Recently, voice actor Paul Strikwerda created a very eye-opening video about the realities of becoming a professional voice actor. It's worth checking out (and now you, too, can finally hear how to correctly pronounce his last name! )
Remember: being a voice actor really is about loving the job. It certainly ISN'T a get-rich-quick profession. But if you love doing the job, then you'll actually feel rich until the day you might just actually become monetarily rich (but I wouldn't bet the farm on that one. )
On January 4, the good people over at VoiceOverXtra will start the new year with "7 Steps To Building A Better Brand" - an info-packed webinar led by voice over expert, Bettye Zoller.
In this webinar, Betty will detail how to analyze your current brand marketing, offer effective marketing techniques, and show you how to keep your brand consistent everywhere - even in personal networking.
In two previous posts (one titled Wanna become a voice-over actor? and the other titled I really hate to scare you but…) I threw down two challenges to aspiring voice actors; challenges that are meant to get VO beginners into the habit of acting like, well... actors.
Working on the two challenges is all fine and dandy if you like living in a vacuum. But one of the things that voice actors really enjoy is having people actually hear what we've done. Maybe it's our inner creative child wanting to be heard (or just our fragile egos needing some attention ) Whatever you call it, it's good to be heard, even when you're just doing things for practice.
Enter the world of volunteering your voice.
There really is a whole world of opportunities where you can get valuable practice and experience as a voice actor while helping out your community. You don't need a professional demo or years of training. Just a mic, a computer, your voice, and the drive to do something really cool (and sometimes all you need is the drive!)
Even though Halloween has passed and all the stores are already running in full Christmas mode, I decided that I'd like to give you just one last scare — and it's a biggie. This scare is for all of the people who are interested in becoming voice over actors. It's especially for those who think that being a voice over actor is "easy money" or a "walk in the park"; for those who think that simply having a great voice and a killer demo is going to land you gig after gig after gig.
If you're a beginner to voice acting, then you might think that there is a tremendous amount of work and practice that needs to be done before you can even get your budding career off the ground. And you'd be right — there IS a lot. So much so that the mountain of work might appear to block out the sunny skies of a successful future career.
I used to think that very way. I'd focus my attention and energy on all of the skills and techniques that I had yet to learn. It was heartbreaking. At times "giving it up" seemed so much better than "giving it a try".
Then one day I changed my perspective, shifted my paradigm, and did away with the one thing that was sapping my motivation:the "To Do" list.
The Art of Voice Acting - NEW Fourth Edition! James R. Alberger's classic book on voice acting just got better! This all-new fourth edition is packed with information ranging from voice exercises and copy samples, solid business advice, guidance on preparing demos, and lots more! Even the CD comes with more audio than the previous third edition (more tips on voice care, vocal warmups, commercial examples, demos, etc. etc. etc...)
If you want to know the details of how to break into voice acting, hone your skills to enable you to compete, get advice and tips from professional voice over actors, and read clear, easy to understand explanations about the whole voice acting industry, then this is the book for you!
For many voice-over actors, having a career in voice acting is one of the most enjoyable ways to make a living. I mean, with so many genres to choose from, who could ever get bored? But honestly, some genres are more fun than others. It all depends on what gets you excited and your own personal level of "yeah, I can do that" for certain jobs that fall outside of your comfort zone.
In this post, I'd like to talk about what I think are the high points of some voice acting genres as well as my personal favorites. When all is said and done, I'd love to hear about your favorite (or not too favorite) genres as well!
There are a lot of books on how to do voice overs — and I've read quite a few of them. So it's a rare pleasure when I have the chance to sit down and read a book that falls outside of the norm in a very good way. And that book is You Can Do Cartoon Voices, Too! by Sunday Muse.
This book / CD set is unique because it is aimed at teaching children how to do voice overs. As a father of two, I'm sometimes asked by my children, "Daddy, why do you spend time talking out loud to no one?" This book has helped my kids understand what it is that I do by showing them how to do it themselves. And it does so in a very wonderful way...
I'm always extremely grateful when my writing gets recognized by others in the voice over community. And today is another day of gratitude and celebration. Once again John Florian of Voice Over Xtra has reprinted one of the posts here at VAN.
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On January 4, the good people over at 
I just love Paul Strikwerda's blog, Double Dutch. Pretty much anything he posts is worth reading (and rereading), and his latest post is no different:
In two previous posts (one titled 
Even though Halloween has passed and all the stores are already running in full Christmas mode, I decided that I'd like to give you just one last scare — and it's a biggie. This scare is for all of the people who are interested in becoming voice over actors. It's especially for those who think that being a voice over actor is "easy money" or a "walk in the park"; for those who think that simply having a great voice and a killer demo is going to land you gig after gig after gig.
If you're a beginner to voice acting, then you might think that there is a tremendous amount of work and practice that needs to be done before you can even get your budding career off the ground. And you'd be right — there IS a lot. So much so that the mountain of work might appear to block out the sunny skies of a successful future career.
For many voice-over actors, having a career in voice acting is one of the most enjoyable ways to make a living. I mean, with so many genres to choose from, who could ever get bored? But honestly, some genres are more fun than others. It all depends on what gets you excited and your own personal level of "yeah, I can do that" for certain jobs that fall outside of your comfort zone.
There are a lot of books on how to do voice overs — and I've read quite a few of them. So it's a rare pleasure when I have the chance to sit down and read a book that falls outside of the norm in a very good way. And that book is 
