VAM 100 | Voice Acting Mastery Reflections, Advice, and Special Announcements!
Welcome to episode 100 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
Well, it’s hard for me to believe, but this is the 100th episode of the Voice Acting Mastery podcast! Little did I know back in July of 2011 that I would find myself almost 4 years later having achieved this milestone. This podcast has covered lots of ground and reached people all over the globe. In fact, as of the release of this episode in April 2015, there have been almost 1 million downloads of the podcast worldwide!
I’d like to express my gratitude to all of you who have spent so much time listening to the podcast. I know many of you have been with me since the very beginning, and I appreciate each and every one of you! And for those of my audience for whom this is their first episode, congratulations! You’ve got 99 other exciting episodes to look forward to! I hope each episode helps you expand your understanding, appreciation and practice of the art of voice acting.
Since this is the 100th episode, I thought it would be appropriate to take some time to reflect on how far the podcast has come, take stock of where things are and then talk a little bit about the exciting new direction that Voice Acting Mastery will be taking in the future! I hope you enjoy the episode!
Download Voice Acting Mastery Episode #100 Here (MP3)
53 Responses to “VAM 100 | Voice Acting Mastery Reflections, Advice, and Special Announcements!”
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- New Podcast Schedule Reminder | Voice Acting Mastery: Become a Master Voice Actor in the World of Voice Over - […] I announced in episode 100, I have changed the release schedule of the Voice Acting Mastery […]
Congratz on 100 episodes Crispin!
You mentioned how this podcast has helped and inspired many and it really has. It’s so great to have a web-series that not only teaches the basics of voice acting, but only important business knowledge. I’d been practicing voice acting for five years and it wasn’t until I heard you say It’s a business and you need to sell yourself as the product that it clicked and I realized I was thinking about it all wrong. The majority of places I’d look for tips only stressed to be an actor first which I was and to make a demo and although it was helpful info, after while of hearing it I got the false impression there wasn’t much more anyone could tell me until I found this podcast which stressed needing to be a businessman first rather than just an actor. This podcast has been immensely helpful and I thank you for it.
Thank you
You’re very welcome Devon! I’m so glad I was able to help elucidate the business aspect of voice acting for you! I am planning on sharing more about that in the future!
Thanks so much for listening!
Congratulations. This is a wonderful milestone. When I made the decision to become a voice actor, I didn’t know where to start or who to turn to. A quick google search brought up this podcast and I’ve been listening ever since. It’s been an interesting journey and I’ve learned so much. I am honored to be able to call you my teacher. Thank you so much for taking the time to answer all my questions and giving me the answers I need.
The first thing I did when I found the podcast was subscribe to the e newsletter, so I can’t wait for the new announcement.
Mythology and storytelling sounds great. Understanding storytelling in a deeper meaning sounds like fun and something that I could use in my screenwriting.
Richard Horvitz is hilarious. I can’t wait to hear that episode. “Broke. Alone. No future in sight. Fame was just around the corner. Now wait a minute! I wanna know what happens in between!”
My name is Eric Rivera, and I’m a voice actor, screenwriter, and DDP Yoga practitioner. I want to thank you again for taking time from your busy schedule to teach everyone here on the podcast, and for being my mentor. I couldn’t have accomplished what I have so far without you and this podcast. I look forward to working with you in the future.
Thank you for your time and wisdom.
Thank you so much Eric! What a wonderfully generous comment! It’s really gratifying to hear that I’ve helped you so much. Thank you for taking the time to write such a thorough message.
Thanks for listening!
Thank you so much chispan I have a question do you ever wish you could go back the theater in New York and try again to like gene kelly thank you so much I love the podcast
While I appreciate the theater, I have not had the desire myself to perform on stage in a theatrical production. I end up performing on stage every time I go to a convention or give one of my Mythology & Meaning presentations. But I have not been inspired to act in a theatrical production recently.
Just wanted to drop a comment to say congratulations on your 100th episode Crispin, that’s quite a milestone!
Thank you for 100 episodes filled with fun, wisdom, and enthusiasm. Looking forward to episode 101 and your new podcast!
