The VoiceOver Insider Podcast: Recent Episodes
Julie Williams and Gary MacFadden
The VoiceOver Insider Podcast The voiceover industry is growing by leaps and bounds! Hear interviews, hints and tips from established voice-over professionals, newbies, casting directors, industry leaders, and more. Julie Williams and co-host Gary MacFadden bring you a new podcast every two weeks.
Julie Williams talks with Joi Brooks of Email&Coffee about how important it is for voiceover talent to structure their email campaigns to reach a desired goal. There’s a lot to understand about how an email travels through the various channels of the Internet, and how a chosen recipient might react to that email when it arrives. Joi and Julie break it down, and discuss some techniques to make your email campaign more effective.
For more about Joi Brooks’ email marketing services, visit: https://emailandcoffee.com/
Tech guru George Whittam returns to the Voiceover Insider Podcast to introduce the new PASPort VO. This audio interface developed by voiceover and VO technical talent as a "group-think" product has moved from "wouldn't-this-be-nice-to-have" discussions to an actual product ready to be built in the space of only a few months.It's also something of a crowd-funding project, in that only 100 units are being produced, and the circuit boards don't start getting soldered until those 100 units are sold. This is an audio interface project George has been thinking about for a number of years, and contains as many voiceover-specific capabilities as could be jammed into a unit with a small footprint. (Perfect for a voiceover road kit, by the way.)George notes that Windows users are going to be particularly excited by the PASPort VO interface, because it can work around the audio drivers issues that many Windows users often experience when multitasking.After listening to George describe the development of the audio interface, jump over to centrance.com/pasportvo and take a look at the new unit.
Julie talks with video game voice talent phenom Dave Fennoy and video game director Randall Ryan about misconceptions and mistakes they see in the genre of video game voiceover, and about an upcoming special event: Game VO Mexico 2023 (April 27th thru 30th, 2023) and a special offer for a big price reduction.
Voiceover Insider podcast co-host Gary MacFadden talks with podcast co-host Julie Williams about her new program, Voiceover Momentum. Julie describes how the new VO membership platform will work, and also invites all VO talent to take part in her 5-Day Momentum Building Challenge in early April. If you're not on Julie's e-mail list, this is the time to sign up. Contact her at julie@voice-overs.com so you can take part in the 5-Day Momentum Building Challenge and learn more about her Voiceover Momentum program.
Actress, narrator, and career coach Jodie Bentley has a riveting conversation with Julie Williams about branding and marketing for voiceover talent. Jodie also discusses her upcoming Free 5-Day Challenge for Voiceover Marketing, coming soon in March 2023. (See below for details.)Jodie's FREE 5-DAY CHALLENGEMarch 20 to 24, 2023I’ve been hearing from a lot of voice actors lately who are trying to keep up with everything we get to do as artists...it can get pretty overwhelming. Or do you feel like the competition has gotten steeper and you’re not sure how to stand out anymore or make your mark?
I want to do something about that! From March 20th-24th I’m hosting a: FREE 5 Day Challenge for Voice Actors Who Want to Level Up. 5 days. 5 tools. To get you where you want to go.
You’ll learn 5 key strategies that I’ve been teaching my clients for years. These strategies got them from overwhelm and feeling alone to having the tools, systems and planning for their abundance! Email support@JodieBentleyCareerCoach.com to be put on the wait list for the Free 5-Day Challenge registration link.For information and to contact Jodie Bentley:
Websites:
https://www.jodiebentleycareercoach.com/
https://jodiebentley.com/support@JodieBentleyCareerCoach.comJodie's Products:
The Actor’s Think Tank (membership)
The Actor’s Office (software)
Gary talks with Don Baarns, a busy VO tech guru and instructor in all things concerning Izotope RX. In fact, Don is the "grandfather" of the well-known and widely used Mouth DeClick function in RX. In this episode, Don discusses the benefits of upgrading to later versions of Izotope RX if you're still back on RX 5 or 6, and some of the changes in the popular software. Don also talks about getting clean audio BEFORE you need to turn to programs such as Izotope RX for eleventh-hour fixes. Plus, he introduces his new resource, the VO Tech Simplified Facebook group.
