Voice over work?

[B2D]

When I was working for GC last year, I had more than a few people tell me that I had a pretty decent "radio voice" and that I should look into doing professional voice work.

I put in on my list of things to look into and it slid down the list until someone else at my current job told me the same thing, so now I'm interested again.

How would I break into the voice business? I'm told that there's not as much work as you'd think and a something like 10% of the people have 90% of the work but if you can get your foot in there, do it.

I'd need to invest in a good mic and get a demo together, of course, but other than that what do I do? Talent agency? Search Craigslist? Do a few pro bono gigs?

[Funkfingers]

At this stage, it might be smartest to hire the services of a pro recording studio. One with a proper narration booth and broadcast quality microphones. If the standard booking is three hours, pay for that.

Go in prepared with scripts. Loosen up. Record a mixture of lengthy narration, short inserts and one-liner material. If you can sing, include examples of that. If you can double track yourself accurately, include examples of that.

Edit the recordings. Compile them. Keep a copy of the raw audio files for future use at home.

If work arrives, you will soon be able to pay for a fabulous microphone and an outboard pre-amp/channel box for work at home.

[Gearjoneser]

You're probably right about 10% getting 90% of the work. You also have to have a SAG card (screen actors guild).

One time, I was buying a mixer off Craigslist and went to a wealthy guy's house with a Porsche parked in the driveway. It turned out that he's 'the guy' with the deep voice that you hear in thousands of movie trailers. You know the voice.

[Powdered Toast Man]

I was watching commentary on some of my Futurama DVDs with Billy West and Maurice LaMarche (two of the most prolific voice actors of this generation) and they said that they get asked all the time by people, "I've been told I have a good/funny voice, how do I get into voice acting?" And their answer is, "Don't." Basically, it's like what you said, 10% of the people get 90% of the work. Producers will always go back to the actors they know, or they want celebrity actors to do the voice work. Billy West even said that he's been hired to come in and basically create the entire character - and he'll record all the dialogue, and then later he'll find out that they wanted a celebrity but they didn't know how to voice act so the celeb actor just copied everything West did and re-recorded it. That'd be like you getting hired to write and record an album, and then finding out afterward that they just redubbed all your parts with someone who barely knows how to play guitar. You might think the celeb is just re-reading the lines, but they also copy all the emphasis, inflections, and manner - which is basically the character. Apparently it's a big F-you to the voice actors who recorded in the first place, but they put up with it because they need to make a living. They might get $20,000 for their work, and then the celeb who copies it comes in and gets paid $5 million.

[Jessie's ghost]

I was watching commentary on some of my Futurama DVDs with Billy West and Maurice LaMarche (two of the most prolific voice actors of this generation) and they said that they get asked all the time by people, "I've been told I have a good/funny voice, how do I get into voice acting?" And their answer is, "Don't." Basically, it's like what you said, 10% of the people get 90% of the work. Producers will always go back to the actors they know, or they want celebrity actors to do the voice work. Billy West even said that he's been hired to come in and basically create the entire character - and he'll record all the dialogue, and then later he'll find out that they wanted a celebrity but they didn't know how to voice act so the celeb actor just copied everything West did and re-recorded it. That'd be like you getting hired to write and record an album, and then finding out afterward that they just redubbed all your parts with someone who barely knows how to play guitar. You might think the celeb is just re-reading the lines, but they also copy all the emphasis, inflections, and manner - which is basically the character. Apparently it's a big F-you to the voice actors who recorded in the first place, but they put up with it because they need to make a living. They might get $20,000 for their work, and then the celeb who copies it comes in and gets paid $5 million.

Sounds awesome. Where do I sign up?

[idsnowdog]

I do commercials for Telemundo

[schecterplayer]

I do voice work for a local radio station, mostly public service announcement and promos. Definitely get a demo tape together as has already been posted, and look into volunteering at a public radio station to get some real-life experience, since that always looks good. If you can read other people's copy well and write decent stuff yourself there is definitely some work out there, although radio hasn't been a hot field for a long time.

[B2D]

You're probably right about 10% getting 90% of the work. You also have to have a SAG card (screen actors guild).

One time, I was buying a mixer off Craigslist and went to a wealthy guy's house with a Porsche parked in the driveway. It turned out that he's 'the guy' with the deep voice that you hear in thousands of movie trailers. You know the voice.

Was it Don LaFontaine? Bald guy? He passed away in 2008.