VC Radio
Voice Coaches Radio Episode 695 “How To Become A Voice Actor”
John: [00:00:00] Well, hello? Hello. I, I don't know why I stopped. Hello? Voice coaches, family voiceover people and friends in general. I'm John.
Tina: And I'm Tina,
John: and here we are, uh, episode 6 95, and this one is called How to Become a Voice Actor. And the reason that Tina and I both thought this mm-hmm. Was a great topic is because of, I, I get quite a few comments when I do webinars.
Mm-hmm. And Tina, it's gonna talk about when, right. When you do during classes, during classes with, when you're coaching people, I, I have this thing where people, and I don't know why it's like this. I really don't, I, maybe because I've been doing it for so long, but again, [00:01:00] I do tend to remember what it was like to be a beginner, uh, someone just starting out.
But for some reason, unlike every other industry in the world
Tina: mm-hmm.
John: People think just because someone complimented their voice.
Tina: Yeah.
John: That they can be a voice actor. And they, and here's what I get when they find out. It's a bit harder than that. And by the way, this is not the hardest thing in the
Tina: world.
No, absolutely not. It's
John: not hard thing.
Tina: No, no.
John: But when they find out it's a bit harder than that. Mm-hmm. That like everything else in life, you do have to learn how to be a voice actor. They're disappointed. I, I have people said that. Mm-hmm. I'm very disappointed that I learned during your webinar that this is harder than I thought.
And I'm like, so you were upset that you learned about. Reality.
Tina: Yeah. Yeah.
John: Like it is like, like, you know, for anyone who tells you just be a voice actor, they're not telling you the truth. And there're probably a reason they're telling you that, right? Yeah. Or maybe they're telling you something or I don't know, but Right.
Tina: I think a lot of people think it is. Just gimme the piece of paper to read. That's it. That's all you're doing.
John: Yeah.
Tina: That's it. That so [00:02:00] that is where there's more to it. Yeah. There is a little more to it.
John: Well, I, well, I, I, you know, I'm not surprised anymore during my webinar. Mm-hmm. I was, when it first started happening.
'cause I was like, this is interesting. People are coming to an intro to voiceovers.
Tina: Mm-hmm.
John: And that, but they're surprised that they need to learn something about this.
Tina: Yeah.
John: But they're here. Right? Mm-hmm. But, but it must be even more interesting for you because they're actually in a voiceover program getting voice coaching
Tina: Yes.
John: Coming through an all inclusive voiceover coaching program. And they're still surprised.
Tina: Yeah. Yeah. I, and I'm still gonna go back. A lot of 'em are just like, well, I'm just gonna read this. I'm like, when we get to our second class, when we get into talking about techniques, you know, and just different ways to be creative and conversational, that's when they, it's.
It is that light bulb that just goes, wow, I just really thought I was just gonna read. And they like, they wanna hear my voice. Me read that paragraph. Yeah. And that's it. Now you gotta add a little more to it, you know? Yeah. So that's what it is. It's cra [00:03:00] sometimes it is crazy, honestly.
John: Well, I think you have to think, think of it like this.
Um, this is an industry where you can make a lot of money
Tina: mm-hmm.
John: For a very small amount of time.
Tina: Yes.
John: And so if you think of it that way, you have to also think, okay. Well then it can't be just me. Uh, like I can't just be a voice actor and make, like, I'll give you an example. Mm-hmm. Uh, two weeks ago, on a Wednesday, um, I work, I had to work Wednesday night, but a local bar, very local bar mm-hmm.
Called me and said, Hey, we're gonna do a commercial, can, could you do it today? And I was like, well, and they called me like 11 o'clock in the morning and I said, well, I, I work. Um, but I do have time during the day and. The, fortunately for me, they said, can you do it? I say, I could do it from home.
Tina: Yeah.
John: So they gave, you know, they gave me the script.
We talked a little bit about the script. Anyway, they paid me $500 and I finished the spot in 15 minutes. Yeah. I mean, $500 in 15 minutes
Tina: Yeah.
John: For a local job. Mm-hmm. So if, so you have to think about that. In theory, that's $2,000 an hour.
Tina: Yeah.
John: Right. So [00:04:00] what industry could you make $2,000 an hour and not know how to do the job?
Tina: That's right. Yeah.
John: So you have to really think of it that way. I, I, I, I'm always a, I'm not. I'm not shocked that people don't realize mm-hmm. That there's more to it. Mm-hmm. I, I understand it's like every industry, but that's the thing for me, I know that if I was to take a, any class on anything
Tina: mm-hmm.
John: It could be accounting, it could be anything.
I would know that, oh, there's gonna be more to this than I think, or Yeah. There's probably, I would've to dive into this more. One class is not gonna be enough, one webinar is not gonna be enough. I'm definitely gonna have to learn more about this. So what surprises me? Is the disappointment. Yeah, that's what the surprises me.
The disappointment. I think you should look at it in a different way. I think it should be, oh, cool. Not everyone can be a voice actor. Mm-hmm. If I learn how to be a voice actor mm-hmm. That means I'll be the one making money while all these other people are like, think they can just do it.
