VAM 060 | The 5 Things I Love Most About Voice Acting
Welcome to episode 60 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
For this, the 60th episode of the podcast, I thought I’d spend some time talking about the 5 things I love most about voice acting and why I find voice acting such an enjoyable and enriching occupation. Many of you may also appreciate the same aspects of voice acting that I do, but haven’t really put your thoughts into words. Others of you may not know as much about voice acting and might wonder what the appeal is of pursuing such a career. Whether you’ve just started researching voice acting or are completely committed to finding your niche in the world of voice over, I find that it can really help clarify one’s goals in life to sit down and take stock of all the things one enjoys about a certain pursuit. Focusing on all the things you appreciate about being a voice actor will not only inspire you to follow your voice acting goals with more vigor and enthusiasm, but I believe it will actually accelerate your journey towards your goal. You become what you think about. So let’s spend this episode thinking about some of the positive aspects of a voice acting career in order to bring that vision to fruition.
The 5 Things I Love Most About Voice Acting are:
- As a Voice Actor, I get to work in a field of entertainment that I’ve loved since I was young, namely Animation, Video Games and Anime.
- Voice acting allows me as an actor to play characters I would have very little chance of playing in live action productions.
- Voice acting feels like more of a meritocracy to me than on-camera acting.
- As a Voice Actor, I get to live where I work and work where I live.
- Voice acting allows me perform while still being able to maintain my privacy and anonymity.
I expand on each of these topics in detail in the podcast.
I’m eager to hear what you love most about voice acting! Please let me know by leaving a comment on this blog post!
All the best to you in your voice acting endeavors!
Download Voice Acting Mastery Episode #60 Here (MP3)
How do you master the speed and rhythm when it comes to lip flap in Japanese anime?
The same way you master any artistic or musical skill. Practice. Training with good teachers can shorten the time it takes to master a skill such as matching lip flap. That’s why I offer my Anime Voice Acting Workshops.
Hi Crispin, Happy 60th episode ^-^ Great job on these amazing aspects about voice acting. I’m like you, I have been a lot of comics, animations, video games and even anime since my childhood. About #5, and I do understand of everything-because being famous or celebrity can be very complicated and embarrassing by those paparazzi. As a fan, I’m always appreciative, warm-heart, loyal, respectful, kind, joyful for you and other voice actors during the conventions. After my difficult past, I’m still trying to get through out of my shadows, but thanks to my friends,teachers, and my favorite role models,including you, Vic Migongna, and Steve Blum who really cheered me up nd encouraged me. Also, I used to be in choir when I was young. Well, I didn’t do alot of choir anymore because somebody laughed at me without reason. But, I do sing by myself depends what song that really suits for my voice and what I feel comfortable the most. Another best aspect is that how much I really adore your and other voice actors’ work that really closes to my heart 🙂 Hopefully in the future, I would love to try to do online voice acting class if I have enough big money and find a good quality and price microphone. Thank you so much again and I’m really looking forward to hear the next episode 🙂
I’m so glad you enjoyed the episode.
If you are interested in taking my online classes, you do not need to buy an expensive microphone. A USB headset microphone will suffice. The Plantronics 478 is a perfectly good headset for my class.
Hope that helps.
Wow- That looks cool 🙂 Thanks for sharing a link, Crispin. Will it work with Skype as well during your online class?
In the description of the class on the webpage I say which system I use. It is not Skype. Please make sure to read the class description on the website thoroughly.
The 5 things I love most about voice acting?
1. It’s achievable from home or anywhere you can record and upload in peace.
2. It’s an *enormous* challenge, more so than you’d think it’d be to do it well, and that never ends.
3. The reason for it’s existence: to entertain people, and by extent to make their days better!
4. I’ve made a ton of friends I otherwise never would’ve met 😀
5. The comments xD Ranging from horribly insulting to heartwarming.
Wonderful! I’ll admit, sometimes finding a place where you can record in peace can be a challenge! But it’s nice when you finally find such a place!
