Hey How Do I get in...?

I get asked this all the time. A lot of people, from all over the world want to know how to do voice over. For some, it's the love of the craft, or of cartoons, or video games or radio or even commercials. For others, it is the lure of fistfuls of cash for showing up to a relatively comfortable studio and talking into a microphone. Still others have been told by innumerable family, friends, coworkers, associates and random people on the street that they have a "great voice" and should look into doing voice over.

Whatever the motivation (some more valid than others) these folks want to get into VO and don't know how. Many of the first time students I work with have come to me with this same question: How do I get started doing what you do?

Well, here’s what I’ll say:

1. Make sure you can ACT.
Voice Over is a form of acting. Yes, it requires specialized skills and the actor works with recording equipment not with stage scenery and props; but it is acting all the same. Having a great voice or being a good reader aren’t enough to make it in this highly-competitive field. The best thing you can do for yourself is learn how to “make believe.” Training in acting don’t mean you have to have a degree from a university or conservatory to get on the microphone, but it does mean you have formally studied the craft of acting somewhere. In fact, many great actors (and guys like me) get their starts doing school, church or community theater productions. There are actually many ways to get a good acting education for free or cheap out there.

2. Build your empire where you are.
A lot of hopeful performers make to move to major markets like New York or Los Angeles as soon as they can - whether or not they can afford it. Know before you move, that the cost of living in these highly-taxed, cosmopolitan areas is significantly higher than in your own home town.

I started my career locally sending demos to and booking commercials for local ad agencies and other local clients; and it helped A LOT. I only came to the L.A. area when I knew that I wanted to work in Animation VO and there is no other place in the US to really build a career in that field.

In the internet age, if you are talented, skilled and willing to hustle, you can make a great living in many forms of VO from anywhere in the world and not have to relocate to high-priced cities or leave friends and family behind.

3. Take a voice over class.
Beyond acting technique, there are specialized skills needed for voice over. You need to learn how to do the dance with the microphone; how to give a compelling performance using only your voice and how to communicate to your intended audience. There are a TON of teachers out there who can help you at any step of the journey, to acquire new skills or hone ones that need sharpening. Many teachers and studios make lessons available for free or cheap online through the miracle of the internet. So now, even if you live in Mudlick, KT (with all apologies to the gentle people of Mudlick) you can get training from professionals in major markets.

Some of my favorite internet teachers to recommend, (besides myself, of course.) are VO legend, Pat Fraley and the gang over at Edge Studio. And this year, you can get a jumpstart in VO in the form of a weekend conference intensive called the 2014 VOICE Conference!

4. Study the content you want to do.
Have a hankering to be in cartoons? Well how can you get the part in a show if you’ve never watched it? You have to know the writing styles, drawing styles, world views and genres of the cartoons out there if you want to be in one of them. If you don’t know the difference between an animated show on Disney Jr. and one on Comedy Central, you have little hope to book either one out from an actor who does.

The same goes for commercials. Advertising changes with the culture and in the last 30 years we have seen dramatic shifts in the advertising people identify with. Are you aware of what commercials look like and sound like these days? Do you know what demographics are targeted by what products? If you want to do voice over, discipline yourself not to change the channel when a commercial comes on, but to listen more intently and study how people are doing what you want to do.

5. Read aloud. All the time.
Voice over is not a memorized craft - it is a read craft. If you are not well-versed in reading out loud, you’ll never make it past the front door of any talent agency or casting house. Smooth and meaningful communication through reading aloud is the essence of well-done VO. Therefore, practice: Read your blogs aloud. Read your insurance papers aloud. Read to your kids aloud (and do voices!) Read the news aloud - but not from a newspaper - print is dead. Read your magazines aloud. Read your prescriptions aloud. Read the stereo instructions aloud.  Read the cereal box aloud. Just READ ALOUD.

6. Know your irreducible minimum
Huh?
Yes - Your irreducible minimum:
What are you - at your core, when all other things are stripped away - created to do on this earth? If the answer is not “Create characters with my voice.” then find out what that answer is and follow it to the ends of the earth.

Sure, doing voices is a gas for everyone, but many of us can do voices for our friends or imitate our favorite cartoon characters at parties, but can we create real, original, compelling characters that live and breathe and have emotions like real people? Is your heart to try to get rich for goofing off? Or is is to to do what you’ve been created to do and can’t help but doing? I guarantee you that all the people who are making money as voice actors are driven to do it because somewhere inside their design says they MUST.

A career in voice over, especially animation, requires lots of sacrifice. There are so many things about your life that cease to be comfortable when you pursue acting of any kind. And even if you are "successful," you may still never know where the next paycheck is coming from. So if you can be happy doing anything else, then by all means, go do it and be happy. Consider that for some acting is meant to be a career and for others a hobby. And there is no shame in that.

7. Allow yourself to fail
At the risk of sounding like a Power of Positive Thinking guy and with all respect to Dale Carnegie and his ilk, I have to say that the biggest hindrance to me in my career has been shame.

Now, to clarify, what I mean by shame is what many would call negative-self-talk, feeling bad about oneself, being self-critical, or having low self-esteem. If we let ourselves step away from pop-psyche for a moment, all of those things amount to shame - meaning the feeling of worthlessness that comes when we have not met up to a standard. [It is different from guilt: guilt is a legal term that indicates the appropriate feeling of responsibility for known wrong-doing. Shame is guilt applied to someone just for being who they are, regardless of whether they have committed a wrong or not.]

Where am I going with this? When we give a bad read or fail to take direction, or muff the accent or stumble on a word, the temptation for many of us is to shame ourselves into working harder.

Not only is shame the WORST motivator on the planet, but it also forces us to watch our own performance while trying to perform and critique as we go. This is the antithesis of acting! You can’t act and direct at the same time. The moment you start directing yourself out of shame, you stop acting. Then the whole thing falls apart.

I love doing voice over. I love teaching it and coaching it. But to get where I am has taken years. And the truth is, everyone’s story is different. Sure there are some common themes to success, like the ones above, but no one’s story in this town is the same.

So you wanna do voice over? Come to grips with the fact that there is no formula and that people, and their hobbies and their professions are all different.

And guess what?
It’s supposed to be that way.