Aaaand it's already almost X-Mas. If there's one thing that I'm increasingly learning new ways to deal with it's how to balance things going on from day to day. It's not work/life that's the problem right now it's work-life/voiceover-creativity. The holidays are nuts for pretty much everyone, but it is a new experience trying to keep up with my practice, sending out auditions, and doing my "homework" on acting, marketing, industry news. But I'm not at the point yet where I can simply put my day job aside, so a little bit of feeling like I'm standing on a huge Jenga tower comes with the territory I guess.
I am immensely looking forward to the time I get to take off from my survival job around X-Mas and New Year's. I'll still be working a bit, but it's voiceover work that I'm excited to be a part of. I'll be heading to San Diego to visit my parents as well as to see friends both new and old in Los Angeles while I'm down there. But in the couple of weeks I still have until we leave, I am determined not to fall into a rut. Classes are kind of on hold around the holidays as most acting teachers don't want to start one when everyone is out of town. So I'm left to be a diligent self-learner for the time being.
I'm also continuing my construction of a decent home recording space. For the moment it looks a little bit like an empty box, but it's coming together. I'm finding that the problem with home audio booths isn't the echo off of the drywall or the ventilation but actually preventing sound from getting in -- and when you have a new neighbor that likes blasting music with heavy bass it's a BIG problem. Unfortunately I don't have $5000 to drop on a prefabricated isolation booth, so heavy blankets on every surface seems to be the way this is going to go. Especially the floor. Because killing my downstairs neighbor is generally frowned upon, unfortunately.
One thing I'm thankful for is my continued subscription to Steve Blum's webinar classes. I can't usually participate live, but they're all recorded so I can generally start one whenever works best for me. They're a great way to remotivate myself if I'm feeling like I'm dropping into that sort of educational or creative rut, and he always provides interesting homework assignments to give each class a practical side. Anything that gets me back in front of a microphone when I start to want to procrastinate is fantastic.
Above all, I want to feel like I'm making progress and moving forward. Plateaus are an awful feeling when you see the next level above you and just can't quite make it. So every new thing I can learn, every little trick I figure out for my own voice or realization about a certain theoretical lesson put into practice puts me one more step up on this staircase to where I want to be.
For those of you following along, I realize that sometimes it seems like I'm stating the obvious or restating something I've said before, but remember that this is as much if not more for me than it is for you. Writing this out helps me put my thoughts into practice, and my brain is a pudding thrown against a wall sometimes. So the rambling will happen. I thank you for bearing with me, and checking in with me from time to time on this journey of mine. Every one of you that cares enough to see what I'm up to is incredibly appreciated.
Cheers, and Happy Holidays!
Monday, December 10, 2018
Wednesday, November 21, 2018
Happy Turkey Day!
Happy nonspecific harvest festival celebration day, everybody! I'm pretty much taking today off from the blogging in order to pack for a brief trip out of state to visit my in-laws for the holiday. So this isn't going to be a full training/info topic.
I just want to share that I have a couple new projects that I've been cast to take part in. Unfortunately, I can't give any more details than that, but I'm excited to contribute and I will of course tell you all about them when they are finished and announced by the project creators.
In the meantime, enjoy your holidays if you celebrate, however you celebrate, and I'll be back to posting my particular brand of verbal detritus and scree next week!
I just want to share that I have a couple new projects that I've been cast to take part in. Unfortunately, I can't give any more details than that, but I'm excited to contribute and I will of course tell you all about them when they are finished and announced by the project creators.
In the meantime, enjoy your holidays if you celebrate, however you celebrate, and I'll be back to posting my particular brand of verbal detritus and scree next week!
Thursday, November 15, 2018
Training Update
This week I'm just going to say how much of a difference actually having a voiceover coach is making for me. Leslie at Inside Voice is well worth the money I'm investing to improve myself, and every session I have with her brings new insights. We're working mostly on my general skills and commercial voiceover education as that's the area I feel I'm least up to par in. My character acting is improving steadily, aided by more generalized acting classes, and I'm starting improv classes after the holidays. Leslie has been instrumental in bringing me to the next level in just the basic knowledge one needs to enter this profession, however.
