Huge thanks to Marc Guss and his guest tonight on the Marc Guss Voiceover Club, Carli Silver! Carli, the Chief Creative Officer for the voicecasting company Sound & Fury, took the audience through a Sound & Fury intensive with Marc tonight.
With her background in acting and degree from Syracuse University, Carli knew after graduating that she wanted to work in the space in some way, but that acting wasn’t for her. Someone suggested she get into voiceover, and she tried it for a while. She later saw a job listing for an assistant, then worked her way up to becoming a talent agent. She did commercial, promos, political — a bit of everything — but commercial was her specialty, she said.
Carli said that Jill Kershaw, the founder of Sound & Fury, invited her to join her in casting. Carli credits Jill with being an early adopter of working remotely and breaking down the barriers of working with people in different cities. “She was on the forefront of what VO is now,” Carli said about Jill.
Carli took questions from the audience and also listened to commercial reads. She gave great feedback and advice, which includes:
Think of the copy as being in your head. That inner speech can turn out a read that doesn’t sound so presentational, and it can tap into something that’s more human.
When your personality comes through, we feel like we know you.
“Good for you for trusting that you are enough, that’s the key to the copy,” she said.
“Confidence is everything, literally everything. Trust that you’re doing the work and the bookings will come.” Carli added that even if you don’t book, it may make a big impression on her team or on the buyer, and they may remember you for next time.
Even a stumble can make you sound more real, and it can make you sound authentic and not too polished. “None of us are perfect and we want to hear ourselves,” Carli said.
Sound & Fury’s work does have a certain vibe, she said, and it’s because they do a lot of national spots, which have a different sound from local market ads. “That’s why people come to us”, she said.
Carli said that talents agents can reach out to Sound & Fury on behalf of talent, and she confirmed that they only work with talent who have representation. To find out more, check out the website for Sound & Fury.
Thanks so much to Marc and Carli for their advice and insight into the industry, and thanks to the audience questions that helped everyone listening learn so much! Check out the Marc Guss Voiceover Club every Wednesday night on Clubhouse at 8:30 pm ET. You can read more of my recaps of Marc’s Clubhouse rooms by checking out this link.
Huge thanks to Marc Guss and his guest tonight on the Marc Guss Voiceover Club, Erikka J! Erikka, the “natural born hustler,” musician, and rising VO star, talked about the evolution of VO talent success with Marc tonight.
Erikka discussed how she started out as a musician, writing and releasing her own music. She works full time as a project manager for the Department of Defense and is the mom of two boys — and she has a baby on the way (Congrats!) When she heard about voiceover she dove in, saying that she loved this new way of communicating with her voice and the psychology of it. Plus, VO offered a better lifestyle and more family time compared to being on the road as a musician.
She said that after a few years of some success here and there, she wanted to dig in and try to understand how to elevate her career. She committed her “extra time” to focus on learning through classes, webinars, podcasts — she wanted to figure out why she wasn’t connecting the dots, she said. Her dedication paid off and her career started to take off.
Marc told Erikka that he saw her on stage at VO Atlanta this year and said “you were captivating and had so much value to provide to the audience.” I wasn’t at VO Atlanta, but I did see Erikka speak on a panel and host her own session at eVOcation last month, and I completely agree with Marc’s opinion. Her presentation about Work-Life Balance was so encouraging to me, (as I also try to balance kids with my freelance writing work and my VO career), and I’m thankful that I had a chance to talk to Erikka tonight and tell her how much her words meant to me.
Marc also mentioned that Erikka was reliable, and she explained that she appreciates the partnership that she has with her reps, saying that she feels like she’s on a team and they are all trying to win the job. This idea of the business partnership is something that Marc often talks about in the club, and how important it is for talent to collaborate with their representation.
