been on a number of campaigns. I can tell you, you know, when I have been on a few things, you know, it's a range. Some movies are smaller and, you know, they do fewer pieces, fewer spots, fewer trailers. You know, let's just say broadcast television promo because all the cable networks, like everyone sort of pays depending on what it, you know, everyone sort of has a slightly different setup, but the broadcast networks are all the same. So there's a union, there's an AFTRA rate for spots and tags. And, you know, it's pretty— the math gets pretty simple when you just know, okay, I read this many things, this is what the rate is, moving on. I would say that, you know, a really good-paying movie could probably rival a full season of a broadcast show.

Ryan: Okay, interesting.

Graeme Judd: Just roughly.

Ryan: Okay.

Graeme Judd: You know, so you do like September to May of a broadcast show. could be, you know, sort of equal to a really high-paying movie.

Ryan: Yep. That is more than I thought it would be. So there, that's cool. Yeah.

Graeme Judd: And it's, you know—

Ryan: And I know it varies.

Graeme Judd: Totally. It's gonna vary by, you know, number of— mostly number of spots. I think that's gonna be the— especially because it is union work, there is that set minimum, you know, that it's definitely gonna be at least this. I'm being coy. I don't even know the numbers off the top of my head. It's okay.

Ryan: I don't ever talk specific financials. It's not the point of the show.

Graeme Judd: Yeah. But I think there's obviously a financial component that is interesting to me, but I don't want it to seem like, oh, well, I don't care about the money. I just love doing the work. Obviously, it's nice to make a living. I make a very comfortable living.

Ryan: I saw your studio. I'm going to talk about that in a minute.

Graeme Judd: Yeah, sure. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. I mean, again, I've worked hard and I continue to work hard and sort of the— there's a ton of investment that's gone into it, both from a technological and a recording studio space standpoint. Also travel to being out of market. It's been critical to spend time in LA and New York and make relationships and shore up relationships that started remotely, but it's critical to get some face time, I think. We're still in a— it's still a people-to-people business.

Ryan: Mm-hmm.

Graeme Judd: So I think people are wise to get some face time. So like I said, we sort of skipped past it, but I never moved to LA or New York, but I try and make it down a couple of times a year, at least to LA, which is where most of the work's sort of concentrated for me now. And Pro Max is in New York in June coming up, and I'll definitely be in town for that. And it's just good to get out and be social with the people that you work with and make sure they know that you're a real human, not just this disembodied voice.

Ryan: Mm-hmm.

Graeme Judd: I think there's some value in that. Has it meant that I haven't lost jobs because I travel to these places? I don't think it's that. But for me, it's important to sort of get to know the people that you work with on a regular basis.

Ryan: What is something— and you can— let me ask it 2 ways, answer both ways— in the promo world that you're not doing that you'd like to be doing? And then what is something in voiceover and trailer— isn't— you can't say trailer because I know you're already doing that— that you're not doing that you want to get into?

Graeme Judd: Oh, interesting. Listen, I'm a huge fan of HBO stuff. Okay, I would love to do specifically, you know, HBO. I'd I don't even know if they have much voiceover. I mean, that's the challenge is some of these cable networks have chosen, you know, it's way more artistic to have no voiceover.

Ryan: What about narration? It makes me think of Liev Schreiber. I know you're so ingrained in the promo world, but have you done long-form narration? I love what he does on HBO and sports.

Graeme Judd: I've dabbled. You know, I certainly auditioned for it and would do it if, you know, if someone picked me for it. Sure, sure, sure. So I wouldn't turn my nose at narration. I would say that throughout my career, I've worked with very talented people, both when I was in as a writer-producer and whatnot in television, which was very short-lived, mostly because the people I worked with, they dreamt of doing that work. They had been working up to it their entire lives. One of my best friends to this day, I met at the TV station, and he was someone that, you know, elementary school on, he knew he was going to be a writer-producer and work in television.

Ryan: Mm-hmm.

