Gary Spangler – Life of a Voice-Over Actor

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Episode 24: Gary Spangler – Life of a Voice-Over Actor

Our guest Gary Spangler voice actor, shared some of the projects he’s done where he’s created special voices for radio commercials and cartoon characters. Gary is one of those lucky people that has great control over his voice. He can go anywhere from a British accent to a quirky cartoon character. He even shares with us some of the voices he has created. One minute he is narrating a pharmaceutical commercial for radio, and the next, the regional dialect of the U.S.. He discusses the challenges of book narration and what it takes to become a voice actor. The show is animated by his voice acting versatility. He even discusses computer-generated voices that we often hear in our daily lives. Gary, who has been an actor and a singer, attributes some of his skill in manipulating his voice to create memorable characters. If you are like us and you ever made up character voices for fun, or you want to become a voice actor, then you will enjoy what Gary Spangler Voice-Over Actor has to share.

Show Notes:

Gary Spangler – Life of a Voice-Over Actor

00:00:17 – 00:05:04

Did you ever make funny voices? Where you were a kid? Yes, actually. I used to do Donald Duck and would occur. But now I’m at a practice to practice because I want to hear you. All right, and what about you, you know, I drive still drive a great deal of pleasure out of emulating the kid on The Shining. I like to hold my hand up, use my index finger and have Tony say red rum. And yes, that Tony is very annoying song. Off. Hi everyone. And here we are celebrating what people love to do creatively and how it impacts their lives. I’m Rod Jones. And I’m Inci Jones. Welcome to the Thought Row podcast. We invite you to subscribe wherever you, listen and we are available virtually anywhere. You listen to podcasts. Yes. And no matter what you do creatively, we think this is the podcast for you. All right, in G, what are we discussing today? Well today we’re going to be speaking with Gary Spangler who is a voice artist and I know he’s going to share some really cool cleaners found things that he does with his craft cool. That’s going to be kind of nice. Yeah, you know, he’s a pretty versatile voice after he has read some pretty interesting voices. Yes, he can talk first. How about your quote? Yeah. Okay so our quote this week is the tongue can paint with the eyes can’t see. It is a Chinese proverb. Oh, that’s kind of interesting. Also, I think it’s the first Chinese proverb we’ve had, you know, I think you might be right and the tongue can paint. How’s it go with tongue? Can paint what the eyes can’t see? Oh, that’s an interesting. Yeah, kind of like what you hear on radio or podcast process is doing? Yeah, definitely podcast. And then also the old time radios. I thought, when I was looking at this quote, where they had the old time radio shows, you know, like the War of the Worlds people were so convinced it was real that they were going into hysteria wage. Yeah. That was delivered on radio all over I guess all over the country and there were people that were actually panicking the streets and it was it was really a kind of an interesting thought that was all painted by the Tongue by the voice. Right. And using your imagination. Yeah, totally. Okay, so now it’s time for rods, motivational moment choice. What do you have for us today? Well, what I have is Singh hum or whistle, okay? I think it’s very important for everyone to do. One of these everyday life, it could really set your attitude and your mood make you more healthy in a very positive way. You know, there is a lot to that because from what I understand if they you are vocalizing which is singing listening to music or humming and even whistling it actually activates different chemistry in your brain. So it is very mood enhancing and causes different chemicals to fire off in your head. Yeah, when you walk by somebody, who’s whistling when they’re working on a project or something and you just know they’re really thoroughly enjoying themselves or if they just break out in a song, I mean you can drive down the freeway, you’ll see people in the car next to you and they’re moving their hands or they’re, you know, they’re singing, mm. Song, they’re listening to on the radio and they have a smile on their face and a pretty happy and 100% sure about how safe that is. Cuz it should be paid attention. But, you know, we all just break into a song when we hear thoughts on on the radio, that is our favorite. Well, I think, you know, when you sing in the car, it’s like one of those Pleasures that you just so enjoy and it puts you in a better mood Instagram. We well, you know, when I was growing up, I used to sing all the time and my mom, and when I went into the military and when I returned, and I stayed with my parents for a week or two, and then my mom goes, you know what, you don’t sing anymore. She was like disappointed. So I really missed that. You always made me feel so good especially when you would sing in the morning even when you’re on your way to school. And she said, I know you don’t like school but you were singing and it was a very positive thing to do and I’m not a singer, I mean, I had choir at school and I actually, you know, I actually try to do that now, I’ll, especially when I listen to age A country western song.

