VAM 233 | Interview with Ben Diskin, Part 2
Welcome to episode 232 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
I’m eager to share with you the second part of my interview with the multi-talented and Emmy award winning voice actor, Ben Diskin! You may know his work from animated shows like Hey Arnold!, Codename: Kids Next Door, Spectacular Spider-Man, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H., and the Muppet Babies! You may also recognize his voice in games like Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth, the Kingdom Hearts series of games, and Date Everything! You may even have heard him in anime shows like Blood+, Naruto Shippuden, Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin, and Aggretsuko.
In the previous episode, Ben and I explored in detail how he got started as a voice actor. Ben was effectively offered agent representation before he was even born and was acting in commercials at the ripe old age of 3! Since his parents were both actors, they were able to help guide him through the industry, both artistically and professionally. They knew what it took to be believable on-camera, and they had a realistic understanding of the demands of pursuing an acting career.
Ben was exposed to both the joys of acting, and the possible negative ramifications of being a performer at a very early age. He was often typecast, which he found artistically limiting, and he also had to deal with negative feedback from his classmates at school, who assumed he was far more rich and famous than he actually was. All of this contributed to Ben’s desire to pursue voice acting, instead of on-camera acting, as a way to not only escape the typecasting trap, but also to be able to keep his private life and his professional life more separate. As a voice actor, he could act, and still keep his anonymity in everyday life.
While all of that might help explain why Ben left the on-camera world to pursue voice acting instead, I was still curious as to why he wanted to be a performer in the first place? Did he just start at such an early age that it seemed natural? Did he feel like he didn’t have any other choice? Ben answers me quite bluntly: he thinks that he’s an incredibly boring person, and so any opportunity he had to role play as someone else was appealing to him!
As my regular listeners might realize, this surprising answer does seem to contradict many of the ideas I’ve shared on the podcast about an actor valuing themselves and their inner universe of possibilities. So Ben and I dive deep into this subject to see if we can discover if there’s any way to reconcile his approach to acting, and my ideas about the acting process. We get very specific about how he thinks about characters, and what exactly he does to embody them, especially when he’s given very little information on which to base his acting choices.
Since Ben started acting when he was so young, it can be challenging for him to articulate his process. Nevertheless, I encourage you to listen closely to our conversation as I help tease out exactly why Ben got so good at voice acting. You’ll notice in his answers some familiar themes from earlier episodes: he watches a ton of media to understand the different styles of shows, he closely analyzes performances he admires in order to be able to reproduce them himself, he studies his fellow professional colleagues to see what he can learn from them, and he makes sure to physicalize his characters as much as possible. Ben has internalized the fundamentals of voice acting through immersion, intense focus, and repeated practice. Hopefully his story will inspire my listeners to do the same!
VAM 232 | Interview with Ben Diskin, Part 1
Welcome to episode 232 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 multi-talented and Emmy award winning voice actor, Ben Diskin! You may be familiar with his voice acting work in animation including Eugene in Hey Arnold!, Numbuh 1 and Numbuh 2 in Codename: Kids Next Door, Eddie Brock and Venom in Spectacular Spider-Man, Keldor/Skeletor in He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, Skaar, Bulldozer, Fandral and Miek in Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H., and both Gonzo and Rizzo the Rat in Muppet Babies for which he won a Daytime Emmy award! In games you may have heard him as Glenn Lodbrok in Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth, Young Xehanort in the Kingdom Hearts series of games, and Franklin Lieste in Date Everything! Some of his anime roles include Kai in Blood+, Sai Yamanaka in Naruto Shippuden, Char Aznable in Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin, and Haida in Aggretsuko.
In the first part of our discussion, Ben shares with me how he got started as an actor. As crazy at it might sound, for all intents and purposes, Ben was signed to his first acting agent in utero! His parents were both actors in Los Angeles, and when his mother was pregnant with him, her agent offered to represent Ben once he was born. As a baby, Ben started getting cast in commercials and other acting roles on-camera. It certainly helped that both his parents could not only coach him on his performances, but that they also had a realistic understanding of the challenges of pursuing an acting career. Unlike some stage parents, they didn’t need Ben to become a big star, they were just happy if he was enjoying himself. Any money he might make they planned to save for his college fund.
Little did they know that Ben would not only enjoy acting, he would became passionate about it. Acting was so important to him that even as a young child, he was willing to put up with the tedium one regularly experiences on a live-action set. Shooting actors on film can be a slow and laborious process. Often you have to arrive very early to be put through hair and makeup even though you may just end up sitting around for hours after that, waiting to be called to perform your one scene. You can imagine how frustrating this might be to a young person, but Ben was so eager to act that he was willing to endure it as long as he got his chance to play pretend.
In fact, Ben was so committed to the process of acting, that he soon felt frustrated as producers began to typecast him. He was hungry to play all sorts of different characters, not just the slightly nerdy kids he was often hired to portray on screen. He discovered that voice acting could offer him the opportunity to play a wide range of roles, and he need only be limited by his ability to act, and the sound of his voice, rather than by his physical appearance. He quickly set about expanding his vocal range so he could play as many characters as possible.
