IAMA Voice over Actor who makes his living doing commercials you've heard, and you've never heard of me.

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I got started when I was pretty young. I tried my hand at standup my freshman year of high school, and had always done voices messing around (my dad used to do it around the house, lots of times at restaurants would order in an accent). I just sort of had a knack for it, like playing an instrument by ear, I can do with my voice for other people's voices. But an agent saw my TERRIBLE standup, but loved my voices. Said, "hey, that was awful, but great voices, do you have representation?". And that was that.

As for needing one...it is crucial if you want to get big national campaigns, but I'll be honest, it's becoming less important because of the viability of the Internet. I get a lot of my jobs on my own and you really can make a decent living doing enough small-time jobs without an agent. You probably wont be doing major TV spots or cartoons without one, but you can definitely swing some local radio/internet spots and supplement your income pretty nicely.

How much do I have to pay you to record my voicemail? I'm serious. I've always wanted James Earl Jones or some similar voice recording my voicemail. When people call my phone and hear my voicemail, I want them to say "damn, that is one impressive voicemail" before they hang up without leaving a message.

If I could do James Earl Jones...I'd be retired and living on the moon. But if you have a specific celebrity request, PM me and I'll try and send over an MP3.

What's it like for you or people you live with to hear your voice on the TV all the time? Is it like, "Oh hey, here's my best bud VoiceForAnyChoice trying to sell me beer again!". Or is it weird for them to possibly be hearing your voice from the TV in another room when you're not home? Do people ask you to "do the commercial voice"?

How similar is your "normal" everyday talking voice to what we hear on commercials?

It used to be weird at first, but people get pretty used to it after a while, so much so they don't even think about it. I get the occasional Facebook post or text like, "I heard your Keystone ad in Florida!" or "I was traveling in TX and heard a Colorado Board of Tourism ad that I SWEAR was you", but for the most part, people know it's what I do and have heard enough that its just like, meh.

As far as my regular voice, I have a weird thing about it, and have NO idea if this is true for other VO people. I am SUPER self-conscious about doing my regular voice. Give me a character, and I am superbly confident, even say, "give me Joe Everyman", and I will concoct a reg. sounding dude, but if I am ever asked to do ME, oh man...I hate it. I can control the characters and the voices, I don't know how to control ME. UNCHARTED TERRITORY.

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Man, good question, they are all over the place. I am so used to performing for people doing the voices, that I definitely go into full character. I have to do the whole-shebang to nail the voice, they are not mutually exclusive. There are some I am so practiced at that I can do without gesticulations, but on the whole, my performance and voice will be best served by going full-bore into the character. It really makes a difference when all you are left with is audio to judge the performance.

So, are you a dude who has no idea what dude he is and claims to know what dude he is by playing other dudes?

As long as I don't go full Harrelson. You never go full Harrelson.

Can you talk dirty to me

Relevant username ..

What are some of the jobs you turned down?

As shallow as it seems, most of what I've turned down has been money related. Usually anything through my agent is ridiculously lucrative (and my agent will charge prices I would NEVER DARE DREAM to do on my own), but for my own personal stuff, if I get a bid from someone, the only way I turn it down is if it's not enough financial incentive. If I get a 10 page script with a thousand different directions in it, and am offered 40 bucks, I will say thanks but no thanks. After that, I am a voice prostitute in every sense of the word.

I would love to do this and in cartoons....thanks for the info. What are more areas do you want to get into?

Here's the rub about cartoons, and something that depressed me big time:

Unless you are one of about 12-15 people, there is very little money in animation voice work. Of course there are major exceptions, e.g. the Simpsons guys getting 600k an episode or whatever ridiculous number, but honestly, if you are misc. dude #7 on Squidbillies, that is not your cash cow.

I much prefer commercial work, it pays better, it takes INFINITELY less time. I can do a 30 spot in 20 minutes of studio time that will pay what 12 hours of animation work will pay. Don't get me wrong, I love doing animated stuff, there's a whole other level of awesome seeing your voice set to a character, but in terms of economic efficiency, commercials are where its at.

I'm not sure what other areas I want to get into, maybe just more volume of what I currently do I guess. I love doing it, I have an enormous passion for it, and would do it for free if no one wanted to pay me, it's not work to me, even though it can be more arduous than people realize.

Basically, I want Simpsons money.

Don't get me wrong, I love doing animated stuff, there's a whole other level of awesome seeing your voice set to a character, but in terms of economic efficiency, commercials are where its at.

Couldn't you just do the Tara Strong thing and be in damn near everything, or is it diffucult to get that many VA parts in vidya games and animation?

Ya know, it's hard to get your foot in the right door to get that level of volume, but honestly, it's sort of exhausting from a logistical standpoint, a lot of scheduling and organizing with different studios. I did work for SO-COM Navy Seal games, and it was a lot of fun and would gladly go that route again, but there are really only a handful of "Tara Strongs", people that are across that many platforms. Not everyone can be a Billy West, try as we might.