It could be something as simple as "don't 'punch' (overemphasize) your pronouns", "why don't you try smiling or smirking a little bit while you're speaking, show me your dimples", or "'season' the client's business name a little more when you say it". Little fixes and tricks that help me be clear, on message, and dynamic in my recording for commercial voiceover. Having internalized these lessons, and after a lot more practice and experience, it will be clear to prospective clients and the people they hire to produce these projects that I know what the hell I'm doing. (Or that I can at least fake it well enough!)
The big thing I learned this session was that the speed and sort of rhythm or flow of the lines was an essential thing to find. I'm still learning, so I tend to swing to extremes. In acting class, I was told to SLOW DOWN because my natural tendency is to speak very quickly and get it all out there. In a commercial spot, however, taking a slow and measured pace may not work for a twenty second radio spot. Pauses are fine, but sometimes it's quick and clear annunciation that gets the job done instead. It may even behoove me to edit myself a bit in my sound recording software to speed things up, get rid of breaths that aren't intentional, and get a recording to really pop.
For next week, I've realized that very soon I'm going to hit another equipment wall with the way my recording gear is set up at home. So I'm going to take the weekend and try to do some low-cost improvements to my amateur sound booth in order to better employ the things I've learned in voiceover coaching -- including going from being seated at my desk to a standing setup so that I can move my body more. I knew that it made a difference, but that was one more thing that Leslie really pressed in our previous session. I'm a pretty expressive talker sometimes, and if I have to sit still and keep my desk chair from squeaking, my performance suffers. I'm also going to invest in some thick blankets, a PVC pipe frame, and some padded flooring to better prevent recordings from picking up as much ambient sound.
I may have to get a few pieces of equipment shipped in, but we'll see what I can manage by next week's update. My other intention, once I can get a jump in quality, is to start adding more of my practice recording to my YouTube and Soundcloud to back up what I've been writing about and prove that I'm not just bloviating about all this.
Lastly, I'd just like to thank anyone who's been reading along here. I'm doing this mostly for myself, to keep me honest, but also to have a record of where I've been because sometimes you need to see how much ground you've covered to keep you motivated. I know my readership so far is likely just a bunch of my mom's friends, but if you're reading this I appreciate any and all of you for checking in with me. Cheers!
It could be something as simple as "don't 'punch' (overemphasize) your pronouns", "why don't you try smiling or smirking a little bit while you're speaking, show me your dimples", or "'season' the client's business name a little more when you say it". Little fixes and tricks that help me be clear, on message, and dynamic in my recording for commercial voiceover. Having internalized these lessons, and after a lot more practice and experience, it will be clear to prospective clients and the people they hire to produce these projects that I know what the hell I'm doing. (Or that I can at least fake it well enough!)
The big thing I learned this session was that the speed and sort of rhythm or flow of the lines was an essential thing to find. I'm still learning, so I tend to swing to extremes. In acting class, I was told to SLOW DOWN because my natural tendency is to speak very quickly and get it all out there. In a commercial spot, however, taking a slow and measured pace may not work for a twenty second radio spot. Pauses are fine, but sometimes it's quick and clear annunciation that gets the job done instead. It may even behoove me to edit myself a bit in my sound recording software to speed things up, get rid of breaths that aren't intentional, and get a recording to really pop.
For next week, I've realized that very soon I'm going to hit another equipment wall with the way my recording gear is set up at home. So I'm going to take the weekend and try to do some low-cost improvements to my amateur sound booth in order to better employ the things I've learned in voiceover coaching -- including going from being seated at my desk to a standing setup so that I can move my body more. I knew that it made a difference, but that was one more thing that Leslie really pressed in our previous session. I'm a pretty expressive talker sometimes, and if I have to sit still and keep my desk chair from squeaking, my performance suffers. I'm also going to invest in some thick blankets, a PVC pipe frame, and some padded flooring to better prevent recordings from picking up as much ambient sound.
I may have to get a few pieces of equipment shipped in, but we'll see what I can manage by next week's update. My other intention, once I can get a jump in quality, is to start adding more of my practice recording to my YouTube and Soundcloud to back up what I've been writing about and prove that I'm not just bloviating about all this.
