VAMFR 031 | Interview with Taliesin Jaffe, Part 2

Welcome to episode 31 of the Voice Acting Mastery: Field Report podcast!

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.vamfieldreport.com/podcast

Welcome back for this second part of DanWill McCann’s interview with Taliesin Jaffe.

Taliesin has worked extensively as both a voice actor and voice director. He began his career in the entertainment industry as a child actor in T.V. shows like The Facts of Life and St. Elsewhere. Later, he transitioned into voice acting and has been working on anime and video games ever since. Recently, you may have heard him as the voice of Blanka, the wild man with shocking abilities in the English versions of the video games Street Fighter IV & V, as well as Street Fighter vs. Tekken. Not only did Taliesin play the voice of Blanka in those Street Fighter games, but he also voice directed all the characters in the English language versions of all three games. While he no longer acts in scripted shows on TV, you can still find Taliesin in front of the camera hosting The Wednesday Club, a weekly online comic book show on the Geek & Sundry Alpha channel.

In the previous podcast episode, Taliesin told us about how he began his acting career and the series of events that led him to decide to transition from on-camera acting to voice acting and directing. He realized at a relatively young age that his heart was not fully committed to acting on-camera and that he had a greater passion for working on anime. DanWill admires that Taliesin had the honestly and courage to pursue what truly spoke to him artistically, even if others may not have understood his choices. DanWill also respects the fact that much of Taliesin’s motivation to enter the world of anime dubbing was to see what he could do to improve the quality of work being done in the genre. Once Taliesin realized how he could best contribute, he has continued his efforts since then to raise the standards of anime dubbing. His commitment to quality inspires DanWill to pursue the same excellence in his own work.

This episode begins with a discussion of Taliesin’s favorite voice over projects, both as an actor and as a director. DanWill and Taliesin not only talk about what Taliesin enjoyed most while working on these projects, but also what important artistic lessons he learned from them. Because Taliesin works both as a voice actor and a voice director, he has a unique perspective on the voice over industry and how to succeed in it. Their discussion then moves on to address fan conventions and how best to interact with any industry colleagues you may meet at those events. DanWill is always looking for better ways to connect with fellow entertainment professionals and he’s learned a lot from Taliesin on this subject. So, once again, please welcome Taliesin Jaffe!

The VAM Field Report will be released on the 1st Wednesday of every month so stay on the look out for it!

Download VAM Field Report Episode #31 Here (MP3)

Welcome to episode 135 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 second part of my interview with theater, on-camera and voice actress, Anjali Bhimani! You may know Anjali from her performances on Television in the shows Modern Family and Alex, Inc. as well as her extensive Theater experience both regionally and on Broadway.

However, for my podcast audience, Anjali is probably most familiar for her voice acting work as Symmetra in the hit game, Overwatch. Anjali is not only a talented actor, singer and dancer, but she also runs a YouTube channel called “I am Fun Size” where she shares her life wisdom and experience. I was fortunate enough to be a guest on her YouTube series and I’m honored to have her with me here on the Voice Acting Mastery podcast!

In the previous episode, Anjali and I discussed how she began her study of acting at a very young age. When she discovered that it was possible to pursue acting not just as an artistic hobby, but as a legitimate career path, she studied everything she could and developed her own plan for becoming a professional actress.

In this second part of our interview, we talk about the differences between acting on-camera and voice acting in front of a microphone. Then we discuss Anjali’s singing training and how her experience discovering her own voice applied not only to her ability to sing but how it helped shape her identity as an actress as well. There was also a time in Anjali’s career where she got into some vocal trouble. Her voice was hurting her and she went to experts to try and figure out what she needed to do to heal and recover. Her journey to vocal wellness, both physically and emotionally, is very inspiring and I’m eager to share it with you!

