 Hey, it's time for voiceover body shop. How's everybody doing out there George? How you doing have a great week? Had a great week and a great weekend too. So great great to be back It's good to be back and so is good to have everybody out there watching us or listening or whatever it is They do our guest today is right below us. That is Chris fries. Chris. How you doing? I'm good guys. How you bad we've been weeping good and it's been a long time since you've been on but we're gonna talk about all sorts of stuff and all the stuff that you're doing and How to become successful at voiceover, you know, which I guess is what the show is about So stay tuned Chris fries is with us on voiceover body shop right now Voiceover body shop is brought to you by voiceover essentials comm the home of Harlan Hogan signature products Source elements the folks who bring you source connect Vio heroes comm become a hero to your clients with award-winning voiceover training Voice actor comm your voice over website ready in minutes voiceover extra your daily resource for voice over success and by world voices the industry association of freelance voice talent and Now here's your hosts Dan and George Hello there, I'm Dan Leonard and I'm George with him and this is voiceover body shop or Vio Be as Another week another show. Oh wait, that's the wrong button. Sorry. I forgot we had Chris on I should have had this one So anyway You know my wife is like are you doing your show tonight? I'm like, yeah, I thought you just did it last week No, it's been two weeks since we did this show Time just moves pretty fast. You don't stop and look around for a while. They might miss it. Yeah Well, we were looking around all weekend. We wanted to all of these natural gardens all over Southern, California over the weekend and After you see a couple of you know sustainable gardens, you know that are all desert plants It's like all right. We saw this at the last house. Okay, they still have the well yellow lupins Who knew they were yellow lupins? I love I love going on the nature and seeing the flowers right now It's a great time to be outside in Southern, California Yeah mountain biking through the flowers having flowers stuck in my beard my handlebars It's a lot of fun. They're really pretty time to be outside. It is and we've got super bloom going on right now with all the rain We've had here. Oh, yeah, it's happening. It's pop it exactly Yeah, so I keep wondering why has it been so cold here in Southern, California because hell is frozen over I guess Anyway, rain exactly it is time to introduce our very very special guest who's going to be talking with us for the next hour Chris fries is currently the voice of dodge chevron america's best and kubota They're the guys that make the you know the little high lift things and has recent national campaigns for spots for bf Goodrich blue deaf. He'll have to tell us what that is credit karma shields peak Tgi fridays and is or has recently voiced promos for history channel ESPN fox and others plus lots of video game performances, which we'll talk about And it's time to welcome back to our show after a seven-year absence. Chris fries. How you doing? I'm good. I'm good. Thanks for having me guys. It's great to have you back on Yeah, we were looking it's like we hadn't been on since like we moved the show to southern california So Scott is a boy crazy when you said we should have chris and I was like didn't we just have Oh in 2050 You know, I see chris four times a year Usually at his place to do studio maintenance. So I see chris all the time So you lose track of time, but it's great to see it here on the show. Thanks for coming. Yeah, so thrilled to be here All right. Well, let's get into the meat of the matter You know since you haven't been here for a while and perhaps our many in our audience are not familiar with you Even though they probably are since telling him all the different things that you've been doing Tell us a little bit about your background in training and How you got into this this crazy nutty business. Yeah. Yeah. No, I've been full-time voiceover since uh since 2004 and It uh, it was a long journey I started off in radio was in a college radio station tried to get a foothold It wanted to be an on-air personality and radio Worked in the promotions department and was a board operator at a Local radio station and trying to get a foothold there and never really got on air or anything like that That was something that I was told repeatedly. Oh, you don't really have what it takes You don't really have the voice for you don't really have the sound for it But you know, you do good work in the promo department. I'm like, oh, thanks. Maybe someday um, I eventually uh Got out of that line of work altogether and uh in trying to find full-time radio work When in municipal government was with a soul crushing job um For 10 years a detoured away from from working with my voice or trying to Eventually then was laid off from that job in 2004 and wanted to Just take the plunge in voiceover and uh, I started taking classes found out that you know, how to kind of get started Taking a bunch of group classes. I live in orange county, uh, california Which about 40 45 miles outside of la hollywood area So it wasn't too bad to get into uh, la For the classes at that time all the classes were up in la So I'd go to three times a week and just take those group classes with uh, you know, the voice caster mason elaine craig All the places up there that anybody in the southern california area that's been in the business for a while is very familiar with Um, and just yeah, I just kept taking classes kept taking classes That was the big thing was the education side is is learning the craft It's one thing to be told that oh, you got a good voice. You should do voiceover or whatever The good speaking voice, but you have to learn how to act basically And uh, so I had to figure that out. I was lousy at first, but you know got better and better made a demo probably a little too soon And uh, but then still ended up getting you know early representation some regional agents It just took it took probably about four years from 2004 to 2008 of just training Working on those pay-to-play sites back then they were um, you know, not as strong as I I guess they are now I haven't worked in those pay-to-plays like the voices dot com voice one two three those types of Things but uh, I think it was it was helpful for me Early in my career to do those and get some experience because I didn't have representation Back then so how do you work if you don't have an agent because an agent gets you work So these pay-to-plays kind of helped helped with that and get me some early experience But then the regional agents started to kind of slowly trickle in a couple of jobs here and there and eventually got La representation and got my first national campaign in 2008 It was a minute made