Lastly, I'd just like to thank anyone who's been reading along here. I'm doing this mostly for myself, to keep me honest, but also to have a record of where I've been because sometimes you need to see how much ground you've covered to keep you motivated. I know my readership so far is likely just a bunch of my mom's friends, but if you're reading this I appreciate any and all of you for checking in with me. Cheers!
Friday, November 9, 2018
Self-Care
Hello, readers. Apologies for the late post this week, but I was sick Wednesday and things tend to snowball. But it actually leads in to what I wanted to talk about this week: the importance or self-care.
It's sort of a rare experience for me to work myself into exhaustion so badly that I get physically ill, but I didn't take care to devote enough time to rest and I paid the price. If you're passionate about something, it's easy to throw yourself into it, and especially if you're depressed, anxious, or ADD/ADHD you tend to feel like you're never doing enough or never going fast enough. And it screws with you.
I'm 32, and still just getting into this voiceover thing. So a lot of the time I struggle with feeling like I'm way behind. So instead of taking the time to relax my body and mind after already spending nine hours at my survival job, I throw myself into research and practice as soon as I get home, too. If I'm not careful, my health and my relationships suffer. Fortunately, my wife is also a creative and she can see the signs. She watches out for me just like I watch out for her, since we can't always see things right in front of our faces.
I think that setting a bit of an elevated pace is a good thing. It keeps me from getting lazy and falling into old habits. I'm always concerned with what's next instead of ruminating on what I've already sent out. But as much as I love this, it's still work. I'm not slacking off if I also include time to watch a movie with my wife or take an extra long walk with the dog. Your mind is a muscle, and when you're working out rest is just as important as activity. I can't be my best if my brain is wrung out and useless. The same is true for my voice. If I over-practice or overuse it, trying to stay ahead of the competition I'm going to hurt myself and fall behind anyway.
Taking a break when you need it is also, strangely enough, a great way to stay motivated. Killing myself with this is the best way to guarantee that I'm not going to want to keep doing it. Even the best job in the world can end up being a chore if you're not taking care of yourself in your off time.
So set a healthy pace. If you deal with mental issues like ADHD, take steps not to hyperfocus. Have a varied set of hobbies and interests outside of voiceover that can refresh you. Try to live a healthy social life, because your friends and experiences out there are going to make your performances in the booth much better! And well...you know what else I'm going to say. Eat your vegetables, take your meds, and stay in school.
Mostly what I'm saying here to myself and to you is, you have permission to rest. You're still going to be great.
It's sort of a rare experience for me to work myself into exhaustion so badly that I get physically ill, but I didn't take care to devote enough time to rest and I paid the price. If you're passionate about something, it's easy to throw yourself into it, and especially if you're depressed, anxious, or ADD/ADHD you tend to feel like you're never doing enough or never going fast enough. And it screws with you.
I'm 32, and still just getting into this voiceover thing. So a lot of the time I struggle with feeling like I'm way behind. So instead of taking the time to relax my body and mind after already spending nine hours at my survival job, I throw myself into research and practice as soon as I get home, too. If I'm not careful, my health and my relationships suffer. Fortunately, my wife is also a creative and she can see the signs. She watches out for me just like I watch out for her, since we can't always see things right in front of our faces.
I think that setting a bit of an elevated pace is a good thing. It keeps me from getting lazy and falling into old habits. I'm always concerned with what's next instead of ruminating on what I've already sent out. But as much as I love this, it's still work. I'm not slacking off if I also include time to watch a movie with my wife or take an extra long walk with the dog. Your mind is a muscle, and when you're working out rest is just as important as activity. I can't be my best if my brain is wrung out and useless. The same is true for my voice. If I over-practice or overuse it, trying to stay ahead of the competition I'm going to hurt myself and fall behind anyway.
Taking a break when you need it is also, strangely enough, a great way to stay motivated. Killing myself with this is the best way to guarantee that I'm not going to want to keep doing it. Even the best job in the world can end up being a chore if you're not taking care of yourself in your off time.
