With a booth, a mic, an interface, and a DAW, now you can Make All The Sounds! But how, why, for whom, and how to let the world know? These are the big questions for part two of Investing in Voice-Over: The Essentials.
Coaching & Classes (up to $275/hour!)
Navigating the world of voice-over resources, coaches, and classes is a subject all its own, but let’s consider these things from the perspective of what is essential to get started. Any performer in the entertainment business has had and will have numerous coaches and teachers throughout their career.
- Your local, community voice-over group: There’s no substitute for personal connections, especially when they will have already spent time on a lot of the same questions and problems you’ll be facing. Check Facebook, Instagram, Google – for us in Austin, it’s Lone Star VO. With luck, you live in a big market with more than one such group.
- Find a voice-over artist who does the kind of work you’d like to do and see if they offer coaching, or get a referral if they don’t! Many people in voice-over – but certainly not all – are approachable through social media and are happy to point you in the right direction.
- The Global Voice Acting Academy, or GVAA. One of the best ways to get a little face time with a lot of people with a variety of expertise.
- Of course, Such A Voice offers a variety of programs that include coaching, more on that below.
There aren’t many careers where you don’t have to invest in continuing education; everybody benefits from and expects to pay for some outside help now and again. The trouble with finding the right coach or class is that it’s one of the more variable costs: not only are some coaches twice the cost of other coaches, but it’s impossible to know how much coaching (or how many coaches) you’ll need before you’re ready to produce a demo. I’ve produced a demo working exclusively with one coach, but for my most recent commercial demo, it took three coaches and many months before I was even ready to start recording. Two things about this category can make it very frustrating:
- You won’t know how much training you need until you start
- It’s a good idea to have a few different perspectives before you start recording a demo, which could mean…even more coaching!
On the bright side, there are other places to get opinions on your work, whether it’s past auditions or proto-demo material: voice-over accountability groups and/or your local community voice-over group are great for this.
If you’re looking for a one-stop-shop put together by some folks who know their stuff, Such A Voice offers programs that include 1-on-1 coaching, feedback from producers, different coaches to suit your style, and of course, our next topic: demo production.
Demo Production (a few thousand)
Aside from how and where to build your booth, two of the biggest voice-over decisions you’ll make early in your career are: when to produce your first demo, and who should produce it.
Your demo is the first essential ‘output’ of all of the previous investments on this list.
Your booth, your mic, your talent, your DAW, and your training – that’s what you’re demonstrating in your demo, and throwing away a demo to start over is expensive and time-consuming. You should feel great about the material and the producer you’re working with.
Beyond that, there’s not a lot to generalize about demo production, aside from the fact that almost everyone starts out with a commercial and narration demo. I can’t say that a less expensive demo is bad and I certainly can’t say that a more expensive demo is better. It’s certainly not an area to pinch pennies – it matters that your demo sounds like you and covers your range. Choose the producer you trust and whose work you feel comfortable with: it’s fine if that’s a producer who happens to be more affordable, but this is not a place to save a couple hundred dollars.
Your Website (from $20/month – and your time!)
Just like demos and coaches, this is a subject that could chew up a whole article: but here we’re only considering what costs are essential. In my other life, I run a web application company, so while I have some expertise here, don’t worry – there are only a couple things to be concerned with early on. I won’t make specific recommendations for web hosts, but I’ll arm you with the discretion you need to find your own.
If you’ve never made a website before, it’s easy to be intimidated and worry about whether you have to learn HTML or Javascript. You don’t, but it is worth mentioning that basic HTML and stylesheet skills are not hard to pick up (even if you aren’t a technical person) and they will make managing any website a lot easier, even if you’re using a ready-made template.
It’s similar in that respect to Reaper or Adobe Audition or Pro Tools: there’s a minimum you need to know to do your job as a voice actor, but there are some perks if you have the time to dig a little deeper. But frankly: dig deeper into your DAW before you spend any time on HTML. You’ll be recording and editing every day, but dealing with your website much less often.
So why do you need a website and what should go on it?
- Your website is your brand headquarters. Aside from your audition materials, it’s where agents and potential clients are going to learn who you are and what you’ve done. What voice-over niches do you work in?
- Your website is your demo repository. Most visitors aren’t there to read about you: they’re visiting to listen to you!
- Your website is your calling card. Your email signature and your business cards should both link to your website so it’s easy for anyone with whom you interact to find you.
Two rules to start:
Keep it simple. Nobody gets hired because they have a snazzy website. At best, a memorable brand might help you stand out, but your work is going to help a lot more, and you want as few barriers as possible both to humans and to bots finding and ingesting everything you post. Here’s some free SEO: bots are like people in that they like to be able to quickly understand and categorize what they find, so make it easy on them by avoiding layouts or content that require more than a little comprehension.
Make sure updates are easy and accessible. Don’t rely on somebody else to update your site for you; make sure your host offers a content management system so that you can add or edit news, testimonials, demos, or information about your equipment.
Everything else can wait! There are a number of affordable, out-of-the-box templates out there, and some of them are even tailored to voice actor websites. At this stage, don’t worry about distinguishing yourself with your website or hiring a professional designer: those may be worthwhile investments down the road, but there are better uses for your startup money.
Wrapping It Up
It’s difficult to put a firm number on how much your initial investment in a voice-over career should require: a lot depends on where you live, both geographically for the availability of community support, and physically, for where you can put your booth and what problems you have to solve.
We also haven’t touched on the subject of pay-to-play sites you might join for auditions. That topic is too big to delve into here, but they can easily add another $1,000 or more to your budget. Trust your community groups and your coaches when starting out!
The bottom line is that these days, the technology is more affordable and accessible than ever. You aren’t going to distinguish yourself with a slightly better microphone. It’s a crowded industry, and the most important investment is in your own knowledge and experience: knowing the market, for sure, but also knowing yourself and what the product you’re selling really is.
Questions or comments on investing in voice-over? Let me know at samuelknowlton.com, and thanks for listening!
Note: Sam is not affiliated with Such A Voice and is not explicitly endorsing their coaching or demo production services, only presenting them as an option among many others!
Sam has been a business owner, entrepreneur, and actor for more than twenty years and has served on regional and national committees for the Actors’ Equity Association. He and his partner, Paulina (aka The Lady Derp) work out of the Booth at Derpington Manor in Austin, Texas.
