When I’m asked for advice on how to get started in the voice over industry, my answer is seldom the one expected. It’s not “buy <brand name microphone/preamp/interface/DAW>,” nor is it “buy or build a recording space as close to acoustically perfect as possible,” nor even “audition, hydrate, repeat steps 1 and 2.” Those are all important parts of building a career, to be sure. But they’re kind of obvious, and if whoever is asking me for advice doesn’t already have some sense of them, then I might as well tell them to grab a karaoke mic, clear some space in the corner of a broom closet, and drink a gallon of maple syrup.
The single most important thing voice actors absolutely need is thick skin. Learn to accept, and move on from, rejection. Because voice actors FAIL to score gigs more often than they drool over the latest gear on Sweetwater, rehang bass traps, and read scripts. I have an agent. Actually, I have more than one. They’re real professionals, and they keep my inbox (reasonably) full of audition requests. But when I get a request, I know before I download the attached script that I’m going to be competing with other guys on my agent’s roster, guys on the roster of the agent down the street, across town, across the country, and even (since I do a fair amount of international work - check out my Australian demo at BenCanRead.com!) across the planet. My odds of scoring any gig are fairly low from the jump, and that’s WITH representation. For the actors slugging it out on the gig sites like Fiverr, or the P2P sites, those odds are actually significantly worse.
There are voice actors at the top of the industry who have progressed far enough past the “prove it” stage of their careers that they’re already “the guy” before they can download the attachment bolted to the email from their agency. And yet, even they still occasionally find themselves duking it out with other superstars. For the rest of us, it’s a “no” until we hear otherwise, not the other way around. If you can’t handle denial, you best be considering a different career river to paddle down. Because in voice overs, you need talent, tech and not an insignificant amount of luck.
Think of it this way: Company X needs a :30 for product Y. Their ad firm will contact agencies Q,R and S for auditions. The agencies will send spec scripts to the talent on their rosters whom they think fit Company X’s specifications. By the time the script hits your inbox, it’s also landing in the inboxes of dozens of your colleagues. Even if only 10 talents get the request, you’re already looking at a 90% likelihood that you end up with nothing to show for your efforts except a file you’ll have to delete from your hard drive.
Buy the best kit you can. Build, or buy, the best space you can. And do every worthwhile audition you can. But remember: this is a game you will lose FAR more often than you win. If you can’t handle taking “Ls” like a champ, you won’t last long enough to win the title.