When asked about what she reflects on at the end of each month, she said that she evaluates several things, such as money coming in; how many auditions she did; how many jobs she booked (so she can gauge the efficiency of her auditions); her energy level (something she really needs to consider lately due to her pregnancy); and how much time she’s been spending with her family (hoping that they don’t feel like she’s been neglecting them). She said that she’s learned that “rest is part of the work.” That is excellent advice for anybody who is thinking about their work-life balance regardless of their career.
Erikka talked about how she approaches her reads, saying that sometimes she immediately feels connected to the copy and gets some great takes right away. But, she said, a lot of times it’s not and she’ll stumble through it. Sometimes, she’ll decide not to send it in. Some reading tips that she shared include:
She keeps props in her booth. If they want a warm read she’ll hold a fleece blanket or stuffed animal to get that tactile feeling of warmth.
Another example is that for a strong read, she’ll grab a screwdriver or stress ball to get her muscles involved.
She’ll adjust the lighting in her booth for different moods.
If she’s feeling anxious, she’ll do a flat read and go through it quickly just to get both the words and the nervous energy out — then she’ll go back and tell the story.
One final piece of advice that Erikka shared was, “You’ve got to remember why you started, and what you love about it, every day.” She said you’ll have bad days and hard times, but it’s important to remember the reasons why you got into voiceover in the first place.
Thanks so much to Marc and Erikka for their advice and insight into the industry, and thanks to the audience questions that helped everyone listening learn so much! Check out the Marc Guss Voiceover Club every Wednesday night on Clubhouse at 8:30 pm ET. You can read more of my recaps of Marc’s Clubhouse rooms by checking out this link.
Huge thanks to Marc Guss and his guest tonight on the Marc Guss Voiceover Club, Juana Plata! Juana is a voiceover talent and SOVAS board member, and tonight she and Marc discussed the world of Spanish VO.
Juana shared that she started as an on-camera talent as a host and a producer in Atlanta. She also would occasionally do casting for various projects. This was valuable experience, she noted, because it gave her a sense of what the clients were looking for. When she began a career as a voiceover talent — with the support of her father who has a successful VO career in America and Columbia — her prior experience helped her understand what the clients wanted to hear and enabled her to nail her reads.
She advises VO artists to do their research for auditions and jobs. Studying a brand and what the product is like will help inform your performance, she says. “It’s about knowing the product that we’re working for.”
When Marc and Juana discussed trends in Spanish-language VO, Juana had some statistics ready. According to recent census data that she shared, there are 65 million Hispanics in the US, which make up 19.5% of the population — and this demographic has $1.7 trillion in spending power!
Marc and Juana talked about two distinct styles of commercial read that are popular now: the big, announcer voice and the more conversational style. “Both styles are valid,” Juana said, explaining that the announcer style is heard throughout Latin America, and “it’s an effective way to get to consumers.” But first-generation consumers may look for more of a conversational style, she added.
Another trend that Juana said she is seeing more frequently is the use of Spanglish in advertising, which is when parts of a sentence is in Spanish and other parts are in English. Brands are using this more often, and Juana pointed out that this technique can reach across different generations of consumers.
She advised people who want to improve their Spanish-language skills to watch TV to “help your ear get used to the sound.” Getting a coach to help with pronunciation is another option, she said. You can also look for VO jobs that want a non-native speaker — Spanish with an English accent for example.
Thanks so much to Marc and Juana for their advice and insight into the industry, and thanks to the audience questions that helped everyone listening learn so much! Check out the Marc Guss Voiceover Club every Wednesday night on Clubhouse at 8:30 pm ET. You can read more of my recaps of Marc’s Clubhouse rooms by checking out this link.
Huge thanks to Marc Guss and his guest tonight on the Marc Guss Voiceover Club, Al Murdoch! Al talked about his journey from working in radio, to VO, to a PA announcer for the Vancouver Canucks and NHL special events, and as the voice of the Emmy Award winning Judy Justice.
Al shared how he was fascinated as a 6 year old when his dad brought home a transistor radio. He remembers the impact that it had on him and feeling an instant connection with the voice. After studying broadcasting in college, he started a career in radio working behind the scenes, then on air, realizing that he liked reading commercials and became interested in production and sound design. This career evolved into more voiceover work, in radio imaging and other genres as well.
