Vlogging Archives - Dane Reid Media

11 Top Voiceover Youtube Channels

About Voice Over, BIPOC Voiceover Talent, Blog, Interviews & Insight, Reviews, Technology & Voiceover, Uncategorized, Vlogging, voiceover, Voiceover Career, voices

What are the top voiceover youtube channels? The channels that you turn to for the best sources of information, education and information for voiceover. Well, that’s the controversial murky water that I find myself swimming in right now. Anytime you use the words top or best to describe anything, you are bound to open pandora’s box. The level of nays can be just as loud as the yays. But as a lover of Youtube University, I find myself looking for the best channels to inspire and inform me on what’s happening in the voiceover industry.

Over the years, there have been many channels and talent who have utilized Youtube as a way of getting out their message, producing content and expanding their brand awareness. Sure, there are other outlets to do that, but Youtube is the second largest search platform in the word. So when people search for the top anything voiceover, the top voiceover Youtube channels will appear right there with their google search.

The problem comes with the disagreements. Over the years, I have heard the mumblings of personality conflicts and staunch disagreements with the methodology and teachings of certain VO Youtubers. Some have argued that anyone teaching and encouraging the use of Fiverr to “newbies” don’t have our best interest as an industry at heart. And these kinds of disagreements turn people off to certain Voiceover Youtube channels. I get it. But I also get that change is dolorous and that regardless of disagreements, the popularity and relevance of the VO Youtubers making these videos cannot be ignored.

How I Decided Which Were The Top Voiceover Youtube Channels

I had to create criteria. I decided that the age of a channel, consistency of uploads, value to its viewers, and entertainment value and how well known the channel is, would be how I decided. I also decided to list them in random order as to not seem to express biases toward or against. Still, there is some subjectivity even in the criteria that could still open itself up to criticism (and me). Still, in good faith, I decided to give it a shot with the disclaimer that these are not mostly recommendations but acknowledgments that these channels have all come across my radar.

Ask Dave Fennoy Anything

Ask Dave Fennoy Anything Streams on the DaveFennoy Voiceover Training Channel every Wednesday at 8pm Pacific time. Dave is a legend in voiceover gaming who also has his hand in countless areas of voiceover. He is an authority in VO Games and Character Coaching. You can catch him at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpR7jedutYNue9GU84uS-Cg

The Gift Of Gab

Gabrielle Nistico’s Channel post videos with frank voiceover advice with a witty and sometimes dry humor style that appeals to both new voice actors and professionals. Gabby is a voiceover actor, demo producer and career coach in Charlotte. Her channel can be found at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-JhbChXLVwTvgSxrtWpajg

Earl Hall- Earl Hall Studio

Earl markets his brand as a coach capable of taking students from step 0 to 100. He has a number of courses online for marketing your own voiceover career. He runs a free training facebook group and teaches students to automate their voiceover success. His channel is https://www.youtube.com/c/EarlHallStudio/featured

A VO’s Journey

Anthony Pica’s brand stretches across platforms from Facebook to Youtube to Instagram. He is spreading the word of what it really takes to earn a living, learn how to voice actor and run a voiceover business from the perspective of someone who is doing it. Check out Anthony at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaSvjdnxdx69qoW9ryuxCjQ

Brizzy Voices

Starting in 2012, Anna Brisbin built a voiceover channel and career from doing impressions from movies, cartoons, and assorted characters. Her channel attracts viewers drawn to see her perform these impersonations. The best part about it is that she did it all from her not-so-fancy, sometimes messy closet with very basic equipment. To date, Brizzy Voices has a whopping 2.1 Million subscribers and has videos that boast 27 Million views. Not bad. Not bad at all. Her channel is https://www.youtube.com/brizzy/featured

Voiceover Masterclass

When you have a name like Voiceover Masterclass, it just sounds so official. Peter Baker’s gentlemanly British style and consistently give his videos a university type of feel to it. You almost feel as if you should enroll into the channel as opposed to subscribe to it. His videos a purposefully produced and feature a professional theme with the thumbnails. His voiceover youtube channel is https://www.youtube.com/c/Voiceovermasterclass/featured

