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 Chinese guy 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 Chinese clients, 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.
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?

Look, it’s not that I don’t think some people can benefit from that, it’s just not my thing. Just like playing jazz, running a restaurant or having sex, I rhink the best education is doing it. Doing it a lot. Doing it poorly, doing it well. Just doing it. And… maybe it’s because I’ve been in music my whole life. I already understood the mechanics of sound, mics and gear. I’d been singing my whole life and was able to use some of the words and lessons from teachers throughout my life in the arts that had been laying dormant in corners of my head to my benefit. Also, I have an irrational bias against people who tell me they know something I don’t. What kind of training or coaching? Well… none really.

With that said, I took every comment to heart from my buddy that produced my first demo (he’s not just some dude, he was the audio engineer and demo producer for suchavoice for years and now he mixes the audio for CNN and NatGeo specials, among a ton of other things) which instantly helped and after I got hooked up with my Chinese partner, turns out his degree and hobby is voice instruction. Working with him for over three years has been like the definition of continuing education. Don’t know what I’d sound like without him.

In fact when I was starting out and resolving to do like 20 auditions a day for bullshit work and pipe dreams I started answering calls on FB and then it it hit me, I need practice. I need to figure out my work flow. I need material to use for samples, I need at least a little income. Then, I took a youtube channel for peanuts and won my first ACX (audible) book for $50/PFH. Boy, the book was an education, lol. Was still playing around with plugins and all sorts of things to de-hiss, de-noise, de-vibe and de-everything because I didn’t know better and hadn’t really figured out how to use my Audient i/o and my lovable Aston Origin mic.

I needed experience. So, that’s what I did, I figured I’d be better of getting paid practice instead pissing in the wind on upwork and voices all day. And practice I did… ended up doing 4 books with two authors, a couple cheap hits on upwork and a smattering of bottom feeder gigs from freelancer. Never joined Fiverr and only paid for one membership in four years (Mandy.com… it’s crap). Some of these things are wonderful tools for certain individuals, but I’ve just never been much of a joiner. Anyway, my training came from doing, listening and really being self critical. Maybe someday I’ll meet the “right” coach for me and I’ll finally be doing the scripts I want to be doing, maybe someday some platform will suit my every need... but the voice in the back of my head says “get real”.

3. What do I need to be voiceover artist?

Cajones. Next question. One thing I find funny is how many glad handed FB gurus trying to get people into their workshops and email lists say “it doesn’t matter what kind of voice you have, there is a script for you…” “every voice is unique, you just need to find your niche, we can help”. Bullshit, if you don’t have a voice that people like to listen to and can understand, get out of the business or get really good at becoming a monster voice or a Gilbert Godfried impersonator. 98% of the business out there is for super boring stuff that needs a natural, easy to understand and professional voice. The 2% are for people with real talent, haha. I know, I know, you know of someone you heard a sample of in a FB group that has a super unique voice and says they are a full time VO. I would bet money they are also a full time stay at home parent and possibly a part time bar tender and has a spouse with a decent job or they are retired…or are still living with their parents. (“mom! don’t do my laundry yet, I’m recording!”) If that’s ok with you, keep going. If you don’t meet this first criteria, then you may need a coach and some training to make your voice presentable… but that ain’t free and it will take serious work see previous FAQ question. You need gear, you need a quiet, soft space where you won’t be disturbed and you are relatively comfortable in. You need to educate yourself on digital audio editing, signal paths and, no, you can’t use your Yeti microphone for professional work (or your cell phone). Ok, so, let’s recap… the following are non-negotiable if you are going to insist on going down this path.

A decent voice
A dedicated space to practice and perform your dark art, hopefully for money.
Adequate gear and practice using it.
Oh, and a demo.

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.

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.

