IamA Voiceover guy who does those jobs no-one notices, like the voices in an elevator, oh and I live and work from a boat in England. AMA!

How did you get this job? How do I get this kind of job?

I had around six redundancies in three years, plus a suspected brain tumor (thankfully false!) which buggered up my university plans.

After a while I thought that I'd follow my dream and be a voiceover guy. I bought the proper equipment to compete with the pros and started listening to the great masters speaking to train myself. That's it. That's all you need... And plenty of luck.

What equipment and what actions did you take to get your voice heard, so to speak?

I initially started off with a USB microphone, however it was far too electrically noisy therefore I took the plunge and bought:

• Violet Design Black Knight (later upgraded to a Sennheiser MKH 416)
• A Focusrite Voicemaster Platinum Pro
• A Focusrite 2i4 Audio Interface
• Beyerdynamic DT-150 headphones for monitoring

To get myself heard, I simply emailed every production company I could find on google, both in my area and further afield, asking them if they were looking for a new voice. Some said no, many never responded, however the ones that did around 10% gave me work within the first week.

Thanks! I have always enjoyed the idea of doing this. This all sounds pretty damn simple.

Time and effort, same as everything else!

I've been told by a working pro "if you're wondering if you have the voice, you have the voice. Now you just need to" read this book, go to this school, etc...

So I bought the book and I'm reading. I've bought a USB mic and started playing around a bit. But I'm curious how quickly you dumped your USB mic. Did you get any work using it or did you have to upgrade before getting any really good work? I guess I'm a bit hesitant to invest so much before knowing I can actually make a living doing it.

I was EXTREMELY lucky, my first job was long haul narration, around 30,000 words and paid around £1200. After that I realized how much of a pain a USB mic was due to electrical noise and bought the absolute best I could afford (all second hand!). Doing so cut down on my editing time immensely.

Nice, I had something similar happen for me when I first started my own IT company years ago (I've since shut it down). Now it's time to go find my luck in VO work. :)

Best of luck :D

I may take the plunge based on this advice, and at least try. I have been told "you have a perfect radio voice" so many times in my life.

Brilliant! However here's a HUGE tip; companies nowadays almost always say "no announcer / radio voices!". Therefore unless you want to go into radio, just use your normal voice with no real special inflections.

This is HUGE, folks. The days of the big-boom announcer guy are quite over, and there's too many people still doing it to be competitive in that arena. Simply be yourself and you'll be golden.

^ This man speaks the truth.

Great tip!

You're welcome.

Did you know that you had the right voice for it before starting, or can anybody train themselves to the professional standards?

My voice was rather 'warm' to begin with, however it was almost ruined by acid reflux. I ended up almost mute for a couple of months.

Afterwards I simply copied what I found on Youtube to improve my voice, I'd say anyone can make their voice sound pleasant with training, it's the 'acting' bit that's tough.

Edit:

Stomach acid was calmed down via medication, less spicy foods and not eating before sleeping.

Woah, just clicked on your twitter link... baby face with a killer mustache!

Thoughts on: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kz2uLkcTKms ?

This mustache took six months. I'm going for a head start on next Movember...

I saw that a while back, brilliant isn't it?

Whoaa...you're meant to be clean shaven come November 1st! Cheat!

This is my signature look for VO actually, it's the only reason I have it. Plus... Working for myself means I can actually get away with it.

Keep the mustache, it's a good look on you. You remind me of a delightful dapper historian that I flirted with for a bit in London last year.

Why thank you!

What's the weirdest thing you have voiced? (Sorry for bad english)

I was once asked to be the voice of a couple of taking eggs for a egg cooking system, the character were called 'Justan Egg' & 'Mr Eggcelent'.

That and a talking ironing board... I remember sitting there thinking "what the heck is an ironing board supposed to sound like?"

What kind of boat do you live on?

Have you ever been recognized for your voice in the street, at the pub, etc?

How's your bookcase?

