Welcome to episode 104 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 want to impress upon you the importance of developing your acting skills in front of an audience.

Too often people approach me wanting to be voice actors, but they seem disinterested in or afraid of performing in front of people. They think that voice acting is somehow more “private” or “safer” than being a stage actor or performing in film and television, and they are hoping this “safety” or “privacy” will make it easier for them to be a voice actor. This misconception is quite common and can actually foster a mindset that can cripple one’s ability to succeed in voice acting, so I felt it was important to address it in detail.

You see, what most of these shy but hopeful aspiring voice actors don’t realize is that in trying to avoid performing in front of an audience, they are actually denying themselves something they critically need. Without the feedback and response one gets from an audience, an actor is just going through the motions, shooting blindly in the dark, unaware of whether they are communicating effectively. Avoiding the audience is like trying to learn tango without a dance partner, or shooting hoops without a net, or playing tennis by yourself. Not only are these things crazy, they are also ineffective. They don’t make you any better.

If you really want to be a pro at voice acting, there’s really no faster or more effective way I know than to practice acting in front of an audience. I realize this might still seem like a terrifying prospect to some of my listeners. So I’m going to do my best in this episode to explain why it’s so important as well as how to overcome any anxiety you might have about performing in front of others. I’m sure you’ll find it useful!

Download Voice Acting Mastery Episode #104 Here (MP3)

Welcome to episode 92 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’d like to talk about the difference between acting a character and demonstrating a character.

At first, it may not seem obvious why it’s so important to make this distinction and to understand its implications, because no one ever talks about “voice demonstrating”. We talk about “voice acting”, and rightly so, because that’s what we’re all here to do, right? The truth is that people get these two concepts mixed up all the time. What’s worse is that when many people believe they are acting, they are actually demonstrating.

This can be a fatal mistake, because while sincere acting is inherently believable and engaging, demonstrating a character is not. This misunderstanding is especially common among beginning voice actors, and I have observed many of my students struggling with it, even if they’ve never quite used these words to describe it. The symptoms of “demonstrating” are obvious: performances feel affected or “put on”, dialogue sounds forced or unnatural, and characters seem more like “caricatures” than real people. All of these symptoms contribute to one inevitable outcome: the performance is not believable and the audience does not engage.

So how does one truly act a character and not fall into the trap of simply demonstrating that character? How can you know if your performance is actually believable, or whether you’re just going through the motions? Let’s solve this conundrum together.

Download Voice Acting Mastery Episode #92 Here (MP3)

Welcome to episode 91 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’d like to discuss the vital importance of incorporating one’s physicality into a voice acting performance.

This is a challenge that comes up often when I am teaching my students, both in my group classes and during individual private coaching sessions. Often, I will be working with a student who is quite capable, knows how to listen and take direction, and may even have wonderful natural acting instincts, but their performances consistently fall flat because they do not engage their body when acting. Their mind and even their emotions may be fully engaged, but something is still missing, and it affects the believability of their reads.

What is this mysterious missing something, and why is it so important to put your physicality into your performance when voice acting? After all, you’re in a small padded room with a mic in front of you. How physical can you really be anyway? Because voice acting does happen in a booth and not on a stage or in front of a camera with sets, props and costumes, it can sometimes seem less like a physical performing art and more like a mental exercise. There is a common misconception that if you speak the words correctly and understand the emotions in a scene, your acting should be believable regardless of what your body is doing.

I’m here to set the record straight and to explain that all acting, even voice acting, is actually a physical artistic craft. If your performance is not rooted in your body, and if the character you are playing is not influenced by your physicality, your acting will never sound believable on a professionally competitive level. Allow me to explain to you how this works in this episode.

Download Voice Acting Mastery Episode #91 Here (MP3)

Welcome to episode 90 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’d like to address a common misconception that I find many people have about the nature of acting.

Sometimes I feel like acting is one of the most misunderstood of the performing arts, mostly because it seems so invisible when someone is doing it well. A truly believable acting performance can seem so transparent and effortless that it feels as though nothing is really going on and the actor is just naturally self-expressing. The illusion of transparency applies doubly to voice acting, where even the actor giving the performance is unseen by the audience.

This invisibility can lead many listeners to infer that either the actor giving the performance is just naturally talented, or that voice acting is something that anyone can do without much effort. To some it seems like the actor is doing something unattainably magical and this means that acting must require some sort of mysterious inborn ability. To others it sounds like the actor is just talking, and since talking to other people is something we all tend to do in our everyday lives, how artistically demanding could voice acting truly be? So which is correct?

Does it take natural talent to become a voice actor, or can anyone just step up to the mic and talk their way to fame and fortune?

Let’s find out!

Download Voice Acting Mastery Episode #90 Here (MP3)

Welcome to episode 89 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’d like to talk about a skill that is crucial to becoming a better voice actor: Critical Listening.

I touched on this topic briefly in my interview with Edward Bosco and Kimlinh Tran back in episodes 33, 34 and 35 of the podcast. When I asked Kimlinh what advice she would give to aspiring voice actors, she explained that the best thing they could do is to develop their Critical Listening Skills. I agreed.

If you’re going to pursue voice acting professionally you need to be able to listen to an actor’s performance, understand what acting choices they made, and then decide whether or not those acting decisions are the best ones to serve the character and the story. Until you develop the ability to listen to performances critically in both other actor’s work and in your own acting, you won’t know what you need to do to improve your performances. So let’s spend this episode talking about what it takes to develop your critical listening skills.

I hope you enjoy the episode!

Download Voice Acting Mastery Episode #89 Here (MP3)

Welcome to episode 88 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 Yvonne from Oakland, CA and Emily from Tampa, FL.

Yvonne works in the audiobook industry. He’s been having trouble with his recordings being too sibilant.

First, let me define sibilance for those of my listeners who may not be familiar with the term. Sibilance is the sound one makes in the English language when one makes an “s” sound. In the world of voice over, sibilance usually refers to someone whose “s” sounds are too pronounced or hissy.

I give Yvonne some tips on how to reduce the sibilance in his recordings, both in terms what he might need to change in his performance as well as numerous technical solutions to the problem.
 
Emily is aware that in order to work as a voice actor in anime, a performer needs to know how to match the lip flap of characters on the screen. She’d like to know how to practice matching lip flap on her own.

Matching the lip flap of characters on the screen is a challenging skill to develop.

The practice of dubbing your voice to preexisting video footage is known as Automatic Dialogue Replacement or ADR. Not only is ADR work challenging for an actor, but because the technical requirements to set up an ADR recording session are complicated, it’s challenging for a recording engineer as well.

While running your own ADR setup is possible it requires manipulation of audio and video on a professional level. I share some of the software one can use to run ADR sessions on your own, but learning how to use such software effectively still requires a significant investment of time and energy.

Emily’s time might be better served by taking classes like my Anime Voice Acting Workshops where all the technical challenges are taken care of.

I hope you find the answers 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 #88 Here (MP3)