VAMFR 033 | Interview with Mary Elizabeth McGlynn, Part 1

Welcome to episode 33 of the Voice Acting Mastery: Field Report podcast!

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.vamfieldreport.com/podcast

Buckle up, folks because Maureen is thrilled to share the first part of her interview with the phenomenal Mary Elizabeth McGlynn!

Mary Elizabeth is an industry veteran who has worked on both sides of the glass as both a voice actor and a voice director. Her acting credits include Major Motoko Kusanagi in Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, Governor Pryce in Star Wars Rebels, and Dr. Maheswaran in Steven Universe. She’s also an accomplished voice director having taken the helm on titles such as Tangled: The Series, Cowboy Bebop, and She-Ra and the Princesses of Power. Maureen has been eager to sit down with Mary Elizabeth ever since she first became a correspondent on the field report. Not only does Mary Elizabeth’s fantastic work speak for itself but she’s also wonderfully down to earth, hilarious, and open to discussing everything from advice for newcomers to the lessons she’s learned from failing and getting back up again.

In this first episode, Maureen explores how Mary Elizabeth got started as an actor and how her career progressed from graduate school, to guest starring on Star Trek: Voyager, to a fateful horse riding accident while filming the TV show Xena: Warrior Princess that eventually led her to voice acting. Then they discuss how Mary Elizabeth made her debut as a voice director on the anime series Cowboy Bebop! Maureen also talks about how Mary Elizabeth deals with imposter syndrome, which is a psychological pattern where one doubts their accomplishments. Then Mary Elizabeth shares some tips for how to talk to a director on your first job, and they conclude this episode by revealing which of her many characters was the most emotionally difficult for her to portray!

The VAM Field Report will be released on the 1st Wednesday of every month so stay on the look out for it!

Download VAM Field Report Episode #33 Here (MP3)

Welcome to episode 137 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’m happy to share with you part one of my interview with the amazingly talented and astoundingly accomplished, Keythe Farley! Keythe’s work is so varied that it’s difficult to reduce him to categories! He’s acted on stage, on screen and in front of the microphone. He’s voice directed animation and video games. He’s also one of the creators of the hit musical Bat Boy. He’s even produced an animated series version of the Spy vs. Spy comics from Mad Magazine! You may be familiar with his voice acting work as Thane Krios in the Mass Effect series of games, the villainous Kellog in Fallout 4 as well as Eruptor in the Skylanders series of games. He’s also voice directed the incredibly popular animated show the Rugrats for the animation studio Klasky/Csupo. When the Rugrats video game was in development, Keythe was asked to voice direct it and so began his work in Interactive media. He’s voice directed such high profile game franchises as God of War, Call of Duty: Black Ops III and Final Fantasy 15. And those are just the highlights of his work in games and animation! His theatrical and radio accomplishments are too numerous to mention here! Suffice it to say, I was very eager to sit down with Keythe and get his insight into the voice over world.

In the first part of our discussion, we talk about the early part of Keythe’s career and how his passion for Top 40 radio hits eventually led him towards storytelling and theater. His love of story in all its forms is what gave him the flexibility to be open to whatever entertainment opportunity came his way, whether it was an acting job or some other position in production. In fact, it was his willingness to take a relatively low level production assistant job at an animation studio that allowed him to learn the process of creating cartoons. The education he got from that experience not only lead to more and better opportunities at the studio, but it has helped him immensely in all aspects of his career. I really admire Keythe’s openness and his humility when it comes to working in an industry that can often be emotionally challenging, and I’m eager to share his wisdom with you!

To learn more about Keythe and his VO Lounge, visit his website at:
www.KeytheFarley.com

Download Voice Acting Mastery Episode #137 Here (MP3)

VAMFR 032 | Interview with Taliesin Jaffe, Part 3

Welcome to episode 32 of the Voice Acting Mastery: Field Report podcast!

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.vamfieldreport.com/podcast

This is the third and final part of DanWill McCann’s chat with Taliesin Jaffe.

