I’m a few days late and no doubt at least a few dollars short with this post, but congratulations are in order to Pamela C., the winner of the Minewurx Project voiceover contest. You’ll find details on Mike’s Studio Echos site here.
Good for you, Pamela. I wish you much success.
Update: There’s more information about Pamela on the Minewurx Echos page here. And Pamela has begun blogging about her experiences here.
Take a few minutes and read the story at the top of this thread at the Voiceover Bulletin Board. Enjoy the latest fruit from the mind of Philip Banks!
Update: And while you’re there, be sure to download the amazing audio piece done by Travis in the second post of the thread. Wow! There are some mighty talented people who hang out at the VO-BB.
Because it’s for a good cause. Which is exactly what I’ve done today. And if you do voiceovers, at whatever level, I encourage you to do the same. Check out VoicesForAChange.org.
My thanks to my friend Dave Christi for letting me know about this opportunity.
Update: Stephanie at Vox Daily, the voiceover blog of Voices.com, as interviewed Dave Christi about this project. You can read the interview and learn more about what, how and why Dave is starting this service, here.
And by the way, it’s not too late to volunteer your services, either for a second (or third) version of the PSA that’s started this whole thing or for this project as a whole. Click through to VoicesForAChange.org.
For a quick dose of Christmas cheer from the somewhat bent mind of Pat Fraley, click on the phrase Are We There Yet in his initial message of this thread at the Voiceover Bulletin Board.
Great fun from a great talent. Oh, and Merry Christmas to you and yours.
Dave Carroll describes his recent voiceover session experience as being sort of like…
…a piece of meat and poked and prodded until the right sound comes out of my mouth.
Yeah, it can feel that way, sometimes. But, it’s still way better than working for a living!
Read the whole thing. It’s not long and if you’ve done any number of voiceovers you’ll know exactly where Dave’s coming from.
If you enjoyed reading my interview with Joe Cipriano a few weeks ago, you should check out the podcast interview with Joe done by Donna Papacosta. (Joe is such a great guy.)
And my thanks to Stephanie of Voices.com for pointing out this podcast interview on Vox Daily. (And in the comments section here as well.)
Over at the Voicemarketer.com blog, Ryan has been interviewing up a storm, as it were. He has features just in the last few days with Chuck Buell, Lisa Lupari, Bob Michaels, and my friend Peter O’Connell.
Check them all out. And nice work, Ryan.
With thanks to my friend Mary McKitrick, who posted this link on the Voiceover Bulletin Board, check out this interview with acting coach Larry Moss. Very good insights that stand up well 6 years after the interview was conducted.
And speaking of Mary, congratulations are in order. While her accomplishment isn’t directly connected to voiceover work, I have no doubt that the discipline and control she’s been learning in her classes are valuable for her work behind the microphone. Good for you, Mary. May you find much success in all parts of your life.
(edited to correct typo)
With my thanks to my friend Dan Nachtrab for pointing this out on the VO-BB.com today, here’s a terrific article which not only features three talented voiceover fellows, but also some interesting observations about the whole Union vs. Non-union question. It’s well worth your time.
Dan Lenard, blogging at Master VO, offers a post with some valuable background on what, how and when to use compression. As a mostly self-taught audio guy, I find this kind of information incredibly valuable. Maybe you do too.
You’ll find a very nice interview with voice actress Karen Hutton at the Voicemarketer.com blog, here. Enjoy.
My friend Dan Nachtrab has just received a very nice compliment, being listed at VoiceIsland.com in the top 10 for TV Promo voices. Good for you Dan!
Blogging, Career Advice, General, Getting started in Voiceover, People
12:00 Noon – Debbie Munro is an experienced voiceover talent, introduced today by Caroline Perkins, Project Manager at Voice123.com. Debbie begins by describing how much she enjoys doing voiceovers. It wasn’t easy to get in to this business. It took a lot of hard work. She’s worked full-time for about 6 years and encouraged all of us to get a professional home studio set-up.
12:05 PM – Debbie talks about the value of a membership at Voice123.com (the sponsors of this Webminar), how it can provide professional experience auditioning, providing a web presence and possibly some income all for only $195.00 (US) per year.
12:08 PM – How do you start? With a demo? A demo is important, but she says the right place to start is at the start. She also mentions that she’s going to talk about The Key Ingredients of a voiceover career, the Types of Work available, different Reads to Know, How to Create Characters, A Script Checklist, Industry Secrets.
12:12 PM – How can voiceover work benefit me? By giving me the opportunity to work full or part time, at my own schedule. Work in my own home. It’s less discriminating than acting. (By this she explains “the look” is imperative, and talent can be secondary in film and television acting. Voiceover work depends on one’s talent, or ability to delivery the goods, is the whole deal.) But, to do this, you need training. Read. Take classes. Find our own styles and areas of ability.
12:17 PM – Further benefits of voiceover work? You can pick and choose what you want to work on. Do what you want and make money at it. Debbie suggests that they next time we’re at a party, start doing character voices for the kids. By this we learn to break through the inhibitions that we’ve lost since we were children. And this “childishness” is vital to be able to engage in characters. If the kids pay attention, you know you’re doing it well. This is how we get in touch with our “inner child” and learn to break through.
12:20 PM – So where do we start? Set realistic goals. It’s vital not to set goals that are completely out of reach. Take classes, but not just stage acting. Film and television acting as well; because it’s important to balance internal and external acting energy. Voiceover classes. Improv classes. Research the history of voiceover. For example, Daws Butler and June Foray.
