11 Top Voiceover Youtube Channels
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.
Every Voiceover Is a Big Deal Voiceover. It’s Also Not
Am I The Big Deal Voiceover Guy or am I hardly working? Here’s the answer. Every shot that Lebron James takes has the potential to be game-changing, and yet, it’s just another day at the office. Every surgery a surgeon does is one of the many surgeries he may do in a day and one of the thousands he may do in his career. Each one is life-changing and still, it’s just another surgery that he has performed. Likewise, every voiceover that I as a voice actor does, is another job that boosts a brand’s exposure but is one of the close to 10,000 that I have done and soon forget. Not every VO job is a big deal.
People often ask me the question “What are you working on nowadays?” Since I have entered the professional realm of VO, it’s always stood out to me as an awkward question. I don’t quite know how to answer. I often answer with “What do you mean?” They usually respond by saying “You know, Are you working on a project right now?”
My response always ends up being an education for the person in how voiceover works. “I work every day and there is no particular project that I can remember. I do my work, send it back to the client and forget it.” I often use the analogy of the surgeon or the basketball player to explain.
Perception vs Reality About Voiceover
I have figured out that there are two kinds of people when it comes to voiceover. The people who think that every day I am doing Disney movie voiceovers that take months to complete and the type who think that I barely work and only make a few dollars to eat scraps for lunch. In reality, the truth is somewhere in between.
The Blue-Collar Voiceover Talent
I consider myself a blue-collar voiceover talent with a voiceover business. I am not the big studio, SAG Aftra Union voice that is on all the stuff you hear everywhere. But I also don’t consider myself a freelancer. Mine is a business that services clients. I remember auditioning in person for the Harlem Globetrotters who were impressed with my talent and long list of big clients on my resume. After the audition, the interviewer excitedly asked, “I see you’ve worked for a lot of big companies?” I said “yes. I have provided them with voiceover for commercials and narrations from my home studio.” At that point he seemed less impressed and said “Oh, you’re a freelancer.”
I should’ve considered this a warning sign. He seemed not to respect my profession, which eventually showed in the way they treated me, but that’s another story. At that moment I corrected him “No! I have a voiceover business. I can take this job as long as it doesn’t interfere with me servicing my clients. I have radio stations who I image for and a list of other independent clients who depend on me.” But his response was again condescending “We have other guys who have side gigs also who get some time to work when they are out on the road.” And that should’ve been my sign to run.
The Voiceover Business Entrepreneur
He is not alone in his misunderstanding of my voiceover business. While he downgraded my profession, others look way up at me as if I am the voiceover version of Tom Cruise. They think I am doing Mission Impossible trailers every day and Pixar films. Frequently I have conversations with these types who, when I let the air out of their balloons that I don’t have these major roles, they actually ask me “Why NOT?”
They generally go on to explain that my 17-year-old career should be taking a path that it hasn’t taken. “Man this is Atlanta. You should be calling Cartoon Network or go up to Tyler Perry Studios and tell them to give you a job. Why haven’t you reached out to CNN?”They basically then think that I have failed myself to which I have to explain that “That’s NOT how things work”
CNN, nor Cartoon Network, nor Tyler (as if I’m on a first-named basis with Mr. Perry) don’t take to anyone walking up to their studios for jobs. Trust me, I’ve tried. I have to explain to people that I instead do steady, everyday work that most people never hear in the general public or don’t pay attention to. Things like narrations and explainer videos along with radio imaging and a lifetimes worth of nightclub and hip hop concert commercials. I assure them though, someone is listening to my voice 24/7 and there is no time of day that I am not being heard. With that explanation, they return to me back the cool factor.
Average Voiceover Guy in a Changing World
Getting people to understand that my job is just a job or that its a job at all has always been difficult. It’s not the traditional pathway that a college-educated dude from Brooklyn takes. It was a path that chose me. As the economy changes, more people are looking for multiple streams of income. And they first look towards their talents for remedy. Many are seeking a greater understanding of what they too can do with their voices. And with that, more people are open to listen and learn what an average voiceover talent does with their day.
The New Hip Hop Radio Imaging Voice of KZBT
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.
My 7 Step Voiceover Audition Process
A colleague of mine once said to me “The job of a Voiceover Talent is to wake up every day and voiceover audition.” Well, I’m terrible at my job. I do not audition often. My career as a voiceover talent has never been about auditioning. It has always been about marketing, personal relationships, and internet sales. But I do voiceover audition from time to time. And I do land some of those auditions. This was one of those times.
