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Voice Coaches Radio Episode 698 “The Type Of Person That Should Pursue Voice Overs”
John: [00:00:00] All right. Voice Coaches radio, and we are back. I'm John.
Tina: I'm Tina.
John: Yes. You're welcome. I'm scared.
Tina: Alrighty. Thank you.
John: Alright, so, uh, today mm-hmm. We are going to talk about the type of person that should get into voiceovers.
Tina: Mm-hmm. And, and I think a lot of people think right away when you think that you have to have this perfect voice for voiceovers, you don't.
You know, think about as I tell a lot of students, because when, especially when they start, like, I really never thought about it, but people say I should, you know, my voice is unique or whatever. I'm like, listen to commercials. Not everyone is the same one, and they're not [00:01:00] perfect, that's for sure.
John: Yes. I th in, in fact, um, we, we were looking for really real people.
Yeah. Right. Real people. Some of the sounds like your buddy. Mm-hmm. Uh, and the important part is human connection. And I think, and I think that's almost in every type of work at this point. Um, I always say the one, maybe the one type that doesn't do that is, uh, telephone systems.
Tina: Yeah.
John: You know, they're not that, but everything else really.
And in fact, my favorite, one of my favorite voice actors is a guy named, uh, James Masters, who I think he did some acting as well.
Tina: Mm-hmm.
John: Um, but he is the voice actor for the Dresden files. It's a 15, I think it's a 15, maybe 16 book. Audiobook series.
Tina: Wow.
John: Yeah. And he is the main, and it is my favorite type of audiobook.
Like I like audiobook where the person telling the story, first person audiobook, the person telling the story
Tina: mm-hmm.
John: Is the main character.
Tina: Okay.
John: So it is, again, they're not all over [00:02:00] the place. They might change their voice a little bit from character to character. Mm-hmm. But they're not doing character voices necessarily, but they have a little bit of a quirky voice to the point where no one can even imagine.
Uh, Harry dressed, who's the main character. Mm-hmm. No one can even imagine anyone else being Harry dressed. Like they just, yeah. In fact, book 14, he was busy. This happened, book 14, he was busy. Mm-hmm. And they hired another voice actor to do it.
Tina: Oh, wow.
John: People were so outraged. They redid the book with James er.
Oh my goodness.
Tina: Yeah.
John: Yeah. 'cause and it was, and by the way, I'm one of those people, I didn't say anything, but, but I, I listened to it, couldn't
Tina: letter.
John: It was so, it was so different. And so, I don't wanna say bad because I'm sure the voice actor was good, but it was so different and I just couldn't identify this voice actor.
As Harry dressed in, I actually listened to about an hour of the book, turned it off and read about it on Wikipedia. I decided just to read about it.
Tina: Oh my goodness.
John: Yeah. But I did re-listen to it once they had mm-hmm. James Marter as the voice actor, and he does [00:03:00] not have what you would consider what people in the past would consider.
Mm-hmm. A voiceover voice. He's got this kind of quirky. Identifiable. Like, yeah, he, this is my buddy voice.
Tina: Well, that's what pe that's what they're looking for. The, the, your next door neighbor. Yeah, your friend. Yeah. They're not, look, like I said before, you don't have to be able to, you know, have this deep voice or just sultry, whatever.
Um, they are looking for a variety of voices. That's, that's the biggest thing. But probably people were related to, to James, they're just like. That's that everyday guy.
John: Yeah. Yeah. He sounds great on that. And I'm sure he does a lot of other work, but that's the one, uh, that really sticks out to me. And so, so you know, if you have something in your voice that.
It doesn't ha again, like you said, it doesn't have to be the announcer voice. Welcome to Yeah. Uh, no. These days you wanna sound real. Yes. That's real. That's what's important. As long as you have the skills and that's the key of course. Mm-hmm. You wanna develop those skills, so, excuse you, you want to, sorry.
You want, you wanna work with a voice [00:04:00] coach, um, you know, you want to work with a professional to mm-hmm. To get that network quality demo. Um, that's what you need, but almost any voice can do this, I believe.
Tina: Yes.
John: Oh,
Tina: absolutely.
John: You know, obviously there's like everything else in life, there's skills. We've talked about this before, so we don't want to, but there's skills you have to have to become a voice actor.
Mm-hmm. Of course. But pretty much any voice can do this because we are looking for real people.