Julie talks with J. Michael Collins (a.k.a. JMC) about what's new at VO Atlanta 2023, coming up soon in March. JMC pointed out that some of the "X-Sessions," which do deep dives into a particular topic, are filling rapidly, and that signing up sooner than later is a good idea. To learn more about VO Atlanta, and get signed up for X-Sessions of your choice, visit the VO Atlanta web site.
Gary talks with busy voice talent and coach Jonathan Tilley about why the so-called Pay2Play sites (online casting sites) aren't a good bet for most voice talent, and the much better approach for marketing your voice: direct email marketing. They discuss Jonathan's League of List Builders (LOLB) course, and how learning to get your name in front of the right people with the right message can make all the difference in your voiceover career. For more about the League of List Builders course for 2023, get on the VIP Wait List so you can view the introductory videos when they become available in February 2023. Click on this link: https://www.leagueoflistbuilders.com/
Julie Williams talks with Landon Beach, a successful book author (Cabin, The Hike, The Wreck and others) who has just completed a book that will be near and dear to the hearts of audio book narrators, cleverly called Narrator. Landon worked with well-known audio book narrator Scott Brick, as well as other narrators, to gather...
Tim Friedlander talks to Julie about an effort by a new group, the National Association of Voice Actors (NAVA) to acquire health insurance coverage for voice-over talents (YOU!). This would be a potential option for non-union and union talents alike. But NAVA NEEDS YOU to fill out a very short form expressing interest in health insurance for voice actors so they can get proposals from health insurance companies! There is NO commitment involved; you're simply expressing interest. Please do that at www.NAVAvoices.org NOW! NAVA's closing date for submitting the health insurance census is the end of August (less than two weeks away) and they still need 100 to 150 names added to the census (they currently have approximately 900 names. Here's the catch: if you DON'T complete the census form, you will not be eligible for coverage should an insurance program be instituted this year; you'll have to wait until open enrollment for 2024. It's only expressing interest, so do it now! (The census form takes about two minutes to complete.)
Julie Williams interviews J. Michael Collins, who is one busy guy! He's not only an in-demand voice talent and VO demo producer, but he's also the USA territory controller for Gravy For The Brain, a UK-based training organization for voice talent, and a partner in the production of the OneVoice Conference (the USA-version is August 4th-7th in Dallas, Texas). And as if that's not enough, J. Michael and his wife recently became the owners of VO Atlanta, America's largest annual voiceover conference.
In this episode, Julie talks with Dani States, the creator of Voiceover View, a suite of business management tools designed for the voiceover industry. Voiceover View lets voice talent track auditions, jobs, income and expenses, handles invoicing tasks, and more.
Listeners can check out Voiceover View and sign up for a free 30-day trial at https://www.voiceoverview.com/. You can also watch Dani do a walkthrough of Voiceover View with Julie at this YouTube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YeOX30DXNJI
U.K. voice artist and entrepreneur Brad Shaw talks with Gary about a brand new service, Audition Director, where talents can get coached on important upcoming auditions with top-flight VO coaches/casting directors in a variety of genres.
Gary talks with VO Tech expert George Whittam about noise floor: what it is, why it's an important number to know for your VO studio, how to measure it, and how to lower it if it's too high.
If you want to check out the Spitfire CRM program mentioned in this program, visit: https://voiceoverpodcasts.com/spitfire
Julie talks to Mike Verret, marketing expert at Verret and Associates (VerretandAssociates.com) about how to tell people about what you do in a way that makes them want to learn more. Mike explains the three ways to stand out from your competition, and how to market your services more effectively.
Julie Williams talks with Martha Kahn about how she trains children who are considering getting into the wonderful world of Voiceover. Martha’s “Yes I Kahn” students are landing agents and finding work with Disney Junior, Apple TV, Netflix and many others.
Rob Sciglimpaglia, voice talent, on-camera actor, and an attorney who works with voice over issues, discusses the advent of AI (Artificial Intelligence) text-to-speech platforms, how they might influence voice over jobs in the future, and how voice talent might actually take advantage of these technological changes that aren’t just coming…they’re here now.