VO Buzz Weekly

Chuck and Stacy are two of the most known figures in the voiceover business. Few people have as many friends and are as well-liked then the two of them. They have been producing the only Voiceover Talk Show since I have been a working actor. No other voiceover channel rivals professional network shows like theirs does. Each week, they bring you a new voiceover superstar. Catch their show at https://www.youtube.com/user/vobuzzweekly

VOBS- Voice Over Body Shop

Dan Leonard and George Whittam are two of the most respected voiceover tech guys in the business. Dan, who is an accomplished voice actor himself, and “George the Tech” have been teaming up for more than a decade to help make voiceover technology more understandable for users. They host a live one to two-hour-long show each week where they explain VO gear and bring on special voiceover guests. Find them at https://www.youtube.com/c/Ewabsshow/featured

Jordan Reynolds

According to his channel, Jordan is a Voiceover Talent, Voice Matcher, Demo Producer, Audio Producer, Audio Engineer, Improv Theater Actor, Music Enthusiast, Tech Geek, Professional Sideburn Grower. It’s that last part that makes you tune in. Not only does Jordan know his stuff, but he’s about making good content that helps people. Recently Jordan has started doing courses to help other voice actors with their sound, an area that so many of us get wrong. His channel is https://www.youtube.com/c/JordanReynolds/featured

Booth Junkie

Mike DelGaudio dedicates his channel to the tech of at-home, professional voice over. He review microphones, studio equipment and help new voice actors set up their studios from hardware to software so they can make the next great recording! The Booth Junkie channel has attracted 123,000 subscribers and has reviewed Reaper, portable isolation booths, kaotica eyeball and compared cheap vs expensive microphones. Booth Junkie is found at https://www.youtube.com/c/BoothJunkieVO/featured

Bill Dewees

Bill Dewees is a professional voice over artist and coach. His channnel helps new and existing voice over artists get found, get heard, and get hired. Everything from picking your first mic to how to land VO jobs and get paid. Bill has some of the most consistent content on youtube for voice actors, posting new videos twice weekly. It’s simple in production and straightforward in approach. The channel, like some others, is a gateway to Bill’s coaching sites that guide viewers to success in voiceover. His channel is https://www.youtube.com/c/BillDeWees/featured

Other Channels?

Undoubtedly there are other channels I forgot to mention. And for some that I did mention, I may be facing cancel culture. If there are any that I should have put on the list, go to youtube and leave a comment under the video in the comments section. Please try to be respectful.

How Working From Home Has Made Me Feel Lonely

About Voice Over, Interviews & Insight, Testimonials, Uncategorized, Vlogging, voiceover, Voiceover Career, voices

Working from home has become the new norm. Tens of millions of people had suddenly been converted from office workers to digital home-mads when the shutdowns began. We left our one on one relationships at work and shifted to virtual co-workers, no longer sharing a workspace and the casual conversations at the water cooler. The business trips stopped. The cold coffees in the break rooms ceased to exist. And the things that connected us and gave us variance in our lives came to a halt. For so many, these disconnects made us feel lonely.

I remember when the pandemic started many of my colleagues and friends in the voiceover business joked about their many years of experience working from home. Like them, I had been working from home for many years. As a full-timer in the voiceover industry, you work in a booth, or a closet, or any enclosed space that will help reduce reflective noises. And for most, they come out of those spaces after a full (or partial) day’s work to interact with their families and friends and enjoy activities.

My life and experience working from home have always been different. Before becoming a voiceover talent, I worked in the school system as a substitute and afterschool teacher. As you could imagine, I was never alone. I was always busy, with tens and sometimes hundreds of kids around me. There were parents to talk to and co-workers to congregate with and share outrageous and unbelievable stories about the kids. After school, I hung out with my co-working friends.