So set a healthy pace. If you deal with mental issues like ADHD, take steps not to hyperfocus. Have a varied set of hobbies and interests outside of voiceover that can refresh you. Try to live a healthy social life, because your friends and experiences out there are going to make your performances in the booth much better! And well...you know what else I'm going to say. Eat your vegetables, take your meds, and stay in school.
Mostly what I'm saying here to myself and to you is, you have permission to rest. You're still going to be great.
Wednesday, October 31, 2018
Happy Halloween! Kumoricon Voice Panel Recap
Happy Spoopy Day, everybody!
If you got such a gorgeous torrential downpour of rain like we did here in Portland, I hope you're enjoying it. It's been like this most of the week and after the several months of bone dry weather we experienced it's giving a pluviophile (someone who loves rain and finds peace in rainy days) like me life.
Last weekend I hit Kumoricon, mostly for the voice panels. In attendance were Monica Rial, Keith Silverstein, Justin Briner, Erica Mendez, Lucien Dodge, Jād (jade) Saxton, Lauren Landa, and most likely more I have forgotten -- but these were the voice actors, directors, and ADR scriptwriters in the panels I was able to attend. And I'm just going to talk about a few points from the most interesting ones -- the ADR Scriptwriting Panel, the From Fan to Professional panel, and Justin Briner's Q&A panel.
ADR, or Automated Dialog Replacement, is the process of taking a foreign language script, translating it, and rewriting it so that the English matches the mouth flaps of the animated characters on screen -- mostly used for anime shows. Monica Rial, Lucien Dodge, and Erica Mendez were there to give us a rundown on the process as well as answer some questions. One thing I hadn't considered about ADR was that they're not just doing a straight translation, or even trying to adhere 100% to what the literal translation from Japanese would be. They're sticking to the intent more than the actual words, because a straight translation into English doesn't often make a whole lot of sense. They're also adjusting it by characterization in order to translate a specific character's personality into English as well as the dialogue. An ADR script adapter has to deal with things like long pauses ("Shatnerisms"), lengthening or shortening a line to fit the time frame and mouth movements, the Japanese switchup with the letters "L" and "R" that sometimes happens, and especially any time there is a sign written in English or a person speaking English in the Japanese version which they'll either have to go with, adjust slightly, or ignore depending on how bad it looks or sounds.
The "From Fan to Professional" panel was interesting because Erica Mendez and Lucien Dodge were basically telling their own story about how they got into the industry. Erica especially was a fan first, no classic theater training, went to school for something else, but was able to get into it with sheer hard work and passion for the craft. It's honestly very inspiring because in a whole lot of those ways I'm in the same starting position, only she was able to figure it out when she was five or ten years younger than me. What it boils down to, basically, is be tenacious and driven but don't be a dick. The more friends you make, the more people have your back, the more people will see you helping yourself and want to help you. I like that. It's still really, really, really, really hard work but it's nice to have a hand to help pull you back up off the ground when you fail. You'll also burn fewer bridges if you're just a nice person. It seems very obvious, probably, but a lot of people conflate being driven with being ruthless in the entertainment industry. Don't.
Strangely enough, I got my most useful answer to a question from Justin Briner's open Question & Answer panel. As usual, I was the guy in the front row taking notes, probably making him wonder if I was part of the press or just an obsessed fan, but he answered my question about getting into the character's headspace on a short time frame really well. I'd love to have just let him talk about it for the entire hour and a half, but I wasn't the only one with a question, so I'm glad he went on about it for as long as he did. The question, basically, was "How do you find the character when you're given a script a day, or hours before having to audition?" Voice actors often don't get a lot of time to prepare, so I wanted to know what Justin's process was when he was handed a new character.
If you got such a gorgeous torrential downpour of rain like we did here in Portland, I hope you're enjoying it. It's been like this most of the week and after the several months of bone dry weather we experienced it's giving a pluviophile (someone who loves rain and finds peace in rainy days) like me life.
