Working in animation is a really fun facet of the voice-over industry. Tyrone Jackson and Alyson Steel talk about character development and the audition process with Jamie Woodham, a writer from the animated show Talking Tom and Friends. 

Jamie Woodham is a staff writer on Talking Tom and Friends. He built his reputation as a comedian and made contacts on Twitter before moving out to Los Angeles. He recommends using social media, especially twitter, to anyone wanting to work in the entertainment industry. Its a free writing sample and networking tool that helps get your name out there. 

Jamie explains the process before behind the scenes of an animated show. His advice for auditioning is to bring something unique or very real to the character. When you are casting a nerdy character, for example, 95% of the auditions sound the same (i.e., nasal quality, high pitched voice). He says that if you want to stand out, bring a quirk, react to lines, and do whatever is in your control to give the character as much of a personality as possible. 

If you want to catch Talking Tom and Friends, you can find it here on YouTube.

You can follow Jamie on twitter @jwoodham and listen to his podcast Best of Friends on iTunes. 

To learn more about how to build or improve your career in the Voice-Over industry visit us at Six Figure Voice. Click here for more info. 

Alyson Steel and Tyrone Jackson get to sit down with Dave Sebastian Williams of Dave & Dave Recording Studio and 93 KHJ to talk about how the voice-over business has changed over the years. 

Back when Dave had his radio show on 93 KHJ, it was the number one radio station in the city and it retained 40% of the Los Angeles audience. He felt like he had made it to the top. But Dave always felt that he needed to be prepared to expand—you don’t just do one thing in this industry. So he used some of the money he was making to take acting classes. The acting classes helped him train his voice for the transition from radio to voice-over acting, which are two very different crafts. 

In the 1980’s Dave owned his own studio in Hollywood. All the recording technology was tape. He came kicking and screaming into the digital age. One of the differences he has noticed since digital became mainstream, is that recording sessions have become longer. Now the directors and the writers have more opportunity to change things on the spot. They record more so that they have a myriad of options. 

He has also seen technology change the agent scene. Since the scope of voice over is now so big, covering commercials, promos, trailers, live shows, cartoons, and video games, he has seen actors have specific agents for each type of work. For example, you might have one agent for promos and a different agent for video games. Also, it can help to have different agents in different cities, because an agent in Dallas might have better relationships with the casting directors in that area. 

Dave has been a drummer since he was in the fourth grade, and he has found that this has helped with his timing as a voice-over artist. To improve your timing, he advises to sleep with a metronome by your bed. Change up the beats, and after doing it for a month, see how you walk and talk differently 

Dave also recommends going to every class that you can and recording yourself for 3 minutes every day. List to yesterday’s performance to see how you can make it better. 

For more great tips like this, visit SixFigureVoice.com. 

Voice-over artists Tyrone Jackson and Alyson Steel discuss how the industry is the business of show, but it’s also a business of people. It’s important to be presentable, listen to others, take directions, and know your place. As Alyson says, “Be present, prompt, prepared!”

Richard Malmos, whose voice you may recognize from the Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn and later with Craig Ferguson, stopped by to chat with Tyrone and Alyson about the business. 

Richard started as an actor and a singer, eventually got into radio in the Midwest, and got to learn about voice-over on the job from all the people that came through the studio. He simply listened to what other people were doing. Just like actors observe how people behave out in public, Richard listened to the tonality of people’s voices. 

Richard luckily got an agent before coming out to LA. He says that this was key because it’s darn near impossible to get auditions for the big jobs, especially in a big market like Los Angeles, without an agent. His first big paycheck came from a gig for Western Auto. They had sent him three separate checks and he thought it was a mistake! Turns out it paid more than he thought! 

Richard’s advice for new voice-over artists is to really give it some thought and if you are going to go for it don’t do it halfway. Get the training, invest the money, and take it seriously. 

If you take the business seriously, visit SixFigureVoice.com for more tools, articles, and advice on how to grow your career. 

Welcome to the Six Figure Voice Podcast! Our hosts, Alyson Steel and Tyrone Jackson, introduce themselves and explain how they got into voice acting. The two actually met in high school at The High School of Performing Arts in New York City, made famous by the movie “FAME.” However their journeys to the industry and to success have been quite different. 

Tyrone explains that there’s nothing special about his voice, he just knows how to use it. He’s a great storyteller. People have an impression that doing voice-over work is all about the quality of your voice. In reality, almost anyone can break into the voice-over business; you just have to know how. 

Alyson and Tyrone go over the first three of Seven Steps to Becoming A Professional Voice Over Artist. You can find the rest of the steps at SixFigureVoice.com.

First, decide if voice-over work is a hobby or career. If the work is only a hobby, you tend to give it half the attention it deserves. At the beginning of your voice-over career you must do something every day to make your dream a reality. 

Next, intern at a local radio station. Just by being in the environment you will learn every aspect of the business and how the pieces fit together. Network with the people you meet and start to build the relationships that will help grow your career. 

Work on your skills every day. Today’s voice-over market is very competitive. There are thousands of beautiful voices looking to break into the “biz.” The more you work on your copy reading skills, the more value you’ll have to producers and casting directors. They hear voices every day and can easily tell the amateurs from the professionals.

Want to read the next four steps to becoming a professional voice-over artist? Visit SixFigureVoice.com, the one stop shop for everything Voice Over. Click here for more info.