Welcome to episode 143 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’m very happy to share with you the first part of my interview with the award-winning voice actress, Cissy Jones! Her list of voice acting roles in video games is impressive! She’s played 7 different characters in the Walking Dead franchise including Katjaa, Jolene, and Bree. She’s worked on such influential independent games as Life is Strange where she played Joyce Price, Where the Water Tastes Like Wine where she played Bertha, and Firewatch where she won a BAFTA award for her performance as Delilah! Cissy’s resume isn’t just limited to games either! She also works extensively in commercials and trailers. In addition, she plays a number of characters in the animated show Little Big Awesome and at the time of this episode, she has a super secret animated project for Disney that she’s working on, but can’t talk about yet!

I was eager to interview Cissy because she started her voice over career in the San Francisco Bay Area and I knew she would have great insights about how to break into the Los Angeles market from outside. In fact, Cissy and I actually met years ago when I used to teach classes at a school in Sausalito, CA called VoiceTrax that she attended. Later, when I discovered that she had left the Bay Area and was able to establish herself as a voice actress in LA, I was very happy for her! When I heard that she’d also won the BAFTA for her performance in the game Firewatch, I was blown away! It’s always wonderful for voice actors to get public acknowledgment for their creative skills and after hearing Cissy’s performance as Delilah, I must say, she clearly deserved it!

In this episode, you’ll discover how a radio interview of the Simpsons’ voice actress Nancy Cartwright changed the course of Cissy’s life! We discuss how Cissy went from helping launch start up companies in Silicon Valley, to immersing herself in all things voice over, and what it took for her to develop her skills to a professional level! Cissy truly jumped into the voice over world with both feet and never looked back! But I’ll let her tell you the story!

Download Voice Acting Mastery Episode #143 Here (MP3)

VAMFR 036 | The Final Episode of the VAM Field Report

Welcome to episode 36 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

Greetings everyone! This is Crispin Freeman, voice actor and host of the Voice Acting Mastery Podcast. As you may know, we started this sister podcast, the Voice Acting Mastery Field Report, back in October of 2015. Since then, our Field Report correspondents have produced some amazing episodes including in-depth interviews and detailed special reports on a number of important topics! It has been so great to learn along with them as they’ve explored many relevant and helpful subjects that continue to be of value to our listeners.

However, all good things must eventually come to an end. As we announced this week on the Voice Acting Mastery blog, this will in fact be the final episode of the Voice Acting Mastery Field Report.

I’m very grateful to all of our correspondents who have contributed such great content, and I’m very proud of the work they put into their episodes. Each correspondent has shared their unique insights into the world of voice over as they’ve pursued their own voice acting careers. In fact, these careers and other aspects of their lives have gained so much momentum that our intrepid correspondents inform me that they have less and less time to commit to the Field Report! So even though it’s bittersweet to say goodbye, I’m so happy for their success and wish them much more in the future!

For our final Field Report episode, I’ll be doing one last round table interview with our current correspondents, Tom Bauer, DanWill McCann, and Maureen Price. They’ll be sharing with us how their careers have grown over the past couple of years, what lessons they’ve learned from working on the Field Report, and what they’re all looking forward to in the future!

I hope you’ll all join me in giving a heartfelt thank you and farewell to each of our correspondents!

You can find their websites here:

DanWill McCann
Tom Bauer
Maureen Price

Thanks again for listening and for joining us for the Field Report. We truly appreciate it.

(P.S. – For those of you who are about to ask: Yes, I’m still releasing monthly episodes of the main VAM podcast on the 3rd Wednesday of each month, so please continue to tune in for those. Thanks!)

Download VAM Field Report Episode #36 Here (MP3)

Welcome to episode 140 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 the first part of my interview with the incredible Fred Tatasciore! Fred’s body of work is enormous. At the time of this interview, he has almost 700 credits listed on his resume at the Internet Movie Database. The character he is probably most famous for playing is the Incredible Hulk whom he has voiced in numerous animated incarnations. Some of Fred’s other familiar characters include Saren Arterius in the Mass Effect series of games, Master Shifu in the animated TV series, Kung-Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness, Zeratul in the StarCraft Franchise, and one of my personal favorites: Soldier 76 in the game Overwatch.

Fred is well known for his creature voices, especially the large screaming ones! In addition, because of Fred’s vocal flexibility, he’s also a good utility player, meaning that he can play many different parts when a show or a game requires it. However, it was his standout solo performance as Soldier 76 in Overwatch that really got my attention. I was so impressed with the sensitivity and vulnerability he brought to that character, I just knew I had to bring him on the podcast.

In this first episode, we talk about how Fred broke into voice acting. He had a pretty unique journey! When he was young, he not only spent time recording himself doing funny voices, but he was also pursuing art and drawing as well! During his time in school, Fred was never quite sure whether he was going to pursue an animation career or a voice acting career! Having such a broad educational background enriched his understanding of playing characters immensely and I’m very excited to share his journey and his insights with you! Let’s get started!

