Welcome to episode 33 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’m honored to interview two of my former students, Kimlinh Tran and Edward Bosco. Even though they are relative newcomers to the voice acting world, you may be familiar with their work in an amazingly popular game that has just been released called Dust: An Elysian Tail. You can find it on the Xbox Live Arcade and it’s been getting fantastic reviews. Kimlinh plays the voice of Fidget, the small but spunky companion to the hero of the game, while Edward plays the voice of Ahrah, the spirit of a magical sword who helps guide the hero on a quest to save his world.

You can view a trailer for the game below:

I’m very proud of both Kimlinh and Edward for their wonderful work in this game and I’m happy the project has been such a success! When I decided to interview them, I felt that sharing their experiences as they begin their voice acting careers would be helpful and inspiring for you, my listeners, and I hope you enjoy their story.

Thanks for listening!

Download Voice Acting Mastery Episode #33 Here (MP3)

Welcome to episode 25 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 an interview with my friend and improv teacher, Melanie Chartoff.

As we wrapped up our time together, Melanie and I discussed many interesting topics including:

• The deep interrelationship between improv and scripted acting.
• How improv helps keep a scripted performance feeling fresh, as if you’re creating that performance anew every time.
• The importance of getting past the words of a script and instead basing your performance on the inspiration of a thought or a feeling.
• The need to have a childlike state of mind when you’re acting and to leave all judgement behind in order to fully play pretend.

At the very end, Melanie was kind enough to share with me a personal technique of hers for alleviating fear when she finds herself in an acting situation that makes her feel nervous. I think you’ll find it incredibly useful!

To sign up for classes with Melanie, visit Chartoff Teaching.com. I highly recommend it!

Download Voice Acting Mastery Episode #25 Here (MP3)

Welcome to episode 24 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 an interview with my friend and improv teacher, Melanie Chartoff. In it, we talk about how important it is to find your character’s point of view from inside it, in order to give life to a role. Melanie also shares a three part technique for helping you develop that point of view. In order to imbue your voice with more character, you should ask yourself three questions:

1. What is your point of view on yourself?
2. What is your point of view on the world around you?
3. What is your point of view on your current situation?

By asking yourself these questions, you can begin to bring a richness and believability to your vocal performance.

We wrap up this episode by talking about how voice acting is not about hiding behind a silly voice, but about revealing who you truly are so you can make the emotional journey of your character believable.

Enjoy!

Download Voice Acting Mastery Episode #24 Here (MP3)

Welcome to episode 23 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 my last podcast, I discussed the 5 Essentials for voice acting. I talked at length about the first of those essentials: the need to become an actor. I also said that of all the different acting training I have had the pleasure of experiencing, the one that helped me the most in my voice acting career was improvisational acting.

So I thought I would invite my improv teacher, Melanie Chartoff, on the podcast to talk about the importance of improv and how it relates to voice acting. Melanie has had an extensive acting career both on stage and on screen, but those of you who follow animation will probably be most familiar with her performance as Didi Pickles, the mother in the famous Nickelodeon series, The Rugrats. Melanie has taught me a lot and I think you’ll benefit from her insight and experience.

Enjoy!

Download Voice Acting Mastery Episode #23 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)