Julie talks with Rachael Naylor, a busy UK-based voiceover artist, actress, writer, and award-winning entrepreneur. And if that wasn’t enough, Rachael is also the founder and owner of the VoiceOver Network. Note: Since this podcast was recorded, the VoiceOver Network has changed its URL to: https://www.thevoiceovernetwork.org/
Michael Kostroff is an actor who has enjoyed a long career, with credits including The Wire, Billions, Boston Legal, The King of Queens, and many more. Along the way, Michael learned a LOT about the audition process, and has taught thousands of actors over the years through his in-person Audition Psych 101 course. Between January 3rd and January 7th, Michael is releasing three free video lessons entitled Audition Myths, Tough Truths, and Logic. You can sign up for and then view all three lessons at this link: https://voiceoverpodcasts.com/kostroff
Shelley Avellino, a voice talent originally from Wales and now living in and working out of Las Vegas, Nevada, shares ideas with Julie Williams about how to break into the international voiceover marketplace.
Voiceover Insider Podcast co-host Gary MacFadden reveals himself to be a closet used VO equipment buyer who just can’t turn down anything with lots of dials and switches. Gary offers several suggestions for exploring the burgeoning market of used VO gear
Julie Williams talks with LinkedIn marketing expert Tracy Lindley about the importance of LinkedIn as a marketing tool for voice talent. Tracy also discusses her early years as a voice talent, and how setting aside marketing time was vital to advancing her career.
George Whittam, well-known VO technical consultant and co-host with Dan Lenard of the popular Voiceover Body Shop, talks with Gary MacFadden about processing stacks: what they are, how they work, and how they’re built.
Julie Williams talks with marketing mentor Nikki Nash about how pinpointing your unique business vision, determining who wants to pay for your expertise as a voiceover artist and how to set your rates, and more. Nikki is the author of Market Your Genius: How to Generate New Leads, Get Dream Customers, and Create a Loyal Community.
Voice artist and e-learning developer John Kissinger discusses with Julie why “public enemy #1” isn’t your VO peers who are vying for the same e-learning jobs, but in fact the e-learning designers themselves who either want to save money, or just want to give the mic a try themselves.
VO Tech Guru George Whittam and active VO talent-turned-businessman Rick Wasserman discuss their product, the Tri-Booth, a portable voiceover booth with all the trimmings.
Julie talks with veteran voice talent and VO blogger Kim Handysides about the importance of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and using social media for marketing, topics that will be covered in their upcoming webinar
Julie and Jodi Krangle, a voice talent in Toronto, Canada, discuss Jodi’s own podcast, Audio Branding: The Hidden Gem of Marketing, in which she explores various aspects of how powerful sound is.
Pat Fraley, Cliff Zellman, and Deb Munro remember Brad Venable, a talented and prolific video game and anime voice actor who passed away in January 2021 at a young age.
David H. Lawrence has had a long career in both voiceover and as an on-camera actor. He’s also a well-respected voiceover coach. David takes time out of his busy schedule to talk with Julie about how the Covid-19 pandemic has affected voiceover, the response of the SAG-AFTRA union to the pandemic, and where he sees the voiceover industry heading as a home-based business.
Emmett Andrews, voice talent and author of the book VO Studio Companion, talks with Gary about studio acoustics, differences in studio space size, and the varying attributes of acoustic foam and acoustic panels.
Julie Williams talks with voice actor and VO coach Deb Munro about the importance of adding “character” to your voiceover arsenal
Co-host Gary MacFadden talks with voiceover technical guru Don Baarns about a piece of file post-processing software that many voiceover talent are now turning to: Izotope RX. Don himself had a role in the development of one of the software’s functions most used by VO talent: Mouth DeClick.
Co-host Julie Williams talks with voiceover agent extraordinaire Erik Sheppard about changes in the VO industry he's seen in his many years as a talent agent, the challenges newcomers to the voiceover field will face, and possible affects of the Covid-19 pandemic on the voiceover industry.
