CMD and The Voice Shop are excited to announce the launch of our newest blog series, ‘The Voices of VO’! In this series we’ll take a closer look into the lives of voice over actors who have worked with us over the years.
Coming from all different backgrounds and levels of experience, the stories these actors share have something for everyone. We’ll talk about how they got their start, their successes and failures as working artists, and what it takes to make VO a full-time career.
Our first interview is with Katy V. Katy has been working with us since 2013, but has been in the VO world since she was a teenager. She describes her voice as youthful, up beat, relatable, and sincere.
We chatted with Katy about her experiences as a VO artist.
CMD: How did you get into VO? Was it something you’ve wanted to do since you were a kid?
Katy: I was that kid that watched a lot of TV so I was always seeing and hearing commercials and cartoons that sounded like me. So I thought, ‘hey I could do that!’ There was always an interest there from a young age, for sure. My mom is actually a performer and took a voice over workshop when I was in high school. I had the day off so she invited me to tag along. I went and I loved it. The instructor took me under his wing and I did a 6-week intensive. Shortly after that I made a demo and went from there.
CMD: What were your first projects?
Katy: My first projects were Leapfrog books and kids-based things. Even though I’m older now I still have a young voice so that’s always been my niche – being a kid.
CMD: Looking back on your experiences what would you consider your breakthrough?
Katy: Honestly it was one of the first big projects I booked through CMD. It was a national commercial that featured Robert Downey Jr. I was used to doing these little industrials and demos, so it was really cool seeing and hearing myself in a television commercial. I remember it aired during the series finale of breaking bad on AMC and I was just like, ‘is this real life?!’
CMD: What would you consider the most challenging part of VO?
Katy: I’ve been focusing more on animation VO lately. It’s challenging because you don’t read for animation like you would for a commercial. I was cast in an animated feature that recorded earlier this year and it was my first time being in the studio with a director on the clock and doing the live ADR. Reading the script and matching the voice to what you’re seeing was so challenging but cool at the same time because you actually get to see the character you’re voicing. It’s a tricky skill set because it involves a lot of coordination. You’re cued up in your headset and then you just go. It reminds me of when you play Mario Cart and the traffic light goes beep, beep, beep and then you start to race. That’s how it felt the whole time.
CMD: It must be hard to stay in character while focusing on so many other aspects.
Katy: Yeah, exactly. It’s that too. So not only are you trying to be in the mindset of the character and deliver this realistic read for what’s going on emotionally speaking but then you’re also focusing on syncing everything up. You’re wearing a lot of hats so your brain is scattered but it’s really cool. Once you can find that coordination and the muscle memory it’s thrilling. My 8 year old me was like ‘you’re a cartoon now! You’ve wanted this for so long!’ Challenging but an incredible payoff.
To see a photo of Katy in our studio lobby, visit our Instagram. Thanks to Katy for speaking with us!
More resources for The Voice Shop and CMD
The Voice Shop is CMD’s voice over coaching and education initiative. Our mission at The Voice Shop is to help new and experienced VO artists establish and develop the skills necessary to succeed as a voice over professional. For VO classes ranging from the fundamentals of VO to how to build a home studio, check out The Voice Shop.
CMD is an audio post house specializing in voice over casting in 80+ languages located in NYC. If you are an experienced voice talent who would like to join our roster, we invite you to complete our New Talent Form for consideration.