Sometime in May (2019), I auditioned for a voiceover for Publix. I have auditioned for Publix many times in my career. I have landed one and been put on hold for several more. As with all auditions, I recorded it in my home studio and forgot it. A few weeks later I received an email from my agent in Atlanta, Jeffrey Umberger, that I was on hold for the job. (On hold means that they are considering multiple talents that may fit what they are looking for.) I let Jeffrey know my availability and again went back to marketing and promoting.
Auditioning is very different from the style of marketing that I do. While some talent have found success in both auditions and marketing strategy, for me, who is not much of a multitasker, I prefer marketing. I feel more assured when I can speak to people and find out exactly what they are looking for as opposed to sending my voice off into the interwebs and hoping that what I said and how I said it was exactly what they want. Auditioning is a guessing game and a numbers game at the same time. It’s definitely a competitive sport also, except in this competition, my livelihood is at stake.
Also, I have always thought of what I do as a business and not just me being a freelance talent. 95% of the work I have gotten in my career was based on business and not doing some voiceover audition or relying on agents. Had I had to rely on agents, this voiceover thing may have been reduced to a hobby. I guess that’s why I never felt comfortable betting on auditioning, in spite of the fact that I am a talented capable voice actor.
My 7 Step Voiceover Audition Process
When I do audition, I have a process. I have shared this process in classes that I have taught but I will share some of it here for free. I start with a dry read. Having never seen the script before, I read it out loud. Having done voiceover for 15 years now, my dry reads are pretty darn good and usually have no errors. Also, my experience in live announcing also helps. For me, the purpose of saying it out loud for the first time is just to get it out of my head without prejudicing myself about what it should sound like. At this stage, there is no perfection.
My second read is to iron out any kinks in my dry read. It’s kind of a dry read but better. Throughout this process, I am recording these reads and I listen back to all of my reads as they get better. My goal is to reach 7 reads before I take any of them seriously. On the road to the seven reads is the 3rd and 4th which I use to help me memorize the lines.
Memorizing The Lines In The Audition
Memorization helps me feel that I am doing more than just reading lines. When you don’t know the material, it shows in the read. By my fifth read, I remember the lines and give it another try and I often have what I call an “AH HAH Moment.” This is not to be confused with a “Haha Moment.” The Ah Hah moment is when you have a realization about the script. It’s when you start to see the interpretation of the script differently.
My Ah-Hah Moment
My sixth read is where I lay down my Ah-hah moment read. It’s where I play with the words. After memorizing it and seeing it differently, I begin to own the copy and inject my personality into it. By the 7th read, I perfect the audition. This is the one I should go with. Sometimes I do more than seven reads though. Some scripts are more difficult than others. Other times I have more playing to do with the copy and have even more Ah-hah moments.
And sometimes I just project myself with different moods. Maybe a sad mood read or a read where it is really outrageous sounding. It’s not that I think they will pick that read, but they will see that I can read copy well in case they need to make changes in the script when we do the real record.
Don’t Obsess Over Your Voiceover Auditions. Edit & Send
From there I start editing. I don’t second guess myself in the editing process. Whatever I have already recorded is what I am going with. My process does not include re-recording. I only edit at this point. I use some lite compression and other tools that clean up the sound a bit but never anything that is too noticeable.
There is a lot that goes into voiceover auditions and the number of steps for me is just one of them. Figuring out how to connect with my target audience is important too. But this kind of thinking is how I landed this voiceover audition and others in the past. It probably doesn’t hurt that I have a great voice too.
Listen To The Voiceover Audition That Got Me The Job Below —–>>>
Political Voice Over Commercials And The Effect Of Being Neutral
Political Voice Over matters. Because we, as voiceover talent speak for the people. Turn on the TV. Take a look outside. Depending on where you are you may see calm or you may see mayhem. And unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know that what federal and local leaders decide for us has a substantial impact on our daily lives. This is a time where being neutral is impossible. Covid 19 and the effects that it has had on our economy will affect everyone. And the racial tensions in the United States are boiling over AGAIN! We all have a voice in this. So what do you do if you are a voice-over talent asked to do voiceover that hurts or hinders the causes that you stand for?