00:05:04 – 00:10:03

You know why? Particularly like when you sing really, really high, like the country song, My Maria. And you go into that falsetto and it just took, it makes me instantly happy. It is so fun to listen to you too bad. Well, deep down inside, I’m trying to hit that Hi-C Beverly Sills or some, you know, some days. I think you do it, you know. Oh, really well. Yeah, well, I can pull off a pretty deep voice to. Yes, you can. Yes, you can. I also find it fascinating, how some people can create character voices, and they do it out of thin air and, you know, they become famous, you know, like Homer Simpson need. I say more. Yeah, really. And it’s interesting because if you listen or watch the early episodes of Homer, he didn’t have his voice yet. Yeah. They’ll they’re still developing that character. And it’s interesting with a lot of even early cartoons or even dead. Serialized movies. You can tell that they hadn’t quite developed their voice. And then all of a sudden, when you watch the say, one of The Simpsons episodes that are current and then you listen to one from the very beginning and you go, how did I ever get hooked on that? The voice is horrible. Yeah, they sounded a lot different. And even the cartoons were really kind of primitive-looking when you compare them with the dog Simpsons episode of the creative voices. I think it takes time to really hone in a great voice. I think it does, it really does, you know, when you talk about the different choices, I if to me, I really remember Paul Harvey growing up. Well, probably some of the most recognizable voices and been associated, with products or early radio. They heavily depended upon people, associating, a voice with a product and Paul Harvey. I’m not 100% sure about his birth. Marshalls. I’m sure he did. Yeah, but you certainly, if you ever heard him his signature, the way he would end it, you know, goodbye. And he hit that high note but there are a lot of people especially on Earth radio that had voices that really, you still remember, but I think you were also going to mention. Well, yeah, I wanted to mention George fenneman. Who did you change your life? And he was like, like, the best announcer. He was famous. And now today you, you see TV commercials like the Geico Gecko and even if you don’t hear it on the radio, you see the commercial, you see the character or character, right? Of the of the, the little gecko. Yeah. And there’s other commercials like that, where do you see them on television? And they cannot pass through your mind. But then we hear on the radio, your brain automatically pictures, the person or the commercial. Yeah, so you instantly know what it is. And of course you remember the product? Yeah. Result is so built around the voice which kind of goes back to your quote a little bit, doesn’t it? Yeah, it really does now I know that when you hear certain singers on the radio we just know who it is by their voice. Like for me I know we’ve been listening to country music lately. Reba McEntire Instagram, you know, who that is within like a note in the same with Celine Dion. She’s got such a legendary voice as well. Yeah, some of these two more contemporary singers wage just automatically recognize their voice, you may sing along with their song, or you may even try to duplicate how they’re actually singing a song. Yeah. Well, you hope mm. Yeah. Well, they have all the gear you don’t, right? You’re lucky. If you can do it in your cellphone, I suppose. Yeah true. And what about Janis Joplin? Well, The Voice I said, and I have to say hers is a little grating at times, but man, you owe yourself. You cannot hear Janis Joplin. And not know who the heck it was, if you know who she is to this day. You. If I say the name, you’ll recognize your voice and you’ll also recognize some of our song. The other person that, that really resonates with me, of course, is Willie Nelson song. You know, his songs at. Even the interesting thing about him is he wrote a lot of famous songs for other singers. But just still, no, it’s a Willie Nelson song Just because the way it’s phrased ordered, and then the other person, Johnny Cash, of course, oh gosh. Yeah. Legendary toys deep resonating voice that can stick with you. Absolutely. I mean, I grew up listening to Johnny, my dad liked Johnny, very much. Yeah. Well, there’s people still listen to songs to this day. Oh yeah, I often associate a voice that I may hear on the radio off.