One of the things I find most interesting about Ben’s journey is that he experienced both the highs and the lows of acting at such an early age. For example, his young psyche had to come to grips with how being famous might affect his relationships with his peers. Early in our time together, Ben shares with me his story about letting his friends on the playground know that he had been cast in the Arnold Schwarzenegger movie, Kindergarten Cop, and how through a series of misunderstandings, this actually damaged some of his friendships. He also shares with me an experience he had with a casting director who told him to his face to stop trying to play characters outside of where he was normally typecast. This experience made him so frustrated, that he resolved to find a way to prove that close-minded casting director wrong, by booking as many different types of characters as his vocal instrument would allow.
The pivotal mindset that supported Ben in the midst of these challenges was that he was fascinated with being an actor who could express things that were original and meaningful, and he cared very little about getting attention or approval from others. He was truly living the advice that I often repeat on this podcast, “Love the art in yourself more than yourself in the art”. I hope Ben’s story and his deep commitment to acting inspire all of you in the audience to do the same!
VAM 225 | Interview with Michael Csurics, Part 2
Welcome to episode 225 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 the head of the Los Angeles based recording studio Bright Skull Entertainment, Michael Csurics! As mentioned in the previous episode, Michael has worked as a voice director, casting director and audio engineer on numerous video games including Infinity Nikki, Lord of the Rings: Rise to War, and the current popular hit, Marvel Rivals. Since he’s such an accomplished director, I was very eager to get Michael on the podcast so he could share with my listeners what he’s looking for when it comes to finding actors for the projects he’s hired to record. His insights are especially relevant since this two part interview follows directly after episode 223 of the podcast entitled, “Want To Book More Work? Learn To Think Like A Producer.” If you haven’t already, I strongly recommend you listen to the two previous episodes, numbers 223 and 224, before continuing with this one. They will give you important context.
In the last interview segment, Michael shared with me how he got started as a voice director, specifically in the world of video games. While he did participate in theater at a young age, he wasn’t inspired to pursue acting. Instead, he got involved in the music industry as both a performer and a recording engineer. He eventually moved to New York City where he was hired to work at a record label. On his off-hours, Michael would also take jobs working on film post-production projects. Unfortunately, neither field really satisfied him, and it wasn’t until his girlfriend at the time, now his wife, gave him a book on recording audio for video games that he realized he had finally found his true calling. This was in the early 2000s when games were just getting sophisticated enough to be able to include voice actors, so Michael was trailblazing a career for himself in very new territory.
Normally, I begin the second part of any interview with my guests by asking them what inspired them to pursue their artistry in the first place. However, since Michael did such a good job of explaining that in the first part of the interview, I thought it might be better to kick off this part of our discussion by asking him what actors need to know in order to best collaborate with him. His answers should help you understand how better to think like a producer so you can improve both your chances of getting hired, as well as your ability to collaborate fruitfully on a project.
However, before I share Michael’s insights, I want to remind my listeners that at the end of the previous episode, I challenged you to try to anticipate what Michael’s advice might be. I hoped that by listening closely to what inspired Michael and to what he cared about most as an artist, that my audience would be able to predict what Michael is looking for in the actors he collaborates with. So, were you able to come up with any ideas? Do you feel that you were able to anticipate what Michael’s answers might be? Did you happen to write your answers down? If you haven’t, I would encourage you to pause this episode and take some time to put down your best guesses in writing before continuing on. Articulating your ideas in written language will not only keep you honest about what your mindset was before, but will also give you greater awareness and control of your own creative process later when you compare your answers to Michael’s.
Got your answers written down? Ready to know if your ideas match Michael’s? Well, it’s time to find out!
VAM 224 | Interview with Michael Csurics, Part 1
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!
VAM 220 | Interview with Jamieson Price, Part 2
Welcome to episode 220 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 the man with the amazing voice, Jamieson Price! You may be familiar with his work in anime shows like Gurren Lagan, Fate/Zero, Witch Hunter Robin, and Gankutsuou: The Count of Montecristo. In games he’s worked on World of Warcraft, Persona 5, and the .hack//G.U. series. Jamieson has extensive theater experience and even played a part in Mel Gibson’s film, the Patriot.
In the previous episode, Jamieson shared with me how he got started as an actor. He fell in love with acting in elementary and high school, and eventually majored in theater in college. After working as a theater actor in regional theater for many years, he decided to go to graduate acting school to advance his skills. He got a Master’s degree from the California State University at Long Beach. Right after graduating, he got cast in a show where he met an actress, Dorothy Fahn, who was working on the anime Digimon and suggested that Jamieson audition for parts in the show. Jamieson started booking smaller parts, which led to larger parts, which eventually prompted him to choose voice acting as his primary occupation since it allowed him to spend more time with his family and still be an actor.
