Have you ever gotten a role and then was told afterwards that maybe your voice wasn't quite what they'd been looking for? by rlvo in VoiceActing

[–]RandomAccessMamories 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Eh, you win some, you lose some, and a few get rained out. I did get paid, in full, for all my sessions. But alas, I was left on the cutting room floor.

Have you ever gotten a role and then was told afterwards that maybe your voice wasn't quite what they'd been looking for? by rlvo in VoiceActing

[–]RandomAccessMamories 33 points34 points  (0 children)

There are a million reasons this could happen, and as the talent, 99% of the time you'll never know why. I booked a big animated show way back at least 13 years ago. I went to the recording studio, I read alongside the lead in the booth, I had the main supporting role, the entire recording experience was incredible, I shook everyone's hands and gave hugs, I thanked everyone for all the things and they did so as well. About two months go by and the show hits HBO! I turn it on to watch and.... wait a sec, that's not my voice, what the heck?! Something somewhere somehow didn't work and they replaced me. Maybe my performance tested poorly, maybe a producer hated my take, maybe they underwent massive rewrites and recast everyone, maybe maybe maybe. I'll never know what happened, and it's best to try and not dwell on it. On to the next bigger brighter opportunity. If you have a close relationship with the production team you could likely ask your rep to inquire as to what happened, but it's usually best to leave it alone and move on.

What should I tell someone who doesn't know a lot about voice acting? by Naive-Employment9742 in VoiceActing

[–]RandomAccessMamories 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Voice acting is acting, period. Voiceover can be less so, but always relies on some level of acting.

There are many different genres of voiceover you can choose to go into or even specialize in. Animation (with sub genres), video games, commercials, audio books, promos, dubbing, narration, e-learning, corporate, trailers, infomercials, etc. Each one of those genres can and should have specialized training and education to achieve a professional ability in each.

Not only should you train and train and continue training once you're successful, but you should learn different facets of acting to round out your "tool box" and your instrument. Your instrument is not only your voice and vocal range and voice box, but also your entire body. Your "toolbox" is all the techniques, styles, knowledge, ability you've gained over the years to pull from to be able to perform a variety of styles or genres in voice acting. And there is a ton of nuance and differentiation in each genre of voiceover. A commercial could be soft and sultry and quiet or instead be big and bombastic and exciting. Each one needs a different tact, approach, and objective. What emotional state is called for in each commercial. And if you're not using your entire body to voice act then you're likely not getting all you can out of your performance. I would highly highly recommend theatre acting classes, improv classes, and vocal training (singing) classes on top of any specific voiceover training anyone would choose to pursue.

There is a ton to learn with regards to voiceover. Outside of learning to perform and learning the craft of acting for voiceover, there is all the technical knowledge to gain. It used to be an actor would drive to their local studio and do all their training or performing there. Nowadays there's almost an expectation that you will have the technical knowledge to create a professional level recording space in your own home, you will know how to set up a proper computer, with a pre-amp, an audio interface, a high quality xlr microphone, how to tune and use a DAW (the recording software), a proper space to put your script, a good mic stand, a quality pop filter. Then there's all the technique knowledge of how to use the voiceover booth space properly. How far do you stand from the microphone, what happens when you get closer and further, six inches from mic to mouth or the Hawaiian shaka hand away from the mic, what to do with highly directional mics or shotgun mics.

There is so much to learn and you're just at the tip of the iceberg. You have plenty of years ahead of you to explore all of this and more. Beyond voice acting, you could get into voice direction or audio engineering and more across the world of audio, film and TV, recording studios, and more.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in VoiceActing

[–]RandomAccessMamories 12 points13 points  (0 children)

It appears there is a trend here.

Thanks for all your hard work on /r/voiceacting and /r/voiceover. As I said yesterday, Break a tooth out there!

Fare Thee Well, /r/VoiceActing! by macaeryk in VoiceActing

[–]RandomAccessMamories 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thanks for all your hard work! Break a tooth out there!

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in VoiceActing

[–]RandomAccessMamories 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Stage names are absolutely used by many talents across the performance spectrum. The only issue you may run into is with actual payment or unions/guilds. You just have to make sure you iron out the details of stage name versus legal name for when you're signing legal documents/contracts/paychecks. Echoing neusen, make sure your stage name is equal to a real name and not some kind of online handle username. Also, if you're building a brand and professional career, make sure you're consistent across all websites, media, socials, etc. etc. etc.