Tina: Yeah. Like
John: you should look at it that way.
You shouldn't be, by the way, you wanna be part of an industry that anyone can do at any time. That's not. [00:05:00] What industry is that, by the way?
Tina: No, no,
John: but, but if anyone can do it mm-hmm. What makes you special?
Tina: Yeah.
John: Right. What, what makes you, you know, it's, it is just not quite how it is and so I, I, I don't know.
I'm just always, and I, I mean, I, I have people say right to me, I'm just so disappointed. I just thought I could just, I,
Tina: the, the word of disappointment now that you're, you know, you're Saints man. It is shocking to hear that. Yeah. You know, just so I think on when I get students who, when we do the, when we get to that class, second class and going, oh, techniques, that's, that's where they come in.
Not saying it's, they're disappointed, but just saying, I real, I didn't realize there's much more to this. Than just me reading a paragraph.
John: Mm-hmm.
Tina: You know, so, but disapoint Yeah.
John: Disappointed is hard. Yeah. And I've had, I've had about, you know, and not, by the way, this isn't the last week I had one person in particular say how disappointed he was to find out that
Tina: Yeah,
John: he, that this is a bit harder than he thought.
Mm-hmm. That there's more to it.
Tina: Yeah.
John: And I was [00:06:00] like, but I don't, why would you be disappointed? Like, first of all, like, you could go, like, let's just take like a, what people consider a basic job. Mm-hmm. Like if you worked at a, if you. Just got a job at a grocery store and they're gonna put you on the register.
They actually teach you how to use the register. Yes. They don't go, go do that. Yeah. No. You're like, uh, what? No. You, you have hands?
Tina: Mm-hmm. You
John: have fingers. You could use the register, but you don't know how to use the register. Yeah. You are going to learn how to use it. And that's, that's just like what we consider like a basic job.
I was running a register when I was 15 years old.
Tina: Yeah.
John: I still had to learn how to do it. Yeah. They still taught me how to do it, and I worked a price chopper.
Tina: Oh, that was, yes. Same with me.
John: Yeah. So, so to think that, oh, this is actually an easier job. Then a 15 year old's job at Price Chopper mm-hmm. To me is a bit more shocking than, uh,
Tina: yeah.
John: You know, I was like, come on, what? You know, it's not the hardest job in the world, but, and, and it's, and in my opinion, it's the best job in the world.
Tina: Yeah.
John: But you still have to learn how to do it.
Tina: No, absolutely. I mean, you, if just think [00:07:00] about when you are listening to something a, a piece of voiceover work, it is not, yes.
Some of them will be out, you know, you're just reading a line, but there's more to it, you know, you're hearing emotions. You gotta be able to bring in emotions out. You gotta be able to read, you gotta be able to read. That's, that's the biggest, the biggest thing, you know? But it is those techniques. It's not just, here's that piece of paper.
John: Yeah. Yep. And so, and you can tell.
Tina: Mm-hmm.
John: I mean, you, you can tell even on, like, even on social media, like I'll hear people, like, as people count that as very funny. They're like, but I do voiceovers from my Instagram. It's like. Yeah, it's your Instagram. You are do, and by the way, I know, yeah, I can tell that you are doing the voice order for your Instagram.
'cause it is not great. Like you hear people, there's someone out there in particular. I actually had to stop following the person I had to Oh, she's like a self-help person. Mm-hmm. And she clearly has had zero voice training in her entire life and she's. She's voice doing voiceovers for her videos. And they are
Tina: Oh,
John: bad.
Yeah. Like where I'm like, oh my Lord, [00:08:00] this person sounds like she's reading every, mm-hmm. And by the way, you could tell she probably wrote the script herself and she still sounds like she's reading. She's
Tina: still reading. Yeah.
John: It's so bad. I'm like, oh, wow. I almost reached out to her. I was almost like, listen,
Tina: I'll offer you free
John: trade.
Yeah. You need to, I need, we need to talk. Because I actually unfollowed her at a certain point. 'cause I, oh, I was trying to look like. Trying to support her. I was always liking everything. And then I got to a point where I'm like, she's doing herself a disservice here. Mm-hmm. Because she sounds so bad. And I said, I finally unfollowed her.
I'm like, I can't. I can't, I can't do it.
Tina: No, I can't do it. I absolutely
John: not. I cannot continue to listen to this, you know? Yeah. I can't. So, yeah, I, it was just, just know that it's not the hardest job in the world.
Tina: No,
John: no. And I always compare it to like. Being a barber, which I, I'm gonna say mm-hmm. I'm, I'm sure there's way more techniques mm-hmm.
To being a barber, by the way. Yeah. But I, I, I just compare it to being a barber as, and like, you would never just go out and cut hair. Like, you know how like you've cut your, like maybe you cut your dad's hair home.
Tina: Mm-hmm.
John: Maybe you cut your brother's hair at home. Yeah. Maybe you cut your, [00:09:00] you, I, I'm, I'm using men by the way.
