Voice talent

TangoWhiskey

TangoWhiskey

Touchdown! Greaser!
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Feb 23, 2005
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Midlothian, TX
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3Green
I get told OVER and OVER again by total strangers, family, friends, and co-workers that I have a "great radio voice" and should be recording commercials, books on tape, or some such thing.

Problem is, I have NO IDEA where to start... but I'm thinking it could provide "flying money" if I could break into the market. I don't have a studio to do my own recordings... anybody here know how to get started?? I imagine a sample tape (CD) is part of what's required, but what to read???

Can you do voice-overs part-time for extra cash?? Unless it really paid well, I'm not willing to give up my day job. I'm hoping somebody on the board might be able to point me in the right direction.
 
Two words:
Demo tape.

Make one. Send it to advertising agencies, local businesses, etc. who do radio commericials. A guy I used to work with back in Grand Forks, ND, didn't have a "great" voice, but could do funny voices they liked to use on silly commericials, and he would get calls from local businesses to do stuff all the time. It's a way to break in the market and build up a resume, anyway.

Other than that--I know nothing about the business!

Good luck.
 
Yes you do, Troy.
I have no idea what you have to do but I will ask an employee I have - he went to univ. for Communications, and did some broadcasting.
 
Thanks guys.... I know someone who has a great "funny voice", too. I'll have to suggest to him to make a demo tape. He does impressions that are amazing, of movie characters, actors, comedians, cartoon characters.
 
Ask Spike to mimic the local asoses, er asosi - you know, the airport weather voices - next time you see him. He has the various nuances of each airport nailed down pretty well. Maybe he has a side job he is not telling us about.
 
Buy Harlan's books:

http://www.harlanhogan.com

I meet up with the VO guys for steaks and cigars every so often. Every so often I'll hear a voice on the radio or on a TV commercials and I'll realize I know who it is. A lot of times, like with Harlan he has so many techniques and is so versatile you can't tell his "acting" voice is him.

They make a ton of money, but I think it's fairly hard to break in.

You also need to be in a big city. They otherwise drive downtown all the time to pick up work. Harlan will tell you how he auditions by ISDN line from his studio in his basement.

Even I have been told I have an "unusual" voice but I think dat means I speak Chicaguh.
 
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Let'sgoflying! said:
Ask Spike to mimic the local asoses, er asosi - you know, the airport weather voices - next time you see him. He has the various nuances of each airport nailed down pretty well. Maybe he has a side job he is not telling us about.
Click to expand...

I've heard him do it, and you're SPOT ON! It's amazing! Spike, you need to use Audacity to record it for us and post an MP3 to the group.
 
mikea said:
Buy Harlan's books:

http://www.harlanhogan.com

I meet up with the VO guys for steaks and cigars every so often. Every so often I'll hear a voice on the radio or on a TV commercials and I'll realize I know who it is. A lot of times, like with Harlan he has so many techniques and is so versatile you can't tell his "acting" voice is him.

They make a ton of money, but I think it's fairly hard to break in.

You also need to be a big city. They otherwise drive downtown all the time to pick up work. Harlan will tell you how he auditions by ISDN line from his studio in his basement.

Even I have been told I have an "unusual" voice but I think dat means I speak Chicaguh.
Click to expand...

Thanks, Mike, this is very good information.
 
Troy, good luck at finding a gig. That would be pretty neat to do commercials, etc for radio. I'd do something like that if I had an opportunity. I've been told I have the perfect face for radio.
 
PM Harley Reich (aka Lawreston) on this board or the red board. He has done radio and may have suggestions.

-Skip
 
Troy Whistman said:
Thanks, Mike, this is very good information.
Click to expand...

Good luck!

BTW, Harlan titled one book "The Voice Actor's Guide to Home Recording" and his job as Voice Acting because acting is what it takes to do the sell.

His "V.O." book is autobiographical and tels how he started.
 
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Troy, a friend and client of mine is a voice guy ("golden-throated warblers," they call themselves in jest), whose voice you hear a dozen times a day, especially in the DFW area. I often heard him in LA, as well, and he does much national-scope work.

He works out of an office and studio in Dallas, and he (and another guy) used to do voice-talent seminars; I do not know if they still do, but it could not hurt to ask.

You can hear him at: www.bobmagruder.com

He's a real prince of a guy, too. Let me know if you'd like an intro.
 
Oh, I forgot his most "famous" gig- he's the voice-over guy on the "Cheaters" TV show!
 
Take a look at voices.com. I recently hired a voice artist to do some recordings. I went there and listened to demos until I found one I liked. It was dirt simple.

Paid him $100 for about 3/4 of a page. I'm sure about anyone can add themselves to voices.com if they have a demo.
 
Troy Whistman said:
Problem is, I have NO IDEA where to start... but I'm thinking it could provide "flying money" if I could break into the market. I don't have a studio to do my own recordings... anybody here know how to get started?? I imagine a sample tape (CD) is part of what's required, but what to read???
Click to expand...

Troy,

David Lawrence (who does the Online Tonight syndicated radio show, among other things) talks about helping people into that industry on his podcast a lot. I think his contact info is at davidlawrence.com somewhere.

