Ben Saraza Pacheco rummages through his things, inside of a personal professional level recording room, complete with soundproof padding, a high quality mic and a tablet in front of him, but he realizes he\u2019s missing something. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhere\u2019s my headphones?\u201d he says as he steps out of the booth to go find them. After he does, he places them on a rack and then taps the screen of a large tablet in front of him. Pulling up the script for his audition he nods. \u201cGood to go,\u201d he says, and close the door. This is a work-day for Pacheco who is a freelance voice actor.<\/p>\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/vpms1.humber.smartmanagedservers.com\/convergencemag\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/12\/Screen-Shot-2023-12-27-at-8.49.08-PM-1024x733.jpg\")
Voice-over is a long-standing profession that started with the first radio broadcast in 1906, and has expanded to include things like voice acting in cartoons and commercials over the years. In 1928, the first voice acted cartoon was released. It was Steamboat Willie<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But recently, with people having access to things like high quality mics, home studios and more access to education on the topic, the industry is seeing an increase in aspiring voice actors like Pacheco.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When I take a step back and look at the bigger picture, it’s just honestly an amazing opportunity.<\/p>Ben Patheco<\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n Karim Kronfli is a voice and stage actor who has been a part of projects like the SCP archives, the Re:Dracula<\/em> podcast series, as well as a part on BBC\u2019s Doctor Who<\/em> audio series. He talked about the increased accessibility of higher quality products.<\/p>\n\n\n \u201cIn the time I have been doing it, the biggest change in voice acting today is the democratization of audio recording. The fact that the kit\u2019s really affordable, the fact that now we\u2019ve moved so much to home recording. I think, that\u2019s one of the biggest things, it doesn\u2019t break the bank to build either home build, or buy a professional sounding recording environment. There\u2019s a lot of professional information out there on the internet and we\u2019re able to do that. Twenty years ago, you\u2019d have to go into studios now they\u2019re everywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Working out of his GTA home, Pacheco represents a new generation of voice actors who have started a career with equipment they bought and a studio of their own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to data collected by voices.com, a website where many voice actors can get their start, 60 per cent of part-time voice actors have started their career in the last three years, emboldened by the accessibility to high-quality gear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Pacheco sits down and reminisces about what got him into voice acting in the first place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWell, voice acting was something that I was very uneducated about at the beginning. With it, I kind of used to do impressions of characters I liked, like Kermit the Frog<\/em>, Terminator<\/em>, a few other video game characters, he says. \u201cBut I never really thought about voice acting until I got older and Pacheco realized he would enjoy such a career path.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI wanted to be able to have a career that I could have fun with. It\u2019s kind of one of those things where you\u2019re just built for it. It\u2019s something that just \u2018clicked\u2019 when I was first getting into the industry.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Michael Daingerfield, who is a voice acting coach and the founder of On the Mic Training, talked about how voiceover has expanded over the years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThose same people were probably doing most of the TV ads, and you had cartoons popping up as well in the 60s and 70s. And of course, you know, and then it just continued to grow in the 80s, and 90s, and so on, right, it just became more of an actual industry for commercials, animation, narration, video games, like all those things.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n Daingerfield has also provided the voice for a variety of animated characters over the years, including Gintoki Sakata<\/em> from the anime Gintama<\/em>, Lego Han Solo<\/em> from the animated film Lego Star Wars: The Yoda Chronicles<\/em> and Sesshomaru <\/em>from the anime Inuyasha<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On The Mic<\/em> training also offers a six-month to a year diploma program in a studio or online. Pacheco is a graduate of that program and for most of his time since has been freelance. Recently Pacheco\u2019s experience has gotten him a part in New-Gen<\/em>, an upcoming marvel show. He talks about how he feels getting such a large opportunity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt is very in a sense, almost jaw dropping. When I step back and look at the bigger picture, it’s an amazing opportunity. You kind of wonder, \u2018How did I get here?\u2019 or \u2018how did this even happen?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n There are a few ways to become a voice actor according to Roger King, an agent for PN Agency who represents voice talent in Toronto.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThere\u2019s different sort of entry points to getting in, all of it requires some kind of training.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n King goes into how someone would get into more broadcast focused voice over.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSome people come out of radio. A lot of people come out of a broadcasting school, but there are more and more classes and workshops voiceover related. Some of them are in the industry, casting directors who are also voice coaches or producers who are also voice coaches and then sometimes talents who have been in the business for a while start coaching as well. So there\u2019s a lot of workshops you can take, a lot of classes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n King touched on more acting-focused roles as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSome people find their way into voiceover through acting. Studying theatre might even be second, city comedy, anything that\u2019s a performance related discipline could have a voiceover component to it. The bottom line is you need some kind of training whether it\u2019s gonna be a full program in a college or just some workshops, you do need to get the experience behind a microphone.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n King says similar to other acting professions there are those who do more freelance and more contract-based careers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Animation is just getting into a character, like fully embodying the character physically and emotionally through your voice and spirit.