12:24 PM – Create a demo. But, don’t rush into doing a demo. How do you know when you’re ready to make a demo? When you don’t have to ask yourself “Am I ready to make a demo?” Because you have to be actually deliver the goods of what’s on your demo when you’re in the studio. And make sure you work with a director who actually will direct. My demo needs to reflect who I am, my personality.
12:27 PM – Contract with an agent. But, don’t rely on the agent to find all of your work. Market yourself. Debbie mentions that she talks about her voiceover work where ever she goes. And finds a remarkable amount of work just by talking with people.
12:29 PM – Practice, practice, practice. Listen for interesting voices in real life. Audition the scripts that come through Voice123.com. All different kinds. Keep practicing and keep studying. Study the midwestern US accent, which is the “standard” sound.
12:31 PM – Book work and Have fun!
12:32 PM – What do we need? Talent and passion. Means to a recording studio, either through renting time at a local studio or building one’s own at home. A great demo. Listen to lots of demos. What do I like? What don’t I like. Write down impressions both ways. But, again, we have to be able to pull off what’s on our demo. A web site. Make sure my own personality shines through the site. We needs to be able to do different reads and characters. Lots of ideas. Don’t be afraid to add something to the copy, especially in animation. Versitility.
12:36 PM – Take a chance and put yourself out there. Risks are risks. There can be a huge payoff, and there can a huge downside. Being willing to look stupid. Never take “no” for an answer, take it for what it is “Not right now, maybe later.”
12:37 PM – Stay organized and keep business focused.
12:39 PM – What kind of work is available? Anything that has a voice? Talking toys. Video games. Internet flash presentations. Web sites. Every script has a character in it. See the characters. Find the characters. Our reads will improve. What reads do I need? Conversational, which is most popular right now. Hard Sell. Medium sell. Soft sell. Sultry (but to pull it off you have to feel sexy). Flat (throwing it away, kind of “less is more.”) Monotone which is harder that it seems. Straight. Energetic. Narrative (telling a story). Character (which is all over the place).
12:43 PM – Who am I (the character I’m playing)? Define with as much detail as possible, scanning for clues in the script. What am I talking to? Acting is reacting (re-acting). Back story? Motivation? Location and what’s happening? Each character is another personality, become that personality completely. There is no wrong way to do a character. The client might like it or not, but go with what seems right.
12:47 PM – Record practices. Listen back. It’s vitally important to be able to self-direct and learn. Listen for human qualities. Listen for what sounds “real” now fake. Learn to be comfortable with what we sound like. Stay focused.
12:49 PM – This is a tough business. You might not make it. But, there are a billion commercials every day (world wide) and James Earl Jones can’t voice them all. So, persist. Focus on realistic goals, not on getting rich. Staying power is vital. Have fun. Have faith in yourself. Be interesting and interested. Never stop learning. Tenacity is vital. Stop thinking about it. Do all the homework, but when you’re in front of the mike let it go and just let things come out.
The balance was questions and answers. Debbie talked about how she got started and her life-long passion for acting, the blossoming market of podcasts, suggestions for folks who are having a hard time landing work, taking further private coaching, focus on specific areas of work like commericals as you get started, how to find a good coach for training, how to learn computer audio editing, Debbie mentions that she’ll be starting an on-line course on January 9, 2007.
If you are a fan of the great Warner Brothers cartoons featuring the myriad voices of Mel Blanc, then you’ll want to click here. Because not only is it the late, great Mel Blanc, it’s the late, great Johnny Carson interviewing him. Really.
Be prepared for a bit of a wait, but it’s worth it.
(Update: I neglected to thank Jeffers at the Voiceover Bulletin Board for the link. You’ll find his post at the start of this thread.)
In Ryan’s Voicemarketer.com blog interview with Wayne June, you’ll find some very valuable information about the world of voiceover work. It’s well worth a few minutes of your time.
You can find uninformed comments in some pretty surprising places…at least that’s been David Houston’s experience. Read about it in this post on his blog.
Joe Cipriano’s latest blog post gives us a glimpse into what he calls The Perfect Weekend. Enjoy, it’s a very pleasant read.
Over at the Voicemarketer.com blog. Ryan’s done a nice job with this interview. It’s certainly worth your time.
Career Advice, General, Getting started in Voiceover, People
Whether you agree or disagree with what I wrote below under the title “Packing it in”, I hope you’ll take a few moments to read the superbly written post from my friend and fellow voiceover talent Mary C. McKitrick titled “How do you know when to quit?”
Mary provides some thoughtful commentary that puts much of what I wrote in exactly the right perspective. It’s a long post, but well worth your time.
Now that you’ve finished reading Mary’s comments, I want to be sure that my advice to you is clear. Do I want you to quit your attempts to build a voiceover career? I don’t have any standing to even offer an opinion. I can’t possibly know enough about you or your specific circumstances to advise you, what ever level of success or lack of same that you currently experience. And if you do quit, one thing you know for sure, you won’t be a success in voiceover.
But, as Mary has so cogently pointed out, you’re not limited by anything except your persistence and effort to achieve success in many different fields. And that success need not come easily. Indeed, it will be doubly sweet if it comes after much effort and struggle. (I cherish my college degree because I paid for all but $45.00 of it from my own pocket.)
Only you can decide if you should quit or keep on trying. But, then that was the point of my previous post. Or to put it another way, not deciding is a kind of deciding too; and if in your not deciding you’re hurting your marriage, your children or yourself then…fill in the rest for yourself.
Adam Creighton is a talented actor both on camera and as a voiceover talent. His blog post Toy Job resume lies is a classic illustration of why it’s never a good idea to boast about something you didn’t really do…especially in your efforts to find voiceover or other acting work.