The Sound Advice Voice-Over Podcast

The Sound Advice Voice-Over Podcast episodes:

• 04.26.2024

  The Unexpected Benefits of Mastering Commercial Work

  For decades now, legions of actors have emerged from assorted acting schools across the country harboring a deep aversion to pursuing and accepting commercial work. Yet, if you scratch the surface a bit, you’ll probably find this unfounded antagonism typically...

  
• 04.19.2024

  The Two Prominent Approaches to Voiceover in the States

  If you’ve been pursuing voiceover work on your own in America for the past decade or more, chances are you’ve been following a business model that concentrates almost strictly on securing work all by yourself, or DIY, by procuring jobs...

  
• 04.12.2024

  Why Producing a “Makeshift” Demo of Your Voiceover Demo is a Professional Mistake

  Avoid one of the greatest mistakes budding voice talent make and why to give your voiceover career the best opportunity to achieve the greatest results. Here are a few key industry insights to improve your bottom line, elevate your brand,...

  
• 04.05.2024

  Do You Consider Yourself a VOICE ACTOR?

  Listen to Actors’ SOUND ADVICE seasoned voiceover demo producer/ career coach, Kate McClanaghan offers expert guidance and insight into how to navigating your career as a voiceover. Regardless of your experience level, those auditioning, or most likely to hire you,...

  
• 03.29.2024

  Branding, Rebranding and Art Direction for Voice Actors

  You might be relieved to discover the best advertising… isn’t advertising at all. By that I mean the adage, “less is more” applies when it comes to art directing your graphics that will allow you to make your name known...

  
• 03.22.2024

  Why Self-Direction Matters

  There was atimenot too long ago when it was commonplace to audition for voiceoversin frontof producers at ad agencies, in various recording studios, in front of castingdirectors, or at your local talent agencies where you’d be offered direction in real...

  
• 02.29.2024

  The Most Common Mistakes to Avoid When Recording Your VO Auditions from Home, Part 1

  The quality of your auditions when recording from home is as important as your performance. In fact, it’s never mattered more than it does today. Since COVID, production demands now require every voice talent to not only be well-trained and prepared to...

  
• 02.23.2024

  A Word About Soliciting Feedback (on Your VO Demos)

  You may have asked for feedback in the past simply for a lack of anything else to say, and you hadn’t thought it through beyond this point. Or maybe you wanted praise for your remarkable vocal prowess. (It’s only human...

  
• 02.16.2024

  To Be or Not To Be a Voiceover

  Let’s say, hypothetically, you come from a business background and always wanted to transition to voiceover. Let’s say you’ve been doing a bit of “fact finding” and finding a lot of contradictory information about this business. Not the least of...

  
• 02.16.2024

  The Best Acting is Empathy

  Acting is empathy.The best performances are achieved by having a deepacceptance and understanding of the unique realities of the individual role,character, story, personae, or voice.This is precisely why the individual artist is so critical to the success ofevery production.

  
• 02.08.2024

  The Benefit of Failure

  There is no success without failure. Its only accomplished after overcoming obstacles, both perceived and unexpected, that demand we experience both to even conceive the difference.

  
• 02.02.2024

  How Coachable Are You?

  Here’s a question you need to honestly ask yourself: How coachable are you? It’s fair to assume you’re about as coachable as you are ‘direct-able’. If you can’t be directed, it unlikely you’ll play well with others either. And acting,...

  
• 01.19.2024

  How To Do Voiceover ‘Part Time’

  How much time does it take to establish your voiceover career? How much time and attention does it take to establish and maintain any small business?

  
• 01.12.2024

  Procrastinate Tomorrow

  Here at Actors’ SOUND ADVICE, we coach all our voiceover clients to establish and expand their performance, promotion, and production routine to develop the most agile, creative, and effective abilities in order to advance their careers as working talent. Which...

  
• 01.05.2024

  If It’s Meant To Be

  There’s a common misconception in our culture that states if a road proves too difficult then maybe “it wasn’t meant to be.” Instead, I happen to think the opposite might actually be true. If you are on the right path,...

  
• 12.22.2023

  10 Ways Voiceover Improves Your Overall Acting Ability

  To earn a living as a working talent, there’s no question of the value and importance of expanding your professional skills beyond a single medium, such as strictly stage, or solely on-camera—especially today! One of the best ways to diversify...

  
• 12.15.2023

  The Biggest Misconceptions About Voiceover Demos

  Voiceover demos, by definition, are a professional demonstration of what you do best and what you want more of. Yet many well-meaning, even experienced talent fall prey to many of the following misconceptions regarding what should and shouldn’t be included on your voiceover...

