 Hey there, it's time for voiceover body shop and tonight. We got a great guest Somebody we all love Rebecca Davis say hello Yeah, this is all righty and George we got lots to talk about tonight and we got lots to talk about with you if you've got a question for Rebecca Or for us tech wise put it in the chat room I know Jeff Holman is out there somewhere and he'll get it to us and we'll get this We'll get this thing rolling right guys All right voiceover body shop right now From the outer reaches they came Bearing the knowledge of what it takes to properly record your voice over audio and Together from the center of the VO universe. They bring it to you now George Wittem the engineer to the VO stars of Virginia Tech grad with the skills to build set up and maintain The professional VO studios of the biggest names in VO today and you Dan Leonard the voiceover home studio master a Professional voice down with the knowledge and experience to help you create a professional sounding home VO studio and Each week they allow you into their world Bringing you talks with the biggest names in the voice of a world today Letting you ask your questions and giving you the latest information to make the most of your voice over business Welcome to voice over body shop Voice over body shop is brought to you by voiceover essentials comm home of Harlan Hogan signature products source elements remote studio connections for everyone voice actor websites comm where your VO website isn't a pain in the butt VO heroes comm become a hero to your clients with a word-winning voice over training JMC demos when quality matters and voiceover extra your daily resource for VO success and now Live to drive from their super secret clubhouse and studio in Sherman Oaks, California Here are the guys Well, welcome to another edition of voice over body shop, and we're all surviving here we're trying to make the best of it in this weird time and Trying to get things done remotely and sometimes things go well Sometimes not so well sometimes not so well. We're gonna spin this one tonight tonight We're doing for those watching the show live. We are doing a pride month tribute Is that what it is you on the screen right now for the live viewers are color bars Let your freak like font colors fly. That's right Watching live, but at least you can still listen and still ask great questions of Rebecca and us Because she wants to answer your questions, but we got questions for it too Rebecca Davis welcome officially to being an actual Guest featured guest here on voiceover body shop. Thank you so much. It's so nice to be here Really are saving the best guests for last because this is the last voiceover body shop show we're ever gonna do ever I am honored my friend Well, I wasn't ready for that. Are you telling me something? I don't know. No, it's okay. It's the last one We're gonna do with v mix Right. All right. Anyway, the guinea pig that does not work. Yes, right. Anyway, Rebecca welcome to the show It's so glad to know we've known each other. Oh for at least ten years. I think so at a time is I have no idea, but I think about ten years. I think we first met at a faff No, it was it was at voice 2008 oh My gosh, you're right. Yeah, it was my first ever voiceover event ever ever Yes, which would have been when Dan and I met too, so that's something right. It's it's reunion time Yeah, I know but yeah, not I remember meeting you and saying who's this lovely curly haired girl over here That's so incredibly bubbly You're sweet. Oh, I try and And then you've had quite the career sense then and you're still a kid You can't complain. I am a kid still yes And we're at least acting like one so where exactly where are you from originally? Um, I guess I grew up in New Jersey I was born in Texas, but somehow went from there to Connecticut and then mostly Jersey from third grade till I Was done and then I went to Austin, Texas and I was like, I'm not meant to be a Jersey girl Let's get the hell out of dodge. Yeah How long were you in Austin? About seven or eight years Okay, a little hazy in there And then I kind of woke up one day and said it's time to go. Let's go to grad school and ended up in Los Angeles somehow Never thought I'd be here. Yeah, but you you were you've you've been acting, you know since a young age I take it. Yes. I was about I was a child actress Cue the violence. Um, yeah, I've kind of been doing this all my life I can't remember a time when I wasn't an actor And so yeah, I did all the shows and I was And I was in Annie like every orphan in Annie except for Duffy for those you crazy Annie fans out there I don't understand what I'm saying but yeah, I did the whole tri-state area circuit and Then went to undergrad did more acting and just haven't stopped I don't know what I would do if I wasn't an actress. It's scary Well, yeah, you know, it's got it's got to be in your gallbladder to be an actor It's in my toes. It's everywhere. I feel it in my finger You're too young to know that song. Anyway, Peter Peter and Gordon. But anyway, um So, uh, you you you did lots of acting. How did you drift your way Into voiceover though? Good question when I was living in Austin and I finished school and I got an agent and she sent me one day for an audition for Anime which at that point I had no idea what it was. She said just go you'll find out I went and I got behind a microphone This is fun and then I booked it and then I started doing anime in Austin and just Fell in love with it fell in love with the microphone all of it and then