<\/p>Michael Daingerfield<\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n Pacheco was just doing freelance work before he was able to get his role on New-Gen through his agent, as well as his experience in on-the-mic training.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI\u2019ve mostly done freelance and I haven\u2019t gotten into too big of project just yet and with it I would say I\u2019d prefer freelance. But that\u2019s just because of my opinion now and that can change in the future. But I have a feeling that being part of something big means committing to something to like that project for maybe months or years and that\u2019s something that does excite me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to Roger King, there are many who go into both aspects of voice acting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThere are many people who do voiceover full-time, this is all they do, they have their own home studio, they have an agent. When it comes to animation, you have people who just do cartoons and animation stuff full-time. You have the people I mentioned earlier, who do radio and\/or television. They go on air, they maybe do voice-overs on the side.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n It can even be a decent side hustle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou\u2019ve got other people who do other things in the business. They might be a producer, they might be a writer and, then, they do some voiceover work as a freelance kind of thing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n He mentioned that a person on his voice roster came to him when he was a copywriter for ads, he\u2019d do some voice work for one of the characters in the ad if nobody else was available.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You’re playing a character and you’re projecting that character’s truth. <\/p>Fionna Thraille<\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n Voice acting is a very diverse profession, you can do voices for characters in a video game, or a cartoon, as well as commercials, audio books etc. There are several differences between doing voices for each medium and Daingerfield has done all of them. He talked about what it is to do a commercial.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI mean, commercials are more you know, you\u2019re more being yourself. You\u2019re more a spokesperson for a product or a brand.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Doing audio books can be a different approach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAudio books is more you\u2019re telling a story,\u201d says Daingerfield. \u201cWhether it\u2019s fiction or nonfiction, depending on what it is, but you\u2019re, you\u2019re getting into the story and, you know, speaking the narrative, maybe through a bunch of different characters.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The approach for actors in animation is different.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou know, animation is just getting into a character, like, fully embodying the character physically and emotionally, and through your voice and spirit, and serving the narrative of the piece of what you\u2019re doing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n There are many similarities between voice-acting and what many would say is \u2018traditional acting.\u2019 Both require similar skill sets, something Pacheco had some experience in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI have experience with acting myself, but it never really stuck. But that experience stuck, with it having that experience of acting, being able to kind of get into a character\u2019s shoes thats like the main thing that got me to have fun when voicing characters, voicing even commercials even those are pretty fun.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Many voice actors also have \u2018traditional\u2019 acting experience like Re: Dracula’s<\/em> actor Kronfli, who says both forms of acting are due the same amount of respect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAt the end of the acting is acting,\u201d he says. \u201cYou\u2019re delivering a degree of characterization purely through vocal delivery. So, what I usually do on stage, throwing the energy out to an auditorium full of you know, a few 100 to 1000 people, all that energy has somehow got to be condensed to one square inch in front of my mouth. Which is different, and is a skill. But that\u2019s what you need to do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fionna Thraille, a colleague of Kronfli and accomplished voice\/stage actor in podcast series such as Vast Horizon<\/em>, Cyclone<\/em> and the video game Lorelai<\/em>, spoke on this as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe similarities would be, certainly the acting is a very important part. It\u2019s feeling the words, whatever they are. If it\u2019s commercial, obviously, you\u2019re selling something, but you\u2019re wanting to be truthful,\u201d she says. \u201cAnd truth is a part of acting. It\u2019s probably the biggest part of acting. And so you\u2019re playing a character, and you\u2019re projecting that character\u2019s truth. Though there are still challenges in the voice acting community as well.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n Kronfli went over something most beginner voice actors or actors in general should be aware of.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cLike any actor, you\u2019ve got to be immune to rejection. You have to appreciate that when you go for a role. It\u2019s not necessarily your skill, although possibly it is if you\u2019re an early early stage actor, and you haven\u2019t quite built up the skills or the emotional history, so you can tap into those kinds of things. But your voice may just not work with the other person\u2019s voice in the scene.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Pacheco agrees that voice actors can go through hundreds of auditions and not get a single yes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cUsually when it comes to the process of doing an audition, it\u2019s pretty simple, pretty fun. I have an agent who is basically able to get me auditions, and opportunities, and send them over to me, I just have to do them and send them back, very simple and straightforward.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou may wonder, \u2018How many do I have to do?