VAMFR 031 | Interview with Taliesin Jaffe, Part 2
VAMFR 031 | Interview with Taliesin Jaffe, Part 2
Welcome to episode 31 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
Welcome back for this second part of DanWill McCann’s interview with Taliesin Jaffe.
Taliesin has worked extensively as both a voice actor and voice director. He began his career in the entertainment industry as a child actor in T.V. shows like The Facts of Life and St. Elsewhere. Later, he transitioned into voice acting and has been working on anime and video games ever since. Recently, you may have heard him as the voice of Blanka, the wild man with shocking abilities in the English versions of the video games Street Fighter IV & V, as well as Street Fighter vs. Tekken. Not only did Taliesin play the voice of Blanka in those Street Fighter games, but he also voice directed all the characters in the English language versions of all three games. While he no longer acts in scripted shows on TV, you can still find Taliesin in front of the camera hosting The Wednesday Club, a weekly online comic book show on the Geek & Sundry Alpha channel.
In the previous podcast episode, Taliesin told us about how he began his acting career and the series of events that led him to decide to transition from on-camera acting to voice acting and directing. He realized at a relatively young age that his heart was not fully committed to acting on-camera and that he had a greater passion for working on anime. DanWill admires that Taliesin had the honestly and courage to pursue what truly spoke to him artistically, even if others may not have understood his choices. DanWill also respects the fact that much of Taliesin’s motivation to enter the world of anime dubbing was to see what he could do to improve the quality of work being done in the genre. Once Taliesin realized how he could best contribute, he has continued his efforts since then to raise the standards of anime dubbing. His commitment to quality inspires DanWill to pursue the same excellence in his own work.
This episode begins with a discussion of Taliesin’s favorite voice over projects, both as an actor and as a director. DanWill and Taliesin not only talk about what Taliesin enjoyed most while working on these projects, but also what important artistic lessons he learned from them. Because Taliesin works both as a voice actor and a voice director, he has a unique perspective on the voice over industry and how to succeed in it. Their discussion then moves on to address fan conventions and how best to interact with any industry colleagues you may meet at those events. DanWill is always looking for better ways to connect with fellow entertainment professionals and he’s learned a lot from Taliesin on this subject. So, once again, please welcome Taliesin Jaffe!
The VAM Field Report will be released on the 1st Wednesday of every month so stay on the look out for it!
Download VAM Field Report Episode #31 Here (MP3)
VAMFR 029 | Interview with Erica Mendez, Part 3
VAMFR 029 | Interview with Erica Mendez, Part 3
Welcome to episode 29 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
This episode is the third and final part of Tom Bauer’s interview with his friend and voice over actor, Erica Mendez.
You might recognize Erica from her voice acting work in anime, where she’s played the voice of Gon Freecs in the 2011 anime series adaptation of Hunter X Hunter, Sailor Uranus in the Viz Media English dub of Sailor Moon and Ryuko Matoi in the popular Kill la Kill anime television series. In addition to her many voice acting accomplishments, Erica has also worked as an ADR script writer for the Netflix original anime series, Fate/Apocrypha.
In the previous episode, Tom and Erica talked about some of the challenges Erica faced while pursuing her career as a voice actor, including her struggles with being overly self-critical and how she’s learned to overcome this common stumbling block. She also shared her insights into what it takes to stay competitive in voice over, as well as some of the acting techniques she’s acquired while taking classes and how she implements what she’s learned in the booth.
In this episode, Tom and Erica wrap things up by discussing Pre-lay recording. Voice over for anime is most often recorded one actor at a time, alone in a booth long after the original animation has been completed. However, in American animation, the actors are recorded first and the animators animate the characters to fit those vocal performances. This is called pre-lay since the audio recording is made before the animation is produced. When recording for pre-lay animation, you are often reading with other actors together in the same room. This can be very different from recording all by yourself in an anime dubbing session, so Tom is eager to share Erica’s insights about the process.
The VAM Field Report will be released on the 1st Wednesday of every month so stay on the look out for it!
Download VAM Field Report Episode #29 Here (MP3)
VAM 133 | Interview with Eliza Jane Schneider, Part 3
Welcome to episode 133 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 voice actor and dialect expert, Eliza Jane Schneider! You may be familiar with her work voicing almost all of the female characters on the animated series South Park in the years between 1999 and 2003. Eliza and I have also been in a number of projects together including Diablo III where I played the Male Wizard and she played the Female Necromancer, and also the Pirates of the Caribbean video games where I voice match Orlando Bloom to play Will Turner while she voice matches Keira Knightly to play Elizabeth Swann.
In addition to her many acting accomplishments, Eliza is incredibly dedicated to the study and mastery of English language dialects. She is a highly sought after accent coach and I’m very happy to have her on the podcast to share her insight and expertise with all my listeners!
In the previous episode, Eliza explained the unique techniques she has developed to master dialects and accents. As we wrap up our time together, Eliza talks about how to approach mastering the emotional component of performing with an accent. She also shares her tongue placement system to help dial in the specific sound of certain vowel substitutions. We end the interview with Eliza’s advice to aspiring voice actors, which includes the reality of how little time voice over performers actually have to give a believable and compelling performance once they’re in the booth. It’s a sobering but honest take on the challenges of working in the voice over industry. I think you’ll find Eliza’s candor and expertise very helpful, so let’s get started!