  
• 12.08.2023

  How to ‘Book Out’ for the Holidays

  We’re moments away from family reunions, vacations, long weekends, and some well-deserved time off. So, here’s a bit of advice that will keep you in your talent agent’s good graces well beyond the holidays…

  
• 11.22.2023

  An Honest Thanksgiving

  It’s no secret to anyone who knows me that Thanksgiving is my all-time favorite holiday. And the most enduring Thanksgiving Day memory I have began when I was fifteen, and, well…it’s a story that honestly may never end.

  
• 11.21.2023

  How to Determine What You Do Best as a Voiceover

  Your type can and will eventually change. Type can be especially elusive in voiceover for a number of reasons, besides the obvious: we can only hear you. Therefore the audience must imagine what you look like; how you feel, what...

  
• 11.10.2023

  Six Similarities Between Voiceover & On-Camera Acting

  Here are a few key industry insights to improve your bottom line, elevate your brand, instill confidence, and expand your small business as an actor, on- or off-camera!

  
• 10.26.2023

  How To Study Commercials & TV to FEED YOUR VO READ

  You have to study the medium you intend to work in if you hope to feed your imagination—which ultimately reflects in your performance. Lucky for us, today we’re able to view and study television, voiceover, film, and commercial work with...

  
• 10.24.2023

  Walter’s Reason

  This is our final podcast offering in our month long homage to creepy storytelling and to Halloween. This is the remarkable result of gathering a few of my most talented friends a few years back after divvying up roles between...

  
• 10.17.2023

  The Silent Towns, adapted from Ray Bradbury’s “The Martian Chronicles”

  This is our third recorded offering in our month long homage to great storytelling and to Halloween. This podcast is the remarkable result of gathering a few of my most talented friends in our LA studio one crisp night a...

  
• 10.11.2023

  Engaging Your Imagination

  Regardless of whether you’re on-camera or off-, engaging your imagination is required of you as a talent. Discover a key element that will assist you with every take, regardless of your skill level, and allow you greater spontaneity, expression and...

  
• 10.10.2023

  Night Meeting, adapted from Ray Bradbury’s “The Martian Chronicles”

  This is our second recorded offering in our month long homage to great storytelling and to Halloween. Adapted from Ray Bradbury’s “The Martian Chronicles”, we present our spin on this Twilight Zone-inspired tale, performed by a few of my most...

  
• 10.02.2023

  Ray Bradbury’s “The Earth Men”, an excerpt from “The Martian Chronicles”

  As a kid I fell in love with short stories in large part from hearing old radio theatre-style recordings that often played on the radio throughout October leading up to Halloween.  I especially loved Ray Bradbury’s “The Martian Chronicles”.  So...

  
• 09.29.2023

  How the Actors’ STRIKE Impacts the Voiceover Industry, Part 2

  “The Revolution shall NOT be televised,” as Gil Scott-Heron famously said. When it comes to the backstory that provoked the dual writers and actors’strike no truer word were spoken. The key details of how and why these two vital, creative...

  
• 09.15.2023

  How the Actors’ STRIKE Impacts the Voiceover Industry, Part 1

  Whether you’re a SAG-AFTRA (Screen Actors Guild & American Federation of Television & Radio Artists) member or not, you probably heard the American actor’s union has joined with the Writer’s Guild (WGA) in an historic strike that will continue to...

  
• 08.18.2023

  Mastering The Art of Being Yourself

  As an actor, you’re most often asked to just be yourself. Come to think of it, this could be said of all manner of business, just maybe more so as an actor. Those casting are most interested in you being...

  
• 08.11.2023

  The Four Key Elements to Determining Type

  Conventional wisdom teaches us that mastering all manner of performance styles and offering the widest possible range of characters is how to be read as versatile. And while that’s certainly true, the fact remains that the most consistent direction you’re likely...

  
• 07.28.2023

  10 Ways to Apply Union Policies to Your Non-Union VO Career

  As Actors’ SOUND ADVICE, we strongly encourage all non-union voicetalent to apply some basic union policies and standards to their voiceovercareers to achieve the best, most professional results in their careers. Hereare a few key industry policies to improve your...

  
• 07.14.2023

  Why Voiceovers Can Book Jobs From Just About Anywhere

  One of the many benefits of being a voiceover today over any other time in history is the fact that every session is as near as a simple ‘digital patch’. No need to travel to another town, state or country...

