Welcome to episode 64 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 continue answering questions from my podcast audience! For those who may not be as familiar with the podcast, 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 Wallace from Savannah, GA and Jacob from Melbourne, FL.

Wallace is unhappy with his regional accent and would like to know what he can do to get rid of it.

It is true that one of the first things you should become aware of as you begin your voice acting career is how you sound to other people. If you don’t become aware of the way you speak, then your artistry will be limited since you will not know what you need to change in order to adapt your voice to different characters and situations.

However, there is nothing inherently wrong with the way someone naturally speaks. Our speech patterns are influenced by the environments in which we grow up. We adopt the regionalisms of the people around us in order to be more socially acceptable and to “fit in”.

So rather than thinking you need to eliminate your accent permanently, begin to see it as just one tool in your toolbox, or one costume in your wardrobe. You don’t want to invalidate your native accent, you just want to learn to turn it on and off when you need to.

I give Wallace a couple of suggestions on what to do to work on his accent including listening or re-listening to episodes 19, 20 & 21 of the podcast where I interview J.B. Blanc on his expertise and experience in accents. I also give him detailed directions on how to voice match talented actors as a way to become aware of one’s habitual speech patterns.

Jacob wants to know why his voice sounds different when recorded on a microphone versus when he is recorded on someone’s video camera.

If one is recording oneself on a high quality microphone like the ones I recommend in the Toolbox section of this website, then chances are it is a large diaphragm microphone. Video cameras and smartphones tend to have small diaphragm microphones that are of much lower quality. Also, when recording on a large diaphragm microphone you are often much closer to the mic whereas in a video, the camera person may be many feet away from you.

It is best to evaluate your voice on a large diaphragm microphone, since that is the most common recording situation you will find yourself in as a professional voice actor. However, I also give Jacob some advice on what to avoid when working with a large diaphragm microphone.

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

If any of my listeners would like to call in with your own thoughts, thank you’s or questions, the number 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 #64 Here (MP3)

Welcome to episode 45 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 recently posted a review on here on Voice Acting Mastery about a book written by my good friend and veteran voice actor, Jack Angel. Some of my listeners may remember Jack from the interview we did together back in episodes 13, 14 and 15 of the podcast, and I encourage those of you who enjoyed that interview to check out my review of Jack’s book. Jack has a wonderful outlook, not only on voice acting, but on life in general. In his book, which is appropriately titled “How to Succeed in Voice-Overs Without Ever Losing”, Jack shares some great advice on how to approach auditioning for voice over jobs, and how to deal with the feeling of rejection when you don’t book the gig. I found Jack’s thoughts on this subject so inspiring that I thought I would share with you some of my own insights on the topic of rejection and how to deal with this dreaded, but seemingly inevitable part of pursuing an artistic career.

In this podcast episode I explain how to use Jack’s rule that “There ain’t no damn rejection” to change your mindset about dealing with this negative emotion. By realizing that rejection doesn’t actually exist, you can begin to separate your own self-worth as a person from your abilities as an artist. This will not only help you feel better about yourself, it will help speed up your artistic growth as well. I think you’ll find this technique incredibly useful.

If you’d like to read more of Jack’s wisdom, you can purchase Jack’s book on Amazon. I highly recommend it!

Thanks for listening!

Download Voice Acting Mastery Episode #45 Here (MP3)

Welcome to episode 29 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 some of the voicemail questions that I’ve been getting from my listeners and do my best to answer them. For those who don’t know, in the last episode 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, Kimberly from Bernie, CA and Wes from Palm Springs, CA.

1. Kimberly asks me how she can know when it’s safe to use her voice again after she’s recovered from being sick.
2. Wes asks me if I could give him some tips and tricks for how to do voice matches.

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!

If you’d like to purchase the tea I recommend, you can find the Throat Coat Tea on Amazon.com.

To rip audio from DVDs you own, you can download the Handbrake program here.

Thanks for listening!

Download Voice Acting Mastery Episode #29 Here (MP3)

Welcome to episode 21 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

This is the third and final part of my interview with my fellow voice actor and accent expert, J.B. Blanc.

In this episode we conclude our discussion by talking about a number of different topics including:

1. What someone can do to work on an accent by themselves.
2. JB’s favorite resource online for researching accents. (Hint: it’s the International Dialects of English Archive or IDEA)
3. Realizing that not everyone speaks a certain dialect in the exact same way.
4. How to contact JB to get individual coaching from him. (Hint, visit his website: http://www.jbblanc.com/)

A big thanks to JB for spending time with me talking in so much detail about such an important topic. And thanks to you for listening!

Download Voice Acting Mastery Episode #21 Here (MP3)

Welcome to episode 20 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

This is the second part of my interview with my fellow voice actor and accent expert, J.B. Blanc. In this episode we explore the difference between having regionalisms in your natural speech patterns versus actually having a physical speech impediment.

We also discuss the psychological aspects of accents. Your accent is the survival technique you adopted when you were young in order to survive in your surroundings. For some people, being asked to modify the way they speak can feel very threatening. J.B. shares with me the techniques he uses when coaching A-List celebrity actors with their accents.

You can find out more about J.B. at his website:

http://www.jbblanc.com/

We’ll finish up our discussion of accents in the next episode!

Thanks for listening!

Download Voice Acting Mastery Episode #20 Here (MP3)

Welcome to episode 19 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

Many of you have asked me about the subject of accents or dialects. I usually get similar questions from my listeners:

1. How do I learn an accent?
2. How can I remove or lessen my own accent?
3. How can I overcome a speech impediment?

I thought the best way to address these questions was to interview a wonderful friend of mine and fellow voice actor: J.B. Blanc.

J.B. and I first met working on the anime show Hellsing. Since then, both of us have gone on to work on many important and influential anime, video games and American animated series. J.B. is not only a fantastic actor, but he has an amazing facility with accents. I think you’ll really enjoy what he has to say!

You can find out more about J.B. at his website:

http://www.jbblanc.com/

Thanks for listening!

Download Voice Acting Mastery Episode #19 Here (MP3)