How to start a Voice Acting Career (vo demos, agents,…

My advice on how to start a career in voice over acting and the next steps to take! VO Resources: Blue Snowball Microphone …

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– What up world, it’s me,
Brizzy, or Anna Brisbin. I’m a YouTuber, I’m a screen
actor, I’m a Ravenclaw, but primarily, I consider
myself a voice actor. Now, I’m still young,
bright eyed, bushy tailed and new to Los Angeles, but I do have a few
animations and video games under my belt, such as Final Fantasy 15, Monster of the Deep and Paradigm. And I get asked for this a lot, so here is my humble advice
on how to make voice acting your career. I’ve said it before, but the
first thing that must be said in any video of this nature is: voice acting is acting. I know most people come to
my channel for impressions, but just because you
can do good impressions, or a lot of silly voices, or you have a really
nice sexy sounding voice, doesn’t mean you can have
a career in voice over. Because it’s not about
how many voices you have, or what kind of voice you have, it’s about how many characters
you can believably act. This mic keeps falling,
which is one reason I don’t use this mic stand
for actual voice over. Step one, get a mic stand that works. I’m failing already. And if all their voices are
pretty much the same, so be it. Patrick Warburton is doing great, because he’s a magnetic actor
who lives as his characters. So you gotta get your
acting chops down pat first. And never stop working
on it and getting better. Join a theater group, audition
for plays and short films, sign up for acting classes
and improv classes, anything you can do to hone your skills, especially if it’s live on
stage, starting right now. Understood? Still interested? The whole acting spiel
didn’t scare you off? You’re still interested in
this voice acting thing? Cool, moving on. Types of voice over jobs. If you’re living your life
like the majority of us in this society, you’re most
likely hearing voice over all day, every day, maybe
without even realizing it. Because there is voice over in everything. There’s the obvious,
like animation, cartoons, interactive, which is
video games, mobile games, any sort of game that you
interact with that has voices. Commercial, whether it’s
for radio, TV or internet. Promo, which could mean trailers, something promoing
something happening on TV, like tonight, at 8 p.m., Central
Eastern, what do they say? Audiobook narrations,
radio dramas, you know, that old school narrative
that’s just audio, they still make those, they’re
just usually in podcasts these days, I’m on one called Dark Ones, about all the classic universal monsters, Dracula and the Invisible Man,
and werewolf and all that. I’m the wolf man, or wolf
woman, her name is Ella. ADR, which stands for
Additional Dialogue Recording, that’s when you’re dubbing over something, or adding in some extra
voices in the background. You know how movies have actors as extras in the background? Well, those extras need voices. And that’s what a loop
group or a walla does, and you need ‘em for cartoons too. It’s like extras, but just your voices. Also sometimes you need to
ADR with voice matching, when the original actor isn’t
available for some reason. Translations, where a piece
of media’s being dubbed into your language, such as anime. E-learning, so basically the narration of any sort of educational media, whether it’s a business training video, or some sort of language
learning audio experience, I don’t know. Telephone and IVR, which stands for Interactive Voice Response. It’s that little voice you hear
on an automated phone call, when it’s like, press one for English. Where can I make a
living as a voice actor? There are so many
options for where to live to make a living as a voice actor. And at the same time, there
are very few great options. Los Angeles is, and
probably always will be, the main hub for the majority
of sections of voice over. The majority of the big
animation and movie and TV and video game studios are in Los Angeles. If you wanna focus your
career on commercial, you could do pretty well in New York City, because a lot of huge advertising agencies are based out of New York. I’ve also heard there
are great opportunities in Chicago and Montreal and Vancouver. Don’t actually know much about that, but this is what I’ve heard, so if you’re very anti-New
York or Los Angeles for some reason, you got options there. There’s also Dallas, Texas,
if you’re super interested in anime, because that is
where Funimation is based. So a lot of anime comes out of Texas. Online, it is difficult,
but it’s possible. Good luck, it’s a place to start. If you’re just getting started, online can get you somewhere. But to work from home, online,
you need a home studio. In a home studio, the most important thing is to have a well treated room. Far and beyond, more important than having an expensive fancy microphone. Second only to building
a custom soundproof room, your best option is a walk-in closet with a bunch of clothes. My first home studio was
a two by four foot closet in my apartment in New York City. I crammed myself up into a ball, sitting down with my laptop and my Blue Snowball microphone USB mic, and I recorded my first
auditions and jobs from there. So yeah, Blue Snowball, not
the worst place to start. You can get a used one on
eBay for 30 bucks or less. It’s not a great mic by any means, but it’s a good place to start practicing. You also need a pop
filter, 10 bucks on Amazon. And if you’re ready to
up your microphone game, you can then get a condenser
mic, which plugs into a preamp, which then connects to your computer. Currently I used the Rode
NT1-A, which is $230 on Amazon, and for a preamp, I use the
