Welcome to episode 53 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

I’ve been getting so many great questions from my listeners recently, that I thought I would continue answering their questions here on the podcast. For those who don’t know, in past episodes, I’ve given out a phone number where you can call in and leave me a question about voice acting as a voicemail. From time to time, I’ll pick the most relevant questions I receive and answer them here on the podcast.

For this round of Q & A, I answer questions from David from Albuquerque, NM and Amanda from Irondale, MO.

David wants to know what options there are for practicing voice acting that don’t cost a lot of money. I share with him the advice I give my voice acting students: try voice matching professional voice actors, especially celebrities. Voice matching can help you in a number of different ways:

1. It can help you expand your vocal range.
2. It can build up your roster of characters that are accessible to you.
3. You can get hired to voice match celebrities in video games, animation and commercials.

I not only share with David my advice on how to best practice voice matching, but I also explain the limits of practicing acting on your own and why it’s important to get the insight of a professional if you’d like to compete in the professional voice acting world.

Amanda wants to know if working on fandubs is a viable way to improve one’s voice acting skills. For those who may not know, a fandub is an amateur voice acting project where aspiring voice actors come together to re-record an animated show that they like with their own vocal performances. Some people do it just for fun, some people use it as a learning experience.

While there are many advantages to working on fandubs when you’re first starting out, including developing both your technical and artistic skills, there are also some pitfalls when working on fandubs. I share with Amanda what you need to know to best take advantage of fandub opportunities.

I hope you find the answers useful in your own voice acting endeavors!

As a reminder, the number where you can call in and ask your question is:

323-696-2655.

Please don’t forget to include your first name and what city in the world you’re calling from. I’m looking forward to hearing from you!

Thanks for listening!

Download Voice Acting Mastery Episode #53 Here (MP3)

Regular listeners to the Voice Acting Mastery Podcast may remember the interview I had with my good friend and legendary voice actor, Jack Angel. You can listen to the interview in episodes 13, 14 & 15 of the podcast. During that interview, Jack discussed his thoughts and insights from many years working on such famous animated series as Superfriends, G.I. Joe, Voltron and the original Transformers. Many of my listeners found Jack’s wisdom helpful and encouraging.

Well, Jack has now published a book about his approach to voice acting. It’s called:

How to Succeed in Voice-Overs Without Ever Losing

This book takes an inspiring and refreshingly candid look at the world of Voice Over, offering some perspectives you may have never heard anywhere else. In it, Jack expands on many of the concepts we touched on in our interview together, especially the idea that auditions in voice over are not a “rejection” process, but merely a “selection” process. To quote Jack on page 5 of his book:

“The plain truth of the matter is that there ain’t no damn rejection! The process of auditioning is one of selection, not rejection. Rejection happens only when you cause it.”

The power of Jack’s book is in the upbeat yet professional mindset he shares with his readers. His explanations are detailed, accessible and entertaining. They also come from experience. Jack’s view of the industry has been battle-tested, yet he remains essentially optimistic about a newcomer’s chances of breaking in to the world of voice over. On page 1 he begins his book by saying:

“I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard people say, “You can’t break into voice-overs. It’s a closed profession.” Well, it may look that way, but guess what? All you have to say is, ”I’m in!” and everyone will scooch over a tad to make room for you.”

In Jack’s paradigm, it’s almost like the world of voice over is a mirror that reflects back to you what you believe about it. However, this doesn’t mean Jack believes that all you need to do to make it as a voice actor is to think positively. Far from it. He continues on to say:

“Of course, we’ll eat you alive if you jump in without knowing what you’re doing. That’s why classes were invented. So take a few classes, learn the language of the game… Then, practice, practice, practice!”

Clearly, in addition to fostering a positive outlook, one needs to develop the craft of voice acting in order to succeed. Voice over is a competitive business. But what I truly appreciate about Jack’s approach in the book is his belief that the mindset of a professional voice actor is the first ingredient. Working on one’s craft comes after the mental and emotional decision that one is fascinated enough with voice acting to make a career out of it. If you can commit to identifying yourself as a voice actor first, the actions you need to take in order to realize your dream will begin to appear to you. While this approach may sound a little mysterious at first, trust me: many successful voice actors have had personal experience applying it in their careers, and those who know Jack appreciate his viewpoint.

Case in point: I was recently filling up my car at a gas station not far from my home in southern California. A man on the other side of the pump recognized me. He asked, “Are you Crispin Freeman?” I was a little wary at first, not knowing who he was, but my fears were quickly allayed. He introduced himself as Scott Menville, voice of Robin in the animated series Teen Titans in addition to many other famous roles. I was honored to meet Scott and was surprised our paths had not crossed before. Scott complimented me on the Voice Acting Mastery podcast, and I thanked him for his appreciation. As we were both turning to leave, he stopped me and said, “By the way, I really loved that interview you did with Jack Angel. He was dropping science!” I totally agreed with him. When Jack speaks about voice acting, it really feels like you’re getting profound life wisdom directly from a veteran of the voice over world.