00:10:03 – 00:15:00

Rather it be a character or a commercial with a picture of that person. Or what I think that person should look like, it’s kind of like somebody speaks to you and then you said, oh this is what I think they look like and you could be totally wrong. Yeah, because we’ve, we’ve all heard people, they go all, he’s got such a great voice and show them on T and then You Go, Hmmm. That’s exactly what I envisioned. This person to be so true. And when we talked to people in the phone, yeah, sometimes you’ll talk to them, and they sound one way, and then, and then when you see them in person, it’s their soul be different. Yeah, yeah, yeah, the place is pretty amazing thing and we interpret people’s voices so much differently. Each one of us has a different perspective, I could not hear a person’s voice and you can hear person’s voice. And your vision of that person is entirely different than mine. I think we all do that. Not true. But then there’s also some voices that just great wage New when you hear them and unfortunately we all seem to remember them and an interesting example, would be like Fran Drescher in the nanny. Yeah. But somehow she ended up being endearing to me and I think millions of people and it was her signature. What about you Rod? Well, I’d have a fairly long list but I’m going to narrow it down to one person. Yeah, two, but one for sure. And that would be Lina Lamont. Oh my gosh, I’m seeing in the ring. I love her. Is the antithesis of annoying when she opens her mouth, it just grates on you but as an actor as she pulled that off magically, I think seeing the rain, is certainly one of the most recognized and loved musicals ever. Oh yeah, it’s very popular. Even to this day, people love the characters, love the music, but she if you ask somebody about seeing the rain. Yeah, yep. Say Debbie Reynolds. Right? Right. Yeah. But they’ll also say, oh yeah, there was that girl Lina Lina Lamont. Yeah, great actress. She pulled that off brilliantly. So true, so true. Well, it was one of the most admired musicals in history really. Yeah. Yeah, I think that, you know, right now. Well, let’s bring on our special guest. See now we’re talking about voice and voice talent and voice acting out it, okay? So here we go. Gary. Welcome to the thought of punk ass. We’ve been really looking forward. I know I’ve been looking forward and just be looking forward to chatting with you today. Yes, hi Gary. So, good to have you with us today. I am been looking forward to this. Also, I’m so excited to be with you guys, and I bet you’ve been rehearsing your voices. I rehearsals everyday. I think you would we met on LinkedIn, and I was really excited when I met you to meet an actual authentic voice actor. I don’t run into those kind of people today, that’s for sure. Well, I definitely felt so fortunate having it as a connection LinkedIn is where I’ve been able to get no less than three audiobook projects directly from them. One of them that you referred me to. So I’m very grateful for the whole platform and especially my connection with both of you are welcome. Thank you. And I’m glad he Linked In this perfect birth. For what your do. Your occupation really melds well with LinkedIn cuz you’re going to meet a lot of the people that could use your talent. Exactly. Exactly. Well, before we move on to our interview off, let us ask you the question that we asked everybody, which is what did you have for breakfast? Cuz we’re boring. We try to come up with other ideas. We really do need new ideas. Well, next, how cool. I guess it’s a breakfast of Kings, it is off of her voice over people, right? And totally my my first answer was, oh, I’ve had thirteen Pop-Tarts. Nice. Oh, just kidding. My wife made me frittata so I only had found Pop-Tarts. Nice. That sounds good. All about nutrition good for you a different Honda. That’s a good breakfast. Oh yeah it was wonderful. You know one of the things we’ve been amazed. That there’s such a dynamic need for voice actors. Tell us a little bit about what they do. Well, any voice that you hear on screen or where the actor is, not actually visually doing.

00:15:00 – 00:20:02

The talking is a voice actor, it all started out with radio but now it’s on many any media Outlet like the like the internet also still radio and and and TV and especially with all the different channels on TV, show that there are now and documentaries cetera. Essentially, the the client will give or the director will give stripped to the voice artist and you read it to their expectations and they make adjustments as you go. And there’s a lot of acting that goes into voice acting even if it’s a corporate industrial, or if it’s doing an animated character, I’m glad you mentioned corporate industrial because it just recently read that there are companies or their voice actors that actually specialize in Reading annual reports or log. Doing all of the like even doing a podcast for corporations cuz they say a lot of Executives, just don’t do that very well, they’re not real good. Speaking on a microphone. I mean, they can be really good telling their employees what you do every day, but when it comes to them talking about their company, they actually hire voice actors. Is that is that true? That’s where I think I’ve been reading. Yeah, it actually came true, especially for internal training, some companies. After doing some research, I found that some companies will have internal podcasts that are not released out to the general public, but might go out to sales reps or technicians that they have on their staff throughout the country and they will do training through those and they will hire voice actors to do those types of projects and going one step further white papers for medical different Technologies and different advancements. They’ll be read by voice actor. Wage. Well. Oh, really. Oh, that’s interesting too. Interesting. You never think about all of the places where you hear a voice actor, your voice actor, cuz it’s just so seamless. I think you automatically just listen to it. And don’t realize. It’s a, it’s a job job. And that’s the important part in doing that. Type of narration is it’s part of the voice actors just to make sure they’re in the background. Make sure you’re not standing out the content or the the subject matter is, what’s the important thing, I guess you have to church. Don’t want to be this celebrity. You just want to convey the information so people understand it clearly and and obviously as a voice actor and we know from hearing you that you’re very articulate and the different ways, you present voice content, pretty amazing. You know, one thing I never really thought about his voice actors, narrating video games. Yes. And that was actually dead. Brought to the attention by my sons who are grown now. But, you know, we, I started them early with old old school, Nintendo games. But they’ve graduated to some of the more advanced game and they brought to my attention, that there’s a lot of, exposition, a lot of narration about a particular land in a video game, or, or particular characters and their back stories and what they go through. So there’s a lot of narration that goes on to that, I guess they’re building the story to let the game player know that choice is the Fantasyland and this is where we’re going to be in. These are the characters is that right? That’s exactly right. That’s exactly right. And in fact, living in urban, I live just down the street from Blizzard Entertainment that has a series of different video games, including World of Warcraft. So, so it’s right around the corner. Third, if you’re listening, Gary can be there in no time, there you go, you can be there as well. So I wanted to ask, I understand that voice actors do voice-overs for foreign films. It must be tricky to get the lips and the words to match and I’ve noticed like Netflix, they’re really good about their foreign films. You can’t hardly detect that it’s from. They’re speaking another language we watch one in turkey and she happens speak Turkish so she can kind of read their life and all that. But it was really interesting to us about you if you have you done that yet, that’s something that I’ve got lined up to, you have to be trained in that sort of thing. Yes. Because it’s very it’s definitely a skill set. Because you have to have a monitor where you’re watching the lips. Oh you’re certain letters like peas and T’s where the with a p your lips come together with a t. The your tongue hits the top of hits the roof of your mouth? Yeah.