commercial and I was I was thrilled with it. It was uh aired on You know national network tv during american idol back then was very very popular and the beijing olympics was on and aired during that So friends were calling and saying hey, you're on american idol. I'm watching american idol But I taped it and I was fast-forwarding. So I fast-forwarded through my own debut commercial which was so they got you rewind Don't get the commercials folks Now of course if I ever see Commercial especially if the family's in the in the family room with me and It's again. It's always fast-forwarding through and I might recognize a dodge spot or something that's airing I'm like, oh, hey, let's go back and they're like, what are you stopping for? I'm like, hey my dodge Come on dad fast My family's so proud of me I can just uh just warms my heart The love that they have for for what I do It warms my heart. I I still get a thrill uh hearing myself Although it is funny if I hear myself in any application a video game a commercial a promo I always think I could have done that better. I should have made the turn a little brighter spit up that tag a little bit more emphasize that uh word I'm constantly tinkering and never fully satisfied, which is uh, uh I guess a burden and a blessing at the same time because I'm kind of a perfectionist with uh with that kind of thing But yeah, but yeah, it took uh took a few years to get the traction going 2008 Then by about 2010 two more years before I was Kind of making enough to consider myself a working actor So but yeah, it was uh, it was a long road and now it's I've been Blessed beyond my uh wildest dreams So it's it's been it's been a good ride. Yeah, I I would say you're the perfect example of Whose voice is that? We hear you in everything. I mean, what have we been here for chameleon too? Yeah, I mean, what have we heard you in lately like in you in 2023 There's a few campaigns that are uh, and that's kind of the big thing with uh, uh Voice actors is especially if you do commercials or or promos and that is It's not just the one-offs You know, I've got a lot of one-off commercials that it's something that runs uh randomly in a regional part of the country And and then it's gone after a month or two But to get the campaigns to get that passive income, uh, uh, you know going Is is something that every voice actor really strives for and and i'm blessed with a few campaigns One of which is a dodge the all the muscle cars for dodge. I do um america's best i'm the voice of the owl that optometry line and uh chevron, uh, the animated cars that are zipping around i've been on that campaign for uh several years um Kubota the tractors uh and um utility vehicles and construction equipment and stuff like that I seem to it's funny with the Kubota and that There's a kind of a I guess a signature sound that I might have and everybody kind of has in voiceover It's what you want to try to start that's your kind of what's your wheelhouse? And I think my area is is um, well I guess I can be have some versatility and range to do something bright and friendly like chevron I tend to Go back and get the bulk of my work in my signature sound, which is going to be that casual Blue collar folksy kind of thing that's uh, so I do a lot of stuff with say Kubota and a lot of agricultural spots and stuff So I've got some friends that are in a certain uh, rural parts of the country And they're they tell me they can't swing a dead cat without here in one of my ag spots So like I'm like that's a that's a wonderful analogy. Thank you How much fun it is swinging dead cats You did But yeah, the commercial campaigns have been uh, uh really going well, there's a few others and and the promo work That I do for like history channel espn Every season like college football. I do the espn game of the week. I do a lot of stuff for fox in that same Realm too. So I guess in that same realm of doing Agriculture spots kind of the hand in hand of the blue collar is is sports and stuff. So Uh, that seems to and that's a lot of fun because I'm a big sports fan. So it's always a big I get a big kick out of doing stuff like that. Uh, Because because I'm a fan. So that's important. Yeah, if you're just joining us Our guest tonight is the one on only chris fries who does just about sounds like everything in voiceover That somebody should be able to do everybody specializes in one thing or another You seem to be crossing the entire gamut of everything that's out there and Sure is easier to be enthusiastic about a product that you actually are enthusiastic about Yeah, you know true and that's always the thing in voiceover where where if I believe it if I feel it If I have a an interest or a drive or something behind that It's so much easier to then to be able to communicate that and to come across Uh in those auditions as somebody that uh, hey, this guy seems to Stand apart why because there's a passion behind it Absolutely, I can bring maybe maybe I bring a little something different. Uh, that kind of helps me stand out That's great Uh, if you've got a question for chris And that's all of you out there and I know there's a bunch of you watching right now About his career or some advice or whatever it is you want to ask him Throw it in the chat room right now. Whether you're in facebook live or you're in youtube live Or even maybe even on linkedin because I know we're over there now too. We're everywhere Uh, if you got a question throw it in the chat room and we will get to those questions in just a little bit So, uh, we look forward to hearing from you So with all of these different things that you're doing, although you sort of answered this but Be a little bit more specific. What's your favorite stuff to do? Hmm I think yeah because of the passion of of the interest in like say the sport stuff Uh, um, I I just really get a kick out of that And then also some of the video game stuff that I do It's some of my harder work But some of the the the titles I've been in I think three or four of the call of duties More recently saints row mass effect, um and uh My gosh, I gotta look at some of them after a while. It's like it's tough to kind of keep track. It's it's wonderful work But it's it it just becomes uh, if you do an uh Decent number of them they start to kind of like what am I this week? You know, what kind of monster alien hero villain have I become but that's Part of what the appeal is is because that you really get to kind of stretch your creative legs a lot more Say if I were to do something, uh for one of my commercial campaigns, uh, you know that the uh, America's best the owl is is a fun fun campaign and that's just there's a the snarky owl And that's just me being Kind of a smart ass, you know, basically, you know, so it's just that sarcastic kind of me Dodge is you know, you know that more intense me Uh, but when I'm like doing, you know, saints row and I'm playing, you