I highly recommend How to Succeed in Voice-Overs Without Ever Losing to anyone looking to become a professional voice actor.

You can purchase Jack’s book on Amazon, or you can find out more about Jack and his experiences on his website at www.JackAngel.com. I hope you find Jack’s insights useful and best of luck in your voice acting endeavors!

Welcome to episode 38 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

For this episode, I thought I would play another of the voicemail questions that I’ve been getting from my listeners and do my best to answer it. For those who don’t know, in past episodes,  I’ve given out a phone number where you can call in and leave me a question as a voicemail. From time to time, I’ll pick the most relevant questions I receive and answer them here on the podcast.

For this round of Q & A, I answer a question from Charles of Reno, NV. Charles wants to know how to find reputable coaches and classes who can help him develop both his voice acting craft and his knowledge of the business, including information about demos.

Charles may not have realized it, but his question speaks to the emotional core of why I created this blog and podcast in the first place. I’ve been fortunate enough to have a number of amazing teachers in my life to whom I am eternally grateful, and as a teacher myself, I take the student-teacher relationship very seriously. If an earnest, sincere student comes to a teacher for guidance and training, then I believe it is vitally important for the teacher to do their very best, using whatever skills they have, to help that student grow as much as possible. So I spend this episode answering Charles’ question in detail. I hope you and the many others I have encountered who have asked this same question will find my response useful.

In this podcast, I not only explain how to find coaches and classes, I also outline 4 criteria for evaluating them:

1. Does the coach work in the field you’re pursuing?
2. Does the coach’s teaching style appeal to you?
3. Do other people recommend that coach?
4. Be wary of all-in-one courses that offer you a demo at the end of the course.

I think you’ll find my in-depth explanation of these criteria very helpful.

As a reminder, the number where you can call in and ask your question is:

323-696-2655.

Please don’t forget to include your first name and what city in the world you’re calling from. I’m looking forward to hearing from you!

I also reference a number of websites in my podcast. I’ll list those websites here:

Voice Over Resource Guide (VORG): http://www.voiceoverresourceguide.com
Internet Movie Database (IMDB): http://www.imdb.com
Voice Acting Alliance (VAA): http://www.voiceactingalliance.com
UPDATE: It has been brought to my attention that the Voice Acting Alliance is no longer functional. However there is a new message board called:
VoiceActing.Space: http://voiceacting.space
Voice Acting Club (VAC): http://www.voiceactingclub.com
Voiceover Universe (VU): http://www.voiceoveruniverse.com

Thanks for listening!

Download Voice Acting Mastery Episode #38 Here (MP3)

Welcome to episode 32 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

For this episode, I thought I would answer some more of the voicemail questions that I’ve been getting from my listeners.

For those who don’t know, in episode 28 I gave out a phone number where you can call in and leave me a question as a voicemail. From time to time, I’ll pick the most relevant questions I receive and answer them here on the podcast.

For this round of Q & A, I answer two of my listeners, Taylor from Bardstown, KY and Beau from Soham, England.

1. Taylor asks me what should she put on her first demo, original characters or pre-established ones that agents are familiar with?
2. Beau asks me what do I do when I have to play a character and I don’t understand the story?

I think you’ll find the answers very helpful.

As a reminder, the number where you can call in and ask your question is:

323-696-2655.

Please don’t forget to include your first name and what city in the world you’re calling from. I’m looking forward to hearing from you!

Thanks for listening!

Download Voice Acting Mastery Episode #32 Here (MP3)

Welcome to episode 28 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

In this episode, I want to talk about voice over demos. Demos are one of the most important and at the same time most misunderstood components of a voice acting career. Your demo is important because it represents you as a voice actor. It’s your calling card in the same way that an on camera actor uses a headshot to represent him or herself. However, many people, especially those just starting out voice acting, misunderstand what it takes to make a good demo and end up falling into at least one of the following 3 major demo mistakes. Let me help you avoid those pitfalls.

Here are the Top 3 Demo Mistakes:

1. Making Your Demo Too Soon
2. Submitting Unprofessional Demos to Agents
3. Not Leading with Your Strong Suit in Your Demo

I expand in detail on each of these three subjects in the podcast episode. You may find the information surprising!

I hope you enjoy the episode!

One other thing. I’d like to make this podcast more interactive, and I’d like to hear from you, my listeners. So I’ve decided to give you a chance to get heard on the Voice Acting Mastery Podcast! I’ve created a phone number where you can call in and ask any questions you might have, or leave any thoughts or thank you messages you feel inspired to record for me. Just leave me a voice mail with your first name, what city in the world you’re calling from, and your question or message about the podcast. I’ll do my best to pick the most relevant questions or comments, play them on the podcast and respond to them.

The number where you can call in and ask your question is:
323-696-2655.

Please don’t forget to include your first name and what city in the world you’re calling from. I’m looking forward to hearing from you!

Download Voice Acting Mastery Episode #28 Here (MP3)