THE V.O. F.A.Q (OR STUFF I GET ASKED ALL THE TIME WITH MY HONEST ANSWERS.)
This is where any budding voice over artist should start their journey. Or at least learn why they should put their stuff on craig's list and get a real job.
04 Mar
1. How did you get started doing this? that’s totally cool man…
When I was a kid, the commercials were my favorite part of television… with the notable exception of Sha-na-na, The “A” Team and Scooby Doo, but the point is I would repeat whatever they were saying and then effortlessly insert out of context lines from random commercials into everyday speech. So, yeah, I was “that” kid, anyway, I could dress myself and I rode the normal sized school bus to school. Also, I’ve played piano my whole life, professionally since 16 and that seemed to make me seem normal, or at least talented. Later it was the Darth Vader Voice and then “the moviefone guy”, anything Don LaFontaine said and constant reworks of my favorite lines from movies. Thankfully, we lived in the middle of America so my accent is truly about as neutral as it gets. My whole life people told me I have a “radio voice”, so I guess that’s good. People don’t realize what an asset it is to be instantly understood no matter if I am in Tennessee, Main or even North Philly, with that said, people from “accent regions” cannot say the same. We can barely understand some people when we visit my parents in Tennessee. I’ve been on the stage playing, acting or singing for a very long time and I guess that mixed with my love of the “commercial arts” brought me closer and closer to spending countless hours in a steamy vocal booth.
"...I’ve done it. Cartoons, sex scenes…. those were separate occasions, just saying."
My life in 15 highlights (skip if uninterested)
- Played on a bunch of albums from 1991-2004, toured with several bands around the midwest and east coast from 1994-1999
- Played piano on cruise ships and then became music director, met Klara on the last one.
- We got married and moved to Virginia in 2000. (Klara is from Hungary)
- Had two kids bought a bar in Mexico and moved there in 2005.
- Expanded bar/restaurant in 2010, opened a new restaurant in 2012 and sold both in 2015.
- Moved to Hungary, opened another restaurant in 2016 and sold it during Covid in 2021.
- All during these times I played piano and sang and stuff, but only did a few VO jobs in Hungary in like 2018. They were local businesses that we were involved in that needed an English voice.
- Restaurant #3 didn’t need me around much (because I’m not Hungarian) so I started building my booth.
- In 2020 hooked up with an old friend from Philly and he helped produce my first demo reel.
- Started marketing, joined all the usual free suspects, voices.com, voice123, voice blah blah, upwork, freelancer, backstage, etc… started auditioning for anything.
- Started as a regular on a Youtube channel for $5 per episode (about 7min videos).
- Answered an ad for some guy from overseas on FB that everyone was giving a hard time. He took the time to train me and we started getting work. Today, he is still my #1 client and over 85% of my income.
- While working for him I picked up three more clients from his neighborhood, one in Vietnam, studios all over Europe, Georgia (the country) and the UAE. Kept working on getting better and more work.
- It’s now August 2023 and I have been averaging about 7500USD/month for the last year, in fact not less than 5K since around the end of 2021. (now in 2024, it's more like 5K, working on remedying that now)
- Oh, and we own and run the first and largest barefoot shoe store in Hungary and may be moving to Mauritius soon… that’s for another post too.
Anyway, since one evening where my wife basically dared me to get serious about VO, I’ve been doing it ever since. I’m now the voice of major brands, documentaries in Poland, safety videos in Chinese factories, radio ads in Philly… you name it, I’ve done it. Cartoons, sex scenes…. those were separate occasions, just saying.
2. What kind of training or coaching did you get?
Wondering about training for voice over work? Here’s the scoop: I skipped the formal stuff and just dove in. Think of it like learning to play jazz or cooking a killer meal—it’s all about getting your hands dirty. With a background in music, I already had a feel for sound and mics. My real education? Doing. Making mistakes, figuring things out on the fly, and soaking up every bit of feedback from a buddy who knows his stuff to working with a voice instruction pro, it’s been an unconventional journey. I needed practice and experience so I went for it, from hundreds of bad auditions to narrating books for peanuts. Curious how this hands-on approach worked out? CLICK HERE FOR FULL ARTICLE.
3. What do I need to be voiceover artist?
It's amusing yet alarming how many glad-handed FB gurus are out there, trying to lure people into their workshops and mailing lists with promises like, "it doesn’t matter what kind of voice you have, there is a script for you…" or "every voice is unique, you just need to find your niche, we can help".
Seriously, it's not as easy as many think... FULL ARTICLE HERE
4. Do I need a demo?
Yeah, the demo is important if you don’t have any of the previous three things, don’t even go there. If you do, read the FAQ on DEMOS. Now, if you have these four things, what do you need to be successful? Time, an income until you make money for yourself, resilience, punctuality, a good work ethic, following through, being kind, over delivering, manners, good communication skills, some idea about marketing and self promotion, a solid internet connection, an unquenchable desire to make it and the will power to come back to the mic every day. Period. If your customer service skills are lacking or you aren’t generally super polite and punctual, save yourself a ton of heartache and put your gear on craigslist because this industry is full of mediocre part timers that think the client owes them something. READ FULL ARTICLE HERE
5. Can I do VO on my phone?
No. No you can’t. I mean, maybe if you were just sending in a sample of your voice when asked for to check an accent, or maybe you’re an electronic genius and you are using your phone as your interface and recorder somehow, but using your phone… like the microphone built into your phone… no. So, yeah, you can record your voice on your phone, but that’s not the same thing as doing voice over for money, unless maybe you are deep in a developing country and happy to get paid $5 for an hour of content. With that said, I’m sure you can find some poor soul on a FB room somewhere that did the voiceover for a shitty youtube channel or his cousins furniture store with their iPhone and he/she “thinks it sounds pretty good”. If you would like to go that route, go for it, but the answer for all intents and purposes is no. READ FULL ARTICLE HERE
6. How much work do you get from platforms?
In short, little to none, but I go into a lot of detail here: READ FULL POST HERE... however, that doesn't mean that people don't get work there. I have a lot friends and colleagues that have a nice side income on Fiverr and some from Upwork and a raft of others, but.... well, just read the article.
7. I have a Blue Yeti and bitchin’ sound card on my PC, is that good enough to do voiceover?
Yes, for clients that can’t hear the difference. You can roll with that for a while, but there’s a lot of us who really pay attention to that and we can tell if you are using a pirated version of RX9 or not. READ FULL ARTICLE HERE
8. How can u get work for voiceover?
This is a silly question that I get asked a lot. I usually answer with a question. “what are you doing now to get work?”. Usually it’s either “I have a website” or “I’m on a couple platforms and I audition for like 20 gigs a day”. My answer is think about what industries need the most recorded voices. Watch TV and listen to the ads, are any of these companies local? If you are in the US, call every car dealer and law office and furniture store within a 100 mile radius, before calling, look up their recent ads on youtube and ask how they got that done. Was it an agency? A friend? Can they tell you anything about the process of how they are producing their ads now? If you do that, for real, you will know which agencies specialize in what kind of work and then you will have a strategy as to how to approach those agencies and get on their roster. That’s one way that will actually get you work if you have all the things listed in “what do I need to be a VO artist covered”.
9. Do I really need a demo to get work?
Hmmm, I’m going to get in trouble with this one. The short answer is a resounding YES,
but... there's many ways to do it. Get the skinny HERE