A narrowboat, it's 57' long and around 7' wide. Only once at university. Also, getting into a lift and hearing your own voice is creepy as hell. I collect manga and books on philosophy mainly, my books now act as ballast for this boat, I dare not move them outside.

Would that be the Leeds and Liverpool Canal (if you are, as your website suggests, a Yorkshireman)?

I hate my own voice in recordings, I can't imagine what it must be like to have to hear it back all the time! I suppose you must be used to it now though?

I float around depending on what's going on in the area.

Actually, if you do this job for a couple of weeks you turn into either two types of people:

• A narcissist who loves their own voice
• Or me who criticizes each inflection

Admittedly though, on different days I either love it or hate it.

I float around depending on what's going on in the area.

That's awesome! Seems like a pretty chilled type of living...I know a few boat people who all love it. How's the heating operated in a narrowboat situation?

Or me who criticizes each inflection

Seems like a common complaint among artists of any kind - you sound awesome though, I can only say keep up the good work!

Heating on this one is a diesel stove with pipes in the floor and roof. Basically 360 degree heating!

Aye, you have to criticize yourself, if you become self obsessed you'll only alienate yourself from those that can better you. Thanks a lot :D

Is heating expensive in the winter? Also, what are your usual mooring fees?

It can be, depending on the price of diesel. I pay around £3500 a year in fees.

Question. You said you turn into one of two types of people.

I've been practicing to do voice work for some time now, but considering I don't have decent gear to record with yet I'm still not looking for work or doing any.

I'm a mixture of both. I'm so, so self critical about my voice, but I really love the sounds I can make. My natural speaking voice is fairly pleasant, but my character voices are pretty neat too.

Idk. Just wanted to talk some. Guess that wasn't much of a question. Glad to see someone is getting along with the career well enough though, sounds like your life is pretty nice- boat life sounds cool!

The best place to go for you sounds like /r/Recordthis, plenty of people in the same position as yourself. You'll pick up loads of information that might help with getting your voice heard.

Do what you enjoy, not many other people give themselves the chance!

I've done some poking around on there. :) I've been a huge fan of various voice actors for a long time, so I end up watching a good bit of videos on youtube from the ones that have web series and whatnot.

Good good, keep it up! Try also "The Voiceover Doctor", he's got loads of stuff that Bill DeWees doesn't cover.

Have you ever pranked people using your voice?

Plenty of friends, however in real life for strangers? Nope.

You could pretend to be Major Zero from Metal Gear Solid and I'd believe it

Hah! One day...

If given the opportunity would you ever do Anime Dubs?

Hmm, tough question. I'm a fan of the original language (heck, I studied it at university for three years). The Japanese have put such a huge amount of effort into bringing the character to life, it seems a shame to dub over it rather than read it and hear the emotion in the original actors voice.

Then again, some dubs such as Ghost in the Shell or Cowboy Bebob just seem to fit naturally in my mind.

All hail Britannia!

RRRRRRUUUUURRRRRUUUUGGGGGEEEE!

Do you find that computer generated voices are taking your work?

Nope, never had a single instance of it. I've had only one company so far link me to their video with a computerized voice for an example script.

I agree when the job is about ads, TV voicever or something that need acting, but currently is pretty common to hear computer generated voices in elevators, parking gates and automatic call centers.

Oh, IVR (interactive voice response) is often used over here. I record a bunch of lines and words and they play back whatever is needed at the time.

I could listen to your voice all day man. get on the tv :) do you have plans to get on the box?

Thanks!

The pay for TV jobs can be obscene, however I've heard that 99% of them only go to Union regulated people. If I were to join the Union, I'd loose most of my day to day work.

What kind of animal is in your terrarium?

Fire bellied toads. They sound like tiny dogs barking when they croak.

How do they not bark into your recordings?

Oh, you can't hear them until you are almost next to them.

I actually want to ask you about your house boat.

I grew up (but moved away from) a little village on the outskirts of Manchester which has a canal passing through it that leads all the way into Manchester City Centre. I've always been in love with Long boats, I'd love to live on one. My questions are:

• What made you decide to live on a boat?