Graeme Judd: And that kind of passion, that's what I had for audio and more laser-pointedly voiceover. And I have much respect, and I don't really want to sort of compete because I know what it takes to compete, the energy and the time and everything to compete with the stuff I am interested, truly interested in, like obsessive about. I know that there are people out there that are like that with narration, with audiobooks, with animation. For sure. Yep. And so it's sort of out of respect and admiration for that passion and that drive for those people that I go, you know what, I don't think I have what it takes to really Do— narration would probably be that, that sort of promo trailer narration commercial would sort of be on the list for me. But again, it's like that— I know people that do it and do it so well and love the long form and are amazing at cold reading a lot of words. And for me, it's just like my attention span lends itself more to just the quick Wham, bam, here's a promo, 30 seconds or less kind of thing. And so, while I'm— works well because that's the stuff I want to pursue anyway, it's kind of like I would do it if someone heard my demo or heard an audition and said, he's the right guy. Absolutely, I would do it.

Ryan: What about— is there someone, maybe it's in the promo world or really anywhere, that you still think about a read you heard, a talent you heard doing something related to voiceover that still sticks out as like, I mean, that guy or gal just nailed it?

Graeme Judd: Oh geez, there's just so many people that I admire and say it's tough to bring up names. It's hard to bring up names. Yeah, it's really hard to pick just one. And you say a few names and the others get left off. I'm inspired and aspire to be like a number of people.

Ryan: Not that he is the person, but I think a lot of people would go back to like a Don LaFontaine, for example.

Graeme Judd: Absolutely. Listen, I watched that 5 Guys in a Limo thing like crazy. Back then I was just dreaming about this. I was obsessed about that kind of stuff. And Mark Elliott and stuff. Listen, the classic Disney stuff, like all the, for a limited time, out of the Disney Vault. That was Mark Elliott. He was the voice of my childhood, basically. So, I would say I loved— let's turn it into who would I love to sort of meet and to really fangirl over.

Ryan: Yeah.

Graeme Judd: Hal Douglas, to me, he had that whimsical, like, oh, this is going to be a warm and happy experience. There's something about his trailer reads that, you know, in a world— he just had this really kind of whimsical, warm, but calm— calming kind of approach. I don't know. There's something— definitely stuff like that. Even that comedian movie trailer thing he did where he was in a booth and they were kicking him out.

Ryan: Yeah.

Graeme Judd: He was being fired and, no, I like it in here, and stuff like that. To me, those are those little, like, you know, viral video things that are sort of unrelated to their day job, and they were totally professional, but they had, you know, they were willing to sort of make fun of themselves, you know, and not take themselves so seriously. And the same thing with Don and the Five Guys limo thing.

Ryan: And when he was on— was it Family Guy?

Graeme Judd: Yeah, I think he did Family Guy.

Ryan: He was on Family Guy, I think, multiple times. And then he did that— was it a GEICO commercial?

Graeme Judd: Yeah, he was the voice of GEICO.

Ryan: Just stuff like that.

Graeme Judd: I just love that stuff. Yeah, just like, let's not take ourselves so seriously. Obviously, you know, that's the— I love that when people are like, they're terrific, they're top of their game, but they're, you know, totally approachable and like, you know, not at all pretentious or anything. It's very cool. And there's, you know, if I'm being honest, I've yet to really meet anyone that didn't sort of fit that bill, you know?

Ryan: Yeah.

Graeme Judd: I'm sure they exist, but I haven't encountered anyone that really was a total, you know, D-bag or anything.

Ryan: Let me— because I'm gonna run out of time with you and I want to talk about this.

Graeme Judd: I know what you're talking about now. I was like, there's no way we're 30 minutes or more. Uh-huh. Here we are almost an hour.

Ryan: Pulling back the curtain a little, he said, so what do you usually do, about 30 minutes? I'm like, yeah, I try for 30 minutes, but it never goes less. It always goes longer. All right, you've got a great studio there, and I know you had it built. And it's— just tell me a little— well, let me say the first thing. I saw some pictures of it. You've got 3 mics in your main booth. Is that just a true statement still?

Graeme Judd: Yep, absolutely. Yeah, so I have— yeah, go ahead. We'll do the kind of quick tech rundown. So I'm on a 416, I have a U87, and an M149, which is a Neumann tube microphone.

Ryan: I couldn't figure out what the M149 was.

Graeme Judd: Yeah, I saw the picture and— okay, so that's, that's it. Listen, I'm a gear junkie, so the biggest disclaimer on all of this is, if anyone's listening, don't do as I do. You do not need half or really any of this gear other than a microphone and a decent preamp to do voiceover. And those decent preamps are built into our audio interfaces, so you really don't need any sort of extra bells and whistles and gear. I sort of dreamed of having them, so therefore I have them.