00:20:02 – 00:25:02

And so your knowing exactly and part of that is the actual training which I’ve had any actor will tell you. When there’s a rumbling of a crowd of people saying, a bunch of words that are indiscernible. They’re actually just saying peas and carrots. I juice carrots. Looks like they’re saying that, but you have to be able to match that. Exactly. It’s definitely an acquired skill and you have to practice. And you’ll notice that there’s usually, you know, less than fifty, people worldwide that are able to do that and that are frequently called on to do that in the different countries. How interesting? I mean, I think of Godzilla movies It’s just, you know, we, we didn’t ask you this question. Least, not yet. And you do have a theatrical background, Kia. Tell us a little bit about Thursday. Oh, sure, it started in the first thing I did is part of a class project in the seventh grade was actually reading a radio play where there was three of us on stage and very experimental, but that’s where I kind of got the bug. But in school I was never necessarily known for having a, a, you know, a voice that would go more. People said you would be greeted on radio, but I had a really good singing voice. Okay. So they would have me audition for a musical theater and I, I got parts and them from there. They were, like, Gary, you’re messing around too much, and you’re doing all these different characters. Maybe you should do more character parts. And that’s where it kind of went down to where I, I was kind of in many different Russian character voices. Oh see? Yeah, Yankees I was just about it. I was getting ready Pig. Ask you to do your favorite character interpretation of your favorite character voice? Well, one that you created, let’s say with your Unique Style, one that I created well unable to earlier, and I used to be a trucker and well, you know, lost my truck. Now, I’m just an arm off and it makes me feel so sad. There you go. You know, one, can I actually knew that Earl wage? That’s a, that’s a fun one, really good. When do you have a second favorite? Oh, I don’t mean to push your spotter. No, no, that’s that’s fine. One thing you’ll never hear the character Rocky. Say the Adrian I never asked you to stop being a man. So don’t ask me to stop being a woman. Can I borrow your page? Dress. Good, Ole rocky, rocky. That’s funny. You said that I immediately thought of Rocky and Bullwinkle, I forgot all about Sylvester Stallone, Rocky Balboa. Exactly. Oh yeah, you’re thinking of Rocky. Oh no not again. There you go. That’s the guy. I love wage. I always like that from an artist’s perspective because Bullwinkle I said, I just paid what I see and Rocky says what do you pay? Because this is what I see. Yeah. That was a very abstract extra. Yes. That’s what caused by her early training to become an abstract. Darn it works. Okay, so Gary how many different voice dialects have you been able to achieve? And how long did it take you to get to where you were satisfied with the outcome? Gosh, dozens of them but she was an early age. I always really liked to listen to, when I would travel with my parents to other parts of the country and I would walk in and try to mimic other voices to impress, my friends, but it wasn’t until I really had the skills. Sharpened with receiving training from Bud Barth, it’s our media arts and he’s a master at that. So he’s actually brought me along way and, you know, trying to get the New York accent and how it’s different from the Boston accent home and learning the different regions, right? It is different, isn’t it? And it’s like, sometimes, like, you just did with your, your, your to Accents? Well, I was going to say wage were ready for another one of your characters. But this one was a little more conservative and that would be the like a TV commercial. A voice-over or a voice actor wage For a TV commercial for a pharmaceutical product. I actually did recently did an audition for one so this is kind of interesting. What you welcome to bed is your business.