know This psychotic killer or something like that in uh in a game That's just me just completely being a kid with an active imagination and some you know a person that I'm not at all But like this is my interpretation of that and I just can uh, you know have an active imagination That's why I think some people talk about oh, I came from a radio background Well, I tried to come from the radio background. I wasn't really not a radio guy I I didn't do theater or drama or come from tv or or a film So as far as how I developed my acting, of course, you know, the classes and training and and uh and that But I think where where was my origin? It was me Planned make-believe as a kid and just being really good at it I guess and now I can as an adult I'll play make-believe and uh, because it's uh It's being able to come up with a point of view because make-believe is really just Having a point of view that's just out there and unique and and buying into it So with voiceover It just kind of allows me to continue to do that And so when I whenever i'm doing uh a a character or a role or something in a video game a promo and a commercial It's just me with a certain point of view feeling a certain way instead of being Like the specs would say casual natural conversational people I think uh Get misled by following specs like that and it's very easy to do so instead of being casual natural conversational When am I casual natural conversational, you know, george when when george comes over the you know the four times a year and And we talk about family and hobbies and uh, you know vacations and just life and that's casual natural So george, I don't know if you realize this Many many times you are my muse in uh in in my uh You know points of view for commercial reads so You're really thinking of like uh the guy that you just spoke to recently in your head like oh george was here I should Oh a lot of times and I'll use I'll use what they call you know these lead ins where I'll think about oh casually And I'll think about like a conversation where you're like, hey george, uh, you know, yeah When we went mountain biking the other day and then you know And it just kind of seamlessly flows into this great Point of view so I'm not I'm being natural conversational and casual, but I'm not thinking about that I'm just thinking about me and me and my friend george talking about Biking or vacations or family It makes it so much easier to make the copy believable because now I actually have my personality in it instead of me trying to Be synthetic with a spec right That's I but that that sort of brings me to my next thing We've seen that you've been doing a lot of video games and you started mentioning, you know A partial list of the ones you've been doing So if you've been you were doing voice over all these years, when did you start finding yourself into video games? And how did you get cast for those? Yeah, I was with uh, um uh, gosh AVO talent agency, um and sandy schnarr actually at the time there was sandy schnarr talent before She merged with peter varano became avio talent and she was my first major um LA agent and I didn't even consider myself to be a A video game actor I was thinking that the commercials and and she was like, you know your sound, you know You maybe you got to cut this kind of gruffness masculine or whatever I think you could do well in uh, like some video games for me like some war movie or war Games or sci-fi or whatever and I'm like, all right. Okay, so and uh My first two, uh Video games were kind of notable one was uh, I think it was resistance to One of the resistance series games and I was soldier number five or something like that. It's a very big starring role and uh, the director was asking uh, we were doing these, uh battle cries and death screams and um, I I didn't have any real background in this So they were just like uh describing different things as far as like, okay, your um acid is being poured over you Give a pain reaction to that go Well, let me see the last time acid was poured over me it kind of hurt so But it was uh, but there would be these but interestingly enough it it uh, uh It solicited a specific sound like oh my god that would sound like and I would let out a blood curdling scream Or then they'd say okay now your heart is being carved out with a spoon. What would that go? And I'm like good lord. This is a violent game But anyway, but it would solicit these different the the reaction So the director actually did a very good job and I got these really unique, uh, you know different Death cries and pain reactions and stuff And uh, but one of the problems was uh, just a few minutes into the session I didn't really know how to yell properly now. You're thinking is there a certain way to actually yell and scream If you don't want to wear out your voice. Yeah Well, where were you dan? Yeah, I was not aware of uh, of how this uh, this yelling on a uh, on a constant high level for You know up to four hour sessions Could uh, you know where you wear out your voice So after a couple of these blood curdling death cries, I literally blew out my voice. Uh, and it was just like, you know yelling And all of a sudden now all I could talk was basically like this It was it was mortified uh, we Limped through the session From that point forward, uh, but I learned a valuable lesson and and and how to use my instrument properly And uh, well it didn't cost me too much because I thought oh god, this is this is bad The next game that I uh, auditioned uh, and uh, booked, uh, was call of duty world at war And one of the I think it's the biggest, uh, you know video game franchise You know in the in the history of and the really cool thing was I was third billing on uh, as far as my character Below gary oldman and kiefer sutherland. Uh, so I was like, this is pretty good company to be So, um, but I ended up dying at level four or something like that and then kiefer sutherland who was my Corporal underneath me. I was sergeant sullivan and uh, uh, and then kiefer sutherland was the Corporal that ended up taking over for me since I died and led on to the end of the game and whatever but But there was uh, some um, it was a very complimentary to me how It was the save sergeant sullivan campaign was uh on online and people were trying to find Is there a secret way to save so because I open these double doors and and this is set during world war two in the pacific and a Japanese soldier Samorized me and in the in the gut and then that's the end of sergeant sullivan So people kept on uh in these chat rooms and tried to find is there a secret way to save sergeant sullivan? Yeah, there was code in there somewhere Yeah, there was no secret way to save sergeant sullivan. That was it. Did you ever channel any of your past careers into your work? I'm thinking of doing a particular job Good segue george As a matter of fact, I did During my quest in the early