'cause no woman's letting anyone just cut their hair at home. Uh, you know, like, guys don't care, guy's. Like Yeah. Just cut hair. Yeah. Uh, for the most part, you know? Uh, but. You might have cut someone's hair at home. Mm-hmm. And they might have said, oh, it looks good. Do you at that point think you should be a barber?
Yes. Or a hairdresser
Tina: set up shop? Let's go.
John: Yeah. I mean, you, right? I mean, do you think that No. Like you're just going, oh, I'm gonna go work at mm-hmm. Super cuts. Whatever
Tina: you have to learn, you have to learn your profession. And that's the same with voice acting. You've got to learn. That's all.
John: Yeah. It's, and again, it's not, it's not the hardest job in the world.
Mm-hmm. It doesn't take a ton of, ton of time to learn it either. I don't think. I mean, everyone's different. Everyone's different. Yeah. I wanna be clear about that. No, some people take a little longer than the other. That's fine. But you do have to, like I always say, when we, when we hire a voice actor here
Tina: mm-hmm.
John: We actually expect you to be a voice actor. We're not paying you so we can show you how to do your job. That's like the opposite of reality, right? Mm-hmm. Like when [00:10:00] you get hired as something
Tina: mm-hmm.
John: You're getting hired because of your expertise in that profession. And here it would be voiceovers. So that's something to, to really know is like, do we hire beginners?
Absolutely. We hire beginners all the time. Oh, yeah. But we hire beginners. We know are professionals. Like, we just know because we heard their demo. We chat with 'em on the phone, they say, Hey, we, yeah, I, I trained here. Or maybe they worked with us. Who knows? Yeah. Um. That's who we hire. We, we will hire beginners, but we hire educated beginners.
People who know what they're doing. We don't, producers clients. And then, you know, and, and, and I wanna address this too, 'cause I've, I've gotten this. No, I understand what you're saying. I know I should, but I'm not looking to do this full-time. I'm just looking to do this part-time. Yeah. And I go, no, no, no.
Yeah, everyone, first of all, you should absolutely start off doing this part-time. Oh yes. I would never tell anyone, quit your job. Get into voice numbers. Yeah. No. If you're desperate. If you're coming at this from a desperate point of view. Mm-hmm. Like you've lost your job and you need money now. Go find another job first.
Absolutely. It's not voiceover. You're running a little small business here and mm-hmm. Maybe you'll make money in a couple weeks, but you might not, it [00:11:00] might take you a month, two months, three months Yeah. To really get that voiceover business going.
Tina: I think that's the reality
John: after, after you educate yourself.
Mm-hmm. By the way.
Tina: Yeah.
John: So, you know, don't look at this as a get rich quick. It's not
Tina: No, it's not.
John: Yeah. You're not gonna be discovered. You're not gonna break in. That's not how this works. Mm-hmm. Um, is an awesome industry once you get into it. But again, you're running a little small business, so, um, just know that.
You know, this isn't, I, I tell people, you, you just, you have to know what you're doing and don't think that people are gonna hire you. You can't talk your way into a job. That's another thing people try to do. Like, yeah, but I've done this. Cool. Send me your demo. Well, I don't have a demo. Cool. I don't know what to say.
You're not talking your way into this job. Doesn't happening. No,
Tina: absolutely not.
John: Mm-hmm. So always just be professional, understand your job and, um, even if you're doing this part-time, we don't. We don't care. Like we're not going, oh, he's only doing a part-time, so this can suck.
Tina: Yeah. No, no, no, no.
John: And a client doesn't think that client doesn't care whether you're doing a part-time, full-time, just [00:12:00] supplemental retirement.
They don't care. What they do care about is how good is that voiceover gonna be.
Tina: Yep.
John: So you saying things like, oh, I only wanna do this once in a while, that doesn't mean anything to the client. Mm-hmm. They still want it to be as good as someone who does it full time. Yes. So you still have to have the skills to, to
Tina: do it, to do.
John: Uh, that's all. And it's not the hardest thing to learn, that's for sure. But
Tina: Oh, no, no. That's, I, you know, and when we get into that second class, I do say a lot of times to the students, these are simple techniques. Simple techniques, that you, you've probably been doing them, but you never pay attention to it because it's just a natural way of life.
Right now we're just drawing a little more attention to it because now we just gotta tweak things.
John: Right. You
Tina: know,
John: you have to, you know, utilize what you do in conversation. Mm-hmm. Yes. Which you do naturally, but then you have to put it into your read, which we don't do naturally because we've been taught to read just.
Incorrectly, our whole educational lives, basically. Mm-hmm. You know, stop at period, pause at commas. Yeah. Uh, come up, come a little above. You do this, this is what you're doing when you're reading, you know, you take a deep breath, you know? Mm-hmm. These are things that aren't very useful in voiceovers. No.
You know, you [00:13:00] wanna sound like you're talking. So it's just a matter of getting you there and, and utilizing the, the three major differences. So, yeah. So, uh. I just wanted to, we just wanted to touch on that because I get, I do get quite a bit of it. I really do. Yeah. Uh, even in person, like I, I did an in-person, uh, voiceover workshop not too long ago in, um, outside of Philadelphia.
