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Post by Deleted on Jun 11, 2017 22:35:11 GMT -8
Hi everyone-
I've been voice acting for four years now, but only recently made the decision to go professional, and one thing I've been thinking about lately is where best to practice my craft, and what city I should gravitate towards to go where the VA work is. I know that NYC and LA are the two big places where a lot of voice acting work is, but another thing I've heard about voice acting is that you can "do it from anywhere" and so I'm trying to determine which it is.
Is it really true that you can voice act from anywhere in the world, and have a successful VA career no matter where you are? Or is it more likely that a hub city is more or less necessary in order to get the most opportunities and networking?
That's what I'm really interested in finding out- any insight on this would be appreciated.
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Post by Lumisau on Jun 12, 2017 1:55:51 GMT -8
Gotta go to a hub city, man, unless you're in a large city elsewhere and happy doing local commercials. Online stuff is more of an income supplement than an income in of itself.
The thing is that as far as I can tell, online auditions for real and big projects are becoming more and more popular, you're still going to need to do the actual, final performance in a place where the audio director can control 100% of equipment and environmental factors and ensure they're the same for every VA. Home booths can be completely fine and most online-focused projects only really require you have no echo and a mic better than a vanilla Yeti, but that's because they (the projects) are not tweaked to perfection. A small part of me (who spent four straight days plus two in a post-sound booth editing final uni film sound) thinks the desire to have everything 100% perfect and the same is slightly pretentious-audiophile but I also have tinnitus so my ears aren't an entirely reliable source. I'm personally trying to figure out ways around this, as an Australian - I'd really rather not move overseas (and deal with the increasingly complex hassle around actually doing so) and spend tens of thousands of dollars for a dream. But the complete and honest answer for the moment is that you need to be in LA, NYC, or Texas to be in the sorta stuff which is shown on TV and sold in stores.
If you want to get more specific it seems the Burbank area in LA is the best, and in Texas you'd want the Forth Worth area for your Funimation animu dub needs. I have no idea about NYC because I'm not interested in that area myself. But this is coming from a foreigner.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 12, 2017 5:01:27 GMT -8
Thanks for the answer- what about using something like ISDN, though? I've heard that that can help VAs record from anywhere as if they're in the studio that they need to be recording in, would having something like that make a big difference if you're living outside a major hub city?
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Post by Rebekah Amber Clark on Jun 12, 2017 5:34:53 GMT -8
Well, put yourself in the director's shoes. If you and another equally (or at least sort of equivalently) qualified actor auditions for the same role, and it's a choice between the hassle of accommodating a long-distance recording and an eager beaver who is RIGHT THERE in house ready to accommodate THEM, who would you pick? Not to say remote recording *can't* work for your career (I'm strictly online, but as Lumisau mentioned, it's one of 2 jobs for me), but I'm sure there's a reason voice actors congregate to these cities in the first place.
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Post by ShadowRanma on Jun 12, 2017 7:49:25 GMT -8
If I was given the option to relocate closer to the studio to further pursue and advance my voice acting career, I'd jump at the chance. Especially since I live out in the boonies. It's not a bad place to record. You don't have to worry about outside noises from traffic or stuff like that. But I think it depends on what kind of room you do your recordings in, what kind of microphone you use, and what equipment you use to reduce any outside noise or interference.
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Post by Lady Stardust ★ on Jun 12, 2017 14:06:27 GMT -8
It depends what areas of VO you want to do. There are some commercial and narration projects that record from home, largely through pay to play sites, or you can do audiobooks if you have a great home studio (though I hear recording them is a bit tedious...)
If you want to do anime, you MUST live near either Burbank, CA (BangZoom/Studiopolis/SDI/Deluxe/etc) or Dallas, TX (FUNimation, with Sentai Filmworks being in Houston I believe). I've heard from anime directors that a big part of why anime isn't recorded remotely is because the ADR directors need to make sure the timing matches up exactly, and they want everyone to have recorded from the same mic if possible, plus sometimes the clients are in the room to give input. A few dubs these days are being split between California and Texas if a lot of their cast members are in both locations, but I rarely ever hear of exceptions for people who don't live in one of these two areas.
If you want to do major video games, you MUST live near the Los Angeles area. Nearly every big video game is recorded here and they want you to record in person. However, if you have a passion for doing games, there are always smaller projects such as indie games and certain mobile games which do cast online and record people remotely. I physically go in the studio for almost all my game clients but I do have one client over in China who regularly sends me stuff to record for mobile game apps from home. But AAA games and almost all JRPGs are done in California (with Smite/Paladins having some cast record in Texas as well.)