early days of voiceover. Uh, so I said I got started in 2004 and I was Spending a lot of money at that time classes and equipment and stuff like that not making virtually anything So I uh, I needed to pick up some extra work because I had been in I was saying in municipal government uh working in parks and recreation of all things and um and promoting and doing well in that career, but uh, uh when I got laid off I you know had no more revenue. My wife, uh was The bread winner and I was the bread eater uh at that point So I needed to help contribute to the the household income But I needed to be able to leave my days free because I'm auditioning I'm going into la and I need to keep my days free So I was I was thinking uh, and I didn't even want to do like the bartender route or the waiter route Um, because sometimes you'd still start at five or six or whatever and and sometimes I'd I'd be in la until that time And it just I needed a graveyard shift is what I was wanting So I was going to work at like a 711 or a gas station or something like that just to You know minimum wage. I you know, no not too proud to to beg basically I'll I'll do whatever and help contribute a buddy of mine. He's a um A deputy will now a sergeant in the LA county sheriff's department and he was telling me Oh, you want to you want a graveyard shift job? Oh my god, they're hiring as a jailer Uh, you know graveyard shift and uh, it's easy. You get benefits the pay. Oh, it's way more I mean it's salaried. It's not an hourly job. So you get good good money Uh, and like I said the benefits and everything and no problem getting graveyard shift They actually having trouble getting people to work the graveyard shift So I like a dope. I'm like Sounds like a good idea. Let's do it. So Anyway, I go uh and become a jailer and I mean at the time I'm in my mid 30s and um I had to go through like this police academy for for jailers Uh for like, I don't know two or three months and then uh, and then, you know, so yeah I'm getting screamed at and of course this this um this class of uh, of new uh jailers is uh They're mostly in their young 20s and I'm so I'm pops to everybody. I'm the grandpa So I jump I'm keeping up physically, you know, I came in in shape I want to make sure that I was uh, you know able to kind of hold my own and I was and uh So yeah, so I worked as a jailer in downtown LA at men's central jail For uh, you know about a year or so, uh, working the graveyard shift and Boy the the the stories I could tell just based on that But like a lot of my video games that's rated m for mature Once again, we're talking with chris fries if you got a question for chris about Anything to do with voiceover because he's probably done it. Uh, throw it in the chat room right now And uh, we'll get to that question in just a little bit So I hear that you're now coaching Tell us a little bit why you're why you're doing that and how you're doing that You know, it it happened innocently enough. I was uh, uh As I started working then so about about 2008 I you know, booked that first campaign 2010 I'm starting to work pretty regular and shortly after 2010 um as bookings are just, you know, increasing and increasing um, I Get contacted by aspiring actors wanting to know how to get in the business And at first it was just like, oh, you know a little advice a little Send an email and I was always shocked and surprised at how people, you know found me knew about me or whatever, but They they would find me track me down and and know that I was in whatever video game or whatever commercial campaign and And they find me and asked me questions. So and I was like more than happy to uh, you know answer any of their questions and It was just started off with emails and then there was a uh, uh another colleague of mine that I was toward the end of taking all these group classes I was towards the end of that period in my uh career of taking some of the group classes in this Uh other student was just starting nice guy that we hit it off real well and uh And he was just starting and I was so I was kind of graduating from that so to speak still taking private lessons and stuff from certain Instructors, but not taking the group classes anymore. We still kept in touch and he was uh, wanting to continue to You know use me as a as a sounding board is ask questions and stuff and and uh, asked me if I could coach him And I was like, oh, I I'm not qualified to coach. I mean I I'm you know formulating my you know Way of acting and the point of view and all those things. I'm like, I'll tell you what no charge or anything I'll just I'll I'll let's read together. Let's read and I'll I'll give you some advice I'll give you some direction for what it's worth and um So we did that a few times and and it seemed to come real natural to me And like I said, I'd taken group classes from all the you know, the big uh casting directors and instructors and then I took a bunch of uh uh Private lessons from the likes of Joyce Castellanos, Maurice Tobias, Jody Gottlieb Uh Elaine Craig, Huck Liggett, uh, you know a lot of the tops in the industry So I I took all this this knowledge that I had gained from the group classes From the individual uh private coaching and then of course then I started I'm starting to work So directors are directing me in a certain way that I'm starting to understand what they want and how they want to get it So all these little nuggets of information I'm just processing And it kind of developed into my own way that this seems to be the most effective way for me To work and to to improve and to give my best performance So I'll just communicate that to you know, my friends and so my first students were were you know, free lessons to basically my my friends That they seemed to really respond to it. It seemed to really work and it seemed to come naturally to me and uh, and then uh What do they say you teach best what you need to learn the most? Yeah, maybe That's what I always hear. I mean, yeah Yeah, so So it and then I think you got to a point where I would get contacted again by somebody saying, hey, do you coach due to you know, I'm like You know, uh, yeah, and I could say I so I've at at um a very modest price back in the early days I would uh, uh, I would you know coach and it it seemed to Really work and then it was just kind of a word of mouth thing. I still to this point don't actively, uh Um Market myself beyond mentioning it Here or you know people, you know, those mentioning it or something It's just kind of it's just a word of mouth. It is kind of taken a life of its own Um, I keep a pretty small stable of students because of the fact that I'm I'm still working, you know Very regularly so it's uh, I can't fill up my schedule with uh, uh students, uh and that so um But as students kind of, you know, they come and go and and that so we fit them in and it kind of works but it It has it started off innocently enough and then it just kind of took a life of its own and I even speak Every semester at the the drama department over at cal state Fullerton They have me come in and be a guest speaker and I talk about voiceover and stuff like that It's it's it's a lot of fun. I really enjoy it. So yeah It's a familiar story and nothing's more fun than teaching Uh, once again, our guest is chris fries and we're talking about all the stuff that he's doing and again If you've got a question throw it in the chat room and we're going to get to those in just a little bit But we're going to take a quick break right now and we'll be right back with chris fries right after this This is the latin lover narrator from jane the virgin anthony mendez and you're enjoying dan and george on the voice of our buddy Shaw Vacation time is just around the corner around the world. For example, here's australian voiceover pro andrew peters on Vacation in london recording a commercial with his port-a-booth pro Why is the port-a-booth pro gaining users worldwide? 