VAM 134 | Interview with Anjali Bhimani, Part 1
Welcome to episode 134 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 first part of my interview with theater, on-camera and voice actress, Anjali Bhimani! You may know Anjali from her performances in TV shows like Modern Family, where she played Nina Patel, and the recently released series Alex, Inc. where she plays the character Joya. Anjali started working in theater in such famous touring productions as Metamorphoses which began at the Looking Glass Theater in Chicago and eventually went to Broadway in New York City, and Bombay Dreams which also had a Broadway production run. However, for my podcast audience, Anjali is probably most familiar for her voice acting work as Symmetra in the hit game, Overwatch. Anjali is not only a talented actor, singer and dancer, but she also runs a YouTube channel called “I am Fun Size” where she shares her life wisdom and experience. I was fortunate enough to be a guest on her YouTube series and I’m honored to have her with me here on the Voice Acting Mastery podcast!
In this episode, Anjali and I begin our discussion by talking about how she began her study of acting. She was a very industrious and studious young girl and while she had a passion for performing, it wasn’t until she was in high school that she realized that acting could be an actual career path. Once she made that discovery, she did her best to learn everything she could about creating and sustaining an acting career. Her early accomplishments are a case study in how successful one can be when intense preparation meets artistic opportunity. Anjali applied herself diligently to her craft so that when acting opportunities arose for her, she was able to capitalize on them effectively. However, even with so much good fortune, she quickly learned that she couldn’t rest on her laurels. She realized that no matter how successful she may have been at first, she still had to hustle in order to maintain her acting career.
Anjali has an infectious enthusiasm that I’m sure you’ll hear in our interview and I am eager to share her insights with you! So without further ado, here’s Anjali!
If you’d like to check out her YouTube series, please visit her
Download Voice Acting Mastery Episode #134 Here (MP3)
VAMFR 029 | Interview with Erica Mendez, Part 3
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)
VAM 133 | Interview with Eliza Jane Schneider, Part 3
Welcome to episode 133 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 voice actor and dialect expert, Eliza Jane Schneider! You may be familiar with her work voicing almost all of the female characters on the animated series South Park in the years between 1999 and 2003. Eliza and I have also been in a number of projects together including Diablo III where I played the Male Wizard and she played the Female Necromancer, and also the Pirates of the Caribbean video games where I voice match Orlando Bloom to play Will Turner while she voice matches Keira Knightly to play Elizabeth Swann.
In addition to her many acting accomplishments, Eliza is incredibly dedicated to the study and mastery of English language dialects. She is a highly sought after accent coach and I’m very happy to have her on the podcast to share her insight and expertise with all my listeners!
In the previous episode, Eliza explained the unique techniques she has developed to master dialects and accents. As we wrap up our time together, Eliza talks about how to approach mastering the emotional component of performing with an accent. She also shares her tongue placement system to help dial in the specific sound of certain vowel substitutions. We end the interview with Eliza’s advice to aspiring voice actors, which includes the reality of how little time voice over performers actually have to give a believable and compelling performance once they’re in the booth. It’s a sobering but honest take on the challenges of working in the voice over industry. I think you’ll find Eliza’s candor and expertise very helpful, so let’s get started!
If you would like to learn more about Eliza’s dialect training, please visit her website at:
Download Voice Acting Mastery Episode #133 Here (MP3)
VAMFR 028 | Interview with Erica Mendez, Part 2
VAMFR 028 | Interview with Erica Mendez, Part 2
Welcome to episode 28 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 second part of Tom Bauer’s interview with his good friend and rising talent in the voice over industry, Erica Mendez.
Erica is probably most famous for her voice acting work in anime, taking on such roles as 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. If that wasn’t enough, Erica has also started work as an ADR script writer for the Netflix original anime series, Fate/Apocrypha.
When we last left off, Erica was discussing how she made the decision to move from her hometown of Chicago to Los Angeles to pursue her creative endeavors. While she initially intended to move to LA to become a professional animator, her previous experiences performing in online audio dramas opened a new world of opportunity for her in the area of voice acting. When she arrived in LA, a series of fortunate circumstances lined up to give her the chance to audition for voice acting jobs.
In this episode, Erica talks about some of the challenges she faced while pursuing her new voice acting career. She shares her insight into what it takes to stay competitive in voice over, as well as some of the acting techniques she’s adopted while taking classes and how she implements what she’s learned in the booth. We start this episode by delving into her process of developing characters for anime.
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 #28 Here (MP3)
VAM 132 | Interview with Eliza Jane Schneider, Part 2
Welcome to episode 132 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 voice actor and dialect expert, Eliza Jane Schneider! You may be familiar with her work voicing almost all of the female characters on the animated series South Park in the years between 1999 and 2003. Eliza and I have also been in a number of projects together including Diablo III where I played the Male Wizard and she played the Female Necromancer, and also the Pirates of the Caribbean video games where I voice match Orlando Bloom to play Will Turner while she voice matches Keira Knightly to play Elizabeth Swann.
In addition to her many acting accomplishments, Eliza is incredibly dedicated to the study and mastery of English language dialects. She is a highly sought after accent coach and I’m very happy to have her on the podcast to share her insight and expertise with all my listeners!
In the previous episode, Eliza told us how she broke into the entertainment industry, first as an on-camera actress, and later as a voice actress. In this segment of our interview, we discuss her dialect work and how her music training as a young girl helped inform her technique for mastering different accents. Her ability to hear fine nuances in how people pronounce their words has allowed her to create her own unique way of teaching accents to performers. In fact, in this episode she puts me through my paces and helps me improve my own Australian accent! I think you’ll find her insight as enlightening as I did!
If you would like to learn more about Eliza’s dialect training, please visit her website at:
Download Voice Acting Mastery Episode #132 Here (MP3)
VAMFR 027 | Interview with Erica Mendez, Part 1
VAMFR 027 | Interview with Erica Mendez, Part 1
Welcome to episode 27 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 Tom Bauer’s interview with his good friend and rising talent in the voice over industry, Erica Mendez.
Erica has made amazing strides in the last few years of her career, namely in the realms of video game and anime voice over. She is probably most famous for her voice acting work as Gon Freecs in the 2011 anime series adaptation of Hunter X Hunter. She’s also voiced characters like Sailor Uranus in the Viz Media English dub of Sailor Moon and Ryuko Matoi in the popular Kill la Kill anime television series. Most recently, Erica has also started work as an ADR script writer for the Netflix original anime series, Fate/Apocrypha.
Tom first met Erica in a voice over class studying under Richard Horvitz back in March of 2013. It’s been a great honor for him getting to know her as a friend and performing alongside her as an actor in a number of anime titles.
In this first episode, we focus on how Erica made the courageous decision to move from her hometown of Chicago to Los Angeles to pursue her creative endeavors. We discuss how her love of cartoons and video games initially inspired her to become a professional animator. While she assumed she would be trying to find work as an animator once she moved to LA, her previous experience performing in online audio dramas meant that she was also open to pursuing voice acting. Once she arrived in Los Angeles, a number of fortunate circumstances lined up to give her the opportunity to audition for voice acting jobs!
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 #27 Here (MP3)