For years now people have been telling me to go into radio and voice acting. Friends, family, complete strangers, people at bars, and people on buses. What got me interested again is 3 complete strangers brought it up in the last week.
Not only that but some of them are literally begging me. Because if I don't do it I'm "wasting my talent". I don't know... just because I have a deep voice, I don't think that means I have the talent to voice act or have the ability to articulate myself professionally.
I have always mumbled my entire life and suffered from shyness. I think I even struggle to speak since I hardly opened my mouth my entire life and am naturally very quiet. My sister in law told me that I need to take courses to help me not speak in a monotone. I got two job offers in the past to voice act. One guy claimed to be with the video game industry, another with the animation industry. But I didn't trust them.
I was told I should sign up for voice123. But it costs 400 dollars a year, and it'd mean probably spending atleast 1000 dollars on a microphone. Should I take the risk? Can someone honestly tell me if this worth going into? I don't want to waste the money I saved up for nothing.
http://vocaroo.com/i/s0he9RunMW6R
Yeah, someone told me this a couple days ago.
I guess her opinion might have some merit considering she's a speech therapist.
People tell me to become a chef because I like to cook, that doesn't mean it's a good idea or that the job will be what you expect. I know lots of cooks and it's not glamour and prestige, I tells ya.
So anyway this sounds like a skill you can develop on your own with some reading and attention, but whether it's worth pursuing is a different matter. How much money can you make? Deep voices can be hard to parse in noisy environments, is this an issue? Can you network on your own or is this an old boys' club, etc. Do some research on 1. if it's in demand, and 2. if it pays well enough to be worth the effort.
I suspect there are lots of people out there with good voices and they last for decades so I'd imagine this is a tough place to break into and actually make acceptable money at it.
>>1007298
Yes, I agree.
I assume it's very hard to actually break into and you just need a lot of luck.
>>1007303
Don't speculate like this, it's unproductive and removes your decision-making responsibility. Do the appropriate research, find some small time work in the field or do it for a charity a couple times to feel it out. Most importantly talk to people in the industry. How big is your city? Sometimes these niches are already covered by pros that don't need much pay. They're middle aged, their house is paid off and their spouse helps support them. These guys/girls choke everybody else out of the arts and diminish proper wages, but that's another story.
>>1007266
So, $1400 investment for a chance at a great money making career.
Or, you can "buy" a fucking rent house for "no money down", get stuck with a mortgage and contracted REGULAR FUCKING CASH OUTFLOW with/without a tenant and be in debt for the rest of your life>
I think I'd take option 1. Spend the 1400.
You definitely won't need to spend 1k on your first mic. Take this from someone who does a lot of music production and recording. There are plenty of ways to get a good quality sound with a cheap $100 mic when recording, so I'm sure you wont be needing to spend 1k on a new mic..
>>1007324
Can you recommend one
>>1007266
Hey buddy, I'm an audio engineer working in the business.
Voice acting is pretty hard to get into. There's a lot of competition, and not a lot of work. Most companies/radios/studios/whatever will have their one VO guy that they hire on the reg, and getting in in the first place is mainly who you know and right-place-right-time luck.
It's the sort of job that you should pursue and invest that $1400 in if you're really passionate about it. Not because everyone is telling you to. If you don't really want it, it's not going to happen.
It's in the same kind of job basket as performers. If you want to be super famous, you have to REALLY want it, and you need luck and time and to know the right people.
From what it sounds like, it's not for you. But hey, it might be a fun venture? Anything's worth doing if you get a fun story out of it right?
You sound like Shao Khan in the early Mortal Kombat games.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWyqdXJgWSc
Definitely worth exploring. Don't take it too seriously at first. Think of it as more of a hobby/side-venture.
>>1007298
It's probably quite lucrative, videogames are big business. But to break in has to be tough.
>>1007266
listened to some of your sample. sounds like you need voice acting lessons. voice is good but you need to learn how to use it.
Its not bad, but you need to work on some stuff.
You have a solid tone and timbre.
Consonants aren't noise they are just mouth shapes used to kiss and shape the vowel sound. You are completely collapsing the sound to make your consonants. That should fix the problem of your rhythm/flow as well.