But in 2006, after 2 years of part-time voice acting, I made a commitment to being a full-time voiceover talent (after I was fired from substitute teaching). No more hanging with co-workers or seeing the kids. Or conferencing in person with parents to discuss why their kid’s behavior at school was markedly different than it was at home. No mas! And as a result, I became far less relevant to the people I worked with. To make up for this, I involved myself in activities.

What’s So Different About Me?

When I left my job, or rather, when my job left me, I had to find different things to involve myself in. Unlike so many of my friends and former co-workers, I don’t have a family. Over the many years, I have had many girlfriends but I don’t have any children. I don’t even have a dog. For much of those years as well, I lived alone. While I saw even my youngest brother get married and have beautiful daughters, I decided that a life of travel was the path for me.

I am also an introvert who has always forced himself to be social, and it’s worked for me. I have found friends in new countries while traveling. I’ve encountered new buddies while working out in the gym. I have new friends from attending various Spanish meet-up groups. And even found some guys who gladly and repeatedly dropped me on my head doing judo (lol). I have made friends based on the activities that we have in common which has warded off loneliness. But generally, when those activities were over, I was back to the voiceover booth and back to being alone.

So Why Do I Feel Lonely Now?

The pandemic really highlighted how fragile my associations were. It shone a spotlight on how I had medicated myself with travel and meet-ups. It was initially tough and made me feel lonely. Unlike my co-workers who had their children, spouses, and dog to huddle around the barrage of news coming in about the virus, I did not have that. I was actually working doing radio imaging (alone in the booth) to inform and encourage people to stay home. All the meanwhile spending no time producing nightclub commercials, because they were locked down. I was also suffering from health issues that started before covid.

All of the things that I had occupied my time and mind with were crumbling around me. My social interactions have been reduced to social media and a sharp increase in on-screen time. My time in the gym halted and my only exercise was a brisk walk from the studio couch to the bathroom before my bladder gave way. There was no more swimming. There was no martial arts training. Instead, there were short drone flights around the neighborhood with my DJI Mavic; at least until that fateful day when I flew it into some electrical wires (RIP Mav).

Suddenly I was doing nothing but scrolling. My health and good sense dictated that I follow the CDC guidelines. It wasn’t long before I saw posts from here in Georgia and other red states where everyone was back out and about. Heck, at that point the pandemic had just started a month prior and some clubs were back open. Everyone was having fun. They were in the bars, hanging out in Miami, going out to restaurants and I was still sheltering. The gym re-opened in June 2020. Some of my gym buddies went back to working out immediately. Some were decidedly cautious. But regardless, I allowed my membership to lapse and have still not renewed.

What Now? Do I Go Back To Normal Now That I’m Vaccinated?

No! The pandemic isn’t over. 94% doesn’t mean 100% effective and there are still breakthrough infections. The number of people getting vaccinated with both shots is waning. And the anti-vaxers are getting louder. All of this means, that as the summer progresses, I take caution in finding things to do outside with my girlfriend. We still plan to do activities but in a controlled manner. I’ll get back to medicating myself with travel. I have already started flying again, but I take extra precautions. But in all of that, I’ll still be working from home.

The Covid pandemic has taught me a few lessons. It has taught me that people need people and to strengthen the connections that I have with others. It’s taught me that working from home isn’t for everyone. Being a loner is ok. But I don’t have to feel lonely. It’s important to discover commonalities with people and to keep up with them. The pandemic taught me that we are all mentally vulnerable and the necessity to continually evaluate one’s psychological health. I am still learning the value of random calls with the thousands of unused names and numbers in my contacts list. Because when dealing with the stress of toilet paper and gas shortages, we need others to relate to who are dealing with the same crap.

