I’ve always been attracted to the art of storytelling, and as I grew older, I found that there were many different mediums for telling a great story. Singing and voice acting became two of my favorite outside of writing them down, and this is no surprise considering my introduction to anime.
The first anime series I watched were in dub, and that world was very unique in the early 90s. The projects and the voice actors were largely unknown, so there were a lot of creative decisions that were made back then that stick in my mind to this day. One thing is for sure, a committed voice actor makes the story alive.
When I entered college, I decided I was either going to pursue singing or voice acting on the side, and voice acting won out. I trained for a few years with a local voice actor who had assembled a troop. He had three class levels: the standard Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced groups. Of course I was in the beginner group, and we learned how much there was to being a voice actor. There were lessons on how to read firstly. There are as many ways to read a line as there is ways to write it. There was the narrative discussions and the character ones. There was timing to consider as well. And direction…what the director wants and can you deliver it.
Eventually, he allowed me to shadow the Advanced Group, which was comprised of actual working professionals in the voice acting world. Watching them work was eye opening.
They would jump in and out of character, on time. They knew how to shave off 5 seconds with ease. How to change the delivery completely…I could go on and on. It was in that moment that I knew how much more work I needed to put in. And I did.
To the point that I got my first audition ever, for a speak and say book. Being in a real booth for the first time, it front of a director who was looking for someone was incredible. I started off really well. I could see that the character voice I chose was exactly what he was looking for. He was actually nodding from the other side of the glass.
But something always happens to the unaware, the novice. The word “Mountain”. I was enunciating the “t” too much. He stopped me and asked me to read it again. He said it. My brain could not compute how he was saying it. He was patient. Gave me another chance. But now I was panicking. I couldn’t figure out how to read it the way he said. A few minutes later, they thanked for my time, and sent me on my way.
I can’t describe to you the level of anguish I experienced that day. The rejection, the failure, you name it. That would be my last audition for a long time, but it is not the end of my voice acting story. To hear more, you’ll have to wait for part 2!
In the meantime, here is an audio ad that my friend and I cooked up for The Knights: Lost Stories. Enjoy!
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