If you missed the first two parts, you can find them on VoiceActingMastery.com. Just search for episodes 30 and 31 of the Field Report. Taliesin has been involved in the entertainment industry since he was a young boy, working with actors like Michael Keaton in the movie Mr. Mom and Suzanne Somers on the T.V. show She’s the Sheriff. As Taliesin grew older, he transitioned into a portion of the industry he felt more passionate about: providing voices in the English dubs of Japanese Animation titles like 3×3 Eyes and directing voice actors in dubs like Read or Die, The TV. He has also voiced characters in video games, such as Highlord Darion Mograine, Leader of the rebelling Death Knights in the World of Warcraft, Wrath of the Lich King expansion pack.

In the previous episode, Taliesin shared with us which projects he most enjoyed working on, both as a voice actor and as a director. He talked about what made those projects stand out for him, as well as what artistic lessons he learned from working on them. I appreciate how Taliesin is able to successfully balance being a fan of the mediums he works in, while still maintaining a professional demeanor at the same time. We also discussed how to make professional connections with voice actors we admire at fan conventions and on social media. Taliesin stressed how important it is to find genuine connections with them on more than just voice acting while also making sure to respect their time and privacy. He also told stories of his own early attempts to make professional connections at conventions and how some of those interactions were more successful than others. He learned a lot from those experiences and I hope you found his adventures both entertaining and educational! I know I did.

In this final segment of our interview, Taliesin begins by sharing his advice to folks that like to make fan dubs. For those who are not familiar with the term, fan dubbing is the practice of taking an established anime property and dubbing it into English for fun or for improving one’s voice acting skills. While fan dubbing is not officially sanctioned by the companies that hold the copyrights to anime shows, many aspiring voice actors try their hand at fan dubbing in order to get more experience with the process of dubbing animation. Taliesin also offers some suggestions about how to listen to professional performances so that we can learn from the pros and take what we admire about their artistry and incorporate it into our own acting. He then adds some of his own directorial advice, especially when it comes to recording challenging lines like fighting sounds or efforts. While the majority of actors rightly spend most of their time learning how to deliver dialogue in a believable way, the non-verbal efforts, exertions, death screams, and other fighting noises are crucial to master as well. This is especially true in the world of video games, where your characer will likely have many different battle encounters over the course of gameplay. I definitely find Taliesin’s methods for creating efforts very helpful, and I believe you will, too.

The VAM Field Report will be released on the 1st Wednesday of every month so stay on the look out for it!

Download VAM Field Report Episode #32 Here (MP3)

VAMFR 031 | Interview with Taliesin Jaffe, Part 2

Welcome to episode 31 of the Voice Acting Mastery: Field Report podcast!

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.vamfieldreport.com/podcast

Welcome back for this second part of DanWill McCann’s interview with Taliesin Jaffe.

Taliesin has worked extensively as both a voice actor and voice director. He began his career in the entertainment industry as a child actor in T.V. shows like The Facts of Life and St. Elsewhere. Later, he transitioned into voice acting and has been working on anime and video games ever since. Recently, you may have heard him as the voice of Blanka, the wild man with shocking abilities in the English versions of the video games Street Fighter IV & V, as well as Street Fighter vs. Tekken. Not only did Taliesin play the voice of Blanka in those Street Fighter games, but he also voice directed all the characters in the English language versions of all three games. While he no longer acts in scripted shows on TV, you can still find Taliesin in front of the camera hosting The Wednesday Club, a weekly online comic book show on the Geek & Sundry Alpha channel.

In the previous podcast episode, Taliesin told us about how he began his acting career and the series of events that led him to decide to transition from on-camera acting to voice acting and directing. He realized at a relatively young age that his heart was not fully committed to acting on-camera and that he had a greater passion for working on anime. DanWill admires that Taliesin had the honestly and courage to pursue what truly spoke to him artistically, even if others may not have understood his choices. DanWill also respects the fact that much of Taliesin’s motivation to enter the world of anime dubbing was to see what he could do to improve the quality of work being done in the genre. Once Taliesin realized how he could best contribute, he has continued his efforts since then to raise the standards of anime dubbing. His commitment to quality inspires DanWill to pursue the same excellence in his own work.