Tina: Absolutely. I could tell you that when I just, I mean, I'll talk to six different students in one day. Not every one of 'em have the same voice. Everybody's different, definitely different. I will have some deep, very deep voices, the James Earl Jones type of, you know, those deep, very deep voices.
But then I also have, I'll have students who, um, you know, maybe someone who is in their early thirties, but sound like they're 12.
John: Yeah.
Tina: Yeah. All right. And then, and then also I have, um, I've had a few students, their voice is like Demi Moore. Yeah. Yeah. Have that gravelly, you know, and [00:05:00] that's just their voice.
Yeah. But that, those are voices that are in voice acting,
John: and there's, there's really work for, for everybody. Mm-hmm. Every type of voice.
Tina: Yeah.
John: And, and, yeah. And like you said, the, the, on that note, as far as someone who is in their thirties, sound like they're 12. Keep in mind, it doesn't matter. One of the great things about voiceovers, mm-hmm.
It doesn't matter what you look like. It doesn't matter how old you look. Mm-hmm. It matters how old you sound.
Tina: Yeah.
John: That's one of the greatest things about voiceovers because. I have people who are actors and they age out of certain roles, and they've said that to me. Yeah, this is the role I've always played.
Now I've kind of aged, now I'm the mom or now I'm the dad and, and I don't really feel comfortable doing that. Uh, I don't wanna do that. And I say, well, voiceovers, that's not the case. Like, listen, we cast you for what your voice sounds like.
Tina: Yes.
John: So you could be 55 years old, but if you sound 30, you're gonna cast, you're gonna be cast to do 30, but maybe.
You have a huge range, maybe. Mm-hmm. You sound 30 to 55.
Tina: We do have a [00:06:00] lot of people who have that range. Absolutely. Have that range.
John: Right. And, and so now you can think about all that work you can do mm-hmm. In between those age
Tina: agents.
John: Yeah. Right. So it's, it's, uh, it's really, really cool. Uh, I, I think it's one of the, just one of the greatest things about voiceover it is, it's really the longevity mm-hmm.
That you can have in your career playing. A whole bunch of different ages.
Tina: Yeah, absolutely.
John: And while it's impressive to hear that, you know, tonight. Yes. You know, it was impressive to hear that I'm, me personally, I, I meet and I just met someone like this last night. I did a webinar last night. Mm-hmm. And I'm actually more impressed by those kind of, those kind of unique, quirky voices.
Mm-hmm. 'cause I always imagine what, oh, what could I do with that? Yeah, yeah. What could I produce with this person? And I met someone like that last night. I said, you have to do that. I said, listen, I know. 'cause right away he did that thing. He goes, well, I don't have that traditional, I go, no, no, no. Listen, you have a super cool sounding voice.
I could just imagine, and I was telling him the types of work I could imagine him doing, you know? Yeah. I was like, I could just imagine you [00:07:00] doing like a first person audiobook. I could imagine you being the voice of something because you're so unique sounding. Mm-hmm. And you sound like really cool. You sound like.
Someone I'd hang out with.
Tina: Yeah.
John: Yeah. You know, and so that, that's really important to know. 'cause I, I think people get hung up on that.
They
John: do that old school idea
Tina: that, that that big Mr you know, Hey, I'm the announcer guy.
John: Yeah. And keep in mind, we still hire those people.
Tina: Oh yes. Absolutely. When it calls for it.
John: Yeah. Yeah. There's still gonna, there, there will always be some announcers out there mm-hmm. For nostalgic reasons or, or, or whatever. Mm-hmm. You know, listen, I I, I was telling you earlier, I, I'm, I've been getting hired consistently to do, um. In Ring announcing for, uh, an organization, and I'll, I'll give 'em a plug.
Elite Fighting promotion is so, uh, I've been getting hired consistently to do announcing for that, and I have to do that. And by the way, that's not necessarily considered voiceover. It's, it's not peripheral, you know?
Tina: Yeah.
John: Uh, but it's funny, when they first hired me, they, I, I think people always think they're, Hey, by the way, you're a voice actor, you should do this.
I said, it's not really the same thing.
Tina: Yeah.
John: Uh, [00:08:00] but. Sure. You know,
Tina: why not, right?