Tina: Mm-hmm.
John: And you could see there, you could see it like, when I'm on a webinar, I can't see the people, you know, you could see the color draining out of people's faces as the Oh yeah. As the class goes on. Mm-hmm. And they realize, oh, wow.
Tina: Yeah.
John: There's more to this and some people are excited by it.
Tina: Yeah. Oh yes, absolutely.
Love,
John: love it. Some people are excited by it.
Tina: Mm-hmm.
John: But you see the people who aren't.
Tina: Yeah.
All
John: of a sudden they're folding their arms. Mm-hmm. And they're like, ah, I don't, you know what? I had someone say this at the end. They say, this isn't for me. I did not realize I had to do anything, which is a wild thing to say.
I didn't realize I had to do anything.
Tina: I've never heard that. Yes. Wow.
John: Yes. I've had people say that, and it's, I'm always [00:14:00] like, wow, okay. Yeah.
Tina: Yeah. All right. Unless they realized it, you know?
John: Yeah.
Tina: You know, but no, that's, that's why we, we do suggest taking the, the webinar, doing the webinar just to get an idea, you know, just to see.
Right. Well, you, you explain it all, you go right into it, and then we just get into the, the classes, we fine tune it.
John: Yep. You got it. Awesome. So I hope that was helpful to those of you who are maybe thinking about getting, jumping into voiceovers mm-hmm. And wondering, Hey, how do I do it again? Um, I think there's kind of one order to this and one order only.
Mm-hmm. Education, demo. Yes. Work. Mm-hmm. Okay. Those three things really are, are kind of the order edu education demo work. So first step, um, either go to like an intro, something like that. So you can again, just dip your toe and say, Hey, is this for me? Yeah. But after that, you, you wanna get a voice coach.
You want to get a network quality demo and then you start marketing yourself. And, and when, and when I say voice coaching, I do believe that when you work with someone, uh, not only should they show you the techniques mm-hmm. Not only should they teach you how to be a voice actor, I think there should be some marketing involved there.
They should teach you how to [00:15:00] market yourself. Beware. Mm-hmm. Lemme say this, this is something I don't have a lot of absolutes in this industry. I don't. 'cause I think life in general, right?
Tina: Yeah. No,
John: but here's one. Uh, be very careful of anyone who says, if you get voice coaching with me, I'll get you a job.
That is not a thing. Yeah. Just so you know that isn't, not that. That is, I'll come right out and say that is a lie.
Tina: Yeah.
John: And I actually know that I, I know someone who's, who's been through that and, and they told me how it worked. 'cause I'm like, why, why are they saying this? I don't know why they're saying this.
This can't be true because I could never get every single person I ever work with a voiceover job. No. We teach them how to go out and get voiceover jobs.
Tina: Yes.
John: Yeah. And so, uh, I had someone, I met someone who actually did that, went through one of those people who say that,
Tina: ah,
John: and she said, yeah, so what they, it is like a little trick.
She said, once you're done, they get you. And she put job quotations with her fingers. Mm-hmm. They get you a job reading for the Blind, which is a volunteer position that anyone can get. You don't have to be a voice actor. Oh. So it's a little trick because first of all, volunteer's not job. To [00:16:00] me, a job is where you get paid.
Tina: Yeah, yeah.
John: And so what they do is they set you up with, uh, whatever that organization and whatever town is is, which is a
Tina: great
John: organization, is a great Oh, great. Yes, absolutely. Great. And there's nothing wrong with it. No. Um, but. That's not a job.
Tina: It's not a paid,
John: and, and you didn't need, you didn't need them to get that for you.
You could've gotten that yourself.
Tina: Yes. Yeah. Oh,
John: so,
Tina: geez.
John: Yeah. So don't, don't listen. Those people are, that, that's one absolute I say, I always say is anyone who says, if you, if you get voice coding with me, I'll get you a job is lying to you.
Tina: Yeah.
John: They're just lying. So I think
Tina: that's
John: a great reason. Be careful.
Be careful of that. Mm-hmm. Um, you know, someone who, who is, who's, uh, you know, coaching you as a voice actor. It should be your coach.
Tina: Mm-hmm.
John: Okay. They're, they, they shouldn't be promising you.
Tina: No, absolutely not. Yeah.
John: They, they should teach you how to get work. Mm-hmm. For sure. They should teach you the marketing aspect of this.
Mm-hmm. 'cause you will need it, but they're not gonna go out and get you work. And that's just not a real statement.
Tina: No, absolutely not.
John: Yeah. Um, alright, cool. So I want to, again, thank everybody very much for listening. I'm John.
Tina: And I'm Tina.
John: And I guess we'll give out our information again, we do it every episode, right?
Yes.
Tina: Yep.
John: John [00:17:00] [email protected]
Tina: and [email protected].
John: And uh, again, shoot us an email if you have any comments, questions, or you have ideas for episodes or maybe you wanna be interviewed.