Depending on your local market, you may be able to get commercial work from anywhere. For example, even though you probably won't get much if any character work in a place like Chicago or New York, I hear of voice talent who make a living doing commercial and narration jobs in these markets (these jobs tend to pay better anyway, but many people love doing character work so they move out to the LA area, or Texas if they mainly want to do anime.)
And yeah, like Razzle said, most of the studios I work for here in the Burbank/LA area have talent rosters of hundreds of experienced voice actors who can come in at a moment's notice, so it's just a lot easier for them to work with people locally than dealing with the hassles and inconsistencies in recording remotely, or the potential of delays for projects with tight schedules if somebody has to fly in from another state.
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Post by benedict on Jun 12, 2017 15:30:00 GMT -8
I've been eyeing an employer out in West Texas as a place to work for my day (ok, day/night) job, so my antennas have been perking up every time Texas comes up as a good location for VO work. There's the possibility I'd be able to travel to Houston or Fort Worth if I moved there, but time might be an issue.
For a larger project like Anime, about how much consecutive studio time would be involved? I realize that's like asking "what's the average job like", to which I'm assuming the answer is "what does average even mean in that context?", but a ballpark figure or a range of figures would be interesting to know.
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Post by cbdroege on Jun 13, 2017 5:27:05 GMT -8
I can tell you my work has dropped of substantially since leaving a big city. I was in Cincinnati, where there is a lot of broadcast and commercial work (It's where clearchannel (the company that runs almost every radio station in the US) is based, along with some smaller studios that cater to TV ad agencies and such). I'm definitely not getting enough (or high enough paying) work to call it a living anymore.
I'd love to move to Texas or Cali to get more creative voice work, but I've given that up to follow my wife in her career, which has currently put us in Germany. Being in such a distant time zone also limits jobs, since a lot of clients want stuff done right away when it's online work.
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Post by benedict on Jun 13, 2017 10:35:36 GMT -8
I've been watching that employer for over two years now, waiting for the right opening, so it's a pretty distant goal at this point. Still...
But what you said about Cincinnati gave me an idea. There's a company here that owns most of the radio stations in the state (Pacific Media Group). I know they have a studio about an hour from where I live, but I don't know if they do advertising spots from there or if they do them at one of their other locations. Hmmmm!
Thanks!
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Post by Lady Stardust ★ on Jun 19, 2017 3:12:11 GMT -8
or a larger project like Anime, about how much consecutive studio time would be involved? I realize that's like asking "what's the average job like", to which I'm assuming the answer is "what does average even mean in that context?", but a ballpark figure or a range of figures would be interesting to know. That's suuuper dependent on the market and company. In California at least, there is a 2-hour minimum that each talent must be booked for (but if you don't have many lines to record or finish early, you still get paid for the full two hours.) If you are a major character, you may be doing 3 or 4 hour sessions, but rarely does a session for one project go longer than 4 consecutive hours unless they're on a major time crunch or have to make special accommodations for a talent who is about to go out of town or only has very limited free days to record. So 2-4 hours, usually. In Texas, I hear from my friends there that the sessions for anime can be much longer, sometimes even 8-9 hours (with breaks of course) because people will be going from studio to studio doing multiple shows. I would assume that, just like in California, there is some flexibility with talent's schedules. For the most part, sessions can be scheduled around your work and other commitments, but 9-5 day jobs are where it can be rough because of studio operating hours. A lot of studios out here usually have their sessions wrapped up by 7 pm or so and usually don't work on weekends, so it can be difficult to schedule talent who have office jobs where they normally get off at 5 or 6. However, again, I hear from my Texas friends that "night sessions" are more common at places like FUNi. Flexibility won't be a huge deal when you're first getting started because statistically, you won't be booking a ton of work yet so you can maybe take a day or half day off work if you have a day you need to record. Many actors tend to choose jobs that don't require a set daytime schedule, such as serving, bartending, retail, or freelance/work-from-home jobs once they start having to put in more time at the recording studio.
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Post by benedict on Jun 19, 2017 12:48:15 GMT -8
Thanks, LadyStardust!
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duffyweber
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I Am A(n): Professional Voice Actor, Semi-Professional Voice Actor, Audio Engineer
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Post by duffyweber on Jun 25, 2017 6:18:47 GMT -8
Another option is you can fly in, but that gets tedious/expensive if VA is your main source of income.
