VC Radio
Voice Coaches Radio #435 – Say it Out Loud
Voice Coaches Radio. Everything voiceover. And welcome back to another episode of Voice Coaches Radio. I am Sam and I am without Josh yet again. Josh! Where are you? Josh! He is running a marathon like thing. It's this two day extravaganza where he's running about 19 miles, and he is doing different legs, and he's in a van, and it's kind of, it's kind of craziness, but this is Josh.
This is what we love and know about our little baby bear. This is what he does. So he's not with us today, but you're just stuck with me, and I wanted to, I didn't want to lose this opportunity to lose your ears. I wanted to impart some ideas that I had and share some things with you while we don't have Josh here.
as baby bear esque as possible, as much as I can. I can't promise that I'll be like Josh, but I will try. So, today I want to talk to y'all about a couple, couple little things that I think are super important to being a voice actor, and it's something I think about all the time myself, and this is determination and grit, will, And moving forward, being a voice actor, being any creative professional requires a commitment.
It requires a development, and a practice, and a promise to keep doing it day in and day out, even when it's difficult. So, I know a lot of you who listen to this, some of you are in the program. Some of you are just starting the program, and others of you have gone through the program. And when you look to us, you look to Josh and I for advice, for inspiration, for momentum going forward.
And one thing I can tell you, one thing that Josh and I do for each other, one thing that we try to do here at Voice Coaches Radio, is move things forward. We're trying to move our own careers forward, and we're trying to move your career forward. How do we do that?
Well, it is not always explicit, it is not always clear, and it's not. always easy. But what it can be is it can be something that you do every single day. I've said this before in the past and I'll say it again. I'm a huge believer in practices. Practice, practice, practice. And that doesn't mean just, you know, sitting and doing your piano lessons as a kid. I took the piano or took piano lessons as a kid and I always hated it because I did not like doing scales.
I found them very boring. Now as an adult, I understand the virtue and value of doing things like that, but I didn't understand then. So, what, what can we do as a practice today? Well, today what we can do is we can get out there. We can, we can put our name out there. We can tell ten people. We can make these challenges for ourselves to tell more people that we're voice actors.
To drive more people to our demos. That's a simple practice that you can do. Tell one person every single day. There it is, right there. Simple, it doesn't have to be complex. That's it. I know for me, I know I've talked about this before too. I still read out loud. I've been doing this about 10 years now. I still pick up books regularly and I practice reading out loud because it is a muscle.
It is a skill. It's like if I wanted to be a marathon athlete like Josh is, I wouldn't just go run a marathon. I would practice running. I would build up stamina. I would do little short runs here and there. I would continue to do that all the time. Practice, practice, practice. The practice will set you free.
The practice. is the work. So I encourage you, keep practicing, keep going, keep doing it, do more. Also, I've said this a lot of times too, but I think it's worth repeating, listen. Listen to everything and anything. Listen as much as possible, listen to what you can, and discover and articulate for yourself what you love.
And what you don't, what are the things that you really love to listen to as a voice actor? Who do you really like? Whose work inspires you? Whose work do you want to be like? Who is the person you're like, you know what? I am me, and I will never be this person, but this is what I love that they do. And deconstruct what that is and take those ideas.
Art is about selectively stealing good ideas. That's what we're doing, and then we're piecemealing it together and filtering it through your sensibilities. You are a unique person. That's what we need as a voice actor. We need your unique side. sensibilities, your unique humanity, your unique self. However, however, there are so many things to learn from other people.
I talk really fast. It's one of my problems as a voice actor, but it's also one of my gifts, because I can make reading things, and I can also apply this to my reading, sound super conversational. I bring a very conversational quality to my voice acting, because I... A, talk that way, but B, I practice that way.
I practice reading that way. And it's, uh, when I'm practicing reading, it's not just me going so fast. It's much more nuanced because I'm looking critically, a few steps ahead of my mouth with my eye, to identify what is the next important piece of information in the story. And I do this at the sentence level.
I do it very fast. You can do the same thing. Read all the time, listen all the time, and practice. Practice doing this. Put yourself out there. Make a, make another goal. for yourself to read out loud every single day, read outside, read out loud. Five, you can read outside too. If you want to be my guest, read out loud, five minutes, 10 minutes, 15 minutes, 20 minutes.
It doesn't have to be that long. Do a little bit. And it's not because like, if you wanted to try to read for three hours, say let's say you're like, you know what, Sam, I'm going to do this. I'm going to be all extreme. Like you and Josh are, I'm going to go run a marathon and I'm just going to jump in and do it.
Well, that's not the best strategy because if you lift weights once, That doesn't make you strong. If you lift weights over time, every single day, or every few days, counting for some recovery period, that's what's going to make you stronger. So really, again, I would say the practice is better than just the action.
It's the action over time that becomes incredibly valuable. So keep putting yourself out there. And here's the other reason that I want to say, tell people and read out loud. There are two factors that I think we need to practice and think about regularly. Number one, the first thing we need to think about is the product.
What is the product? Well, I guess a better question is, who is the product? And the product is you. You are the product. You are the product. Your voice is the product. You as a voice actor. That is the product. Very good. We need to work on that. That's why reading out loud becomes pivotal. Also listening to people, too.
