eVOcation 2022 took place last weekend and WOW!! What an amazing, jam-packed 3 days of learning, networking, and fun!! The conference covered so many important topics about the business of voice over, including:
Tips to streamline your workflow
Web design and SEO best practices
A demo review
Rates and negotiation tips
AI voices
The basics of the non-broadcast genre
A casting director panel
Social media strategies for voice actors
A working pros panel
Finding your work-life balance
Optimizing your online casting profiles
Relationships with agents & managers
Email marketing advice
And SHHHhhh, don’t tell, but a panel discussed Fiverr and similar platforms. I loved the name for this panel: “We don’t talk about Fiverr, No, No!”
Many of these topics were followed by a workshop, where we had the time and guidance to take what we’d learned and put it into practice. Things like creating meta title tags for our websites for better SEO, helping find voice descriptor keywords to use on online casting sites, and discussing time management techniques to help achieve the work-life balance that we want.
Sometimes these workshops consisted of breakout rooms where we worked in small groups, and other times we worked with the presenters all together. This time was so valuable because we could apply what we learned while it was fresh in our minds.
Thank you so much to conference organizers Carin Gilfry and Jamie Muffett for providing an excellent program, and thanks also to all of the amazing presenters and panelists for sharing their knowledge and inspiration!! This conference really helped me understand steps that I can take to improve my voiceover business.
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 talking about celebrity VO impressions, Jim Meskimen! Jim is an actor, voice actor, and impressionist with a hilarious YouTube channel. He also has created a career-management course for actors called The Working Actor Method.
Impressions are such a fun thing to listen to and try, and to hear Jim talk about that tonight was a delight. And just in going to his channel to get the link, I got distracted by video after entertaining video 🙂
Tonight in his interview with Marc, Jim said that he attributes his success to two main reasons: that he always had a strong interest in vocal performance, and that his mom (Marion Ross from Happy Days!) set a good example as an actress and artist because he saw that she was having fun and making people laugh. Jim says that she loved to do accents and voices and point out people who had interesting voices. He described it this way:
“It was like someone saying have you ever sniffed that flower over there, that yellow and orange flower? You say, ‘No, I haven’t,’ so you sniff that flower and say ‘Wow, this flower smells amazing!’ And then for the rest of your life you go around sniffing flowers.”
Talking about impressions, Jim says that for him it’s an acting exercise, and “in acting, we try to become another person.” He tries to get the viewpoint of the character, and the impressions that he really likes are when he does people that he admires, “because you want to embrace that personality.” He added that he thinks of impressions as being a part of an actor’s tool belt. And he agrees with something his mom says, that “to be another person is just a fun thing to do.”
Tonight we heard some really fun impressions from the audience too: dueling Jimmy Stewarts, Quincy Jones stopped by, and Alan Rickman had a quick chat with another Alan Rickman. I loved Jim’s description of how Rickman always seemed to hold on to his words for a very long time before he passed them out — a lot of percussion. Of course you know it when you hear it, but to me, being able to articulate the specifics of what makes someone’s voice unique is so interesting.
Thanks so much to Marc and Jim for the amazing conversation and for the audience performances and 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.
The past week featured two amazing summits back-to-back, and I’m still processing all that I’ve learned. First was the Actors Summit, presented by Acting & Voice Studios. Next up was the Women in Voice 2022 Summit. Whew, what a whirlwind of information — let’s cover some highlights.
The Actors Summit took place last weekend, May 20-22, and each day was packed with sessions! Each day featured speakers on three stages happening simultaneously, and sometimes it could be hard to choose which session to attend. I enjoyed hearing from casting directors, agents, voice actors speak about topics like what they look for in auditions, advice on working in commercials & animation, and why improv is good for actors. Two speakers, Joanne Baron and Donna Morong, talked about the Meisner technique, which was really interesting because I recently started reading Sanford Meisner on Acting. On Sunday, I loved hearing Sean Astin answer questions about his early career and how he became an actor. His session was a half hour, but I could have listened to him all day!