Ryan: To some people, microphones are like heroin, and while you wish you could quit them, you can't.

Graeme Judd: Yes, and a sidebar, NAMM, Winter NAMM started today, the gear show in LA. And that's deadly for someone like me who's like, ooh, what are they coming out with? Literally, I do not need anything else. I really don't. I could sell most of this studio and still get the work done. But, you know, I love the bells and whistles. I love the toys. I love just looking at the lights and stuff. So I have— those 3 mics are sort of my main voiceover mics, I would say.

Ryan: Did I cut you off? What was your 3rd mic? You have the 416?

Graeme Judd: So it's the 416, the Neumann U87, and a Neumann M149. So the M149 is a big tube microphone. I have myself convinced that if I do any big, big movie trailer actiony type stuff, I might use that mic because it's got a really nice big bottom end and maybe more of the voice of God.

Ryan: What are you on right now?

Graeme Judd: I'm on the 416.

Ryan: Okay.

Graeme Judd: And that's into an Avalon 737 with a little bit of tweaking, a little EQ, a little compression, not much, but just a little taste.

Ryan: For anybody that cares, I'm on a 416, which is into nothing, into a single mono track in Pro Tools.

Graeme Judd: There you go. Yeah, so we're set up very similarly. And then I have the U87, which I like. It's a little bit more neutral sounding mic, a little bit more sort of natural reproduction. So again, I have myself convinced that if I do kind of commercial work or anything where I have to be more regular guy, not sort of amped or processed promo sound, I would use the U87 with, you know, yet less processing. And then again, the M149 is that sort of big bottom end, sort of larger-than-life sound. And so that was the justification. I mean, certainly most of my day is on the 416, and it's—

Ryan: You're a Pro Tools guy?

Graeme Judd: Yeah, into Pro Tools. I have a Pro Tools HD rig. And so I'm into Pro Tools. I have the HD Omni. In terms of preamps, I've got the 737. I've got a Portico channel, a Portico 2 channel from Rupert Neve, Shelford channel from Rupert Neve, a couple of sort of outboard compressors and things.

Ryan: Okay.

Graeme Judd: 1073, a BAE 1073 channel.

Ryan: Yeah, yeah.

Graeme Judd: And, and then ISDN box. Telos Zip box. So this is— one of my clients switched to this from ISDN. So it's made by Telos, same as the ISDN box, but it's basically like Source Connect in an outside box. So it's IP connection. It's like, you know, it's point-to-point and they have a box on their end. But it's— man, to try and keep up with all the different things. We got Source Connect, we got IPDTL, we've got the Zip box, we've still got ISDN for some people. Still have ISDN. You've got Skype for phone patch and things like that. So it's amazing to me where I would love for someone to just sort of say, this is the way forward, but it seems to me you have to have all the things.

Ryan: What kind of a data connection do you have into your place there?

Graeme Judd: I have 2 broadband connections, one from the phone company and one from the cable company. Hoping for fiber. We don't have it in our neighborhood yet, so I'll be the first.

Ryan: So you have like 100 meg down and up?

Graeme Judd: I have 150 down and up. which tests regularly at 170 down, and then one of them is like 40 up or something, the other one's 10 up. So I use the 40 up one more readily. But I know, I hear of— I've got friends in LA that have fiber and it's like the full gig pipeline. I'm thinking like, oh man, I would love to have that.

Ryan: Oh yeah, I live a couple miles from fiber people. It ain't at my house though.

Graeme Judd: No, well then this— They're teasing me. This is plenty for what I do. I don't have any dropouts on like Source Connect or anything, so it's, you know, it's still good enough for audio.

Ryan: But then you have 2 separate ISDN lines as well.

Graeme Judd: I have the ISDN box with lines from the telephone company installed in the house, and then I also have numbers through IPDTL. I paid for some extra ISDN numbers just thinking it'd be good to have. I like them for travel. I gotta be honest. I actually— because that Zip box, it's harder to find ways to sort of bridge that from the road. I don't travel much, but when I'm on vacation and stuff, I've actually used IPDTL and I will ISDN from the road using IPDTL to my home box and then hard patch my Zip box and then do sort of my own bridge to my client that uses the Zip thing.