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It's called the pass port vo And it is an amazing product that we want to bring to the world But we cannot do it without reaching a special goal We have to have pre sold 100 units in order for sentryns to put this product into production I'll tell you there are just no audio interfaces that check every single box That's really important to a voiceover actor and this thing also replaces Multiple pieces of gear in a studio like a mic mute switch a mic switcher So you have the ability to switch between two microphones at any time with the press of a button Each one of them at the right game. It has two audio interfaces inside the box So one is dedicated to recording and the other one dedicated to communications like zoom and source connect You can do playbacks. It's all built in head over to sentryns.com Slash pass port vo if you're interested in picking up one. Thanks for listening everybody. This is george the tech I hope you have a great one Hey, it's david h. Lawrence the 17th and we talk a lot in this business about moving forward with our career Getting more information We often don't talk about Simply getting started It can be one of the most immovable objects In in our life getting out of our own way and just simply taking the first step And if you're watching this podcast voiceover body shop For some tips on how to get started in voiceover Or to change something about your voiceover career or to increase your knowledge in a certain area Check out vo heroes.com's getting started in voiceover If you go to voheroes.com slash start you'll get all the information It's really cheap And I give you a lot to get started in the business But you might also learn something if you've been in the voiceover business for a while voheroes.com slash start That's voheroes.com slash start This is bill radner and you're enjoying voiceover body shop with dan lennard and george widham vobs.tv All right, we're back with chris fries. Hey george You know something you suddenly learn how to read an entire spot all the way through without taking a break No, that's sort of that is just really freaking good editing That's what that is I always tell voice actors you're gonna be the good at one or probably both but more than likely one of the other You're gonna be really good at reading scripts and writing them or you're gonna be really really good editing them So if you if you want to be a voice actor learn to be a voice actor I am not I'm I am a producer editor. I can edit so Anyway, thank you Try to do us a 60 second read and you're like at the last word and like oh shoot I'm just very clever editing Yeah, that's why you never do the video and the audio at the same time. It's like You cover it with pictures. That's what usually works best. Anyway, we're talking with chris fries And uh, we're talking about all the stuff that he's doing and we got lots of questions from our vast audience out there all across the fruited plane and other points Uh on the planet, uh, why don't you start with the first one where from keelaward? There's a name we haven't heard before sure thing. Uh, I'm very interested in vo I had a demo put together and now I'm looking to start auditioning for audiobooks I have my e in that's you need that that's true to get paid by big big jobs Should I get an llc and what business entity is best in this line of work? Chris, I have my own answer. I think all three have an answer for that one Chris, do you have any info on that to shed light on that? You know, I uh, I have become a corporation and yeah, I am an employee of one and uh, it's worked out for me from a tax standpoint Uh, as far as the expenses and that so yeah, I am a uh, specifically a Corporation I think a C corp s corp I had to talk to my accountant about that Anyway, but I am a corporation and it has worked out well for me and it from a tax standpoint But I cannot speak too intelligently on the uh, uh beyond that but it does work for Yeah, it's certainly different for everybody and you really do need to talk to a cpa because I I have I have been doing business in california since 2004 and yet i'm still not an llc I keep being told it's not worth it uh for the amount that i'm earning yet So it really does depend on your position here cpa is and their attitude about Things such as llc's depends on the state you're in of course too because some states it's very expensive To organize and others it's very cheap Um, so um, yeah, you definitely want to talk to a tax professional I wouldn't worry about that at the very very beginning of your oh, no. Yeah Yeah, that's what I was gonna say. Yeah, I didn't work on something like that until I started to book about that 2010 Time so I got started like I said 2004 And I again, I wasn't really making very much to have it be worth my while and then uh, and then I Transitioned over what's the revenue started to come in a little bit better? Yeah, that makes that makes sense uh, greg cooper asks How did you decide to focus on specific genres like video games? You know, it wasn't something that I Manually like I want to do this. It was just where uh, my uh Where the bookings kind of led me to and also a lot of direction and guidance from my agents I I didn't think that uh, there were certain things where like adr voice matching and stuff That I started booking in those areas Uh, my agent thought you kind of sound like thomas hayden church or you kind of sound like jeff bridges You should do this uh voice match for him or this character actor Uh, you know, you sound like him or this I don't I don't think I sound like any of those people but I have booked, uh, at least a dozen different voice matches And I don't consider myself to be a good at impersonating any of these, uh, but And whenever I hear the end result I did a couple of movies for jeff bridges one of us r.i.p.d with ryan reynolds