Welcome to episode 146 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

I’ve got a very special treat for you in this episode! I’m honored to bring you the first part of my interview with the stupendously talented Dee Bradley Baker! As of the release of this episode, Dee has over 500 credits to his name on the Internet Movie Database! He’s worked on hundreds of animated movies and shows including Cow and Chicken, The Angry Beavers, Dexter’s Lab, Ben 10, The Box Trolls, The Fairly Odd Parents, Phineas and Ferb, American Dad, Avatar the Last Airbender, The Legend of Korra, Star Wars: the Clone Wars, and the list goes on and on! Dee has great comedic instincts and has played numerous characters over the years, but he also has a special affinity for creature voices. He is often called in to voice characters that don’t speak a human language, but communicate through non-verbal sounds. It’s a highly specialized skill and Dee excels at it. He can do small animal and bird sounds, large scary monsters, and every kind of swamp creature in between all without the use of pitch shifting or electronic alteration. He just gets in front of a microphone and is brilliant!

I was really excited to get Dee on the podcast because I wanted to talk to him about his acting process. While the vocal pyrotechnics he can produce are impressive, Dee doesn’t just get hired because he can make crazy sounds with his throat. His special skill is to convey emotions through creature noises, in other words, acting. He combines his amazing technical prowess with his road-tested acting abilities in order to make his creature sounds so expressive and believable.

In this first segment of our interview, I ask Dee how he got started as an actor. While he did get involved in theater at a very young age, his journey to becoming a professional voice actor was anything but typical. He didn’t take many acting classes in school and he never planned on having a career as a performer. Instead, he simply did what sounded fun to him in the moment and gave himself permission to try any interesting opportunity that came his way. This meant that his journey has been filled with serendipity and synchronicity. He never had a concrete plan for his career, but rather followed his fascination and did his best to capitalize on where his skills overlapped with his interests. His story is as inspiring as it is unconventional.

Download Voice Acting Mastery Episode #146 Here (MP3)

Welcome to episode 145 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 the award-winning voice actress, Cissy Jones! You may be familiar with her voice acting work on games like The Walking Dead, Life is Strange, Where the Water Tastes Like Wine, and Firewatch where she won a BAFTA award for her performance as Delilah! Cissy also works extensively in commercials and trailers.

In the previous episode, we discussed what inspired Cissy to become a voice actress in the first place! While she had always loved cartoons, she also found herself fascinated by every aspect of voice over and she fell in love with the voice over world. That passion inspired her to study as much as she could in order to improve her skills! Cissy and I also talked about what it was like for her to work on the game Firewatch and what she learned from her co-star, Madmen actor Rich Sommer.

As we draw our conversation to a close, I ask Cissy what advice she has for aspiring voice actors. I think you’ll find that what she has to say is very grounded and practical! She also speaks about how winning a BAFTA award affected her career. You may be surprised by her answer!

Download Voice Acting Mastery Episode #145 Here (MP3)

Welcome to episode 144 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 the award-winning voice actress, Cissy Jones! She’s worked on such games as The Walking Dead, Life is Strange, Where the Water Tastes Like Wine, and Firewatch where she won a BAFTA award for her performance as Delilah! Cissy also works extensively in commercials and trailers.

In the previous episode, we talked about how Cissy broke into voice acting. After hearing a radio interview with Nancy Cartwright, the voice of Bart from the Simpsons, Cissy started researching voice over training opportunities in her own area and jumped into the world of voice over with both feet! Her commitment, organization, and tenacity have served her well! After facing some tough challenges, she eventually established herself as a marketable and successful voice actress in Los Angeles.

In this, the second part of our interview, we discuss what inspired Cissy to become a voice actress in the first place! You’ll discover that while cartoons were the first thing that drew her to voice acting, what really sealed the deal for her was finding out just how many different kinds of jobs there were in all types of voice over! After that, we talk about what it was like for her to work on the game Firewatch and what she learned from her co-star, Madmen actor Rich Sommer. She even reveals a special goal she has, which is to break a big glass ceiling for women in the world of voice over! I think you’ll really enjoy Cissy’s insights!