Last weekend I hit Kumoricon, mostly for the voice panels. In attendance were Monica Rial, Keith Silverstein, Justin Briner, Erica Mendez, Lucien Dodge, Jād (jade) Saxton, Lauren Landa, and most likely more I have forgotten -- but these were the voice actors, directors, and ADR scriptwriters in the panels I was able to attend. And I'm just going to talk about a few points from the most interesting ones -- the ADR Scriptwriting Panel, the From Fan to Professional panel, and Justin Briner's Q&A panel.
ADR, or Automated Dialog Replacement, is the process of taking a foreign language script, translating it, and rewriting it so that the English matches the mouth flaps of the animated characters on screen -- mostly used for anime shows. Monica Rial, Lucien Dodge, and Erica Mendez were there to give us a rundown on the process as well as answer some questions. One thing I hadn't considered about ADR was that they're not just doing a straight translation, or even trying to adhere 100% to what the literal translation from Japanese would be. They're sticking to the intent more than the actual words, because a straight translation into English doesn't often make a whole lot of sense. They're also adjusting it by characterization in order to translate a specific character's personality into English as well as the dialogue. An ADR script adapter has to deal with things like long pauses ("Shatnerisms"), lengthening or shortening a line to fit the time frame and mouth movements, the Japanese switchup with the letters "L" and "R" that sometimes happens, and especially any time there is a sign written in English or a person speaking English in the Japanese version which they'll either have to go with, adjust slightly, or ignore depending on how bad it looks or sounds.
The "From Fan to Professional" panel was interesting because Erica Mendez and Lucien Dodge were basically telling their own story about how they got into the industry. Erica especially was a fan first, no classic theater training, went to school for something else, but was able to get into it with sheer hard work and passion for the craft. It's honestly very inspiring because in a whole lot of those ways I'm in the same starting position, only she was able to figure it out when she was five or ten years younger than me. What it boils down to, basically, is be tenacious and driven but don't be a dick. The more friends you make, the more people have your back, the more people will see you helping yourself and want to help you. I like that. It's still really, really, really, really hard work but it's nice to have a hand to help pull you back up off the ground when you fail. You'll also burn fewer bridges if you're just a nice person. It seems very obvious, probably, but a lot of people conflate being driven with being ruthless in the entertainment industry. Don't.
Strangely enough, I got my most useful answer to a question from Justin Briner's open Question & Answer panel. As usual, I was the guy in the front row taking notes, probably making him wonder if I was part of the press or just an obsessed fan, but he answered my question about getting into the character's headspace on a short time frame really well. I'd love to have just let him talk about it for the entire hour and a half, but I wasn't the only one with a question, so I'm glad he went on about it for as long as he did. The question, basically, was "How do you find the character when you're given a script a day, or hours before having to audition?" Voice actors often don't get a lot of time to prepare, so I wanted to know what Justin's process was when he was handed a new character.
- Theater training really helps here -- helping you make a strong choice, especially in the audition; vocal control and technique; cold reading and quick decisions; physical movement and projection.
- A healthy back and forth with the Director can help you tweak your performance to help you give them what they want.
- A focus on what your character wants in that moment. What is the purpose of the scene? Keeping that always in the back of your mind in order to serve the flow of the story.
- Experience and practice, practice, practice. Having read enough scripts and done enough acting that you can recognize the cues in what you read nearly instantly. The character is all there -- the delay comes in the speed at which you process it from the reading.
Wednesday, October 24, 2018
First session with my voiceover coach!
I'll be quick today. [Editor's Note: It turns out I wasn't as quick as I thought when I first started to write.] I just wanted to report that I had my first session with a voiceover coach last weekend, and I'm incredibly happy because it went well. Leslie at Inside Voice brought me in, we got to know each other, she gave me a ton of new resources for recording spaces and acting/improv classes in town, and she put me in front of a microphone and had me cold-read one character side and a few commercial scripts.
I basically knew when it wasn't as good as it could have been, but she pretty much instantly was able to tell what I was doing, why I was doing it, and how to fix it so that the next take was better. Leslie pointed out the specifics and went over the audio right after with me to figure out what worked and what didn't. I did my best to just take direction well and learn everything I could while I was there. (She also brought me cookies! Best. day. ever.)
