Welcome to episode 110 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 talented and amazingly driven voice actress, Stephanie Sheh! You may be familiar with her work from shows like the Legend of Korra, Naruto and Sailor Moon. Stephanie is not only a talented voice actress, but she also has experience as a producer, director and even as a recording engineer! I’m thrilled and grateful to have someone with her breadth of knowledge on the podcast to talk with us about what it takes to be successful in the industry!

In our last episode, Stephanie discussed how she broke into voice acting and what emotional hurdles she had to overcome to pursue a voice acting career. In the second part of our conversation, Stephanie shares with us what inspired her to pursue acting in the first place. It was her burning desire to perform that kept her motivated to study the craft of acting, even in the face of disapproval and uncertainty. While Stephanie’s parents encouraged her to pursue acting as a hobby so that she could enrich herself on a personal level, they were very skeptical that acting could ever be a reliable career choice for her. They were understandably worried about their daughter’s future and wanted to make sure that she could provide for herself.

Stephanie realized that if she was truly going to make it as a performer, she would have to be resourceful and self-motivated. She pursued every avenue she could to develop her skills, and you can feel her tenacity when she speaks of what it takes to succeed as a professional actor. I think you’ll find her insights invaluable.

Download Voice Acting Mastery Episode #110 Here (MP3)

Welcome to episode 109 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 talented and amazingly driven voice actress, Stephanie Sheh! You may know Stephanie’s voice acting from her work portraying characters such as Zhu-Li in Nickelodeon’s hit series, the Legend of Korra, Hinata in the ever popular anime series Naruto, and most recently Sailor Moon herself in both the re-released original anime series and the newer Sailor Moon Crystal remake. What you may not be as familiar with is her work behind the scenes in animation and video games! She’s produced, directed, cast and even engineered voice acting sessions for numerous projects. She has hands-on experience with almost every aspect of the production chain, and because of her broad array of talents, she has a wealth of information about what it truly takes to succeed in the industry.

I had the great pleasure of working with Stephanie when I first came to Los Angeles. I was fortunate enough to direct her in an obscure anime show called I, My, Me Strawberry Eggs where she played one of the lead characters. I was impressed with her work and commitment level back then and my admiration for her tenacity and skill has only grown. What I really appreciate about Stephanie is how down to earth and practical she is. She never minces words about what it takes to succeed and always tells the unvarnished truth. She is focused and dedicated. She knows that her success is up to her and she tries to share that understanding with others so that they too will take responsibility for finding their own avenues to creating a viable and fulfilling career.

In the first part of our discussion, Stephanie shares with us how she broke into voice acting. She had a very unconventional path and her journey reveals a lot, not only about her and her level of commitment, but also about the entertainment industry and some of the unspoken expectations that people in Hollywood may have. She also discusses her initial fear that her family would not support her decision to pursue acting as a career and how she had to overcome that fear of rejection in order to follow her acting dreams. I’m honored to have Stephanie on the podcast, so pay close attention! She’s got a lot of great insights to share!

Download Voice Acting Mastery Episode #109 Here (MP3)

Welcome to episode 108 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 this episode, I continue answering questions from my podcast audience! For those who may not be as familiar with the podcast, in past episodes, I’ve given out a phone number where you can call in and leave me a question about voice acting as a voicemail. From time to time, I’ll pick the most relevant questions I receive and answer them here on the podcast.

For this round of Q & A, I answer a question from Greg from Nashville, TN.

Greg wants to know what he can do to overcome his feelings of anxiety and fear when it comes to voice acting. He feels like it’s getting in the way of taking his voice acting to the next level.

His question is a very common question. In fact, probably the most common question I get other than simply how to become a voice actor, is whether or not I can help someone overcome their feelings of anxiety. I actually did my best to address this question way back in episode 9 of the podcast entitled “Building Confidence“, and I encourage Greg and everyone in my audience to listen to that episode if you haven’t already.

However, I’d like to applaud Greg for asking this very common question in a very uncommon and insightful way. When you listen to his voice mail in the episode, you’ll realize that he’s clearly taken the time to analyze his own patterns of thought and his own internal emotional life. He understands the importance of mastering his own anxiety and he’s even aware that it’s possible to channel his nervous energy so that it can help him rather than hinder him.

Because Greg has put so much forethought into his question, and because he articulated it in such a clear and thorough manner, I’d like to take this entire episode to share with all my listeners the best tools I know of to help overcome anxiety from an actor’s perspective. Hopefully that will give Greg and my entire audience added confidence when pursuing your own voice acting goals.

If any of my listeners would like to call in with your own thoughts, thank you’s or questions, the number is:

323-696-2655.

Please don’t forget to include your first name and what city in the world you’re calling from. I’m looking forward to hearing from you!

Thanks for listening!