and jeff bridges and He has this jeff bridges has uh this Very slurry Kind of takes his accent. He kind of talks like this and uh in r.i.p.d He plays his old western, uh, sheriff that comes back to You know in the afterlife. There was there was a fun movie. I watched it was a lot of fun Especially the facts and whatever so that was and that was I guess so what worked and and it was funny in the uh uh, I guess in post production how some of that worked was uh Some of his lines some of his words were unintelligible And they're in post production and he's not yeah And uh and who knew and and and mr. Bridges was unavailable to do the pickups So they need a voice match uh to to to step in and uh, so I was able to do that in certain parts of the movie and in the trailer I uh and for me Because you know, you know your own voice For me whenever I watch that movie or seen the trailer or whatever. I know Exactly where I am and where jeff is and so and when I play The uh the movie or the scene for somebody else and I'm like can you hear it? Can you tell isn't it obvious? This is embarrassing. Oh my god, and they're like, what are you talking about? Where I start and he starts and and how you could totally hear the difference. He's like Where did you start and where did he start? I couldn't tell so they couldn't tell but I could so Well, you know where and I think we we all know our own voice so well So we can totally hear the difference, but uh other people couldn't and I guess that's the point So I didn't really hear it myself. But yeah, like I said, I booked a lot of different uh in that area and it was What led me to whatever video games commercials promos? I tried I trained in really a lot of things and everything I tried audiobooks. I tried but but for me, I think audiobooks are wonderful as far as I love listening to them And I enjoy I think the voice talents that do audiobooks are exceptionally talented people I don't have the attention span and the and the the uh endurance to do uh An audiobook so it was an area where I tried But I I couldn't that that didn't seem to be a comfort zone for me Uh, I have a very short attention span apparently So I kind of stayed in my lane with uh, some of the uh, some of the jobs But uh, I found I trained in a little bit of everything to see what I liked What I was good at You know what I you know what I could book Uh and from a revenue standpoint, uh, you know, I'm trying to make money here And I don't want to limit myself to just one genre of voiceover when there are several genres available And maybe I can book here and there and so I mean I I just I was led based on the belief that my agents had in me and they thought you sound like you could do this Or I think you could do that I had no idea and and the belief that the agents had in me Was critical because if you're not at the right agency where where the they're just Cattle calls and they're just churning out. Here's the audition whatever Uh, I still get a lot of stuff where I've just given auditions But at some of the top agencies when you get to those a level agencies the cest the atlas is the the dpns the spvs Then you need then you have to have somebody that's kind of in your corner going to bat for you pitching you Uh for certain things and then telling you hey, I think you should do this And that and it really helped my career because I had no idea that I could do a lot of the things that I ended up booking But it was purely because I had great agents behind me starting with sandy schnarr and now I'm I've been at cest now since 2009 and they've just taken wonderful care of me and and they go to bat for me Daily and put me in the front of the line and a lot of opportunities And uh, and yeah changed my career for sure For the best, but it's just where I was led and so now most of my Work is in commercial video games promos and then like in show narration Documentaries and stuff for like history channel and discovery channel stuff like that All right, this one comes from grace newton saying, uh, have you ever had a Face palm moment or made a disastrous mistake in your career? And then how did you handle it? We all learned from our mistakes, right? Yeah, I'd say so well, I guess my blowing out my voice and my very first uh video game session would be definitely the the face palm moment But I've managed to sidestep quite a few landmines. I I listened to I took a lot of good advice from a lot of good people my mentor You know, you guys know Scott rummel and you know now, you know good dear friend of mine and stuff He he gave me a lot of guidance on the the do's and don'ts and the things to worry about and the things not to worry about I was always just so anxious about Uh, any odd I guess uh another face, uh, you know Palm to face uh moment would be calling my agent right after I'd sent an audition asking. Hey, how did they like it? Yeah, don't do that. Don't do that They they don't like that there and that was my first that was my first la agent. I had his osbrink talent agency Um, and yeah, I I sent an audition. I thought it was really good But I called my agent not even email. Not even an email. I'd call and asked to speak to my Hey, I just wanted to call to say, you know, I haven't heard about that audition that I just did like, you know, yesterday afternoon I know it's not even been 24 hours. But yeah, so what they think did they like it? Yeah, you only do that once but hey at least you got through to him My agent sent me something like chris will call you Yeah Julia iot. I think that's how you pronounce that it says I've been hearing a lot of people having allergies colds Or just feeling under the weather including myself. I've been having a cough What's your cure to keep your voice in top shape? Especially with all the all the pollinants out there right now? Here's something cal Yeah, I I don't have allergies. Thank god, uh, but uh, but yeah getting sick is the worst I I I drink a lot of water That helps, uh, you know keep my you know the cells of my body strong fights off infection I've done things like I've added a steam shower to uh, my uh, this was advice I got from an opera singer or that I was at a cocktail party We're chatting and I don't know how we got into steam showers. No, we we didn't literally get into a steam shower But uh, but anyway that that that topic came up and he talked about how vocal health and how a steam shower is great And so I had that eventually did that that was a nice, uh, also being a corporation I could expense the construction of a steam shower at uh without You know with the tax benefits from that, but um, yeah, I I uh, I try to I wash my hands like a germaphobe Uh, take the vitamins and then when I do get sick the first hint of a cold and it actually does work is those zinc tablets I guess there's cold ease and zycam That's great to speak to help Uh, but you got a very first sign of that cold You start feeling that