My Last DMX Hip Hop Radio Commercial

About Voice Over, audio, Black Sounding Voiceover, Demos, Radio Imaging, Uncategorized, Vlogging, voiceover, Voiceover Career

Click here to listen to my last DMX Hip Hop Radio Commercial

DMX Hip Hop Radio Commercial

Hip Hop was crushed recently when a giant laid to rest. I remember when DMX introduced himself to the world. The hip hop world was looking for a new set of heroes after the death of Tupac followed by Biggie. Ja Rule was rising. Jay-Z seemed to be the front runner. And Nas was still a serious contender. There were a lot of rappers, especially coming from my hometown of New York, who were all great acts but all seemed to have a hint of the same element. Even Jigga used a similar formula as his late Bed Stuy friend Christopher Wallace.

A New Urban/ Hip Hop Voice

But someone else came out of hip hop. Earl Simmons aka DMX. I wondered many things when he first debuted. “Who is this guy?” “Where did he get his style and his energy?” And that voice? Wow! That grimy hip hop texture to this voice. I was used to the melodic storyteller flow of so many east coast rappers but this guy was something different. He was a guy from NY but he was like from his own planet in New York. He had this raw edge.

At first, while I was captured by his presence, I thought his style was a gimmick. So many people had tried different rap styles to set themselves apart from the pack, but ultimately failed. In my naivete, I thought that you had to be Jay, Nas or BIG to make it in music. But he was neither. And he wasn’t a gimmick. He told a story but he told it in a different way because he was telling his story and not someone else’s. He was telling Dark Man X’s story.

I didn’t get it at first because I wasn’t living that story. But it caught on with me when he released “And Then there was X”. It was his second album with songs that made me “Lose My Mind Up In Here, Up In Here.” His single “Party Up” was a raw kind of chant that was the perfect song to get rowdy and dance to in the club. I remember throwing my body at other clubbers who threw theirs back at me and we celebrated life and freedom to this song. I was in my 3rd year of college then. Then he came back with “X Gone Give It to You” with more of the same. But the song over the years that really got me being a fan of X’s music was “What These Bitches Want”

Everyone Had A Favorite DMX Song Or Line

I would’ve been canceled in 2021 for admitting that I was a huge fan of his misogynistic collaboration with Sisqo. But I played the song over and over, comparing the list of women that DMX named with those who I had personally had a history with.

” There was Brenda, LaTisha (uh), Linda, Felicia (okay)
Dawn, LeShaun, Ines, and Alicia (ooh)
Theresa, Monica, Sharron, Nicki (uh-huh)
Lisa, Veronica, Karen, Vicky (damn)
Cookies, well I met her in a ice cream parlor (aight?)
Tonya, Dianne, Lori and Carla (okay)
Marina (uh) Selena (uh) Katrina (uh) Sabrina (uh)
About three Kim’s (what?) Latoya, and Tina (woo)
Shelley, Bridget, Cathy, Rasheeda (uh-huh)
Kelly, Nicole, Angel, Juanita (damn)
Stacy, Tracy, Rohna, and Ronda (what?)
Donna, Yolanda (what?) Tawana, and Wanda (what?)”

But my favorite line that X raps about in his experiences dealing with the opposite sex is one so many men relate to. He says ” I think about when a dawg didn’t have. And a dawg told a joke, and the “women” didn’t laugh.” It’s a line that makes me laugh every time.

As the 90’s drew to a close, some rappers emerged to have long term careers and some remained legends but seemingly less active. DMX was one of those legends. He changed hip hop, but I hadn’t heard much about him except for the trouble that he had been in. The headlines of Billboard success were replaced with troubles with the law, drug use and a failed attempt by Iyanla Vanzant to fix his life. So when the pandemic hit and a friend asked me to produce an hip hop radio commercial for the rap icon, I was surprised. I looked him up and saw images of a guy who seemed unrecognizable. He had gained what we often call “Grown Man Weight” was noticeably older than last I had seen him. But while he had changed, his classics remained timeless.