Also, for a "studio" you just need a quiet room in your house, maybe with some strategically positioned egg foam to deaden it up a bit, and some basic audio equipment. For the Pilotcast, I purchased a Heil PR40 mic, which has excellent low-end response for the "radio voice" and is much more reasonably priced ($269 from Musician's Friend when I bought mine) than comparable mics which are in the thousands of dollars. I hear that Bob Heil was told something to the effect that the PR40 sounds like at least a $2000 mic and why doesn't he charge that for it, and his reply was "The PR40 costs $xxx." Plain and simple, gotta love a guy like that.

For something to plug it into, I got a small Tapco Blend 6 mixer. In addition, I have an XLR cable (mic to mixer), a pop filter, a mic stand, two sets of 1/8" to dual 1/4" cables to send and return audio from mixer to computer. I use my Lightspeeds as my "studio headset" as well, their audio quality is exceptional.

All of the above, not counting the Lightspeeds which I already had, was around $600 total and is plenty good enough to get you going. Good luck! :yes:
 
as long as your family doesn't say "you have a face for radio" I'd say you are doing ok. ;)

just think, you could be the next person in the movies that says "in a world...."
 
I don't do voice over recording, I do music, but if you went to any cheap recording studio and spent an hour saying a few things.... mimic an ad on the radio, make up your own ad for something, like coca cola or whatever and maybe do a fake sports or traffic report (keep them all to about 15 seconds or so), then have the engineer put it on a CD for you. You can then make copies at home or at a duplication place for very little money. (this would all cost about 50 bucks or so, for the studio and the cds).
Then go thru the yellow pages and look up recording studios that do voice over work. Give them a call and ask if you can submit a demo. They will say yes. Then send the demo CD to them and they will listen to it and call you when they need your voice for something. I know people who do VO work, and also a few engineers that record that stuff. They always need good voices.
Good luck.
DW
 
wow sounds like you found lots of help, my employee says the same: demo tape and get it around or go through a school
he has a directory of contacts in the industry and is bringing it over...will pm you any vital details I can find
 
Let'sgoflying! said:
wow sounds like you found lots of help, my employee says the same: demo tape and get it around or go through a school
he has a directory of contacts in the industry and is bringing it over...will pm you any vital details I can find
Click to expand...

Indeed, I am overwhelmed with the response, tips, and encouragement to "go for it"! I'll let you all know how it goes!
 
Troy Whistman said:
Indeed, I am overwhelmed with the response, tips, and encouragement to "go for it"! I'll let you all know how it goes!
Click to expand...

Good luck, Troy.

As with all things "talent" you have to be ready to face a lot fo rejection, until the times coem that you aren't rejected.

I asked Harlan how he could hang with the other guys who go to the same auditions, "Aren't they competing against you, eating your lunch?" He said, "I look at it as I wasn't they wanted but he is. Good for him."

But don't ask how they feel about all of the ads with film actors like Gene Hackman and Christian Slater, James Woods, etc. They really hate it when those guys eat their lunch.

The joke is Harlan is acting in movies and TV ads now.
 
flyingcheesehead said:
I use my Lightspeeds as my "studio headset" as well, their audio quality is exceptional.
Click to expand...

Is there any danger of hurting the headset while doing this? I used to use my David Clark's to do live sound, but I stopped when I upgraded to noise canceling because I was afraid I could break something.
 
Troy Whistman said:
I get told OVER and OVER again by total strangers, family, friends, and co-workers that I have a "great radio voice" and should be recording commercials, books on tape, or some such thing.

Problem is, I have NO IDEA where to start... but I'm thinking it could provide "flying money" if I could break into the market. I don't have a studio to do my own recordings... anybody here know how to get started?? I imagine a sample tape (CD) is part of what's required, but what to read???

Can you do voice-overs part-time for extra cash?? Unless it really paid well, I'm not willing to give up my day job. I'm hoping somebody on the board might be able to point me in the right direction.
Click to expand...


Go to radio stations and recording studios and ask them, "Hey, how do I get into doing voice work in this town?"
 
Henning said:
Go to radio stations and recording studios and ask them, "Hey, how do I get into doing voice work in this town?"
Click to expand...

Simple enough! Sometimes we do overcomplicate things, huh!? I'll include that in the list of upcoming activities. I had a nice conversation with Bill Suffa tonight, too (thanks Bill!)... good ideas from y'all!
 
bluesky74656 said:
Is there any danger of hurting the headset while doing this? I used to use my David Clark's to do live sound, but I stopped when I upgraded to noise canceling because I was afraid I could break something.
Click to expand...
I don't think so. Headphones are headphones. Just don't let them overload and get into distortion and they should be fine.
 
bluesky74656 said:
Is there any danger of hurting the headset while doing this? I used to use my David Clark's to do live sound, but I stopped when I upgraded to noise canceling because I was afraid I could break something.
Click to expand...

It's dangerous to the pros around you who will wonder why you're never happy with the levels.

The impedance of aviation headsets is higher than regular audio headsets.

The microphone part will not work as an audio source.
 
I still haven't done anything with this dream, other than briefly exchange emails with one of the resources identified in this thread.

However, at the bookstore the other day I stumbled on this book:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0823077020

It looked good at the store, and now that I see the good reviews it received on Amazon.com from other readers, I've picked up a copy. We'll see where it goes from there.

:cheerswine:
 
I've often been told I have a face for radio too........


Oh, wait, that's not the same thing, is it?
 
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