Welcome to episode 124 of the Voice Acting Mastery podcast with yours truly, Crispin Freeman!

As always, you can listen to the podcast using the player above, or download the mp3 using the link at the bottom of this blog post. The podcast is also available via the iTunes Store online. Just follow this link to view the podcast in iTunes:

http://www.voiceactingmastery.com/podcast

This is the second part of my interview with my good friend Richard Tatum! Richard is not only an accomplished voice actor, and voice over teacher, but also an amazing producer of voice over demos. You may know him as Rex Goodman in Fallout 4, the voice of Theodore Roosevelt in Civilization VI and Omar Harmozi from the animated series Static Shock. I first came across Richard’s work as a demo producer when one of my students played me her demos and I was blown away by how well they represented her abilities as an actress. Not only was her character demo very compelling, but her commercial demo was impressive as well. When I asked her who had produced them, she introduced me to Richard and he and I have been friends ever since.

In our previous interview segment, we discussed the beginning of Richard’s acting journey and how his strong theatrical acting background helped him pursue a voice over career. Amazingly, Richard broke into voice acting not just once, but twice! The first time was around 1996 when he got his first agent and started booking voice over work in Los Angeles. Unfortunately, when the actor’s union strike against commercials in 1999 dragged on for 6 months, Richard found that he needed to pursue other employment opportunities outside of voice over. Years later, in 2011, he decided to approach voice acting again. This time around he had a more methodical approach as well as far more experience under his belt. I think it’s incredibly useful to hear what changed and what stayed the same between both time periods when it comes to trying to break into the voice acting world.

In this episode, we’ll talk about how Richard began producing demos for voice actors. Through some wonderful synchronicity, Richard was able to join forces with a colleague of his to start coaching voice actors as well as help develop their demos. Not only do we discuss what you should and should not put on your demo, Richard also explains the mindset you need to have in order to use that demo to market yourself effectively to agents and casting directors. I certainly learned a lot from this segment with Richard and I’m sure you will as well!

If you’d like to find out more about Richard’s classes and voice over demo services, please visit his website at:
AbsoluteVoiceOverLA.com
or contact him via e-mail at:
AbsoluteVOLA@gmail.com

Thanks for listening!

Download Voice Acting Mastery Episode #124 Here (MP3)

VAMFR 019 | Theme Park Voice Over, Part 1

Welcome to episode 19 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 is the first part of a special report on Theme Park Voice Over jobs by our special correspondent, Tom Bauer!

Tom is very excited to explore with you a subject that’s near and dear to his heart, Voice Over for Theme Parks. This particular field of the voice over industry often goes unnoticed by most people because when it’s done well it blends so seamlessly into the experience of the visitor.

It recently dawned on Tom that voice over actors are the hidden artists who provide the audio atmosphere and essential back stories that help bring theme parks to life. From ride narration and live interactive shows, to park-wide announcements and parking lot tram spiels, voice actors help guide and entertain everyone who visits.

In fact, making sure the audience is having the best possible experience is exactly what Tom gets called on to do as a theme park voice actor! Tom’s been fortunate enough to be cast as the voice of Crush the Turtle in a show called “Turtle Talk with Crush” at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California. You may remember the character of Crush as the laid-back, surfer-dude sea turtle from the 2003 Disney/Pixar Film, “Finding Nemo” and its 2016 sequel ”Finding Dory”. If you’ve been a Voice Acting Mastery listener for a while, you may have heard Tom mention his work as Crush in previous episodes of the Field Report. “Turtle Talk with Crush” is a live, interactive experience located in the Hollywood Land area of Disney California Adventure.

Many people ask Tom what it’s like to portray Crush in this sort of interactive experience. They’re also curious how he was able to book this unique job in the first place! As it became clear to Tom that people were genuinely fascinated by this type of theme park voice over work, he had a feeling it might make a great topic for a special report.

Tom quickly realized that even though he worked in a theme park, he didn’t know much about the different types of voice over work that were involved in running it, outside of his experiences on Turtle Talk. As he explored, he soon discovered there were many areas of the resort that utilized talent from voice actors in interesting ways, so he decided that theme park voice acting would be an excellent subject for all of us to learn more about together!

