VAMFR 024 | Maintaining Good Psychological Health as a Voice Actor, Part 1

Welcome to episode 24 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 to the first part of a special report on maintaining good psychological health as a voice actor by our special correspondent, Maureen Price!

Maureen has been eager to dive into this topic ever since she joined the Field Report and she’s very excited to share her findings with all of you! When it comes to building a successful voice acting career, developing confidence, which includes learning to deal with rejection, is just as important as sharpening our acting skills or learning solid business practices. When Maureen started interviewing industry professionals about this subject, she was very curious to hear how they dealt with the emotional challenges of being a voice actor and how their approaches to maintaining a healthy mindset evolved over the course of their careers. Maureen’s tactics and thought processes for handling emotional stress have certainly changed since her earliest experiences as a child stage actor! And she’s grateful for that!

In part one of her report, Maureen will be exploring a subject that greatly affects us all as voice actors over the entire arc of our careers. It’s also a topic that she rarely hears addressed in interviews but is of great importance given how far reaching it is. She’s referring to the dreaded “R” word. Rejection. More specifically Maureen wants to explore how to handle rejection in psychologically healthy and productive ways. Since rejection is one of the most common and inevitable experiences we encounter in the voice over world, it’s crucial to develop a skill set to cope with it well. If we aren’t able to handle rejection effectively, we’re all going to have a rough go of things.

To help her explore these sometimes difficult and loaded topics, Maureen spoke with four wonderfully talented voice actors. Firstly, she sat down with Keith Silverstein, an industry veteran whose work includes Torbjörn in Overwatch, Hisoka in HunterxHunter, and Hawk Moth in Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir amongst many, many more. She then spoke with Laura Post, voice actor and now voice director for the anime series Little Witch Academia. Laura’s voice acting work includes Big Barda in Justice League Action, Ragyō in Kill la Kill, Ahri in League of Legends, and Nozomi Tojo in Love Live! School Idol Project. Maureen also spoke with Ray Chase. Ray voices Prince Noctis in Final Fantasy XV, Master of Masters in Kingdom Hearts 2.8 and Puri-puri Prisoner in One Punch Man. Finally, she sat down with Valerie Arem. Valerie is a voice actor, voice director, and educator. Her directing work includes Persona 4 and Persona 5. She voices Francine in The Walking Dead video game, Naoto Shirogane in Persona 4, and Kyra Mosley in Call of Duty: Ghosts. Valerie and her husband Keith Arem run PCB Productions, a studio in Los Angeles specializing in video game recording. They also teach workshops that focus on voice acting for a variety of video game genres. Maureen was especially interested to talk to Valerie given her wealth of experience as an actor, director, casting director, and educator.

Maureen would like to thank all of her fantastically talented guests for being so generous with their time and for their willingness to discuss these topics with honesty and vulnerability. It meant a great deal to her and she hopes that their words over the course of this series resonate and inspire all of us to continue to develop healthy approaches to the psychological challenges that come with the work we do.

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 #24 Here (MP3)

Welcome to episode 128 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 first part of my interview with voice actor, director and teacher, Zach Hanks! You may be familiar with his performances as Garnac in the animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Morgan and Custis Pendleton in the video game Dishonored and Lars Halford in the game Brutal Legend.

Not only is Zach a voice actor, but he has also worked as both a voice director and casting director on multiple video game projects including Company of Heroes, Saints Row, and Warhammer 40,000. In addition to all his voice over industry accomplishments, Zach has also taught voice acting as a professor at the Stephen F. Austin State University in Eastern Texas. He currently resides in Atlanta where he is continuing to pursue his own voice over career in addition to founding the Voice Over Career Launch Pad, a service that helps voice over artists learn the skills they need to become business savvy professionals in the industry. I’m very excited to bring you Zach’s story because his experiences are so wide and varied!

In this first part of our interview, we cover Zach’s journey from when he started as a young high school student interested in acting, all the way through the myriad twists and turns of his acting journey up until today. We touch on his training, the challenges he faced when he first entered the entertainment industry as an actor, the lessons he learned going back to school to get his Master’s degree, the success he had as a performer, casting director and booth director after returning to Los Angeles, and even the insight he’s gained from teaching others how to pursue their voice acting goals when he was a college professor. It’s an amazing story filled with surprises! At each step in his adventure, Zach learned important lessons that I think you’ll really benefit from hearing! But I’ll let Zach tell you all about it in his own words!