Tina: Yes.
John: Alright. We out.
Tina: And I'm Tina,
John: and here we are, uh, episode 6 95, and this one is called How to Become a Voice Actor. And the reason that Tina and I both thought this mm-hmm. Was a great topic is because of, I, I get quite a few comments when I do webinars.
Mm-hmm. And Tina, it's gonna talk about when, right. When you do during classes, during classes with, when you're coaching people, I, I have this thing where people, and I don't know why it's like this. I really don't, I, maybe because I've been doing it for so long, but again, [00:01:00] I do tend to remember what it was like to be a beginner, uh, someone just starting out.
But for some reason, unlike every other industry in the world
Tina: mm-hmm.
John: People think just because someone complimented their voice.
Tina: Yeah.
John: That they can be a voice actor. And they, and here's what I get when they find out. It's a bit harder than that. And by the way, this is not the hardest thing in the
Tina: world.
No, absolutely not. It's
John: not hard thing.
Tina: No, no.
John: But when they find out it's a bit harder than that. Mm-hmm. That like everything else in life, you do have to learn how to be a voice actor. They're disappointed. I, I have people said that. Mm-hmm. I'm very disappointed that I learned during your webinar that this is harder than I thought.
And I'm like, so you were upset that you learned about. Reality.
Tina: Yeah. Yeah.
John: Like it is like, like, you know, for anyone who tells you just be a voice actor, they're not telling you the truth. And there're probably a reason they're telling you that, right? Yeah. Or maybe they're telling you something or I don't know, but Right.
Tina: I think a lot of people think it is. Just gimme the piece of paper to read. That's it. That's all you're doing.
John: Yeah.
Tina: That's it. That so [00:02:00] that is where there's more to it. Yeah. There is a little more to it.
John: Well, I, well, I, I, you know, I'm not surprised anymore during my webinar. Mm-hmm. I was, when it first started happening.
'cause I was like, this is interesting. People are coming to an intro to voiceovers.
Tina: Mm-hmm.
John: And that, but they're surprised that they need to learn something about this.
Tina: Yeah.
John: But they're here. Right? Mm-hmm. But, but it must be even more interesting for you because they're actually in a voiceover program getting voice coaching
Tina: Yes.
John: Coming through an all inclusive voiceover coaching program. And they're still surprised.
Tina: Yeah. Yeah. I, and I'm still gonna go back. A lot of 'em are just like, well, I'm just gonna read this. I'm like, when we get to our second class, when we get into talking about techniques, you know, and just different ways to be creative and conversational, that's when they, it's.
It is that light bulb that just goes, wow, I just really thought I was just gonna read. And they like, they wanna hear my voice. Me read that paragraph. Yeah. And that's it. Now you gotta add a little more to it, you know? Yeah. So that's what it is. It's cra [00:03:00] sometimes it is crazy, honestly.
John: Well, I think you have to think, think of it like this.
Um, this is an industry where you can make a lot of money
Tina: mm-hmm.
John: For a very small amount of time.
Tina: Yes.
John: And so if you think of it that way, you have to also think, okay. Well then it can't be just me. Uh, like I can't just be a voice actor and make, like, I'll give you an example. Mm-hmm. Uh, two weeks ago, on a Wednesday, um, I work, I had to work Wednesday night, but a local bar, very local bar mm-hmm.
Called me and said, Hey, we're gonna do a commercial, can, could you do it today? And I was like, well, and they called me like 11 o'clock in the morning and I said, well, I, I work. Um, but I do have time during the day and. The, fortunately for me, they said, can you do it? I say, I could do it from home.
Tina: Yeah.
John: So they gave, you know, they gave me the script.
We talked a little bit about the script. Anyway, they paid me $500 and I finished the spot in 15 minutes. Yeah. I mean, $500 in 15 minutes
Tina: Yeah.
John: For a local job. Mm-hmm. So if, so you have to think about that. In theory, that's $2,000 an hour.
Tina: Yeah.
John: Right. So [00:04:00] what industry could you make $2,000 an hour and not know how to do the job?
Tina: That's right. Yeah.
John: So you have to really think of it that way. I, I, I, I'm always a, I'm not. I'm not shocked that people don't realize mm-hmm. That there's more to it. Mm-hmm. I, I understand it's like every industry, but that's the thing for me, I know that if I was to take a, any class on anything
Tina: mm-hmm.
John: It could be accounting, it could be anything.
I would know that, oh, there's gonna be more to this than I think, or Yeah. There's probably, I would've to dive into this more. One class is not gonna be enough, one webinar is not gonna be enough. I'm definitely gonna have to learn more about this. So what surprises me? Is the disappointment. Yeah, that's what the surprises me.
The disappointment. I think you should look at it in a different way. I think it should be, oh, cool. Not everyone can be a voice actor. Mm-hmm. If I learn how to be a voice actor mm-hmm. That means I'll be the one making money while all these other people are like, think they can just do it.
Tina: Yeah. Like
John: you should look at it that way.