Voice talent Josh Alexander talks with Gary about his transition to voice acting from a successful yet soul-deadening career in videography. Josh describes his day-to-day VO auditioning and marketing activities that many will find surprising at the least, and very likely inspirational.
Commercial producer, coach, voice actor, and author Marc Cashman is Julie’s guest. They discuss several great tips for CONNECTING to commercial copy, doing away with the notion that the voice actor is only there to read the copy.
In this episode, Gary MacFadden talks with Jim Edgar, a voice talent who also consults with other VO talents on a range of studio issues. Jim and Gary discuss the top three problems Jim hears in the hundreds of audio samples that have been submitted to his site, https://justaskjimvo.studio/.
Julie Williams talks with Lisa Biggs who has built a career voicing toys and children’s voices for commercials and shows.
Sarah Sampino of Audiobooks Unleashed discusses their new audio book distribution service with co-host Gary MacFadden
Julie talks with industry legend and VO entrepreneur Harlan Hogan about remote recording, when on the road using hotels, vehicles, etc.
Co-hosts Julie Williams and Gary MacFadden discuss the return of the Voiceover Insider Podcast, and the new site at www.voiceoverpodcasts.com
In this free VoiceOver Insider podcast, Julie Williams talks to Monique Bagwell, an award winning actress and voiceover talent, about what it means when a client asks for a “neutral” or “generic” American accent. For more than two decades, Monique has been teaching General American in the Mass Communication and Media Studies at Lander University, where she works as a full-time professor of performance and speech studies.
In this podcast, Julie Williams talks to Carrie Olsen about eLearning marketing and prospecting. Carrie Olsen is a voice actor, business coach, wife, and mother . During her years as an e-learning developer, she created and facilitated hundreds of online courses, tutorials, and webinars.
Julie Williams talks Voiceover Branding withCelia Siegel, a former Los Aneles Agent and Branding Specialist. Celia currently owns Celia Siegel Management where she and her team market and brand voiceover talents.
As the first award show live announce voice, Randy Thomas paved the way for other women in the voiceover industry to enter the live announce and TV promo genres. Heard on multiple awards shows for more than two decades, Randy talks to Julie Williams about the live announce and promo voiceover genres, what they entail, and how to enter them.
Jonathan Tilley is an acclaimed voiceover coach in Germany who has taught at the top voice conferences in the world. Julie Williams discusses his new book Embracing the F Word (Failure) on this VoiceOver Insider FREE Podcast. Two years in the making, Jonathan interviews a myriad of successful creative types, including voiceover greats, about how they deal with failure, and offers suggestions for you to “fail forward.”
In this VoiceOver Insider podcast, Julie Williams discusses Julie Williams discusses with Rae Burell of Rae of Light Assistance, a service that provides support for entrepreneurs—mainly voiceover artists.
In this episode of the VoiceOver Insider Podcast, Julie Williams talks with full-time professional voice talent, coach, and producer, Anne Ganguzza.about proven online strategies to find and attract more clients to grow your VO biz.
Julie Williams talks with Joe J Thomas, a voice actor in Los Angeles. They discuss the top 5 questions that newbie VO talent often ask—that are irrelevant— and what they should be asking, instead!
Julie Williams talks with Valerie Bobo, booth director at William Morris in Los Angeles, and Talent/Casting director for Elaine Craig Casting. Valerie also runs the Speak Easy Alliance.
Julie Williams talks to Rebecca Haugh about Improv…and how it can enhance a voice-over talent’s performance.
In this episode, Julie Williams discusses the pros and cons of three different customer relationship management (CRM) tools. Guests Marc Scott, Dani States, and Luisa Gummer talk about how their CRM tools have impacted their successful voice-over careers. This international crew shows how we all—no matter where we live—can benefit from implementing CRM into our businesses.
With two decades of experience, Stanley has voiced, produced, and booth directed local, regional, and national radio commercials, and has created children's audio books. He is a classically trained actor, and participated in the Conservatory Program at 2nd City-Los Angeles. Stanley has dedicated his personal time to helping sick kids and wounded veterans…raising just over $150,000.00 for the Fisher House Foundation. And this year he is running a full marathon for Team Fisher House.