uh, then I came out here to LA and kind of forgot about it a little bit and then, uh But I was kind of new I don't know and then one day out here. I Was doing the artist's way, which is wonderful for any of you who don't know about it And at the end of it all the people that that I was doing it with said, why aren't you pursuing voiceover? You keep talking about it that that's something you want to do and it just was this little light bulb and uh, I stopped doing on camera and was like, I'm not doing this anymore and just put all of my focus on the voiceover at that point and Yeah, that's the shortened version of the long version. Okay. Well, you could have given us the long version We're willing to you know, we've we've got an hour here. You could just ramble on for as long as you want to do So what type what type of work do you specialize in? What have you been kind of stuff you've been doing? Yeah, my my heart is in animation and video games and and part of that I think comes from Just having that pure acting background and always wanted to wanting to inhabit characters and get deep into things and what I love about voiceover and animation and video games is I you know, you talk about this all the time I could play a six year old boy. I could play an 90 year old woman and you know a dog stuff that I can't do on stage stuff that I can't do on film um, I'm not typecast Which is I mean, I do get a lot of the same time to stop but in a different way um, and I still do commercial and promo and narration and everything else But when I get those animation and video game auditions and jobs my heart just starts Getting so excited, but I'll I'll take the you know, I'll take the commercial money. I'll do commercials That's like oh it gets me going. That's that's the gravy. You know, I mean you you got to keep yourself working You get a good commercial. That's just gravy Exactly that keeps you going to the next one. That's right You know, I mean it's yeah As actors were always unemployed until until our next gig Our job is finding our next job. Our job is auditioning our I mean, there's so much more to it than that But uh, it's getting the next job is our job early But but animation and gaming is your favorite stuff. That's the stuff you really like doing Oh, I love it. Oh, I'll sink it in my teeth Yeah What what do you think is the key to really to really scoring in that particular genre? Because everybody wants to do it because everybody says well, I can make funny voices And I'm like, yeah, well, it's not exactly how you get into voiceover and doing animation. It's Maintaining characters, but what what do you find is working for you? Uh bingo, you're right about saying it's not about funny voices. Um, it's about the characters It's about doing the character work It's about going back to the basics and who are you talking to what's going on? Where did you come from all the stuff that we learned that we're doing on stage and in film and really taking that on and using your imagination and putting yourselves in The situations that you may not be in in your real life most of the time I mean, I I played a baby zombie. That is not something I could personally relate to I think how how did you play a baby? Zombie, I don't quite get that one. I know Babies can be zombies too, Dan. It's equal, you know, anyone can be a zombie But it was very funny. It was very fun trying to An infant zombie is a very weird Concept and that's why I love animation and video games and you figured it out and that's why they hired you But I think my favorite bit of direction I've ever gotten once was Can you make the vomit sound more like a river and less like a stream? Wow best direction ever And your reaction to it was Yes, I can't Always say yes That sure Yes, and Sure, how fleshed out was the baby zombie character. We need a cast What do you mean fleshed out meaning like They knew they really knew what they wanted. Oh, they had to completely create the character You'll they just wanted me to go for it It was like here's an image of the baby baby zombie Trying to crawl and you're like I mean just Mix those baby sounds and those zombie sounds and you Tonight's theater of the mind too folks because people watching live all they're seeing is rainbow, so It's even better for people watching live Creepier I guess maybe I don't know. Yeah, we're sort of like these disembodied voices. It's got oh, yeah You know that's the fun. That's one of the things like I like about not being on camera is uh It doesn't matter you make the craziest faces I do the weirdest things in the booth and no shame no worries about Some but I mean except the director I guess if they can see you but I don't really care about them either It's just get it in every weird spot. That's right. Well, as I like to tell our home studio clients Nobody needs to see how the sausage is made You know it you're only going to hear it So, you know if it's going to take contorting doing that kind of stuff I mean physicality is important with acting anyway, especially with voice acting people don't realize that I mean, do you put a lot of physicality into when you when you're doing games and animation or just any any type of voice over Absolutely, absolutely, especially I was uh working with a director a couple days ago and the character is um It's a very large woman and we were talking about the amount of space that I needed to take up in in the booth without hurting myself My I tend to speak with my hands and waxed in my booth a lot But we were just talking