VAM 102 | Interview with Richard Horvitz, Part 2
Welcome to episode 102 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 my personal voice acting mentor, the amazing Richard Horvitz!
Richard has worked on many famous animated shows including Angry Beavers, Invader Zim and the Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy.
Richard is also a teacher of voice acting and offers both classes and private coaching through his website at RichardHorvitz.com
In the first part of our interview, Richard talked extensively about the importance of playing pretend when it comes to acting. He gave numerous examples of how we sometimes get in our own way when trying to portray a character believably. His examples and exercises were incredibly insightful and practical!
In this episode, Richard shares with us his 5 step process on how to play pretend more fully. Not only are these 5 steps what he uses in his own acting, but they also form the backbone of what he teaches his students as well. Afterwards, Richard shares with us some of the challenges he faced early in his career. It seems that almost every actor has experienced what one could call the “dark night of the soul”. It’s that time in your life where everything seems bleak and hopeless, even though you’re doing your best to pursue a successful career. I’m very grateful to Richard for sharing with us his own struggles and how he overcame them. I think you’ll find his journey very inspiring.
If you are interested in taking class or being coached by Richard, please check out the classes section of Richard’s website!
Download Voice Acting Mastery Episode #102 Here (MP3)
40 Responses to “VAM 102 | Interview with Richard Horvitz, Part 2”
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- VAM 103 | Interview with Richard Horvitz, Part 3 | Voice Acting Mastery: Become a Master Voice Actor in the World of Voice Over - […] the last episode, Richard shared with us his incredibly useful 5 step process for helping an actor play pretend…
Fascinating. I’ll listen to this again and take notes.
I have a question concerning your toolbox section. I’ve recently been told that the microphone that has been recommend to me isn’t exactly competent for a professional Voice over career. I bought the Blue Yeti microphone but now I’ve been told that most if not all USB microphones are incompetent. Your thoughts?
As always, thanks to you and Richard for your time and wisdom.
Well, I’m not Crispin in several ways with experience and talent. But, I have researched this topic a little. The thing with USB microphones in general is that they rely on a built in pre-amp vs a XLR microphone that relies on a dedicated external pre-amp which a can have better sampling rates…etc. For example my microphone which is also a usb microphone has a noise floor reduction whenever you use though a external preamp and in turn better audio quality.
Secondly, its not a large diaphragm mic. Many studios will use large diaphragm mics for warmer sounds. The yeti would sound a little brighter/lighter that those.
That being said the Yeti should be enough for you to practice with for a while. A lot of times it’s the space you record in, not quality of the mic that hurts you with recording/auditions for indie/amateur projects. And, I think in his mind, he’s thinking these microphones would be enough to practice/audition with for parts later on in pro-studios or travel around with. The bottom microphones that require xlr are more pro-studio minded microphones.
That being said a lot of times I hate the word professional and its sometimes over used in terms of product. Some things are simply better than others in terms of quality/features vs what people would know to be professional because of what they used in the industry to make a living. Next time you shop for a mic listen to people recording with said microphone, study what features it offers and if you need them for your own projects and most importantly if it fits in your budget.
I would agree with most everything that Charles is saying.
The quality of your recording space will have far more impact on your sound quality than whether not your microphone is USB or XLR.
The key to getting the natural, warm sound that most people prefer in voice over is to use a large-diaphragm condenser. Most USB microphones are not really large-diaphragm condensers so they lack the sound quality of traditional XLR microphones. The Shure PG-42 USB is a notable exception.
It is true that the more you try to miniaturize a preamp and analog to digital converter, the noisier and worse sounding they tend to be. That means that on average, the preamp and converters in an external USB audio interface have a good chance of sounding better than the preamp and converters that you can find squeezed into the housing of a USB microphone. That doesn’t mean that every external USB audio interface is going to sound better than every USB microphone, just that there’s more potential for an external USB audio interface to sound better if the company making it cares to put the effort in to making it sound better.
I find that the sampling rate issue is a red herring. Analog to digital converters are so good these days that you don’t need to record at higher than 24bit/44.kHz when you’re doing voice over. I only record at 24bit in order to be able to turn the gain down on my preamp so I can have extra headroom for yelling and screaming. But anything over 24bit/44.1kHz is overkill for voice over.
Hope that all clarifies.
Hi there Eric.
As I say in the Toolbox section of my website, I’m not the biggest fan of Blue microphones. The Yeti is a decent starter microphone for someone who doesn’t want to spend much but wants to dip their toe into the world of voice acting. It’s not a terrible microphone for auditions, but it is not a traditional large diaphragm condenser microphone so it does not have the sound quality of true large diaphragm condensers.
The Shure PG-42 USB microphone is a true large diaphragm condenser microphone made by one of the most well known professional microphone companies in the world. I have one myself and I’m very impressed with its sound. However, I have been told that Shure is discontinuing the PG-42 USB which makes me very sad. Once it is out of stock, there is no USB microphone that I would recommend that truly has that large diaphragm sound.