• How did you finance it? Did it work like a mortgage or a loan or did you simply have savings?

• How are the day to day costs of living on a boat?

• How do you manage internet connections/TV reception?

• Family put me on here after a divorce, I've been paying rent on it ever since. Trying to move off!

• See above.

• Around £10 a week for Electricity, £60 a year for Gas and £10 a month for water.

• I pay £50 a month for 4G broadband, which gives me a data cap of 50GB per month. It would be much cheaper if I had a landline. TV reception is fine pretty much anywhere.

Your divorce or parents?

My parents unfortunately.

A couple more questions on the boat, it seems fascinating.

How does your address work when you live on a boat? Like do you have a permanent address somewhere else or do you just use a PO box? Also, do you pay for a TV license?

Post goes to a relative as I technically don't have an address. Also, PO Box prices since the privatization of our Postal service are now obscene, I don't use them. Plus, I hardly ever get any post.

Wow! I also have questions about the houseboat. I lived in one, too, when I was in England. Loved it.

• Do you have a permanent mooring, or do you move it around?
• How do you have internet? I only had my mobile phone.
• How did you find your boat? You said you are renting – I suppose you don't own it then? If you don't mind me asking, how much do you pay in rent?
• Would you ever want to own a boat?

And the voiceover thing – pretty awesome job to have on a boat. I suppose you get to spend most of your days actually enjoying the boating life.

No problem!

• Mostly permanent at the moment.
• 4G dongle.
• It's a family members.
• Never, I want to be on land as I've been on here for too long!

It can be fun, but I miss having space.

Can you record a message especially for Reddit?

What are you after?

Nothing fancy, just a simple "Hello Reddit, this is /u/GandalfTheTartan. I hereby announce /u/Yamogi as supreme ruler of the universe and all within it. He is a fine gentleman and can do no wrong. Thank you all, and good night."

Pick and choose the wording as you so wish. I just want to live to hear someone say it.

EDIT: P.S. I'll gild you if you do this. :)

Done! https://soundcloud.com/rdbritannia/yamogi-richard-di-britannia

Gold, as promised sir! Thank you very much! I'm really not as mean as I would seem from the recording though. :)

Why thank you!

I thought I'd go for something that you were not likely to expect, I'm glad you enjoyed it. It's downloadable too now by the way!

I'll work on it when this AMA's done, I want to make something special for ya'!

In the future your recording will spawn a religion I just know it.

ALL HAIL BRITANNIA!

Why is my nose so diseased?

Struggling to breath through it? You might be a nasal speaker. Simply speak from the back of your throat and use some olbas oil :D

Is the pay high for voiceover? And you mention you used the same voice 99% of the time. What kind of voice and job did you use for the 1%?

It can be obscene, the highest paying job I ever auditioned for (didn't get it) was 144 words for Eve Online. Paid $10,000 just for that. The average pay is around £90 per job, however it's not as if you get them every couple of days, I wish it was!

The other 1% with be things such as Pathe' style, or videogame characters with big, booming, stentorian voices.

The average pay is around £90 per job, however it's not as if you get them every couple of days, I wish it was!

Wait, you're telling me you get paid less than £90 every other day?

Some weeks I make minimum wage, some weeks I make more. All depends on what comes through that day!

Yeah is living on a houseboat that cheap? How do you afford groceries on £90 every few days?

No no, you make a mistake. My income varies wildly per week. I actually only spend around £25 a week anyway on food.

Can we listen to that Eve spot?

It's covered by copyright, no doubt for a new release. But it was a grand speech as far as I can remember. Think something similar to a 'Humanity is in crisis, we need to pull together!' style speech.

How do you find VO work? I work part-time at an NPR station and would love to be able to "round out" my hours and get something else on my resume.

Contact every production company you can find and ask them if they are looking to add new voices to their books. That's all I did.

Have you ever wanted to do full-blown voice acting instead of just voiceovers for things you won't get recognized by? Or do you enjoy just having the smaller roles?

