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voice acting and/or foley

Question:

Hello, everyone.  Ever since I was a kid, I loved to make vocal sound effects and do silly voices and impersonations.  I have a professional career in a technical field, but I would like to pursue some voice acting and/or foley work on the side as more than just a way to make my friends and family chuckle.  Do any of you out there do this sort of work on a part-time basis (or know of someone who does)?

I produce short videos from time to time and occasionally have need for VO work.  Since I don’t make any money at it, I can’t afford to pay, but it would be experience on your resume.  If you are interested, send me an email. Rick Before you buy.

Response:

Thanks, Carl.  That is a good piece of general advice that I will tuck away and start pursuing.  Does anyone on the list happen to know of any specific places in the Portland area that would be good starting points for me? Obviously, Portland does offer many opportunities, but I know how often the "not what you know but who you know" saying holds true for job opportunities.  Any leads are welcome.

Response:

Jay, Yes, it does help. See, it’s different being in Portland than, say, Milwaukee. Aside from Portland, you have Seattle/Tacoma, and of course, you could manage to swing into California. <and that’s not a knock on Milwaukee, just an observation that it’s easier to customize a reply to jr OK, couple things here… Foley work: First thing you can do is get in touch with a couple of local recording studios and ask them who locally hires (or is) a Foley artist. Odds are these guys, while they themselves may not know, know of someone who has worked in the studio, or who has worked with one. If you have any film production companies locally, you can ask them who they use. Remember, as good as you think you are, you may not be all that, at least to a professional. It would be tempting to just go into a production office and say "I’m here, hire me," but odds are you’d get kicked out and remembered as someone not to hire. V/O’s: a little easier, but then again, a lot more competitive. A good way to break into this field from a non-traditional base is to listen to the radio, every station possible, even the ones that nauseate you. Find a couple of voices that you sound a little like, see what kind of commercials they end up doing. (I, for example, usually get my voice cast for luxury products, cosmetics, things that are flat out "sex related" products. Other people make really good announcer types, some are cartoonish, and so on). Pay close attention to the "how" of the commercial: how they sound, what they are trying to do to get you to listen, where their inflections change, things like that. Then, once you have an idea about what you sound like and how things work, you should call some of the deejays at these stations, and find out if anyone in your area (and I can’t imagine there isn’t someone in Portland) coaches v/o, or better still, ask them who THEY learned from. These all constitute first steps. Since Portland is a fairly large town, you should be able to get guidance along the way beyond this. Keep us posted! Carl ‘Wesistance is futiwe! Pwepawe to be assimiwated! Huh-uh-uh’- Elmer of Borg Got questions?  Get answers over the phone at Keen.com. Up to 100 minutes free! http://www.keen.com

Response:

The best way to succeed as a "voice over" actor is to know *everything* there is to know about voice over. Become a voice over expert. Learn all you can about voice over. Read all you can about voice over. You have to have "voice overs" coming out of your ass!!! Then you can go forward into the world and do what you want with more confidence and knowledge than anybody on this planet. Here’s a good place to start: http://www.suba.com/~sammyact/Voice_Over_Books.html http://www.suba.com/~sammyact/Voice_Over_Books.html The Starmaker

Gee Whiz Starmie, …and you called Ed Hooks the yahoo of alt.acting? I think this makes it official, …*YOU* are the yahoo of alt.acting, …or would you rather be the altavista of alt.acting? Now that I think of it, …maybe not the altavista, certainly the web-crawler, …but most definitely the yahoo. Drama Queen  8^)

Response:

- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – The best way to succeed as a "voice over" actor is to know *everything* there is to know about voice over. Become a voice over expert. Learn all you can about voice over. Read all you can about voice over. You have to have "voice overs" coming out of your ass!!! Then you can go forward into the world and do what you want with more confidence and knowledge than anybody on this planet. Here’s a good place to start: http://www.suba.com/~sammyact/Voice_Over_Books.html http://www.suba.com/~sammyact/Voice_Over_Books.html The Starmaker Gee Whiz Starmie, …and you called Ed Hooks the yahoo of alt.acting? I think this makes it official, …*YOU* are the yahoo of alt.acting, …or would you rather be the altavista of alt.acting? Now that I think of it, …maybe not the altavista, certainly the web-crawler, …but most definitely the yahoo. Drama Queen  8^) …also the jewhoo.   http://www.jewhoo.com/ The Starmaker

<sigh What am I gonna do with you? <g Drama Queen

Response:

jr, It’s an admirable talent to have, but in order for us to help you, you’re going to have be a little more specific about where you are, what experience you have and so on. Carl ‘Wesistance is futiwe! Pwepawe to be assimiwated! Huh-uh-uh’- Elmer of Borg Got questions?  Get answers over the phone at Keen.com. Up to 100 minutes free! http://www.keen.com

Response:

It’s an admirable talent to have, but in order for us to help you, you’re going to have be a little more specific about where you are, what experience you have and so on.

Ah, well…I live in the Portland, Oregon area. I acted in a few plays during high school, but I have no professional acting experience.  My specific voice skills include singing (bass), imitating all sorts of sounds, including people (various accents, timbres, etc.) and instruments (brass, percussion, string bass, guitar, harmonica, etc.).  I also enjoy making sounds and noises with whatever is at hand.  The other day it was a golf ball inside of a glass coffee mug!  ;-)  I would enjoy doing voices for animated shows and computer games, automated phone systems or computer systems, or whatever.  I would also enjoy doing foley or sound effects and editing work for computer games especially.  I have done some computer-based sound editing before (again, not professionally).  My day job is in a technical field, so working with computers and technology is certainly no obstacle.  Does that help at all? -jr

Response:

Hello, everyone.  Ever since I was a kid, I loved to make vocal sound effects and do silly voices and impersonations.  I have a professional career in a technical field, but I would like to pursue some voice acting and/or foley work on the side as more than just a way to make my friends and family chuckle.  Do any of you out there do this sort of work on a part-time basis (or know of someone who does)?  What steps should I take to get involved in this segment of the acting industry?  Any help would be appreciated.  Thanks. -GrepDashV

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