John: Um, but they need that. So there's an example, like, they're like, yeah, we want you to sound like that announcer like voice, which I can do. So, uh, that's great. So there will always be some of that out there. Like if you do, listen, if you, this is a commercial and they're still doing this and I think, I think now it's tongue in cheek by the way, but when they do the, uh, commercials for monster truck rallies.
Tina: Oh, yep.
John: They're still doing that at this point. I think it's tongue in cheek. I really do. I think they're doing it as to, to keep that like kind of joke going. Yeah. But they, they use it and listen, there are many documentaries that still use mm-hmm. A voice that sounds similar to that. But I found, um, especially Nat Geo's doing this, I have found that, um, many of Nat Geo's documentaries right now are using predominantly female voices.
Tina: Oh,
John: yeah. Yeah. A lot of female voices are doing a lot of the docs on, on Nat Geo. Mm-hmm. Like, there's a series, uh, you know, I can't remember exactly what it's called, but it's, it's about animals. It's a. It's pretty [00:09:00] cool. They, they like follow these animals around. They give them names and mm-hmm. You know, they tell you what, what's going on.
Yeah. And that's all done by female voice actors.
Tina: Hmm.
John: So it's pretty cool.
Tina: Yeah. 'cause it used to be a male dominated.
John: It was, that was very male dominated. Yeah. Very. But that's changed. Mm-hmm.
Tina: Yeah.
John: Absolutely. That's changed. And uh, I think a lot, which is great. I always say 50 50.
Tina: Mm-hmm.
John: Male to female voices at this point.
Which, which by the way encompasses everybody. Right? Yeah. I mean, when I say that, I think things that lean. Masculine or lean. Mm-hmm. Feminine in voices. I know there, you know. Um, but yeah, it's, it's, there's so much work. There's work for everybody.
Tina: There is, and I will say, and I tell this to a lot of students, that we are our worst critics of our own voice.
You'll listen, they'll record back. And it, and it, it's, uh, you kind of, especially after the first time when we're doing a demo and the first script, they're recording and we listen back to it. You, I always hear that. Oh, you know, like, now it sounds good. It sounds really good. Yes. Yeah. But they, we are our [00:10:00] worst critic.
Oh yeah. But, but it is, it is an industry where there is different types of voices, different types of accents, you know, so it's not. All. It's not a one fits all. Exactly. That's it. You know, one or one voice for all. Everything. Yep.
John: No, and that's the question I get a lot too. Mm-hmm. The accent.
Tina: Yeah.
John: I get people who ask me a lot.
What about my accent? Will that, will that hinder me from getting work? Mm-hmm. And what I say is, listen, um, yes and no.
Tina: Yes.
John: Here's the thing. Yes, you won't get work. Maybe some of the work I can get.
Tina: Mm-hmm.
John: But you're gonna get some of the work I can't get.
Tina: Absolutely.
John: Because we really do prefer authentic accents.
If we can get an authentic accent, that's what we want.
Tina: Yes.
John: And so you're gonna get work that I could never get. Mm-hmm. And yeah, maybe I'll get some work that you can't get. You want to use your attributes to your advantage no matter what they are. Mm-hmm. If you have an accent, use it.
Tina: Yeah, absolutely.
John: You don't have to get coasted out of your accent.
Tina: No, no. Because they want, especially if you're from a certain area, they want someone who sounds exactly like everybody is that in the area, like Boston. You take the Boston accent, you know, [00:11:00] they probably, they do want people in that area because. Hey. Oh, that's my neighbor. That sounds like my neighbor.
John: Yeah.
I remember we, we had, and sometimes they even cast, sometimes they specifically ask for accents.
Tina: Mm-hmm.
John: Which by the way, sometimes doesn't make sense. I, I'm not gonna name the club, but David would remember this. David was here for this, um, a long time ago. There was this nightclub. And it didn't have like a fancy name, by the way.
Mm-hmm. Um, and I don't think they're in business. I probably could say their name, but whatever. It doesn't matter. But it was, but there was this nightclub and they wanted to do a commercial with us and they, they, they decided they wanted a British accent. It made, by the way, in my mind I was like, this makes no sense.
This is not a fancy nightclub. Yeah. This is a 18 and over dance club. And they, they were like, we want a British accent. And I'm like, what? But again, there you go. That's
Tina: what they want.
John: Americans love accents. Mm-hmm. Yeah. And I'm, I'm not talking just foreign either. Listen, this, I don't necessarily agree with this, but the Boston accent, for example, has been like [00:12:00] voted the sexiest accent in America, which.