The Making of The Radio Commercial

I often ask clients what songs they want to hear in their hip hop radio commercial. But there are some artist that I never ask the client about their songs. Crafting this commercial for DMX was like a walk down Memory Lane. It wasn’t a question of if there were enough hits to put in the ad. It was a question of whether a 60 second commercial would be long enough for all the hit songs that X had made. It of course wasn’t but I think I still captured the essence of what Earl Simmons had created.

The New Hip Hop Radio Imaging Voice of KZBT

About Voice Over, audio, Demos, Radio Imaging, Testimonials, Vlogging, voiceover, Voiceover Career, voices

As a voiceover talent, I do a lot of voices. And I do a lot of voiceover for different genres of voiceover. But as I have expressed before, being a radio imaging voice is one of my favorites. I have nailed a bunch of commercial voiceover auditions and it is really satisfying to book them, but nothing like booking a radio station. Recently I booked KZBT. I’m super excited about this station for several reasons. For One thing, I’ll be their Hip Hop Radio Imaging Voice

Most of the stations that I do radio imaging for are R&B or Gospel stations. I love that work. At 40 plus years of age, I have a grown person’s voice and I actually listen to the music from those stations. But when I entered into voiceover, I was in my twenties and hip hop was everything to me. I did thousands of commercials over the years for hip hop nightclubs. I enjoy that work so much that I go back and listen to my old commercials. So when KZBT called me, I was super excited.

I don’t do as much current Hip Hop anymore. I do a lot of Throwback stations. I enjoy that too but there is a difference from hip hop stations. Hip Hop stations allow me to be wild. I can adlib things in a very unpredictable way on hip hop stations that I can’t on old school or throwback or gospel stations. That’s the difference. That’s what young people like.

The talent who did the voice for the station is one who I respect greatly. He inspired me to get into radio imaging and voiceover in general. But, like myself, he has a huge commanding voice. He makes you pay attention. But there is a new generation of hip hop radio station listeners and they hear things differently. They don’t want to hear a booming voice. They feel that voice may not be talking to them on their level. So many stations are switching to a younger sounding urban voice.

Luckily for me, I can also change to a younger sounding voice as well. If you’d like to book me for your station, leave me a message here on the site and I’ll get back to you.

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What Makes A Great Voiceover Website? w/ VoiceActorWebsites.com Team

About Voice Over, Blog, Interviews & Insight, Technology & Voiceover, Testimonials, Vlogging, voiceover, Voiceover Career, voices

The New Year is often the time when businesses begin new marketing initiatives. Voiceover actors are no different. When I started thinking about a new website for my new branding, I looked towards other successful voiceover talents for who they used. I worked well with my old web developer but wanted someone who had a fresh vision for my website. I wanted someone who also had a deep understanding for my particular business. I notice that many talent had branding by VoiceActorWebsites.com including Issa Lopez, who I am friends with. Issa connected me with Joe Davis’s number.

Joe actually knew who I was. We had met before at VO Atlanta and after seeing his face online, I vaguely remembered. But the fact that he did remember meeting me was a testament to the fact that Joe knows the voiceover industry. We talked for a while on the phone and I explained to him what I was looking to do with my site. While on the phone he did a quick audit of my site and immediately identified some things that would benefit the site and my branding. It was impressive to say the least and I was pretty convinced of his ability to deliver. We spoke a few days later where he gave me a more complete rundown of his recommendations.

Joe connected me with two of his project managers, Alex Sanchez and Karin Barth. I only corresponded with Alex briefly but Karin mostly handled my case. Karin immediately understood my vision as well. She had taken a look at my then website and saw the diversity in my work and how my new branding would reflect that. Karin showed me a number of possibilities, from custom made sites to various templates. I had an opportunity to pick several and review with her how they would work best for me. The process all in all took a few weeks.

When I caught up with the team in Orlando, they were working at Alex’s house. I sat down with Joe, Karin, Alex and one of their newest teammates, Lo-An Schoeman. We discussed what it was that made this team so popular.