Download Voice Acting Mastery Episode #140 Here (MP3)

Welcome to episode 139 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 the third part of my interview with the amazingly talented and astoundingly accomplished, Keythe Farley! He’s acted on stage, on screen and in front of the microphone. You may be familiar with his voice acting work as Thane Krios in the Mass Effect series of games, the villainous Kellog in Fallout 4 as well as Eruptor in the Skylanders series of games. He’s also voice directed the incredibly popular animated show the Rugrats for the animation studio Klasky/Csupo. He’s voice directed such high profile game franchises as God of War, Call of Duty: Black Ops III and Final Fantasy 15.

In the previous episode, we discussed how Keythe’s passion for storytelling motivated him to become involved in the performing arts. We also talked about his approach to the character of Thane Krios in the Mass Effect series of games.

In this episode I ask Keythe what advice he has for aspiring voice actors. He’s got some wonderful insight on the topic because of his extensive experience directing some of the best voice actors in the industry! We also talk about the unique challenges that new voice actors face when it comes to emoting, which is the ability to allow your emotions to express themselves freely through your body and voice. Too often, beginning voice actors attempt to demonstrate their emotions while acting, rather than sharing their feelings in a more authentic way. This can lead to performances that sound forced or self-conscious instead of being believable to an audience. To help address this, Keythe and I dig deep into some of the most challenging aspects of learning to act, and I’m excited to share the final part of our talk together!

To learn more about Keythe and his VO Lounge, visit his website at:
www.KeytheFarley.com

Download Voice Acting Mastery Episode #139 Here (MP3)

Welcome to episode 138 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 the second part of my interview with the amazingly talented and astoundingly accomplished, Keythe Farley! He’s acted on stage, on screen and in front of the microphone. You may be familiar with his voice acting work as Thane Krios in the Mass Effect series of games, the villainous Kellog in Fallout 4 as well as Eruptor in the Skylanders series of games. He’s also voice directed the incredibly popular animated show the Rugrats for the animation studio Klasky/Csupo. He’s voice directed such high profile game franchises as God of War, Call of Duty: Black Ops III and Final Fantasy 15.

In the previous episode, Keythe and I focused on the early part of his career and how he broke in to both voice acting and voice directing. In this episode, we delve into what motivated Keythe to become a performer in the first place. We discuss Keythe’s obsession with storytelling and how serving the story is his first priority, regardless of his position on a project, whether he is acting as a character, directing other actors, or even writing the dialogue. We also talk about how he approached creating the character of Thane Krios for the Mass Effect series of video games. Then we dive even deeper and discuss how Keythe would approach the character of Thane differently if he was directing someone else in the role rather than attempting to embody the character himself! It’s a fascinating insight into the creative differences between acting and directing! I think you’ll find it very enlightening!

To learn more about Keythe and his VO Lounge, visit his website at:
www.KeytheFarley.com

Download Voice Acting Mastery Episode #138 Here (MP3)

Welcome to episode 137 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’m happy to share with you part one of my interview with the amazingly talented and astoundingly accomplished, Keythe Farley! Keythe’s work is so varied that it’s difficult to reduce him to categories! He’s acted on stage, on screen and in front of the microphone. He’s voice directed animation and video games. He’s also one of the creators of the hit musical Bat Boy. He’s even produced an animated series version of the Spy vs. Spy comics from Mad Magazine! You may be familiar with his voice acting work as Thane Krios in the Mass Effect series of games, the villainous Kellog in Fallout 4 as well as Eruptor in the Skylanders series of games. He’s also voice directed the incredibly popular animated show the Rugrats for the animation studio Klasky/Csupo. When the Rugrats video game was in development, Keythe was asked to voice direct it and so began his work in Interactive media. He’s voice directed such high profile game franchises as God of War, Call of Duty: Black Ops III and Final Fantasy 15. And those are just the highlights of his work in games and animation! His theatrical and radio accomplishments are too numerous to mention here! Suffice it to say, I was very eager to sit down with Keythe and get his insight into the voice over world.

In the first part of our discussion, we talk about the early part of Keythe’s career and how his passion for Top 40 radio hits eventually led him towards storytelling and theater. His love of story in all its forms is what gave him the flexibility to be open to whatever entertainment opportunity came his way, whether it was an acting job or some other position in production. In fact, it was his willingness to take a relatively low level production assistant job at an animation studio that allowed him to learn the process of creating cartoons. The education he got from that experience not only lead to more and better opportunities at the studio, but it has helped him immensely in all aspects of his career. I really admire Keythe’s openness and his humility when it comes to working in an industry that can often be emotionally challenging, and I’m eager to share his wisdom with you!

To learn more about Keythe and his VO Lounge, visit his website at:
www.KeytheFarley.com

Download Voice Acting Mastery Episode #137 Here (MP3)