Welcome to my Blog!

My name is Whitney Wyatt.  I became interested in Voice Acting a little while ago and started researching it by web and by visiting schools in person.  In just a few months, I made some great discoveries;

1.  The  people in the Voice Acting community are remarkably courteous and available to newcomers wishing to learn about their field; and in fact they have placed online thousands of hours worth of training videos and tens of thousands of posts and articles relating to Voice Acting  – all out there on the web, all available to the seeker for free.  Apparently done for no other reason than to assist other folks whom they do not even know, and most likely at the cost of many, many hours that might have been more profitably spent. Now there are also many fine products for sale from some of these people as well, absolutely nothing wrong with that,  and I would suggest that you help support them!

2.  There are zillions (scientifically speaking) of commercial sites out there that want to take your money and make you a crappy demo and don’t really have any interest in you, your education, or Voice Acting in general.

3.  There is no easy way to differentiate between the two sites without going to them all and checking them out.

So as I started this blog to chronicle my adventures in the Voice Acting world, I thought it might also be nice to try to put together a gathering of sites, blogs, articles, resources, etc. from people who are genuinely interested (and that is a surprisingly large number) in helping you navigate down the road to Voice Acting Nirvana.  If you have any suggestions for inclusion, post a comment or drop me a line at Whitsvoice(at)comcast.net

Thanks for stopping by — Hope you find something useful here.

Take some time to judge your own work

I recently uploaded a Fauxdition (that’s a fake audition) to Internet Voice Coach.

I joined that site recently and I must say that it has been a great help for a student Voice Actor! Tons of articles and advice and interviews. You can upload a sound clip for them to critique roughly once a month, and they have an audition contest each month.

The contest is sorta fun for a newbie. First you have to try to record something that sounds vaguely professional, then you have to work over the file, clean it up, turn it into an MP3 and then upload it. Good practice all the way around!

Anyway, I recorded a bunch of different takes on the audition script, and then just saved them on my computer and spent the next several days chasing my kids around the house – completely forgetting all about the recording.

Went back yesterday and listened to the clips — and it was GREAT! I came to the clips completely cold, having forgotten most everything about them (Early Alzheimer’s, I know) and it was almost like listening to a total stranger!

I could easily identify things that sounded amateurish (yeah, most of the clip, I know) and also things that I liked. It was a completely different experience from listening to your recording right after you do it.

So why don’t you practice with some scripts and record your efforts and then let them lie around for a few days before you listen to them? I think you will be surprised.

And yes, I know you can’t do that in real life — but we are learning here! Cut yourself some slack!

New website for Voice Over types — SocialMediaVO

I know we are all learning VO here, and we think of our voices, acting, mic technique, etc. when we think about learning VO — BUT! You also better learn about HOW you are going to get JOBS in VO while you are at it! And here is a new site that has a lot of info about Social Networking.

Any of you out there who are 14 years old may skip this lesson, but for the rest of us who were NOT born in the 1990’s, you probably need to learn about this, LIKE it or NOT!

Thanks and a tip of the hat to Bob Souer for putting this up after his trip to Voice 2010!

SocialMediaVO.

VOICE OVER MICROPHONE SELECTOR | Edge Studio

If you are interested in buying a microphone, this is a fun little machine to play with. I wish they had a few more mics in the mix tho…

VOICE OVER MICROPHONE SELECTOR | Edge Studio.

Interesting article about The Cold Read, and why you need to be able to do it

This is an interesting article and one that makes me think a little bit. Being a student, and in class with a bunch of other students, I think it is interesting how hard it is for a lot of people (me included sometimes) to actually just Read the Script!

Not only is Cold Reading important, just being able to read the thing accurately and correctly aloud is important!

Like my last teacher said, just read aloud for 15 – 20 minutes a day and watch how you progress. It has sure helped me.

Why Cold Reading Skills Are a Must For Voice Actors | Voices.com.

Bob Souer Podcast

Bob Souer was interviewed and you can hear the whole thing here.

Bob

The Porta-Booth Pro – Your Recording Studio at Home and on the Road

Well, Harlan Hogan, who is the McGyver of Voice Overs, has come up with a new product. He had worked up the Porta Booth, a traveling soundbooth for your microphone, several years ago and everybody loved it. Now he has re-worked his idea and turned it into something pretty remarkable! Give it a look:
The Porta-Booth Pro – Your Recording Studio at Home and on the Road.

Jeffrey Kafer Voice blog

This is an interesting article from an interesting blog. Jeffrey is a moderator on the Voice Over Bulletin Board too.

Jeffrey Kafer Voice blog.

When Do You Need a Voice Over? « The Lowry Agency Blog

Here is a quick, interesting article about voice overs and when you might use one. When Do You Need a Voice Over? « The Lowry Agency Blog.

Here is a new E-Book for VO

Taji, who runs .The Voice Over Emporium has written a new book for voice actors. You can download it here:
Taji’s Free eBook – The Voiceoverist’s Guide | TVE

The Intellectual Leap

What IS it that a Voice Actor is paid to do?

The copy writer thinks you’re an illiterate mouth breather, the director thinks you’re a prima dona who can’t listen, the engineer thinks you are the luckiest SOB on earth to make what you make for reading out loud, the client thinks you’re a large, needless, debit on his personal compensation, and the target audience out there trudges on regardless, unaware that you even exist!

Just what the heck IS IT that you are DOING?

You, my friend, are performing magic.