To help Tom unlock the secrets behind this enigmatic topic, he spoke with five distinguished and talented individuals currently involved in the realm of Theme Park Voice Over including:

• Rebecca Lumianski, a Consulting Director at Disneyland for shows like “Turtle Talk with Crush”.
• Joe Hernandez, a professional Voice Over Artist and the head talent and Show Trainer for Turtle Talk.
• Bill Rogers & Camille Dixon, the husband-and-wife VO team who provide the official announcement voices for Disneyland and Disney California Adventure, respectively.
• Isaac Robinson Smith, a versatile performer who provides the voice of Megatron and Optimus Prime from the Transformers film franchise as part of a character meet and greet at Universal Studios.

Tom would like to thank all five of these talented individuals for taking the time to sit down with him and share their wisdom on the subject of Theme Park Voice Over. He learned quite a bit from each of them as they talked about their various experiences in their respective fields of expertise. I’m sure that you will, too.

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 #19 Here (MP3)

Welcome to episode 123 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 my good friend Richard Tatum! Richard is not only an accomplished voice actor, and voice over teacher, but also an amazing producer of voice over demos. You may know him as Rex Goodman in Fallout 4, the voice of Theodore Roosevelt in Civilization VI and Omar Harmozi from the animated series Static Shock. I first came across Richard’s work as a demo producer when one of my students played me her demos and I was blown away by how well they represented her abilities as an actress. Not only was her character demo very compelling, but her commercial demo was impressive as well. When I asked her who had produced them, she introduced me to Richard and he and I have been friends ever since.

Like myself, Richard got his training in the theater and even had an opportunity in college to perform on stage with Patrick Stewart in a production of Shakespeare’s the Tempest! After moving to Los Angeles, Richard pursued both voice acting and theater and has made quite a name for himself as a director and adaptor of stage plays. He’s been nominated repeatedly for the prestigious LA Theater’s Ovation awards for his work as a director, and he applies these admirable directorial skills while helping voice actors create their voice over demos.

In the first part of our talk, we focus on Richard’s acting background and how he began his career as a performer. Early on he worked as an actor in a repertory theater company in Philadelphia, but it didn’t take long before he realized he wanted to make the move to Los Angeles to expand his acting prospects. Upon arriving in LA he began working as a tour guide at Universal Studios. This was fortuitous as it made it possible for him to take a workshop with a former tour guide who had become a professional voice actor, the famous Bob Bergen. Bob is probably most well known for being the current voice of Porky Pig, but he’s worked on hundreds of other influential voice acting projects. Bob was able to help Richard learn how to take his existing theatrical acting skills and best apply them in the world of voice acting. Making the transition from theatrical acting to voice acting can be challenging. I know it was for me at times. That’s why I really enjoy hearing how Richard was able to internalize Bob’s advice and apply it not only to his own voice acting career, but also to producing voice over demos for others. I think my listeners will really benefit from this time-tested wisdom.

If you’d like to find out more about Richard’s classes and voice over demo services, please visit his website at:
AbsoluteVoiceOverLA.com
or contact him via e-mail at:
AbsoluteVOLA@gmail.com

Thanks for listening!

Download Voice Acting Mastery Episode #123 Here (MP3)

VAMFR 015 | Introducing the New Lineup of Field Report Correspondents

Welcome to episode 15 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. For this episode of our sister podcast, the Voice Acting Mastery Field Report, I’d like to start out by thanking all of our listeners who’ve been following this new show so far. For those of you just tuning in, in October 2015, we at Voice Acting Mastery launched the Field Report in order to give our audience some valuable new perspectives on the world of voice acting. Since the industry is constantly evolving and much has changed since I personally entered the field, I was eager to bring in some talented correspondents who could share with us their experiences building voice acting careers in today’s environment.

For the past 14 episodes, we’ve been fortunate enough to have Tom Bauer, DanWill McCann and Ashley Huyge bring us valuable insights on what challenges aspiring voice actors currently face in the entertainment industry. We’ve heard interviews from both seasoned industry professionals and up-and-coming talent, as well as special reports on relevant subjects designed to help you be successful in your own voice acting career! I hope you’ve enjoyed what Tom, DanWill and Ashley have shared so far. In this episode, we’ll be bidding a fond and grateful farewell to one of our correspondents, and we’ll also be welcoming a new one!

