Intro
The voiceover business is hard to get into. Anyone who tells you it’s easy is lying -- or they just want your money.
"But my mother/sister/coworker/parish priest/barista says I have a great voice!"
You do. But if that’s all you have you’re out of luck. To make any money in the voiceover business, you have to really know what you’re doing, be an astounding reader of the English language and know how to act. If you don’t know all of that stuff, you need to learn it before making your first demo. Why? Because your first demo may not be awful. With digital audio recording, (almost) anyone can be made to sound halfway decent. But the first time you have an actual audition, you’ll be terrible, because you won’t have the experience on the microphone or know how to read different kinds of copy appropriately… you just won’t know what you’re doing. And you only get one chance to make a good first impression.
If you suck, I won’t take your money.
You have to know what you’re doing before I’ll record a voiceover demo for you. (And NO, one three-day group seminar on voiceover does not qualify you to "know what you're doing!" People! I've heard multiple stories about an outfit called Voices For All! They advertise everywhere. If you have little or no experience, don't live in or near a big city, and after a three-day seminar plan to shell out thousands of dollars for a voiceover demo, talk to me, or a shrink, or a guru or somebody! Geez!) There are some very good teachers of voiceover in Chicago. Most of them are friends of mine with whom I’ve worked many times. I’ve also taught with some of them. You should meet them and hear what they have to say and you should learn how to do this voiceover thing before making a demo.
I hope you'll realize that I'm acting in good faith when I have on MY web site people who are in direct competition with me. I really do want you to do what's best for you, your career and your wallet.
I don't know a thing. I just want to find out about the voiceover business.
Maybe right now you're not interested in taking classes. You're not ready to spend a pile of money when you don't know a thing. You're one of the people for whom I created this site, because there wasn't anyone who could give you a straight answer without it costing an arm and a leg or weeks of your time. Sometimes people just want the answer to these questions:
How do I know you know what you’re doing? How do you know whether I'm ready to make a full demo?
You take my Voiceover Exploration workshop. We work together for a few hours while I coach you through copy and record you. I learn everything I need to know about your skills. You find out about my coaching style and knowledge and get a look at my studio set-up.
OR
A friend of mine, an agent or someone from one of the schools listed above tells me you should be in this business and you need a demo.
"But my mother/sister/coworker/parish priest/barista says I have a great voice!"
You do. But if that’s all you have you’re out of luck. To make any money in the voiceover business, you have to really know what you’re doing, be an astounding reader of the English language and know how to act. If you don’t know all of that stuff, you need to learn it before making your first demo. Why? Because your first demo may not be awful. With digital audio recording, (almost) anyone can be made to sound halfway decent. But the first time you have an actual audition, you’ll be terrible, because you won’t have the experience on the microphone or know how to read different kinds of copy appropriately… you just won’t know what you’re doing. And you only get one chance to make a good first impression.
If you suck, I won’t take your money.
You have to know what you’re doing before I’ll record a voiceover demo for you. (And NO, one three-day group seminar on voiceover does not qualify you to "know what you're doing!" People! I've heard multiple stories about an outfit called Voices For All! They advertise everywhere. If you have little or no experience, don't live in or near a big city, and after a three-day seminar plan to shell out thousands of dollars for a voiceover demo, talk to me, or a shrink, or a guru or somebody! Geez!) There are some very good teachers of voiceover in Chicago. Most of them are friends of mine with whom I’ve worked many times. I’ve also taught with some of them. You should meet them and hear what they have to say and you should learn how to do this voiceover thing before making a demo.
- Students get good quality voiceover training at Columbia College Chicago.
- Here’s my favorite place for classes of all kinds, including voiceover: Acting Studio Chicago
- Here’s another good one that works through a local studio: Bosco Productions. They do demos here as well.
- My good friend Jeff is, like me, a working voice talent who also coaches and does demos. He's got valuable information on his web site, too.
- Sherri's been a voice talent and teacher for many years. Her site is here.
- One of the giants of our business, Harlan Hogan, has a great web site with hardware, software, books and resources for people interested in voiceover (link here, and at the bottom of my pages). Yeah, Harlan's selling stuff. But I've worked with him; he's a super-nice guy who is genuinely interested in helping others, and he deserves to make a few bucks.
I hope you'll realize that I'm acting in good faith when I have on MY web site people who are in direct competition with me. I really do want you to do what's best for you, your career and your wallet.
I don't know a thing. I just want to find out about the voiceover business.
Maybe right now you're not interested in taking classes. You're not ready to spend a pile of money when you don't know a thing. You're one of the people for whom I created this site, because there wasn't anyone who could give you a straight answer without it costing an arm and a leg or weeks of your time. Sometimes people just want the answer to these questions:
- What's the voiceover business all about?
- How do you get into it?
- Do I have what it takes?
How do I know you know what you’re doing? How do you know whether I'm ready to make a full demo?
You take my Voiceover Exploration workshop. We work together for a few hours while I coach you through copy and record you. I learn everything I need to know about your skills. You find out about my coaching style and knowledge and get a look at my studio set-up.
OR
A friend of mine, an agent or someone from one of the schools listed above tells me you should be in this business and you need a demo.