00:25:02 – 00:30:22

So if you’re sleeping in your contact lenses, ask your eye doctor about Air Optix Night & Day Aqua contact lenses. They’re FDA approved for up to 30 days and nights of continuous where and are the most breathable. Soft contact lenses available. Air Optix Night & Day Aqua contact lenses, it’s bedtime is your time. Wow. Oh, oh, do you have their 800 number? I need some. I’m so I’m sold the person. That’s a really good at boy. What a contrast between that and say, like, a cartoon character or even Rocky. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Is there a technique that you use? Consistently e? To create a voice style. Sure. Especially when you’re it’s if it’s for a commercial because I read the script and then the first question asked is use your imagination and think, okay, who am I right person doing the talking, and then I ask, who am I talking to? Because it should sound like, I’m speaking to one person that person who might be buying the product and the final part of the equation, is to imagine where this conversation is taking place. Like, you might be sitting speak to someone that you’re sitting next to on a train and they asked you about wearing contact lenses at night. And so, you just talked to them a conversation, a one-on-one conversation. Very conversational, very well good. Well, you obviously have a knack for creating different voices and and so far what we’ve heard is pretty amazing, especially, you know off Those terms with people don’t typically think about think about them. No not really in your narration. What’s the U kind of explain this but there’s a big difference between them for a book and narrating for a commercial. How do you handle making that shift from One Voice or one character into a more conservative or another voicemail character or even narrating at home? Oh yeah. I’m like you were you were referring to earlier? Well, thank you part of it. When it comes to a commercial read or theatrical read part of it comes naturally. My dad wasn’t home in high-school. Both of them are sisters, were entertainers. So it’s in the blood and it was just something where, you know, there’s kind of no other option for me, but when it comes to not getting a book that’s when you rely on the author who will give you some even if they don’t you know have a lot of back and forth with you, you read the book and you have Clues wage. And the text of the book, this was especially true with the audiobook. I recorded the three lives of David Kelly which was brilliantly written by c m Curtis that you had on your podcast before I I loved that book. Yes. Absolutely. There was just so much character development that I was able to pull from that. Oh, I bet that was interesting. Yeah. I could see that. It’s very it’s a very detailed book and in very emotional. So I can see you really getting ready to the reading of it. Yeah. The the emotional parts are definitely some starts and stars. I had to do because you get carried away by the emotion of the story. Now when you’re reading a book like that, how far do you go like if it’s a female character or a child character dead, how far do you go and change your voice? So the listener can determine that. Oh this is now even if they don’t when they when they get into the book I’m sure they can figure out who’s who write wage. But when your narrative book, it’s a little bit different. Cuz when you’re reading it, you see the quotes you see who’s saying this and who’s saying that when you’re expressing the range of characters, how do you handle at home? Well, with a male voice, you can either have a very base Voice or you can lift it up to more of a natural delivery. Mhm. But with a female voice, you have a slight little to it. So, all you’re trying to do is have a difference, you can tell a difference between the female and the male voice, but it’s not overdramatizing, okay? Because then it’s kind of disconcerting. Yeah, that would be a little bit. Well, then you probably Focus too much on the characters and voices, right? There must be a fine line to draw on that. True. Yep, absolutely. So that’s, that’s why you just want to be able to tell that. Okay, there’s a different person talking now. Mhm. Well, that makes them going back to the first person wage So like that. Okay. And that way, you have a nice flow to so that makes sense. Absolutely. And and there’s also different variations on. If you’re speaking about a scene in general, or if you’re talking of have, some Exposition about two characters that are talking to each other, you know, you have to shift from setting the stage or setting the environment and then introduce the characters with your voice, right? And then separate the characters with your voice, it requires a lot of talent that at those good way to go right on.

00:30:22 – 00:35:05

Yeah, wage. So okay, my question is, when clients provide you with a script to read in a recording studio, how quickly do you have to develop the voice that goes with it? And do they give you a little time to change her? Soooo, sometimes you’re provided sides which are known as the, the strip that you’ll be reading within a day or two, but more times than not dead. Script will change once you get into the studio, especially if there is a sound engineer, a, a director and then also the the client wage company, the corporate client who’s also in in the booth. So the script will may I may only have like 10 to 15 minutes to prepare. So, at that point, you look over the script to get roughly familiar with it. And then you just rely on your training and just go for it. I’m curious. Are you reading from a piece of paper, paper, paper script? Or is there an actual teleprompter? It depends on the studio. But normally I read from a screen so you don’t hear the rustling of paper while you’re young and while you’re doing that because there is a process called physical eating, which is using your hands in your body as you’re reading the script, so you can really suck. Into whatever, you’re whatever you’re trying to do. So in that adds so much to the read. That is kind of in the background of the, the Nets part of the whole voice acting is Acadia a really liked it, because it’s warranty or well, when we’re podcasting, and she has a tendency to physic eight, more than I do, more than supposed to do anything. Really. And I usually, I have to remind her not to bang the table. Yeah, although there were seems to pick up the microphone. I’ve done that before. Yes. The microphone start flailing your hands and whammo right into the microphone and you have a problem. Yeah. Cuz I remember going to the places where we were doing commercials and I looked at the script after it was headed to the voice over person and there would be marks all over it, you know. They would take this out, just that remove this, they make comments and red line and everything else. The original script books they read it, they go, it sounds great. When song He writes it, but it’s a whole different story when you have to sit there and talk it. Absolutely. Yeah. Yep, yep. Okay, so I have a request for a voice. How about giving a voice for a British Butler? Will you see I noticed that you Americans like the Dreadful coffee. It’s much more refined to drink a spot of Earl. Grey tea every morning. Anything is wrong. Preposterous of, we need one of those, but we need a butler. I love it. It would be a bit too much travel for long, you all the time. Probably. Yeah, really. And in Earl Grey could be kind of stiff, although you can always put a shot of something in it off, you know, I’m sure the some of the demands on voice acting can be pretty frustrating. Have you experienced that? And how do you handle that? Well, sometimes you can be sitting in to see you. First of all, you’re sitting in a padded room and do that on purpose, because you don’t want your voice to go out of the room. So it goes directly into the microphone. But you log Don’t want any external noise coming into the room so that’s a challenge making sure. Your space is set up correctly. The other part is voice Health. Yeah, which is additional it’s you know, not no alcohol. Mhm, try to do no Dairy because that land is you that that phlegm in that career, you know, limits the sound of the natural Resonance of your voice right, but it’s an extremely competitive career. So marketing is definitely the issue. It’s very entrepreneurial so much so that most most will call themselves solopreneurs because you end up recording, you end up doing the editing and and the mass and you do it all all by yourself. We know you’ve been moving towards this for quite some time and you shared with this has been difficult that difficult parts of the process to overcome wage.