Focusrite Scarlett Solo, which is $120 on Amazon. And just for my videos, I use this, which is a Shure PG42 USB mic,
goes straight to computer, very nice. If you wanna level up even higher, and fork out a couple thousand
dollars for a microphone, that’s an option, but
if you’re at that level, you’ve clearly already got
yourself a voice over teacher, or a coach and/or an agent, so I would suggest talking to them, and seeing what they recommend
for you specifically, because that’s a lot of money. Learn to record and edit on
easy free program like Audacity or GarageBand, super easy,
there’s YouTube tutorials on how to do everything in the world. You can do it, I believe in you. Finding an agent. Agents find you auditions
for the best projects that are right for you,
they negotiate your payment, and they make sure you get paid. And for that, they take
10 to 15% of your earnings on that job. If an agent is telling you they charge you anything up front, run away, danger. Agents should only ever,
ever, ever be taking a small percentage of
the jobs they get you. So you need an agent to get jobs, but you need to have jobs to get an agent. I mean, no, you don’t
need one immediately, but you do need one eventually if you wanna start doing
consistent bigger jobs. So before you’re ready for bigger jobs, you gotta do smaller jobs. And before you’re ready for smaller jobs, you gotta do free jobs. And if you hate the idea
of voice acting for free, this is probably not the job for you. Because you need to get
experience and have fun honing your skills. Be stoked that you get to do this, because it’s freakin’ fun, man! Go to
behindthevoiceactors.com/casting-call and audition for some amateur projects. Lots of them are fan projects
for existing franchises, so you might be asked to
do some voice matches, like I see some fan projects here for Super Dragon Ball Heroes and
Spiderman and Paper Mario, and some are original projects, where you can create
your own original voices and work along with the
director to develop those. You know, fun voice acting stuff. So after you do a bunch of that, but before you get an agent, you might wanna sign up for
a website like voice123.com, where you may end up booking
some paid gigs, exciting, yes. But don’t expect this to pay the bills. So it’s like these can
be great training grounds for building your
confidence with auditioning and communicating with clients, and just straight up work experience and honing your voice acting. But it’s definitely not the big leagues, and they don’t really pay
well or often even fairly. You may even have to pay to use the site and send in your auditions. So if that’s not your bag, don’t do it. You don’t need to do it. Instead of paying to
audition for low paying jobs, I would recommend working
for free on fun projects, creating your own projects and
investing in your training. And eventually, a good demo. Unless you have a personal connection or some other outstanding circumstance, you’ll need a great demo
to get a great agent. But don’t pay for an expensive demo until you know you’re ready. And don’t send a home made
demo to agents, please. If it’s not up to par
with the great actors they already have on their roster, they’re not gonna dig it, and that might hurt your
chances later down the line. I’ll leave a link down
there to a YouTube playlist of professional voice
over demos from actors you might recognize to show you how good professional voice over
demos can, and should, sound. I think the most effective
way to get a good agent, rather than emailing
your demo out to a person who’s never heard of you before, is to get out there and
make stuff of your own. I mean, that’s what this
YouTube channel is all about, that’s why I started this
channel almost seven years ago, because I wanted to get
more into voice over, and I wanted to be proactive about that, start making stuff on my own. And this channel is what
has gotten me connections to agents and casting directors for video games and cartoons. Start a YouTube channel, join a theater or an improv troupe, make
a web series or short film, or a radio drama. Make friends with people who
also want to make things, from all sides of it,
writers, directors, actors, animators, so you can all get together and make your own original little beautiful butterfly creations. If your heart is in
it, and you keep it up, you will get better and
your work will get better, and people will notice. And yes, agents are people too. And then, an agent will
ask for your great demo and you will have it,
because you’ve been training and you did your research
and you found someone awesome to make you an awesome demo. How lucky, right? You know what they say,
luck is when preparation meets opportunity. Auditioning. Your audition should
simply be you slating, which is saying your name,
and the character’s name. Anna Brisbin, reading for Cindy Lou Who. And your character’s lines. Don’t read the other character’s lines, and don’t have anyone else do it, either, those are just there so
you know what’s going on. And don’t read the directions, like «Cindy Lou Who walks up to the Grinch «and smacks him in the face.» We don’t need that. Do add some non-verbal
sounds, like whimpers or hesitations, or squeaks,
or, I don’t know, sniffles where it feels appropriate. And don’t add any external
sound effects or music to make it sound legit. Improv once or twice to
help your read stand out. Nothing that’ll transform
the script or be distracting, just a few words or a line or two, especially if it’ll make
them laugh, never hurts. Title your files clearly and efficiently. Unless you’re told otherwise, of course, use your name, underscore,
your character’s name, underscore, your agency, if you have one. And export it as an MP3
