VAM 160 | Interview with Jordan Reynolds, Part 1

Welcome to episode 160 of the Voice Acting Mastery podcast with yours truly, Crispin Freeman!

As always, you can listen to the podcast using the player above, or download the mp3 using the link at the bottom of this blog post. The podcast is also available via the iTunes Store online. Just follow this link to view the podcast in iTunes:

http://www.voiceactingmastery.com/podcast

Welcome to the first part of my interview with voice actor, audio equipment expert, and entrepreneur, Jordan Reynolds! I’m excited to share his voice acting journey with you! I wanted to get Jordan on the podcast so he could share his knowledge and expertise on two very specific topics. First: What does it take to create a professional sounding home recording studio, and Second: how does one begin a voice over career outside of one of the major voice over cities like LA or New York? We are all currently having to deal with the consequences of a global pandemic and many of us need to isolate at home. Therefore, if you want to work as a voice actor, it’s become more important than ever to develop your technical recording skills, to create a good home recording space, and to explore what voice over opportunities are available to you, no matter where you might live. So be prepared, this episode is going to be a little longer than some of the more recent ones so we can give you as much information as possible! One other thing I’d like to mention before we begin is that because Jordan and I couldn’t meet in person, I recorded him over the internet by linking my home studio to his using Source Connect Now. Source Connect is a service that allows professional quality recording over the internet, and unfortunately during our interview the internet connection was not always as stable as I would’ve liked, so you may hear some digital artifacts in Jordan’s audio. I apologize for this because it’s always been important to me to make sure this podcast sounds as professional as possible. However, technical challenges like these are a very real part of the new circumstances we all have to face as audio professionals trying to do work from home, and I hope you will forgive the occasional audio inconsistency.

Now back to Jordan! He has worked on thousands of commercials, endless corporate videos, and numerous video games including World of Warcraft, Fallout 76, and the Final Fantasy 7 Remake. He’s also worked on anime shows such as Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, Hero Mask, and Lupin the Third! Jordan specializes in celebrity voice matching which you can hear at his website, JordanReynolds.com. In addition, Jordan produces voice over demos for aspiring voice actors! He’s very self-motivated and his entrepreneurial spirit shows in everything he does!

We begin this episode by talking about how Jordan broke into the world of voice acting. He began his voice over career in Denver, Colorado. While he came from a musical family, none of his siblings were actors. However, after getting repeated compliments about how nice his voice sounded, Jordan began to explore what it would take to work in the field of voice over. This was in 2008 when home recording equipment was both improving greatly in quality and dropping substantially in price, so it was the perfect time for him to build his own home studio. He researched what equipment he would need to record professional quality audio, acquired some gear, and soon had a workable home recording setup. While his technical skills improved rapidly, he hadn’t yet developed his acting ability to a professionally competitive level, so during our interview, Jordan shares how he had to be honest with himself and admit that he needed to do more to improve his performance skills. He set some goals for himself, committed to a practice schedule, and within a couple of dedicated months he was showing remarkable improvement!

As his acting abilities grew, Jordan was able to combine them with his technical expertise and began working part-time as a voice actor from home. We discuss how he found work online and what it took to market himself to potential employers. We then list the most important factors you need to consider when it comes to building your home studio. Here’s a hint: it has less to do with the microphones and the interfaces you buy, and far more to do with the acoustical properties of the space where you record! Different jobs can require varying levels of sound quality and Jordan shares with me his thoughts on what it takes to create a home studio that is good enough to work on major animated shows or AAA video games. It’s all very relevant information for the times we’re in, when creating a professional sounding home recording environment is more important than ever.

If you are interested in hiring Jordan to help you with your own home recording setup, you can visit him at JordanAudio.ninja and make an appointment online!

Download Voice Acting Mastery Episode #160 Here (MP3)