In this episode, Jamieson shares with me what inspired him to pursue acting in the first place. It turns out, he was naturally attracted to acting because he so enjoyed playing pretend in imaginary worlds. Immersing himself in a story and in a character was appealing to him, even at a very young age. A pivotal experience for him when he was in middle school was seeing a production of Shakespeare’s play, The Taming of the Shrew, done in the style of Commedia dell’arte Italian mask theater. This performance piqued his fascination with acting specifically, and he started participating in plays himself.
When he went to college, he decided to major in psychology because he thought it would be a more financially reliable career path than pursuing acting. When he became disillusioned with psychology, he decided to follow his inspiration and embraced an acting career whole-heartedly. Once he made that mindset shift, the universe started presenting opportunities for him that he made sure to take advantage of.
Even with all that early inspiration and later theatrical success, he was still motivated to continue improving his acting skills. While grad school was a useful place for him to advance his abilities, his wife actually turned out to be one of his best acting coaches. She helped him understand the true effect his behavior had on others, both on stage, and in real-life. This helped Jamieson become more aware of his own demeanor, which in turn allowed him to become a more nuanced actor.
After discussing this, Jamieson and I wrap up this interview with his advice for the aspiring voice actor. He stresses three topics that voice actors should focus on. First: establishing solid, fundamental acting skills. Second: developing a strong imagination in order to immerse yourself fully in a scene, and Third: developing good vocal health routines so you can maintain your vocal instrument over time. We also talk about how important it is to be able to express yourself with emotional abandon, while also having good technical vocal production skills supporting your acting. This will allow your performances to feel both immediate, and masterful at the same time. It’s the kind of acting discussion I always love to have and I’m so glad we get to share it with you.
VAM 219 | Interview with Jamieson Price, Part 1
Welcome to episode 219 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 first part of my interview with a man who was seemingly born with a voice acting sound, Jamieson Price! As of the release of this episode, he has over 500 credits on IMDb! You may be familiar with his work in anime where he’s played Lordgenome in Gurren Lagan, Rider in Fate/Zero, Zaizen in Witch Hunter Robin, and The Count Edmund Dantes in Gankutsuou: The Count of Montecristo. He’s also played parts in such classic anime as Akira, Appleseed, Lupin III: Castle of Caligostro, and Perfect Blue. In games he’s played Blaine Bloodhoof in World of Warcraft, Sojiro in Persona 5, and Ovan in the .hack//G.U. series of games. Jamieson worked extensively in the theater before he began his voice acting journey, and even played a part in Mel Gibson’s film, the Patriot which was released in the year 2000. Jamieson’s voice was one of the first that I heard when I came to Los Angeles to start working as a voice actor back in 2001 and it’s a pleasure to speak with him about his lengthy career.
Jamieson fell in love with acting as a young student. In 4th grade he participated in a school play. When a piece of the set fell over, he showed the amazing presence of mind to fix the set and keep on going with his performance. That’s when his parents knew he might just be an actor. When his 8th grade teacher introduced him to Shakespeare, Jamieson was immediately hooked. He participated in plays in both high school and college, but he planned to pursue a degree in psychology because he thought it was a more stable and reliable career path at the time.
Halfway through his college experience, he became disillusioned with psychology and decided that he would pursue an acting career instead. He was fortunate that his college required their theater majors not only to act in mainstage productions at the school, but also to work backstage in technical jobs. This technical theater training served Jamieson very well since it meant he was qualified to work as a technician at theaters, even when he wasn’t being hired as an actor!
After working in theater for many years including on some famous outdoor theater productions in Ohio, Jamieson felt like he had plateaued as an actor and decided he needed to go to graduate acting school to improve his skills. He was accepted at the California State University at Long Beach and earned his Master of Fine Arts degree there. Right after he graduated, he got cast in a play at the Long Beach playhouse, and happened to meet Dorothy Fahn, an actress who was working in anime at the time. Dorothy thought Jamieson might be a good fit for some of the characters on Digimon which both she and her husband Tom were working on. Jamieson started booking parts in anime dubs, which eventually lead to roles in video games and other voice over work as well.
While Jamieson had been pursuing on-camera work in addition to voice work after grad school, he quickly realized that voice over afforded him the opportunity to spend more time at home with his family, while still working as an actor. He decided to do his best to maximize his voice over opportunities and worked technical theater jobs for additional income.
Jamieson is one of those people who was born with a distinctive voice, which you’re about to experience in this interview! However, even gifted with such a resonant instrument, Jamieson still had to put in the time and effort to make sure his acting skills were professionally competitive in the Los Angeles marketplace. He started off playing smaller roles, and didn’t expect to land larger characters without proving himself first. By patiently applying himself, developing a reputation for being reliable and easy to work with, and constantly improving his acting skills, Jamieson has been able to carve out an impressive voice over career for himself, working on hundreds of projects. But I’ll let him fill you in on the details!