Recently, Ashley Huyge’s career has taken her in a different direction. She’s been busy both with her own voice over work as well as expanding her vocal coaching services for employees at corporations. While this is of course wonderful, it also means that she will no longer have the time to devote to being a correspondent for the Field Report. While we will miss her contributions to this podcast, we are happy for her success and we wish her the best in all her endeavors!

Fortunately for us, and for our listeners, we’ve been lucky enough to meet a wonderful new voice actress who has agreed to team up with us! Please join me in welcoming our newest Field Report correspondent, Maureen Price! Maureen has years of experience acting both on stage and on camera and is currently in the early stages of building her voice acting career. She’s eager to share with you her insights and experiences as she explores the world of voice over, and I for one am looking forward to hearing them.

In this episode of the Field Report, I decided to bring all three correspondents together for a round table interview, much like I did in the first episode. I wanted to spend some time introducing Maureen and give our listeners a preview of the unique perspective she’ll be bringing to the podcast. I also wanted to check in with both DanWill and Tom about how their voice acting journeys have been unfolding over the last year. There have been some exciting developments which I’m sure they’re eager to share with all of you!

So please welcome our new lineup of Field Report Correspondents, Maureen, DanWill, and Tom!

The VAM Field Report will be released on the 1st Wednesday of every month so stay on the look out for it!

If you’re enjoying the podcast, I would really appreciate it if you could give our correspondents a positive review in the iTunes Music Store! Here’s how:

1. Follow this link to the Voice Acting Mastery Field Report Podcast in iTunes. Your browser should open up to a page listing the podcast.
2. Click on the View in iTunes button which looks like this:  in order to view the podcast in iTunes. (NOTE: You must have iTunes installed on your computer for this to work)
3. Click on “Ratings and Reviews”
4. Now click on the stars to rate. They look like this:  and click on “Write a Review” to leave your thoughts! It looks like this: 

Thanks for listening!

Download VAM Field Report Episode #15 Here (MP3)

Welcome to episode 119 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 third and final part of my interview with the multi-talented America Young! In part 1 and part 2 of this interview, America shared with us her experiences working in almost every aspect of performing! She’s worked on-camera, as a voice actor, as a stunt performer and most importantly for our conversation, as a motion capture actress in video games! We’re very fortunate to have America talk with us about what it takes to succeed in the developing world of motion capture.

In the last episode, America helped define for us what motion capture is and how it differs from the more recently coined term, performance capture. She also explained how her experience as an on-camera actor and stunt performer informs her motion capture work. In addition, we discussed some of the most common practices in the world of motion capture.

As we wrap up our time together, America explains how she creates a character physically when she has very little information to work with. This is a common occurrence in video games where actors are rarely given an entire script from beginning to end to study before they are asked to perform. She also stresses the importance of using your imagination when performing motion capture. The MoCap volume is basically a big empty space that requires you to fill in the details of the world around you with your own creativity. We also touch on how America’s knowledge of geeky subjects like comic books can be both helpful and a hindrance when approaching her work.

Make sure to check out America’s movie, The Concessionaires Must Die!

Download Voice Acting Mastery Episode #119 Here (MP3)

Welcome to episode 118 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 multi-talented America Young! America has had experience in almost every aspect of performing! She’s worked on-camera, as a voice actor, as a stunt performer and most importantly for our conversation, as a motion capture actress in video games! I was eager to talk to America so she could share her insight with us about what it takes to succeed in the developing world of motion capture.

We begin our discussion in this episode by defining what motion capture is and how it differs from performance capture. We then explore how America’s background in acting and stunt work helped her when she had the opportunity to audition to be a motion capture actress for a Spiderman game. After that, we go into detail about some of the most common practices in motion capture and what you can expect when when find yourself on a motion capture stage.

America has a wealth of information to share so listen closely! You’ll learn how important it is to have a solid background in acting before attempting to perform as a physical character in video games!

Download Voice Acting Mastery Episode #118 Here (MP3)