about taking that space because somebody who has the big lungs and speaks From their gut is so different than someone who just doesn't take up a lot of space and Gets all tiny inside. They talk completely differently. They have a different attitude And yeah physicality, especially I mean like you watch people like D Bradley Baker and the people who do creatures And what they do and how they and it's I could watch them All the time It's so cool. They just like transform their body. I keep forgetting no one can see me right now But I just do it anyway I think it was it was Maybe it was tom kenney or or maybe no Or bob burgui one of those folks who's in animation and he was telling us this is work Where do you learn how to do this and yet look you can go to coaching you do it's watching the other pros do their thing And I it must be great being able to watch these people do that kind of work Oh, yeah, thank goodness for the internet now and in many ways. I mean, it's wonderful and it's horrible and I love it but being able to To watch them work and you're never I mean No matter what in my opinion no matter how much of a pro you are You're never above learning And you can never stop learning And just watching you get so easy to just get online and watch people and listen and Anywhere like I'm I'm kind of creepy in the sense that I work. I mean, I guess we should be maybe creepy but record people a lot when I used to be out in public um And just I'd have my iPhone if I'd hear somebody with a weird sound or a kid and just like Try to hide it and record them I'm pretty sure the nsa is probably tracking me for the amount of times that I've uh Searched online like five-year-old boy talking Right They're watching me using duck duck go or something that's anonymous Because you're browsing history Maybe that's so hot They are searching me constantly What do I digress? Yeah, how many games have you done? I I would have to count um Gosh probably at least 30 by now At least I don't know. I'm bad at keeping track of that. Awesome. Yeah, some of it's online You know some of it's on on imdb some of it isn't um there are You know, it's a mind screw sometimes because I'm like I know people I'm like Oh, well, they have hundreds of of Credits and video games. I'm like here's me But that's where I am now and I would have killed to be me 10 years ago So I'll take my 30 plus. There you go There you go. Once again, if you're just tuning in and seeing color bars, you're still We're still you're still hearing us and we know you're out there because we know you're you're at least listening Our guest is the one and only bubbly rebecca davis Uh, who is a voice actor and Does all sorts of interesting stuff and we just love having her around we wish we could have you around more often Um, I want to see you in person and hug you. I know I'm you know Alison jenny says we have to save the hugs. I see that commercial one more time We're all in this together gather In these unprecedented time No, we're not you're you're where you are and our directors somewhere else and george is in tepanga and i'm all alone In this big empty studio My body's here and my head's over here. That's right Fascinating You guys can't see what he's holding up right now Someone's gonna see it. Anyway uh Anyway, if you've got if any of you have a question for rebecca Put it in the chat room in facebook and I know jeff holman is out there somewhere Taking down your questions and passing them on to us and we'll get to them in just a little bit Yeah, so how has This quarantining affected Your your voiceover practice that's quarantine um You know, it was crazy at first just like with everybody and trying to adjust and figure out what I can't stand the phrase But i'm gonna say it the new normal um But it you know, it was up and down which is to be expected. Um and kind of navigating Figuring it out. Um, and i'm so thankful Actually partially due to the two of you that I already had a complete home setup and a booth and I already had my source connect I've got i've got don la fontaine source connect account. Thank you voiceover the don la fontaine voiceover lab. They gave that to me many years ago and it's uh Very special. Um, so I was already set up for all of it. Um, and my heart really went out to everybody that that wasn't Depending on where you are you're you're used to You know, you've got to set up good enough for auditioning Um, but not good enough to sustain longer sessions. Um, or the right equipment and everything So my heart's been really going out to everybody Um, but I feel very fortunate That I was prepared For all of this. Yeah, no, um, yeah The most challenging thing has been dubbing projects. That has been an interesting Uh, yeah, how do they hit me? I want to know about that. Yeah Yeah, it's been it's been crazy. I just had one this morning where uh, I've got my zoom Well, no, no, this one was everyone does it every studio does it differently. This one was Skype on my ipad So that I could see the video But then source connect on my computer wired into my booth Uh, so listening on there, but things were kind of matching up at the directors in one place the engineer somewhere else We're all seeing things in just a little bit of different time Uh, so that was weird. I had one studio at the very beginning and this was just cool I was like, yeah They uh, they sent me a whole rig. Now. I already had the uh, the mic that they want to they wanted me to use I already had the uh 416 But they were sending out this rig because they