“Listen, I got unbelievably lucky with YouTube, and I don’t know why. I still really, I mean, I know why in theory, like, people have been like, well, ‘You provide XYZ,’ but I don’t know why I get to do this. Like, I know that I have certain qualities that lend themselves to my strengths, that lend themselves to this medium, but it’s completely and utterly luck. Putting out good videos, having a high-quality camera, a high-quality microphone, having a, you know, finding out what your skill set is that you can use. So, the thing is, I remember five years ago when I wasn’t even, or well, let’s say six years ago, I’d be like, they would be talking about a streamer that had a shtick. And I guess I accidentally fell back into my shtick, which was the opera singer, right?” – Marco Cammarota

 

This episode is the second half of my conversation with voice actor and YouTube sensation Marco Cammarota as we discuss how the YouTube and Twitch algorithms can make or break a channel’s audience size, Marco’s voiceover work in such games as Metal Slug and Genshin Impact, and how a creative approach to sound, including silence, can have a dramatic impact on listeners.

 

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(0:00:00) - Navigating a Career in Content Creation

My conversation with Marco picks up with his frank advice to people looking to follow his winding career path. “I remember when people would be like, how do you get into voiceover? And I’d always be like ‘Don’t, don’t!’ How do you get into opera? ‘Don’t!’” We discuss how much of a role luck and the YouTube algorithm played in his success, and he does offer some tips to anyone looking to start their own channel. The topic turns to AI in sound, its growing prevalence in social media, and whether it can replace human video game compositions. “There was an instance where I was listening to some YouTube music on a playlist,” he recalls. “And I was like man, this, like this guy goes off. And then I looked, and it was actually AI, and I was like, oh. And so then the question became do I still listen to this or do I not care, or do I, like, turn it off? And I eventually decided to turn it off.”

(0:15:25) - Exploring Video Game Music Community

Marco tells us more about the community he’s built online with MarcoMeatball and his hopes for his fellow gamers and listeners. “The goal is to have it be a hub of video game music where,” he says, “if someone maybe doesn’t know something or likes something or doesn’t like something, they can come and hear a person who is just like them with a little bit of extra experience, or equal experience, or the person could actually have more experience than me and also offer their insight.” We also discuss how the channel led to a newfound appreciation for video game soundtracks as art, even compared to his childhood love of games. “I’ve learned about so many more pieces of music,” he adds, “like I had a deep, fundamental love for music and games, but I didn’t realize how deep the trench would go for me and how many games that I would be exposed to that I would fall in love with as well.”

(0:21:25) - The Importance of Sound in Life

As our conversation comes to a close, Marco notes some of the most innovative uses of sound in video games that he’s heard, including no sound at all during a particularly ominous moment of the Monster Hunter series. “What I find amazing about that,” he recounts, “is that kind of people meme on it, and they kind of joke, but actually the sound of silence is way more terrifying than the actual soundtrack.” We discuss the importance of sound and how he’s learned to keep an open mind about the beauty of sound in unexpected places, and Marco tells listeners how they can get in touch. “The beautiful way that a horn and the strings meld together and become this like beautiful sunrise of music,” he says about sound, “hearing breath, like, you know, hearing the dog bark down the street, the wind rustling in the wheat, and the leaves, like these – these are the soundtracks of our lives.”

 

Episode Summary

• The importance of content consistency and the influence of AI in gaming and voiceover
• Marco’s hopes for his online community and what he’s learned from his listeners
• The power of sound and silence, and how Marco got the nickname “Marco Meatball”

 

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