Listen to people talking in languages other than English, to hear the difference.
>>1007266
1) You have a gift that pays VERY WELL for HARDLY ANY WORK. Don't squander this with, "what if's" and shyness. Michael Jordan preferred baseball, but he was fucking godly at basketball. So he did where his talent lied. I recommend the same for you.
2) I doubt a school is gonna be that helpful. What you REALLY NEED is a decent home setup, $1,000 - $2,000. And some practice. Just go online and do all kinds of voice drills, high, low, characters, acents, cartoons. Practice about 1 - 2 hours a day. Just fool around and have fun with it.
I was an actor for 2 years, and have worked behind the camera in both sound and camera.
You should definitely give this a shot. Get back to those people who offered you work and see what they say. There are a few sites online where you can look up postings for voice talent, and post a profile, use Google to find them.
A good voice actor can EASILY make $50k+ a year and hardly do shit. It is the easiest fuckin job ever. You DON'T EVEN NEED TO LEAVE YOUR HOME USUALLY!!!
Consider who you are asking. 4chan's idea of career advice is 'if you have not made it already, you are never going to make it.' That includes people that have better than good odds of making it.
Try going to like a anime/media convention or a radio station hosted event and talk to some of the people there about it. you know... people with experience in the field.
>>1007266
>http://vocaroo.com/i/s0he9RunMW6R
The first step to being a voice actor is to be an actor. I would suggest studying up on that first. You need to be able to present these lines with a proper inflection/ emotion right now you are just reading them while pressing your vocal chords.
>>1009273
>You need to be able to present these lines with a proper inflection/ emotion right now you are just reading them while pressing your vocal chords.
This is what I meant. I gotta look up acting now. I can hardly speak and now I've gotta potray emotions. I don't know this is not for me.
>>1009100
>You are completely collapsing the sound to make your consonants. That should fix the problem of your rhythm/flow as well.
OP HERE I don't understand. This is too complicated for me. Collapsing the sound? I don't understand. How do I fix this?
>>1009103
>Try going to like a anime/media convention or a radio station hosted event
I don't want to impose myself on anyone. This sounds too intense for me.
>>1009101
Thank you for the kind words. But I need the harshest criticism. I need to learn how to correct my speech impediments. I've been a mumbler all my life
>>1007266
You can get started for much less than $1000 on a mic/mixer. You're going to have to do some research but Shure and Audio-Technica both make good microphones in the $200-500 range. Find an audio forum or google around, just don't fall for affiliate links or the Blue Snowball YouTube hype. Also remember that you'll need to buy a mixer if the mic you're looking at is XLR and not USB, so budget that in as well.
I'm not sure how voice123 works on the back end or how many people are actually paying for voice work on it, but it's stupid to pay $400 for a shot at making money in something that you're not interested in.
Do voice-overs on humorous reddit posts/books/pop culture. It's an easy way to get your name out there, you may make a bit of money off YouTube ads, and possibly get job offers. Worst case scenario you got some practice speaking with inflection, which is quite a valuable skill, voice actor or not. Best case scenario, you get showered in job offerings and you rack up YouTube subscribers and start making money there as well.
This guy has gotten millions of views across his reddit/book narrations: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1AWK35Jvmo
and I'm sure he's gotten work through this. He goes to r/tifu on reddit, narrates funny posts, edits it to memes/pictures, then posts it in the comment section.
>>1010347
>I need to learn how to correct my speech impediments. I've been a mumbler all my life
SINGING LESSONS
>>1007353
http://www.guitarcenter.com/Presonus/AudioBox-Music-Creation-Suite.gc
>>1010368
Yes, atleast I'll learn how to speak with inflection.
Yes. it's weird even on reddit there will be posts from supposedly famous voice actors from voice123 but they're secretly advertising themselves
https://www.reddit.com/r/videos/comments/1e3ly5/im_a_tiny_little_man_with_a_giant_voice_i/
This guy got to do tv commercials because he advertised himself when he was nothing.
>>1010475
Singing lessons will help? Even if I don't intend to sing? How much do they cost? ARe there other types of vocal lessons and what their names?
Alright I bought a RODE nt1a complete, and a scarlett 2i2 and a YORKVILLE micstand
Did I get memed?