Are you the guy who does the terribly fake Australian accent for the Outback commercials?

Haha, no, I cant stand the current guy. I was the dude during the "No rules, just right" campaign. I was solid.

Do you point out to people when a commercial you did comes on when you are watching tv with people?

Haha, this is actually a great question. I used to ALL THE TIME when I first started getting big spots. I used to do the tagline for the "Dont Drink 6-beers at one time? Brilliant!" Guinness ads, and they ran on ESPN all the time, so I used to tell everyone to watch, but after a while, I sort of just got numbed to it, and the panache of it evaporated, so I kept my ever-decreasing jubilation to myself.

Do you ever do it in the nude, then when you watch it you have a naughty feeling like "i was totally nude saying that"

Not until I decided to do this AMA in the nude.

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You assume I don't. That would be a mistake.

What is the most famous commercial you have done? Also, how long does it usually take to make one?

I think the Outback ads were definitely my shining moment, although I've been doing Guinness for a long time. I want Jameson Whiskey next...

I have no idea how long the production element takes to make it, I can only speak to my efforts, and a 30 second spot usually takes me about 20-30 minutes if I'm in studio. I walk in, talk it over, record 15 variations, and then say bye.

I walk in, talk it over, record 15 variations, and then say bye.

Reminds me of the "Lisa Lionheart" episode of The Simpsons where Lisa is trying to do the voice overs for the doll, fretting over every word. Krusty walks in, commandeers the mic, does his 6 sayings and walks out 20 seconds later.

"Ok Krusty we're ready to start now"

Oh man, that is awesome goodness. I love that scene. Upvote.

I work on Jameson's advertising. In fact, it's what I'm supposed to be doing right now. I'll try to throw your name into the casting pool next time we're producing radio.

A-Mazing. I'm in. Everytime I hear those "Hawk of Acham" ads for Jameson, I keep thinking, "I want in."

Does your work pay well? I have an amazing voiceover guy I use who charges like $20 for reading a ten minute script.

It can pay very well. I've gotten in the neighborhood of 15k for a single spot (Taylor Made Golf Clubs) and as little at $75 for doing voiceovers for friend's start-ups. You can definitely price yourself out of a lot of work, and I try never to do that, although sometimes its just not worth my time to do a giant project for less money than I could get doing 30 seconds for the next guy who pays twice as much.

Have you ever wanted to go in to regular acting?

Also, what was it like working on the set of Rampart? Is Woody Harrelson really a giant douche, or just a regular sized douche.

His douche has a douche. He is the Russian Nesting doll of douches.

I just listened to a few of your commercials, and I love your voices! You do that Australian one like a pro. What's your favorite voice to do?

Honestly, whatever voice that person wants to hear at the time is my favorite. I love doing Stewie/Herbert the Pervert with high schoolers and youngin's, I love doing Columbo or Jackie Mason for older people, I do Elmo/Donald/Mickey for my nieces/nephews, I like to entertain, and so whatever they want to hear, is my favorite to do. Lame answer, but when you've done 160+ voices for so long, its hard to really pin a favorite. So I like to entertain with them most.

You can do Donald? How long did it take you to figure that one out? I can't possibly fathom how that voice works...

Man, Donald is a tough one. I can really only do it if I am controlling what I'm saying, like I can write for him, but I had to do a series of commercials for Ernst and Young, and they wanted Donald/Mickey, and I can do Mickey saying anything, but Donald rattling off accounting terms...I had to record it one word at a time really slowly, then speed it up...it took some serious editing, but I got it. If I write what he's saying, piece of cake.

The voice is actually a lot of reverberation off the roof of my mouth, I'm trying to do it now and describe it...and I cannot.

Do you ever just go through a drive through at a fast food restruant and pull out a random voice to fuck with them?

Every. Single. Time.

Also, anytime I go into a store, I am from somewhere different. No sense in not practicing, plus, its hilarious.

• Preferred vocal mic(s)?

• If you use multiple mics, do you change them out depending on what type of spot you're doing?

• Would you ever take a mic with you to a recording for a national spot because you've found the mic that you like for your voice?

Neumann m147 is the warmest thing I've ever used. I feel like I'm recording into a stick of hot butter. It delightful.

I do change them out actually, I have a Rode NTX that takes really loud VO's like a champ, I actually did a Gilbert Gottfried for an ad the other day, and it sort of overpowered my Neumann's sensitivity and switched to my Rode, and it handled it great.

And if I am heading to a studio, which means its been picked by the ad/marketing team for that company, I would never bring my own equipment. If I showed up and told an ad exec and the sound engineer I brought my own rig, I would be shown the door.

How would anyone know if they have the voice talent to pursue a career like yours?