I’ve never understood how people could vote against their own interests. Yet tens of millions of Americans do it all the time. I guess I don’t understand them because I completely comprehend cause and effect. Candidate A says that beer is banned and you are a beer drinker. Yet you voice a commercial for that candidate? He is also against microphones that cost below $2500 because lobbyists and his donors are expensive mic manufacturers. So now you can’t crack open a brew when you want to and he has demanded that you get these super expensive mics. How do you stay neutral enough to do political voice over ads for Candidate A? I can’t.
Candidate A is hurting me and my business. And even if I attend AA meetings (I don’t actually consume alcohol) and earn enough money from doing political voice over for his ads to buy that Neuman U87, I know that he is simultaneously hurting my industry and all the best parties that I attend. This changes life as I know it. And even if I benefit in the short term, I lose overall.
Voicing Commercials for Politicians that Align with my Values
I recently completed my Political Voice Over demo. I decided to do one because I am passionate about the effects that all politics and policies have on our daily lives. I was born to take the side of the less powerful. My family came to the United States as immigrants in the 1960’s. Most of my grandmother’s sons served in the armed forces before they returned to buy homes and had families. It was important for them to educate their children well and be part of what happens in the neighborhood to its people.
My father and uncle were always a part of some action committee, political office, or school position. Both of my parents served as PTA president at my school at some time. When I faced repeated harassment and bullying and physical assault, which included being choked once, by the NYPD, my father knew what Captain to go see at the precinct.
Because my father was a vocal member of the community board and worked with the police in some cases, he spoke with the person in charge after an officer put his hands on his teenage son (who was just walking home.) Still, the policies on a citywide level prevented any action from being taken against the assailants. Effectively, my voice was silenced. So when I think about the voice over work I do, I think about having a voice first, and what I am representing.
Who Am I Voicing This Ad For? Know Your Candidate
I consider that the candidate that I am endorsing might actually win and take an anti-immigrant stance, or encourage the use of the police as a militant arm of indiscriminate racism. I consider that that candidate may win and take a public health or environmental stance that can harm communities that lack the resources to fight back. I consider that when Candidate A pays me for that political voice over, I’m gonna have to pay it back in the form higher taxes on the middle class and poor, to the benefit of his rich donors. There is no benign effect. It will come back on me.
Recently I was asked to do political voice over work for a national figure that seemingly supports the same police tactics that terrorized me as a child. I was honored that my talent was considered good enough for the national stage, but I had to decline. I asked a fellow African American if he would be interested in the referral because he voices ads for both sides of the aisle. I have also been asked to do political voice over for pro second amendment rights in a state that borders the one I grew up in. Understanding how guns get into the hands of criminals and the harm that is caused with those guns, I had to also decline. Cause and effect matter to me. I help them win and they make me lose.
African American Political Voice Overs
What I Stand For
There are causes that represent other groups that have little to no immediate effect on me. But I stand for them because it is the right thing to do. I have a unique opportunity to be in a position where I may be called on to be a voice for the voiceless, to be the strident messenger for the silenced, and to communicate the narrative of the muted. Sometimes those people look like me and speak like me, but can’t speak up like me. As an African American Voice Actor, I have a unique position where I not only witness, but I experience. I speak the words of others and cry cry my own tears. I represent us all in my life and my work.
Check Out My Political Voice Over Demo Here
Dedicated to the memory of my brother Julian who died suddenly in late May. Born and raised in the UK, he was passionate about British and global politics. We never missed a chance to trade political barbs with one another. Brexit was his Achilles heel.
Radio Imaging- Setting Up A New Radio Station
Radio Imaging IS the reason I started doing voiceover. I absolutely love it. Especially Hip Hop and Urban AC Radio Imaging. I admired the big voice guys I would hear on Atlanta radio who would break out of character and say funny and outrageous stuff. As a recent college graduate at the time, I knew I could do what they did. I had the big voice. I had the humor. I could tell great stories. Years later, I’m a talent, accumulating more and more stations. 2019 was a very successful year for me in Imaging with the help of being signed to the Mix Group. But I’m always humbled by new stations regardless of where they are in the world or how large or small they are.
Transcript
I’m working on a brand new radio station. I am setting up a radio station and so I want to talk a little bit about getting started with a brand new radio station I’m Dane Reid the voice-over guy check me out.
So my agent hit me up and said okay Dane we got this new radio station for you I’m always excited about a new station I love radio imaging so this is a really great opportunity for me once all the paperwork was signed they take care of all that stuff on the back end I immediately got in contact with the program director I wanted to know a couple of things I wanted to know.