On Monday, the 2nd annual Women in Voice, or WiV, Summit began and ran until Thursday afternoon. WiV celebrates voice technology and the Summit included sessions on topics like conversational AI, linguistics, voice acting, voice AI in medicine, and voice tech in cars, to name a few. Tuesday’s keynote featured Bev Standing and Susan Bennett interviewed by Kayla Pitts about their perhaps not-ideal experiences with voice technology as voice actors. They discussed what it was like hearing their voices used by TikTok’s TTS in Bev’s case and by Apple in Susan’s case as the voice of Siri. They also talked about their backgrounds and how they got into voice acting, the business side of VO, and AI voices.
I attended the WiV Summit last year, not sure what to expect, and discovered the field of conversation design. I became really interested in that, and although it’s been a little less than a year, I feel like I’ve come a long way in learning more about it. I’m even in an internship program working on a project based on mental health, which is something I care deeply about. Thanks to WiV, and to all the connections I’ve made through it, for the encouragement to jump in and learn new things!
Huge thanks to Marc Guss and his guest tonight on the Marc Guss Voiceover Club, Bart Smith! Bart is an award-winning audio engineering and producer, casting director, and co-founder of the nation’s first all-digital post audio facility. Bart was also described by his friend and fellow engineer Frank Verderosa tonight as “a god among men in the world of audio production.”
Bart said that loved being an engineer and always had great rapport with the voiceover talent in the studio. He said that earlier on in his career, he found himself wishing that he knew more about the script from a creative standpoint. He then he went out on his own and got into all aspects of production: casting, booking, directing, sometimes writing, and putting it all together. It’s clear that he enjoys the creative process.
Several brave audience members read commercial scripts for Bart, and just listening to his direction was a great educational experience. Here are some of the tips that he shared:
The first sentence of a script is so important, as it needs to convey the idea of here’s what I’m talking about and here’s why you should listen.
Another note about the first line of a script is that sometimes it helps to act like you are answering a question about the product. Imagine someone says, “What’s that?” before you read that first line. It will come out so much more natural.
Even when time is tight, do as much as you can to slow down, have pauses, and make it dynamic. That’s what makes it sound conversational.
Even in a 30-sec commercial, there’s a beginning, middle, and end.
Use some physicality in your reads, like raising your eyebrows, physically smile, stop and wink at something — those things come across in your read.
Thanks so much to Marc and Bart for the amazing conversation and for the brave audience performances 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.
Huge thanks to Marc Guss and his guest tonight on the Marc Guss Voiceover Club, the legendary voice talent and coach Dave Fennoy! Dave’s recently been teaching his way across Europe at different VO events, and tonight he spent some time on Clubhouse before he and Marc switched over to his weekly Ask Dave Fennoy Anything on Facebook. But even with just a few audience questions, Dave gave a lot of great advice and insights.
He talked about the ability to cold read copy as perhaps being somewhat overrated when it comes to voice over, and described it as coming across as read-y, non-focused, and that it’s like “singing a song that is not your real song.” This, he says, is not going to get you booked.
Dave said that he’s a believer in preparation: read the script in your head 3 times, mumble it 3 times and by the time you’re ready to do a performance, you’ll be at the point where “the words are only there to remind you of what you’re saying.” And make sure that the first few times you read it that you’re doing it slowly and accurately so your brain doesn’t get stuck repeating a mistake.
When asked about warm-ups, Dave says that he relies on his morning coffee, tongue twisters, fake yawns (they realign your pipes), and breathing exercises through a straw. When he’s working on a game with a lot of shouting, he takes as many breaks as he needs to, for example, instead of every hour, take breaks every 15-20 mins.
What does Dave recommend to make efforts seem realistic? He says to think about the breathing, that there are all these sounds that our character might make that aren’t words. Imagine yourself getting hit, jumping, running, etc, and although it all comes from your mouth, your body informs the voice, so get physical. Think about air coming in when you get hit, or if your character is hitting someone else, think of air going out. Bring the acting, be familiar with what’s going on in the script, and read the stage directions.