wanted everybody on the same microphone So everybody had that same Sort of sound even though our spaces were treated differently, but it was definitely more uniform And somebody arrived in their mask and gloves and sanitized box a giant box in a bag and There was a third thing to bring it up got a whole second mic stand a giant screen The the the box the suitcase was amazing what they did because they carved it out They had foam in it and it was carved out and here was the computer and then there was the The different extension cords and everything and here was the mic and here was the Um the preamp in there and the interface and everything and it always labeled of where to put it and what to do And I got on the phone with the engineer the night before and we tested out All the different spaces and what would be great and I put my uh in my booth I don't have a monitor, but I've got For those of you who can see later on I have a lovely window So I was able to put the monitor right at the window Yeah, lovely big monitor and then we were able to change the way my microphone was so I could face it and you know, it was the band on the bottom just moving as you're talking and It was great That was you know, they ran the whole session Didn't have to use any of my equipment and then I called the end and somebody came in like an hour to pick it up and Do whatever they did with it and disinfected and Bring it off to the next person. I guess It was it was fascinating and I've done that a couple times So what you're saying is with these guys apparently money was no object Well, I think they had a couple of those setups that just went from place to place I would imagine maybe money was no other I don't know But uh, I mean I'd still would rather go into a studio any day of the week Than like any chance because also it's just so much more fun And you don't have to think about anything right with the other sessions that I've been doing I've still had to be engineering myself a little bit that one. They just took over which was awesome Always nice if you can do it that way from home. Uh, yeah, yeah Had they had they has anybody suggested that they're going to start opening the studios again Or do we think that this is going to be the new normal that everybody's gonna have There are some studios that are open. There are some that are trying to there are some that aren't Everybody has different opinions on it. Um, so who knows? I mean, we might be shutting back down in California Los Angeles. Anyway, but And they all have different precautions that they're sending out ahead of time of like, this is what we're doing. This is what we're doing Um, I hear, you know, you hear different stories from facebook and what you personally encounter as well and You know, everyone's just trying to get by I feel bad the studios are they're going out of business You know, I mean it breaks my heart We need we need the engineers Yeah, yeah, we do but we all need home studios challenged say that again dad We all need our home studios though now Now it's going to be vital that you have that I think if you're if you're an engineer out of work right now, it's time to get really creative And reach out to some of your past clients or voice actors you've worked with and Start offering some kind of a virtual engineering because You know, I'm talking to voice actors who are doing I mean what you're describing is kind of like the extreme Like where they literally bring the whole system out and yeah But I mean there is a version of that where they ship it to you and then you set it up and then They can remote run the studio I don't know if that's what they did in that case or back. Yeah, they Running it to everything. Yep. They ran everything because they had their whole computer Set up in this little box. It was beautiful. I got to solely be an actor And not worry about anything and you know what I'm doing sessions from home with my clients my overseas clients and other clients I'm most of the time having to worry about normally Yeah, those are those are kind of the norm Your normal clients or your normal sessions my non-la clients. Yeah, I guess you'd say but it's never to that extent I never have a I don't I don't think I've ever had a four-hour session At home Like before all of this right with my own clients So it's a it's a lot We just want to be actors, but we need to know how to do that stuff now. It's even before The the way everything is now we we needed to know Thank goodness. I had people like you to help show me and I had the lab That's how I learned with you George how I learned to use twisted wave And I think about when I first started Oh my god, how many years ago did the lab open? It was 10? More than 10. Yeah, at least 10 it goes right before we started doing this show that it opened up about 10 Yeah, they have it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, because they just recently had the 10 year anniversary Well, that would well that would steal that Yeah, I was there from the beginning that place was a gift. Yeah Once again, we're talking first rewards that you got was through there through the lab Yeah, yeah, the the Don LaFontaine voiceover spirit award was uh That was amazing. I don't know. It was crazy. I do remember I know it's so long ago. I mean, maybe what was that maybe six Six years ago sounds about right. Yeah Yeah, and Eric over there kind of uh I can't think of the word at the moment steered me in the wrong direction. It's like we're having a little luncheon Can you just show