Has anyone recognized your voice before? Anyone told you that you should pursue VO/VA and not know that you already do?

Were there any VO/VA jobs that you found difficult, for one reason or another?

What's your favorite job been?

I'm sure you'll hear this a million times today but I'd love to get into VO/VA--not asking you for advice, but rather I'd like to tell you that I really respect what you do! Thanks for the AMA! :)

I'd love to do full blown voiceovers, however quite honestly I don't class myself as a good enough actor at the moment to focus on that side of the career. My personal favorite voice actor has to be Norio Wakamoto. I'd love just a 10th of his vocal gravitas.

Someone at my university recognized my voice, but as I practically live in a padded room all day I don't get out enough for people to hear me. I have however been told loads of times to go into VO, and they always smile when I say that I'm already doing it for a living.

Probably the best one was one of my first, it was for the Utah Department of Health. Therefore a pretty big job. I had three directors attempting to instruct me over Skype to produce the perfect voice for their product constantly throwing me various tips. I learnt so much from that one session along with learning how direction really works.

Thank you very much! All I can say is do what I do, start Youtubing the pro's and copy what they do, but add in your own natural style.

My personal favorite voice actor has to be Norio Wakamoto.

We're best friends now if you can answer one question of mine. Are you also a fan of Akio Ōtsuka?

Who isn't a fan of his smooth voice?

One more question for you. How well divided is the employment positions between female voiceovers and male voiceovers? Do certain positions only require female voice actresses as opposed to male voice actors (Obviously when the subject isn't gender specific)? I have no idea why, but female voices have insanely hot voices usually 150% of the time.

For hard hitting work it's almost always men due to the bass rumble, but the balance of VO's seems to be a 50/50 mix of both with no real preference until you get to the top of the board. Then it's a majority of men due to what I mentioned earlier.

How does background noise effect your recordings?

I have very, very little here. No vibrations from the ground due to being on water and if I have noisy neighbors, I simply move elsewhere.

"Wow, a houseboat. You know, the great thing is, if you don't like your neighbors, you can just pull up the anchor and sail someplace else.” – Homer Simpson

Or cut them adrift.

I wanted to ask the same, I thought that the sounds of water at the least, and maybe sounds from the marina would be hard to stop from getting into the boat. Does OP have a sound booth in a boat?

Nope, not a thing. I've soundproofed most of the room. I tell people that 'I live in a padded room and talk to myself... And get paid for it'!

Sounds like my dream job!

Then why not do it? :D

Your gonna push yourself out the business if you don't stop suggesting everyone does it!

If I go out of business by helping people I'll be remembered well when I'm dead :D

Do you and David Gilmour race your recording studio boats?

...There's another person in the world who has a studio on a boat?!

Yeah, only its probably nicer than yours due to him being worth 500million. Are you gonna take that? Boat race! boat race! Boat race!

Mine has a grand top speed of 6mph. He could walk faster.

What is it like on the boat when a nasty storm rolls in?

Never had one, I'm on a flat canal. Wind however can be a real pain as I bounce off the canal walls.

THUD. THUD. THUD.

For hours.

That's pretty interesting. Has it ever interfered with any of your recordings?

A few days, it's just like having construction workers turn up outside any business really. Some days it interferes, some days it doesn't.

What is it like living in a boat?

Small and crampt. Personally I'm saving up to move on land.

Cool AMA, boat related question, how do you deal with toilet wastes and say water for shower, tap etc, is it like a caravan and your hooked up?

Thanks! The toilet is horrible, it's a posh bucket I have to empty once a week. The rest is standard plumbing.

So, Steven Toast or Ray Purchase? Who's better?

Steven Purchase.

How old are you, if you don't mind me asking? Your face looks younger than your voice sounds!

Also, can we see a close up pic of your toad terrarium please?