If you’d like to check out her YouTube series, please visit her

I Am Fun Size YouTube Channel

Download Voice Acting Mastery Episode #135 Here (MP3)

Welcome to episode 134 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 first part of my interview with theater, on-camera and voice actress, Anjali Bhimani! You may know Anjali from her performances in TV shows like Modern Family, where she played Nina Patel, and the recently released series Alex, Inc. where she plays the character Joya. Anjali started working in theater in such famous touring productions as Metamorphoses which began at the Looking Glass Theater in Chicago and eventually went to Broadway in New York City, and Bombay Dreams which also had a Broadway production run. However, for my podcast audience, Anjali is probably most familiar for her voice acting work as Symmetra in the hit game, Overwatch. Anjali is not only a talented actor, singer and dancer, but she also runs a YouTube channel called “I am Fun Size” where she shares her life wisdom and experience. I was fortunate enough to be a guest on her YouTube series and I’m honored to have her with me here on the Voice Acting Mastery podcast!

In this episode, Anjali and I begin our discussion by talking about how she began her study of acting. She was a very industrious and studious young girl and while she had a passion for performing, it wasn’t until she was in high school that she realized that acting could be an actual career path. Once she made that discovery, she did her best to learn everything she could about creating and sustaining an acting career. Her early accomplishments are a case study in how successful one can be when intense preparation meets artistic opportunity. Anjali applied herself diligently to her craft so that when acting opportunities arose for her, she was able to capitalize on them effectively. However, even with so much good fortune, she quickly learned that she couldn’t rest on her laurels. She realized that no matter how successful she may have been at first, she still had to hustle in order to maintain her acting career.

Anjali has an infectious enthusiasm that I’m sure you’ll hear in our interview and I am eager to share her insights with you! So without further ado, here’s Anjali!

If you’d like to check out her YouTube series, please visit her

I Am Fun Size YouTube Channel

Download Voice Acting Mastery Episode #134 Here (MP3)

VAMFR 029 | Interview with Erica Mendez, Part 3

Welcome to episode 29 of the Voice Acting Mastery: Field Report podcast!

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.vamfieldreport.com/podcast

This episode is the third and final part of Tom Bauer’s interview with his friend and voice over actor, Erica Mendez.

You might recognize Erica from her voice acting work in anime, where she’s played the voice of Gon Freecs in the 2011 anime series adaptation of Hunter X Hunter, Sailor Uranus in the Viz Media English dub of Sailor Moon and Ryuko Matoi in the popular Kill la Kill anime television series. In addition to her many voice acting accomplishments, Erica has also worked as an ADR script writer for the Netflix original anime series, Fate/Apocrypha.

In the previous episode, Tom and Erica talked about some of the challenges Erica faced while pursuing her career as a voice actor, including her struggles with being overly self-critical and how she’s learned to overcome this common stumbling block. She also shared her insights into what it takes to stay competitive in voice over, as well as some of the acting techniques she’s acquired while taking classes and how she implements what she’s learned in the booth.

In this episode, Tom and Erica wrap things up by discussing Pre-lay recording. Voice over for anime is most often recorded one actor at a time, alone in a booth long after the original animation has been completed. However, in American animation, the actors are recorded first and the animators animate the characters to fit those vocal performances. This is called pre-lay since the audio recording is made before the animation is produced. When recording for pre-lay animation, you are often reading with other actors together in the same room. This can be very different from recording all by yourself in an anime dubbing session, so Tom is eager to share Erica’s insights about the process.

The VAM Field Report will be released on the 1st Wednesday of every month so stay on the look out for it!

Download VAM Field Report Episode #29 Here (MP3)

VAMFR 028 | Interview with Erica Mendez, Part 2

Welcome to episode 28 of the Voice Acting Mastery: Field Report podcast!

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.vamfieldreport.com/podcast

This episode is the second part of Tom Bauer’s interview with his good friend and rising talent in the voice over industry, Erica Mendez.

