“How do I get started?” It’s a question that appears in some form or another across different panels from multiple conventions, and truthfully it’s a hard question to fully answer! I’ve listened to many expert voice actors tell their story on how they got into the business. Some of them were theater actors who saw a new opportunity open up, some were fans of animation and wanted to put themselves out there, but I always seem to hear one answer ring true.
“You just, start.”
Now that’s a bit blunt for an answer but when it’s said and done it’s the truth of it all. At some point there needs to be a time where a budding actor decides that this is to be a focus in their life. Once that is decided there are a few things every actor needs:
- Recording Software
- Microphone
- Recording Space
- Patience
For recording software it all depends on your budget and what you’re willing to learn. I’ve learned both Audacity and Adobe Audition and find them both equal in terms of quality. Audition does give you strength in terms of editing effects but in terms of exporting they’re both similar. The benefit Audacity has is that it’s completely free! But you’ll need to download a few plugins to make sure you can export the right kind of files (that would be .wav, try to avoid .mp3 as much as you can.)
A microphone is also pretty simple and depends on the budget. Professional Voice Actor Crispin Freeman has a wonderful page on the kinds of equipment you can get. I’ve found that a simple Blue Yeti USB Microphone with a Pop Filter is perfectly fine for me, at least at the level I’m at now.
Recording space is something a lot more flexible. Simply put, it’s a place where there is no background noise, it has good acoustics (sound should never be echoing in this place), and it’s in a place where you’ll be comfortable recording. There are a ton of guides out there for setting up a recording space, but one of my favorites is E-Home Recording Studio’s “How to Set Up Your Recording Room”, it’s focus is on recording music but it gives thorough explanation on why things are set up the way they are.
But the biggest necessity is patience. When I’ve talked to professionals in the industry I gained a sense of just how much time they’ve put into their craft, I learned how many auditions they’ve missed, and the most important lesson I learned from them is that you will lose many more times than you’ll win.