Download Voice Acting Mastery Episode #144 Here (MP3)

Welcome to episode 143 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 very happy to share with you the first part of my interview with the award-winning voice actress, Cissy Jones! Her list of voice acting roles in video games is impressive! She’s played 7 different characters in the Walking Dead franchise including Katjaa, Jolene, and Bree. She’s worked on such influential independent games as Life is Strange where she played Joyce Price, Where the Water Tastes Like Wine where she played Bertha, and Firewatch where she won a BAFTA award for her performance as Delilah! Cissy’s resume isn’t just limited to games either! She also works extensively in commercials and trailers. In addition, she plays a number of characters in the animated show Little Big Awesome and at the time of this episode, she has a super secret animated project for Disney that she’s working on, but can’t talk about yet!

I was eager to interview Cissy because she started her voice over career in the San Francisco Bay Area and I knew she would have great insights about how to break into the Los Angeles market from outside. In fact, Cissy and I actually met years ago when I used to teach classes at a school in Sausalito, CA called VoiceTrax that she attended. Later, when I discovered that she had left the Bay Area and was able to establish herself as a voice actress in LA, I was very happy for her! When I heard that she’d also won the BAFTA for her performance in the game Firewatch, I was blown away! It’s always wonderful for voice actors to get public acknowledgment for their creative skills and after hearing Cissy’s performance as Delilah, I must say, she clearly deserved it!

In this episode, you’ll discover how a radio interview of the Simpsons’ voice actress Nancy Cartwright changed the course of Cissy’s life! We discuss how Cissy went from helping launch start up companies in Silicon Valley, to immersing herself in all things voice over, and what it took for her to develop her skills to a professional level! Cissy truly jumped into the voice over world with both feet and never looked back! But I’ll let her tell you the story!

Download Voice Acting Mastery Episode #143 Here (MP3)

Welcome to episode 142 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 third and final part of my interview with the amazing Fred Tatasciore! Fred is probably most famous for voice the character of the Incredible Hulk in numerous animated incarnations. Some of Fred’s other familiar characters include Zeratul in the StarCraft Franchise, Master Shifu in the animated TV series, Kung-Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness, and one of my personal favorites: Soldier 76 in the game Overwatch.

In the previous episode, Fred and I talked about how important it is to have a deep psychological understanding of a character in order to portray them believably as a voice actor. When it comes to being able to play a wide range of characters, Fred finds that truly understanding each character’s psyche is more important than being able to radically change your voice. I definitely agree with him! As we continued our discussion, Fred shared his reasons for becoming a performer. Understanding what motivates an artist to pursue their craft can not only give you insight into their process, but can also help you find the inspiration you need to pursue your own artistic journey.

We begin this episode by talking about Italian Mask Theater and European red-nose clown theater. While these may seem like esoteric performance techniques, both mask work and clown work can lead you to a deeper understanding of different character archetypes as well as how to discover your own voice as a performer. Then Fred and I discuss the challenging world of voice matching celebrities in movies and animated series. We wrap up our talk with Fred’s advice to the aspiring voice actor and the importance he places on getting up in front of a live audience in order to hone your performance skills. It’s a deep and nuanced exploration of the craft of acting that I think you’ll really enjoy!

Download Voice Acting Mastery Episode #142 Here (MP3)

Welcome to episode 141 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 the amazing Fred Tatasciore! Fred is probably most famous for voice the character of the Incredible Hulk in numerous animated incarnations. Some of Fred’s other familiar characters include Zeratul in the StarCraft Franchise, Master Shifu in the animated TV series, Kung-Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness, and one of my personal favorites: Soldier 76 in the game Overwatch.

In the previous episode, Fred and I talked about how he broke into voice acting. I was blown away by both the breadth and depth of his knowledge and expertise! Not only was he developing and refining his performance skills from an early age, but he was also expanding his graphic design abilities and his understanding of animation. Fred has an incredibly well rounded educational background which been invaluable to him as both a voice actor and as a comedian!

In this episode, we discuss how Fred is able to play so many different types of characters. A hint: it has far more to do with understanding the psychological center of a character than it does with producing crazy vocal sounds! Fred and I also talk about what inspired him to become a performer in the first place. I always think it’s useful to explore not only how a successful voice actor applies their craft, but also why they were motivated to pursue acting as a career. When you discover what muse guides a performer you admire, it can help you find your own inspiration as well! So without further ado, here’s Fred!

Download Voice Acting Mastery Episode #141 Here (MP3)