little tickle in the back of your throat start pounding I'm like every two hours or something like that. That seems to really Reduce the uh amount or the the severity of the cold Then if it hits me and it just knocks me on my butt I uh, I get a uh, steroid injection, uh, not recommended talk to your doctor But it's because it can it can mess with your internal organs and steroids and stuff So you don't want to do that as a matter of fact, my doctor does check my records and say you don't want to do this More than like once or twice a year Um, but for me, it's like my livelihood. I I work literally I'm blessed to work literally every day And uh and doing campaigns I um, uh when I have to do a pickup or a price change for cabota, you know So they're keeping the body of the spot the same So 90 of it was something I recorded months ago and then we're updating the offer You know, uh offer good until june uh june 30th Well now we're updating it to be october 30th or whatever So I got to do a pickup of the offer and if I have a cold I'm gonna sound different than I did. Um, and when I first recorded it. So so it's one thing to Yeah Being sounding consistent is critical. Um So I will uh, I will do that. Um, I will gargle with warm salt water. I will drink, uh Decaffeinated chamomile tea with lemon and manuka honey I don't have you guys, you know, the manuka honey thing. It's I guess it's from australia new zealand It's yeah, it's got these like healing properties or something in the and it's like for a little jar about yay big It's like, you know, 40 bucks or something like that, but but it's uh, it's pretty effective and uh, so all these little remedies and and then Rest rest rest don't use your voice try to get lots of sleep so you can recover So your bodies and the cells within your body can kind of fight off the infection Something is simple and And you think it innocuous as just rest. No, no, it's not it is very effective. So Uh, but yeah, those that's what I do All right, we got time for like one more question here. Uh, we got one from patina lentorno Uh listening to us and watching us on youtube says hi chris I'm so happy to listen about your work and journey in vo I have a question for you and this is the place to do it I'm a medical interpreter in english spanish and italian and for the past year studied with pat fraily I've just begun to market myself in my genres of choice or medical narration and ngo's in my three languages You have any marketing advice? Wow Those maybe not Wow, that is niche stuff, but you know what that's great Uh, uh to because niches need to to be filled and if if that's something that you have a An interest in there is a market for that And it's it's it's funny the marketing in general first of all pat fraily awesome guy I took some of my early classes from him and he's so Um, he's just the one of the warmest human beings. He gave me a great piece of direction or Telling me at the end of one of the classes. Um, I said, hey, how did I do? How do you think I did you know the very very early in my career? And he says well, it's hard to tell, you know, we just start working together But you see you seem pretty good, but you took direction well And I didn't really think that was much of a compliment when he said I took direction well I'm like, well, you told me to to read it faster. I read it faster. You told me to sound Brighter I sounded brighter. I I didn't say that. I'm just thinking this but I'm like, oh, thank you But I'm thinking that's not much of a compliment But I then, um In sessions directors would tell me oh, you did really good job When I asked you to take a second and a second and a half off of a read and I did it Then it was like Well, great. Thanks or you were brighter and I did it and I started getting compliments more and more like that And it seemed to mean something where taking direction is actually in and of itself a skill Not just being a voice actor But being able to change and transition on the fly in a session and give the director what they want Because I'm just step number three or four in a 15 step process for the producer of a of a spot or a video game The last thing they need to worry about is getting through a voiceover session They just want to get through it and stuff. So anyway, um, he was a great guy But marketing in general I uh, how I I would establish whatever genre I was in I would any time I would audition or get an email or get a contact or get a job I would save those contacts those emails and then periodically about three four times a year I would send an email to, uh, uh Follow up and now this list and I do this a couple, you know, a few times a year This list is over 400 individual contacts. I send out that many individual not like the mass emails because something personal like sometimes I know a Producer is a dodger fan. So I'm like, hey dodgers are looking good. Hey, anyway I wanted to share the my latest, uh, commercial spot or campaign. Have a good one, whatever and More often than not it's to my surprise. They come back to me and say, oh, hey Chris great to hear from you Hey, you know, it just so happens. We have this audition that came across and uh, you'd be perfect for it. So It's uh, it always seems to generate job opportunities So in your niche as you develop contacts in that genre in that industry Maintain those contacts and maintain any relationship that you get Don't just like, oh great. Nice to meet you. Bye and then hope No, keep in touch and keep track of your, uh, uh of your communications because they come back and you're you're building You're a business owner. You're a you're a and you got to build your business and it's it's about who you know Not necessarily what you know. Yeah, what we used to call a tickler file In the life insurance business Anyway, chris it is a pleasure to talk with you again. It's been quite a while and thank you so much for joining us tonight and And letting us know all these important things about your amazing career so far. So good luck in the future Oh, hey, thanks guys. I always uh, always a pleasure and we'll see you in another eight years or so. Yeah Maybe not quite that long. All right. All right I'll see you in the summer chris. Right. That's right. Yes. Okay, chris fries our guest tonight All right, george and i'll be right back to wrap these things up and Rewrack it for tech talk right after this You're still watching vlbs Your dynamic voiceover career requires extra resources to keep moving ahead There's one place where you can explore everything the voiceover industry has to offer That place is voiceover extra dot com Whether you're just exploring a voiceover career or a seasoned veteran ready to reach that next professional level Stay in touch with market trends coaching products and services while avoiding scams and other pitfalls Voiceover extra has hundreds of articles free resources and training that will save you time