VO School Podcast

We are back! And for our first episode of the new season we are tackling a very popular voiceover genre - video games!

How does a voice actor make their way into this genre? Do they need to have gaming experience to be successful? What skills are needed to compete? And where does one go to acquire them?

We also discuss some of the challenges that voice actors face and how these were highlighted recently with a prolonged strike by the actors union SAG/AFTRA.

Working in the video game genre is both challenging and rewarding, and offers an opportunity for talent to become recognized for their work (a rarity for voice actors!).

Joining us this week are three extremely successful video game voice talents, covering the union AAA and indie worlds, as well as gaining perspectives from both sides of ‘the pond’.

Dave Fennoy has been an industry heavyweight for over 20 years and has voiced major roles in games such as The Walking Dead, World of Warcraft, Lego, Final Fantasy, Star Wars, Batman, Transformers, Guardians of the Galaxy, Fallout 4, Minecraft, Infinity Blade, Grand Theft Auto, Assasin’s Creed, Metal Gear Solid, Mass Effect and many, many others! He is also an in-demand voiceover coach and travels the world teaching and speaking about the craft.

Amelia Tyler is a prolific voice actor and motion capture artist from the UK. She has voiced in games such as Divinity Original Sin II, The Spectrum Retreat, Elite Dangerous: Horizons. She’s also voiced multiple characters in Star Wars Battlefront II, Forgotton Anne and Frostpunk, plus mocapped for Kingsman: The Golden Circle. This year she’ll be appearing in The Occupation and several characters in titles including We Happy Few, Du Lac and Fey: Dance of Death, and The Bard's Tale IV.

Jay Britton is also from the UK, he is a Voice Arts Award winning voice actor and motion capture artist and has appeared in over fifty titles and 285+ roles. You will have heard him in Divinity: Original Sin II, Elite Dangerous: Horizons, Total War: Warhammer II, Planet Coaster, The Turing Test, Augmented Empire among many others!

Visit us at: http://www.voschoolpodcast.com

This week on the VO School Podcast we are talking technology. Specifically, DAW’s (Digital Audio Workstations).

These are the software applications that voice talent use to record and edit their voice and there are many options to choose from and many things to consider when making that choice.

What is a DAW? What types of DAW are there? Which DAW sounds the best? And how can a DAW speed up your workflow and allow you to get more work done?

Joining me this week are audio engineers and respected pro audio professionals in the voiceover world, Emmett Andrews and Tim Tippets.

Even if (or perhaps especially if) you aren’t technologically minded, this is an important episode for anyone looking to voice from home, as your DAW is one of the most important tools you have in your own studio.

Visit us at http://www.voschoolpodcast.com

This week on the VO School Podcast we are taking a deep dive into the murky waters of rejection and failure. Every actor has to deal with rejection, at all stages of their career, indeed it is a crucial part of the job, so how do you learn to befriend it?

We take a look at the many ways actors face rejection and learn that rather than viewing it as a negative aspect of this career, we discuss ways to use it as motivation, an opportunity to learn and a way to build confidence.

So what steps can you take to cope with constant rejection or negative feedback? How can you reframe failure as a positive experience? How do you deal with negative people or influences? And when is enough enough?

Joining me this week are three voice talents who all have a great perspective on failure and rejection and have fought their own battles with rejection and failure on their own voiceover journey.

Listen below to my interview with Kathleen Gonzales, Jason Lenere White and Tim Friedlander.

Visit http://www.voschoolpodcast.com

This week on the VO School Podcast we are exploring the commercial voiceover genre.

Commercial voiceover is one of the most sought after genres of voiceover, it can also be one of the most lucrative. So how do you break into this part of the industry?

We discuss the skills you need to have and/or learn to not only break in, but continue to work in this ever changing industry. We also find out the importance (or not) of training, what the work is like day to day, how you adapt to shifts in style, what is popular in commercials right now and where the commercial world will be in five years time.