up? Can you come? You know, just dress a little nice What? Because those of you who know me I'm like a t-shirt and jeans girl. I am not a dresser nicer type of person um and then uh, rebecca from source connect was making a speech and then They presented me with this award for emulating don and it was um I praise indeed I will not get foot clumped right now um But it was wonderful and they they gifted me as I was saying earlier Don's Original source connect account that he used to I think it was the simpsons that he worked on when he was in scotland Maybe he was like at a castle and he used it and I was just learning what source connect was and it's just It it blew me away and and I still have that obviously And then and then you right after that that was kind of like my impetus to set up my home studio And you came to my house george and helped me uh, that was the closet. Oh, yeah, I got my closet Set that up where I keep I kept dating myself as well surprise surprise I have a whole reel of bloopers now that I've kept for myself Oh good It's like I think it's about 30 minutes long of all the times that I just hurt myself or I cursed or just Something stupid happens or I belch in the middle of a take. I just saved them Didn't you have neighbors that were making a lot of noise too? um, I had construction for a while In my old place and hey, they're gonna build a house next door in my new house. Yay Oh, man, you're really knocking out of the park. We're just great with that Yeah, they're building a whole new ridiculously giant house. Um, so uh, but yeah, we had a we had a lot of noise In the old place, but the space that george helped me with Really helped a lot A whole lot and then I got my booth and then that helped But I would have to tell my neighbors there because the house had been walls And I'm sure for those of you who live in apartments and other things telling your neighbors about when you're screaming Like I swear my husband isn't doing anything to me. I'm fine. I know I'm screaming bloody murder There is no fire. I am not throwing a grenade. There's no frack out. I'm just being a zombie Yeah, I'm just a baby We're talking with rebecca davis again if you've got a question for her boy, she's had a fun career Uh, throw it in the chat room right now because we'll get to those questions in just a little bit One of the things, you know, that I I really love about what what you do is you're very active in The community the voiceover community in the community at large as well Uh, what are some of the organizations you work with? Um, I work with women in animation Right now I've been working as the lead with them for a while and voiceover programming And um, we had to take a step back for a little bit, but we're ramping back up now. Um, it's great Yeah, tell us a little bit about wia Uh women in in animation It's it's basically if they see it then they'll emulate it if people can see women in power in other positions Then they know That uh inherently that's where You can be it's you know everything that the world is talking right about right now you have to see it And so women animation has been helping to uplift The voice not i'm sorry not uplift the entire animation community from From the writers and storyboard artists and directors and voiceover actors and just really um Strengthening the way women are uh the way we're represented I should say I went to one event Gina davis was talking and she was amazing and she Said to she said I have a challenge for all of you writing out there Take your lead character and take the character's best or best friend one of the leads and turn it into a girl And that's it and then just go back and reread your script and see What it changes And so many people afterwards at the little shinde we're talking about wow Why haven't I done that before why do I always see the sidekick is is the guy friend and It's things like that that women in animation are doing to change things, which is Which is beautiful So yeah, so I've been working with them and i'm just a big advocate I work with um For those of you in la this is an amazing program. I love it. It's so close to my heart. It's called young storytellers and uh, we go into uh schools that are under uh Underfunded and we work with students is about 10 students for eight weeks And we go in there. Um, there are 10 of us mentors and 10 students and we work as a group for a while and then one on one And by the end of it, they have a five minute screenplay That they wrote completely from start to finish and then it's performed for the school. Um by actors that come in and do it a lot of professional actors and uh, they get some big names and That's how I got involved originally as being an actor and then Fell in love with the program and I've been mentoring there for I guess 10 years. I don't know. I've been here 20 years. Everything flies But uh, it's a wonderful program and when it's running It's just the highlight of my week to just go in there because you get to see These amazing kids. I didn't say they're they're fourth and fifth graders And every year there are some of them that in the beginning don't even want to talk They don't want to say anything. They don't want to participate And by the end of it, you can't stop them from talking. They just They open up and it It changes lives. Um, but it does it's beautiful. It's that kind of stuff just You know If you can change lives If you can change one life, you're saving an entire world, which is hey, you never know I mean, that's an important