I thought I would write this post, as I have just came through many of the trenches of the hell it is to become a voice artist. Most people think it is easy, a good voice is very important, that you make money fast, and might possibly believe that acting skills play a small part in this career. These “rumors” could not be any farther from the truth.
Most quit within the first year, and with good reason. It’s funny, but when you really want to be a voice artist it’s difficult detour, and gets harder to keep going. Sometimes the only thing that keeps you going is looking back and seeing all the work you have done and not want to waste it by quitting.
The competition is fierce, and the way you get jobs is all over the place with the advent of the internet. There are sites you pay to get auditions that usually get 2 to 3 times the auditions they ask for, agents that are scrambling and taking on almost no new voice talent, there are freelance sites that pay little to nothing for a job, and on top of all that, there’s the challenge to find a talent coach that is not a rip-off. Most coaches see things differently and don’t agree when they hear a good read.
Next you have to become very proficient with some type of Digital Audio Workstation (DAW), and this can be daunting in itself. Learning how a compressor works or what normalization means are the easy ones.
Then after all that work is done, none of it may net you a penny on your paycheck for a year, or longer. Without practicing regularly in a small padded room, and becoming a marketing guru with social media, you won’t get anywhere.
Therefore, next time you meet or hire a professional voice talent, you can have some empathy for all the hard work that was done to get him or her to that meeting with you.
About
Russ DeWolfe owns Expressive Delivery Voice Overs located at which is a one man company where he daily records his versatile voice which has the ability to be conversational, authoritative, warm, caring, believable, and considerate. Check out all the demos on the website or you can see his latest political demo here:
Auditions are always free, email script to: voice@russdewolfevo.com