I'm 25, when I worked in a call center people thought I was 40+... Sorry it's small, but here's a 'Toadem Pole' - http://i.imgur.com/7ZwvADY.jpg

Is there a specific "clarity" in which you must speak? For example, news anchors often speak in a somewhat-strict anti-dialect most likely to be 100% understood. If so, how long did it take you to get it down?

It really depends on the job. However the audience has to understand you, admittedly sometimes I do overemphasize words, which costs me the odd audition.

I'm still working on my speaking voice, I make plenty of mistakes on a day to day basis due to having a terrible working memory. I simply do tongue twisters whenever I have a free moment (such as brewing another cup of coffee).

I noticed however a huge difference after recording a 90,000 word audiobook!

Did you notice a difference between the start of the audio book and the end of it?

Not sure if that was what you were saying in the first place.

Huge difference. My voice matures as it goes along. However I'm working to eliminate this to have it all similar and more professional sounding!

Do you give your loved ones a list of all your work? So that (God forbid) you died suddenly, they can always listen to your voice by phoning up banks or riding in elevators?

...I really should do, however they'd probably get sick of me trying to sell them insurance.

Have you ever gone to the ocean with the boat? If so, what is the best thing you can see out there?

Ah no, it's a canal only boat. All I see here are cows passing wind and chavs impaling themselves on shopping trolleys at the bottom of the canal.

Well, I like cows. So there's that

Did you know some cows will come and lick your windows?

I, like many, hate how I sound when I hear a recording of myself. How can I get one of those radio announcer voices. Also, how much for you to do my voicemail greeting?

Throw me £15 and it's done! In short, just try and imagine talking to a friend rather than reading the script, it's difficult to do, but do your best!

My favorite elevators were ones at work that said "Peeeee" in a lovely british voice when arriving at the Parking level. Unfortunately they must have had complaints, as it was changed after a few short months. Questions for you!

• What's the most fun you've had on a line?
• Has anyone let you add emotion to your elevator voice?
• What's your most memorable line(s)?

Thanks for doing this! :)

Thanks for the questions!

The most fun I've had was auditioning for this job, it was incredibly out of my comfort zone: https://soundcloud.com/rdbritannia/richard-di-britannia-evil-skeletor-warlock

• Nope, I really wanted to do a full IT crowd and say "Get out of the lift. Get out of the lift" but they wouldn't let me :<

• Even the ass knows it's master! - Religious narration.

Where do you find your jobs, initially, and did that change over time as you got more exposure?

Voices.com and oDesk to start with, however now I get a few emails rolling in.

How did your friends and family react when you first started? Is there a gig you've done that they tease you about?

Some thought that I'd never make any money, the others thought I should have started years ago. Not that I know of, however one person keeps asking me to narrate their life.

do you think that a female voice (for announcements like in train, etc) is better?

A female voice always cuts through frequencies better during hard to hear environments, but personally I'd love to voice the London underground.

Galaxy or Wispa?

Melt 'em both and blend them together for a Wisxy.

As a fellow voice actor, I must say congratulations! You naturally possess the most infuriatingly difficult accent to emulate of the whole British Isles (if not the world).

So... tips for the perfect Yorkshire accent?

Drop all 'ya 't''s and other hard sounds and then smile when talking :D

Does your dog bark and mess up your recordings a lot?

Not often! He's very well behaved for a rescue dog!

Hi Richard, thanks for doing an AMA. My dog's name is also Charlie!

My question is:

Have you ever encountered your own voicework (in a public elevator, on a phone service, etc.) before, and if so, how weird was it to hear??

Cheers, have an awesome day!

You're more than welcome. Hello Charlie!

A couple of times in a lift, which is terrifying. I often respond with WHO THE HELL IS THA-Oh wait it's me.

How many times have you fallen into the water when going in or out of your boat?

Touch wood (cue me to bang on the wall), never!

I am thinking about moving to a boat as well. How do you keep yourself warm in winter? I saw the burner in the picture...is there anything else I would need to keep in mind ?

Plenty of insulation on the inside of the walls when it's been built. If not, you have cold steel right against the wooden wall!