Download Voice Acting Mastery Episode #108 Here (MP3)

Welcome to episode 107 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 this episode, I continue answering questions from my podcast audience! For those who may not be as familiar with the podcast, in past episodes, I’ve given out a phone number where you can call in and leave me a question about voice acting as a voicemail. From time to time, I’ll pick the most relevant questions I receive and answer them here on the podcast.

For this round of Q & A, I answer a question from Varna from Rock Hill, SC.

Varna has what seems like a perfectly straightforward question. She asks how do you know if you have what it takes to become a voice actor. She’s gotten compliments on her voice from her friends, but she doesn’t know how to determine if she really is capable of succeeding in voice acting as a career. In addition she wants to know how I knew that I would succeed as a voice actor.

If you’re wondering whether or not you have what it takes to be a professional voice actor, you’re not alone. It can be difficult when looking in from the outside to determine exactly what is required to become successful in such a specific and often poorly-understood profession. As of now there are no college degrees I know of for voice acting, nor is there any official or accredited path into the voice over industry. While many professions require specialized schooling, exams and licenses, voice acting seems mysterious because people from all walks of life seem to achieve varying levels of success. What’s even more confusing is that formal acting education may or may not be the determining factor in any one person’s success. Some people seem to be “naturals” while others need more structured training. Because Varna’s question is so common and every person who asks it faces a different journey on the way to a voice acting career, I’ve decided to spend this entire episode deciding once and for all “what it takes” to be a successful voice actor.

I hope you find the answer to her question useful in your own voice acting endeavors!

If any of my listeners would like to call in with your own thoughts, thank you’s or questions, the number is:

323-696-2655.

Please don’t forget to include your first name and what city in the world you’re calling from. I’m looking forward to hearing from you!

Thanks for listening!

Download Voice Acting Mastery Episode #107 Here (MP3)

Welcome to episode 106 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 this episode, I continue answering questions from my podcast audience! For those who may not be as familiar with the podcast, in past episodes, I’ve given out a phone number where you can call in and leave me a question about voice acting as a voicemail. From time to time, I’ll pick the most relevant questions I receive and answer them here on the podcast.

For this round of Q & A, I answer questions from Eric from Nashville, TN .

Eric has a very personal question to ask. He’s been helping a friend of his learn more about voice acting and he’s even gone so far as to help her set up her home studio and give her some acting coaching. It turns out that Eric’s efforts were very effective because his friend is now booking voice acting work. Unfortunately, Eric now feels a bit of jealousy because he is not booking as much work as his friend is. His frustration is compounded by the fact that his friend is new to the world of voice acting whereas he has been studying acting for quite some time. Her success has made him doubt his own abilities and has made him feel inadequate.

A situation like this happens to almost every artist and I’m glad that Eric has given me the opportunity to address it. Learning how to defuse envy and self-doubt is an incredibly important ability and I’m happy to share the most useful techniques I have found to help both Eric and my listeners get back on track!

I hope you find the answers to his question useful in your own voice acting endeavors!

If any of my listeners would like to call in with your own thoughts, thank you’s or questions, the number is:

323-696-2655.

Please don’t forget to include your first name and what city in the world you’re calling from. I’m looking forward to hearing from you!

Thanks for listening!

Download Voice Acting Mastery Episode #106 Here (MP3)

Welcome to episode 105 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 episode is about how essential it is to understand and immerse yourself in the different types, genres and styles of voice acting if you want to truly be a successful professional. Other voice acting teachers may use different terms to make distinctions between different flavors of voice over, but for the purposes of this episode, I’m going to talk about voice over jobs first in terms of categories, dividing them initially into “narration-based” or “character-based” voice over. Then I’ll get more specific, referencing project types like commercials, promos, narration, animation, video games, anime, and so on. Within each project type, there are then different genres you’ll want to familiarize yourself with, like science fiction, fantasy, real-life-drama, slapstick or romantic comedy, etc. And finally, each genre has the potential to be made with a different style depending on what studio is producing the project and what audience the project is intended for. Each voice over project therefore is going to have its own specific flavor and intention.

In order to excel in voice over it is crucial that you familiarize yourself with the body of work that already exists in each genre and style of voice acting. You also need to be aware of past and present trends and conventions that are commonly referenced or currently used in each genre. Industry professionals will often reference such trends or tropes when collaborating with you, and they will expect you to know what they are talking about. This is because the most successful trends in each voice over genre also tend to be the most influential. Many subsequent projects will reference influential titles that came before them. If you are not familiar with these titles and the conventions they’ve established, you will be at a severe disadvantage when it is time for you to perform.

The best way to make sure you are up-to-date and well informed on the latest voice over trends is to immerse yourself in them! Fortunately, it has never been easier to stay up to date on what’s relevant in the diverse world of voice acting! I want to spend this episode outlining some of the most popular types, genres and styles of voice over and how best to immerse yourself in them. You’re going to find that internalizing this kind of knowledge will greatly increase your marketability as well as your ability to collaborate in the industry.

Download Voice Acting Mastery Episode #105 Here (MP3)