Thanks so much for sharing.
I love all the feedback I get from watchers of my work. Ranging “Wow, [this character I play] is so good! She’s the best VA in this project!” to “[This character I play] is terrible! She needs to stop!”
Well, of course I haven’t received super terrible comments like that, but I’m sure to when I get to pro level in a recording booth. Everyone’s a critic, as they say.
I’m just terribly vain like that. I like it when people talk about me. xD Just as long as I can hear/see it. Being an imperfect world, no such thing exists, and it comes with the territory.
I also like how I’m not limited to my physical appearance. I got casted as secretaries and assistants a lot in productions which often come with next to no lines, so my voice barely gets used anyway. But with my voice, I’m limited only to my range! Whoo!
I just love everything about it. <3
Looking forward to more!
~ Kalyn
I agree with you. I love not being limited by my physical appearance. It’s very liberating.
Thanks for sharing!
“I look like I should be on Dawson’s Creek, but I sounded like I was from Downton Abbey.”
That remark made me laugh out loud Crispin. I definitely agree with #1, #2, and #5. For me personally one of the most intriguing things about voice over is people hear it all the time through commercials, radio, animation, etc. However, if you ask the average person about voice over most people really don’t have a clue about the field. The world of voice over feels like a best kept secret that isn’t really a secret. The air of mystery the field has to it is one of the reasons why I love researching and being a part of it. Another great episode.
Excellent! I’m glad I brought some levity to your day!
Thanks for your comment!
Hey, Crispin! Been following your podcast for a while and I always found the information and insight given in the podcast enlightening and brilliant. I always learn something new. Now, I’m not a professional Voice Actor (yet), but I do voice overs for a lot of fan projects on youtube. And since you asked, here’s my reasons why I love Voice Acting and want to pursue this as a career.
#1. It’s fun. Duh. But on a level I never had with other hobbies like drawing or reading comics (no disrespect to those mediums at all, just saying how I feel). When I first recorded myself for a school project, I enjoyed the act of doing it. It felt liberating, like a new high… not that I had ever done drugs, but you get my point. Now, I didn’t like playing it back in front of the class, but they liked it enough. And that put me on this path that led me to doing theater at my local high school and those were some of the best nights of my life. My only regret is not pursuing it sooner.
#2. The nostalgia factor. I grew up watching cartoons alot, but I was one of the few who paused in the credits to see who played Sonic the hedgehog or Timmy Turner, just for examples. The impact those actors and those characters had on my life was astronomical and now that I’m pursuing that path, I feel like I’m being passed the torch.
#3. Exploration into the many kinds of characters. I love to try new characters, seeing what works and what doesn’t. One good example is one I found out a few months ago. I had done a fan project as Spider-Man and one of the other actors, and one of my friends, played Deadpool. I got the thought that I could play Deadpool as well. I read a few lines of dialouge and found that this kind of a character really isn’t my strong suit. But hey, at least I tried.
#4. Being anonymous and synonymous at the same time. Put into those kinds of words gives it an air of mystery that I love.
And those are my reasons. Yeah, I’ll come across a jerk of a director or come across a team or a guy who really doesn’t know what they’re doing, but once I step into my make-shift booth and turn on the mic, all the frustration disappears and I am able to find my happy place.
Thanks for sharing Mike. I know I get excited every time I get into the booth to record something. I’m a bit of a tech geek and it’s fun to play with cool sound toys. Firing up ProTools always makes me feel important.
Hi Crispin,
I agree completely with your top 5, my dream is to be invited to a convention and to see the impact I’ve made on the lives of my fans. From interviews with various voice actors, the characters we help create help fans in a number of ways like getting them through a horrible emotional time period in their lives. It warms my heart to hear about how voice actors call children’s hospitals as their characters (like super heroes) and make a difference for those children suffering from terminal illnesses. Being able to work with people that are as kind as they are incredibly talented such as you, Steve Blum, etc, is another one of my top two reasons why I am pursuing voice acting. Thank you for the podcast and have a great day.