6. How much work do you get from platforms?

When I decided to get serious about all this I made lists of platforms and meticulously tracked every metric, read a metric ton of material on best practices for getting my auditions heard yada, yada, yada. I think I still am on about 20-25 of them, but as far as platforms that give you the option to pay for a premium or pro account, I bought the membership to Mandy.com. When I started I got some crappy gigs from upwork and dutifully auditioned everyday for any job that was remotely in what I thought my wheelhouse was for V123, VDC (voices.com), freelancer etc… or at least the ones I had access to with a free account. In the end I scoured the FB groups and that changed my life, lol. Nowadays, I get some work from some international “platforms” but they aren’t pay to play and many of them have a barrier to entry based on whether or not they need a voice like yours and if your quality is good enough for them to shop you. I don’t consider them platforms, but I get 10-15 jobs a month from a handful of them from East Asia, Middle East, the Baltic and the EU.

I’m probably the wrong guy to ask about platforms because, like other things, I’m pretty cynical about them. I read about people who are literally spending 4 hours a day doing nothing but throwing dozens of totally, super high quality auditions at anything that looks their direction and keeping track of it all like “my hit rate is 1/120, that’s better than when I started! Yay” or “I made the first search page for three minute corporate video on Fiverr! Woooo” Don’t get me wrong, I’ve got friends and know people that get at least half of whatever they make from VDC or Fiverr (usually a combo of several platforms) but they are spending crazy time tracking, auditioning, following up and I guess when they aren’t doing that they are “marketing”… somehow. That’s how I got on the trajectory I’m on. The first guy that offered me three 5 minute videos a week for like $5 each, I took. That’s 60 bucks a month and 60 more than I was making pretending to be a VO. I decided I like getting paid to practice and work on my sound and workflow instead of pretending that I know what I’m doing. Then I took another youtube channel and answered a call on a FB group from a Chinese guy… that’s when my life took a big turn.

Anyway, in my completely non qualified opinion, I think most of the pay to play sites have had their day and most of them are toying with Ai and the client base is way different than it was even 4 years ago. I don’t think more than a couple of them offer any value to the VO at all… and if you are just starting out you wouldn’t qualify for the ones that do. If you just want practice and good feedback, check out castingcallclub.com (or something like that, you’ll find it)

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.

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. There are dudes out there charging the price of a small car for a 90sec professionally produced demo. There are guys winning oscars that got their jobs from a self produced demo, there are plenty of full time VO’s that had a buddy who is a sound engineer put together their demo… but the answer is “do you need one.” Yes. Now that we established that how do you get one? There’s really only a few schools of thought when it comes to this. There’s the:

hire a coach and let him do it
1. This is good for people that don’t have their recording chops together yet and don’t really know how to listen to audio or what they are really listening for. Good option for total newbies with no prior audio or recording experience.
Talk to your local studio/friend/fiverr guy
1. This is also an option that a lot of people take except that many of the “experts” that one would go to really don’t have a clue when it comes to what makes a good demo for VO. Many of them would “get it” if it was explained to them, but most people going this route don’t have the experience to teach it to them. With that said, they will probably wind up with a very good sounding demo, but probably not what the industry is looking for or expecting.
Do it yourself.
1. Are you proficient at recording/editing/picking tracks and really able to be honest with yourself? If yes, this may be for you.
2. This is really for people that have recorded thousands of hours of VO, edited tens of thousands of hours of audio and heard a gazillion demos from around the world. If that’s you, and you have the time, knock yourself out. That’s how a lot of the guys making crazy money producing demos for others got their start. They made their own and then did it for some friends and eventually figured out that it’s far easier to charge people to make their demos than it is to make the same money doing VO.
Hire a professional VO demo producer.
1. Many of these guys are popular for a reason. They understand the industry, they keep up with the trends and fully understand what type of sound should be presented to potential clients. They do great work that is tuned for your voice, your set up and the types of work you are most suited for. They are worth dropping some coin on.
2. Now, with that said, paying 2K and up for your first demo is utter madness. Why? Because the people that will be hearing your demo at your beginning level most likely couldn’t hear the difference between a 2,000USD demo and a good DIY demo because they are probably listening to it from a compressed file on upwork or voices, in their car… on their phone.

Stay tuned for more, and feel free to suggest further topics you feel have been "underserved" by traditional channels! topics for the future are...

You’ve mentioned on some FB groups that you make over 6K a month, how do you do it?
You’ve mentioned you make steady money? How? What kind of work do you do?

Comments

The V.O. F.A.Q (or stuff I get asked all the time with my honest answers.)