That is developing your sensibility, your taste. That's developing the product. That's one side of the business. only one side of being a voice actor. It's a very important side. It's the basic side. I am a huge believer in the Sarah Silverman ideology. Be undeniable. Be as good as possible. Don't keep developing yourself until you are undeniable.
Absolutely. We can all get there. It takes time. This is not a one and done thing. Again, this is a practice. Practice becomes super important. But on the other side of things, you could be the Best voice actor in the entire world and never work. Why is that? Maybe you practice every day reading out loud.
Great. Maybe you're a writer who only writes in their diary. Great. This is why you're not seen. This is why you're not heard. How do we get heard? This takes us to number two. Promote yourself. Market yourself. Put yourself out there. And I want you to develop practice in, for each camp. For the product and putting yourself out there.
The product side, we know what we're doing, we're reading out loud. The putting yourself out there side, that's what we led with. We're going to tell people every single day. Tell people. Practice telling them. It doesn't have to be every single day, but why I encourage you to do it every single day is because you want this to become second nature.
We're all nervous. This is unnatural for all of us. Marketing is a skill, and it's a skill that you can develop and learn. I've had to learn it. You, too, can learn it. You can absolutely do this. You don't need to be a superhuman being. I know I always talk about being a superhero. But really, the emphasis is on every day.
You're you. You always need to be you. But you're you as if you're solving a problem. You're you as if you're saving the day. That's the goal. So say it out loud, and developing the practice will reinforce your confidence around this. Practice, practice, practice. Say it, say it, say it. There it is. Practice and say it.
Practice. Put it out. Put it out there. Practice saying it out loud. Practice saying it out loud. In both ways, you're saying it out loud. There is power in what we do. You have more power than you realize as a voice actor. What are you doing? You are raising somebody's story and elevating their profile. You are bringing their flat, static story to life.
You are giving a human element to an unhuman thing. thing. Does this make sense? This is where I want us all to go, and this is what I want us all to think about, and to continue thinking about as we go forward. So, this is my little rant without Josh. We miss little baby bear around here, but he's coming back soon.
I just wanted to make sure I could give you some more value in the meantime that we didn't miss anything. any more time. So, thank you so much for listening. Please, let me know if you have any questions, if there's anything else I can do to help answer what you, what have you. Let me know.
SamAtVoiceCoaches. com is a great way to get a hold of me, and I'd love to include whatever you are thinking about, worried about, wondering about, what you need to know as a voice actor. Let me know. I'm available, Josh is available, and he will be back next week for another episode of Voice Coaches Radio.
And until then, So long, folks. Visit voicecoaches. com for more voiceover news and information.
This is what we love and know about our little baby bear. This is what he does. So he's not with us today, but you're just stuck with me, and I wanted to, I didn't want to lose this opportunity to lose your ears. I wanted to impart some ideas that I had and share some things with you while we don't have Josh here.
as baby bear esque as possible, as much as I can. I can't promise that I'll be like Josh, but I will try. So, today I want to talk to y'all about a couple, couple little things that I think are super important to being a voice actor, and it's something I think about all the time myself, and this is determination and grit, will, And moving forward, being a voice actor, being any creative professional requires a commitment.
It requires a development, and a practice, and a promise to keep doing it day in and day out, even when it's difficult. So, I know a lot of you who listen to this, some of you are in the program. Some of you are just starting the program, and others of you have gone through the program. And when you look to us, you look to Josh and I for advice, for inspiration, for momentum going forward.
And one thing I can tell you, one thing that Josh and I do for each other, one thing that we try to do here at Voice Coaches Radio, is move things forward. We're trying to move our own careers forward, and we're trying to move your career forward. How do we do that?
Well, it is not always explicit, it is not always clear, and it's not. always easy. But what it can be is it can be something that you do every single day. I've said this before in the past and I'll say it again. I'm a huge believer in practices. Practice, practice, practice. And that doesn't mean just, you know, sitting and doing your piano lessons as a kid. I took the piano or took piano lessons as a kid and I always hated it because I did not like doing scales.
I found them very boring. Now as an adult, I understand the virtue and value of doing things like that, but I didn't understand then. So, what, what can we do as a practice today? Well, today what we can do is we can get out there. We can, we can put our name out there. We can tell ten people. We can make these challenges for ourselves to tell more people that we're voice actors.
To drive more people to our demos. That's a simple practice that you can do. Tell one person every single day. There it is, right there. Simple, it doesn't have to be complex. That's it. I know for me, I know I've talked about this before too. I still read out loud. I've been doing this about 10 years now. I still pick up books regularly and I practice reading out loud because it is a muscle.
It is a skill. It's like if I wanted to be a marathon athlete like Josh is, I wouldn't just go run a marathon. I would practice running. I would build up stamina. I would do little short runs here and there. I would continue to do that all the time. Practice, practice, practice. The practice will set you free.
The practice. is the work. So I encourage you, keep practicing, keep going, keep doing it, do more. Also, I've said this a lot of times too, but I think it's worth repeating, listen. Listen to everything and anything. Listen as much as possible, listen to what you can, and discover and articulate for yourself what you love.
