A grocery list: Putting together your first voice over recording setup

by Kenny Faircloth

Quick Glossary

XLR Microphone: A microphone that hooks up by a 3-point XLR male to female cable; requires an interface and phantom power

USB Microphone: A microphone that hooks directly up to a computer via USB; uses computer as interface, does not require phantom power

Frequency Response Chart: By reading a frequency response chart, you can determine how applicable a certain model of microphone is for your intended uses by seeing how the microphone favors which frequencies at which decibel ranges. For more information:

http://blog.shure.com/how-to-read-a-microphone-frequency-response-chart/

For any seasoned voice actor, this is a pretty tired topic; and by now, there is a general consensus that there’s no such thing as a miracle microphone everyone should get. Rather, we constantly reinforce the vague blanket statement “get a mic that suits your voice.” That’s all fine and good! However, it leaves a lot of the newcomers to the industry in a state of confusion because they haven’t browsed the shelves at Guitar Center like we have. They have not put the hours into watching booth junkie like we have, and they probably have little to no personal incentive to do that. Instead of this vague arbitrary guideline to just get what “fits” your voice and your needs, I think a little bit of structure might be nice for the curious rookies out there; so here we go - ​your first recording setup.

AVA Interview - Jacob Campbell - Finding confidence and getting over stage fright as an actor

by James Wolven

The radio silence is over! Enjoy a new interview courtesy of AVA!

In this interview, I speak with old friend, lead singer of band Blue Alchemist Rage, and enthusiastic theater actor Jacob Campbell. We talk about the hurdle every actor-to-be has to endure in the early stages, which is finding the confidence to play every character and getting over fear of judgment or failure. As a vibrant persona on stage with his band and theater, Jake shares how he developed his persona and learned to cope with the strange, sometimes intimidating world of acting and performing.

AVA Interview - Mighet Matanane - The parallels and differences between radio and voice over

In today's AVA interview, I speak with voice actor, The River radio host, good friend of mine, and expert Pokemon battler Mighet Matanane on the ins and outs of radio. It's a field that shares a lot of similarities to voice over, but also a lot of critical differences. As a new sort of interview, I wanted to talk with him about life as a radio host, things one should know before trying to sign themselves up as one, and how one needs to be aware that the nuances of voice over and radio don't necessarily translate over to the other.

Topics covered in this interview include:

• The skills and background needed or recommended to get into radio
• How Mighet found himself working at KRVO 103.1
• How voice over and radio are similar, but very different and require different skill sets
• Some of the struggles of being a voice actor AND radio host, and how to overcome them
• A day in the life of a radio host
• How working in radio might (or might not) expand your network and portfolio for elsewhere in entertainment
• The benefits and joys of working in radio

How to become a voice actor - AVA breaks it down

by James Wolven

“How do you become a voice actor?”

This is a question that's been around since practically the dawn of the voice over industry, and virtually every voice actor has been asked it in one form or another. Some ask out of idle curiosity, a polite probe into a friendly acquaintance's business (“Ah, you wrestle ostriches professionally! I considered doing that myself once! How'd you get into that business?”). Others are genuinely interested in starting down that path themselves, but because voice acting is such a mysterious field to most people (as I allude to in my spiel about the infamous “dub wars”) and the industry has changed so much over the years (as Kenny helpfully points out in his debut article), they have no blazing idea where to begin.

Many a voice actor has given their answer to this conundrum at conventions, in YouTube videos or Tweets, and the internet is rife with hints to your riddle. However, I don't know that I have ever attempted to give an answer before, and you know AVA by this point I hope: we go into excruciating detail.

A Map for Voice Acting: Where is Your Destination?

JAMES'S NOTE: This article was written by AVA's new co-host, Kenneth Faircloth! Kenny is a fellow voice actor, an excellent friend of mine, and evidently, a great writer. You'll see more of Kenny in the coming days as both a writer and an interview host, and we'll be sure to give him a full introduction and a warm welcome soon after this article goes live. In the meantime, enjoy Kenny's insight onto what feels at times like a vast desert of voice over and the necessity of having a map to direct you through.

Article by Kenny Faircloth

The voice acting community is relatively small from a certain standpoint, depending on where you are at in your career. However, I think we can all agree that voice acting as a whole is a bit of a big place; and it can be incredibly easy to get lost when trying to find your way. We get a lot of vague blanket statements and self-help slogans pertaining to where to go next with our careers, but rarely do we get any actual guidance about where to go next.

It is not that we lack generous and helpful insight from our more successful predecessors. Instead, I think it mostly has to do with how the path keeps changing with the times. Throughout this modern era of online casting call sites, there is a newfound nuance that I believe has separated the overall community into three different “tiers” if you will. The three different tiers are as follows: the fan/online community, the indie community, and the industry. Of course there are numerous voice actors who do not fit cleanly into just one of the three tiers. There are some who fan/online voice actors who get indie work, indie actors who get industry work, industry actors who take part in fan work, etc. With these different tiers in mind, it seems a bit more clear about how your voice acting journey should go, right? From fan to indie, from indie to industry, yeah. Seems straightforward enough. However, it’s a bit more intricate than just that. A little bit of retrospect always comes in handy for times like these.