Tina: Really,
John: really surprises me.
Tina: Not
John: surprises me.
Tina: Nothing wrong with it.
John: No, no, no. I just, I, you know, you know, I don't know. But, uh, but so we use all mm-hmm. We, I remember we had a, a, a client way back, came through our program. He had the most severe Boston accent I think I've ever heard in my life. He started working almost immediately.
In Boston.
Tina: Yeah.
John: Right. And because it was so thick and they're like, oh, wow, this guy is a Yeah. A local, right? Mm-hmm. And now is he gonna do a bunch of work in la? Probably not, unless the Boston Red Sox go and play the Dodgers, right? Mm-hmm. But we, but we do use other accents in different regions.
Tina: No, absolutely.
Yeah. For,
John: for a lot of reasons. So, uh, believe me, if, if you think voiceovers is for you, I think, you know, um. All you have to do is have the passion for it. Mm-hmm. You know, if this is something you think you'd like or you think you'd love.
Tina: Yeah.
John: Right. This could be the thing for you. Don't get hung [00:13:00] up on.
And again, I always tell people too who go, I hate my own voice. I always say, it doesn't matter what you think.
Tina: Yeah.
John: It matters what the client thinks.
Tina: That is so true. That is so true.
John: And if you have a bunch of people telling you, Hey. You have a really nice voice. You have a great voice. They're not all playing a joke on you.
Tina: That, that's what I, the one thing I say to students, I said, if they're telling you you have a nice voice, they're, they're really listening to you.
John: Yeah.
Tina: And, and think about it, if you didn't have a nice voice, do you think they would say, oh, you got a terrible voice? Unless they're really close friends, but most people, they're really giving you that compliment, right.
'cause you really have a nice voice.
John: Absolutely. Yeah. And, and this, and yeah. So my advice is. If this is something you think you wanna do and you haven't explored it yet. Mm-hmm. Okay. Which is interesting. I, I assume you are at least thinking about it if you're listening to this
Tina: podcast.
John: Yes,
Tina: absolutely.
John: Yep.
Right. Take that first step.
Tina: Mm-hmm.
John: The first step going to a webinar.
Tina: Yeah. Just take a listen,
John: go to a webinar and I do, I do webinars on voiceovers. Check our website. Mm-hmm. Go to, I, I think we actually have a link that [00:14:00] brings you right to whatever webinar dates we have coming up.
Tina: Yeah. It's easy.
John: And I think, I think it's called intro.
Right. Mm-hmm. I think there's a link that says intro.
Tina: Yeah.
John: Intro workshops or intro, something like that. So check that page and come to a webinar. If it's not, listen, the worst that can happen is you, you figure out it's not for you.
Tina: Yeah. That's it.
John: And you're gonna find that. Mm-hmm. The webinar I do is very honest.
I'm always gonna be, I'm not doing that thing other, listen, I, I see ads for webinars all the time. Mm-hmm. Where they go learn to break in, get rich quick. I'm not doing any of that.
Tina: No, no.
John: You know, I, I, because I have an interest. Listen, I want you, after my webinar, if you decide to pursue voiceovers in any way mm-hmm.
On any level. Right? Part-time. Full-time, yeah. Supplemental retirement, which is all possible. Yeah, I want you to be able to do that. And the only way I can ensure that is to tell you how you actually pursue voiceovers.
Tina: Yes.
John: Right? Not the other stuff that people are the pie in the sky think. Mm-hmm. It's not like that.
But again, fantastic. It's the industry. It's,
Tina: yeah.
John: But I want you to know how you actually pursue this, so. Mm-hmm. So listen, if [00:15:00] this is something you're considering and you haven't taken that first step, do that. I'd love to see you in one of my webinars. I love to chat with you. Just so you know, everybody that comes to my webinar.
If they want to talk to me, I take time to have everybody read to me one-on-one and I chat with you on the phone afterwards. So if that's something you wanna do and uh, you wanna meet one of the voices mm-hmm. Behind this podcast. Although you can see us
now.
Tina: I did. Now
John: this is the time. All right. Well listen, I wanna thank everybody very much for listening.
This was 6 98.
Tina: Oh wow.
John: Episode 6 98. We're two away
Tina: from
John: 700, episode 6 98. Again, my email is john [email protected]
Tina: or [email protected].
