As a voice actor, your voice IS your job. And just like how fashion models must keep their bodies looking thin and attractive, or athletes must keep their bodies in tip-top physical condition, we voice actors must keep our voices pristine and clear to ensure that our performances remain consistant.
But do you know how to do that?
And what are the signs that your voice is in trouble?
Here's an interesting vocal health quiz from the good people over at VoiceOverXtra that is worth your time and attention. And after the quiz, be sure to check out the upcoming webinar on vocal health care by Bettye Zoller.
I'm not sure where this originated, but it arrived in my inbox the other day. I usually don't pass along these "forward-this-to-the-whole-world" kind of emails, but after a quick read-through I knew this was something worth sharing.
It's mainly aimed at young students who haven't graduated yet, but I found many of its points very applicable to those of us who have moved beyond "higher education" and into real education (a.k.a. life).
Rule #1
Life is not fair. Get used to it.
Rule #2
The world doesn't care about your self esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something before you feel good about yourself.
Rule #3
You will not make $60,000 a year right out of school. You won't be successful until you've earned it. (And you don't earn it in school.)
Rule #4
If you think your teacher is tough, just wait until you get a boss.
Rule #5
Flipping burgers is NOT beneath your dignity. Your grandparents had a different word for burger-flipping: they called it "opportunity".
Rule #6
If you mess up, it's not your parents' fault. So don't whine about your mistakes. Learn from them.
Rule #7
Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes, and listening to you talk about how cool you thought you were. So before you save the rain forests from the parasites of your parent's generation, try delousing the closet in your own room.
Rule #8
Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life has not. In some schools they have abolished failing grades and they'll give you as many chances as you want to get the right answer. This doesn't bear the slightest resemblance to anything in real life.
Rule #9
Life is not divided into semesters. You don't get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you "find yourself". Do that on your own time.
Rule #10
Television is not real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.
I can't believe it. The last time I wrote was November 30th. NOVEMBER 30TH! Ack!
There is a reason. Well, a few reasons to be exact. But before I get back into the full blogging swing of things, I just want to let the VAN readers know that I'm still alive and kicking as well as update everyone on what's been keeping me away from the blog.
Voice over jobs galore
I'm a lucky guy. Very lucky. Back in August I got a new job as the main voice for a video production house (VPH). I wrote about that voice over job here. Since then I've been happily slammed with 50 to 60 scripts a month. They keep me quite busy.
Then in January I was contacted by another VPH to be one of their main on-call voice actors. This job isn't as busy as the previous one, but I'm not complaining. No, no, no. It's a good company with fun and interesting scripts that come in regularly.
Then, of course, there are the odd jobs here and there that just seem to popup out of nowhere.
Like I said — I'm a very lucky VO guy!
Of course, I'm a firm believer of "luck favors the prepared." Even though I was lucky enough to be contacted by these companies, if I hadn't practiced and practiced and practiced years in advance, I wouldn't have been even close to being ready to handle these jobs. So...
Are you practicing now to prepare for your "lucky break?"
The holidays
December and January are crazy busy for me personally. Yes, there is Christmas and New Years and all the preparation that goes into these two holidays, but also my two children have birthdays in December. Talk about a financial crunch! My father was also born in December.
Moving forward
Now that the insanity has calmed a little, I'll be putting on my writer's cap and getting more posts up. I promise! And since I've been so busy living the voice actor's life, I've got lots of stories to tell...
Dan Lenard, one of the world's leading consultants on voice over home studio audio, begins a three-part online webinar series on Home Studio Basics for Voice Over on Thursday night, November 3rd.
With Lenard's trademark pizzazz and humor, the series will detail how to build, equip, and use a home studio to produce quality audio for voice over auditions and jobs.
Lenard is popularly known as the Home Studio Master and is co-host of the Sunday night East-West Audio Body Shop Ustream TV show.
Presented by VoiceOverXtra, the series features live webinars with online instruction followed by a Q&A period during which attendees can directly ask questions by text or audio.
Each 90-minute webinar starts at 9 p.m. Eastern time, and all registered attendees will also receive a full audio/visual recordings the following day, for reference and in case of schedule conflicts for the live presentation.
What do Yakko Warner (from the Animaniacs), Pinky (from Pinky and the Brain), Raphael and soon Donatello (from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), Hadji (from Jonny Quest), and about another billion animated characters have in common?
The answer: ONE incredibly talented voice actor!
His name is Rob Paulsen
No, I'm not talking about a quote from a popular 1999 movie. (Actually, the quote was "His name was Robert Paulsen" but without Googling it can you name the movie?)
I'm talking about one of the most gifted voice actors in the business: Rob Paulsen — a man who has a list of voice acting credits that make the phrase "a mile long" seem tiny. (You can check them out at Rob Paulsen on IMDb.)
A major influence
I grew up listening to the man perform in many cartoons. And yet from TV show to TV show I never suspected it was the same guy doing the voices. All I knew is that whichever character he happened to be performing, I gravitated toward it.
Some videos:
Here's just a tiny sampling of some of his work along with a 3-part series on voice acting!
After briefly mentioning the new voice over job that I got back in August I've received quite a few emails asking me to talk about some of the juicy details. Since I aim to please, this post will be all about what exactly the job is, how I landed the job, what the job entails, how much time I spend everyday on the job, and anything else that pops into my head as I write.
But before I begin to divulge, let me say up front that I am bound by a "somewhat relaxed" NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreement). Which means that there are specifics about the job that I'm not allowed to talk about, but I can talk about it in general terms.
So now, here are the most asked questions about the new job and their answers:
Now in the comfort of your own home, you can improve your voice over skills for auditions and jobs in a new series of monthly online copy clinics with top voice talent, author and trainer (and incredibly cute ) Terri Apple!
You'll be coached as you cold read scripts alone and with other class participants - getting direct feedback - and also learn as a "fly on the wall" when you hear Terri coaching others on how to improve their voice over delivery.
As a voice actor, your voice IS your job. And just like how fashion models must keep their bodies looking thin and attractive, or athletes must keep their bodies in tip-top physical condition, we voice actors must keep our voices pristine and clear to ensure that our performances remain consistant.
I'm not sure where this originated, but it arrived in my inbox the other day. I usually don't pass along these "forward-this-to-the-whole-world" kind of emails, but after a quick read-through I knew this was something worth sharing.
I can't believe it. The last time I wrote was November 30th. NOVEMBER 30TH! Ack!
Dan Lenard, one of the world's leading consultants on voice over home studio audio, begins a 
What do Yakko Warner (from the Animaniacs), Pinky (from Pinky and the Brain), Raphael and soon Donatello (from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), Hadji (from Jonny Quest), and about another billion animated characters have in common?
After briefly mentioning the new voice over job that I got back in August I've received quite a few emails asking me to talk about some of the juicy details. Since I aim to please, this post will be all about what exactly the job is, how I landed the job, what the job entails, how much time I spend everyday on the job, and anything else that pops into my head as I write.
Now in the comfort of your own home, you can improve your voice over skills for auditions and jobs in a new series of monthly online copy clinics with top voice talent, author and trainer (and incredibly cute 
) Terri Apple!
