I woke up yesterday morning and my throat was killing me. Terrible timing, considering I had two voicover things I had to do. First was a session I’d been hired for to be the voice of a Chicago engineer for a Lionel toy train. A pretty cool gig, and there was a fair amount of copy…not just me saying something like “All aboard!”. No, this was a well-thought-out script with a lot of authenticity to it, and I’d been hired based on an audition I provided in my best Chicago accent…or at least the best one I thought fit the character.

So at about noon, the session began, and despite the need to have every line read twice (just for safety’s sake), we were wrapped up in just about 30 minutes. Not bad for over a hundred lines. In fact, it was quite nice to be complimented on the session by the director, who said it was one of the “best and most painless ones of these I’ve worked on.” Always nice to get that kind of compliment, especially when you’re feeling lousy, physically.

But then came voiceover event #2, an audition for Nationwide Insurance. Now, I could just be imagining the worst, but after a few takes of the audition, which I read with two other people, a woman and a little girl who was, by the way, brilliant, the director (a great guy with whom I’ve worked before) said that I was done, but asked the other two people to stay because he’d “lost a couple of people and needed them to read again.”

Uh oh.

Again, maybe it’s just me being paranoid, but it sure felt an awful lot like a “That sucked, so you ladies please stay here while I bring in somebody who isn’t gonna sound terrible reading with you!”

I’m sure there are people who never have to deal with this…people who, even with pneumonia or strep, could whip out a perfect session or perfect audition. Some of these people may have more experience than me, and some may just be better than me (although none, I would argue, are any more dedicated than I am to delivering a great performance). This, though, is one of the interesting things about voice acting, and I’m sure, about acting in general. You’re gonna have your great moments, when you really shine, and really feel great about it. And then you’ll have your not-so-great moments, when the people you’re reading for, or performing for, are thinking maybe your game’s a little bit off.

It’s just a little odd when they happen one right after the other.