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)

Here’s a really interesting radio interview about the new game, BioShock Infinite. The Irrational Interview team brings on Creative Director Ken Levine as well as voice actors Troy Baker (Booker DeWitt) and Courtnee Draper (Elizabeth) to chat about their process on creating the performances for the game.

What’s fascinating about this audio interview is a phrase that gets mentioned early on:

“Drain the Swamp.”

What they mean by that is the actors are using their own natural voices and they are bringing the characters to life through their own emotional reality. No pyrotechnics, no strange voices, just bringing the characters down to their essential desires and feelings in the moment.

In other words, acting.

Even Troy talks about how he found himself wanting to embellish his performance too much. The director often asked him to “Drain the Swamp” in order to simplify his performance so it would sound more believable.

This can be a hard lesson to learn as a voice actor. I often find myself using too much “sauce” on my performances in order to spice them up. What the producers want is believability. Most often, you are most believable as yourself.

Learn how to sound believable with your own voice. It will serve you well. With that solid basis, you can then expand into all sorts of different characters.

Welcome to episode 16 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 address a question that comes up a lot when people want to talk to me about voice acting. The conversation usually goes something like this:

“Hey! I’d really like to get in to voice acting, but I don’t live in a major city. If I buy all the right equipment, can I have a successful voice acting career recording myself from home?”

This is a complicated question and so the answer takes some explanation. Basically there are some types of voice acting you can do from home, and some that you cannot. They basically break down into two types:

1. Narration-Style Voice Over
2. Collaborative-Style Voice Over

Narration-Style Voice Acting is the kind of work that only requires one voice, like industrial narration, audiobooks, promos and telephone trees (those automated menus you have to slog through when you call a large company for assistance). Rarely is more than one voice recorded for that type of work, so it is possible to do that kind of work from home.

Collaborative-Style Voice Acting includes animation, video games, anime and ADR or Looping. This kind of voice acting cannot be done from home. It requires many actors to come together to create a finished product. Therefore, every actor must be recorded on the same equipment, in the same recording environment with the exact same audio settings in order for the production to sound consistent.

Also, it turns out that even when a voice over job could be done from a home studio, it often isn’t. Producers have good reasons for wanting to use professional studios. I outline their reasons in the podcast. I also discuss what it takes to run a voice over business from home if that’s what you decide to do. But if what you’d like to do is collaborate on animation, games, anime or any other storytelling, the bottom line is you’re going to have to be in a city where that kind of work is done.

Thanks for listening!

Download Voice Acting Mastery Episode #16 Here (MP3)

One of my listeners, Jaden, was generous enough to share a link with me to a fantastic article on Backstage.com! It’s called:

Ask an Agent: What Do You Listen for in an Audio Reel?

There are some wonderful agents represented in this article including:

• Cathey Lizzio from CESD
• Stephanie Blume from Imperium-7
• Cynthia McLean from Sutton, Barth & Vennari
• John Erlendson from JE Talent

Each one of the agents explains what they’re listening for when they receive demos from prospective voice talent. Remember, these are the people who have to decide whether or not they’d like to represent someone based almost completely on 60 seconds or less of hearing their voice acting. Each one of them approaches demo submissions differently.

However, there is one similar pattern that emerges from all of them:

They all want to hear solid acting.

Acting ability is the key to an animation performer’s success in traditional animation and gaming, now more than ever before. – Cathey Lizzio

When I cast on animation projects, I look for acting ability, comedic/dramatic timing, and an interesting vocal quality. – Stephanie Blume

Overall, we expect competitive talent to display in an audio reel strong acting, comedic timing, a wide range of vocal and performance ability, and the ability to make a character walk off the page into life. – Cynthia McLean

Like anything else, we listen for acting. – John Erlendson

Developing your acting skills is the single most effective thing you can do to elevate your chances of succeeding in voice acting. It’s more important than vocal range, your age, or your recording equipment. You must be able to act believably and competitively in order to be considered to play characters. This is something I stress extensively in my podcast, especially in Episode 10: How to Practice Voice Acting Anywhere and in my special report The Top 5 Mistakes to Avoid in Voice Acting. You should check them out!

Hopefully this article gives you some insight into the minds of agents. I certainly found it enlightening! Best of luck to you in your voice acting endeavors!

Welcome to episode 15 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 conclude my very special interview with one of the great talents in the world of voice acting, Jack Angel. What I really love about talking with Jack is hearing his mindset and his philosophy about voice acting. It’s wonderfully inspirational and completely unconventional.

Jack also shares with me his advice for aspiring voice actors. I can honestly say that I never get tired of listening to Jack speak. His insights apply not only to voice acting, but to life in general. I think you’ll find it incredibly useful to listen to his interview over and over again. You’ll hear something new in it every time you do. I certainly do!

If you have any questions, please post your question as a comment to this blog post. Chances are, someone else has a similar question. By posting your question here on the blog, I get to communicate with all of you at once.

Thanks for listening!

Download Voice Acting Mastery Episode #15 Here (MP3)

Welcome to episode 14 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 my very special interview with one of the great talents in the world of voice acting, Jack Angel.

As we heard in the last episode, Jack’s journey towards the world of voice over has been very unconventional! He started out wanting to be a cartoonist. When that didn’t pan out, he joined the army where he discovered his love of performing. After returning from the Korean war, he became a radio DJ.

In this episode, Jack shares with us how he made the transition from radio DJ to voice actor in cartoons. It was a sort of homecoming for him. He had always wanted to work on animation, but he thought his contribution would be as an illustrator. Little did he know that he would be giving voice to some of the best loved characters in cartoons!

Jack was actually fired from his job in radio, but that didn’t deter him! After being let go from the radio station, Jack redoubled his efforts and broke in to the world of voice acting for cartoons. What’s even more impressive is the mindset that he developed when facing the challenges that arise when pursuing a voice over career. The attitude he has towards voice acting is one of the most insightful and uplifting I’ve ever heard. I hope you enjoy it!

If you have any questions, please post your question as a comment to this blog post. Chances are, someone else has a similar question. By posting your question here on the blog, I get to communicate with all of you at once.

Thanks for listening!

Download Voice Acting Mastery Episode #14 Here (MP3)