VAM 009 | Building Confidence

Welcome to the ninth episode 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 an issue that’s come up a lot here on the Voice Acting Mastery Blog. In fact, it’s one of the most common questions I get from aspiring voice actors:

What can I do to be more confident?

It’s an important topic and one that I felt deserved an in-depth answer. I do my best to outline the actions any person takes to try and bolster one’s confidence. However, I also reveal the important mental shift that must take place for any of those actions to have a truly lasting effect. I also tell the story of what I went through when I was trying to find my confidence as a young actor. I think you’ll find it enlightening.

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 #9 Here (MP3)

 

The Art of the Pick Up


Here’s a great blog post from a good friend of mine, Juan Carlos Bagnell. Juan works as a casting director at one of the most prestigious casting offices in LA, the Voicecaster. He uses the online moniker of “SomeAudioGuy” but trust me, he is THE Audio guy. Not only is Juan a fantastic director, but he can articulate how he does what he does which is invaluable!

I highly suggest you check out his blog post on “The Art of the Pick Up” or how to recover once you’ve flubbed a line in the booth. Juan shares some great insight as someone who works with top talent voice actors every day. He sees what works and what doesn’t and his eye for subtlety and nuance never ceases to amaze me. Whenever he’s directing me in the booth, I know I’m in the best hands.

You can also check out his online web series called, Movies You May Have Missed or MYMHM for short. He does wonderful reviews of seldom seen but valuable movies with his show partner, Lee. He’s even done an interview with me about zombies, vampires and other mythological subjects in film and horror.

VAM 008 | Interview with Wes Davis, Part 3

Welcome to the eighth episode 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 Wes Davis. If you’d like to learn more about Wes, feel free to check out his voice acting website:

http://www.gimmeamic.com/

In this episode, we get into some of the most important issues when pursuing a voice acting career including:

  1. Where does your confidence come from?
  2. How do you warm-up before a voice acting job?
  3. How do you achieve your goals?
  4. What do you say to yourself to keep from being discouraged?

In the next episode, I’ll be addressing an issue that has been asked many times in the comments here on the website: “What can I do to be more confident?” I look forward to giving you my take on it in the next episode!

As always, I welcome your questions and feedback! If you feel inspired, please leave a comment on this blog post.

Thanks for listening!

Download Voice Acting Mastery Episode #8 Here (MP3)

 

VAM 007 | Interview with Wes Davis, Part 2

Welcome to the seventh episode 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 Wes Davis, a young and talented voice actor who was gracious enough to sit down with me and talk about his experiences breaking into the voice over business. If you’d like to learn more about Wes, feel free to check out his voice acting website:

http://www.gimmeamic.com/

In this episode, we get into some of the most important issues when pursuing a voice acting career including:

  1. How do you get voice acting jobs?
  2. What’s the most useful thing you’ve learned from your voice acting classes?
  3. What’s the most common mistake people make in class?
  4. What really kicked your voice acting career into a higher gear?

In the next episode, Wes and I will be discussing how he finds his confidence, his techniques for keeping a positive outlook and his ambitious plans for the future!

As always, I welcome your questions and feedback! If you feel inspired, please leave a comment on this blog post.

Thanks for listening!

Download Voice Acting Mastery Episode #7 Here (MP3)

 

Interview with Dino Andrade

I wanted to bring your attention to a wonderful interview with my friend, the very talented Dino Andrade. Dino has been involved in the world of voice acting far longer than I have and has more war stories than either of us care to count! What I love most about Dino’s Interview, however, is his obvious enthusiasm for games and animation coupled with a savvy and practicality about the business of voice acting.

He’s got a lot of insight into what it takes to be a successful voice actor. Some of his more important points are:

  1. He started as an actor on stage doing comedy improv.
  2. He knows the history of the entertainment industry and understands how to navigate its currents.
  3. He believes without reservation that games are in fact art.
  4. He brings all of himself to a performance, especially when voicing the Scarecrow in the game Arkham Asylum.
  5. He’s learned how to self-direct as a voice actor.
  6. He affirms that type-casting is your friend as a voice actor.
There is so much wonderful information, candor and useful advice in this interview. I highly encourage you to read it thoroughly!

Also, Dino runs an incredible dating site for fans called SoulGeek.com. It’s the place to find a geek of your own, a place where it’s okay to let your fan flag fly and share your enthusiasm for all things Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Horror, Animation, Anime, Gaming, Comics, etc. He has many testimonials on the website from people who have found romance on SoulGeek.com and I highly recommend it.

VAM 006 | Interview with Wes Davis, Part 1

Welcome to the sixth episode 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. Also, the podcast is now available via the iTunes Store online. Just follow this link to view the podcast in iTunes:

http://www.voiceactingmastery.com/podcast

This is the first part of my interview with Wes Davis, a young and talented voice actor who was gracious enough to sit down with me and talk about his experiences breaking into the voice over business. I think you’ll find it useful to hear the challenges he faces today when approaching voice acting professionally especially in contrast to my experiences breaking in back in the late 1990’s. If you’d like to learn more about Wes, feel free to check out his voice acting website:

http://www.gimmeamic.com/

In this episode, I ask Wes a number of different questions including:

  1. What inspired you to become a voice actor?
  2. What has the journey of an aspiring voice actor been like?
  3. Have you ever been discouraged trying to break into the business?
  4. How did you first voice acting job go?

In the next episode, Wes and I will be discussing how he goes about finding voice acting gigs, his experiences with his agent and much more!

As always, I welcome your questions and feedback! If you feel inspired, please leave a comment on this blog post.

Thanks for listening!

Download Voice Acting Mastery Episode #6 Here (MP3)