There's always anxiety for me about taking a new class or taking the next career step. My inner critic likes to whisper in my ear and tell me I'm not ready, or I should have studied harder, or people are going to laugh at me or tell me I suck, but the best part of my week is sprinting full speed into it anyway just to shut that little bastard up. He always comes back, but each time the volume gets a little lower on his end.
The on-camera acting class that I'm taking just ended on Monday night as well, and I spoke with my teacher about very much the same thing. It's not what I'd call stage fright, but I'm acutely aware when people are watching me or listening to me. I'm working on not letting it make me tense up in this way it always does no matter what I do to prepare for it. It might just be a matter of time and exposure, just getting used to it. But it's not all bad, either, you know? The idea that people might actually WANT to listen to me or watch me and actually be interested in what I had to say still surprises me. I've always made a conscious effort not to talk or draw attention because for some reason I thought that it annoyed people. That same inner voice would tell me that they were just barely tolerating my presence and I should just shut up.
It's only recently that I've found I have a voice, and I'm pretty good at using it. When I speak, and sometimes when I write, people listen. They don't always agree with me, but what I am and what I do has value. I'm worth it. I'm enough. I know that might not seem like a big deal to some of you, but I'm still wrapping my head around it.
So! What's next, you ask? Well, the holidays are around the corner, but the auditions don't stop. I'll be packing my mic and taking it with me so I can throw some blanket-fort recordings into the ether while my wife and I are visiting family. If there's enough time between now and then, I'm looking into either the next course from the same acting studio where I've been taking these on-camera classes OR I think it might even be time to throw myself head first into some Improv classes. Improv seems scarier at this point so that tells me maybe it's the best choice for now. Of course I'm also going to go back for more sessions with Inside Voice.
Take care, anyone who might end up reading this. Tell your inner critic "Bite me" today and go do something great.
P.S. With permission, I'm posting a bit of what was recorded during my coaching session. It's pretty great seeing these short reads change as I adjusted to Leslie's direction and in the case of the character just allowed myself to go full weirdo.
I basically knew when it wasn't as good as it could have been, but she pretty much instantly was able to tell what I was doing, why I was doing it, and how to fix it so that the next take was better. Leslie pointed out the specifics and went over the audio right after with me to figure out what worked and what didn't. I did my best to just take direction well and learn everything I could while I was there. (She also brought me cookies! Best. day. ever.)
There's always anxiety for me about taking a new class or taking the next career step. My inner critic likes to whisper in my ear and tell me I'm not ready, or I should have studied harder, or people are going to laugh at me or tell me I suck, but the best part of my week is sprinting full speed into it anyway just to shut that little bastard up. He always comes back, but each time the volume gets a little lower on his end.
The on-camera acting class that I'm taking just ended on Monday night as well, and I spoke with my teacher about very much the same thing. It's not what I'd call stage fright, but I'm acutely aware when people are watching me or listening to me. I'm working on not letting it make me tense up in this way it always does no matter what I do to prepare for it. It might just be a matter of time and exposure, just getting used to it. But it's not all bad, either, you know? The idea that people might actually WANT to listen to me or watch me and actually be interested in what I had to say still surprises me. I've always made a conscious effort not to talk or draw attention because for some reason I thought that it annoyed people. That same inner voice would tell me that they were just barely tolerating my presence and I should just shut up.
It's only recently that I've found I have a voice, and I'm pretty good at using it. When I speak, and sometimes when I write, people listen. They don't always agree with me, but what I am and what I do has value. I'm worth it. I'm enough. I know that might not seem like a big deal to some of you, but I'm still wrapping my head around it.
So! What's next, you ask? Well, the holidays are around the corner, but the auditions don't stop. I'll be packing my mic and taking it with me so I can throw some blanket-fort recordings into the ether while my wife and I are visiting family. If there's enough time between now and then, I'm looking into either the next course from the same acting studio where I've been taking these on-camera classes OR I think it might even be time to throw myself head first into some Improv classes. Improv seems scarier at this point so that tells me maybe it's the best choice for now. Of course I'm also going to go back for more sessions with Inside Voice.