I'm in Cincinnati, but for larger projects, I make it clear I'm willing to travel to their studio in LA/Dallas/Etc.
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Post by Lady Stardust ★ on Jun 27, 2017 14:55:23 GMT -8
Another option is you can fly in, but that gets tedious/expensive if VA is your main source of income. I'm in Cincinnati, but for larger projects, I make it clear I'm willing to travel to their studio in LA/Dallas/Etc. That unfortunately depends on the studio as well---some won't even consider talent that aren't within, say, an hour or two drive away from the studio. Scheduling is so last-minute in this business and sometimes things need to be changed and moved around a lot and it seems they often don't want to take their chances with out-of-town talent unless it's a matter of knowing they will be in town for a week or something and considering them for any projects that come up during that time (For instance, when I visited FUNimation in Dallas, they knew I was a LA talent visiting and found a few one-off bit parts for me to do so I could see what it was like recording in their studio, but they couldn't really consider me for anything bigger because there's no way I can be flying to Texas every other week---even if the job would make up the cost of the flight, it would be too hectic and interfere with my stuff that records here.) I have a couple of friends who used to live out here but had to move due to financial reasons and they let the studios they worked with know they're still willing to fly in anytime, but unfortunately they aren't really considered for parts anymore because there are so many people who are just a quick drive away That being said, there are a few established Texas actors who have relationships with studios out here where they *can* fly in occasionally, although that sort of arrangement is rare. For instance, Alexis Tipton and Caitlin Glass live in Dallas and primarily work with FUNimation, but they often fly out to LA to do videogames.
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duffyweber
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Posts: 220
I Am A(n): Professional Voice Actor, Semi-Professional Voice Actor, Audio Engineer
Pronouns: Any OK
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Post by duffyweber on Jun 28, 2017 4:24:42 GMT -8
Another option is you can fly in, but that gets tedious/expensive if VA is your main source of income. I'm in Cincinnati, but for larger projects, I make it clear I'm willing to travel to their studio in LA/Dallas/Etc. That unfortunately depends on the studio as well---some won't even consider talent that aren't within, say, an hour or two drive away from the studio. Scheduling is so last-minute in this business and sometimes things need to be changed and moved around a lot and it seems they often don't want to take their chances with out-of-town talent unless it's a matter of knowing they will be in town for a week or something and considering them for any projects that come up during that time (For instance, when I visited FUNimation in Dallas, they knew I was a LA talent visiting and found a few one-off bit parts for me to do so I could see what it was like recording in their studio, but they couldn't really consider me for anything bigger because there's no way I can be flying to Texas every other week---even if the job would make up the cost of the flight, it would be too hectic and interfere with my stuff that records here.) I have a couple of friends who used to live out here but had to move due to financial reasons and they let the studios they worked with know they're still willing to fly in anytime, but unfortunately they aren't really considered for parts anymore because there are so many people who are just a quick drive away That being said, there are a few established Texas actors who have relationships with studios out here where they *can* fly in occasionally, although that sort of arrangement is rare. For instance, Alexis Tipton and Caitlin Glass live in Dallas and primarily work with FUNimation, but they often fly out to LA to do videogames. You're depressingly right, here. I have worked on a lot of games done by overseas studios (one coming up this summer I'm REALLY excited about, but can't talk about yet) and online games with constant new content (like Heroes of Newerth and other MOBA games) are always good for VAs from anywhere, but unfortunately, if I want to do voices for NISA or Square or the like, I'd have to move to LA. (And I would SOOOOOOO LOVE to do voices for NISA, or Square. Or XSeed or Media Vision or... Well, you get the idea. ; )
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Post by ThatLGDude on Nov 28, 2017 22:59:05 GMT -8
I was interested in doing video games, maybe anime as well. I did realize that AAA games are recorded in LA, problem is though, I'm Canadian. I live near Toronto. I've heard from some VAs that Toronto is a pretty decent hub, and that "everything" is recorded there, like commercials, animation etc. But I haven't heard it's a hub for video games, and I haven't really seen anything so far to suggest that it is. So I'm left with the prospect of moving to LA, which would require, from how I understand it, that you prove that you're among the absolute best of the best and that you will make America a better place. Pretty much impossible for me at this current moment, I'm still starting out with this. I have family in Ohio/Texas, but since they're not immediate, they wouldn't be able to sponsor me for a green card. Makes me wish I was born down there -_-
EDIT: I'm not trying to make it sound like I'm not willing to put in the work where it's due. I'm just worried that this will now and forever remain a pipe dream, given the hurdles with immigration.
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