Thank you! So glad you’ve enjoyed the podcast so far!
Congratulations on you 100th podcast Crispin! I’m truly thankful for the time and effort you’ve put in for your listeners and for how much I’ve learned about voice over from your podcast. I’m excited about the new direction Voice Acting Mastery is heading and am looking forward to your Mythology and Meaning podcast as well as for Richard Horvitz to appear on the next podcast.
Thank you again.
Thank you! I’m excited to share Richard’s insight with everyone!
Now I’m not ready to sign up for your online classes, but I had a questions about signing up in general. I’ve heard you talk about your different classes like “anime 101” and others, but how do I know I’m signing up for the class I should be in, instead of one I’m not ready for?
Hi there Andrew. I’m honored that you’re interested in taking classes with me.
I’ve never mentioned any Anime 101 class. I’m not sure where you got that information.
Currently, there is only one online workshop, so if you’re interested in working with me online that workshop is the one to take. I am willing to work with people of all ability levels.
If you’re interested in my LA workshops, they don’t necessarily need to be taken in any specific order. It depends on what you would like to study. If you want to work on Anime, take my anime workshops. If you want to work on finding your characters and learning how to play them believably take my Character Archetype and Character Scenes workshops. If you’d like to expand your character range and work on your audition skills, take my Improv for Voice Actors and Audition Analysis class.
Much as I’d love to take your LA classes, I am regretfully stuck in Washington, but your online classes yes, I would surely take those
Then I look forward to working with you online.
Hey Crispin! Congratulations on launching the second podcast, and even bigger congratulations on 100 awesome episodes of VAM!! You are an invaluable resource to new and experienced VO folks alike, and your podcasts are always entertaining and hugely informative. Thank you so much for what you do! Can’t wait to hear the mythology podcast!!
Thank you Veronica! I’m eager to get my Mythology & Meaning podcast up and running as well!
100 episodes, congrats! Though I didn’t discover you until 70~ I think. It was still good to pick apart sporadic advice and stories given through out the years.
Feedback, is something I’m in great need of. It’s hard to find that with people who are just starting themselves… or well yourself. I mean I get good and bad… then there’s I’m not telling you because I don’t want drama — nothing to learn from in ether case. I would be the VA beginner that just doesn’t know what to outside of being polite, and professional. Talent/craft wise, probably near to clueless.
I wonder what you have in store for the future, though it will be a small let down to not hear you as often.
Thank you. I hope you’ve found the previous 99 episodes helpful.
Constructive feedback from actual professionals who have the ability to articulate their artistic process is in short supply. That’s one of the main reasons I’m reducing the podcast to once a month, in order to be able to reach more people, like yourself, and be able to give more personal feedback.
Hopefully the new offerings at Voice Acting Mastery in the future will more than compensate for a slower release schedule.
Oh my lord, Crispin! Congratulations on 100 podcast episodes! You should feel very proud of yourself for coming up with new content every two weeks for the past several years. Well, except in the case for the interview episodes, which you could technically take a vacation for the next month and a half or two. Don’t know if you made the intro and outro comments the same day as the interview/whenever you did the other intro/outros for the other parts as well, I would imagine so. Saves time!
But anyways, I’M SUPER EXCITED FOR THE MORE FREQUENT INTERACTIONS!!! i was literally jumping up and down in my bed when you announced that tidbit. I so volunteer as tribute.
One question though, as the podcast becomes less frequent, would the episodes be longer? In terms of the interviews and such? Can’t imagine 3 months going by just to get done with a 3 part interview. The Q&A and lecture style ones could be the usual 15-25 minute range. Just some suggestions~ it’s your podcast, you do what you think is best.
Other than that, thank you so much for the advice and tips over the years. I’ve been listening since episode 3? I think?? And I’ve downloaded a few podcasts that pinpointed my problems and listened to them. And I have improved SO MUCH… Legitly I feel much more confident in my abilities after those two podcasts (VAM #80, literally saved on my laptop as ‘VAM 80 Emotions are not evil’ HA! And the one about putting up a mask for acting, wish that was around for my senior acting thesis!) and found that there was just the simple point of honesty that I was missing.
