Welcome to episode 19 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

Many of you have asked me about the subject of accents or dialects. I usually get similar questions from my listeners:

1. How do I learn an accent?
2. How can I remove or lessen my own accent?
3. How can I overcome a speech impediment?

I thought the best way to address these questions was to interview a wonderful friend of mine and fellow voice actor: J.B. Blanc.

J.B. and I first met working on the anime show Hellsing. Since then, both of us have gone on to work on many important and influential anime, video games and American animated series. J.B. is not only a fantastic actor, but he has an amazing facility with accents. I think you’ll really enjoy what he has to say!

You can find out more about J.B. at his website:

http://www.jbblanc.com/

Thanks for listening!

Download Voice Acting Mastery Episode #19 Here (MP3)

Welcome to episode 18 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 my discussion about a common question that I get at conventions and events outside of Los Angeles:

“What city should I move to in order to pursue voice acting?”

In the last episode, I discussed 5 cities I’m aware of that have thriving voice acting communities. Since then, listeners have commented on my blog and told me about additional cities that also have large voice acting communities. I really appreciate everyone’s insights and suggestions! If you’re curious about what city you should be in to pursue voice acting, I suggest you check out the discussion in the comments section of the blog post for episode 17.

In this episode I explain how to assess yourself before moving to a new city. There are 3 questions you should ask yourself:

1. How do you know if you’re artistically ready to move to a new city to pursue voice acting?
2. How do you know if you’re financially ready to move to a new city to pursue voice acting?
3. How do you know if you’re psychologically ready to move to a new city to pursue voice acting?

It is important to answer these 3 questions as honestly as possible. In the podcast, I tackle each of these subjects in depth. I hope you enjoy it.

Thanks for listening!

Download Voice Acting Mastery Episode #18 Here (MP3)

Here’s a really interesting radio interview about the new game, BioShock Infinite. The Irrational Interview team brings on Creative Director Ken Levine as well as voice actors Troy Baker (Booker DeWitt) and Courtnee Draper (Elizabeth) to chat about their process on creating the performances for the game.

What’s fascinating about this audio interview is a phrase that gets mentioned early on:

“Drain the Swamp.”

What they mean by that is the actors are using their own natural voices and they are bringing the characters to life through their own emotional reality. No pyrotechnics, no strange voices, just bringing the characters down to their essential desires and feelings in the moment.

In other words, acting.

Even Troy talks about how he found himself wanting to embellish his performance too much. The director often asked him to “Drain the Swamp” in order to simplify his performance so it would sound more believable.

This can be a hard lesson to learn as a voice actor. I often find myself using too much “sauce” on my performances in order to spice them up. What the producers want is believability. Most often, you are most believable as yourself.

Learn how to sound believable with your own voice. It will serve you well. With that solid basis, you can then expand into all sorts of different characters.

Welcome to episode 17 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 talk about a common question I get at conventions and events outside of Los Angeles:

“What city should I move to in order to pursue voice acting?”

You would think the answer to this question would just be the name of a city. But that is not the case. It turns out there are many cities that have vibrant voice acting communities.

In addition, there are many things to consider before you decide to move to another city to pursue voice acting. Are you artistically, financially and psychologically ready for such a change? In order to address this question effectively, I’m going to split this topic into two different parts:

1. Cities with Significant Voice Acting Industries
2. How to Assess Yourself Before Moving to a New City

In this first episode in the series, I’ll break down for you which cities have thriving voice acting communities. My short list of cities is (in no particular order):

• Los Angeles
• Vancouver
• New York
• Dallas
• San Francisco

In the podcast, I also explain the different types of voice acting work that is done in each of those cities. My knowledge is limited to cities in North America, but I’ll do my best to share my expertise and experience with you. I think you’ll find it very useful.

Thanks for listening!

Download Voice Acting Mastery Episode #17 Here (MP3)

My wonderful friend and colleague, Juan Carlos Bagnell, runs a fantastic blog called, The Ramblings of Some Audio Guy. On it, he posts his wisdom, tips and musings on the world of voice over and recording technology. Juan’s pithy insights into voice over come from his years working both as a voice over agent and more recently as a booth director for voice over projects at The Voicecaster, a famous casting agency in Los Angeles.

Juan just put up a great video post about proximity effect. For those of you who’ve listened to episode 11 and episode 12 of my podcast, I talked at length about microphone technology as well as microphone pickup patterns. I mentioned the fact that a microphone with a cardiod pickup pattern will produce what’s called a proximity effect, meaning that the closer you get to the microphone, the more low end or bass will be amplified by the microphone.

Well Juan has posted a wonderful video demonstration of this phenomenon in action on his blog. It’s entitled, The Proximity Effect and You! I highly recommend you check it out!