Julie talks with Tasia Valenza, one of the top U.S. female voiceover artists. Tasia is a story teller with an acting background; she doesn’t just read the words—she gives them meaning.
Julie talks about the creative process with the legendary Dick Orkin, founder of the Dick Orkin Radio Ranch, and the creator of the Chickenman radio serial.
Celia Siegel is the “Chief Voice Officer” of Celia Siegel Management, known for creating strong personal brands for voice talent and marketing those brands to the max-in a way that’s authentic to each voice actor. She is also the author of the upcoming book VoiceOverAchiever: How to Cultivate Bravado, Swagger and Confidence Through Personal Branding. Julie and Celia geek out teaching about goal setting, systems development, and planning for success.
Gabrielle Nistico spends her days behind the mic recording for an impressive list of voiceover clients. Her My voice is featured in hundreds of commercials annually on campaigns for clients such as White Castle, Walgreens, Harley Davidson, Whole Foods, Facebook, Microsoft, and Ivisalign. She also offers voiceover tele-classes, seminars and workshops around the count. Julie Williams talks to Gabby about the field of radio imaging.
Julie talks with Debra Deyan of Deyan Audio and the Deyan Institute of Voice Artistry and Technology. This group produces hundreds of professionally recorded audiobooks each year from their Los Angeles studios.
Julie talks with James Alburger who has been an "audio guy" since he was 12 years old when he taught himself to edit music with a grease pencil, scissors, and Scotch tape. Jamese now works as a professional voiceover artist, and in creative audio/video services. He is co-founder of VOICE conferences, and author of The Art of Voice Acting. Julie talks to James about microphones, traveling studios, and all things tech.
Julie takes a look at the year ahead and discusses how to use planning tools to set yourself up for making more voiceover income in 2017 than you did in 2016.
Shana Pennington-Baird is the director of the Seattle Voice Institute and a voice-over artist. Eighteen years ago Shana ‘bent' her vocal cords after performing for six shows consecutively without break and teaching kids theatre during the day. For six weeks she did not speak, for nine months she did not sing, and after healing without any kind of surgery has gone on to a long career in audiobooks, promo, commercial VO, eLearning, musical theatre, and teaching vocal health. Shana trains people from all walks of life to breathe properly, warm up, and keep their voices healthy for life. Julie Williams talks to Shana about protecting your voice, no matter how long or difficult your sessions are.
Rodney Saulsberry is the author of the very popular new VO book “Rodney Saulsberry’s Tongue Twisters and Vocal Warm-Ups” and the promo voice on Africa Continuity Soap Opera Scripts for Telemundo around the World! He is also one of the most sought after voiceover coaches in the business. Julie Williams talks to Rodney about new genres of voiceover...and even takes a shot at cold reading his tongue twisters!
Julie Williams talks voice actor phenom Dave Fennoy. Dave is an award winning voice actor best known as the original voice of Hulu, or as dubbed by 40 million hulu users, "The Hulu Guy", and for roles in more than 200 video games, including the role of Lee Everett in The Walking Dead Game. But his career includes Commercials, TV Promos, Narration for Nat Geo, Discovery and Science Channel. He’s also is a highly sought after VO educator conducting VO workshops in Los Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta, Los Vegas, San Francisco, Dallas, and at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London. Julie Williams talks to Dave about voicing video games, how to make the character become "3D", and what the union strike against 12 video game producers is all about.
Gary's 30 year career encompasses all things entertainment from coaching improv...to video games. He's been a voice in a number of video games, including multiple Star Wars games, Dota 2, 2012 Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed, Poker Night at the Inventory, and several others. Julie Williams caught up to Gary at Pensacola Comic Con.
Lisa Biggs is a Big Talent with a Little Voice. For 17 years she has played the voice of a child in commercials, animation, and toys. Today, in addition to her own thriving career, she teaches children how to succeed in VO, and casts kids through her casting company Bigg Dream Casting. She currently has a contract for all the kids casting in Toys R Us commercials. Julie talks to Lisa about the Kids VO world, and how to get your child into voiceover.
