Welcome to episode 110 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 talented and amazingly driven voice actress, Stephanie Sheh! You may be familiar with her work from shows like the Legend of Korra, Naruto and Sailor Moon. Stephanie is not only a talented voice actress, but she also has experience as a producer, director and even as a recording engineer! I’m thrilled and grateful to have someone with her breadth of knowledge on the podcast to talk with us about what it takes to be successful in the industry!

In our last episode, Stephanie discussed how she broke into voice acting and what emotional hurdles she had to overcome to pursue a voice acting career. In the second part of our conversation, Stephanie shares with us what inspired her to pursue acting in the first place. It was her burning desire to perform that kept her motivated to study the craft of acting, even in the face of disapproval and uncertainty. While Stephanie’s parents encouraged her to pursue acting as a hobby so that she could enrich herself on a personal level, they were very skeptical that acting could ever be a reliable career choice for her. They were understandably worried about their daughter’s future and wanted to make sure that she could provide for herself.

Stephanie realized that if she was truly going to make it as a performer, she would have to be resourceful and self-motivated. She pursued every avenue she could to develop her skills, and you can feel her tenacity when she speaks of what it takes to succeed as a professional actor. I think you’ll find her insights invaluable.

Download Voice Acting Mastery Episode #110 Here (MP3)

VAMFR 005 | Interview with Matthew Mercer, Part 1

Welcome to episode 5 of the Voice Acting Mastery: Field Report podcast!

In this episode our correspondent, DanWill McCann, begins his interview with the prolific and mult-talented Matthew Mercer.

Matthew has given fantastic voice performances in over 150 projects, ranging from Video Games, like Robin in Batman: Arkham Knight and MacCready in the recent hit Fallout 4, to animation, like Levi in Attack on Titan and Iron Man in Iron Man Rise of the Technovore.

In this segment, Matthew shares his beginnings, his journey, his inspirations, and he offers some advice for those aspiring to work in the field. DanWill sincerely appreciates Matthew’s straightforward honesty about the amount of effort it takes to become and remain professionally competitive in the voice acting world. Both DanWill and I think you’ll enjoy hearing Matthew share his ongoing love of animation as much as we did! So please welcome Matthew Mercer!

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 #5 Here (MP3)

Welcome to episode 109 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 the talented and amazingly driven voice actress, Stephanie Sheh! You may know Stephanie’s voice acting from her work portraying characters such as Zhu-Li in Nickelodeon’s hit series, the Legend of Korra, Hinata in the ever popular anime series Naruto, and most recently Sailor Moon herself in both the re-released original anime series and the newer Sailor Moon Crystal remake. What you may not be as familiar with is her work behind the scenes in animation and video games! She’s produced, directed, cast and even engineered voice acting sessions for numerous projects. She has hands-on experience with almost every aspect of the production chain, and because of her broad array of talents, she has a wealth of information about what it truly takes to succeed in the industry.

I had the great pleasure of working with Stephanie when I first came to Los Angeles. I was fortunate enough to direct her in an obscure anime show called I, My, Me Strawberry Eggs where she played one of the lead characters. I was impressed with her work and commitment level back then and my admiration for her tenacity and skill has only grown. What I really appreciate about Stephanie is how down to earth and practical she is. She never minces words about what it takes to succeed and always tells the unvarnished truth. She is focused and dedicated. She knows that her success is up to her and she tries to share that understanding with others so that they too will take responsibility for finding their own avenues to creating a viable and fulfilling career.

In the first part of our discussion, Stephanie shares with us how she broke into voice acting. She had a very unconventional path and her journey reveals a lot, not only about her and her level of commitment, but also about the entertainment industry and some of the unspoken expectations that people in Hollywood may have. She also discusses her initial fear that her family would not support her decision to pursue acting as a career and how she had to overcome that fear of rejection in order to follow her acting dreams. I’m honored to have Stephanie on the podcast, so pay close attention! She’s got a lot of great insights to share!

Download Voice Acting Mastery Episode #109 Here (MP3)

VAMFR 004 | Interview with Robin Armstrong, Part 3

Welcome to episode 4 of the Voice Acting Mastery: Field Report podcast!

In this episode our correspondent, Ashley Huyge, continues her discussion with writer, director, and VO talent, Robin Armstrong.

As of now, there’s no traditional academic path for voiceover. You can’t go to college, study for four years and leave with a degree in voiceover. Finding someone to guide you as a mentor is invaluable and in today’s episode Ashley is joined by one of her mentors, actor, director and VO talent, Robin Armstrong. In the two previous episodes of this interview, Robin has treated us to stories about his journey to becoming a voiceover talent, and how he keeps his business and artistry balanced. Today he’ll be sharing a couple of very important concepts: generosity and community. It’s due to Robin’s generosity and his ability to develop his community that he and Ashley met. I think you’ll find the final part of their interview very enlightening.

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 #4 Here (MP3)

Welcome to episode 108 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 Greg from Nashville, TN.

Greg wants to know what he can do to overcome his feelings of anxiety and fear when it comes to voice acting. He feels like it’s getting in the way of taking his voice acting to the next level.

His question is a very common question. In fact, probably the most common question I get other than simply how to become a voice actor, is whether or not I can help someone overcome their feelings of anxiety. I actually did my best to address this question way back in episode 9 of the podcast entitled “Building Confidence“, and I encourage Greg and everyone in my audience to listen to that episode if you haven’t already.

However, I’d like to applaud Greg for asking this very common question in a very uncommon and insightful way. When you listen to his voice mail in the episode, you’ll realize that he’s clearly taken the time to analyze his own patterns of thought and his own internal emotional life. He understands the importance of mastering his own anxiety and he’s even aware that it’s possible to channel his nervous energy so that it can help him rather than hinder him.

Because Greg has put so much forethought into his question, and because he articulated it in such a clear and thorough manner, I’d like to take this entire episode to share with all my listeners the best tools I know of to help overcome anxiety from an actor’s perspective. Hopefully that will give Greg and my entire audience added confidence when pursuing your own voice acting goals.

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 #108 Here (MP3)

VAMFR 003 | Interview with Robin Armstrong, Part 2

Welcome to episode 3 of the Voice Acting Mastery: Field Report podcast!

In this episode our correspondent, Ashley Huyge, continues her discussion with writer, director, and VO talent, Robin Armstrong.

In entertainment, there are often people who wear many different hats and have multiple skill sets: Actor/ director. Model/ actor. Singer/dancer. In our last episode, Robin was kind enough to share with us his background as an actor, director and writer and how self-motivation was a key to his success. Now he’ll share with us his leap from film director to VO talent and how he believes the combination of artistry, science and business are important for balance in the entertainment industry.

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 #3 Here (MP3)