Alison Freed is a Los Angeles based voice actor. Her clients include: Netflix, AT&T, Disney, Dunkin Donuts, CNN, Buick, Whole Foods, eBay, Twitter and M&M’s.

Roger Leopardi is a 16 year veteran of the industry. He is based in LA and Florida. His clients include: AARP, Sprint, Taco Bell, Go Daddy, Toyota, Geico, McDonald’s, Disney, Nickelodeon and Michael Kors.

Connect with us: http://www.voschoolpodcast.com

Let’s be honest, Linkedin is confusing. Are you absolutely sure you’re using it correctly? Are you getting the most out of it? I know that I wasn’t. This is why I was extremely excited to speak with Tracy Lindley - voice talent and Linkedin guru!

After her now infamous talk at VO Atlanta 2018, I had to get Tracy on the VO School Podcast to help us to optimize our Linkedin profiles, and give us strategies for reaching out to producers, colleagues and potential clients.

We find out how vital Linkedin is to Tracy’s voiceover career. How she uses it to connect with clients. How to optimize your profile for success. How to build ‘touchpoints’ with your dream clients, and maintain relationships. Linkedin etiquette. Profile tweaks to helps you stand out and project your unique personality, and how much time you need to devote to Linkedin each week.

We also find out how certain behaviour can harm your chances of connecting on this social platform.

The tables were turned on me this week on the VO School Podcast as students from Syracuse University pitched their questions about voiceover to me, in a Q&A covering a wide range of topics.

Tina Perkins teaches voiceover at S. I. Newhouse School of Public Communications and she invited me to talk to her students about my experience in the industry and my thoughts on where it is going next.

We run the gamut, covering subjects such as characterisation, accents and accent reduction, getting high profile commercial contracts, production value, finding your niche, audition technique, how to read conversationally, reimagining characters and career ending mistakes!

Many thanks to the students of Newhouse and course leader Tina Perkins for facilitating this Q&A.

This week’s VO School Podcast is the first episode in a new series that we are calling ‘Ask Jim’!

Jim Kennelly is a studio owner, producer and legend of the voiceover industry in New York City. What Jim doesn’t know about voiceover isn’t worth knowing, so we are presenting all manner of listener questions to him this week.

We find out such things as; how to give yourself a competitive advantage, how important is your marketing? How is emerging technology changing the game for voice talent? How much should you charge? And what should a newbies very first steps be?

If you would like to submit your own question/s for a future episode of ‘Ask Jim’ please email the VO School Podcast at [email protected].

In this special episode of the VO School Podcast we are talking about sexual assault and how the #MeToo movement has shone a light on a New York based voiceover coach who has been accused of assaulting many women over the course of nearly 20 years.

Join our round-table discussion with 5 brave women who talk frankly and passionately about their experience, what they are doing now, and tell-tale signs to look out for.

As you can imagine due to the nature of the discussion, this episode contains strong language and graphic descriptions of sexual assault.

We are on a break this week but this is an extra episode announcing our new Patreon community!

To find out more visit http://www.patron.com/voschool

This week on the VO School Podcast we are looking at vocal health, and how - as voiceover actors - keeping your voice in tip top condition is one of your highest priorities.

So why is voice health so important? What parts of your body need to be in good condition to perform your best? How can diet affect your performance? How soon should you start building up liquids prior to a session and why is alignment so crucial for developing stamina?

We also walk listeners through a typical preparation routine for a major session, including vocal warm-ups and tips to keep you at peak performance throughout a long or strenuous recording.

Joining us this week is Nic Redman. She is a voice actor and voice/accent coach hailing from Northern Ireland and based in Manchester, UK.

As a coach she specializes in Accents & Dialects / Breath, Articulation & Resonance / Voice & Text and Character Voicing, and she has taught at some of the UK’s most prestigious institutions, including: RADA, LIPA, Arts Ed, East 15, ICAT, The Actors' Guild and The Actors' Lab, with recent accent and character voice coaching work as heard on BBC Radio 4.