00:35:06 – 00:40:03

And what, what do you think was the hardest thing for you to overcome? Yeah, I know marketing as an issue for everybody. Yeah, marketing is right for me because I just haven’t been a part of that world. It’s social media and being able to assign your time between doing your auditions, you know, doing the jobs that you’ve been booked on but also reaching out doing direct marketing is the best way to go about it, right? You have to have a thick skin because it’s it’s gets into those numbers of, you know, a hundred no choice for every s that you hear in a yes could be anything from, you know, booking an actual job with The Local Company, to just being on someone’s roster, a casting directors across for the next time. And they actually have work that fits your voice. Well, that’s an interesting thing is it’s called a voice actor and all actors experience that wage. You’re always looking for the job and you want to be able to show your talents and you gotta get your talents in front of an audience and that can be very difficult. Yeah. And as you mentioned, it can be kind of a competitive thing, so you have to be able to stand out. Yeah. But that’s the exciting part of it too. Well, one thing I’ve I’ve also read that podcasts are actually hiring voice actors to be part of their podcast. Well, like, right now, you’re part of our podcast because I’m doing some voice-overs that. I know our listeners are going to find this really interesting and fun and I would think that other podcasters would probably go out. We need to get a voice after on with this and X just to make it a little more interesting, right? And I’ve put out feelers on that and that’s something that I definitely want to get into. It’s one thing off. To try to shoulder the load yourself and create your own podcast. But I think that would be great fun to be a co-host on on a podcast and to be able to do that sort of work on a weekly basis, or even a monthly fee or a cameo. Right? And it was called, yeah Cameo. Yeah. Just pop in every once awhile. Yeah, that would be, that would be a great way to be a part of a podcast, but not have to do a weekly as well. Yeah. Deal with all the stuff to do, there’s a lot of work. Yeah, I can only imagine. Yeah, you guys do a great job. Well, thank you so much. You know, we hear voice actors all the time even when we don’t know it or realize it. But I certainly remember Mel Blanc and how he divorced the voice for Bugs. Bunny, do you have a particular character? You have developed that is Uniquely Yours? Like, I sure do a few years ago, I wrote a series of children’s stories in college Title Character, being buddy, the squirrel. And the squirrel Thursday, you know, at first, it’s boring day. Oh my gosh, how sweet is that so sweet people. I guess they do narrate children’s books. I remember have a Jack and the Beanstalk. When I was a little kid and they had a wage booming sound that told you to turn the page cuz you’re listening to our record, right? Right. And you hear this? Boom. And that’s when you turn the page. And that’s it. Helps you to read to you. If you kind of walk, you know, is into the booming sound. Yeah. Yeah. In fact, again, through Linkedin, there is a children’s author. And she had me do two of her children’s books that she has since published so, and they were a total blast especially to read the part of the tooth. Fairy home of the tooth fairy. That’s a great point for the Tooth Fairy. I love it, so cute. So yeah, I was just going to ask you to hear your interpretation of your favorite. Character, you’ve shared with us. Several really cool characters. I mean, isn’t fair to say, do you have one that you just absolutely the one, you choose your favorite. Yeah. Before you go to sleep at night, you’re talking to the ceiling off the character. Well, my wife and I met when she was doing makeup for me in a stage show of Dracula. Hmm. So sometimes I will stare at her with Dracula eyes and say, I loved you and now I’m going to kiss your neck. You know? You’re not dead yet.