unless you’re asked otherwise. If it’s a job and not just an audition, they probably want a .wav, but ask ‘em if they haven’t told you. If you want more detailed
information on my dos and don’ts of auditioning, there’s so
much that could be said, please give a thumbs up on this video so I know, for one, people are interested in more voice acting careers stuff, and two, comment and
tell me you specifically want the auditioning thing, so I know. Joining the union. SAG-AFTRA, the Screen Actors’ Guild, American Federation of
Television and Radio Artists, is that it? Yes, I think that’s the
first time I’ve actually said it out loud by
myself without reading it. They’re the union for
actors who want to work on good projects for good money under fair and safe conditions. It’s protection for an actor’s livelihood and eventually, it’s health insurance. It’s also the big leagues,
and membership is not cheap, so don’t feel you need to run
head first into the union. You don’t wanna do that. Grand majority of the big
live action and animated shows and movies, commercials
and video games are union. However, I’m pretty sure
most anime is non-union, but not very well versed there, so sorry. You’ll join the union
when you’re cast in a job that requires you to become union, so until that happens,
don’t worry about it. In the meantime, I think my best advice is just to keep your head in the game. Remember your goals and
don’t become complacent. Surround your life with this
thing that you want to do and never stop thriving to
learn and become better at it. Listen to podcasts like
Talkin’ Toons with Rob Paulsen, which I was just a guest on, hey! And VO Buzz Weekly, are
both great conversational, interview style podcasts
that are fun and educational and inspirational, just
conversations between voice acting professionals
and other voice actors or casting directors or agents
and people in the business, whose names and stories
are just important to hear. Voice Acting Mastery with Crispin Freeman is a more teaching heavy, direct podcast from Crispin himself, with
some interviews thrown in, if you’re more into that. And invest in training. Acting classes or school,
voice over classes, improv class, singing lessons. No matter where you are in the world, you can do online courses,
like gravyforthebrain.com, which provides specific
detailed courses and webinars on topics like commercials,
video games, demos, agents, audiobooks, any kind of focused lessons you wanna hear about, which
is hopefully everything. Just make sure before you
dish out the big bucks on any sort of class that
you do your research, vet them, read reviews,
hear what people have to say about these people because there
are a lot of duds out there just trying to take your money. For example, if a class
offers to make your VO demo for you at the end of the class, red flag. Don’t do it, any teacher worth their salt will not tell you to make
a demo until you are ready. More resources, Voice Over Voice Actor is a book by Yuri
Lowenthal and Tara Platt. It is helpful, inspirational, funny and a super easy and quick read. Grab a highlighter, read it,
mark up your favorite tips because there’s gonna be a lot of them. The voice actor documentary,
I Know That Voice by John DiMaggio and Tommy Reid. I don’t think it’s on
Netflix, but it’s on Amazon, and it’s super fun and insightful and has all your faves in
it, definitely worth a watch. Iwanttobeavoiceactor.com is the website by Dee Bradley Baker and it
is one of the best resources for voice acting on the
internet and it is 100% free. A hundred percent free. I can make an entire
series of YouTube videos purely based on lessons
taught on Dee’s website. And so for this video, I’m
going to end with his 12 steps of a quick overview of how to start. One, get as much time
as you can on a stage in front of a live audience as possible. This can be plays, stand
up, open mic, radio, choir, et cetera. Learn by doing in front of people. Two, seek out, perform
with and observe actors and performers who are more
experienced and better than you. Three, get good improv
experience and training. Four, read out loud a lot. Read a lot in general and not
just books related to acting. Five, watch classic movies
and TV, even video games. Six, practice imitating what you hear in movies, TV and radio. Seven, try new experiences
that are not related to acting but feed your life. Expand your connection to
life and people by traveling. Eight, connect with and
nourish what you love. Follow hobbies, passions,
activities that are not necessarily acting related
but that fulfill you. Nine, get voice and
acting training only if it is constructive, practical
and brings you results. 10, connect with who you are. Get healthy, work out,
connect with your body, write in a diary of your daily journal, connect with and observe people. 11, follow the fun and don’t give up. 12, read this site thoroughly
and study others’ insight as well. I agree, read his site,
it’s really helpful. The link to Dee’s website
and every resource or product that I’ve mentioned in this video is in the description down below and none of it is sponsored. If you’re interested in
more voice acting career related videos, please, please, please give this video a thumbs up so that I know if there is a demand, and leave a comment if you have any specific
requests within that umbrella. Also if you have any
questions, leave a comment or tweet me at @BrizzyVoices,
because generally speaking, that is the best way to get ahold of me, especially if this video
has been up for a while. And that is it. Thank you for listening to me ramble for what has it been, like
20 minutes or something. And remember what Dee said, follow the fun and don’t give up. Bye!

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