It is amazing how many people find solace and comfort in the animated and video game storytelling that we collaborate on. It’s a great honor to be able to bring that to people who are suffering. It’s quite humbling.
Thanks for sharing.
Hello Crispin..I see all is continuing to go great which is always good..its been a while since I’ve been on here I’ve had no internet and made a long move back to los angeles trying to get settled..so hopefully soon enough i can attend one of your online classes or workshop classes now that I’m closer..I remember reading about requirements for online training I don’t have a usb microphone but I do have a bluetooth thats just like a headset it’s a Plantronics LG similar to HBS700http://www.amazon.com/LG-Electronics-Tone-HBS-730-Bluetooth/dp/B009A5204K/ref=sr_1_1?s=wireless&ie=UTF8&qid=1381143739&sr=1-1&keywords=plantronics+LG+HBS700
Unfortunately, bluetooth is a compressed format. You cannot do full spectrum audio over a bluetooth connection. I would feel much more confident if you were using a wired, uncompressed connection for your microphone rather than a bluetooth headset. The fewer pieces in your audio chain that can go wrong, sound bad or fail because of wireless issues, the better. Even iPhone headphones with their built-in microphone would be better.
Hopefully you already have a USB microphone you’re using for voice acting. If not, a wired headset solution is best, such as this Plantronics headset on Amazon: http://amzn.to/ZhKbB9
Ok I will into those as soon as I can..not big on iphones but I shall look into their headphones as well..thank you for the tip, sir.
It doesn’t have to be iphone headphones, I was just offering them as an example. Any headphones with a built-in microphone to be used with a cell phone will still be better than the built-in microphone in a laptop.
Ok because I do have some regular sony headphones with a built-in mic that I use for phones calls and video chatting
Those should probably work fine for my online class.
Thats all I needed to know they just some regular earphones/headphones,,unfortunately one of them blew out but will be getting more soon also a USB headset as you recommended as well and hopefully catch one of your classes now that Im working again
That’s good that you’ve been able to find some equipment that works for you.
I can understand why you love Voice acting more than you do with on camera acting. Because in terms of voice acting you don’t have good looks or get in shape for certain roles you just have to have a Believable good acting voice. Appreciate the podcast Crispin.
Glad you like it. Thanks.
Hey Crispin
What a fun episode. You normally sound like you’re enjoying yourself in your pod, but this time the sheer pleasure of your work was present throughout….
Part of your #3 – meritocracy – is my #1 reason for loving voice acting. To a one, every single voice actor has been a spectacularly generous and supportive person. It has blown me away time and time again. I doubt I could possibly ever get tired of singing VA’s praises. Of course, I …um…sometimes keep this praise a little muted. I stage manage and do other theatre work, so I’m frequently working with actors with considerable stage and film credits. Some of them I’m even glad to call my friends. However, sometimes their…uh…let’s call them idiosyncrasies can make the tasks in front of us even more challenging. Finding it ridiculously easy to talk with voice actors, asking for and receiving advice, getting personal insights to the nuts and bolts of the work… has been nothing short of a delight. I just can’t tell you how awed I’ve been that so many voice actors have been really accessible, approachable and helpful. And this is to say nothing of the hardcore professionalism I’ve encountered from VAs who bring every ounce of their chops to take one. I haven’t always seen that with stage actors (though the better ones definitely do Bring It from the first rehearsal). This generosity and professionalism is the one facet of VA that I feel I have to extol to the world, even when I know very little else about professional voice acting.