00:40:03 – 00:45:08

I look that. I have creeped her out, but in theory continue, right? Yeah. During Dead Island. Yeah. So have you ever created a character that sings? Oh yes. I have a duet between Louis Armstrong, in Georgia. Louis, despard, that’s big true. Mass shelf life. Oh my goodness. That’s hysterical. Well, because you were a singer, I mean, you have to kind of understand that. So that works out pretty well. Yeah, yeah, that’s a lot of fun. But I really enjoy singing, every Sunday, karaoke on YouTube, just to keep the pipes intact, their unique vocal exercises, right? Living the whole process of becoming a voice actor. What advice would you give to other people that might want to enter that field? And you’ve been living at man? Yeah you have yeah if if you’ve had acting training on stage or on television or films at any level, really that’s a great first start if she got that bass. Hm. But the first step is to get voice acting training and that’s crucial because it’s a whole different ball of wax. Then once you get the training, you want to get a coach and with that coach is going to do is going to help you prepare to have a professional demo produced and they will tell you when you’re ready. Okay. At that point then you decide how you want to Market yourself as a voice-over talent and a key part of that is having that professional demo on a website long time. So these Voice coaches, they take you through the whole process which is great. But they also teach you how to present the different characters in a way that home Interpreted by a future client. Also, what’s very difficult, especially if you’ve had a radio career or you’ve had a theatrical career is to kind of turn yourself down to a single person, talking to a single person, because a radio announcer, will sound something like this. And you would never talk to someone individually off like that. Hopefully, that’s a part of the coaching that we get you into. What’s called the conversational read? I think one of the things that you said that’s very interesting is you’re just talking one-on-one instead of instead into an audience and I think marketing Trends are leading that way. Anyway, to where it’s one-on-one. You know, you personally communicating with one person off as a voice actor, I could see where that training, cuz it kind of changed your thinking. If you’ve been a stage actor, you’re out. They’re projecting to the whole audience. Yeah. Wage Grow the back of a broken. Yeah. Yep. Cuz if they have to be able to hear you to, that is so true. So as you were growing up, did family and friends, tell you that you had a great voice for radio. How did this come about for you? Did a lot of singing and won some awards and competitions for. Yeah, for singing. But, what’s interesting about that is my grandfather and I’m aging myself here a lot. Welcome to the club. Yeah. He had a victrola off that thing that has the, the big wide speaker that comes out and you play these tubes. And the soups would have these old radio dramas and as long and as a kid who’s ten years old, I was kind of an oddball because he said you’re the only one that’s ever been really interested in listening to these all the way through Thursday. He gave me his tape recorder. You know, that kind of had the external mic that you would plug into it. Sure, would make up my own radio shows. Sometimes I would make sure the news shows were just read from the, from the newspaper. And then I would make up silly songs and do things like that. So it kind of, you know, spring out from there and then then I had that opportunity in seventh grade to do that show. So right. But I just had fun with it. It sounds like it and you’re you’re already rehearsing and you didn’t even know what you were just having a good time with it. Exactly. Well and there’s so much to learn from those early. Yes. I mean, every once while when Engine I first met, you know, we would listed too old Fibber McGee and Molly choses. I just liked the dialogue that was going on, and they made a choice funny without being crass or lewd or anything else.

00:45:08 – 00:50:02

I mean, you ended up laughing really hard which to me was a very genuine healthy wholesome, laughs. I think that’s why we watch because both right watching old movies really helps with understanding dialogue. But for you anything that you hear, how would you interpret a character from Casablanca. While it’s very hard because then you just get not necessarily mimicking Humphrey Bogart or one of the other characters. But you go into this kind of emotion lantic accent and you could be coming as you’re reporting from the newsreel here today and World War Two. We notice that they’re eating again on the front lines, oh, very good, very good best better than Humphrey Bogart ever. Hope to be or samjha. I doubt that he is one of my favorites. Yeah, that’s for sure. Okay, I would think you’d get to meet some pretty interesting people as a voice actor. Is there anyone that really stands out to you or you really admired and you finally met them? Well there’s been quite a few. I met Vicki Lawrence from The Carol Burnett Show. Oh yeah. Dead. And her and her husband, and they were just fun to get to know, but on the recently getting to know, c m, Curtis and reading some of his books and having some conversations with him, especially that his Ghost Town series. Yes, that’s it was awesome to get to know him. The other person is by Barth is when his doing my training right now at Delmar media arts and he’s fantastic. He can drift from one accent to the other and, you know, he’s moving in different parts of the country, you know, within a minute. And he’s also named The Legacy voice of Fred Flintstone. Oh, really, really? Yeah. So, it’s just, it’s just need to be around that people and be able to sponge, you know what what they have to offer to offer and it’s really helped me develop in the last year. Well, they have a lifetime of experiences. Absolutely. I’m glad he’s teaching, you know, I think that he the fact is teaching people is really a great thing off. And you’re very fortunate to have him as an instructor. I’m sure you learned a lot from him just because of his life’s experience, absolutely, and he started out as a child actor on Earth on television and then just grew from there. Wow, that’s interesting to know. Yes, what do you consider to be your personal or your greatest accomplishment, as a voice actor? Let me to put you back on and then you can say, I want to ask, you just say, I don’t want to answer that ride. No, no, no, you know, the the biggest accomplishment are usually, the ones that are the most difficult and doing the full length, audio books being able to sit through a Ford six-hour session every day knowing, you’ve got another 15 sessions like that to complete the book and then it’s not done because then you get into the audio editing, make sure everything flows and then the mastering process and then seeing if it gets approved by wage, Now, let’s but like, find a way books or a CX and being able to have completed, a few of those that, you know, I’m very proud to be able to do those especially. Hey, I’m able to do some different characterizations but even some business books and being able to put my all into those you know, you mentioned something. Just now that we hadn’t thought about hm, that’s the actual audio editing. Whoever we edit our podcast and so far today. Neither one of us have had to cough or sneeze. Yeah, so we don’t have to worry about that edit wage but you I know or you and I once talked about your editing process, tell us a little bit about that area because you yourself editing a lot of the stuff is that correct correct page? And what I will do is record. I tried to record straight all the way through as much as possible sometimes in the middle of a sentence. If it’s an obvious noise or something like that home, I’ll go back, Midstream, but I don’t like to interrupt the flow of what I’m doing. So I’ll make sure I complete a full chapter and then I’ll go go back at the end and then I’ll edit edit together, realists and edit re listen to edit religion, until I get the flow. And the tempo that I want. That also works with the text of the book and I usually after the first chapter, I will send it to the I’ll send it to the author when I when I get that one chapter done and you know, get an approval.