John: Thank you for listening, everybody. We out.
Tina: I'm Tina.
John: Yes. You're welcome. I'm scared.
Tina: Alrighty. Thank you.
John: Alright, so, uh, today mm-hmm. We are going to talk about the type of person that should get into voiceovers.
Tina: Mm-hmm. And, and I think a lot of people think right away when you think that you have to have this perfect voice for voiceovers, you don't.
You know, think about as I tell a lot of students, because when, especially when they start, like, I really never thought about it, but people say I should, you know, my voice is unique or whatever. I'm like, listen to commercials. Not everyone is the same one, and they're not [00:01:00] perfect, that's for sure.
John: Yes. I th in, in fact, um, we, we were looking for really real people.
Yeah. Right. Real people. Some of the sounds like your buddy. Mm-hmm. Uh, and the important part is human connection. And I think, and I think that's almost in every type of work at this point. Um, I always say the one, maybe the one type that doesn't do that is, uh, telephone systems.
Tina: Yeah.
John: You know, they're not that, but everything else really.
And in fact, my favorite, one of my favorite voice actors is a guy named, uh, James Masters, who I think he did some acting as well.
Tina: Mm-hmm.
John: Um, but he is the voice actor for the Dresden files. It's a 15, I think it's a 15, maybe 16 book. Audiobook series.
Tina: Wow.
John: Yeah. And he is the main, and it is my favorite type of audiobook.
Like I like audiobook where the person telling the story, first person audiobook, the person telling the story
Tina: mm-hmm.
John: Is the main character.
Tina: Okay.
John: So it is, again, they're not all over [00:02:00] the place. They might change their voice a little bit from character to character. Mm-hmm. But they're not doing character voices necessarily, but they have a little bit of a quirky voice to the point where no one can even imagine.
Uh, Harry dressed, who's the main character. Mm-hmm. No one can even imagine anyone else being Harry dressed. Like they just, yeah. In fact, book 14, he was busy. This happened, book 14, he was busy. Mm-hmm. And they hired another voice actor to do it.
Tina: Oh, wow.
John: People were so outraged. They redid the book with James er.
Oh my goodness.
Tina: Yeah.
John: Yeah. 'cause and it was, and by the way, I'm one of those people, I didn't say anything, but, but I, I listened to it, couldn't
Tina: letter.
John: It was so, it was so different. And so, I don't wanna say bad because I'm sure the voice actor was good, but it was so different and I just couldn't identify this voice actor.
As Harry dressed in, I actually listened to about an hour of the book, turned it off and read about it on Wikipedia. I decided just to read about it.
Tina: Oh my goodness.
John: Yeah. But I did re-listen to it once they had mm-hmm. James Marter as the voice actor, and he does [00:03:00] not have what you would consider what people in the past would consider.
Mm-hmm. A voiceover voice. He's got this kind of quirky. Identifiable. Like, yeah, he, this is my buddy voice.
Tina: Well, that's what pe that's what they're looking for. The, the, your next door neighbor. Yeah, your friend. Yeah. They're not, look, like I said before, you don't have to be able to, you know, have this deep voice or just sultry, whatever.
Um, they are looking for a variety of voices. That's, that's the biggest thing. But probably people were related to, to James, they're just like. That's that everyday guy.
John: Yeah. Yeah. He sounds great on that. And I'm sure he does a lot of other work, but that's the one, uh, that really sticks out to me. And so, so you know, if you have something in your voice that.
It doesn't ha again, like you said, it doesn't have to be the announcer voice. Welcome to Yeah. Uh, no. These days you wanna sound real. Yes. That's real. That's what's important. As long as you have the skills and that's the key of course. Mm-hmm. You wanna develop those skills, so, excuse you, you want to, sorry.
You want, you wanna work with a voice [00:04:00] coach, um, you know, you want to work with a professional to mm-hmm. To get that network quality demo. Um, that's what you need, but almost any voice can do this, I believe.
Tina: Yes.
John: Oh,
Tina: absolutely.
John: You know, obviously there's like everything else in life, there's skills. We've talked about this before, so we don't want to, but there's skills you have to have to become a voice actor.
Mm-hmm. Of course. But pretty much any voice can do this because we are looking for real people.
