And for a living I’m a….hmmm. I’ve heard it called voice actor, VO pro, voice over talent, voice artist, voiceover artist, voice talent, or as my 3 year old daughter calls it, “voice tracting”. It’s called all sorts of funny things in my house. whatever you wanna call it, one things for sure among me and my friends that do it- it’s an art, and it takes an artist.
I’ve never been much of a “side gig” person. The term doesn’t feel good to me. Does it to you? Do you want the side gig cabinet person building your kitchen? Workin on your car? Telling your story? Do you want the side gig accountant doing your taxes? I’ve heard some great people treat this art as that, and I’m not kidding when I say that’s wonderful. If it makes sense for the project, then sweet, all for it. I love hobbies, lots of great careers start as that. But unless you’re my best friend, or one of my kids, the side gig artist won’t be commissioned to do the art in my household.
Since I was 6 years old, the art of voice acting was always a pretty serious thing at the forefront of our lives growing up with my dad. I watched my father build his career as a voice actor where we grew up in Los Angeles. It was normal for us to talk about the “voice on the tv” instead of just watching the show, cartoon, promo, narration, or the commercial. Who was it? How’d they do it? What did they make you feel? Could you tell they were tired that day? Did you hear how they changed their tone? It took me years to realize that wasn’t normal, and most people just wanted to simply watch, and for me to shut up. It’s easy to forget someone made what you’re hearing, but it’s hard to forget something you heard that was great.
My dad is great, and you likely still hear him everyday. I remember sitting on his lap making sounds into a microphone at his home studio, and it’s what I’ve aspired to since. everything else I could scrap together along the way of my teen years into young adulthood was the side gig, and every hope in my body was to one day be able to solely focus on the art. And I’m lucky enough that it’s been that way for a while now.
Voice acting- it’s as fun as it sounds at times, of course, it’s my joyful full time living. it’s what I love doing when I wake up, and it’s what I plan for and think about at night. I wanna be the best, I can’t help it. It also provides for my family, so there’s a seriousness to it without losing its light. but growing up in my household it was never described as a fun hobby or something to dabble in. As a boy I’d hear the subtleties my father and his friends would use to make something speak to you not just with words, but with the performance, and that’s always my goal, to make myself forget for a moment that I’m acting in a state of the art 4’x4’ booth, and hope for the listener to “get it”. And as we know, like any other art in the world, you either get it, or you don’t, we can all be friends still.
My voice-
I tend to paint in broad conversational/friendly strokes, and lift the sometimes deeper, more serious tones when it’s time for that, always with a fresh brush, and a color you might not have seen before.
My kids sit on my lap now, making funny noises into the microphone at our studio in Los Angeles, where Papa visits sometimes, and we have those moments we can’t believe we do what we do. Can’t call it a side gig around here. This is the greatest responsibility in my world. This is my contribution. And I’m here for it. All in.”
