Ashley Lynn
Member
Aspiring voice actor, looking for tips and advice
Posts: 28
I Am A(n): Aspiring Voice Actor
Pronouns: she/her
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Post by Ashley Lynn on Aug 14, 2017 15:30:25 GMT -8
Hi all! I am new to this forum, and to voice acting entirely. The only "experience" I have is making my own silly youtube videos (years ago) and doing the voices. I've always done random voices, and as I got older people started to compliment me on my voice. When I worked at a call center for example, customers used to tell me my voice was "soothing" and "relaxing". Sometimes at my current job, people think that my voice is a recording. I feel like this is something I will have a lot of fun with, but I have NO idea where to start. My boyfriend bought me a mic as a surprise...and we have a small set up for me upstairs, but really, I am kind of overwhelmed. Should I get a vocal coach? Do I need lessons? I want to start auditioning but I feel kind of stuck. I can't really make a demo reel until I have some real experience, right? Thanks in advance!
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Post by Bean on Aug 14, 2017 16:50:18 GMT -8
Don't worry about a demo reel at all to start. Lessons could eventually come into play down the road, but they're also not important to start. What is important is not to be concerned so much with doing voices and start out by actually working on your normal voice. I emailed a VA about this a few months back to see if I had the right idea by going about things that way, and she absolutely said it was. She also had a couple of links recommended on her own site, and I'll link you to those here. Dee Bradley Baker's site has a pretty extensive text guide on where to start. It even includes a few tongue twister passages to practice that will make it easier when it comes time to read scripts. Crispin Freeman's Voice Acting Mastery Podcast is the other big one. Just go to the oldest entry and start binge listening to them as they're only 10-20 minutes long a pop, but they'll give you some good insight on how some actors broke into the business and as what to practice. Even better still, reading the threads in this very section of the board was how I learned how to work with my mic and even which one to buy as a beginner. The stickied threads are great for how to work with your mic and whatever audio editing program you go with (I use Audacity), but don't forget about the other threads in this section. I asked the same stuff you did a few weeks ago now! So get the mic you want and practice with your voice. Post a clip or two just to see how you sound at first if you're still unsure of things. For a dude that was completely afraid to press record a month ago for projects on here, it's getting a bit easier now. Good luck to you on your own beginning!
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Post by Rebekah Amber Clark on Aug 14, 2017 16:59:53 GMT -8
Welcome! Don't worry, I think just about everyone probably feels overwhelmed at first. You can certainly get lessons or a coach at any time if you feel like it will help, but you can also definitely just jump right in and start auditioning and doing voice acting if you'd rather learn on your feet. You can always change your mind and start or stop lessons, etc. later, so don't stress too much one way or the other. And when it comes to submitting auditions, literally the worst thing that can happen if you don't do as well as you'd like, is that you don't get the role. You can also ask for feedback if the casting director has time to give it, and you can always share clips of your voice recordings on the forum to ask everyone openly for feedback on things like sound quality to acting choices to character voices you're trying out, etc. I wouldn't worry about a demo reel for now. For the first few weeks or months, I'd suggest just telling people, if they ask, that you don't have one yet. There's absolutely nothing wrong with not having one if you're starting out.
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Ashley Lynn
Member
Aspiring voice actor, looking for tips and advice
Posts: 28
I Am A(n): Aspiring Voice Actor
Pronouns: she/her
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Post by Ashley Lynn on Aug 14, 2017 19:06:47 GMT -8
Bean & Razzle - Thanks for your feedback! I appreciate it. I think my concern is hurting my voice...buttt if I'm just using my voice that shouldn't be much of a problem. I'm excited to start out it's just hard to know where to begin! I've been listening to clips and demo reels and just trying to explore the site and get a feel of what to do. This is going to be fun. 8)
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Post by Rebekah Amber Clark on Aug 14, 2017 19:44:27 GMT -8
Well, I'd DEFINITELY say that if you're going to do anything that you're not sure is safe for your voice, that you should have lessons for doing that kind of thing. But although there is a lot of screaming, monster voices, etc. that goes on in voice acting, you'd be surprised how much of it is just talking in your normal voice and expressing normal emotions just the same way you do everyday in real life without putting your voice at risk. Also, although it might limit roles you can get, you'd be surprised how understanding directors are (at least, around these forums and in my own personal experience), if you're up front at the audition stage, with limitations like "I can't do any screaming roles".
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Synastra
Member
Posts: 2
I Am A(n): Aspiring Voice Actor
Pronouns: she/her
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Post by Synastra on Nov 20, 2017 12:38:55 GMT -8
Good morning/evening to everyone on this forum!