Download Voice Acting Mastery Episode #128 Here (MP3)

VAMFR 023 | Interview with Kelly Moscinski, Part 2

Welcome to episode 23 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 part two of DanWill McCann’s interview with Kelly Moscinski, the owner and head of casting for The Voicecaster, a busy and well respected recording and rehearsal studio in Burbank, California. For over 40 years, The Voicecaster recording and rehearsal studio has been a one stop shop for voice acting needs including auditions, final recording sessions, voice over classes, demo production and more! Kelly has been working at the Voicecaster for almost a decade. In 2013 she had the opportunity to buy the company and since then the business has continued to thrive. The staff at the Voicecaster work on many types of projects including commercials, industrial narration, video games and animation!

In the last episode, we learned about Kelly’s journey from her time in the theater to eventually working in the voice over industry. She’s always felt more drawn to directing rather than performing and her theater experience working with actors has helped her tremendously in voice over for the last 10 years. She brought her passion for directing with her to The Voicecaster and continues to foster a supportive environment there for performers. DanWill and her discussed the audition process where Kelly shared her insight from a casting director’s point of view. DanWill enjoyed her perspective, as well as her advice on how to prepare for an audition while avoiding over-rehearsing. It’s changed how he’ll be approaching future auditions, and he hopes you found it helpful as well.

In this, the 2nd and final part of their interview, Kelly and DanWill talk about appropriate etiquette for voice actors when in a recording booth. She shares with DanWill her expectations for actors who come to audition for her as well as advice on how to put your best foot forward in front of casting directors. Hearing what she’s looking for from an actor has helped DanWill feel more confident about how to present himself when he comes in for an audition. After taking her advice to heart, he feels that he’s less likely to make a mistake that might seem thoughtless or unprofessional. Kelly gives some great suggestions about keeping in touch with casting directors, something we all need to do if we want to make a career of voice acting. She and DanWill also chat about demos, the voice actor’s main way of marketing themselves to prospective clients. Kelly has a vast amount of experience with demos. Not only does she listen to actor’s demos all day long in order to cast projects, but The Voicecaster also produces demos for voice actors. DanWill thinks you will find her advice and stories very useful for your own demos, whether you’re looking to make your first one, or update your existing one. He’ll certainly be applying her suggestions as he prepares to update his own demo!

With that covered, Kelly and DanWill finish up their time together by discussing what kind of services The Voicecaster offers. Even if you don’t live in the Los Angeles area, it’s good to know what kind of classes they offer so you can research similar classes you might be able to take in your own neighborhood, or even online!

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 #23 Here (MP3)

Welcome to episode 127 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 a question from Jeremiah of Bealton, VA .

Jeremiah knows that I’ve taught a lot of students in my Voice Acting Mastery workshops and he’s curious if noticed any common elements or personality traits among the most successful students that I teach.

Jeremiah’s question is very insightful, and I appreciate him giving me the opportunity to answer it. In fact, I think it’s so important, I’d like to make it the focus of this entire episode.

It’s true that I started teaching voice acting workshops in late 2010 and I’ve worked with hundreds of students since that time. While every student is unique and each has their own journey that they must take in order to improve their voice acting skills, I have observed some patterns. There are common challenges that many students face and I have noticed that certain types of students rise to those challenges while others struggle, become discouraged or give up.

Let me preface any further discussion by saying that I do not claim to know for sure whether every student who attends my classes will succeed as a professional. I don’t think any teacher can truly anticipate that, because there are just too many variables in play. In the end, it’s always up to the student themselves.

That being said, I can share with you the personality traits and psychological attitudes that I believe can give one the best chance of becoming a professional voice actor. Students who adopt these mindsets tend to be the most resilient in the face of adversity and are the most inspired as they pursue their career goals.