You shouldn't be, by the way, you wanna be part of an industry that anyone can do at any time. That's not. [00:05:00] What industry is that, by the way?
Tina: No, no,
John: but, but if anyone can do it mm-hmm. What makes you special?
Tina: Yeah.
John: Right. What, what makes you, you know, it's, it is just not quite how it is and so I, I, I don't know.
I'm just always, and I, I mean, I, I have people say right to me, I'm just so disappointed. I just thought I could just, I,
Tina: the, the word of disappointment now that you're, you know, you're Saints man. It is shocking to hear that. Yeah. You know, just so I think on when I get students who, when we do the, when we get to that class, second class and going, oh, techniques, that's, that's where they come in.
Not saying it's, they're disappointed, but just saying, I real, I didn't realize there's much more to this. Than just me reading a paragraph.
John: Mm-hmm.
Tina: You know, so, but disapoint Yeah.
John: Disappointed is hard. Yeah. And I've had, I've had about, you know, and not, by the way, this isn't the last week I had one person in particular say how disappointed he was to find out that
Tina: Yeah,
John: he, that this is a bit harder than he thought.
Mm-hmm. That there's more to it.
Tina: Yeah.
John: And I was [00:06:00] like, but I don't, why would you be disappointed? Like, first of all, like, you could go, like, let's just take like a, what people consider a basic job. Mm-hmm. Like if you worked at a, if you. Just got a job at a grocery store and they're gonna put you on the register.
They actually teach you how to use the register. Yes. They don't go, go do that. Yeah. No. You're like, uh, what? No. You, you have hands?
Tina: Mm-hmm. You
John: have fingers. You could use the register, but you don't know how to use the register. Yeah. You are going to learn how to use it. And that's, that's just like what we consider like a basic job.
I was running a register when I was 15 years old.
Tina: Yeah.
John: I still had to learn how to do it. Yeah. They still taught me how to do it, and I worked a price chopper.
Tina: Oh, that was, yes. Same with me.
John: Yeah. So, so to think that, oh, this is actually an easier job. Then a 15 year old's job at Price Chopper mm-hmm. To me is a bit more shocking than, uh,
Tina: yeah.
John: You know, I was like, come on, what? You know, it's not the hardest job in the world, but, and, and it's, and in my opinion, it's the best job in the world.
Tina: Yeah.
John: But you still have to learn how to do it.
Tina: No, absolutely. I mean, you, if just think [00:07:00] about when you are listening to something a, a piece of voiceover work, it is not, yes.
Some of them will be out, you know, you're just reading a line, but there's more to it, you know, you're hearing emotions. You gotta be able to bring in emotions out. You gotta be able to read, you gotta be able to read. That's, that's the biggest, the biggest thing, you know? But it is those techniques. It's not just, here's that piece of paper.
John: Yeah. Yep. And so, and you can tell.
Tina: Mm-hmm.
John: I mean, you, you can tell even on, like, even on social media, like I'll hear people, like, as people count that as very funny. They're like, but I do voiceovers from my Instagram. It's like. Yeah, it's your Instagram. You are do, and by the way, I know, yeah, I can tell that you are doing the voice order for your Instagram.
'cause it is not great. Like you hear people, there's someone out there in particular. I actually had to stop following the person I had to Oh, she's like a self-help person. Mm-hmm. And she clearly has had zero voice training in her entire life and she's. She's voice doing voiceovers for her videos. And they are
Tina: Oh,
John: bad.
Yeah. Like where I'm like, oh my Lord, [00:08:00] this person sounds like she's reading every, mm-hmm. And by the way, you could tell she probably wrote the script herself and she still sounds like she's reading. She's
Tina: still reading. Yeah.
John: It's so bad. I'm like, oh, wow. I almost reached out to her. I was almost like, listen,
Tina: I'll offer you free
John: trade.
Yeah. You need to, I need, we need to talk. Because I actually unfollowed her at a certain point. 'cause I, oh, I was trying to look like. Trying to support her. I was always liking everything. And then I got to a point where I'm like, she's doing herself a disservice here. Mm-hmm. Because she sounds so bad. And I said, I finally unfollowed her.
I'm like, I can't. I can't, I can't do it.
Tina: No, I can't do it. I absolutely
John: not. I cannot continue to listen to this, you know? Yeah. I can't. So, yeah, I, it was just, just know that it's not the hardest job in the world.
Tina: No,
John: no. And I always compare it to like. Being a barber, which I, I'm gonna say mm-hmm. I'm, I'm sure there's way more techniques mm-hmm.
To being a barber, by the way. Yeah. But I, I, I just compare it to being a barber as, and like, you would never just go out and cut hair. Like, you know how like you've cut your, like maybe you cut your dad's hair home.
Tina: Mm-hmm.
John: Maybe you cut your brother's hair at home. Yeah. Maybe you cut your, [00:09:00] you, I, I'm, I'm using men by the way.
'cause no woman's letting anyone just cut their hair at home. Uh, you know, like, guys don't care, guy's. Like Yeah. Just cut hair. Yeah. Uh, for the most part, you know? Uh, but. You might have cut someone's hair at home. Mm-hmm. And they might have said, oh, it looks good. Do you at that point think you should be a barber?