Through coaching, Al learned how to “dial back” his booming announcer style that he developed in his radio work to fit other styles of VO. He said that he’s noticing a trend in radio imaging where they want two voices: a big voice, but will also have a more casual “guy or girl next door” voice. Marc invited Eric Romanowski to join the stage and weigh in on the trends he’s seeing in radio imaging. Is the big voice still relevant? Eric said that he sees a lot of big voices, and that they lean toward rock, classic rock, country, and sports. “I think there’s still room for the big voices,” Eric said.
Al shared some advice throughout the conversation:
Persistence is key. “If you can be persistent enough without being creepy, that goes a long way,” he said.
Al shared that he learns a lot by osmosis, just by listening to everything around him. It’s important for people who want to pursue this business to be patient, he said, and to listen to everything on the radio, on TV, to people’s voices in restaurants — everything is an opportunity.
Before the end of the club, Al had one more piece of advice. “As Marc said, it’s a marathon, and as soon as you cross that finish line, get ready to train for the next one,” Al said. Marc added, “Don’t lose sight and keep the journey going.”
Thanks so much to Marc and Al for their advice and insight into the industry, and thanks to the audience questions that helped everyone listening learn so much! Check out the Marc Guss Voiceover Club every Wednesday night on Clubhouse at 8:30 pm ET.
Huge thanks to Marc Guss and his guest tonight on the Marc Guss Voiceover Club, Debbe Hirata! Debbe, the renowned voice actor and SOVAS Board Member, shared her time with the club to talk about the longevity of her career and to answer audience questions. In a heartfelt discussion that ranged from all aspects of voiceover and beyond, both Debbe and Marc shared a great deal of vulnerability, particularly in their exploration of the many ways that their mothers inspired them with their strength and resilience. Thank you, Debbe and Marc, for sharing your stories.
Debbe shared her career’s journey, which started at Gonzaga University and led to jobs in TV and radio, writing and voicing promos, news, whatever came her way. She later worked in advertising and then at Xerox, creating campaigns and voicing them. What struck me after hearing her story was the number of times she said she was doing something she’d never done before and was figuring out how to make it happen. She saw something new as a challenge and found a way to realize her vision. “Figure things out yourself — it may seem impossible, but go learn it,” Debbe said. “That’s the true entrepreneurial spirit.”
Debbe later found her way back into the VO world, and after getting a demo produced, taking classes, and finding a great agent, things took off for her. And when non-union work became predominant, she adapted. And when home studios became the norm, she adapted. When her daughter moved to LA and needed a roommate, Debbe joined her and said that’s when she started to book a lot of work, including ADR work, which was something new to her. Throughout the interview tonight, Debbe showed that she has a willingness to do what needs to be done in order to succeed, and I find that so admirable and inspiring.
When asked about how she deals with burnout, Debbe said, “In today’s market it’s much easier to get burned out now than it was a long time ago. We didn’t have a lot of technology to worry about — it was a much slower life.” What she suggests is taking time each day to check in with yourself. “I listen really carefully to my body. When I go to sleep at night, I have a conversation with it, and if there’s any little aches or pains, I really try to say ‘What are you telling me?’ Because your body will tell you to slow down,” she said, adding that it’s important to recognize when you need self-care.
Another question for Debbe was about social media and how to post without sounding like you’re bragging. Debbe understood that feeling, saying that her generation was not encouraged to talk about themselves. But what she advises is not to think of it as bragging and more about celebrating yourself, adding that Joan Baker is a good role model for not being shy. Debbe said that she’s inspired by Joan (who isn’t?!) and that Joan is “such a great example of being her truest self at its fullest expression.” So re-framing social media posts as sharing a collaboration you were involved in, or expressing yourself, and not thinking about it as bragging is an important shift in mindset.
