Do you feel Deep inside that you are just a little different than others when it comes to professional life? This story is about the road to success as a voice actor and why personalities who succeed in voice acting are typically much different from others in the workforce.
"We want people to be Unusual," says Mike George, lead voice coach at The Voice Shop, a voice talent and voice coaching agency in New York. http://www.voiceshopcoaching.com/
"We want people who Do realize they are different and know who they are," says Mike.
Mike and a host of other seasoned voice instructors teach people who want to learn how to become voice talent. The Voice Shop teaches exactly how to enter the profession as a voice talent and how to get booked. And people who gravitate to this field typically do not resemble the personality of your bank teller.
"ODD and DIFFERENT" are traits that are positive," says Mike. "The person who stands for the status quo is not the typical profile of a voice actor.”
The Voice Shop coach, Michael George (right), has literally "done it all" when it comes to voice over. Michael's voice has been heard all over the world - his credits include Evian, Kia, Hilton, Dannon, Coca Cola, Disney, Motorola, The NBA, KRAFT, and Citibank.
Embracing ones' eccentricities is the common thread among most people in creative fields. From musicians to singers, writers to even producers…the arts attract people who are much different from the status quo. Being a voice talent is no different. "Unusualness is the antidote to competition," says Mike George. "And that is why developing a voice talent career appeals to the type of person it does."
One such type of person is John Kubin. John is one of the new young stars of the voice-over business. He has booked 40 jobs in the last 50 days as of this writing. But he only discovered success in voice work after serious attempts as a musician and an actor that failed. It started slowly, but these days demand is quite high. "Every morning, I line up the auditions and reel them off spending only three minutes per assignment, then send them back and forget about it." He is a one-man business who found voicework after not succeeding at his first attempt on the road to an exciting professional life. "To me, I knew I was not ordinary, and I found a way to use that trait in voicework," says John. "I am chaotic in general, and voicework leans itself toward people just like me." https://www.prettynifty.tv
John Kubin is a young star in the voice over business.
When you enter The Voice Shop, you are taught everything you need to know on how to use your voice from concept to completion. Students at The Voice shop are taught techniques in voice classes and exposed to the agencies and organizations involved in voice casting and voice projects. "I'm always thinking to think in terms of Big Ideas," says Mike George. "So, when a young new talent wants to become "the voice" we teach them concept to completion tactics."
The new frontier of voice work is the web. Before it, commercials and documentaries were the extent of available opportunities. Nowadays, there are audiobooks, video games, e-learning, podcasting, animation voices, and character voices. And if your bi-lingual, you instantly double your marketability."
And there is a lot of liberty for the voice-over artist. "The main thing that surprises me is that I can voice from any country to any country, at any time," says John Kubin. "There are no limitations to the profession."
Years ago, the voice talent producers wanted was a very "broadcast-like" sound like a radio DJ. But these days, if you don't have a perfect voice, "that's just perfect," says Mike George. "Just be you," says John Kubin... "and Use the natural you," chimes in Mike George.
Never in the history of storytelling has there been more opportunity than there is right now. So, if you need a roadmap to get you there, The Voice Shop offers the solution for an aspiring voice talent.
"I didn't realize I could do this 'til the day I die," says John Kubin. "It has led to everything, and it'll continue." Voice work led to John's exposure to commercials made for an advertiser that the client did not buy. So Kubin launched https://www.spexster.com, and it serves as a website that allows other clients to take advantage of high-end advertising that never made it to air. He calls it Advertising on Demand, "and it would have happened if it had not been for my voice work," says Kubin.
Meanwhile, The Voice Shop continues to teach the fundamentals of professional voice work as "a marriage of art and commerce," says Mike George. And that ultimately is what being a voice over artist is. It's taking the art of your natural human voice and relating to other people in a way that'll provoke a buying decision. It's big business. And you'll be at the apex if you decide to take the road to success.
So, The Voice Shop provides voice coaching and voice career guidance, and across the hall is Creative Media Design https://www.cmdnyc.com, a voice over studio for clients to record in every language for worldwide distribution.
"We record every language on earth from our voice production studio and send the voice project to whoever needs it with the click of a mouse," says CEO Mike Zirinsky. "And, we have every single language right here in New York, with international voice talent recording to satisfy the demand for worldwide communications." There are 7,000 languages globally, and Creative Media Design is recording in (80) of them. It's' an international audio soundstage interpreting human communication.
Sound Exciting? If it does, and you have wondered how to become a voice actor, it all begins right here. If deep inside you, you feel that calling to BE the voice, this could be your beginning. You'll wind up being a unique person who fits into the unknown world of voice performing. And along the way, you'll discover that life calls on you to take part in a profession that is absolutely anything but ordinary.
Let us hear from you! We're ready to listen.