Now I look at every acting thing I see though a “honesty” lens, I suppose, and SUDDENLY EVERYTHING IS MAKING SENSE. LIKE EVERYTHING IS NOW TECHNICOLOR RAINBOWS from just pretty animation on the screen. I find i sympathize with characters more often and even cry when they do.
I wouldn’t have found this amazing discovery without your help, so thank you, Crispin. Thank you so much.
Here’s to 100 episodes, and to another 100 in the future~!
~ Kalyn
Thank you Kalyn! I’m glad you’ve enjoyed the podcast.
However, I feel you have a mistaken understanding of what it takes to put those interview episodes together. They require just as much work as my lecture episodes. I have to go do the interview, make sure the audio quality is up to my standards, research the person I’m interviewing, prepare a game plan for talking with them, interview them, review the interview, break it down into digestible chunks, edit extraneous content, remove background noises to the best of my ability, focus each section, plan intro and outro announcements to lead you into and out of the interview and get all of that ready before I even release the first part of any interview. It is most certainly not a vacation.
I’m glad you’re looking forward to the more interactive aspects of Voice Acting Mastery. I too am eager to develop more systems to increase the interactivity for people.
The monthly episodes will stay about the same length. If they were to get longer, it would defeat the purpose of me trying to lessen my podcast workload so I can work on more interactive projects. Hopefully each part of the interview will be enlightening enough to stand on it’s own.
I’m glad that you found episode 80 so enlightening! It’s always great to hear which episodes had the most impact on my listeners.
It’s gratifying that to know that I’ve helped you develop an honesty lens. That will serve you immensely as you move forward with your voice acting career.
Thanks again!
I was going to post my own big heartfelt congratulations, but I realized that I’d just be echoing everything Eric said. I’ll definitely be subscribing to your new mythology podcast – your presentation on the cultural backgrounds behind superheroes and mecha at Otakon two years ago blew me away, and I can’t wait to hear more of your insight.
Thanks Ben! I’m so glad you enjoyed my presentation at Otakon! Hopefully I’ll be back to do more of those at some point!
At the risk of going off-topic, can I ask what part of my mythology presentation at Otakon spoke to you most?
Two years is a bit of a long time to give specifics, but the breakdown of how Superman and Astro Boy reflected the religious and cultural attitudes that spawned them does stick out in my memory.
I hear ya. Well, i’m glad you enjoyed the presentation.
Speaking of going off topic, I have two questions. Both are related to a rather nasty cold I just came down with.
First question: What do you do if you go to sleep healthy and wake up sick enough that it affects your voice on a day you’re booked to record? Do you go to the studio and tough it out, call in and cancel as soon as your alarm clock goes off, or get fired?
Second question: I doubt you remember from class, since it’s been well over a year, but my natural speaking voice falls towards the very high end of tenor. I can hit baritone F on a good day and G whenever I feel like it, but it’s difficult to sustain and it doesn’t usually sound natural enough for me to act in that register. However, whatever goes on in my throat when I come down with a cold has a tendency to push my voice down to the point where it naturally comes out at the bottom of my range, and also sounds much more natural while it’s down there. Do you think it might be possible to learn to replicate this sound reliably while healthy, or is it your experience that the physiological changes that come with a cold have an effect that can’t be reproduced when my throat is functioning properly?
If I’m really too sick to record, I will have to cancel my gig. However, I do my best to anticipate how ill I might be and I try to give them as much advance warning as possible. Getting sick is something you have some control over, however. You can practice good hygiene, take vitamins and make sure to get your rest. Despite that, sometimes I will still get sick and then I do my best to mitigate my symptoms for the duration of a recording session before I go home and crash.
It is difficult to mimic the effect that having a cold does to your voice. However, you can always train with singing coaches who can help you develop your resonance and lower register.