Thanks so much to Marc and Debbe for their advice and insight into the industry, and thanks to the audience questions that helped everyone listening learn so much! Check out the Marc Guss Voiceover Club every Wednesday night on Clubhouse at 8:30 pm ET.
Huge thanks to Marc Guss and his guest tonight on the Marc Guss Voiceover Club giving a home studio intensive, Frank Verderosa! Frank is an audio engineer, sound designer, he does casting, and he offered his honest, expert advice tonight on all things regarding studios, mics, demos, booths, recording — he covered it all! Check out FrankVerderosa.com for events, help, or chat (but give him some time to respond because he’s a busy guy!)
Frank works at Digital Arts in NYC as senior mixer and splits his time between the studio and working from home. He and Marc talked about the rapid changes and adaptations that had to be made when the pandemic started so that business could continue. Frank ended up helping a lot of voice actors (nearly 2,200) set up and fine tune their home studios, which is a service he still offers.
Some home studio advice that Frank shared tonight includes:
He loves this quote by the Booth Junkie, Mike DelGaudio, “Booth first, then the gear.”
It’s all about finding the sweet spot on your mic, and finding proper placement is key.
Regarding mics, shotguns are more forgiving in small spaces, but they have to be properly positioned. He added that shotguns are not great for singing, and that the average booth is also not great for singing. You don’t want to be in a tight space and he advises people to try recording in their bedroom rather than a closet or small booth.
Don’t overprocess your audio, keep it simple. And he advises not to spend a lot of time worrying about breaths and mouth noise. Frank said that he knows someone who spends hours removing breaths and mouth noise on auditions and he said that no one cares about that, “we’re just listening to your read.”
Frank has some thoughts on demos, and that is that some voice actors have too many. When he sees someone’s website and they have 20 different demo reels, he says “I don’t know who that’s for.” Maybe if someone is doing direct-to-client work, they like to see that, but overall Frank thinks people spend so much and so often on demos that perhaps aren’t necessary.
And then he discussed “one of those things that ruffles feathers” and he put it this way: “I feel like there are two voiceover industries: there are all the people like the casting directors, the Marc Gusses of the world, whose job it is to get you work and get you paid; and then there’s this other whole industry of people that take your cash. And I don’t mean it’s malicious, taking your cash, but it’s demo reels, conferences, festivals — all of this stuff that none of the voice actors that I know in the NY area have even heard of, so it’s a weird thing.
He says that he walks a fine line because he loves doing consults, helping people figure out their booth, teaching the occasional class, producing the occasional demo reel, and he likes doing these things, but it’s not his income and he doesn’t want to be that guy. He’ll turn people down who aren’t ready to record a demo and suggest they instead invest in their booth or in coaching. It’s nice to see Frank looking out for voice actors’ best interests in a world that can sometimes feel exploitative and predatory.
In closing, Marc and Frank shared stories about Gilbert Gottfried, someone who was very special to each of them. Frank recommends the documentary Gilbert, saying that you’ll laugh and cry and see a side of him that you won’t expect. He also recommends the podcast episode with Bob Bergen and Rob Paulsen for those who are interested in animation.
Marc recalled how he set Gilbert up to work with a writer to create a book about his life, but that ultimately it was too much for him and too personal. Frank added that he would have loved to see Gilbert play a criminal mastermind because that would have been so unexpected using his regular speaking voice. Marc and Frank also shared a laugh about how Gilbert’s notorious frugality. Frank said that Gilbert and Richard Kind had a competition on who could steal the most food from the studio, and Marc added that Howard Stern recently talked about Gilbert’s habit for clearing out the green room of drinks when he was a guest. Definitely a treat to listen to these insider stories of a legend.
Thanks so much to Marc and Frank for the great advice and for sharing your anecdotes and memories about Gilbert Gottfried. Thanks also for the audience questions that helped everyone listening learn so much! Check out the Marc Guss Voiceover Club every Wednesday night on Clubhouse at 8:30 pm ET or catch the replay later.
