Need Advice, looking to get into Voice Acting

Hey Guys,

Recently i've had to deal with a major spat of bad luck ( find my for sale thread to get up to date) and i'm just about out of it now. I've been for a long time wanting to break into voice acting work. I did alot of vocal training in highschool and in college, but it never became anything. Now that i'm faced at my expenses doubling, i think i may look to this venue. Voice acting. Ideally I'd love to do just cartoons, but I know i have to take my industry knocks before I get what i want and i'm prepared for it.

My Question to you my fellow TF brethren, is how does one really go about becoming a VA? ( I'm currently recording my own sample tapes for Demo purposes) So far I've found www.voices123.com and Voices.com | The #1 Voice Over Marketplace for Voice Overs, Voice Over Talent and Voice Actors. I'm just well honestly afraid of failure...kinda my niche problem.

Oh and to give you guys an idea of the characters i have and still do cover i'll give you this list to put it in perspective. Keep in mind that at worst i'm 85% on key with these voices if not better. I don't keep trying to do a voice if it's out of my vocal range.

Cartoons: ( just a sample of my work that' i'm recording, the venture brothers stuff is the newest)
Dr. Claw ( yes i know welker, but i can't pull off g1 megs at all)
Kermit the frog
Dr. Girlfriend ( Venture bros)
Pete white (Venture brothers)
Master Billy Quizboy ( Venture brothers) getting my lishping down!
The Monarch (Venture brothers)
Philip J. Fry ( Futurama)
Dr. Zoidberg ( Futurama)
Joey Mousepad ( Futurama)
Hermes Conrad ( Futurama)
Ironhide ( gen 1)
Blaster ( gen 2)
Soundwave ( if i had a vox this wouldn't be a problem...it's essentially Dr. Claw via vox)
Spongebob Starscream ( still getting the hang of it...i sound more like spongebob squarepants than SS right now)
Ultra Magnus
Rattrap
More...need to remember which one's i've trained myself to do.

Movies:
Randall ( Clerks...i've had multiple people ask me to do the randal voice for answering machines) worst part is my voice is close to his. not my mannerisms though...

Promo stuff i'm working on:
Car commercials
Radio spots


So if you guys can give me any insight on what to do please do. Also if anyone has any stop motion animation work they need VA's for, let me know. I'd love to become a part of it.

look for a talent agency in your area? They can help you find gigs and such.

I recommend asking about breaking into voice acting at every convention voice actor panel you attend. Ever.

^ This.

*Stomps out of thread cursing something about Botcon*

STOLE MY LINE YOU MOTHER--

Er uh

Yes, check out talent agencies, and find out what studios or the like operate nearby if they do.

Also to echo stuff said by some voicers at panels in the past (and assume I'm in any place to give this kind of advice XD), don't worry too much about nailing impersonations. It's better to be able to act while doing a semi-impersonation (or even a voice that's not trying to replicate another one), rather than be able to perfectly replicate lines said by a particular voice in that voice, but not be able to actually act or deliver original lines in that voice.

I dunno, go look up Michael Bell's Botcon panel. I liked his response to That Question.

I really, really, really thought this was more forum meta humor. But it's not.

Good luck. PM Voiceroy for some specifics, I think he's probably the most accomplished VA on the boards. Mouth04 from the Allspark posts here on occasion also, but not regularly. He's actually done TF-related stuff.

But ATLianz probably gave you the best advice. Find an agency who thinks you're worth their time. If you can't...that might tell you something else.

Originally Posted by llamatron Seriously, Bryan. is pretty much the coolest person in all of existence and definitely all of GD.

My advice? Don't. You (and everyone else that aspires to be a voice actor) are almost 100% likely to fail. Invest your time into something that will actually bring in the money (especially if you're having financial problems) and keep voice acting as a hobby.

As cruel as this is, it's true. I have always wanted to get into voice acting, but I have talked to people now who are professionals and it took them YEARS to get actual work. Work on it, do it on the side, and if you get lucky and get steady jobs that match or beat your income, then still do it on the side. I def wouldn't quit my day job to do it because it's really not a steady business.

This is what I also came to post.

You are facing your expenses doubling - do not hedge your bets on an industry where almost everyone trying to break into it fails. Establish yourself in a career where you have a guaranteed cash flow and you are meeting your financial requirements, and then try to work it in on the side.

Looks like I wont be bursting the bubble by saying this but it really isn't a good business to be in. It does not pay well, most actors have something they do as their primary job and voice acting is a work of love thing, you do it if you enjoy it and that's about it. There's only a small, SMALL handful of voice actors that can make a living at just that, and the one of those few I met just last month, Grey Ayres, who is a very prolific voice actor, works like a dog, 10 hours in the booth at a time, long commute (If you dont live close to the studio, you're not going to make it), and even he admits by this time next year he'll probably go into sound engineering or DJing at a club to pay the bills.

If you're serious, step one is to have something else in mind for a career, as I said it's not a profession you can pay the bills on alone. After that, if there are any radio or vocal classes in your area or at a local college, ask the professor there if anyone in the area, radio stations, local TV people, are after voice work, those are the first connections you make. After that you can learn where to find the bigger jobs and get more connections, that's the key to finding work. You'd also have to relocate, the majority of the high-end cartoon and anime work is in Los Angeles, Toronto, and Huston where the major studios are located and they will not fly you in to do a series no matter how much they like you.

There's also a hard truth to this, a lot of studios, especially for anime dubbing, are working with a limited amount of product to voice over, mostly since the anime bubble started to burst, companies that were huge like Geneon don't exist anymore. Companies already have a pool of voice talent that they prefer and they try to get them as much work as they can, one reason you have 10 hour sessions some places where you hammer out lines over and over, a lot of that might not even be for the same series. To get in, you have to seriously impress someone, or get to know someone already working there who can refer you when they need bit parts, which again, are connections you form to keep going up in the industry.

It's harsh, but it's already been said, most likely it's not a good career move because it's so hard to get into and even then the pay is lousy. If you have a passion for it, great, but have a real career ready before you attempt this.

PS: At conventions lately there's been a trend of people there who know a lot of the people attending are interested in becoming voice actors, they'll offer kits, sessions, classes, guarantees of becoming a voice actor overnight, and all of them are expensive. 100% of them, regardless of price, are lying. You want advice, it's been said in this thread, talk to the actual actors at the convention, they give away the best info you could ever get for free. How do you think I found out all of this?