Ryan: Right.

Graeme Judd: So it's cheap enough monthly that it's worth still keeping. If I use ISDN more than twice a month, I'd be, you know, it would shock me.

Ryan: Do you have any idea working with a lot of various different promo— because I think in the promo world is where it's, where all of that kind of stuff is getting used the most.

Graeme Judd: Yeah, and more and more people are moving away from it. So, you know, CBS used to be strictly ISDN and they're now source Source Connect.

Ryan: I was going to ask, what's the trend that you're witnessing? Is everybody going to one platform?

Graeme Judd: No, it's interesting. And then I did some work for Fox and they're still ISDN and didn't seem like they were changing that anytime soon. So they're in like— I'm not on Fox right now, but I hope to be again on a different show. And so you go, well, if they ever pick me for something else, I better still have ISDN. So it's this tricky thing. There's ways around it. IPDTL has been very stable for me. And the fact that they offer this sort of virtual ISDN connection, I think, is perfect, you know, the perfect scenario for people that don't want to or can't get the ISDN installed. They can just sort of get an IPDTL subscription and use it when they need it. It sort of gives the illusion that you have actual ISDN.

Ryan: When you're, when you're on the road, what do you bring with you? A 416?

Graeme Judd: I'm gonna get— yeah, I've got the 416. I have the PortaBooth from Harlan Hogan. I've been looking at other things. I see this Isovox thing from Sweden that looks interesting. But yeah, the PortaBooth Pro, a little pop-up tent with foam on the inside, I like that. I have a moving— yeah, I have a moving blanket that I bring with me that I sort of put up as a baffle behind me. I usually get the hotel—

Ryan: That works for you pretty well?

Graeme Judd: Clothing rack or something and drape that, sort of make a little like a gobo in studio speak, and put a little sort of baffle behind me to sort of help with some of the reflection.

Ryan: Yeah.

Graeme Judd: Yeah, 416, and then I have the Apollo Twin from Universal Audio. I like— I like the— the reason I like the Apollo, I switched from the Apogee One. I like the size of the Apogee One, but I really liked the Unison preamps of the Twins. So I've actually got myself set up so I'm recording on a 1073 quote-unquote preamp.

Ryan: I was gonna say, or you could put the VoxBox on there, or—

Graeme Judd: Yeah, exactly. Get the Manley and sort of dial it in. I've sort of dialed in a combination of EQ and compression and things via my UAD plugins that sort of mimic what I do at home on the Avalon and stuff. It's never gonna be exact, but, you know, it gives me sort of a similar taste of what I give to people when I'm at home.

Ryan: What could I do to— what could I pay you or do with my body to get you to screenshot your settings on your plugins? plugins there and see how you set up your, your UA.

Graeme Judd: You have to remind me how to do screenshot. I literally have to Google it every time. It's what? It's Shift+Option+3 or something?

Ryan: Yeah, I change— actually, I change my modifier keys on my keyboard because I'm an old PC guy. So for me, it's Control+Shift+3, but— or wait, is it 3 or 4? Anyway, doesn't matter. Yeah, I will—

Graeme Judd: I would be happy to. There's nothing special about it. It's sort of dialed into Yeah, you know, a little bit off top, top end, like 18k or 20k or so, just a little bit of shine, just a little sparkle.

Ryan: For sure.

Graeme Judd: A little, little low-end boost. I find my voice at 75 Hz is sort of— there's a sort of a sweet spot that I like to bring out a little bit. So it's like 2 or 3 dB in that range.

Ryan: Okay.

Graeme Judd: And then I bring up maybe by a dB a little bit of the mid-range, just so it's not a total smiley face.

Ryan: And yeah, right, you're not bringing the high end up at all, is that what you said?

Graeme Judd: Yeah, about 20k. Yeah, the, the Avalon is a they've got the third— on the Avalon, they've got the 32k, which is like supersonic, right? But I find it gives a nice air. Oh, really? Little sort of polish. So I've got that up by 3 dB. Okay, at 32. So just a little bit of sparkle.

Ryan: Do you guys say put a tiny little bit of sizzle there on the high end? That's always good.

