Self-tape recording sessions
A proper space, a decent setup, a scene partner who can actually act, and someone to direct you. In Pascoe Vale, twenty minutes from the CBD.
Self-taping alone is genuinely difficult
The tape is due tomorrow. You’re propping a phone against a stack of books, in front of the only wall in the house that isn’t cluttered, reading against a housemate who’s doing their best but keeps laughing. The light is coming from behind you. You’ve done eleven takes and you can no longer tell which one was good.
Everyone has done this. It’s no way to get cast.
Book a session and all of it is handled.
What you get
- A clean, quiet space with a plain background and no traffic noise, dogs or doorbells.
- Proper lighting and framing — lit from the front, correctly framed, at the right height. The three things that make a tape look professional, and the three things that go wrong at home.
- Clean sound. Casting directors will forgive a lot before they forgive audio they have to strain through.
- A scene partner who can act. Phoebe reads opposite you — properly, with intention, giving you something real to respond to. It changes the performance more than any of the technical points above.
- Direction. Someone watching who can tell you it was flat, or too big, or that take four was the one. Self-taping alone means directing yourself, and nobody is good at that.
- Slate and files. Slated correctly, named as the brief asks, and delivered in the format requested.
Bring
- The sides or script, and the casting brief
- Anything specific the brief asks for — slate format, self-tape instructions, deadlines
- Costume or wardrobe if it matters, though usually simpler is better
- Your lines, as learnt as you can manage. We can work with less, but time in the room is better spent on performance than on memorising.
Preparation and recording together
Book 60 minutes and we’ll spend the first half working the material — choices, intention, what the scene is actually about — and the second half recording it. The difference between a tape of someone reciting lines and a tape of someone playing a scene is enormous, and it’s the whole game.
Prices
| Session | Price |
|---|---|
| 30 minutes | $35 |
| 45 minutes | $55 |
| 60 minutes | $75 |
60 minutes is recommended for anything with more than one scene, or where you’d like the material worked before it’s recorded. Thirty minutes suits a single short scene you’ve already prepared.