I also liked your point #2, effectively, playing roles that I don’t look like, but I approach it a little differently. It’s a distinct relief that I don’t have to seek a “Hollywood trim” body type to get work. I can work on my physical self for my own personal health and decorative goals and not sweat having to be judged on what I look like. But, maybe more importantly, there’s an aspect of not wearing my real face, as it were, that I’ve found freeing. It’s a bit like working behind a mask. Sometimes people have said this is “hiding” behind a mask or the mic, but I sometimes feel like I can go nuts on stage when I’m wearing glasses or a hat – to say nothing of a red nose! I don’t exactly know why. Maybe the medium gives me something to play with so I don’t overthink things…
Your #1 resonates, but in a different way. When I’ve gotten to your classes I’ve gotten a workout by playing some characters that I grew up with. If nothing else, it was a hell of a lot of fun to play Lisa Hayes, Princess Fiona, Ms Marvel and the Queen of Hearts! It definitely thrills me that if this whole voice acting thing works out I’ll be laying the ground work on new characters that future kids will listen to and dream about!
One point that I really like about voice acting, even though it’s a bit silly, is that I don’t have to memorize my lines! I can go on and on about how much I hate memorizing lines, but suffice to say it was a major incentive to return to acting. }:>
All other points I like about voice acting and why I hope to make it my career relate to it being “acting.” I’ve loved acting since I think was 12. Even when I’m distracted by other life exigencies that love persists. There’s just nothing that compares.
You’re right, this is a great exercise all by itself!
Thanks once again!
Flor
So glad you enjoyed the episode! Yes, I’m very fond of the meritocracy of voice acting.
Thanks so much for sharing!
My pleasure! Are you open to requests for future interview subjects? I really got a lot out of your interview with Juan (I get a lot out of all of them, actually), but I would really like to hear from the likes of a voice director of animation. I would love to hear you interview Mary Elizabeth McGlynn. I want to know not just how she gets the right performance out of VAs but also any behind-the-scenes nuts and bolts that she has to consider when it comes to voice directing. (Come to think of it, Tony Oliver would also be a good subject…but I’ve asked him a few of these questions already!)
Thanks once again
Flor
I will see what Mary Elizabeth’s availability is like. I do have plans to interview directors and producers as well so don’t worry about that. Glad you enjoyed the interview with Juan so much!
Hello Mr. Freeman
While I am not a professional voice actor, I listen to your podcast regularly and find many of its lessons applicable to other professions and everyday life in general. I would just like to know if voice actors ever get certain perks outside of their wage for working on animation and video game productions? For example, I remembering reading that Kari Wahlgren often receives copies of the games that she voices and she gives those away to her nieces and nephews. Do you receive copies of the projects that you work on after they are completed and do you watch/play them to see how everything came together? Or do you receive other things like thank you parties or memorabilia?
Thank You
Rusty Shackelford
It is true that many times we will get copies of the shows or video games we work on. Not always and not usually, but sometimes. I almost always watch shows to see how they came out. Games I haven’t had as much time to play, although I often look up the cut scenes online so I can see how the acting came out.
We used to get more merchandise when anime was in it’s heyday in the late 90’s and early 2000’s, but usually there is very little swag to go around these days.
I’ve read that some actors will remain in character even when they’re not on the set, in an effort to deliver a more consistent performance. Have you done this, and if so, do you have any interesting anecdotes about your interactions with fellow cast and crew? Thank you.
I’ve heard about film actors staying in character even when they’re not on set. That’s not really feasible in the world of voice acting. First off there is no set. We work in studios where we have to go in and out of booth to record. If we came into our recording session already in character, the producers would think we were either crazy or bad actors. Or both.
Also, voice actors are required to play multiple characters. If we felt the need to walk into a session “in character” which one would we chose? And many times we don’t even know which character we’re playing until we get to the session, so there’s no way to be “in character” before the session.
Staying in character even when you’re not acting is the sign of a lazy actor to me. The actor hasn’t done their homework or developed their acting skills to the level where they can turn it on and off. Professional basketball players don’t feel the need to continue dribbling the ball once a time out has been called. They stop and then start dribbling again once the game resumes.