“The voice is the exhaust of the acting engine.” This is a quote from a colleague that Dave shared tonight, and he says he likes it because it’s a good way to explain what voice acting really is about. “We think it’s all about the words; it’s not,” Dave says. “The words are the last thing — the words are giving detail of what we’re thinking and feeling, what our action is. But it’s about what we’re reacting to, what we’re thinking, what we’re feeling, what we’re doing, and what’s the relationship with the person we’re talking to.”
Thanks so much to Marc and Dave for the amazing conversation and for the audience questions that furthered the discussion! You can find out more about Dave 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.
Today in The “Working” Voice Actor room, it was time to talk about business entities. What are the pros and cons of being a sole proprietor? What’s the best and worst about registering as an LLC? And how about an S Corp, is that the best move?
George starts off the conversation highly recommending the book Voice Over LEGAL by Robert J. Sciglimpaglia Jr., which goes over these categories in detail. And I should make the disclaimer that none of what was discussed today (and available on the replay) should be considered legal advice.
Talk to a lawyer and/or an accountant to figure out what’s best for YOUR situation. Fees, laws, details vary from state to state, so it’s best to get personalized advice. For example, forming an LLC in California is going to set you back around $800 each year! Other states mentioned, like Washington ($60) and New Jersey ($75), make owning an LLC much more affordable.
And in my personal experience, I want to give a shout out to my local branch of the Small Business Administration, who were so helpful in getting me registered and set up. In addition to free personalized help, my branch also offers free webinars on all kinds of topics that are important to small business owners like ourselves. So check out sba.gov and connect with your local branch — see what they have to offer.
In addition to these different business entities, the discussion also covered notes that people add to contracts and invoices to protect themselves, and some people shared stories about clients that won’t pay. Today’s talk is a lot to summarize, so I’m going to suggest the replay function on Clubhouse if you want to learn more.
And, our hosts asked for suggestions for The “Working” Voice Actor’s official Clubhouse name….preferably something with the word waffle in it…. Get in touch with George, Roshelle, or Megan with your ideas!
Thank you to George, Roshelle, and Megan for organizing this space, and thanks to everyone who contributed to the discussion! I’m looking forward to the next one, and I hope to see you there: Fridays on Clubhouse at 9am PST/noon EST.
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 three guests and ACM Talent colleagues tonight on the Marc Guss Voiceover Club: Jeffrey Umberger, Andrew Atkin, and Melanie Thomas. May the Fourth be with us in the club tonight!
In what Jeffrey called “a sampling of our morning meetings,” the audience heard the ACM crew discuss their business philosophy, give advice to talent, and talk about what voiceover representation looks like in 2022.
One major note to talent was to be professional when approaching an agency in hopes of getting signed. Don’t be needy, and don’t check in too often. Don’t call every single day. Melanie said to give some time for them to digest an audition before following up, be reasonable.
What’s the fine line between being persistent and being a pest? Andrew suggested having a reason to reach out to agents, such as giving them an update about a new demo, for example. He recommended checking in every 2-3 months, or 3-4 months, even every 6 months to give an update. As he said, time is a blur, and it may feel like just yesterday that they last heard from you.
You could also check in with a question, such as asking for advice on classes to take or which coaches to work with. They may have some suggestions for you.
And what should you do if an agency says that they already have someone on their roster with your sound? Just keep checking in. Take note of the suggestions on the agency’s website, for example if it says to check back in 3 months, and follow those directions. Jeffrey explained that it’s a year-round thing for agencies to update their rosters, so keep checking back. You won’t be a pest as long as you adhere to the guidelines, and if there are none, use 3-6 months as timeframe for followup.
And when asked about ACM having competitiveness or rivalry within the company, they talked about how that doesn’t happen. In fact, when founding ACM, Marc said that part of the philosophy was to get rid of that competitive environment and some of the other negatives that they had experienced at other agencies. Jeff mentioned that they are all very much on the same page when it comes to vetting talent and discussing what’s best for everyone.
Marc shared something that he says he tells talent all the time, “Don’t get caught up in the audition process, don’t get caught up in the representation process — get caught up in the you process. Get caught up in making sure that you’re in charge of your destiny.”
And Jeffrey advised the audience to, “continue to work hard at being YOU.”
Thanks so much to Marc, Jeffrey, Andrew, and Melanie 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.