Tina: Absolutely. I could tell you that when I just, I mean, I'll talk to six different students in one day. Not every one of 'em have the same voice. Everybody's different, definitely different. I will have some deep, very deep voices, the James Earl Jones type of, you know, those deep, very deep voices.
But then I also have, I'll have students who, um, you know, maybe someone who is in their early thirties, but sound like they're 12.
John: Yeah.
Tina: Yeah. All right. And then, and then also I have, um, I've had a few students, their voice is like Demi Moore. Yeah. Yeah. Have that gravelly, you know, and [00:05:00] that's just their voice.
Yeah. But that, those are voices that are in voice acting,
John: and there's, there's really work for, for everybody. Mm-hmm. Every type of voice.
Tina: Yeah.
John: And, and, yeah. And like you said, the, the, on that note, as far as someone who is in their thirties, sound like they're 12. Keep in mind, it doesn't matter. One of the great things about voiceovers, mm-hmm.
It doesn't matter what you look like. It doesn't matter how old you look. Mm-hmm. It matters how old you sound.
Tina: Yeah.
John: That's one of the greatest things about voiceovers because. I have people who are actors and they age out of certain roles, and they've said that to me. Yeah, this is the role I've always played.
Now I've kind of aged, now I'm the mom or now I'm the dad and, and I don't really feel comfortable doing that. Uh, I don't wanna do that. And I say, well, voiceovers, that's not the case. Like, listen, we cast you for what your voice sounds like.
Tina: Yes.
John: So you could be 55 years old, but if you sound 30, you're gonna cast, you're gonna be cast to do 30, but maybe.
You have a huge range, maybe. Mm-hmm. You sound 30 to 55.
Tina: We do have a [00:06:00] lot of people who have that range. Absolutely. Have that range.
John: Right. And, and so now you can think about all that work you can do mm-hmm. In between those age
Tina: agents.
John: Yeah. Right. So it's, it's, uh, it's really, really cool. Uh, I, I think it's one of the, just one of the greatest things about voiceover it is, it's really the longevity mm-hmm.
That you can have in your career playing. A whole bunch of different ages.
Tina: Yeah, absolutely.
John: And while it's impressive to hear that, you know, tonight. Yes. You know, it was impressive to hear that I'm, me personally, I, I meet and I just met someone like this last night. I did a webinar last night. Mm-hmm. And I'm actually more impressed by those kind of, those kind of unique, quirky voices.
Mm-hmm. 'cause I always imagine what, oh, what could I do with that? Yeah, yeah. What could I produce with this person? And I met someone like that last night. I said, you have to do that. I said, listen, I know. 'cause right away he did that thing. He goes, well, I don't have that traditional, I go, no, no, no. Listen, you have a super cool sounding voice.
I could just imagine, and I was telling him the types of work I could imagine him doing, you know? Yeah. I was like, I could just imagine you [00:07:00] doing like a first person audiobook. I could imagine you being the voice of something because you're so unique sounding. Mm-hmm. And you sound like really cool. You sound like.
Someone I'd hang out with.
Tina: Yeah.
John: Yeah. You know, and so that, that's really important to know. 'cause I, I think people get hung up on that.
They
John: do that old school idea
Tina: that, that that big Mr you know, Hey, I'm the announcer guy.
John: Yeah. And keep in mind, we still hire those people.
Tina: Oh yes. Absolutely. When it calls for it.
John: Yeah. Yeah. There's still gonna, there, there will always be some announcers out there mm-hmm. For nostalgic reasons or, or, or whatever. Mm-hmm. You know, listen, I I, I was telling you earlier, I, I'm, I've been getting hired consistently to do, um. In Ring announcing for, uh, an organization, and I'll, I'll give 'em a plug.
Elite Fighting promotion is so, uh, I've been getting hired consistently to do announcing for that, and I have to do that. And by the way, that's not necessarily considered voiceover. It's, it's not peripheral, you know?
Tina: Yeah.
John: Uh, but it's funny, when they first hired me, they, I, I think people always think they're, Hey, by the way, you're a voice actor, you should do this.
I said, it's not really the same thing.
Tina: Yeah.
John: Uh, [00:08:00] but. Sure. You know,
Tina: why not, right?
John: Um, but they need that. So there's an example, like, they're like, yeah, we want you to sound like that announcer like voice, which I can do. So, uh, that's great. So there will always be some of that out there. Like if you do, listen, if you, this is a commercial and they're still doing this and I think, I think now it's tongue in cheek by the way, but when they do the, uh, commercials for monster truck rallies.