Thank you so much for everything you did, Crispin 😀 Congratulations for made 100th episode- You did amazing job as always ^_^ I really appreciate of all lessons & important tips on each episode and it really warms my heart too. I have a question though, have you ever played Dungeons and Dragons? And Have you ever heard ‘Critical Role’? It’s a live DnD game web show with Matthew Mercer and other voice actors on Geek and Sundry Channel at Twitch. It’ll always shown on every Thursday 7PM PST. It’s a great show ^_^
You’re very welcome.
I did play Dungeons & Dragons when I was younger, but I haven’t played it in a long time.
I am aware of Matt Mercer’s show on Geek and Sundry. I’m glad you’re enjoying it.
It’s my pleasure ^_^ I have a question about the mythology of Magical girls for your future podcast, have you ever seen Bee and PuppyCat? It’s super cute, funny and colorful web cartoon with a girl and her unique sidekick. It’s at Cartoon Hangover on YouTube channel. I really recommended 😀 I’m also really looking forward to work with you again on June’s Online VA Workshop since its been a year before I took my speech therapy <3
I have not see Bee and PuppyCat but I will keep an eye out for it.
Thanks so much for the podcast Crispin! I’ve thoroughly enjoy it! And I intend to listen over it once again as you mentioned, to see if if I pick anything up that I might have missed on a first listen-through.
My only question would be this: When changing the format of the episodes to once a month, would interview episodes in the future end up having longer parts? Or at some point end up being one part for the full interview? Personally, I’m a fan of much longer-form podcast episodes (like 50 minutes to an hour and a half) so I was just wondering that since your interviews tend to be either 3 to 4 parts long anyway, and that way you’d be able to get on to
Hi there Bryson. I’m glad you’ve enjoyed the podcast so far.
While the interview episodes might get slightly longer now that I’ve switched to a monthly schedule, I’m still planning on them being around 20 minutes per section, maybe a little more.
I’m sure you would appreciate longer episodes. However, making longer episodes would increase my workload and preclude me from developing the more interactive aspects of the website. I would love it if there were more hours in the day, but I have to work with the limited time I have in my schedule and try to make decisions about the best way to help grow Voice Acting Mastery and serve the widest number of my listeners. In addition I have to maintain my own voice acting career. Hopefully you can understand my situation.
hello Mr freeman me and my friend are planing on living together when we get older i plan to become a voice actor and my friend want to be a video game designer is there something you know about that also is Louisiana a good place to begin voice acting if not could you give me some help do you know of any voice over schools or company’s like funimation or not as well know closer to Alabama one last thing my girlfriend loves you and she want me to tell you *i love you crispin you are the best* thanks for you for your help also how much do voice actors make a hour and and a year
Hi there Kayland.
Your message is difficult to read because you don’t use any punctuation. In the future, I would appreciate it if you could use capitalization and punctuation when composing your comments. That will make it easier for me to respond to you effectively.
I don’t know of any voice acting work in Louisiana specifically. Back in episode 17 I outlined the major cities for voice acting. Have you had a chance to listen to that episode?
I know of no voice acting schools or opportunities in Alabama. Again, I suggest you listen to episode 17 for clarity on this subject.
As far as a voice actor’s income, that depends on how many projects you book. A voice actor is an independent contractor in business for him or herself, just like a plumber. How much does a plumber make in a year? It depends on how many jobs they do which in turn depends on their ability to run their business. Running their business effectively depends on their skill level, organization, responsiveness to customers and marketing.
If you’d like a list of the union rates for different voice over jobs you can find that on the Voice Over Resource Guide’s SAG-AFTRA Session Fees.
Hey Crispin,
I look forward to another 100 more podcast episodes! They’ve been an amazing guide and inspiration for me; my favorites are episode 9, 66 and 67.
Building confidence and staying inspired all go hand in hand with how to become a voice actor but it goes well beyond that as well.
Thanks to your podcasts I feel like I’m actually going places in my life and I’m trying to lean my efforts towards voice acting; I’d be a little foolish if I just took life lessons from the podcasts and nothing else.
All the best to you in the future and here’s hoping for another 100 episodes! Thanks again for everything so far and I look forward to more!