Transcript

It’s a new year and you’ve been thinking about all new branding, new demos, new marketing, new business cards. Wait! Does anyone actually still use business cards? New website! And who are you gonna call for that new website anyway? No! Not ghostbusters. Voiceactorwebsites.com.

Dane: I’m Dane Reid, The Voiceover Guy. I am here with the team from voice actor websites. Guys! (Team Introduces Themselves) (Dane) And I don’t have any labs that fit five people.

So my own website was starting to look, well, old. So I wanted a new one. So I started searching online and saw my homie Issa Lopez’s website and decided to call her and ask her where she got hers made. She told me “voiceActorWebsites.com. So I went to their website and found a contact and call Joe Davis on the phone. Joe connected me with Alex. Alex connected me with Karen and “BAM!!” I had a new website. Recently I sat down with the team to find out how they’ve won the hearts of so many voice actors.

Dane: So this is a very unique interview because this is the first time that I’ve ever interviewed 4 people. This is the most number of friends that I have in life by the way.

Alex: 4 at a time

Dane: (laughs) 4 at a time. That sounds like a different kind of video Alex. (Laughs) As you can tell this team has a whole lot of fun. And if you’ve looked at any of the websites that voice actors have, this team is responsible for a lot of those websites. And so aside from all the fun that they have, they have a lot of talent, and so I want to thank all of you guys. Usually what I do is one single

handshake but if we can get maybe a “Goooo Team”

[Laughter]

Dane: On the count of 3

Joe: Who’s on top?

[Laughter]

Dane: I’m in the building with the Voice Actor Website Team. Obviously you guys have great chemistry. I can tell already. How did this whole voice actor website team and thing come together? Who wants to answer? Just raise your hand like we’re in school or something because I have to pass this mic.

[Laughter]

Joe: It started out with just me and actually it was thanks to Dan Leonard. He, 10 years ago maybe, asked me to help him with some of his marketing. I did and then I wound up getting invited on Voiceover Body Shop which was back then east/west audio body shop. EWABS and I thought it was gonna be something fun and interesting. And didn’t really know where I was gonna go and voice actors started calling. So I said “alright so there’s something here.” and I spent about a year year and a half learning about the voice-over industry. I got to a point where I felt I knew close to as much about voice-over as I did about marketing and web development and at that point started a new company. Karin came on board and then Alex and then Lo-An. We actually have an even larger team then this today.

Dane: and they couldn’t fit in this shot. This my maximum and we’re not doing this again.

[Laughter]

I worked closely with Karen to get my website done. Karen is a fellow insomniac who worked diligently throughout the night and who was probably really surprised the first time she sent me a message at 3 a.m. and I answered so quickly.

Karin: I’ve been on for about 4 or 5 years now. And Joe is one of my closest friends. And he wanted to scale the business. So I went to onferences with him and for about a year I learned about the industry and saw what it was all about. I met people and networked, fell in love with it. The community is amazing.

Dane: What’s your story Alex? Talk to me Alex.

Alex: okay we’re getting serious here. Well I’m a project manager and I’m doing sales as well. I’ve been able to grow in that position and learn a lot about voiceover but also about the business. It’s been a great learning experience to me.

Dane: What’s your role?

Lo-An: My role is and alsoa project manager and I’m the newest member to the team. I’ve been for six months now. I also met Joe through a mutual friend. I’m in college for my marketing degree so Joe was gracious enough to give me a job.

Dane: Who are some of the people that jumped on board early on in adopting voice actor websites?

Joe: Dan Leonard was actually the first voice actor I ever met. Melissa Exelberth, Paul Strikweda from Nethervoice, Debbie Irwin.

And later the list goes on to include people like Jay Michael Collins, Christi Bowen, Sophia Cruz, Dave Clarke and Me. Did I shamelessly mention my own website yet?

Dane: What are the distinguishing aspects of what you guys do versus doing it yourself or getting someone who does websites but maybe doesn’t necessarily specialize in voice actor websites?