Tina: Oh, yep.
John: They're still doing that at this point. I think it's tongue in cheek. I really do. I think they're doing it as to, to keep that like kind of joke going. Yeah. But they, they use it and listen, there are many documentaries that still use mm-hmm. A voice that sounds similar to that. But I found, um, especially Nat Geo's doing this, I have found that, um, many of Nat Geo's documentaries right now are using predominantly female voices.
Tina: Oh,
John: yeah. Yeah. A lot of female voices are doing a lot of the docs on, on Nat Geo. Mm-hmm. Like, there's a series, uh, you know, I can't remember exactly what it's called, but it's, it's about animals. It's a. It's pretty [00:09:00] cool. They, they like follow these animals around. They give them names and mm-hmm. You know, they tell you what, what's going on.
Yeah. And that's all done by female voice actors.
Tina: Hmm.
John: So it's pretty cool.
Tina: Yeah. 'cause it used to be a male dominated.
John: It was, that was very male dominated. Yeah. Very. But that's changed. Mm-hmm.
Tina: Yeah.
John: Absolutely. That's changed. And uh, I think a lot, which is great. I always say 50 50.
Tina: Mm-hmm.
John: Male to female voices at this point.
Which, which by the way encompasses everybody. Right? Yeah. I mean, when I say that, I think things that lean. Masculine or lean. Mm-hmm. Feminine in voices. I know there, you know. Um, but yeah, it's, it's, there's so much work. There's work for everybody.
Tina: There is, and I will say, and I tell this to a lot of students, that we are our worst critics of our own voice.
You'll listen, they'll record back. And it, and it, it's, uh, you kind of, especially after the first time when we're doing a demo and the first script, they're recording and we listen back to it. You, I always hear that. Oh, you know, like, now it sounds good. It sounds really good. Yes. Yeah. But they, we are our [00:10:00] worst critic.
Oh yeah. But, but it is, it is an industry where there is different types of voices, different types of accents, you know, so it's not. All. It's not a one fits all. Exactly. That's it. You know, one or one voice for all. Everything. Yep.
John: No, and that's the question I get a lot too. Mm-hmm. The accent.
Tina: Yeah.
John: I get people who ask me a lot.
What about my accent? Will that, will that hinder me from getting work? Mm-hmm. And what I say is, listen, um, yes and no.
Tina: Yes.
John: Here's the thing. Yes, you won't get work. Maybe some of the work I can get.
Tina: Mm-hmm.
John: But you're gonna get some of the work I can't get.
Tina: Absolutely.
John: Because we really do prefer authentic accents.
If we can get an authentic accent, that's what we want.
Tina: Yes.
John: And so you're gonna get work that I could never get. Mm-hmm. And yeah, maybe I'll get some work that you can't get. You want to use your attributes to your advantage no matter what they are. Mm-hmm. If you have an accent, use it.
Tina: Yeah, absolutely.
John: You don't have to get coasted out of your accent.
Tina: No, no. Because they want, especially if you're from a certain area, they want someone who sounds exactly like everybody is that in the area, like Boston. You take the Boston accent, you know, [00:11:00] they probably, they do want people in that area because. Hey. Oh, that's my neighbor. That sounds like my neighbor.
John: Yeah.
I remember we, we had, and sometimes they even cast, sometimes they specifically ask for accents.
Tina: Mm-hmm.
John: Which by the way, sometimes doesn't make sense. I, I'm not gonna name the club, but David would remember this. David was here for this, um, a long time ago. There was this nightclub. And it didn't have like a fancy name, by the way.
Mm-hmm. Um, and I don't think they're in business. I probably could say their name, but whatever. It doesn't matter. But it was, but there was this nightclub and they wanted to do a commercial with us and they, they, they decided they wanted a British accent. It made, by the way, in my mind I was like, this makes no sense.
This is not a fancy nightclub. Yeah. This is a 18 and over dance club. And they, they were like, we want a British accent. And I'm like, what? But again, there you go. That's
Tina: what they want.
John: Americans love accents. Mm-hmm. Yeah. And I'm, I'm not talking just foreign either. Listen, this, I don't necessarily agree with this, but the Boston accent, for example, has been like [00:12:00] voted the sexiest accent in America, which.
Tina: Really,
John: really surprises me.