Yes. Or a hairdresser
Tina: set up shop? Let's go.
John: Yeah. I mean, you, right? I mean, do you think that No. Like you're just going, oh, I'm gonna go work at mm-hmm. Super cuts. Whatever
Tina: you have to learn, you have to learn your profession. And that's the same with voice acting. You've got to learn. That's all.
John: Yeah. It's, and again, it's not, it's not the hardest job in the world.
Mm-hmm. It doesn't take a ton of, ton of time to learn it either. I don't think. I mean, everyone's different. Everyone's different. Yeah. I wanna be clear about that. No, some people take a little longer than the other. That's fine. But you do have to, like I always say, when we, when we hire a voice actor here
Tina: mm-hmm.
John: We actually expect you to be a voice actor. We're not paying you so we can show you how to do your job. That's like the opposite of reality, right? Mm-hmm. Like when [00:10:00] you get hired as something
Tina: mm-hmm.
John: You're getting hired because of your expertise in that profession. And here it would be voiceovers. So that's something to, to really know is like, do we hire beginners?
Absolutely. We hire beginners all the time. Oh, yeah. But we hire beginners. We know are professionals. Like, we just know because we heard their demo. We chat with 'em on the phone, they say, Hey, we, yeah, I, I trained here. Or maybe they worked with us. Who knows? Yeah. Um. That's who we hire. We, we will hire beginners, but we hire educated beginners.
People who know what they're doing. We don't, producers clients. And then, you know, and, and, and I wanna address this too, 'cause I've, I've gotten this. No, I understand what you're saying. I know I should, but I'm not looking to do this full-time. I'm just looking to do this part-time. Yeah. And I go, no, no, no.
Yeah, everyone, first of all, you should absolutely start off doing this part-time. Oh yes. I would never tell anyone, quit your job. Get into voice numbers. Yeah. No. If you're desperate. If you're coming at this from a desperate point of view. Mm-hmm. Like you've lost your job and you need money now. Go find another job first.
Absolutely. It's not voiceover. You're running a little small business here and mm-hmm. Maybe you'll make money in a couple weeks, but you might not, it [00:11:00] might take you a month, two months, three months Yeah. To really get that voiceover business going.
Tina: I think that's the reality
John: after, after you educate yourself.
Mm-hmm. By the way.
Tina: Yeah.
John: So, you know, don't look at this as a get rich quick. It's not
Tina: No, it's not.
John: Yeah. You're not gonna be discovered. You're not gonna break in. That's not how this works. Mm-hmm. Um, is an awesome industry once you get into it. But again, you're running a little small business, so, um, just know that.
You know, this isn't, I, I tell people, you, you just, you have to know what you're doing and don't think that people are gonna hire you. You can't talk your way into a job. That's another thing people try to do. Like, yeah, but I've done this. Cool. Send me your demo. Well, I don't have a demo. Cool. I don't know what to say.
You're not talking your way into this job. Doesn't happening. No,
Tina: absolutely not.
John: Mm-hmm. So always just be professional, understand your job and, um, even if you're doing this part-time, we don't. We don't care. Like we're not going, oh, he's only doing a part-time, so this can suck.
Tina: Yeah. No, no, no, no.
John: And a client doesn't think that client doesn't care whether you're doing a part-time, full-time, just [00:12:00] supplemental retirement.
They don't care. What they do care about is how good is that voiceover gonna be.
Tina: Yep.
John: So you saying things like, oh, I only wanna do this once in a while, that doesn't mean anything to the client. Mm-hmm. They still want it to be as good as someone who does it full time. Yes. So you still have to have the skills to, to
Tina: do it, to do.
John: Uh, that's all. And it's not the hardest thing to learn, that's for sure. But
Tina: Oh, no, no. That's, I, you know, and when we get into that second class, I do say a lot of times to the students, these are simple techniques. Simple techniques, that you, you've probably been doing them, but you never pay attention to it because it's just a natural way of life.
Right now we're just drawing a little more attention to it because now we just gotta tweak things.
John: Right. You
Tina: know,
John: you have to, you know, utilize what you do in conversation. Mm-hmm. Yes. Which you do naturally, but then you have to put it into your read, which we don't do naturally because we've been taught to read just.
Incorrectly, our whole educational lives, basically. Mm-hmm. You know, stop at period, pause at commas. Yeah. Uh, come up, come a little above. You do this, this is what you're doing when you're reading, you know, you take a deep breath, you know? Mm-hmm. These are things that aren't very useful in voiceovers. No.
You know, you [00:13:00] wanna sound like you're talking. So it's just a matter of getting you there and, and utilizing the, the three major differences. So, yeah. So, uh. I just wanted to, we just wanted to touch on that because I get, I do get quite a bit of it. I really do. Yeah. Uh, even in person, like I, I did an in-person, uh, voiceover workshop not too long ago in, um, outside of Philadelphia.