In the episode I give Jeremiah and my listeners 3 pieces of advice:

1. Pursue voice acting for the right reasons.
2. Be willing to take criticism.
3. Be resourceful and proactive.

I talk at length about what I mean with these pieces of advice and give concrete examples of the different kinds of students that I encounter. I think you’ll find it very helpful!

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 #127 Here (MP3)

VAMFR 022 | Interview with Kelly Moscinski, Part 1

Welcome to episode 22 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 first part of DanWill McCann’s interview with Kelly Moscinski, the owner and head of casting for The Voicecaster, a busy and well respected recording and rehearsal studio in Burbank, California. Nestled in between several major Hollywood studio film lots, The Voicecaster helps cast and record projects from all areas of Voice Over including, commercials, industrial narration, video games, animation, and more! The Voicecaster office was originally founded back in 1975 and has been in business ever since. Kelly had over a decade of experience in the production side of the voice over industry before she was hired at the Voicecaster, first as an assistant and later as a full time casting director. The previous owner of the Voicecaster admired her passion, commitment and ambition and it was clear to him that Kelly would be the ideal steward for the company moving forward. After three and a half years of working for them as an employee, Kelly was offered a chance to buy the business and she jumped at it. Kelly has owned the Voicecaster since 2013 and the company has flourished under her leadership.

In this episode, we’ll get to know Kelly and her studio as well as learn more about how she got where she is today. DanWill is especially excited to share with you Kelly’s tips and tricks for voice actors to help us perform our best during auditions! From a performer’s perspective, the auditioning process can be very mysterious. So much of it happens before an actor even arrives at the studio to record. Every audition DanWill goes into, he often wishes he could be a fly on the wall to hear the conversation of the casting agents and marketing representatives on the other side of the glass from where he’s standing in the recording booth. DanWill would love to hear what informs their choices and how they finally decide on which voice actor will suit their project. DanWill’s really grateful that Kelly was generous enough to share with us her stories and advice on how to navigate this potentially intimidating process. Getting such insider information has helped him feel more confident when he approaches auditioning and we have a feeling you will enjoy and value her information as much as DanWill did.

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 #22 Here (MP3)

Welcome to episode 126 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 spend some time discussing how important it is to be aware of what you sound like when you’re speaking. I have watched too many of my voice acting students struggle because they are unaware of what their own voice actually sounds like. Unbeknownst to many, what you hear inside your head when you’re speaking is not what others hear. If you haven’t taken the time to get to know how you actually sound to the rest of the world, you’re missing out on crucial information that can make or break your voice acting career. Not only do you need to be aware of the tone or timbre of your voice, but you also need to become intimately familiar with your habitual manner of speaking and how you articulate words. Like a musician playing an instrument, it’s vital that you understand exactly what kind of sounds you are producing and how they are perceived by others. Without such self-awareness, you will not know how to modify your delivery for different characters you’re asked to play, or how to make precise vocal adjustments in order to communicate effectively to your audience.

For some actors, their habitual manner of speech might be fine for portraying certain characters. These actors may have a sound that is marketable or popular at the moment, so they may not feel the need to spend much time thinking about how they sound. After all, it’s working so far. Meanwhile, other actors may struggle to be considered for parts because they may have regionalisms or enunciation problems which make it difficult for producers to cast them. Regardless of whether you are blessed with a currently marketable sound, or have some speech challenges that you need to overcome, at some point nearly every actor will be asked to play a character who speaks with a different intonation, accent, or vocal quality than the one you use in everyday life. In those situations, you need to be able to modify the way you speak in order to suit the character you’re being asked to portray.

While at first it may seem obvious that a voice actor needs to know what they sound like and how they speak, you might be surprised at how often I work with people who seem completely unaware of either of these things. If someone on the outside points out that they might have regionalisms or limiting speech patterns, they can often become quite defensive. In this episode, I want to explain why this is and help share some useful tools to help you overcome any limitations you might be facing due to habitual speech patterns. Changing how we speak is actually an incredibly emotional topic and can make many people feel uncomfortable. Hopefully by the end of this episode, you’ll not only understand the underlying issues at work here, but you’ll have a far better grasp on what you as a voice actor can do to avoid any speech problems that might be holding you back.
 
Download Voice Acting Mastery Episode #126 Here (MP3)