Take care, anyone who might end up reading this. Tell your inner critic "Bite me" today and go do something great.
Wednesday, October 17, 2018
D&D is fantastic practice for voice acting!
So since it's Orctober, and friends of mine like Steven Pope are posting phenomenal articles like "Orcs and Queerness" I thought that this week I'd discuss what D&D means to me as a voice actor. Before that, however, a small update on what I'm working on right now!
Starting off, coming this Saturday, I have my first voiceover specific coaching lesson with Inside Voice right here in Portland which I am excited beyond belief about. I believe it's primarily focused on commercial voiceover, but that's something that I'm probably the weakest in at the moment so all the better. Any time I can get in a professional booth with an experienced coach will benefit me enormously. Secondly, I've been auditioning on places like BehindtheVoiceActors.com, CastingCall.club, and the Voice Acting Club on mostly amateur level fandubbing projects and machinima videos, etc. for several months now and I actually got cast in one of the first things I ever auditioned for! The casting process isn't over yet, but I'll have more to report once things get going. I'll be playing at least two supporting roles on that. Third, I was also contacted out of the blue on Facebook by someone needing a voice actor for a YouTube project that I'm excited to contribute to, and two friends of mine from the Savannah College of Art and Design also made me aware of a couple more auditions I would never have known about otherwise. (I might even get paid for one of these!) Will definitely post more when I know more! But before I move on, I'd just like to take a moment and emphasize how awesome it is to have amazing and supportive friends on this weird and wonderful journey I'm on. Even if I don't get cast after those auditions, I can't thank them enough for sending me the opportunities. You guys are incredible.
Now, on to the nerdy shit!
Now, linking D&D and voice acting is nothing new. If you haven't seen Critical Role on Twitch, a bunch of nerdy-ass voice actors have already made themselves even more famous by streaming what used to be their own personal home game online. It's amassed a giant following, starting on Geek & Sundry and eventually moving to their own new Twitch channel, with new shows and new content just now starting to all really hit their stride. I'd be lying if I said that Matthew Mercer and company weren't an influence on me climbing down the voice acting rabbit hole.
I've been the Dungeon Master/Game Master/running a Dungeons & Dragons game for a group of local friends for a while now. It's probably the longest running single game with the same people I've ever had, and I've learned a lot about how to be a good DM in the process. More than that, I've learned how fun it can be to have a captive audience on which I can practice a ton of different character voices! Male, female, high, low, angry, pleasant, scared, evil, good, innocent, English accents, Irish accents, Scottish accents, American accents, Spanish accents, one voice pretty much directly copying Oded Fehr's character in "The Mummy". I am not only allowed, but encouraged to do them all so that my players can feel immersed and so that they have a great time.
It's also an exercise in improvisation! Anyone who has run a D&D game before knows that you can spend weeks planning an adventure, working out the storyline and minutae to the smallest detail, only to have all of your best laid plans torn asunder in the first five minutes of player decisions. If you want the game to run smoothly, you have to be quick on your feet and adapt to the changing circumstances. You can have the adventure path or the story you created laid out as a guideline but if you force them along the path you'll be accused of and actually be guilty of railroading them, which isn't really all that fun. You know the whole story, but you have to parcel out the hints and details in a way that makes them interested in following the breadcrumbs. And sometimes your players will just do pants-on-head crazy murder-hobo shit, too. Like killing an important PC or missing all the [what you thought were] obvious clues to get to the bad guy in the basement... (I'm not bitter.)
I have to sometimes voice up to ten different NPCs, or "Non-Player Characters", sometimes in rapid succession changing accents and personalities with very little time to reset. I've even had to have the NPCs all have a conversation with one another with my players just sitting there watching me going back and forth from one personality to the other. It's exhausting, and I'm still pretty bad at it sometimes, but I'm getting better. It's great practice for when I might have to pull a random voice out of my hat for a side character or background noise in a future recording session. It also gives me a LOT of different potential details to put in my wheelhouse for auditions! If I like a certain character voice, I take the time to play with it before and after the actual game, honing it into something I can use in my career.