Liz Atherton is owner of TAG Talent Agency... one of the top talent agencies in the country. Since April, the TAG team of agents has sent out more than 1500 auditions to talent they represent. Julie Williams talked to Liz about her standards for representation, and how she likes talents to present themselves to clients, among other things.
Actor Robert Lasardo has been seen on CSI, Nip Tuck, General Hospital, and numerous video games, including Scarface. Julie Williams talked to him about what working in video games has meant to him, and what it was like when he was growing up as the "ham" in the family.
Julie talks with full-time voiceover talent Larry Hudson, based in LA. In addition to voiceover work, Larry teaches other VO talent audio editing skills.
Tim Russ (Tuvok on Star Trek Voyager) has worked on numerous television series such as Star Trek and I Carly--and has voiced a LOT of video games. Julie Williams caught up with Tim at Pensacola Comic Con to ask about his career, and his advice to other professionals in the industry.
Julie talks with voice actor and eLearning booster Jack de Golia about his Facebook group for eLearning practitioners and his efforts at educating eLearning producers about using trained voiceover talent.
Julie talks with Satauna Howery, a relatively new voiceover talent who hasn’t let the challenge of having been born blind stop her rapid rise in the voiceover field.
Julie talks with well-known audiobook narrator Scott Brick about techniques he has used in voicing more than 700 audiobooks.
Julie introduces Pat Fraley with a 10-minute lesson on how to get into video game voices and structure a great demo.
Julie Williams talks with attorney Rob Sciglimpaglia about legal factors that can affect voiceover talent. Rob wrote the book, VoiceOver Legal.
Julie talks with voiceover talent Heather Costa about how to use social media to build your voiceover career.
Julie talks with Tasia Valenza, a well-known talent in video games, about her work with a new organization called Vocal ID, and about how other voiceover talents can take part in this amazing project.
Julie talks with Bill DeWees, a six-figure voiceover talent, about the four links in the voiceover chain.
Simon Lopez visits with host Julie Williams about a new alternative to the disappearing (and expensive) ISDN system: ipDTL.
Julie talks with Joe Cipriano about getting into the genre of television promo, his book project, and more.
Julie wraps up the three-part series of “knowing when to take the plunge” into full-time voiceover work. And Gary MacFadden wraps up the 4-part Mac Minute series on getting into audiobook narration.
Voice talent Karen DeBoer discusses with Julie Williams when she knew it was time to take up voiceover full-time in this 3-part series, Taking The Plunge.
Beau Weaver, a well-known promo and animated feature talent, kicks off a three-part podcast series in which Julie and VO talents discuss knowing when it's time to take the plunge into full-time voiceover work.
Promo, trailer, and all-around voiceover artist Rodney Saulsberry joins Julie Williams. Rodney talks about several types of reads, using tongue-twisters for warmups, and plays examples of various types of reads.
Top voiceover agent Wes Stevens of VOX, Inc. in LA talks with Julie about how voiceover talents should approach agents, and what they should be ready to deliver (and what they can leave at home).
Transformational change strategist Kristine Oller joins Julie Williams to discuss 5 top strategies for jumpstarting a voiceover career in 2015, for voiceover talent of all levels
Joyce Castellanos, LA promo voiceover coach and demo producer joins Julie Williams to discuss how to get started in promo work, and how to get the right demo produced
Derek Chappell has created an online "hub" of voiceover blogs and other information sources. He chats with Julie Williams about some of the social media tools he uses in furthering his voiceover career.
Bev Standing, one of the most often booked voice talents at Voices.com, talks with Julie Williams about how she got started with online casting services
Voiceover talent Bob Souer talks with Julie about the day-to-day business of finding voiceover work, as well as how to "invite the avalanche" of even more work.
Voice-over Marketing and Branding expert Celia Siegel returns for another interview with Julie Williams, this time discussing key points for marketing a voiceover business.
Julie Williams interviews video game voice extraordinaire Dave Fennoy, also the well-recognized "Voice of Hulu." Dave discusses trends in the field of voice-overs for video games, and the necessary training.