I assume you do this work out of passion, so I have a two part question: What's your favorite part of the job, and how far do you want your voiceover career to go?

Favorite part? The commute! I want to be heard by many, many more people. When I almost lost my voice it made me realize how important my voice was.

I'm confused, you live in England and called it an elevator?

Oh god. Working for American companies is changing my internal monologue. http://nooooooooooooooo.com/

My friends and I rented a narrow boat and few years ago from Silsdens Boats and we are doing it again this year. Do you have a favourite stretch of the Leeds - Liverpool canal or do you mostly stay in one place?

Hmm, not that I can think of off hand, I always found the Leeds marina to be intimidating with everyone staring down at you from the high rise buildings surrounding it. I'm more of a person who doesn't enjoy sailing, but enjoys the peace and quiet.

Is it a nice boat?

Why not come look? I'll show you my collection of meat cleavers.

Did you need agents/managers to book work?

Nope not at all. Bill DeWees, a real top level pro, has 14 agents; he said that if he lost them all he wouldn't even lose 1% of his yearly work.

People tell me I have a nice voice fairly regularly. What should I do to see if I have what it takes?

Join /r/Recordthis and take part in the airchecks. That's probably the best place to start. Or join a couple of free vacancy sites. The most important thing is to have a good quality recording so that we can hear your voice as it would naturally sound.

Does your voice sound the same to you as it does after recording? And if so do you prefer it how it sounds to you or after? Mine sounds drastically different, and like a lot of people, I hate how it sounds when played back to me.

I'm used to the sound of my voice, therefore to me it sounds perfectly normal. Most mics and speakers however do colour the sound of your own voice, which often makes it sound 'worse'.

I actually think I hear my voice differently to what it actually sounds like because when I'm recorded using any microphone and I ask someone if that sounds like I do when I speak normally, they say it's exactly the same, but to me it sounds like another person. Anyway thanks for the reply!

It will be slightly different, as you're hearing it in your head. But it's not too different in all honesty. You're welcome!

Tidal Roar sounds like you're voicing a League of Legends champion or something. :'D

Would you like to do something like voicing a video game character for games like LoL or Dota? Personally I would find this the most awesome thing to do (except for voicing for a complete movie/character or something)

It was for Heroes of Newearth! I didn't get the job .-.

I'd love to do indie videogame voices, my favorite VO audition was this one: https://soundcloud.com/rdbritannia/richard-di-britannia-evil-skeletor-warlock

Have you ever done any work on thomas the tank engine?

Nope. Why do you ask?

What do you say if your doing the voice of a crowd? (I could be wrong but the Hebrews in the Ten Commandments said rutabaga) what's your go to or do you just read readit?

Rubarb barbru!

Have you ever done a book before?

If not, can you do a book for us? Something like The Very Hungry Caterpillar?

I have done a couple, the "Book of Magic Power" is hopefully being released this week. You can hear some examples on my ACX profile here: www.acx.com/narrator?p=A1KYD6LOGBENUM

Your voice is amazing! And I've pretty sure I've heard it before lol.

What are your favourite projects that you have worked on?

Because I can totally imagine your voice reading the Harry Potter books lmao

Thank you!

Probably the favorite one was an audiobook called 'The Book of Magic Power by Jason Augustus Newcomb', it's due to come out this week, hopefully.

I'm no where near good enough a character actor for Harry Potter, I can only dream to sound as fantastic as Stephen Fry one day.

UGH listening to your voice is like eating chocolate with my ears.

• How do you even start with this type of career?
• Do you practice/train yourself?
• When you hold a casual conversation, does your voice sound the same? Because some people have a different speaking/talking voice.
• Have you considered radio or TV voiceover work?

Thank you!

• Boredom, poverty and a desire to succeed.
• I listen to the pros on youtube and copy adverts I hear on TV / the radio.
• Yep, pretty much similar, however it often goes more into a Yorkshire dialect when I'm amused at something.
• Live work scares me, as I actually make loads of mistakes when speaking.