Tina: Mm-hmm.
John: And you could see there, you could see it like, when I'm on a webinar, I can't see the people, you know, you could see the color draining out of people's faces as the Oh yeah. As the class goes on. Mm-hmm. And they realize, oh, wow.
Tina: Yeah.
John: There's more to this and some people are excited by it.
Tina: Yeah. Oh yes, absolutely.
Love,
John: love it. Some people are excited by it.
Tina: Mm-hmm.
John: But you see the people who aren't.
Tina: Yeah.
All
John: of a sudden they're folding their arms. Mm-hmm. And they're like, ah, I don't, you know what? I had someone say this at the end. They say, this isn't for me. I did not realize I had to do anything, which is a wild thing to say.
I didn't realize I had to do anything.
Tina: I've never heard that. Yes. Wow.
John: Yes. I've had people say that, and it's, I'm always [00:14:00] like, wow, okay. Yeah.
Tina: Yeah. All right. Unless they realized it, you know?
John: Yeah.
Tina: You know, but no, that's, that's why we, we do suggest taking the, the webinar, doing the webinar just to get an idea, you know, just to see.
Right. Well, you, you explain it all, you go right into it, and then we just get into the, the classes, we fine tune it.
John: Yep. You got it. Awesome. So I hope that was helpful to those of you who are maybe thinking about getting, jumping into voiceovers mm-hmm. And wondering, Hey, how do I do it again? Um, I think there's kind of one order to this and one order only.
Mm-hmm. Education, demo. Yes. Work. Mm-hmm. Okay. Those three things really are, are kind of the order edu education demo work. So first step, um, either go to like an intro, something like that. So you can again, just dip your toe and say, Hey, is this for me? Yeah. But after that, you, you wanna get a voice coach.
You want to get a network quality demo and then you start marketing yourself. And, and when, and when I say voice coaching, I do believe that when you work with someone, uh, not only should they show you the techniques mm-hmm. Not only should they teach you how to be a voice actor, I think there should be some marketing involved there.
They should teach you how to [00:15:00] market yourself. Beware. Mm-hmm. Lemme say this, this is something I don't have a lot of absolutes in this industry. I don't. 'cause I think life in general, right?
Tina: Yeah. No,
John: but here's one. Uh, be very careful of anyone who says, if you get voice coaching with me, I'll get you a job.
That is not a thing. Yeah. Just so you know that isn't, not that. That is, I'll come right out and say that is a lie.
Tina: Yeah.
John: And I actually know that I, I know someone who's, who's been through that and, and they told me how it worked. 'cause I'm like, why, why are they saying this? I don't know why they're saying this.
This can't be true because I could never get every single person I ever work with a voiceover job. No. We teach them how to go out and get voiceover jobs.
Tina: Yes.
John: Yeah. And so, uh, I had someone, I met someone who actually did that, went through one of those people who say that,
Tina: ah,
John: and she said, yeah, so what they, it is like a little trick.
She said, once you're done, they get you. And she put job quotations with her fingers. Mm-hmm. They get you a job reading for the Blind, which is a volunteer position that anyone can get. You don't have to be a voice actor. Oh. So it's a little trick because first of all, volunteer's not job. To [00:16:00] me, a job is where you get paid.
Tina: Yeah, yeah.
John: And so what they do is they set you up with, uh, whatever that organization and whatever town is is, which is a
Tina: great
John: organization, is a great Oh, great. Yes, absolutely. Great. And there's nothing wrong with it. No. Um, but. That's not a job.
Tina: It's not a paid,
John: and, and you didn't need, you didn't need them to get that for you.
You could've gotten that yourself.
Tina: Yes. Yeah. Oh,
John: so,
Tina: geez.
John: Yeah. So don't, don't listen. Those people are, that, that's one absolute I say, I always say is anyone who says, if you, if you get voice coding with me, I'll get you a job is lying to you.
Tina: Yeah.
John: They're just lying. So I think
Tina: that's
John: a great reason. Be careful.
Be careful of that. Mm-hmm. Um, you know, someone who, who is, who's, uh, you know, coaching you as a voice actor. It should be your coach.
Tina: Mm-hmm.
John: Okay. They're, they, they shouldn't be promising you.
Tina: No, absolutely not. Yeah.
John: They, they should teach you how to get work. Mm-hmm. For sure. They should teach you the marketing aspect of this.
Mm-hmm. 'cause you will need it, but they're not gonna go out and get you work. And that's just not a real statement.
Tina: No, absolutely not.
John: Yeah. Um, alright, cool. So I want to, again, thank everybody very much for listening. I'm John.
Tina: And I'm Tina.
John: And I guess we'll give out our information again, we do it every episode, right?
Yes.
Tina: Yep.
John: John [00:17:00] [email protected]
Tina: and [email protected].
John: And uh, again, shoot us an email if you have any comments, questions, or you have ideas for episodes or maybe you wanna be interviewed.
Tina: Yes.
John: Alright. We out.
Tina and John talk about the fact that many people are surprised by what it takes to become a Voice Actor.
