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How I Got Started In Voiceover

About Voice Over, Blog, Children Books, Uncategorized, Voiceover Career

When people ask me how I got started in voiceover, I know what they are really asking; How to get started in voiceover and more importantly, how do they get started in voiceover? I also realize that they are listening for an easy answer. Since noticing that, I ask whether or not they are interested in doing voiceover, and from there, that shapes the way I answer the question. I either explain that their path in 2019 will be different from my path in 2004 or I tell them the actual story of my journey.


If the question is truly ” How I got started in voiceover ” then the real answer is long and complex. It started with my professor in College, Bill Clark mentioning to me that I should do voiceover. It was really early in the days of the internet and little info was available about…… really anything. I search the local newspaper, found nothing and quickly gave up. But as time went on and I graduated with a major in mass media, the word voiceover continued to resonate in my mind.

Fast forward a few years and I was working in the Fulton County Georgia School system. It was a job I enjoyed but it was never meant to be permanent. Voiceover seemed to continue to come up and I kept hearing big voice radio imaging guys like Mitch Faulkner, Pat Garrett, Mike Johnson, and others. I would imitate them and frequently said “I could do that”

But the catalyst to me actually getting started was being in New Orleans with my dad in the lobby of our hotel when I began thinking seriously about doing voiceover. I was still with the school system but what Bill Clark had advised me to do years prior was heavy on my spirit. At that moment, I concluded my thoughts when just shortly after, my homie Dolvett called me from Atlanta and said immediately upon me answering the phone, “Yo, I don’t know why I was thinking about this but, I think you should do voiceover”. I had never spoken to him about this prior.

When I returned to Atlanta, I got to the much-matured internet of 2004 and called the first voiceover talent I could find here in Atlanta. I wish I remembered her name, but she advised me to get a demo and send it out. She also told me a great studio that did demos. (That’s not advice I would give an aspiring voiceover talent today. Go get training first) So, I followed her advice. I called the studio and scheduled a time to record.

The studio session, much to the surprise of the engineers went so well that they gave me my demo free. The owner told me that I was the first aspiring voiceover talent, out of hundreds, to record with them who he actually thought had a future in the business and so he wanted to pay it forward by helping to launch my career. I was excited. I sent that demo around to different studios and agents and landed my first voiceover job on local radio playing a robot in a health product commercial. It paid me $75. I was also signed to a local agency, Arlene Wilson Management.

That year for Christmas, my then-girlfriend bought me my first microphone, the Rode NT1A. I, of course, had to buy an audio interface to go with it so I purchased the Emu 1616, which at the time was cutting edge technology. The Emu came with multiple recording programs, which included Cubase LE, which I became so accustomed to that it made Cubase my lifelong DAW. I worked this set up for 6 months when I found one regular client who paid me weekly which afforded me the ability to buy the TLM 103 microphone.

Throughout my early career, I attempted many things to make money in voiceover. I started a very expensive voiceover ringtone website which I profited only $6 before Apple’s Iphone killed the ringtone business. I sold my bible verse call-back tones to a company in Canada. But I also began doing radio commercials for local nightclubs, a skill I learned from a mentor in radio imaging named “Postman.” In 2006, I stopped working in the school system to do voiceover full-time.

By 2008 I published my first audiobook called “Dana The Procrastinator.” It was a physical hardcover book combined with a CD which was produced by my brother Omari and voiced by yours truly. Dana the Procrastinator was loosely based on my lifelong struggle with procrastination. It combined my two favorite pastimes, voiceover and writing. The book was great for me but was short-lived. I visited schools and bookstores from Atlanta to New York speaking and conducting workshops. Being an author even took me to Jamaica where I read to children at the Jamaican Public Library. But by 2009, the sales came to almost a halt and I was struggling financially.

.Dana The Procrastinator

At the end of 2009, I had lost the girlfriend who had encouraged me in my career up until then. While tough, it was the motivation I needed to push me to succeed and make bolder moves. As an introvert, I was forced to leave the house to find what I no longer had socially. My girlfriend was my crutch and I had to encounter other human beings which made me go out more. This meant using my business as a reason to attend more functions and meet more people. A new network could help make me more successful. While I lost love, I expanded my network. From there I began traveling outside of Georgia to find work. This was the formula which proved to be fruitful.

I’ve done a lot of things since 2010 keep my business going and growing. Training and educating myself to understand the voiceover industry has been helpful. Additionally, I have broadened the types of voiceover that I do. I’ve taken on much more narration work in the past few years. I started blogging and interviewing established voiceover talent to increase my own visibility in the industry. Also, I wanted to learn from other pros.

I have grown greatly over the years from how I got started in voiceover. My journey will not translate the same way into your journey if you are just getting started. The industry has changed. Technology has changed. The world has changed. My hope is that even if voiceover itself no longer exist 15 years from now, that I can be comfortable from the work I have done in this industry. And that I continue to be proud of that work.