Hope that helps.
There discontinuing the PG-42!! I just ordered one yesterday, guess I got lucky on timing
Congratulations!
Thank you for your reply, sir.
I’ve been doing this for almost three years and I know I want to take the next step. The first part for me is going to be upgrading my equipment to better serve a professional endeavor.
Thank you for your time and wisdom.
Well, glad you warned us about the PG42 being discontinued. I just ordered one. Can’t wait to receive it!
Excellent! I’m sure you’ll enjoy using it!
though I will use the human being thought process to my acting method now, the thing I’m taking from this part of the interview, is that one day I will inevitably go through a period of difficulty with my career. I just need to remember that all we can do in that time, is just get right back up, and keep going
The artist’s journey is almost never one of linear improvement without setbacks. Every artist I have talked to has always discussed the times in their life when the universe challenged them in various ways. Such challenges invariably helped that artist grow.
I’m absolutely loving this interview. There’s so much great stuff here!
I think both Richard and Crispin are saying very similar things but in ways that resonate with each of them differently. Kinda like how different wording of an idea can trigger a deeper or more profound understanding for one person because of their own unique experience. It’s so awesome to hear how seasoned veterans have experienced the same kinda thing I’ve been feeling for a little while now, hell, apparently they’re still experiencing it!
The whole, “me being enough” is absolutely huge and a large part of the reason I love doing voice over is that it forces you to deal with your sh*t. You have to confront your own personal demons to start allowing yourself to fully play and let go. So often I find myself wanting to “get it right” or “nail the gig” and often forget to just have fun. In fact, I’ve found that gains made in my personal life have positively affected my voice over career and vice versa. It’s just very therapeutic. Though, Richard is definitely right when he says it’s a constant battle, but it’s one I’m more than happy to engage in!
Very excited for the next episode you guys, this is fantastic! 😀
Excellent! I’m glad you’re enjoying it so much!
I’m honored that you feel Richard and I are speaking on the same subject, but from different angles. That’s wonderful to hear! I hope our different perspectives are helping enrich your understanding!
Take care!
LOVING THIS INTERVIEW. I’mma download all of them in one go and just listen to them over and over. I just feel such a sense of calm with this interview.
I do often feel inadequate and not enough when it comes to voice acting, when there are SOOOO many others that are better and more skilled than I am that I just give up before I even try. But him saying “You are enough because you are HUMAN.” just brings me to a sense of peace and wholeness I rarely feel. Also with my singing.
One of the things that stop people from doing what they wanna do is just simply just starting.
Thank you so much for this interview, I really needed this.
Much love,
~ Kalyn
Wonderful. I’m so glad you’re finding this interview so helpful. Richard was my voice acting guru and I’m happy to share him with others!
Once again terrific. I managed to snag a seat in Richard’s class coming up a week from now. I’ve been hoping to take his class based on rave reviews from other voice actors, but now, after these interview segments, I know the reviews were more than merited. I’m excited to get to work with another excellent teacher!
~Flor
Congrats! I’m sure you’re going to love taking class with Richard! Can’t wait to hear how it goes!
Does Mr freeman even comment anymore
I’ve actually been spending my Sunday afternoon doing my best to respond to comments on this blog. I do this for free, taking time out of my busy schedule as a professional voice actor, in order to help those who are asking for help.
Your comment seems rather ungrateful to me. I have created over 100 episodes of a podcast for you to listen to for free. I respond to comments on this website for free. What more do you want?
It is true that it sometimes it can take me a while to respond to comments. That is because I have my own life to live, my own loved ones to spend time with and my own bills to pay.
I might ask what you have done recently to improve your voice acting skills while waiting for me to respond to your earlier comments? Have you taken acting classes? Have you explored online voice acting communities? Have you tried voice matching characters? Have you started your own voice acting projects? Have you done any of the things that I have recommended in my podcast that you can do on your own to improve your voice acting skills?
If you have been taking action to improve your voice acting skills, then good for you. But if you were, I would imagine you would be so busy with improving your artistry that you wouldn’t be criticizing me for not responding to you quickly enough. You would understand that voice acting is an art that takes diligent practice and focus to do on a professional level.
If you haven’t been taking action to improve your voice acting skills and you’re just waiting for me to respond to your comments, then you’re not serious about being a professional voice actor. If after listening to over 100 of my podcast episodes you have not begun to cultivate a professional artistic mindset, then no comment from me can possibly help you.
The ball is in your court.
I am so sorry if I made you mad I have tryed some of the things you said but 1. I am 15 years old. 2. Everyone in my family saids I will fail at voice acting 3. I have tryed to get on the site. Again i am very very sorry if I made you mad
I just needed to point out to you that your recent comments have sounded very ungrateful to me. I am not mad with you, I just need to make sure that you understand and can respect my boundaries as a person and as a professional.
I’m sorry that the people in your family are not supportive of your interest in voice acting. Maybe once you’re over 18 and have more control over your own life you can create opportunities to pursue voice acting.