thing an interpretive dance. There'd be no war. So let's keep it going. Good point Anyway, we're talking with rebecca davis. We're gonna take a quick break right now And uh, if you've got a question for please put it in the facebook chat room We'd be a little just thrilled to have your questions And I know rebecca would too so put them in there right now jeff holman standing by and we'll be right back with rebecca davis Here on voiceover body shop. Don't go away You're watching v obs dot tv I don't know why it's crazy what they do here. I think i'm gonna go somewhere else and have a cheese sandwich Well, hello there I bet you weren't expecting to hear some big voice to announce her guy on your new orientation training for snapchat. Were you Stick around you don't want to miss this Power 1039 at target. We want you to come as you are be comfortable Okay, maybe not bathrobe comfortable Pants for the customer on aisle four, please In the camera Watch anywhere anytime on an unlimited number of devices Sign in with your netflix account to watch instantly at netflix.com The ice cream maker is a big risk that can have huge rewards Until you forget to turn it on Well, that's it guys Time is up. Hey, it's jmc. Thanks for watching the voiceover body shop If you're demo ready or looking to get there check out jmc demos dot com and see a sample of our work Now let's get back to dan and george and this week's tech wisdom What question do we get most often far and away? It's how do I even get started in voiceover and we have a great answer to that question Take the vo heroes dot com free getting started in vo course You heard right It's free and it's available online 24 7 at getting started in vo dot com That's getting started in vo dot com If you've been watching vo bs and thinking that you need to get in gear and start your own voiceover career This is the course you should start with You'll learn about the vocal skills you need the storytelling skills you need the equipment you need The business skills you need and the mindset you need to have All in one single comprehensive online course taught by vo heroes david h lorence the 17th This course won the backstage readers choice award four years in a row and again, there's no charge. It's absolutely free Want to take it? Of course you do getting started in vo dot com. That's getting started in vo dot com And now a word from harlin hogan and voiceover essentials dot com Has this ever happened to you embarrassing? The washers on these booms. Ah, they're not so great at holding up your expensive microphone And here's the answer the adjustable boom stop is great easy to attach and works like a charm No more droopy mic It's simple ingenious and infinitely adjustable the padded non-slip pouch fits almost any size boom arm Unique double loop webbing system for unlimited angle of the downstrap works with tripod and solid round bases Light gray webbing lets you mark and repeat stand settings for each performer It's three ounces of protection for your expensive microphone with free standard shipping in the continental us Hold up your mic with the abs adjustable boom stop This is ariana ratner and you're listening to voiceover body shop vobs.tv And we're back and we're back. I think the very first thing everybody just heard was no belching I didn't think we were on yet I'll put it on my blooper reel. Yes. It belongs Yes, we haven't put a good blooper reel together for this show in a while No, we edit them all out. Anyway, uh, our guest tonight is the one and only rebecca davis Just does all sorts of cool stuff a very active person in the community. She has a dog Uh Wilbur now, I remember the dog he used to have I mean that guy was he was old Oh, he was such a good boy. He lot. He he lived to be about 18 We were never sure how old he was but he had a Very good good long life. Mr. Samuel pantalones davis jr. Robertson Okay, pantalones. That's what you do with your dog. Yep And now we have wilbur biggles bartholomew the third. So, you know, uh very waspy name. Um Anyway, if you got a question for Rebecca throw it in the chat room. So ellen dubin asks What would be your dream role? Oh my gosh, ellen, that's actually a really tough question. By the way, I miss you. Um Oh my goodness Take your time We don't have a lot of time a villain. I don't know For some reason villain is in there because I I never get to play the villain Which just sounds like it'd be super fun. Have you auditioned for one or? I auditioned for them But nothing stuck yet, but you know with auditions it's You just never know Like you take it like do you remember those old things those octopus things that you throw against the wall and they would slowly Yeah, oh, yes. Yeah dating myself Uh, that's what I feel like auditions are sometimes you just throw it at the wall and you're like, I don't know if it'll stick Let's find out, but you don't really ever get feedback. It's so rare So maybe I've gotten close to being an event to be a villain. I got no idea. Um Throw that out to your agent. Hey find me a villain role I'm a villain. I don't know. I think because it's so far from From uh myself. You're just maybe I am a villain in someone's story and I don't know it. I'm very well could be Very well, we all want to know what person's stories in which we are the villain, right? I'm really fascinated by that. I really am and a dog. I want to play a dog I'm just gonna put that one out there. Hey universe. I want to be a talking dog Uh Wasn't it a, um George, uh, what's his face? You know that