\u2019 usually when it comes to like I guess how many you do often You have to do over 100 to even get on audition accepted. It\u2019s a very competitive industry, but I don\u2019t mind that,\u201d Pacheco says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Thraille discussed a more of a recent issue regarding voice actors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cObviously, AI is starting to be an issue. It\u2019s complicated. And we really, really need clarity on exactly what\u2019s happening. On this side of the water equity unit, the actors union has issued sort of a help pack, for anyone doing audio at the moment to help them to sort of navigate around AI, particularly in contracts,” Thraille says. “Your voice can be used in adverts that you wouldn\u2019t agree with and for things that you wouldn\u2019t agree with, and it also puts you out of a job.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Pacheco flew to New York in December to record for New-Gen<\/em>. The show is set to run for five seasons and he hopes to be there for all of them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A Look Inside The Growing Voice Acting Industry By David Madureira Ben Saraza Pacheco rummages through his things, inside of a personal professional level recording room, complete with soundproof padding, a high quality mic and a tablet in front of him, but he realizes he\u2019s missing something. \u201cWhere\u2019s my headphones?\u201d he says as he steps […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4916,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[353,1,359],"tags":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/convergencemag\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/12\/Screen-Shot-2023-12-27-at-8.48.48-PM.jpg",1978,1416,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/convergencemag\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/12\/Screen-Shot-2023-12-27-at-8.48.48-PM-170x120.jpg",160,113,true],"medium":["https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/convergencemag\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/12\/Screen-Shot-2023-12-27-at-8.48.48-PM-300x215.jpg",300,215,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/convergencemag\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/12\/Screen-Shot-2023-12-27-at-8.48.48-PM-768x550.jpg",696,498,true],"large":["https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/convergencemag\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/12\/Screen-Shot-2023-12-27-at-8.48.48-PM-1024x733.jpg",696,498,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/convergencemag\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/12\/Screen-Shot-2023-12-27-at-8.48.48-PM-1536x1100.jpg",1536,1100,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/convergencemag\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/12\/Screen-Shot-2023-12-27-at-8.48.48-PM.jpg",1978,1416,false],"td_150x0":["https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/convergencemag\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/12\/Screen-Shot-2023-12-27-at-8.48.48-PM-150x107.jpg",150,107,true],"td_218x150":["https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/convergencemag\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/12\/Screen-Shot-2023-12-27-at-8.48.48-PM-218x150.jpg",218,150,true],"td_300x0":["https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/convergencemag\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/12\/Screen-Shot-2023-12-27-at-8.48.48-PM-300x215.jpg",300,215,true],"td_324x400":["https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/convergencemag\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/12\/Screen-Shot-2023-12-27-at-8.48.48-PM-324x400.jpg",324,400,true],"td_485x360":["https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/convergencemag\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/12\/Screen-Shot-2023-12-27-at-8.48.48-PM-485x360.jpg",485,360,true],"td_696x0":["https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/convergencemag\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/12\/Screen-Shot-2023-12-27-at-8.48.48-PM-696x498.jpg",696,498,true],"td_1068x0":["https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/convergencemag\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/12\/Screen-Shot-2023-12-27-at-8.48.48-PM-1068x765.jpg",1068,765,true],"td_1920x0":["https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/convergencemag\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/12\/Screen-Shot-2023-12-27-at-8.48.48-PM-1920x1374.jpg",1920,1374,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"convergencemag","author_link":"https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/convergencemag\/author\/convergencemag\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"A Look Inside The Growing Voice Acting Industry By David Madureira Ben Saraza Pacheco rummages through his things, inside of a personal professional level recording room, complete with soundproof padding, a high quality mic and a tablet in front of him, but he realizes he\u2019s missing something. \u201cWhere\u2019s my headphones?\u201d he says as he steps…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/convergencemag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4895"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/convergencemag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/convergencemag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/convergencemag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/convergencemag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4895"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/convergencemag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4895\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4915,"href":"https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/convergencemag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4895\/revisions\/4915"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/convergencemag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4916"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/convergencemag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4895"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/convergencemag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4895"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/convergencemag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4895"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/vpms1.humber.smartmanagedservers.com\/convergencemag\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/12\/Karim.jpeg\")
started realizing there are voices behind certain characters. I kind of just said, ‘I\u2019d be really cool if I were to voice a character like that and seeing it kind of animated or seeing it move on the screen’.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/vpms1.humber.smartmanagedservers.com\/convergencemag\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/12\/Daingerfield.jpeg\")
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/vpms1.humber.smartmanagedservers.com\/convergencemag\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/12\/Me-at-the-mic.jpg\")
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/vpms1.humber.smartmanagedservers.com\/convergencemag\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/12\/FionaThraille_headshot1BW-683x1024.jpg\")