  
• 07.06.2023

  How to Know When You Need to Update Your Voiceover Demos

  Beyond your sparkling personality, dulcet vocal tones, and unlimited imagination—your voiceover demos are the most important tool you have to secure work in this business. They are the vehicle you’ll benefit from most to drive your career… provided they’re done...

  
• 06.23.2023

  Voiceover: The Basics Defined

  “Ambition is the first step to success. The second is action.” There are a few key basics voice talent should know about this industry from the onset that’s either required of you or you can expect as industry standards. Hopefully,...

  
• 05.26.2023

  Why You Need to Lead with a Commercial Demo as a Voice-over

  Understanding who you’ve created your demos to service most is typically overlooked by both seasoned and novice talent alike. Yet, it’s the endgame, and why this should be your primary focus from the very start. Certainly there are no absolutes...

  
• 05.24.2023

  How to Expand Your Comfort Zone & Build Agility as a Voiceover

  Discover some of the best-kept industry secrets that will help you develop the most sought-after skills in the voiceover business. Learn what producers, directors and casting professionals need, want and expect from you as a professional voiceover talent that no...

  
• 05.05.2023

  The Standards That Define Competitive Voiceover Demos

  Listen to SOUND ADVICE founder & author of The SOUND ADVICE Encyclopedia of Voiceover, Kate McClanaghan, defines:

  
• 03.10.2023

  What’s Muscle Memory Delivery?

  Regardless of whether you’re delivering a take for an on-camera or voiceover performance, no one wants only a single delivery from you. Every take requires spontaneity, expression and subtle, yet discernable, variety—regardless of your skill level. So, what do you...

  
• 11.25.2022

  What Makes You Stand Out as a Voice Over

  At first, you might think voiceover is all about the ability to parrot famous stars,create cartoony characters at a moments notice, and authentically mimic anyaccent under the sun. And while these skills are certainly useful to us as actorsand might...

  
• 10.28.2022

  How The VO Industry Has Changed Since COVID-19

  While we all continue to wrestle with this on going, combination social-psyche stress test and health threat, Actors’ SOUND ADVICE continues to assist voice talent across the country establish, maintain and expand their voiceover business. It may surprise you to...

  
• 10.11.2022

  Marti Matulis Creature Feature

  As a special Halloween surprise, meet our special guest, Marti Matulis, seasoned voice talent and ‘Creature Feature’ actor joins SOUND ADVICE founder, Kate McClanaghan. Some of Marti’s creature credits include: – American Horror Story – Sleepy Hollow – Teen Wolf...

  
• 09.02.2022

  Can You Be a Professional Even if You’re Just Starting Out?

  Typically training for the average actor and voice-over are categorizes into one of three camps: beginner, intermediate or advanced. Problem is: nothing in this business is lumped into those categories; you’re either a professional or you’re not, right out of...

  
• 08.30.2022

  Can Talent Be Taught?

  Passion and instincts account for a great deal, but neither will get you anywhere unless you dedicate yourself to keeping your skills sharp, while relentlessly pursuing the work. It’s there to be had. Let’s assume you have a work ethic...

  
• 08.26.2022

  Voiceover: The Basics Defined

  There are a few key basics voice talent should know about this industry from the onset that’s either required of you or you can expect as industry standards. Hopefully, understanding them from the start will improve your ability to create,...

  
• 08.19.2022

  Managing Industry Expectations as a Voiceover

  In the interest of managing your expectations about your acting and voiceover career, here are five common, initial assumptions many talent fall prey to that can and should be avoided…

  
• 08.16.2022

  Six Things You Should Know When Meeting With An Agent

  Much like a really good first date, sitting down with a new agent can be simultaneously exciting and nerve-wracking. Granted your date may appear stunning and very discriminating, and you may feel flat-out privileged to be out with them, but...

  
• 07.29.2022

  How to Overcome the Sophomore Slump

  If you’d been blessed with dumb luck from the onset of your career, and scored some profitable results early on, you might assume your career could run on automatic from that point on. Yet, nothing could be farther from the...

  
• 07.15.2022

  What No One Will Tell You About Becoming A Voice Over Talent

  Let’s suppose you’ve just received your newly produced voiceover demos. Wonderful! After months of preparation and hard work, you now have your well-produced voiceover demos ready to go. You’ll probably listen to them about 80 times in the first 24...

  
• 07.01.2022

  How to Book Out as a Voiceover

  Summer is calling. We’re moments away from family reunions, vacations, and long weekends for the first time in a really long time for most of us! So, here’s a bit of advice that will keep you in good graces with...