Tina: Not
John: surprises me.
Tina: Nothing wrong with it.
John: No, no, no. I just, I, you know, you know, I don't know. But, uh, but so we use all mm-hmm. We, I remember we had a, a, a client way back, came through our program. He had the most severe Boston accent I think I've ever heard in my life. He started working almost immediately.
In Boston.
Tina: Yeah.
John: Right. And because it was so thick and they're like, oh, wow, this guy is a Yeah. A local, right? Mm-hmm. And now is he gonna do a bunch of work in la? Probably not, unless the Boston Red Sox go and play the Dodgers, right? Mm-hmm. But we, but we do use other accents in different regions.
Tina: No, absolutely.
Yeah. For,
John: for a lot of reasons. So, uh, believe me, if, if you think voiceovers is for you, I think, you know, um. All you have to do is have the passion for it. Mm-hmm. You know, if this is something you think you'd like or you think you'd love.
Tina: Yeah.
John: Right. This could be the thing for you. Don't get hung [00:13:00] up on.
And again, I always tell people too who go, I hate my own voice. I always say, it doesn't matter what you think.
Tina: Yeah.
John: It matters what the client thinks.
Tina: That is so true. That is so true.
John: And if you have a bunch of people telling you, Hey. You have a really nice voice. You have a great voice. They're not all playing a joke on you.
Tina: That, that's what I, the one thing I say to students, I said, if they're telling you you have a nice voice, they're, they're really listening to you.
John: Yeah.
Tina: And, and think about it, if you didn't have a nice voice, do you think they would say, oh, you got a terrible voice? Unless they're really close friends, but most people, they're really giving you that compliment, right.
'cause you really have a nice voice.
John: Absolutely. Yeah. And, and this, and yeah. So my advice is. If this is something you think you wanna do and you haven't explored it yet. Mm-hmm. Okay. Which is interesting. I, I assume you are at least thinking about it if you're listening to this
Tina: podcast.
John: Yes,
Tina: absolutely.
John: Yep.
Right. Take that first step.
Tina: Mm-hmm.
John: The first step going to a webinar.
Tina: Yeah. Just take a listen,
John: go to a webinar and I do, I do webinars on voiceovers. Check our website. Mm-hmm. Go to, I, I think we actually have a link that [00:14:00] brings you right to whatever webinar dates we have coming up.
Tina: Yeah. It's easy.
John: And I think, I think it's called intro.
Right. Mm-hmm. I think there's a link that says intro.
Tina: Yeah.
John: Intro workshops or intro, something like that. So check that page and come to a webinar. If it's not, listen, the worst that can happen is you, you figure out it's not for you.
Tina: Yeah. That's it.
John: And you're gonna find that. Mm-hmm. The webinar I do is very honest.
I'm always gonna be, I'm not doing that thing other, listen, I, I see ads for webinars all the time. Mm-hmm. Where they go learn to break in, get rich quick. I'm not doing any of that.
Tina: No, no.
John: You know, I, I, because I have an interest. Listen, I want you, after my webinar, if you decide to pursue voiceovers in any way mm-hmm.
On any level. Right? Part-time. Full-time, yeah. Supplemental retirement, which is all possible. Yeah, I want you to be able to do that. And the only way I can ensure that is to tell you how you actually pursue voiceovers.
Tina: Yes.
John: Right? Not the other stuff that people are the pie in the sky think. Mm-hmm. It's not like that.
But again, fantastic. It's the industry. It's,
Tina: yeah.
John: But I want you to know how you actually pursue this, so. Mm-hmm. So listen, if [00:15:00] this is something you're considering and you haven't taken that first step, do that. I'd love to see you in one of my webinars. I love to chat with you. Just so you know, everybody that comes to my webinar.
If they want to talk to me, I take time to have everybody read to me one-on-one and I chat with you on the phone afterwards. So if that's something you wanna do and uh, you wanna meet one of the voices mm-hmm. Behind this podcast. Although you can see us
now.
Tina: I did. Now
John: this is the time. All right. Well listen, I wanna thank everybody very much for listening.
This was 6 98.
Tina: Oh wow.
John: Episode 6 98. We're two away
Tina: from
John: 700, episode 6 98. Again, my email is john [email protected]
Tina: or [email protected].
John: Thank you for listening, everybody. We out.
Tina and John talk about people who should pursue voice overs in the modern era.