Yesterday on Clubhouse we heard Liz Atherton of CastVoices talk to Adam Creighton, the founder and studio head of Enduring Games. Adam works in many aspects of video games production — as a voice actor, a casting director, a developer, and also provides support to video game studios on ambitious and specialized projects. Some recent achievements that he’s proud of are bringing the Crunchyroll app to the Nintendo Switch, and the enablement of cross-platform play for Gearbox’s Borderlands 3 and Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands on Xbox, PC, and most recently Playstation.
As a lover of all things pop culture, Adam was able to combine that with his background in the start-up tech sector and his collaboration and problem-solving skills in the formation of his own company. In July, Enduring Games will celebrate its third year. For Adam, it’s all about bringing together the things that he loves to do, like grow people, being able to contribute to pop culture, and include voice acting side of things. He says that while it’s challenging running a start-up, “It’s that great mix of making a difference, and being able to make decisions that benefit everyone who’s making the thing successful.” Liz said that she loves that outlook.
Nick and Adam discussed the evolution of narrative in games and how many games use storytelling to move players through an immersive experience, as if playing through a movie. This cinematic style of game requires great voice acting, but unlike a two-hour movie or a season of a TV show, these types of games could be a 60-hour experience, Adam notes. The decisions that players make throughout the game lead to different sets of dialog, and all of that needs to be recorded by the voice actors. This can differ from voice acting for animation because of the amount of recording to be done due to the variations of the lines. Adam says it’s important for the actors to understand the differing context of the lines and to be consistent in all those different variations.
Liz asked about the requirements of the voice actors that fill those roles, and Adam said there are several things that he’s looking for when casting for video games: actors who are a good fit for the role, and actors who can do multiple takes and emotions to produce diverse reads. He finds that as a voice actor for games, he puts more of himself into the role, and that because of the choices that players make as the play, he may have to react in a number of different ways emotionally.
Just to get an idea of the scope of what goes into producing a large game, Adam said that some studios will create their own tools to stay organized. This means keeping track of things like the script, script changes, localization, voice over files, and auditions. Imagine the organization needed to manage hundreds of characters and then have it translated to 14-18 languages, and also designing the game, and making decision-point changes in the design, narrative, and consequences of player choices. And don’t forget that the dialog pieces have to fit into the sound and design, the background sounds, and it all has to work together.
“That’s part of what’s fun” Adam says. “I’ve done voiceover for games where I wasn’t sure it was my voice because the context is so much different from what I recorded in the booth. When you hear fighter jet engines or things like that over top of things, it’s really a fun part of them making me sound better than I probably do on my own — it’s great. I love it.”
And that’s just the sound of a game — the visuals, game play, story, and more also have to be created and managed. This extensive production process is why it may be several years from the time that an actor is cast in a role to the time they can hear themselves in a game. Adam said that for very small games, production may take around 9 months, but for larger games it’s around 3-4 years. In fact, game production is such an involved process that larger companies have their own internal casting directors, relationships, and system in place to find talent.
Liz asked the big, hard question: Are video games leaning toward using AI voices? Adam said that yes, there are initiatives around that, but there’s still an enjoyment of the in-person actor. AI voicework is being looked at by some, he said, reminding us to think about the number of takes and iterations there could be in a script, as mentioned before.
Something that is important to Liz, Nick, and Adam is the element of community around a game. As Adam says, it comes down to engagement. Some games, Factorio for example, add content, mechanics, and visuals that change over time to keep people coming back. Other games like Fortnite offer many different multiplayer options. And massively multiplayer online role playing games (MMORPGs) like Final Fantasy XIV have the community built into the game. But, Adam notes, “Community within a game can be a double-edged sword, because there can be the very positive and elevating protective communities and there can be the toxic and unpleasant and not-fun communities.”
He said that the gaming industry has made strides in acknowledging toxicity and taking steps to reduce it. There is live support for many games now to help grow the communities that build around games, because the community need to be nurtured and that there should be a way to report bad actors.