Thanks so much Brendan! I’m glad you’re finding that the podcasts have lessons that apply beyond the realm of voice acting. I’m looking to 100 more episodes as well!
Congratulations on hitting 100 episodes, and much thanks. Not too long ago I was cast in my first voice role. It’s nothing big and it didn’t pay, just some narration for a free video game mod, but I’m really happy with how it turned out. There’s no way I would’ve been up to the task if it hadn’t been for the lessons I learned from your podcast.
I look forward to your upcoming announcements, and appreciate the sheer amount of advice and information you’ve given for free on this podcast.
Thanks,
-Andrew
Kudos to you for your first voice acting role! I’m sure that was very satisfying for you!
Take care!
Congratulations on your 100th episode! It’ll be exciting to see where your new direction takes you – and your audience. It’s been a fun ride so far. And it’s quite understandable that you’ve found the need to cut back to just one episode per month. Frankly, I’m impressed you went so long with an episode every two weeks, given the solid content you put out each time. I know the demands of your schedule must have made this quite the challenge. Kudos to a job well done.
Thank you! Thanks also for understanding the demands on my time! I appreciate it.
Hello Mr freeman I am kayland and this will be my last comment. I think I am grieving up I don’t think voice acting is in the cards for me I am so sorry for wasting your time sir please forgive.
That’s fine. You’re free to make whatever life choices make the most sense for you. Best of luck in whatever you pursue.
Hey Crispin, I’ve been communicating and talking with professionals and teachers that I’ve worked with or am currently working with in classes. Recently some of them have begun to ask me why I don’t have a demo produced and are prompting me to take that step which has recently really been putting the thought in my mind that maybe I am ready to take that step forward.
I’d be very interested to hear what you have to say on this and look forward to your reply.
Thanks again for all your hard work, and dedication to those who are on their voice acting journeys.
Andrew E.
Just my 2 cents, but do you feel comfortable with your acting skills? Have you gotten to a point where you think you can sound believable in your natural voice AND in a wide range of made-up voices? If so, you can start thinking about it, but otherwise I’d say don’t pay attention. Because if there’s one thing I’ve gotten out of Crispin’s advice, it’s that you shouldn’t rush to make a demo if your acting isn’t up to snuff.
Now, it’s also possible that the professionals and teachers you’re working with are signaling to you that you are ready. I’d ask them directly what they think of your acting, assuming they’re trustworthy of course.
I think Bertrand’s insight is very astute. There’s no point in paying for a professional demo until you’re professionally competitive.
Hi there Andrew.
I believe the last time I worked with you as a student was in February of 2014. I have no idea what your current voice acting skill level is now, so I’m not sure how to advise you.
If your teachers are professionals and they say that you’re ready for a demo, then you can certainly follow their advice. If you’re looking for me to corroborate their recommendation, I would not be able to do that until we worked together again and I got a sense of your current voice acting abilities.
I cannot believe that I’ve only just discovered your podcast. voice acting is one of my favorite hobbies, and since I’m attending college for digital video production I think your new podcast about mythology and meaning would be perfect for me to listen to. I just wanted to take this time to thank you and congratulate you on 100 episodes of your podcast. I will be downloading all of the previous episodes. I just subscribed to the e-newsletter and I absolutely cannot wait for your big announcement.
Thanks so much! I’m glad you’re enjoying the podcast!
Woohoo! Congratulations on 100 episodes! That’s no mean feat, good job and THANK YOU for all your hard work!
I am definitely going to look for the mythology podcast – been waiting for it!
Flor
Thank you so much! I’m looking forward to my mythology podcast as well!
I am so proud to call you ‘coach’
I always make sure to fwd. and
share your pearls with my small
but growing, v.o. community.
congrats Mr. Freeman on the
big 100!!!
vb
Thank you! Glad you’ve enjoyed the podcast so much so far!
Hi Crispin, I know I’m still dozens of episodes behind you all but I only discovered your podcast recently and I’m catching up quickly! Congratulations on your 100th! Each episode is a golden nugget of information and advice (and entertainment). You put such care and energy into every one. Thank you so much. Ally