Can anyone give me some pointers on getting into the voice acting biz?
I worked in public safety communications for several years, and to many I was known as ‘The Voice’. Now I am a trainer, and was told the other day by an attendee that, to paraphrase, they could ‘listen to me all day long’. Ok, maybe she was hitting on me, but she was 68 so it doesn’t count.
Very flattering comments, to be sure. And while I think my voice is ok, I listen to the radio or watch commercials with voice-overs and really hear some awesome voices. My dad and I sound almost exactly the same, and he has done some PSAs and informational videos for the state, so it’s not like this is a complete fantasy.
I know that, with training, quality of voice can be improved, as well as inflection etc. There are a couple of acting schools where I live…is it worth giving them a couple-to-several-hundred bucks to cultivate this? What are my chances of finding anything anyway?
There’s a podcast called On Vox with Amy Elk that might be a good resource for you. I started listening because I liked the voice actors she interviewed, but there’s a lot of good info in these for people who want to get into the business. The most recent episode has a group of three people in the business (working for Disney and other companies) who talk about it from both the voice acting and booking sides of things, and they have their own workshop group. One episode has an interview with her agent, who talks about what voice actors can do to get into the business.
Elk does say that it helps to take voice acting training/acting classes, but you obviously need to know that the people you’re working with are pros. I think this at least might get you pointed in the right direction and give you some leads on what to do next.