And what you don't, what are the things that you really love to listen to as a voice actor? Who do you really like? Whose work inspires you? Whose work do you want to be like? Who is the person you're like, you know what? I am me, and I will never be this person, but this is what I love that they do. And deconstruct what that is and take those ideas.
Art is about selectively stealing good ideas. That's what we're doing, and then we're piecemealing it together and filtering it through your sensibilities. You are a unique person. That's what we need as a voice actor. We need your unique side. sensibilities, your unique humanity, your unique self. However, however, there are so many things to learn from other people.
I talk really fast. It's one of my problems as a voice actor, but it's also one of my gifts, because I can make reading things, and I can also apply this to my reading, sound super conversational. I bring a very conversational quality to my voice acting, because I... A, talk that way, but B, I practice that way.
I practice reading that way. And it's, uh, when I'm practicing reading, it's not just me going so fast. It's much more nuanced because I'm looking critically, a few steps ahead of my mouth with my eye, to identify what is the next important piece of information in the story. And I do this at the sentence level.
I do it very fast. You can do the same thing. Read all the time, listen all the time, and practice. Practice doing this. Put yourself out there. Make a, make another goal. for yourself to read out loud every single day, read outside, read out loud. Five, you can read outside too. If you want to be my guest, read out loud, five minutes, 10 minutes, 15 minutes, 20 minutes.
It doesn't have to be that long. Do a little bit. And it's not because like, if you wanted to try to read for three hours, say let's say you're like, you know what, Sam, I'm going to do this. I'm going to be all extreme. Like you and Josh are, I'm going to go run a marathon and I'm just going to jump in and do it.
Well, that's not the best strategy because if you lift weights once, That doesn't make you strong. If you lift weights over time, every single day, or every few days, counting for some recovery period, that's what's going to make you stronger. So really, again, I would say the practice is better than just the action.
It's the action over time that becomes incredibly valuable. So keep putting yourself out there. And here's the other reason that I want to say, tell people and read out loud. There are two factors that I think we need to practice and think about regularly. Number one, the first thing we need to think about is the product.
What is the product? Well, I guess a better question is, who is the product? And the product is you. You are the product. You are the product. Your voice is the product. You as a voice actor. That is the product. Very good. We need to work on that. That's why reading out loud becomes pivotal. Also listening to people, too.
That is developing your sensibility, your taste. That's developing the product. That's one side of the business. only one side of being a voice actor. It's a very important side. It's the basic side. I am a huge believer in the Sarah Silverman ideology. Be undeniable. Be as good as possible. Don't keep developing yourself until you are undeniable.
Absolutely. We can all get there. It takes time. This is not a one and done thing. Again, this is a practice. Practice becomes super important. But on the other side of things, you could be the Best voice actor in the entire world and never work. Why is that? Maybe you practice every day reading out loud.
Great. Maybe you're a writer who only writes in their diary. Great. This is why you're not seen. This is why you're not heard. How do we get heard? This takes us to number two. Promote yourself. Market yourself. Put yourself out there. And I want you to develop practice in, for each camp. For the product and putting yourself out there.
The product side, we know what we're doing, we're reading out loud. The putting yourself out there side, that's what we led with. We're going to tell people every single day. Tell people. Practice telling them. It doesn't have to be every single day, but why I encourage you to do it every single day is because you want this to become second nature.
We're all nervous. This is unnatural for all of us. Marketing is a skill, and it's a skill that you can develop and learn. I've had to learn it. You, too, can learn it. You can absolutely do this. You don't need to be a superhuman being. I know I always talk about being a superhero. But really, the emphasis is on every day.
You're you. You always need to be you. But you're you as if you're solving a problem. You're you as if you're saving the day. That's the goal. So say it out loud, and developing the practice will reinforce your confidence around this. Practice, practice, practice. Say it, say it, say it. There it is. Practice and say it.
Practice. Put it out. Put it out there. Practice saying it out loud. Practice saying it out loud. In both ways, you're saying it out loud. There is power in what we do. You have more power than you realize as a voice actor. What are you doing? You are raising somebody's story and elevating their profile. You are bringing their flat, static story to life.
You are giving a human element to an unhuman thing. thing. Does this make sense? This is where I want us all to go, and this is what I want us all to think about, and to continue thinking about as we go forward. So, this is my little rant without Josh. We miss little baby bear around here, but he's coming back soon.
I just wanted to make sure I could give you some more value in the meantime that we didn't miss anything. any more time. So, thank you so much for listening. Please, let me know if you have any questions, if there's anything else I can do to help answer what you, what have you. Let me know.
SamAtVoiceCoaches. com is a great way to get a hold of me, and I'd love to include whatever you are thinking about, worried about, wondering about, what you need to know as a voice actor. Let me know. I'm available, Josh is available, and he will be back next week for another episode of Voice Coaches Radio.
And until then, So long, folks. Visit voicecoaches. com for more voiceover news and information.
When all else fails, stick with it. Sam from our team discusses the importance of commitment and determination to career longevity and success as a voice actor and recording industry professional.