I absolutely love your Podcast Crispin! The more I hear, the further my drive to become a voice actor increases! Honestly, I’m working towards being an actor on screen as well as a voice actor, just more voice over work. Ever since I watched pokemon and other animated shows I began to try and imitate the characters I see on tv, then I’d start playing with my voices to try and create my own characters. For years on end I’ve always dreamed about being a voice actor because I not only feel its my calling, but it makes me happy and even more so when others can enjoy it. I’d like to turn this dream into reality. Many of my friends and teachers have told me I have what it takes and should seek what the pros think about my voice. I’ve heard that big areas are Texas, New York, and L.A for doing both types of work. I have 5 years of acting under my belt and want to see what you think. While I don’t live in L.A yet, what do you recommend I do to help me figure if I am somewhat suited for this work. Thank you and keep up the great work in your podcasts!
I’m glad you’re enjoying the podcast.
My recommendation is for you to take a voice over class to see if you enjoy the process of voice acting and to find out what your strengths and weaknesses are. It is best to take such a class from someone who is actually working in the field of voice over. You are welcome to take my online voice acting class if you’d like. Depending on where you live, there may be voice over classes available near you.
Hope that helps.
How young was the youngest voice actor you know. I have taken an interest and I am still in Middle School. I was wondering if you or have worked with people at a somewhat young age?
P.S. I love you as Alucard and as Kyon. Hellsing and The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya are some of my favorite animes!
Thank you. It’s always nice to hear that one’s work is appreciated.
I’m not sure how young the youngest voice actor is, but I’m sure there are some as young as 10 or 12 years old.
I personally haven’t spent that much time working with voice actors that young because I don’t do as many of those younger animation shows. I tend to do more superhero style shows. But I certainly see those younger actors in the studio from time to time.
Just like any type of acting, you can pursue voice acting at a young age. It actually increases your chances of breaking in to the industry quite a bit.
very good episode im starting in a voice over career and im only a high school student I very much appreciate the voice acting mastery podcast and website it helped a lot and I was wondering if there is a career in voice acting at such a young age
I’m glad you’re enjoying the podcast. There are voice actors of all ages from as young as 5 years old. If you are younger, you might need more support from your parents or guardians, but it is still possible to work as a voice actor at a young age.
I strongly agree with all the five reasons you gave, Crispin. The one I like is getting the opportunity to work for animation in which we were inspired by since we were kids. Animation is my passion and I always imagine little kids hearing my voice playing their favorite characters on tv or in a movie in the future. Im also glad you pointed out the fact that we voice actors get to keep our privacy maintained and not get recognized by fans in public. Thats less hassle for us! Voice acting is more comfortable for me than live action acting. Thank you for this podcast!
You’re very welcome. I’m glad you enjoyed the episode.
I know I am quite a bit late to the party as pertains to this particular episode, but i’d like to weigh in with my reasons to love voice acting. I speak about it in my own blog. Crispin, your work here has spurned me on to be able to classify myself as a voice actor, and thus gave me confidence enough to put my voice out there. I hope this story might be inspirational to all the other listeners. A hearty thank you to you, Crispin, for an exceptional podcast.
http://wp.me/p4jQOG-2T
I’m glad you’re finding the podcast inspirational! Thanks for your appreciation!
I want to be a voice actor for these reasons
1. I love anime and want be apart of making it
2. I want give people a view into my inner mind through the character I am playing as
3. When I listen to music I go into my inner mind when hear a good song play I have the main character sing that song the reason I choose them to sing that sing different but the main is to have fun no matter what . I choose this as one my reason to show people no matter what you do even if its something small if is something you want to be then you can have so much fun with it just like voice acting if you have fun even if your playing a background character or the main character you can have so much fun
Those sounds like wonderful reasons to inspire you to follow voice acting. I wish you the best.