and help you succeed Learn from the most respected talents coaches and industry insiders when you join the online sessions bringing you the most current information on topics Like audio blouse auditioning home studio setup and equipment marketing performance techniques and much more It's time to hit your one-stop daily resource for voiceover success sign up for a free subscription to newsletters and reports It's all here at voiceover extra dot com. That's voiceover Xtra dot com Well, here's something I have don't get a chance to do much and that's a live spot Like george does every week, but anyway You know one of the most important things you can do When you start off in voiceovers, you gotta have a website But early on you know when people are like trying to do websites, you know, some people are good at html And other people can do all sorts of stuff or use a You know some sort of system and make their own website But sometimes those are too detailed and the fact of the matter is is when you're trying to start in voiceover And you want to have a website because you gotta have a website What you really need to do is go on over to a new sponsor Even though they're an old sponsor. Remember you remember Uh voice actor websites dot com. Well now we have voice actor dot com voice actor dot com Is a great website. It's templated Websites so all you have to do and it is is go in there and find a template that works for you and you can customize it It's and it can be free to start. So all you have to do is go over to voiceactor.com they create Websites that are mobile responsive easy to use You can edit it yourself as I said and it's built for voice actors by voice actors so go on over to voiceactor.com and What do you get what are you gonna get you're gonna get a really great website Really fast and george and I have done it. We were able to do websites for our kids In 10 minutes or less. So go on over to voice actor websites dot com We are the world voices organization Also known as wobo. We're the not-for-profit industry association of freelance voice talent voiceover is a complex entrepreneurial business Wobo is there to promote the professional nature of voice work to the public to those already established in their voiceover practice And to those who want to pursue voiceover as a career Membership benefits include a supportive and creative community a profile and demos on voiceover.biz Our searchable directory of vetted professional voice talent our exclusive demo player for your personal website Our mentoring program business resources and our video library our annual wobo con conference A fun and educational weekend with other members with the chance to learn and network Webinars and great speakers and weekly social chats with other members around the world If your world is voiceover make wobo part of it world voices organization. We speak for those who speak for a living Yeah, hi, this is carlo zellers rocky the voice of rocko and you're watching voiceover body shop Yes, you are and uh We're great having chris on he's just has great stories and we could probably have him on for another three or four hours and Absolutely. Yeah, it's all of the earth nicest guy ever and uh, it's great to see nice guys win with when when they do the right things and chris is chris is just it's been awesome. I mean i've been watching his career like I mean when I first helped him with his very first vocal booth You know and then he said i'm ready to build something custom in like 2010 I mean it's just been an amazing thing to watch. I'm i'm proud of him. Yeah Uh next week on this very show or you could hang out and watch live We've got tech talk number 101 which is going to be fabulous because we have all sorts of cool stuff to show you and to talk about Uh the week after that the one and only rebecca davis will be joining us Just a wonderful lady and a very successful voice actor and then after the week about two weeks later Dave walsh one of the best coaches in voice over just now the return on our calls Yeah, it's like hey, okay. I'm done with all this the spring travel season is worn is worn down They have more time now. Great. Great to have them all here. Yeah, you've got a webinar coming up Uh boy, we do we do a lot of them and so the one coming up this go around is reaper First time that we are teaching a reaper class. Well, let's say we not me. I'm not teaching it I'm not a reaper Expert bringing one in. His name is steven gonzalez. He is a real reaper expert So we have a beginner class on the third. Uh, let's see actually at 3 p.m Um the following tuesday after the show And that would be the 18th and then the week after would be the advanced version For people that feel like they're really we're already working efficiently in reaper But want to learn a lot of new power user tricks So yeah, if you're interested in interested in that head over to george the dot tech out of the webinars page And use v obs fan 10 to get 10 off on really anything on george the dot tech not including the webinars All right And we have our weekly donors list people who have been sending us donations to keep the show Just amazing And technologically perfect most of the time anyway, grace newton Robert ledum steve chandler Casey clack jonathan grant thomas pinto greg thomas A doctor voice ant land productions martha con 949 designs christopher eperson sarah borges philip sapir brian page patty gibbons rob rider raider jonathan pennington baird Don griffith tray moseley diana bird salt and sandra man and willer I love how we say her name differently every time. I just can't I don't know what's going on with that anyway Also join our mailing list It's starting to really grow because you guys are watching the show and you want to know what's going on So we'll go over to our website v obs.tv and click on Become a subscriber. I think is what it says on the website We need to thank our sponsors as well like harlan hogan's voiceover is centrals voiceover extra Soros elements vio heroes dot com voice actor dot com and world voices the industry association of Freelance voice talent thanks to jeff holman for getting all the stuff together in the chat room appreciated jeff And of course sue merlino who's sitting there pushing all the buttons making it look like this is an actual tv show So we appreciate that and of course lee penny for being lee penny Well, we keep trying to bring you the best people in the business and we're going to keep doing that for As long as we can keep doing it and uh, but the problem the the bottom line of voiceover is It's not an easy business, but when it comes to being a good voice actor And a good kevin good audio if it sounds good It is good. I'm dan Leonard and i'm george woodham and this is voiceover body shop or v o b s Stay tuned for tech talk live if you're watching us live and get to ask your questions We'll see you next week. Have a good one everybody