Erica is probably most famous for her voice acting work in anime, taking on such roles as Gon Freecs in the 2011 anime series adaptation of Hunter X Hunter, Sailor Uranus in the Viz Media English dub of Sailor Moon and Ryuko Matoi in the popular Kill la Kill anime television series. If that wasn’t enough, Erica has also started work as an ADR script writer for the Netflix original anime series, Fate/Apocrypha.

When we last left off, Erica was discussing how she made the decision to move from her hometown of Chicago to Los Angeles to pursue her creative endeavors. While she initially intended to move to LA to become a professional animator, her previous experiences performing in online audio dramas opened a new world of opportunity for her in the area of voice acting. When she arrived in LA, a series of fortunate circumstances lined up to give her the chance to audition for voice acting jobs.

In this episode, Erica talks about some of the challenges she faced while pursuing her new voice acting career. She shares her insight into what it takes to stay competitive in voice over, as well as some of the acting techniques she’s adopted while taking classes and how she implements what she’s learned in the booth. We start this episode by delving into her process of developing characters for anime.

The VAM Field Report will be released on the 1st Wednesday of every month so stay on the look out for it!

Download VAM Field Report Episode #28 Here (MP3)

VAMFR 023 | Interview with Kelly Moscinski, Part 2

Welcome to episode 23 of the Voice Acting Mastery: Field Report podcast!

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.vamfieldreport.com/podcast

This episode is part two of DanWill McCann’s interview with Kelly Moscinski, the owner and head of casting for The Voicecaster, a busy and well respected recording and rehearsal studio in Burbank, California. For over 40 years, The Voicecaster recording and rehearsal studio has been a one stop shop for voice acting needs including auditions, final recording sessions, voice over classes, demo production and more! Kelly has been working at the Voicecaster for almost a decade. In 2013 she had the opportunity to buy the company and since then the business has continued to thrive. The staff at the Voicecaster work on many types of projects including commercials, industrial narration, video games and animation!

In the last episode, we learned about Kelly’s journey from her time in the theater to eventually working in the voice over industry. She’s always felt more drawn to directing rather than performing and her theater experience working with actors has helped her tremendously in voice over for the last 10 years. She brought her passion for directing with her to The Voicecaster and continues to foster a supportive environment there for performers. DanWill and her discussed the audition process where Kelly shared her insight from a casting director’s point of view. DanWill enjoyed her perspective, as well as her advice on how to prepare for an audition while avoiding over-rehearsing. It’s changed how he’ll be approaching future auditions, and he hopes you found it helpful as well.

In this, the 2nd and final part of their interview, Kelly and DanWill talk about appropriate etiquette for voice actors when in a recording booth. She shares with DanWill her expectations for actors who come to audition for her as well as advice on how to put your best foot forward in front of casting directors. Hearing what she’s looking for from an actor has helped DanWill feel more confident about how to present himself when he comes in for an audition. After taking her advice to heart, he feels that he’s less likely to make a mistake that might seem thoughtless or unprofessional. Kelly gives some great suggestions about keeping in touch with casting directors, something we all need to do if we want to make a career of voice acting. She and DanWill also chat about demos, the voice actor’s main way of marketing themselves to prospective clients. Kelly has a vast amount of experience with demos. Not only does she listen to actor’s demos all day long in order to cast projects, but The Voicecaster also produces demos for voice actors. DanWill thinks you will find her advice and stories very useful for your own demos, whether you’re looking to make your first one, or update your existing one. He’ll certainly be applying her suggestions as he prepares to update his own demo!

With that covered, Kelly and DanWill finish up their time together by discussing what kind of services The Voicecaster offers. Even if you don’t live in the Los Angeles area, it’s good to know what kind of classes they offer so you can research similar classes you might be able to take in your own neighborhood, or even online!

The VAM Field Report will be released on the 1st Wednesday of every month so stay on the look out for it!

Download VAM Field Report Episode #23 Here (MP3)