Welcome to episode 224 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 the previous episode, I explained how valuable it can be to think like a producer if you want to increase your chances of booking work. For this episode, I thought it would be useful to actually interview a producer so my listeners could hear from a professional perspective not only what types of challenges a producer routinely faces, but also what they’re looking for when they’re auditioning actors.

Therefore, allow me to introduce a very special guest, the head of the Los Angeles based recording studio Bright Skull Entertainment, Michael Csurics! Michael is a voice director, casting director, audio engineer, and studio designer! I’m honestly not sure what he can’t do! Michael and his team at Bright Skull focus primarily on recording actors for video games. They’ve worked on titles like Bugsnax, Just Cause 4, Infinity Nikki, Tacoma, Lord of the Rings: Rise to War, Masquerada: Songs and Shadows, and the current popular hit, Marvel Rivals. I’ve worked with Michael on a number of projects and it’s always a pleasure to speak with him.

We begin this interview with Michael sharing with me how he got started as a voice director. He was born in Woodstock, NY and did theater when he was young, but he was also interested in music: both performing it, and recording it. Eventually he found his way to New York City where he started working for a music label company while pursuing his own post-production recording projects from his home studio. Very quickly, he realized that neither the music industry, nor the film post-production process really suited him.

Fortunately, his girlfriend at the time, now his wife, gave him a book about recording audio for video games. This was in the early 2000’s when games were just getting large enough and sophisticated enough to employ actors. Michael fell in love with the culture and the community of recording game audio and embraced it wholeheartedly. He started attending events like GDC, the Game Developer’s Conference, and networking with other audio professionals who worked in games. With his focus and dedication, it didn’t take long before he was recording actors for games himself.

When Michael, and his wife Rachel, had their first child, they decided they wanted to move out of New York City. They were seriously considering a number of different places, but eventually the pull of the entertainment industry in California brought them to the Golden State, first to San Francisco, and eventually to Los Angeles. In addition to the voice production work he was doing for major studios, like 2K games, Michael was also recording game projects in a private studio he built in his own home. Eventually, he got so busy, that he had to purchase a dedicated studio space with three recording booths, and he may still need to expand further at present!

What is fascinating to me about Michael’s story is even though he did theater in school, an experience that the majority of my voice acting guests share, Michael did not decide to pursue an acting career. Instead, he chose to work on the production side of the process of making games as a voice director and audio engineer, an occupation that has fascinated him from the moment he discovered it. His journey towards his desired career path is a serendipitous one, with a lot of trial and error involved. It also required him to be truly honest with himself about what would bring him the most joy. I hope that all of my listeners can be as honest with themselves about which career pursuits truly bring them joy, whether it’s voice acting, or something else entirely. If your highest excitement is voice acting, then pay close attention to Michael’s enthusiasm for the art of recording for games. The more you understand what inspires him to pursue excellence in game audio, the more likely you’ll be able to match his passion for video game performances with your own acting abilities!

Download Voice Acting Mastery Episode #224 Here (MP3)

Welcome to episode 163 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 and final part of my interview with voice actor and video game advocate, Sarah Elmaleh! Sarah has worked on many AAA and independent video games including Gone Home, Gears 5, BioWare’s Anthem, Pyre, After Party, and For Honor. In addition to her voice acting work, Sarah also works hard to facilitate communication and collaboration between the people who perform in video games and the ones who develop them, including co-founding and co-hosting GameDev.world, a global game developer conference that strives to help game designers from different linguistic backgrounds communicate with each other in their native tongues. In addition, Sarah and I have both participated in the Interactive Committee at our Actor’s Union, SAG-AFTRA, which helps negotiate video game contracts between the union and game producers. Sarah has been instrumental in helping to create a low-budget video game contract for independent game developers who would like to work with union acting talent. I’m very grateful to Sarah for spending so much time with me on the podcast talking about her experiences in the industry, and her love of games!