Finally, Dungeons & Dragons is amazing for developing an active imagination and really letting yourself fall into that secondary reality. It encourages you to think in a character's headspace, think about the where/how/why/when of a scene, and when everyone is buying in to that creativity it becomes a magical experience for everyone involved. If you've never played, D&D's 5th Edition has a starter set that you buy and I would absolutely recommend it for anyone -- not just newbie voice actors.
Starting off, coming this Saturday, I have my first voiceover specific coaching lesson with Inside Voice right here in Portland which I am excited beyond belief about. I believe it's primarily focused on commercial voiceover, but that's something that I'm probably the weakest in at the moment so all the better. Any time I can get in a professional booth with an experienced coach will benefit me enormously. Secondly, I've been auditioning on places like BehindtheVoiceActors.com, CastingCall.club, and the Voice Acting Club on mostly amateur level fandubbing projects and machinima videos, etc. for several months now and I actually got cast in one of the first things I ever auditioned for! The casting process isn't over yet, but I'll have more to report once things get going. I'll be playing at least two supporting roles on that. Third, I was also contacted out of the blue on Facebook by someone needing a voice actor for a YouTube project that I'm excited to contribute to, and two friends of mine from the Savannah College of Art and Design also made me aware of a couple more auditions I would never have known about otherwise. (I might even get paid for one of these!) Will definitely post more when I know more! But before I move on, I'd just like to take a moment and emphasize how awesome it is to have amazing and supportive friends on this weird and wonderful journey I'm on. Even if I don't get cast after those auditions, I can't thank them enough for sending me the opportunities. You guys are incredible.
Now, on to the nerdy shit!
(Picture sourced from Easy Roller Dice Company - Learn to Play D&D in 5 Easy Steps)
I've been the Dungeon Master/Game Master/running a Dungeons & Dragons game for a group of local friends for a while now. It's probably the longest running single game with the same people I've ever had, and I've learned a lot about how to be a good DM in the process. More than that, I've learned how fun it can be to have a captive audience on which I can practice a ton of different character voices! Male, female, high, low, angry, pleasant, scared, evil, good, innocent, English accents, Irish accents, Scottish accents, American accents, Spanish accents, one voice pretty much directly copying Oded Fehr's character in "The Mummy". I am not only allowed, but encouraged to do them all so that my players can feel immersed and so that they have a great time.
It's also an exercise in improvisation! Anyone who has run a D&D game before knows that you can spend weeks planning an adventure, working out the storyline and minutae to the smallest detail, only to have all of your best laid plans torn asunder in the first five minutes of player decisions. If you want the game to run smoothly, you have to be quick on your feet and adapt to the changing circumstances. You can have the adventure path or the story you created laid out as a guideline but if you force them along the path you'll be accused of and actually be guilty of railroading them, which isn't really all that fun. You know the whole story, but you have to parcel out the hints and details in a way that makes them interested in following the breadcrumbs. And sometimes your players will just do pants-on-head crazy murder-hobo shit, too. Like killing an important PC or missing all the [what you thought were] obvious clues to get to the bad guy in the basement... (I'm not bitter.)
I have to sometimes voice up to ten different NPCs, or "Non-Player Characters", sometimes in rapid succession changing accents and personalities with very little time to reset. I've even had to have the NPCs all have a conversation with one another with my players just sitting there watching me going back and forth from one personality to the other. It's exhausting, and I'm still pretty bad at it sometimes, but I'm getting better. It's great practice for when I might have to pull a random voice out of my hat for a side character or background noise in a future recording session. It also gives me a LOT of different potential details to put in my wheelhouse for auditions! If I like a certain character voice, I take the time to play with it before and after the actual game, honing it into something I can use in my career.
Finally, Dungeons & Dragons is amazing for developing an active imagination and really letting yourself fall into that secondary reality. It encourages you to think in a character's headspace, think about the where/how/why/when of a scene, and when everyone is buying in to that creativity it becomes a magical experience for everyone involved. If you've never played, D&D's 5th Edition has a starter set that you buy and I would absolutely recommend it for anyone -- not just newbie voice actors.
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