How To Get

Started In Voice Acting

The Basics

When it comes to anything that is unfamiliar to you, the focus should be primarily on exploring the enjoyment of being a voice actor, not seeking money or fame.

Determining whether you have the right amount of talent and complexion for acting is a critical aspect into seeing if acting is something you want to do.

By getting as much live performing experience as possible, you can best set yourself up to get to a point where people could potentially pay you to act. The goal in doing so is to be so good that those who cast have to hire you– and then want to rehire you.

Starting Point

Good starting points would be in classes or workshops in your town. Live performance is the best teacher when it comes to acting (and voice acting). You can learn from mistakes and build upon your successes.

The goal should be to create and expand in any way you can. A way you can do this is by finding things that you enjoy doing and never stop doing them.

Practice

Learn from old movies or television shows. Prioritize your health by exercising, getting enough sleep, and cleaning.

Try reading out loud and change the inflection in your voice. Doing the things you enjoy will strengthen your acting ability and improve confidence.

Develop strong voice over skills by maintaining character, noticing certain diction, working on your reading stamina, range of accents and character. Always take advantage at an opportunity to improve.

Casting

When ready, move to where they cast the kind of work you want to do. This can be best done in phases, after establishing yourself in a smaller market.

The next step after establishing yourself in a small market would be to connect with working voice actors and others heading where you want to go.

Surround yourself with those who will bring you up and help you improve instead of bring you down.

Actualization

Always affirm your goals to yourself and write them out. Revise them when you need to. Examine how you limit yourself mentally and physically.

Always be honest about your work and yourself. Embrace the mistakes and rejections as a learning experience while creating a new direction. Celebrate the small victories that come with experience.

Your job during an audition is to create or give something captivating and ambitious. It is not to ask for something. Wield your skill like a weapon and use better than anyone else.

Be Marketable

Be ready before you interview agents. Have your marketing materials ready to impress them. Good examples of this would be from any compiling mailing lists, promotional material, demos, and a website.

Self-direct your voice over auditions only when you are ready to. If you are not ready yet, seek guidance and input from peers. For the next step, join an actors’ union in order to protect yourself, upgrade the quality of projects over time.

As the quality increases you should be able to up income. The whole idea is to never stop pushing your abilities past the success you establish.

Top 5 Resources:

  • VOPlanet: A Peer-to-Peer (P2P) casting site. Be able to post your projects, listen to auditions, and be able to have people hire you out. Start by pressing "post a job" and creating an account.
  • Voice Acting Club: A forum focused on connecting voice actors and content creators. Content ranges from hobby-level voice over boards to P2P boards. Its been around for a while so there have been many posts created over the years.
  • ACX (Audiobook Creation Exchange): Used for audiobook work, it offers a lot of opportunity to get your foot in the door. Whatever audiobook you choose to work on will be sold through online retailers like Audible, Amazon, and iTunes.
  • Voice Over Practice Script Library: A database full of free voice over scripts. By signing up, you will be able to access over 5,000 scripts. Catergories for scripts that follow business, character, dialogue, politcal, and many more.
  • VO Buzz Weekly: Interviews conducted by Chuck Duran and Stacey Aswad towards voice popular voice actors. The goal of the show is to inspire, inform, and educate those who desire to be voice actors.

Talent Spotlight: Eric Martin

Eric Jason Martin is a director, producer, and voice actor located in Los Angeles, California. He developed his love for audio at a young age. Throughout the years, he has earned various accolades- most notably from AudioFile Earphones and Audie. Eric has been apart in over 200 various audiobooks. His most recent narration is from Tantor Audio and the book Lord High Executioner written by Frank Dimatteo and Michael Benson.