Graeme Judd: Yeah, it just brings up— I feel like on the 416, there's already a really nice sort of EQ curve naturally in the microphone. Yep. I do about 3 dB of compression And then, and then into the EQ. I roll off sort of the muddy, anything below about 40.

Ryan: Sure. Yep.

Graeme Judd: On the high pass. And then, yeah, that's, that's, that's about it.

Ryan: What about—

Graeme Judd: And I sort of mimic that with an LA-2A compressor and a— what is it— the Millennia EQ from UAD that has similar frequency corners to the Avalon. So it was more picked about trying to find that sort of roughly what I use at home. Man, I hope they come— you know, if UAD models the Avalon like they have with the VoxBox and things, I'll just switch to that probably.

Ryan: I would buy it the day they do. Yeah. What about gating on the road? Do you do that?

Graeme Judd: I don't do any gating. I just try and keep Keep it, you know, keep room noise to a minimum. I turned off— turn off AC and stuff and try and be away from windows.

Ryan: Yeah.

Graeme Judd: Things where you're going to get the exterior noise. Just stop talking if the vacuuming is happening. I find like most of my clients are flexible enough that I can sort of pick a few hours window and say, you know, let's try and record in this pocket. For whatever reason, it always seems to be the exact time that someone's vacuuming in the hallway. So that's hard to work around.

Ryan: Can you take a weekday off?

Graeme Judd: I try not to. But you can't, right? You really can't? No, I wouldn't know. I haven't tried. As bonkers as it sounds, I worked the day my daughter was born. I worked 3 hours a day for my honeymoon in Aruba. So it's just like, you just don't want to push it, right? You hear these horror stories. Now, for those that are thinking he's a terrible father and husband and whatever else, the day my daughter was born, she came very fast. Mom and daughter were doing very well. My mom and my mother-in-law had already joined us at the hospital, so my wife had lots of company. I needed to come home and feed the cats anyway. So it was kind of like, hey, CBS needs me.

Ryan: I don't think you have to justify your fatherliness, but I get what you're saying.

Graeme Judd: No, but you're like, hey, someone would be like, that's ridiculous. You shouldn't work. I was totally prepared to be like— we had— everyone knew that soon my wife would be giving birth and just sort of a few weeks out just said like, I might just not be available for a period of time. And everyone was generally just very understanding and like, oh yeah, we'll figure it out. But it just so happened that it was kind of like, well, all the excitement came— again, my daughter arrived very fast. So we were like, okay.

Ryan: Okay.

Graeme Judd: Good for your wife. I'm gonna zip home. She was— my wife was awesome. And like I said, she had company and, you know, the nurses were great. And I had to come home. We don't live far from the hospital, so I had to zip home, feed the cats. So yeah, why not? Let's do 15 minutes of CBS while we're at it. Why not?

Ryan: Make a couple bucks, have a child. It's a Tuesday.

Graeme Judd: It's perfect. It was a Thursday, but it was perfect.

Ryan: It was a Thursday.

Graeme Judd: But yeah, no, I mean, it's— yeah, I always Any travel that I do, I fly on weekends and stay long enough that I won't have to be in the air during the week. And I just really don't push it. I know others do and it works out fine for them and I'm sure it would be— if it was in moderation, I'm sure it wouldn't be detrimental.

Ryan: And I know others that don't leave, that they don't leave. They have that mindset of, I just can never leave.

Graeme Judd: I try and have somewhere in the middle because I don't think that's a very fun Right. You know, it's nice to be able to go play. We have the flexibility. Listen, I don't have to ask anybody if I can go on vacation. If my wife wants to go away for a week and we go somewhere warm, we go to Maui, pick somewhere that's got a walk-in closet, and there you go, you know, set up and, you know, be as good as possible. Yeah, the sound— there's so many technological advances now. You can get like the iZotope RX plugins and things where You know, on the other end, the audio engineers that I record with, they can usually kind of dial out most of any sort of unwanted room reflection and stuff to them, to the point where, let's, let's be honest, with promo and trailer, we're compressing and slamming voice up against music and sound effects and things anyway. So it gets sort of buried.

Ryan: For sure.

Graeme Judd: Under a lot of that stuff.

Ryan: You might not want— yeah, I wouldn't want to record a, whatever, an audiobook, but I get what you're I know you don't want it where it's cold voice.