Karin: We’ve worked with a lot of different people in industry. Casting agents, producers.. We’ve gotten a lot of points of view from other people. You know what they think is important and obviously just going to conferences and hearing about the different needs of the industry. Knowing all about it gives us a unique view into what is needed.

Joe: At its core every voiceover site should give talent seekers the ability to hear you and hire you. Those are the two most important things. But then there’s all kinds of subtleties for example making your demos downloadable. So a lot of time you don’t think of doing that but producers and casting directors a lot of them don’t make a decision the first time they listen to something. Or they think “oh that person would be good for this other project that I’m working on” so they want to save your mp3. It might seem silly to not think of making your demo downloadable but it’s something that I’d say more than the half of people that we see their site, don’t have that.

Dane: So if someone, for example, wants a new voice actor websites, what is the process?

Alex: Typically what we do is we send a Google form to gather ideas on the design and colors they want to use. And then that becomes kind of like the starting point for the conversation where the project manager comes in. And the project manager will work to assign the designer that fits best for the project and then the whole process unfolds that way. It’s a very collaborative process.

Dane: So about how long does the process take? Let’s say if I wanted a three-page website. I mean, what would be the standard?

Lo-An: I think that’s like dependent on the voice actor. Because sometimes they have all the content that they want to put on their site and ready to go, and you know, have a site launch in 2 to 3 weeks. So it just depends on what they’re willing to get us.

Alex: so it’s basically self-paced in that way and then the client provides the content and we turn that into a website. So it’s dependent on that open line of communication.

Joe: It also depends partially on where some of these in their career. Are they just starting out? Have they been doing this for 20 years or somewhere in between. Because they’re gonna have a different body of work and probably we’ve been goal for the site. Also, the two basic types of sites that voice actors have are either an extension of the business card, meaning they’ve had some sort of prior interaction with the person that they’re sending the site to and you’re sending them there to hear you. And the other is more of an SEO driven site, where you haven’t interacted with the person before and you’re trying to get them there based on the search that they did and have them listen to you and hire you. So the the first type of site, the extension of the business card, it could be one page, two page, five page site. I wouldn’t do, you know 500 pages, but probably betweeen one and five pages will be average. An SEO site, the bigger the better. Google is, at its core, kind of a

relevancy engine and a popularity contest. And so the relevancy engine portion of it is, the more relevant your result is to a searchers intent, the more likely you’ll come up. Meaning, if someone is searching for pharmaceutical commercial voiceover and you have a website about voiceover, is it relevant? Yeah, that’s good. Could it be more relevant? Absolutely! So then let’s say you have it broken up into the different genres. If you do a page for commercial, a page for corporate narration, a page for ivr, a page for e-learning, Google looks at that and says “the site’s about voiceover and it’s about commercial, is it relevant? Yes! But could it be even more relevant? Yeah. So then now let’s say you have a tertiary level of navigation where commercial’s broken up into kids commercials, and automotive commercials, and pharmaceutical commercials. And each one of those pages has audio content and text content and supports that narrative that you are voice actor that does commercial work and whatever that subgenres is, in this case pharmaceutical voiceover. So, Google looks at that and says “Wow!” It’s about

voiceover, it’s about commercial and it’s about pharmaceutical. It becomes perhaps the most relevant result on the internet.

Hanging out with the team from voice actor websites, I learned so much about how Google serves up information about your website. It’s so important to your business. It’s certainly important to mine.

Dane: What do you guys think it is that makes this whole thing work?

Alex: At least for me my experience, working for the company, sets it apart as an experience. Because the personal connections that we built

with our clients or with each other is what really makes us a success. Because people see us as people and we’re a small business as well. So we understand that when clients are investing in the websites, they’re also small businesses. So we come with that experience and we make friendships.

Karin: And we make awesome friends.

Alex: Yeah. We make awesome friends. And we see them conference and it’s like a reunion. It’s really special and I think it speaks to the VO community. There’s something unique about it. Very special!