Community is important to Adam as a player, voice actor, and head of Enduring Games. “If there are games that have a more negative community that’s not a fun thing for me and not a thing I want to support or contribute to. I tend to make business decisions based on the quality of the community and the people involved whether that’s the company we’re working with or the community of the game that they make. That’s a very active part of my decision process for the projects we work on.”
In terms of reaching out to Adam, he likes to understand what the person is about as a professional and individual. So people should introduce themselves, give a link to their demo, and say what they’re about as a human being.
Adam also mentioned that he doesn’t give much weight to how many followers an actor has on social media, but that he will check that someone isn’t toxic, abusive, etc. He added that a positive following is good for everyone, as it could be elevating for all involved. For him, it’s more about whether someone is pleasant and professional to work with and whether can they nail the role. And Liz and Adam agreed that the acting chops have to be there in this type of work.
The conversation closed with Adam offering advice to voice actors to “follow your passion — if you’re excited about voice acting or video games, really pursue that in a thoughtful and researched way where you can take that knowledge and passion and turn it into a vocation.” Adam, who said that he tends to want to pole vault before he can crawl, shared some great advice that he got when he started voice acting: “Get trained, get good, get work, get an agent, get paid.” In other words, doing things in the right order and taking it step by step is what he suggests.
Thank you so much to Liz, Nick, and Adam for your time, and to the wonderful audience questions as well! You can catch the replay on Clubhouse. Be sure to check out CastVoices, too!
Huge thanks to Marc Guss and his guest tonight on the Marc Guss Voiceover Club, Everett Oliver! Everett started his journey in voiceover about 28 years ago, moving from production on animation hits like The Simpsons and King of the Hill, to casting, to booth directing, and now to teaching classes as well as directing and coaching talent.
Everett led an animation intensive tonight, taking audience questions and giving feedback on character performances. Not to put anyone who read on the spot, here are some notes that he gave to different voice actors throughout the night:
He says that he often tells VO talent that after your first take, go right into your second take. Step away from it for about 10 minutes, then do third take. Then listen to it all and make your choices.
It should not take you more than 30 mins to do an audition. If you go past 30 mins you are overthinking it. You should be in and out.
To one actor, Everett said that he wasn’t hearing their voice and that they needed to let their guard down and know that this is a safe space. Everett wanted to hear the actor’s personality come through.
In other instances, Everett asked the actors who they were talking to, and helped them to visualize who their character was and who was listening to them. Incorporating physicality was important, as was being confident.
At one point, Everett felt that an actor was rushing through a script, he said to “take a minute to ground yourself because I’m not believing what I’m hearing.” He asked them to take a drink, add some physicality, and directed them to an amazing level of performance. It was so interesting to hear Everett push and direct the actor to do different things.
Thanks so much to Marc and Everett for the amazing conversation and direction, and for the brave audience performances that helped everyone listening learn so much! You can find out more about Everett’s services on his website. Check out the Marc Guss Voiceover Club every Wednesday night on Clubhouse at 8:30 pm ET or catch the replay later.
Huge thanks to Marc Guss and his guest tonight on the Marc Guss Voiceover Club, Christi Bowen! Christi is a voice actor and coach, and the founder of Tennessee Voiceover Studios. Tonight she talked all things eLearning with the Clubhouse audience.
After a start in producing commercials when she worked in college radio, Christi moved into video production before deciding to try voiceover. She says that her background in video production helps her visualize a script — when she reads it she imagines how she would shoot it. Not having any background in video production myself, I found this to be a really insightful way to analyze a script!
Christi said that she didn’t think about eLearning work when she first started in VO, but after developing a relationship with a client and working on an eLearning project, she pursued it, studied up, and did her research. Her business then grew through referrals from clients, and she said that eLearning is relationship dependent and that content creators tend to take you with them if they move to a different company.