Graeme Judd: You prefer not to, but in, in promo land especially, it's kind of like, it's good enough for a week. It allows me to be away and have some fun with my family and still sort of service my clients.

Ryan: And get that— and get that Young Sheldon money.

Graeme Judd: Exactly.

Ryan: Hey man, this is awesome. I gotta let you go at some point. I can't keep talking to you forever. Well, we could, right?

Graeme Judd: I'm sure there's more to talk about, but why don't we do a part 2 if we think of stuff.

Ryan: I'd love to.

Graeme Judd: If this is your most downloaded episode ever, then I promise I'll come back for a part 2.

Ryan: Okay, not to toot my show's own horn, but that's a tall order these days. I've had some pretty popular folks on, so—

Graeme Judd: I don't doubt. I'll have to get it out there. I don't anticipate that it will be, not because of you, but because of me.

Ryan: Yeah, right.

Graeme Judd: Maybe.

Ryan: Hey, let me get one last question out of you. I try to remember to ask this to everybody at the end, and you can make this as short and sweet as you want. If you're going to lay it all or bring it all down to one single key piece of advice to the next Graham Judd, what is that advice for them to be successful in this industry?

Graeme Judd: Yeah, sort of a lot of obvious things, and this may even feel obvious, and I know others would say it, but for me, again, the biggest thing in the last few years that's really kind of cemented is at least the internal feeling of being confident is that you just got to find your signature, find that signature sound. And I think that goes to all the different genres of voiceover. Maybe in animation it's like find your million signature sounds. Yeah, right, right. You know, I think it's that find a way to be authentic. I think it'll be a longer-lasting thing. I know people that do pretty good imitations of promo, what they think promo people should sound like, or trailer people, and I hear of them booking the occasional work and whatnot. But I also hear about that they didn't last because they sort of did a read and it wasn't really flexible.

Ryan: Mm-hmm.

Graeme Judd: You know? So the biggest thing, the best thing about finding sort of an internal kind of grounding or like a centering on all your work is that you can pivot. And I pride myself on now especially being able, you know, working every 2 weeks on reads, is if someone directs me and says, you know, I love that read, but can it be 5% brighter or happier or something? You know, and gives us like just tweaking. I can be really micro-targeted because it's all sort of based in reality. It's based in authenticity.

Ryan: Right.

Graeme Judd: And that's such a huge thing. And I don't think everyone gets that. I think a lot of people think voiceover, especially genres like promo and trailer, is just you sound like, you know, if you're doing a promo, it sounds like this. Maybe for some it does sound like that, but for me, I'd much rather book— I think you last longer if you book based on you.

Ryan: Yeah, man, love it.

Graeme Judd: If you get an opportunity and then you kind of cement it, and then no one can sort of take it away from you. They'll change, creative tastes change, and someone says, hey, let's go older, let's try one All valid creative choices, and that absolutely happens, and it happens to me, and it'll happen, and, you know, it will continue to happen. But I think your best shot at sort of having a lasting, staying presence in the business is, again, and probably production, like, have an authentic sound.

Ryan: Absolutely, man.

Graeme Judd: And build from there.

Ryan: Yeah, that's great. @GraemeJudd. Oh, I don't think I did it in my intro, but G-R-A-E-M-E G-R-A-M-E J-U-D-D. That's you on Twitter, @GrahamJudd. GrahamJudd.com, they can check out. You're pretty good at putting your recent work there too.

Graeme Judd: Yeah, I would say website, if you're interested, is probably the most up-to-date thing. Twitter—

Ryan: You're not a big Twitter guy?

Graeme Judd: I'm not a social— I just don't know what I'm doing. When I do share, it's something unrelated. It's very rarely of value, but maybe that's part of the New Year's resolution is getting better on those platforms.

Ryan: Yeah, well, you know, you'll make it one of these days, Graham. I have high hopes for you. You're gonna—

Graeme Judd: you're gonna— If only I could get my Twitter account in order, then I would maybe go somewhere.

Ryan: There you go. I'm gonna have that YouTube video on the website. I'm also gonna put a link to some of that, the posting about your studio there as well, because some of these tech geeks like me are gonna be interested in that. So there we go. One final time, Graham Judd, thank you so much for joining me on the show. I appreciate it.

Graeme Judd: My pleasure, and thanks for having me.

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