In the previous episode, Sarah told us the story of her initial journey as a performer. She began dancing when she was very young, but transitioned to acting after she suffered a leg injury. During that time, she was also an enthusiastic gamer and a huge Star Wars fan. When she discovered that Mark Hamill, the same actor who played Luke Skywalker, also played the voice of Adrian Ripburger in the LucasArts game, Full Throttle, she was amazed. From that moment, she became fascinated with voice acting and began to consider that career path as a possibility. After exploring acting in theater, film and TV, she eventually decided that her true passion was for games and eventually moved out to Los Angeles to pursue voice acting full time.

In this episode, Sarah and I talk about what inspired her to become an actor. Sarah is honest and courageous enough to share with me some of her own personal struggles and how she’s learned to channel her emotional vulnerability into compelling acting performances. Like Sarah, I too was a very sensitive child who found that I could use acting as a way to explore my psyche and learn how to more effectively process my own emotions. It’s a delicate topic and I’m glad we could explore it in more depth here in this section of the interview. After that, Sarah talks about her work as an ambassador of sorts between game developers and game performers, and we end our discussion with Sarah’s advice to the aspiring voice actor. Sarah has an amazing way to speak directly to a topic with incredible thoughtfulness and rigor and I’m so happy to share her insights with you!

Download Voice Acting Mastery Episode #163 Here (MP3)

Welcome to episode 161 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 and final part of my interview with voice actor and home studio guru, Jordan Reynolds! You may be familiar with Jordan’s voice acting work on games like World of Warcraft, Fallout 76 and the new Final Fantasy 7 Remake. He’s also been in numerous anime including Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, Hero Mask, and Lupin the Third. He’s done voice over for thousands of commercials and corporate videos and he even produces demos at his website, DemosWithChops.com. In addition to being an accomplished voice actor, Jordan is also extremely knowledgeable about home recording equipment and how to build an effective home studio!

In the previous episode, Jordan and I discussed how he broke into the world of voice acting. He began by learning all he could about recording equipment. He did extensive research and in relatively short order, he had built himself a professional quality home studio. However, he quickly realized that it would take more than the right equipment to become a working voice actor. He also needed to have professionally competitive acting skills. So he began taking classes from coaches who were working in the industry. He also set himself the goal of practicing voice over on a daily basis and recording everything he practiced. After a couple of months, it was eye-opening for him to go back and listen to his audio files from earlier practice sessions, and to realize just how much he had improved! Once his skills became professionally competitive, Jordan was able to combine his acting abilities with his technical knowledge and began to make money as a voice actor part-time from his home in Denver, Colorado. Later, as his client list and voice over work load increased, he eventually decided to move to Los Angeles to pursue voice acting in a bigger marketplace. I was excited to share Jordan’s experiences with my listeners, especially those who may not live in a major voice over city like LA, and who may also be trying to figure out how to create a professional quality booth at home. If you haven’t already, I highly suggest you listen to the first part of our interview, because Jordan shared some truly useful information on these topics!

As we wrap up our discussion together, I ask Jordan what inspired him to become a voice actor in the first place. Much of what drove him was the desire to be creative, especially when he saw other people expressing themselves through music or acting. Jordan and I also share what animated shows influenced our childhoods and how they shaped our pursuit of voice acting! Jordan then talks about the value of improv and how he applies his improv training to all of his voice over work. We wrap up our discussion with Jordan’s advice to the aspiring voice actor and how important it is to step outside of your comfort zone on a regular basis to make sure you keep growing and expanding your abilities! It’s a very honest and personal conversation and I’m eager to share it with all of you. Let’s dive in!

If you are interested in hiring Jordan to help you with your own home recording setup, you can visit him at JordanAudio.ninja and make an appointment online!