I would like to ask for some advice on starting my voice actor courses and career. I was only ten years old, when I discovered, that I had passion for voice acting. It's still my dream job at the moment, but I've came across some problems. The biggest problem seems that my parents keep telling me, that I won't be able to earn a living as a voice actor. Because of this, they want me to go to University and find an other job. I earn good grades, and hopefully I will pass my final exams with good marks, but I can't find a faculty, that really interest me. The courses around my area are really expensive too. I'm only a high school student at the moment, with only a part-time job for financial support, so I doubt, I will be able to pay for them. I'm almost sure, that my family wouldn't support this idea as well. I'm not part of any kind of fandub group, and I've never had a chance to try my voice acting skills before. I'm quiet, shy and don't talk too often, or too much, but it's been almost ten years, since I joined the school choir. I often do exercises at home to improve my speaking and pronunciation.
I would be really grateful to hear your thoughts and advices. If any of you had similar experiences, I hope it worked out well for you in the end. Thank you in advance! (Ps.: English is not my first language, so forgive me for any spelling or grammar mistakes, I tend to do them a lot.)
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Post by benedict on Nov 20, 2017 17:23:36 GMT -8
I don't have a success story for you, Synastra, but I do have an observation about going to university. I didn't come to voice acting until quite late, so bear with me on how obvious some of this should have been.
While I was at university I did a project in one of my Japanese classes that put each of us in a vocal booth, reading an essay we'd written in Japanese. At the time I found the experience mildly terrifying. I'd never recorded my voice before, so I was a little overwhelmed.
Now I'm pounding my head on my desk. I had access to vocal booths! Thinking back, I'm pretty sure I was reading into a Neumann microphone! Even worse, several years after I graduated I wound up running the IT department for the College of Liberal Arts, which included the Linguistics Department where I'd made the recording. I had full access to those booths and mics as a member of the staff! ARGH!
Life will throw opportunities in your path. It's up to you to recognize them and take advantage of them. I didn't recognize that one and failed to take advantage of it. Twice! Now I'm having to learn from scratch without access to sound booths and equipment, acting classes the university offered, student-led projects I could've participated in, any of it.
It never hurts to have a second career to fall back on. You can always go to university and study something else. But while you're there, take classes in the drama department. Take classes in the communications department. Do voice acting for student films. Join a fandub group. Being there will give you access to things that you won't have, otherwise. It's not an either-or kind of thing. It's a "what does this let me do?" kind of thing.
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Post by Rebekah Amber Clark on Nov 20, 2017 19:49:19 GMT -8
Do you know the saying "don't quit your day job"? While, as I understand it, that's meant as an insult, I think it applies to trying to get started in voice acting. It's important to have a dependable source of income you can fall back on while you try to get your foot in the door. Will you succeed? I don't know. Will you fail? I don't know. I DO know voice acting IS a possible way to earn a living, otherwise voice actors wouldn't be out there doing it right now! If you're having trouble choosing a field you'd be interested in completely separate from voice acting, I'd suggest training for a career that teaches you skills you can use in voice acting. If you choose computers & technology, you'll have a much better basis of understanding on how technical things work to be able to understand your voice acting equipment and software. If you choose business & customer service, that will help you to manage your voice acting business. There's a lot of options out there for careers that on the surface don't seem to have anything to do with voice acting, but STILL teach you relevant skills. And of course, as Benedict said, the access to equipment on campus you might have. Of course, if your parents are expecting you to pay for college yourself, I would personally politely point out to them that if they aren't offering to pay, they don't really get a say in what you CHOOSE to do. Technically, once you're an adult, you don't even have to take them up on the offer to pay your way through college, though I can't imagine turning a generous offer like that down if they're in the position to be able to do it for you.
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Synastra
Member
Posts: 2
I Am A(n): Aspiring Voice Actor
Pronouns: she/her
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Post by Synastra on Nov 21, 2017 23:05:10 GMT -8
Thank you for your answers!
I will definitely make good use of your advices. I didn't think that I would have enough time on my hands for learning and taking courses. I will give it a try. I was always really bad with business skills, but I was kind of good in computer studies. Do you think I could start with it even though I didn't had this lesson for almost three years now?
Unfortunately, I don't know about any fandub groups in my country, as it is unheard of for most of the people. I also I have neither the equipment nor the necessary skills to manage a sound booth, a recorder, or any of those. But if there is a way on the campus, I will be more than happy to try them.
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