What their old sound was like? I wanted to know the format of the station. I wanted to know what the morning show and evening drive was like, because all of those things are gonna play into the way that I image the station. I am the official voice and I’m the branding voice for that station and so it was very important that I get what they want right and so I asked a bunch of questions. I asked what they liked most about my demo and what the program director told me was that he really liked the energy that I put in. I had smile, things like that, right.
So I listened back to my own demo and I try to mimic what I’m copying myself to make sure that I captured the true essence of what they wanted what they saw on what they expect for the imaging so they send you a packet and the packet has like 15 pages attached to it and so I’ve been working on that all weekend because I’m about to go out of town and I want to make sure that I get it right to make sure that you get it right you want to make sure that you read the lines multiple times in multiple ways unless it’s a line that I just know that I absolutely nailed it. So I may say “let’s keep it moving” right? “let’s keep it moving” or “let’s keep it moving” (all said differently), right? So they have different vibes to them. And I also look to see what section so they may be you know talking to consumers some of it requires voice acting some of it just requires the big voice.
Some of it just all depends. I’m not gonna give the same kind of energy to “here’s a slow jam” and to “here’s the quiet storm” as I’m gonna give to “the Saturday night party” you know saying so you just have to be very thoughtful about those kinds of things when you are setting up or a station additionally I listen to the station because that’s also very important again it’s all about a vibe about capturing that vibe and recreating it and sending it back to the station because for a year two years three years and hopefully many more years to come I’ll be the voice of this station so I just wanted to give a quick video about radio imaging and I’m Dane Reid the voice-over guy. Subscribe to my blog subscribe to my youtube and I’ll check you guys out later. I’m Dane Reid. I’m gone peace
[Music]
Wanna Hear Some of What I Do?
If you’re interested in booking me, hit up Omar at the Mix Group (786) 286-4003 or omar@themixgroup.com or hit me up and I’ll introduce you to him.
What Makes A Great Voiceover Website? w/ VoiceActorWebsites.com Team


Transcript
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.
I Used To Steal Software and Plugins For Voiceover
I used to steal software and plugins for voiceover. I started my career with Cubase LE which came as free software with my Emu 1616 audio interface. As I realized the limitations of that software, I wanted to grow but I didn’t have the money to grow. But having friends in audio engineering, I found out that there were ways to get what was called cracked software.
My first cracked software was a Cubase SX. There was a company that was famous for cracking audio software called and I used to find their software either online or through a friend who had it. Cubase 2.1 was how I really learned to produce commercials. But a DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) is only as good as the plugins. So for that, I had to find more cracked software.
Free Plugins? Or Digital Piracy?
The hot plugins of the day were waves plugins. Waves were really good and really expensive. Of everyone that I knew who did audio, maybe only one of them actually bought any of the waves plugins legally. Waves plugins could run 10k for a bundle. Being who I am I had to have the best bundles. I had the waves platinum, mercury and gold bundles at some time in history.
As my career grew, I never really considered buying the actual plugins. They were still out of my reach in price. Plus, what was the point? I was getting them for free. Free beats cheap any day. So I perfected my skills with free software and even upgraded as more cracked software replaced the older versions. I went from Cubase SX to Cubase 2.1. Then I moved on to several Nuendo versions for a few years. Meanwhile, voiceover and commercial orders piled on. I had a nice workflow.
I never shorted on hardware though. I bought my first Neuman for $1500. UA LA 610 for $1400. I owned several computers. A Mac and a PC and a PC laptop. I had travel gear and swapped out several audio interfaces at that time.
The Day It All Went Bad!
So what happened? Well, one morning I got up to do my work. I had several commercials in the pipeline for the day. I fired up my computer and my trusty Emu and then started Nuendo and BAM. Nothing. It wouldn’t start. I tried it again and still nothing. So I restarted the computer hoping that would help. Nothing again. I tried a few times and no result. I was in a bad position.
I called a friend and fellow talent to ask if I could come to his house and record this work and he asked me what had happened. I told him. And his response was something I didn’t expect. He said to me “Why don’t you just buy the software?” I had never thought to actually buy the software. So I did. I bought my first version of Cubase, which was Cubase 5. It cost me $300 at Guitar Center. I came home that morning with my dongle and installed the software and BAM…. Nothing!!