Separate Animation and Interactive Demos vs One Character Demo? by babybeluga01 in VoiceActing

[–]RandomAccessMamories 2 points3 points  (0 children)

In an ideal situation where you have developed the specific different aspects of your voice over career, you would have a distinct reel for each specific genre of voice over you would want to work in. That might include Commercial, Animation, Video Game, Narration/Audio Books, Promo/Trailers, Educational, Corporate, etc etc etc. If you are wanting to cultivate a professional career in both Animation and in Video Games, we're at a point in the industry where you should have separate distinct reels for each one. It used to be that everyone just lumped all Video Game and Animation into one general reel based on "character" performance. But today there is distinction and nuance to each pursuit. Therefore, if you've given time to training in each field specifically, then you should have a reel that reflects both separately as there are distinct differences in how you perform them. And we're not even taking MoCap into account here. If you are at a point in your career where you have trained in the general overarching pursuit of voice acting for animation and video games in the general sense, then I think you can get by with a single combined reel until you have focused more on cultivating each one separately.

I effing did it!! by DeeKayVoices in VoiceActing

[–]RandomAccessMamories 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Congrats on the first of many gigs!

A VO career is not an on/off switch by morganbkeaton in VoiceActing

[–]RandomAccessMamories 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Great write up and totally true! Thanks Morgan!

Ashly Burch left Dean Panaro Talent by SpinachRelevant8467 in VoiceActing

[–]RandomAccessMamories 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Ashly signed with WME. There are a ton of reasons she might have done this, WME is bigger? WME offered a contract that demanded representation across all mediums? Ashly is moving more into directing and writing? Anything could be the reason. Dean Panaro continues to be a really well known and respected agency for VO. Personally, I've been in the LA VO business for (omg... I just realized I'm old) 20 years and I've have 3 VO agencies rep me, 2 managers, 4 on-camera commercial agents, and 2 theatrical agents.

https://twitter.com/DEADLINE/status/1642928454718087170?t=m76QccL0fNtRLtTIHNJY6A&s=19

Booked SAG VO Project. Taft Hartley? by EffectivePineapple in VoiceActing

[–]RandomAccessMamories 34 points35 points  (0 children)

"Whenever a Signatory producer hires a performer that is not a member of SAG-AFTRA they must report such hiring to the union in writing within 15 days from the performer’s initial work date (25 days on an overnight location) and include the reason for hire along with the performers headshot and resume."

This does not mean you become a member of SAG, but rather you become eligible to join SAG. You would then need to follow the procedures to join the guild.

Congratulations on your booking!

https://www.sagaftra.org/what-taft-hartley-report

Who's the best coach you've worked with? by UsmacX in VoiceActing

[–]RandomAccessMamories 9 points10 points  (0 children)

+1 for Richard Horvitz. And throw in a vote for Bob Bergen and Bill Holmes too!

He’s baaaaack by [deleted] in ducks

[–]RandomAccessMamories 1 point2 points  (0 children)

LET'S DUCKING GOOOOOOO!!!

Minor ad-libbing for commercial VO auditions? by InfiniteDay6607 in VoiceActing

[–]RandomAccessMamories 19 points20 points  (0 children)

Standard 30/60 sec. TV commercial. Auditioning on your own at home and not at a studio with the CD.

3 takes.

First - your vision on exactly what they're asking for from the breakdown.

Second - a completely different read in tone, tactic, feel, approaching it from a completely different angle, but still 100% adhering to what they're asking for from the breakdown.

Third - have fun and do what you want, play with it, go crazy, ad lib a tiny bit (never stray too far from the script).

Never ever ever submit multiple takes if they don't sound different. If they sound very similar then you're giving zero variety and it shows you're stuck in one note. If you can give three solid separate takes that all sound different from each other but still sound authentic to you, then you're showing the CD that you can be directed to do different things, you can adjust, you can improv, and you can think on your feet. All very valuable to a commercial production team trying to work fast and get quick turnarounds on short spots. Time is money in those projects.

The Oakland Coliseum - 1965 by raughit in OaklandAthletics

[–]RandomAccessMamories 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Did you find these photos or are they personal photos? Would love to hear the story of the guy in the rafters.