I get more people who tell me "Hey, everyone at work says I should do cartoons!" or something to that effect, I mean, I'd call a local talent agency and get their take, and if they say you dont, they get a second and third and fourth opinion if you really want to pursue it. Make some demos and try your hand at it. You'll never KNOW until you try it.

Guinness Brewery

Hi, I have a question in two parts:

• Can you say 'Brilliant!!'?
• Can you say 'Brilliant!!'?

TIA

Haha, I was actually the tag-line for those ads, e.g. "For most outtakes visit Guinness.com" or "Guinness Draft, best straight from the bottle", that got reused for years and years.

What is your favorite voice over you've done?

I do a really good Bobcat Goldwaithe, and literally no one else on earth does it, and so I used to be the jokey call-in fake-celebrity guy for a radio station, and had people so convinced I was Bobcat, that we had these WEIRD WEIRD Police Academy afficiandos come by the station to catch a glimpse of the 'Cat. It was delightfully reaffirming.

Is the voice you use for most of your non-accent commercials your natural voice? Like, when you have a casual conversation with another person, is that what you sound like? Or is your natural voice a bit different?

I sort of sound like Brian from Family Guy when I talk regularly, so when I do my non-accent ads, I tend to throw in a slight gravel to it, so it sounds like, "Hey, I'm a 28 year old male who is totally professional, but I also do extreme sports. I appeal to all of you!"

good to have all your bases covered! also funny because Brian is Seth MacFarlane's non-accenty voice, and he's also great at imitating crooner-type singers, and......are you as good-looking as him? ARE YOU HIM

Yes.

No.

How much would it cost to have you read me a bedtime story every night?

Are we sharing this bed?

How do you charge? Per second of voice work?

Depends on the job, I usually do $250 per 30 seconds with a minimum of 30 seconds...

... but for Redditors, $50 per 30 seconds with a minimum of 30 seconds.

So what I'm reading here is for $50 you'll record something for us?

Yep.

What's your favorite kind of shark?

Grooveshark

Is there any voice actor that you yourself look up to?

I am a huge Billy West fan, admire Seth MacFarlane's rise from nothing to cartoon kingpin, I love me some Harry Shearer as well.

Yes, but, can you sing?

All aside, awesome, man. I practice accents all the time when I'm alone in the car driving, or I imitate international customers who call our business. I also do one hell of a moviefone voice, and I'm a chica.

Haha, "....why don't you just tell me the movie you want to see?"

I can do marginal impressions of singers (mostly crooner types), but that has yet to be a form of income for me, and I dont anticipate that changing anytime soon, ha.

Do you have links to any of the commercials you have worked on?

If you go to my [website](www.voiceforanychoice.com) and listen to my demos, about 1/2 of them are actual ads.

I just listened to your demos and I must say, I love your neutral explanation voice.

Haha, industrial narration...boring as hell but hey, pays the bills and people need to be instructed.

When you're at the studio recording one of your character voices, do they give you some time to get into character and say things that aren't in the script?

Yea, they definitely do, usually after we record it straight, they say, "Ok, go nuts with it", and I can riff/improv to my hears content. It's really exciting when my version of it gets the green-light and not the original script.

It says on your site you can do James Lipton's voice.

Ever do an Inside the Actor's Studio interviewing yourself in other celebrity voices you can do?

"Joining us tonight is Miss Piggy"

Haha, I used to do some improv stuff, and James Lipton interviewing [enter celeb name here] was always money in the bank.

can you make a generic/personal voice mail message :)?

Do you have a Paypal account? :)

Cool studio, whats with the panels? They reflect sound perfectly or just for pretty?

Acoustic foam is very important. If I submit a recording that has any echo to it, all my credibility is shot. You can get away with blankets in a closet somtimes, but I had to step it up if I want to viably make my living from home.

How much would you charge to follow me around and narrate my life? Ill give you every other weekend off.

If I am paid in gum, I will be there even on weekends off.

No one ever pays me in gum. :(

I've heard that some vocalists smoke cigarettes before they perform to add a deeper quality to their voice. Do you smoke and/or have you ever smoked for this reason?

I've gotten this far without cigs (although I enjoy the occasional cigar with friends), no reason to start and likely end my career early as I do VO's through a hole in my throat.

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I honestly am totally on board with the voices.com and voice123.com sites to get your stuff out there and at least try. It's not cheap, but it paid itself off in the first job I got from it, so, without an agent, these are great places to start.

I see you use a Blue Yeti! I love this mic. What equipment did you start out with, and what was the best purchase (equipment-wise) you have made?

Haha, I actually don't use that very often, I travel with it just in case, I was testing doign some recording into iOS for my iPad when I took the pic. The Blue mics are not quite yet studio quality, but I don't doubt that in 3-4 years, USB mics will be nearly indistinguishable from their XLR cousins.

edit: Best purchase was my Neumann m147 mic, its not cheap, but if I want to get paid the big bucks, I can't be throwing out MP3's off a Snowball.