At this point, I’m even more panicked. Installing and getting up and running was much easier with cracked software. So I called Steinberg to help me. I went over several things troubleshooting with the tech before I finally had to admit to the tech that I previously installed unauthorized software. He went silent for a second, and in a judgemental tone said “Well then you have to wipe your entire computer clean and reinstall windows to install Cubase properly.
You can imagine my horror. But I had work to do and the day was coming to a close by now. I got off the phone, backed up as many of my files as I could, and wiped my hard drive. I realized that I had to change at this moment. I did put the plugins back on the computer because I needed them at that moment but over time I began to buy them. I didn’t buy all of them but I bought some.
Pay The Money. It Will Pay You Back!
Over the years I replaced Cubase 5 with Cubase 7 Artist. I also bought Cubase 8 Elements for my mobile rig and then upgraded to Cubase LE AI Elements 9.5. I also bought Cubase Artists 9 for my desktop home studio. That version made all of my 32-bit plugins obsolete so now I had to buy all new plugins. That’s when I bought the Apollo Twin and then the Apollo Arrow with all the plugins for those machines. Now, I can’t steal plugins. I buy them. I also fell in love and buy the Izotope plugins. I have several of those bundles for mixing and mastering. I continue to buy software and plugins for voiceover. For Christmas, I bought UAD’s Manley VoxBox and Valley People Dyna-Mite.
Where To Find Free Software

You don’t even have to steal software and plugins. For plugins, there are literally thousands of free ones online. All you have to do is google free audio plugins. For a DAW everyone knows about Audacity which is free but you can also download a free version of Mixpad which seems better than Audacity.
In my opinion, I get the fact that starting a business or learning a new craft is very expensive, but with free software and plugins for voiceover available now, don’t steal. Don’t steal anything actually. People work hard designing this software and they deserve to make a profit for their efforts. I left some links in the description for Mixpad and Audacity.
If you liked this video blog, please subscribe to either my youtube or this page. Leave comments.
And if you need software and plugins for voiceover or music production, my Rep at Sweetwater is Jason Koons 260-432-8176 ext 1389. Give him a call
Everett Oliver – What The Hell Is A Booth Director and Why Do I Need One?
Everett Oliver is a shy, introverted booth director who got his start 25 years ago in the animation world….. And if you know Everett you know that there is absolutely nothing shy nor introverted about him. Everett is a no holds barred, unfiltered, instinctive voiceover coach and booth director who fights hard for the success of his clients.
As a booth director, Everett directs clients auditions to help them book jobs. Voiceover actors often have auditions that they REALLY WANT to book. Some of these auditions are the BIG ONE that can make our careers. Whether it’s a network promo job or an animation project, we know this can mean the difference between success and failure. We sometimes spend hours recording the audition and then second-guessing ourselves on the read, the sound, the tone etc. Ultimately this can result in paralysis of analysis. In those moments, what we really need is a second ear.
That Second Ear
Everett is that Ear. Working with a voiceover audition coach like Everett accomplishes several things. It cuts down the time you spend on auditioning and allows talent to submit auditions faster. Sometimes agents submit the first good auditions as they come in and those are the ones that are most highly considered. Working with Everett also gives you insight into what the client is most likely thinking when he wrote the copy. Everett knows that world and he has an incredible instinct for predicting what books.
Taking His Show On The Road
Everett Oliver has been touring North America, taking his brass brand of coaching to various cities. And talent are better off for it. In my time speaking to Everett, he explained to me about an entire world that goes beyond what most talent could even imagine. It’s a fast-paced, backroom world where the end result is what matters. Everett knows that world, having been in Hollywood for many years and being a part of it. It’s a world where talent is replaceable and feelings can be a liability.
He’s a Tough Mutha Shut Yo Mouth
Everett’s style is all in preparation for acting in front of those people who run that world. He’s hardcore, but when you speak to him one-on-one, you realize that it’s all in love. He’s like the mother hen who looks out for you until you are ready to fly before he himself pushes you out of the nest. And believe me, Everett Oliver pushes. His personality throughout his session was both tough and hilarious.
Conclusion
There have been so many voiceover jobs that I crossed my fingers and threw up 7 hail Mary’s that I didn’t get. Somethings are just perfect for you and you’d love to call up someone special and say “Listen to me on this”. And those are the voiceover auditions that I would call a booth director for. Those are the jobs that I prep for with a voiceover coach months in advance for. Those are the jobs that I now keep Everett on speed dial for. Now, my booth director is Everett Oliver.