Dane: I teared up. Guys you have incredible energy and just seeing the team together…. Because I’m used to talking to Karin on the phone at 2:00 in the morning. She like “what are you doing up?” But yeah I mean just to seeing you guys here together and working together…. When I came you were on your laptop’s. It looked like you’re watching YouTube, not working. [Laughter] So one last question. Obviously, here’s the answer. It’s quite easy. Where do we find you guys if you want a voice actor website?

Everyone at once: Voice Actor Websites dot com

Dane: I’m Dan Reid the voice of a guy with the voice actor website guys and girls. I’m gone

[Music]

I Am NOT A Voiceover Expert!! Here’s Why!

About Voice Over, Uncategorized, Vlogging, voiceover, Voiceover Career

I am not a Voiceover Expert. I am a student. I taught a class yesterday called “Intro to Voiceover” to a group of excited students who knew nothing about voiceover. Most of them were local Atlanta actors who wanted to break into the business or to wet their beak. But the first thing that I told them is that I myself, even after 15 years, am a student of voiceover. The second thing that I told themwas “this is an intro course and after this, you’ll need extensive training and coaching to really get into the business and I will recommend others who specialize in guiding your career.”

See here’s the thing. It’s not that I don’t know what I’m doing, but it’s that I know that every day I am learning and in order to keep learning and grow my voiceover business, I need to keep the humility of a student. The other thing that I know is that many people in the industry with a cell phone camera bill themselves as a voiceover expert. Some of this is driven by the ability to sell courses, classes and advice to new students. Some of it is ego-driven and done for likes among peers. A friend who does a lot of great coaching and demo production once confided in me that there is more money in voiceover coaching and demo producing than there is in voiceover itself. I think that’s telling and a warning as to how students should invest their money in growing their businesses.

My Interviews

I do interviews as a way to learn valuable information from long-established and well-respected voiceover experts. I started it also to meet people in our industry and to watch them first hand conduct their businesses. Joe Loesch taught me to wake up every morning, get dressed and go to work in work clothes as I would for a corporate job. Dave Fennoy taught me to give every character a past, present and future. Anne Ganguzza taught me the value of consistency in marketing. And Joe Cipriano reminded me that relationships in business will help propel you forward faster. These are things that I may have taken longer to learn, but listening to voiceover experts whose opinions I value, helped put these things in perspective.

Why I Vlog

I love motivating people to be their best as I love being motivated by others. It cost money to buy equipment and travel to people’s homes wherever they may be. But I enjoy doing it. It pays when people recognize me and thank them for helping jumpstart their careers, but private lessons are a minuscule part of what I do. And after several lessons with me, I refer students to other coaches. That seems counterintuitive, but my focus is on continuous learning and advancing education. As for actual profit from vlogging, I make none. No ad dollars. No endorsements and no courses to sell. In full disclosure, my content is a form of advertising my business, but I mostly do this because I truly just love content.

Learning then Teaching

One of the biggest themes in my life has been learning and teaching. I am an avid learner. I grew up in a book store in New York that my father owned and learning was the central theme of my life. At a certain age, I realized that I had a passion for teaching people what I had learned. I eventually went on to work in the school system for 5 years. So, I love to impart information. In addition to wanting to share what I have learned in voiceover, I wanted to present that info in a fun way, in a way that you don’t see enough of online in our industry.

Telling Voiceover Stories

I wanted to fill a void that wasn’t being filled. There is plenty of advice in the voiceover industry. There are plenty of experts of varying levels doing podcasts, Youtube, Facebook Live shows and IGTV and I love a lot of that existing content. Some of the shows I enjoy are Ask Dave Fennoy and VO Buzz Weekly. But what I thought that I could do differently was to tell stories. I watch a lot of youtube videos from creators and enjoy the travel stories, the tech stories and the human stories that are told through video and narration. As a voice guy, I have always had a passion for verbally telling those stories. With a Panasonic GH4 in hand, I can tell those stories now cinematically as well as with my voice.