So who are the buyers in eLearning? Christi provided this list of job titles to watch for when marketing or making connections:
instructional designer (the most relevant)
content creator
instructional developer
eLearning developer
talent development
learning designer
learning and development specialist, or L&D specialist
human resources manager
story designer (sometimes)
Marc and Christi agreed that LinkedIn is a fantastic place to be for eLearning. Twitter is also a great place to connect, said Christi, and that instructional designers like to share content and compare notes there. They discuss things like how do people learn, teaching different age groups, how long something should be, etc. Christi said they are very interesting to observe because they have one foot in the business world and one foot in the creative world to create the modules. She used the examples of designers understanding which photos are best to use, color theory, and using space in order to create the most effective learning environment.
Some trends and topics that were brought up tonight:
Project length: the length of projects is getting smaller, said Christi. It’s moving away from the standard of an hour-long seat time (a person sitting for an hour for a module) and they are starting to break things down into smaller chunks. Not always, but it’s an overall trend.
AI voices: Christi said that she has lost work to AI voices, but her hope is that companies who have switched to synthetic voices will come back to human voices because their users won’t find it effective. If people aren’t learning and aren’t satisfied with the quality, there’s hope that that trend will reverse back to hiring VO artists.
Social Media: Christi discussed the importance of being engaging on social media while remaining professional, and to to supply content that others might feel useful. Even though a lot of eLearning is business-to-business and not public-facing, the companies hiring you “want to know that they’re working with a professional.” Marc said that Christi’s advice “follows all the rules of social media: engagement, being interesting, providing value, and thinking about your audience.”
Keep in touch with Tennessee Voiceover Studio’s newsletter for information about two upcoming services: eLearning demo production and eLearning classes.
Thanks so much to Marc and Christi for the amazing conversation, and for the insightful audience questions that furthered the discussion! Check out the Marc Guss Voiceover Club every Wednesday night on Clubhouse at 8:30 pm ET or catch the replay later.
Today on Clubhouse we heard Liz Atherton of CastVoices talk to Edge Studio owner David Goldberg and Edge’s community relations director, Siobhan O’Loughlin. The interview covered so much, from the beginnings of Edge Studio’s work in voiceover (when David was fed up with the drugs and drinking in the music business and switched to VO production), to its current educational offerings, to notes on what casting directors look for, and wrapped up with a chat about Edge’s resources for voiceover talent. Let’s go through some highlights:
David says that Edge is set up like a college, where new students begin with an evaluation, and an advisor helps guide them through their journey through all facets of the voice over industry.
Liz loves this approach to put talent first.
Siobhan focuses on building the Edge community by offering free resources such as the Ask Me Anything Q&As on Zoom every other week with David and guests, the Home Studio Show & Tell sessions, and other social events in the works. She says that the booth tours were created to support everyone who is trying to pursue voiceover and to inspire people who may be feeling overwhelmed by the process.
With his insights as a casting director, David says that one mistake that voice actors make is that they don’t think about things from the client’s perspective. You have to be in it for your client, not just for yourself.
Liz and David discussed the importance of following directions, especially when slating. And then they shared notes on the most extreme cases of slating fails that they’ve heard as casting directors: Liz takes the prize for listening to the longest slate at 2 minutes and 22 seconds; and David won in the category of hearing the most awkward slate, where the talent said after his name, “I fixed the script because there were so many typos — no extra charge.”
David says that when you’re listening back to your auditions, try to imagine the different people on the creative team who might also be listening and what they may want to hear. For example, the client might be focused on how you say the product name, the marketing team might care more about how you deliver the message, and the engineer might be listening for the recording quality.
Some of the resources that Edge offers are: an extensive script library, a non-union rate card, a words-to-time calculator, and a monthly script-reading contest that gives a detailed explanation of why the top three were chosen from all of the submissions.
Thank you so much to Liz, David, Siobhan for your time today, and to the audience questions as well! You can catch the replay on Clubhouse. Be sure to check out CastVoices and Edge Studio, too!