This episode begins with a discussion of Taliesin’s favorite voice over projects, both as an actor and as a director. DanWill and Taliesin not only talk about what Taliesin enjoyed most while working on these projects, but also what important artistic lessons he learned from them. Because Taliesin works both as a voice actor and a voice director, he has a unique perspective on the voice over industry and how to succeed in it. Their discussion then moves on to address fan conventions and how best to interact with any industry colleagues you may meet at those events. DanWill is always looking for better ways to connect with fellow entertainment professionals and he’s learned a lot from Taliesin on this subject. So, once again, please welcome Taliesin Jaffe!

The VAM Field Report will be released on the 1st Wednesday of every month so stay on the look out for it!

Download VAM Field Report Episode #31 Here (MP3)

VAMFR 030 | Interview with Taliesin Jaffe, Part 1

Welcome to episode 30 of the Voice Acting Mastery: Field Report podcast!

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.vamfieldreport.com/podcast

Recently, our correspondent DanWill McCann had the opportunity to sit down and chat with the very skilled and experienced Voice Actor and Voice Director, Taliesin Jaffe. Taliesin began his acting career on camera when he was very young, starring in commercials, movies, and TV Shows. You may be familiar with his performance as Kenny Butler in the film Mr. Mom. where his character was deeply attached to his security blanket or “wubby” as it was called. As a young adult, Taliesin’s love of Anime drew him to Voice Acting and since then, he has provided over 100 voices for Anime and Video games, as well as adapted scripts, cast voice actors, and directed a multitude of projects. You can hear him as the Flash in the Injustice 2 video game. He also directed the English dub of the anime series Hellsing and Hellsing Ultimate. Currently he is on the popular Geek & Sundry series Critical Role, a show where voice actors play Dungeons and Dragons together and act out the characters in real time. In campaign 1 he played as the character Percy, and now in campaign 2 he is playing as Mollymauk.

In this first segment of our interview, DanWill spoke with Taliesin about his career path. He and DanWill have actually been friends for more than half of DanWill’s life and DW finds his journey both fascinating and inspiring. When DanWill decided to pursue Voice Acting as a career, Taliesin was the first person DW turned to for advice. DanWill has  always admired that Taliesin is a consummate professional in addition to being a huge fan of animation and games. Taliesin’s respect for characters and storytelling drives him to always do his best. He not only strives to create fantastic art, but he also tries to raise the bar of artistic achievement, both for himself and those he works with. We hope you will find Taliesin as inspiring as DanWill does!

The VAM Field Report will be released on the 1st Wednesday of every month so stay on the look out for it!

Download VAM Field Report Episode #30 Here (MP3)

VAMFR 029 | Interview with Erica Mendez, Part 3

Welcome to episode 29 of the Voice Acting Mastery: Field Report podcast!

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.vamfieldreport.com/podcast

This episode is the third and final part of Tom Bauer’s interview with his friend and voice over actor, Erica Mendez.

You might recognize Erica from her voice acting work in anime, where she’s played the voice of Gon Freecs in the 2011 anime series adaptation of Hunter X Hunter, Sailor Uranus in the Viz Media English dub of Sailor Moon and Ryuko Matoi in the popular Kill la Kill anime television series. In addition to her many voice acting accomplishments, Erica has also worked as an ADR script writer for the Netflix original anime series, Fate/Apocrypha.

In the previous episode, Tom and Erica talked about some of the challenges Erica faced while pursuing her career as a voice actor, including her struggles with being overly self-critical and how she’s learned to overcome this common stumbling block. She also shared her insights into what it takes to stay competitive in voice over, as well as some of the acting techniques she’s acquired while taking classes and how she implements what she’s learned in the booth.

In this episode, Tom and Erica wrap things up by discussing Pre-lay recording. Voice over for anime is most often recorded one actor at a time, alone in a booth long after the original animation has been completed. However, in American animation, the actors are recorded first and the animators animate the characters to fit those vocal performances. This is called pre-lay since the audio recording is made before the animation is produced. When recording for pre-lay animation, you are often reading with other actors together in the same room. This can be very different from recording all by yourself in an anime dubbing session, so Tom is eager to share Erica’s insights about the process.

The VAM Field Report will be released on the 1st Wednesday of every month so stay on the look out for it!

Download VAM Field Report Episode #29 Here (MP3)