You may only be 15 but if you listen to my interview with Grace Rolek, she was far younger than that when she started voice acting. Hopefully her maturity can inspire you to act in a more mature manner as well. If you want to enter the professional voice acting world, you will need to act like an adult no matter what your biological age may be.
Good point I need to grow up to archive my goal to only voice act but to pass you I challenge you Mr freeman when I grow I will pass you or I hope to I am not trying to sound mean its just something to get me to work to I hope I am not being mean
If wanting to surpass my accomplishments as a voice actor inspires you then by all means use it to inspire you.
“How beautiful. Nights like this make me want a bite to drink. Yes… I couldn’t imagine a more… perfect evening. I try to do this line over and over but it always sounds wrong can you help me please
Unless you happen to be a baritone with a low extension who is classically trained in operatic singing, the chances of you being able to voice match my performance as Alucard is slim to nil.
You will be better served by focusing on improving your own acting, not trying to slavishly imitate my performance. Go become a better actor.
I first heard about Richard Horvitz on vobuzzweekly, and to hear him again on your podcast was an absolute delight. I followed up on Diana Castle and I’m having fits. Crispin Freeman, Richard Horvitz, and Diana Castle! Are you kidding me? I’m so grateful for this wealth of experience.
Thank you for being so generous with your advice and time. It is very much appreciated.
You’re very welcome! I’m so glad our words have inspired you.
Hey there Crispin I contacted Richard and ask him for help I do want and will become a voice actor and no one will stop me I hope to meet u on a project when I get older I thank you for your time
I hope your classes with Richard go well.
You probably don’t, but do you coaching on singing?
I’m not really a singing coach, unfortunately. I don’t really feel qualified to teach someone how to sing classically. Sorry about that.
That’s okay, you said you were “classily trained in opera singing”, I think my voice would be suited for that. I don’t think my college has it, do you know what places can teach me this?
“Classicaly” trained not “classily”. Although I do try to be classy, my singing training was classical in its nature.
I consulted a friend of mine who sang on broadway and he put me in touch with a singing coach in New York City. I can give you her name if you’re in the NYC area. Otherwise, have you tried the googles? I hear google is useful for finding things.
“Classily”? Are you serious I thought I checked to make sure I spelled correctly. And yes, the world wide intergoogles has helped before
Hey Crispin,
I’ve been doing some fan dub projects through some sites, had upgraded my own setup to a AKG C214 with an Avid Mbox and I had two questions.
My first question is the tone of my recordings seem really sharp. I’m only maybe 5 inches or so from the mic, but do some microphones do that? Or is there a way to lessen it?
My second one is that I find that sometimes I’m just not satisfied with the way I portray some characters and I’d like to add more emotion to them to make the characters come alive. I’ve thought about taking some theatrical acting classes to improve on this. Do you have any advice that might help me?
Thanks again for the hard work you do.
What do you mean by your recordings sounding “sharp”? Do you mean there is too much treble in your recording and not enough bass? I would find that surprising with the AKG 214. If anything, the AKG 214 and 414 have always had a more neutral sound to me, certainly not hyped. What sort of microphone were you using before? You can of course use EQ to roll off the high frequencies if you find them too harsh, but I would only use that as a last resort.
If you are not satisfied with your acting abilities, then I would certainly advise you to take some acting classes. You are welcome to take mine if you find them appealing, but I’m sure just about any acting class you attend will help you improve your performance skills. Take every opportunity you can to improve your craft.
The microphone that I used to use was an Audio Technica 2020 usb. Which did help me do enough to learn what a microphone is. But when I started recording on my AKG, the sound of my recording had more of a bass sound to it than treble. It made my voice sound much deeper than before. So I wasn’t sure if it was just because that was what my voice actually sounded like over a larger diaphragm condenser or would it be something else.
And both me and my wife are wanting to take some of your classes when they fit into our budget. We actually want to fly to LA to take your classes in person but for now we might just use the Internet as it is quite a bit cheaper the long way around.
Now I’m really confused. So to you a microphone that sounds “sharp” has more bass?
I find that the AT2020 sounds very thin and doesn’t represent the low end of a man’s voice very well. That may be why you’re hearing more bass now in your recordings. I large diaphragm condenser will produce a warmer sound because of the large diaphragm. Compare the recording of your AKG 214 to recording something on your smartphone. Your smartphone microphone is tiny compared to the diaphragm in the 214.
Do you dislike the bass you are now hearing? If so, you can always roll off the bass a bit around 80Hz or so. Many studios do that anyway to avoid picking up low frequency rumbles and to make the voice sit better in the mix.
You are welcome to take my classes whenever they work into your budget.
I got the Tonor® Professional Condenser Sound Microphone is that a good microphone for voice acting I’m not sure
That is not a professional grade microphone. However, it could be a useful microphone for you to start practicing with. I would not use it to submit auditions for actual paying jobs.
I recommend many professional level microphones in the Toolbox section of this website.