Download Voice Acting Mastery Episode #161 Here (MP3)

Welcome to episode 160 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 voice actor, audio equipment expert, and entrepreneur, Jordan Reynolds! I’m excited to share his voice acting journey with you! I wanted to get Jordan on the podcast so he could share his knowledge and expertise on two very specific topics. First: What does it take to create a professional sounding home recording studio, and Second: how does one begin a voice over career outside of one of the major voice over cities like LA or New York? We are all currently having to deal with the consequences of a global pandemic and many of us need to isolate at home. Therefore, if you want to work as a voice actor, it’s become more important than ever to develop your technical recording skills, to create a good home recording space, and to explore what voice over opportunities are available to you, no matter where you might live. So be prepared, this episode is going to be a little longer than some of the more recent ones so we can give you as much information as possible! One other thing I’d like to mention before we begin is that because Jordan and I couldn’t meet in person, I recorded him over the internet by linking my home studio to his using Source Connect Now. Source Connect is a service that allows professional quality recording over the internet, and unfortunately during our interview the internet connection was not always as stable as I would’ve liked, so you may hear some digital artifacts in Jordan’s audio. I apologize for this because it’s always been important to me to make sure this podcast sounds as professional as possible. However, technical challenges like these are a very real part of the new circumstances we all have to face as audio professionals trying to do work from home, and I hope you will forgive the occasional audio inconsistency.

Now back to Jordan! He has worked on thousands of commercials, endless corporate videos, and numerous video games including World of Warcraft, Fallout 76, and the Final Fantasy 7 Remake. He’s also worked on anime shows such as Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, Hero Mask, and Lupin the Third! Jordan specializes in celebrity voice matching which you can hear at his website, JordanReynolds.com. In addition, Jordan produces voice over demos for aspiring voice actors! He’s very self-motivated and his entrepreneurial spirit shows in everything he does!

We begin this episode by talking about how Jordan broke into the world of voice acting. He began his voice over career in Denver, Colorado. While he came from a musical family, none of his siblings were actors. However, after getting repeated compliments about how nice his voice sounded, Jordan began to explore what it would take to work in the field of voice over. This was in 2008 when home recording equipment was both improving greatly in quality and dropping substantially in price, so it was the perfect time for him to build his own home studio. He researched what equipment he would need to record professional quality audio, acquired some gear, and soon had a workable home recording setup. While his technical skills improved rapidly, he hadn’t yet developed his acting ability to a professionally competitive level, so during our interview, Jordan shares how he had to be honest with himself and admit that he needed to do more to improve his performance skills. He set some goals for himself, committed to a practice schedule, and within a couple of dedicated months he was showing remarkable improvement!

As his acting abilities grew, Jordan was able to combine them with his technical expertise and began working part-time as a voice actor from home. We discuss how he found work online and what it took to market himself to potential employers. We then list the most important factors you need to consider when it comes to building your home studio. Here’s a hint: it has less to do with the microphones and the interfaces you buy, and far more to do with the acoustical properties of the space where you record! Different jobs can require varying levels of sound quality and Jordan shares with me his thoughts on what it takes to create a home studio that is good enough to work on major animated shows or AAA video games. It’s all very relevant information for the times we’re in, when creating a professional sounding home recording environment is more important than ever.

If you are interested in hiring Jordan to help you with your own home recording setup, you can visit him at JordanAudio.ninja and make an appointment online!

Download Voice Acting Mastery Episode #160 Here (MP3)

Welcome to episode 144 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 award-winning voice actress, Cissy Jones! She’s worked on such games as The Walking Dead, Life is Strange, Where the Water Tastes Like Wine, and Firewatch where she won a BAFTA award for her performance as Delilah! Cissy also works extensively in commercials and trailers.

In the previous episode, we talked about how Cissy broke into voice acting. After hearing a radio interview with Nancy Cartwright, the voice of Bart from the Simpsons, Cissy started researching voice over training opportunities in her own area and jumped into the world of voice over with both feet! Her commitment, organization, and tenacity have served her well! After facing some tough challenges, she eventually established herself as a marketable and successful voice actress in Los Angeles.

In this, the second part of our interview, we discuss what inspired Cissy to become a voice actress in the first place! You’ll discover that while cartoons were the first thing that drew her to voice acting, what really sealed the deal for her was finding out just how many different kinds of jobs there were in all types of voice over! After that, we talk about what it was like for her to work on the game Firewatch and what she learned from her co-star, Madmen actor Rich Sommer. She even reveals a special goal she has, which is to break a big glass ceiling for women in the world of voice over! I think you’ll really enjoy Cissy’s insights!

Download Voice Acting Mastery Episode #144 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)