Tyrone Jackson and Alyson Steel discuss voice-over coaching. Alyson reveals that she prefers to coach students who are gung-ho about the industry. She says that it can be a very psychological industry and as actors, voice over artists have to access their emotions as tools, and if they have any emotional blocks its something they have to deal with. 

To give our audience a taste of voice-over coaching, Alyson guides our producer, Lexi, through a piece of ad-copy. Alyson gives some great advice for beginners:

1) Stand up when reading copy. Either wear flats or take off your shoes in the booth to feel grounded.

2) Start by anchoring, which means reading each word in the copy without inflection. 

3) Figure out who you are in this situation and who are you talking to.

4) Know where you are in the commercial. A coffee shop? A bar? Inside a car? 

5) When working on the mic it's not about volume, it's about intimacy. 

For more great advice like this visit SixFigureVoice.com! Take your career to the next level! 

Our hosts Tyrone Jackson and Alyson Steel surprise each other with some interview questions about the voice-over "biz" and their industry secrets. 

Back by popular demand, here's another episode where Tyrone and Alyson ask each other questions they have never heard before, making for honest and organic answers. Listen to hear tools that are helpful for making it in the industry, trends that Tyrone has seen throughout his career, how Alyson deals with being a woman in the industry and much much more! 

To learn more about the voice-over industry visit www.sixfigurevoice.com!

Roger Leopardi started out in the music business. He and his brother were recording artists known as MVP with a popular single in 1991 called Do It To Me. Because of contracts and bad management, MVP didn't end up taking off. 

As Roger was leaving the music business he met his wife and decided to get a "regular" job. He worked in retail for years but always wanted to work for himself. When he decided he could not work retail ever again, a customer who Roger had always helped with programs like Pro Tools came back into his store and Roger asked him, "How come you've never asked me if I wanted a job?" He got an interview with an ad agency the next day. 

Roger began his career producing commercials at this ad agency in Fort Lauderdale. He learned the environment and increased their productivity, making 30 - 50 commercials per day. There were about three voice over actors that he worked with on a daily basis. He built relationships with the them and eventually the voice actors started to tell him that he had a good voice that was popular right now. 

With this encouragement and the need for growth, Roger told his bosses that he was never going to be satisfied. They never had to pay him a dime over what he was making at that moment, as long as they gave him the flexibility to pursue his voice over career. 

Years later, Roger now lives in Los Angeles as a successful voice over artist. 

Want to get your voice over career started? Visit SixFigureVoice.com for articles, advice, and much much more that will help put you on the fast track. 

Our hosts Tyrone Jackson and Alyson Steel surprise each other with some interview questions about their experiences in the industry. 

Tyrone and Alyson have never heard their respective questions before, making for honest and organic answers. We find out who they truly are as professionals, what their pet peeves are, how they rehearse, and what they love most about their careers. Listen to find out which celebrity Tyrone would want to be for a day and who Alyson's celebrity crush is! 

To learn more about the voice-over industry visit www.sixfigurevoice.com!

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. 

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.