00:50:02 – 00:55:10

See, see how they like it. If it meets their criteria month, I’m going to step ahead of in G on this one thing cuz I made a note on this and it’s something that everybody experiences. Now, especially if you’re on, hold trying to call a complaint line or something and that is the electronic places like on Siri, for example, and Cortana, or one of those, those electronic voices use. Do you see dead? M, in any way encroaching upon voice acting. There’s a couple of different ways, where voice actors are being taken advantage of, and you have to be very, very careful. With the first one is, if you get ahead of the technology, there’s websites out there where you can actually have contract with say Alexa where you can have your voice already on Alexa through their website, where a casting director can say, play the demo demo reel for Gary wage. Oh really. So getting ahead of it but there’s also a lawsuit currently going on to the voice actor. I hope you don’t mind me bringing this up, but Bev standing has had her voice taken by Tik-Tok, or a lot of times when there’s no sound to a video, they’ll make it. So, her voice will automatically be Reading the text on there and this was without her permission. That’s so so this is something where artificial intelligence kind of job can be a bad thing. It can be a great thing, but it’s a better a matter of communicating with the voice artist and making sure they’re the usage rights and everything is dead. You know, being paid for and then being used properly, right? Definitely. Cuz you know, there’s actual people that that are doing this as a living and and to kind of cut them out as not. I you know, it’s just not cool. Unfortunately, it happens. Yeah, yeah. Right. So those those are some of the some of the current struggles with technology that we’re going through. Yeah, I can see that. And that happens often so many levels with images and with artwork and all different sorts of things, you know, you know, I would imagine you and your artwork must fall under the same name. Category and even with your writing, yeah. Where there’s always that risk. There is there is definitely so. Okay, we’re going to now ask you a question. We’ve been asking our guests, which is if you could sit on a park bench and chat with anyone from the Past, who would it be? You know, I have a poster of this gentleman on my wall and his name is Charlie Chaplin. Oh, okay. And yeah, we have the personal stuff, so let’s put that aside. But for years, I always like look at him as what an incredible comedian filmmaker actor-producer and even composer and that he was so just not able to sit in the talk with him for a Time. Number one would be a blast because I’m sure you would end up making me laugh, kicking his hat around and off Billy & Ally, but also the some of the techniques cuz he developed a lot of techniques in filmmaking that are still around today, it’s a pretty was Britney. And interestingly enough I haven’t really watched too many of his movies and then recently. Yeah, recently my a month or so, we actually watched a couple of them. I I remember him a little bit as a kid but it didn’t resonate with me so much but now I look at the craft I think the best way to describe it is craft and how he interpreted since they were so humid they were they were what you would you would say to yourself well that’s exactly how somebody would do that but then he would put a humorous spin on it which I thought was really fun I really really enjoyed that it made me change my thinking a little bit about him is quite frankly I just never really watched this stuff but that’s interesting that you would choose him yeah yeah absolutely awful Gary this has been very fun you’ve been a great person to have on our show very entertaining I know our listeners are really like this show I think we’re anxious to promote it off those inside to have you today I was looking forward to being on the show and so exciting what the future is going to bring for your podcasts cuz I listen to it every wage And I really enjoy it. And that was not a paid endorsement, but thank you, mr. Thank you. And I agree with Rod. We want everyone to know…if you’d like to know more about Gary and his voice acting career will have links for Gary in the show notes and also under the show guests tab on thought rope podcast.com.

00:55:11 – 00:56:12

So everyone can learn more about him and connect with him on social media and on his website. Yeah. Listen to his real. Great. Thank you so much. All right? Yeah, yeah, absolutely is okay. You’re truly well on your way to becoming a great voice actor. And we wish you tons of success and we’ll be following your career. Great, thank you so much. Okay, thank you carry by God. I’m really glad you tuned in today. We hope you enjoyed the thoughts and ideas. We shared with you. We post a new podcast every week. So remember to subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts so you don’t miss a game. Episode. So it’s bye for now from my husband rod, and I wishing everyone a great day.