If you would like to learn more about Eliza’s dialect training, please visit her website at:
Download Voice Acting Mastery Episode #133 Here (MP3)
VAMFR 028 | Interview with Erica Mendez, Part 2
VAMFR 028 | Interview with Erica Mendez, Part 2
Welcome to episode 28 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
This episode is the second part of Tom Bauer’s interview with his good friend and rising talent in the voice over industry, Erica Mendez.
Erica is probably most famous for her voice acting work in anime, taking on such roles as Gon Freecs in the 2011 anime series adaptation of Hunter X Hunter, Sailor Uranus in the Viz Media English dub of Sailor Moon and Ryuko Matoi in the popular Kill la Kill anime television series. If that wasn’t enough, Erica has also started work as an ADR script writer for the Netflix original anime series, Fate/Apocrypha.
When we last left off, Erica was discussing how she made the decision to move from her hometown of Chicago to Los Angeles to pursue her creative endeavors. While she initially intended to move to LA to become a professional animator, her previous experiences performing in online audio dramas opened a new world of opportunity for her in the area of voice acting. When she arrived in LA, a series of fortunate circumstances lined up to give her the chance to audition for voice acting jobs.
In this episode, Erica talks about some of the challenges she faced while pursuing her new voice acting career. She shares her insight into what it takes to stay competitive in voice over, as well as some of the acting techniques she’s adopted while taking classes and how she implements what she’s learned in the booth. We start this episode by delving into her process of developing characters for anime.
The VAM Field Report will be released on the 1st Wednesday of every month so stay on the look out for it!
Download VAM Field Report Episode #28 Here (MP3)
VAM 132 | Interview with Eliza Jane Schneider, Part 2
Welcome to episode 132 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 voice actor and dialect expert, Eliza Jane Schneider! You may be familiar with her work voicing almost all of the female characters on the animated series South Park in the years between 1999 and 2003. Eliza and I have also been in a number of projects together including Diablo III where I played the Male Wizard and she played the Female Necromancer, and also the Pirates of the Caribbean video games where I voice match Orlando Bloom to play Will Turner while she voice matches Keira Knightly to play Elizabeth Swann.
In addition to her many acting accomplishments, Eliza is incredibly dedicated to the study and mastery of English language dialects. She is a highly sought after accent coach and I’m very happy to have her on the podcast to share her insight and expertise with all my listeners!
In the previous episode, Eliza told us how she broke into the entertainment industry, first as an on-camera actress, and later as a voice actress. In this segment of our interview, we discuss her dialect work and how her music training as a young girl helped inform her technique for mastering different accents. Her ability to hear fine nuances in how people pronounce their words has allowed her to create her own unique way of teaching accents to performers. In fact, in this episode she puts me through my paces and helps me improve my own Australian accent! I think you’ll find her insight as enlightening as I did!
If you would like to learn more about Eliza’s dialect training, please visit her website at:
Download Voice Acting Mastery Episode #132 Here (MP3)
VAM 131 | Interview with Eliza Jane Schneider, Part 1
Welcome to episode 131 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 first part of my interview with voice actor and dialect expert, Eliza Jane Schneider! You may remember in my previous interview with Zach Hanks how he mentioned how much he appreciated Eliza’s comprehensive dialect classes. Based on Zach’s comments, I thought it would be apropos to have Eliza on the podcast to speak with us! Eliza has an amazingly long and diverse acting career. She started very young as an actress in both school and community theaters. She parlayed her theatrical experience into on-camera acting jobs in college and eventually into voice acting. She’s probably most famous for portraying almost all of the female characters on the animated series South Park in the years between 1999 and 2003. More recently she’s the voice of Agent Rama in the Agents of Mayhem video game, she’s played numerous characters in the animated series Sanjay and Craig, and she’s also in the animated series Breadwinners playing the Tooth Fairy. In addition, Eliza and I have also been in a number of projects together including Diablo III where I played the Male Wizard and she played the Female Necromancer, and also the Pirates of the Caribbean video games where I voice match Orlando Bloom to play Will Turner while she voice matches Keira Knightly to play Elizabeth Swann.
In addition to her many acting accomplishments, Eliza is incredibly dedicated to the study and mastery of English language dialects. While she was still in college, she bought an ambulance and travelled around the country recording people speaking in their native accents. She’s turned many of these interviews into one-woman theater performances where she reenacts her interview subjects on stage. She also studied with Robert Easton, a master of dialects who was once dubbed the Henry Higgins of Hollywood for his ability to train actors. Eliza has taken everything she’s learned from Robert and created her own unique approach to dialects and accents. I’m very happy to have her on the podcast to share her insight and expertise with all my listeners!
In this first episode, we explore how Eliza broke into the entertainment industry. We discuss her desire to be an actress from a very young age and how her experiences in the theater helped shape her approach to acting. It’s amazing how resourceful and ambitious she was in her efforts to tell stories and perform. I think my listeners can learn a lot about tenacity from hearing Eliza’s story!
If you would like to learn more about Eliza’s dialect training, please visit her website at:
Download Voice Acting Mastery Episode #131 Here (MP3)