#voiceover-career #african-american-voiceover-talent #How-to-get-started

 

Filed Under: About Voice Over, Blog, Children Books, Uncategorized, Voiceover Career Tagged With: Atlanta Voice Over, dress for success, Home voice over studio, recording booth, Top Rated African American Voice Talent, Voice Actor, voiceover, voiceover career

A Voiceover Career Is Not An Easy Way Out + Vacation & Voiceover In Panama

About Voice Over, Blog, Children Books, Interviews & Insight, Technology & Voiceover, Voice Ringtones

LinkedIn has a way of reminding you every year that it’s your anniversary of how long you’ve been at your present job. Thank you LinkedIn. This September marks 12 years since I started my voiceover journey and I have to say that it has been both trying and super rewarding. But sometimes as I blog and post pictures from various places around the world, I think that people only see the rewarding part. They get the impression that all they need to do is to part with their full time job as I did in 2006 and the great voice that everyone tells them they have will propel them into a glamorous voiceover career where they work a few hours a week in their underwear and collect BIG checks. I’m sure that’s what they think. I can hear it in their voices when they solicit my help on the phone on how to get started. I recorded this video after a voiceover hopeful called me last year while I was in Panama and I told her that “this is a process and it takes time.”

Building my voiceover career took years. I was nowhere close to being an overnight success. But I found since writing my blog that many people will go to my website, find out how to reach me, call me, ask for advice and then get offended when I tell them not to quit their day job. I once had a testy exchange with a woman (who in my opinion had an aweful voice and an even worse speech pattern) who told me that she would have no problem building a voiceover career in spite of not having any training and not having worked in the entertainment or advertising world prior. She said that she had a sales background and that she could sell anything. I of course agree that a sales background is extremely helpful in this field, but you need to have a great product to sell. Furthermore, if you solicit the help of someone who is already doing what you want to do, you should probably listen and take their advice as I did 12 years ago. I can honestly say that I was somewhat insulted by her idea that it would be a breeze to get started in VO.

Voiceover Career 2
Early Days In Working In A Studio (2006)

Often voiceover newcomers think they need just one of the key elements in making their career pop. Usually they have an overestimated confidence in their talent and voicing abilities so they skip straight to what they think they need for their home studio. I have a great studio that does well for my voice but I inform aspiring talent to go and explore a local audio store to play around with their offerings to find out what works for them. But first you need to make sure other things are in place so that you are sure voiceover is for you? Do you have a plan? Do the plan cover your business, your equipment, your coaching and your education? What are your goals and what avenues will you take to make those goals happen? Luckily there are a lot of great people in our industry who help provide direction for voice talents in their careers. Tom Dheere for example is a voiceover consultant that writes a blog to help even established talent on the business side of VO. Check him out.
For myself, when I started it was without training and without business experience. I had only raw passion to guide me. That may explain the years that I went before landing some real gigs. As I learned more and I considered new ways to make a few bucks in VO, I  took chances on the business side. I innovated with ideas that could make money using my voice which included a voice ringtone website called MyTalktones.com and also licensed some of those ringtones to a media copy that sold them as ringback tones to all the major cell phone companies. I wrote an DANE FRONT BLUEaudiobook, Dana The Procrastinator which I voiced myself in 2008. Feel free to buy a hardcover copy on Amazon. I wrote a second children’s book too, but I have procrastinated on getting that out to the public even up to now. While I’ve voiced for companies and brands like Sprite, Coke, Lockheed Martin, BET, Acura, Kia and a mountain of other companies in my time, none have been so big as to keep me fed beyond the next months bill. And so it has always been my plan to hunt down new work and to also be creative as to where I can apply my voice.
I celebrate 12 years as a voiceover talent knowing how much work I’ve put into this field. I have spent a lot of money, many nights awake and years developing and testing new ideas for my business. But with voiceover becoming more difficult to get into and make a profit, talent can’t just expect to call Dane Reid on the phone and get the magic solution as to how to be a success. I am still up at night racking my brain and working hard in the daytime pitching my voice and my ideas to anyone who may buy into them. I have plans for new demos, new videos, business ideas (which I can’t share 😉 ) and even a new station which I start imaging this month. I’m still passion driven but I have harnessed my creativity, effort, networking ties and talent in order to make it all work. Don’t think that my road will be your path. Results may vary.

Vacation & Voiceover In PanamaVoiceover Career
I’ve had a love for Latin America over the past few years. One place that fascinated me because of the sheer number of it’s immigrants that I knew in New York was Panama. Of course the Panama Canal fascinated me. But when I arrived in Panama City, the thing that captivated me most was this amazing mixture between the new and the old city. Prior to going to Cuba, I hadn’t seen a place as charming as Panama City’s Casca Viejo. And to see how it blended with the modern, almost US looking new city was awesome to me. But secondly, the people were great. I spent much of my time being shown the ropes by our cab driver Glenn. He wasn’t the average cabbie. Glenn was more like the guy who you knew in a town you were visiting who showed you around. Everyday he picked us up, suggested places for us to hang out and would even hang out with us and buy us drinks with the money we just paid him. lol (I just had water). Other people were great too and I found that just like in New York, Panamanians are super cool people. But finally, if you are a foodie (which I generally am not), Panama is your place. I experienced the best food on average that I’ve had in the world in Panama. There is something about the seasoning and the freshness of the food, mixed with the creative latin and West Indian fusion that totally impressed me. I’ve mentioned this to others who have either been to Panama or had Panamanian dishes who totally agree with me. Overall, between the food, music, people and the place itself, I highly recommend a visit there. 4.75 of 5 stars (There was no beach in Panama City but try Boca Del Torro)

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Filed Under: About Voice Over, Blog, Children Books, Interviews & Insight, Technology & Voiceover, Voice Ringtones

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