handsome actor guy George Clooney. Yeah, that one You know, he was the first dog on um the very original um South park Really? Yes I forgot about that. He essentially discovered, sort of discovered it Like he was a little brown dog. I think so and he passed the tape around, you know, it was To his friends I need to watch that show again. So that could be you something That's it. That'll if you just work harder I could just work harder and be better. Just be better Work harder. Do your job You know In video games now, of course, you know women seem to be taking a very domineering role in a lot of this stuff There's always some woman superhero and which means there has to be super villains Oh, yeah, I mean the last of us right now the character I'm not gonna put any spoilers out there for you people who are freaks like me She's such a badass So cool seeing women kick awesome video games It's the best It makes me excited. All right. Well, I'm glad to hear that Um Here's one from our own to do the one from our own chat moderator. Yeah, sure. Jeff has a good question Mr. Jeff Holman You mentioned you made a conscientious decision to switch away from on camera Just going full on vo. He says I can't imagine doing that. Why do you like voiceover better than on camera? Good question. Um, there are a lot of reasons For me and some people who are on camera people will disagree and that's fine That world was hurting my soul Um, it's just it just hurt walking into auditions and being sized up and just The people I the the positive spin on it is the voiceover community um is just it's so welcoming and so kind and so generous and It's my tribe and it's my people and once I started doing it in LA. I just kind of knew like, oh, this is Yeah, this is it. I just the The on camera world it was good to me, but it just wasn't Satisfying I think it was there was a moment where I was called in for an audition in Santa Monica and I lived on the east side And of course it was probably like five o'clock And I was just Not happy about it. This is me. Oh come on in my agent my on camera agent when the phone ring Like my heart would sink. I'm like, what now? But when I get an audition for voiceover to go to a studio or something I'm super excited about it no matter what time it's at I'll drive to Santa Monica at five o'clock. Sure And that is a huge change in thinking and in that difference of oh, I really enjoy this So why was I pursuing something that I was unhappy doing? That's actually quite interesting because I had pretty much the same experience if you you know, like you go to the casting lounges And all these people are staring at you and everybody, you know, some people are in costume and you know, it's like Well, they're gonna pick this guy because he looks better than me or he looks like the part and why am I here and it's parking and driving and It's insane trying to be an actor in this town. Oh and this I can't even especially now If you told me like you're gonna go back and on camera. I mean if you handed me a role, okay, yeah, of course But it's it's it's a different kind of abuse now It's yeah, but you get sized up It just never felt like the vibe was never good when you walk in a room But when you walk into a studio The vibe was just always It's just good Yeah, it's just good people and and the voiceover community itself You know, you and I have been involved in it for years, you know, we're supportive of each other a rising tide floats all boats Oh, yeah Absolutely, that was one of the things early on with going to the conventions and going to like voice and fathcon and wovo And there's so many now and vio Atlanta and one voice. It's always. Oh, I have great information Let me share it with you. Yeah, instead of let me hoard it. So you can't be my competition Because we all sound different. We all approach things differently It's it's competitive, but I feel like I'm more competitive with myself as the person I'm most competitive with Absolutely uh Now one of the interesting things you well, you can't do a lot of it right now is you like to travel And you you have a blog called the the voiceover in ninja. Tell us about that Um, well really it's it's more my instagram was uh became ninjas blog Well, I even have you guys can't see but I even have a little microphone ninja. Here we go This woman makes them for me in england um and Short version because people are like, did you just come up with that for marketing sometimes is uh My husband's gonna kill me for showing this with everyone. Um It we had a game my husband and I had a game Many many years ago. Um called ninja Where you would just jump out and scare the shit out of each other no matter where we are like, what's the best way To spare each other inspector caluso and kato Yeah, yes Just like anywhere in public like we did not care um and that became I don't care what to say it naked ninja the best kind You don't expect it to happen And now i'm getting red you can't see me Really fun. Um, and so we just became ninjas. We called it and so one day I had gotten I think it was one of this might have been the original anyway. Um To go with us because like you said traveling is our thing and so I got a little ninja. I found um This woman in england and oh it is this is the original ninja because he's all broken Anyway He went around and so that was the way instead of taking selfies everywhere and stuff We would just document our travels and adventures and then it became It was just us and then all of a sudden I would bring it with me everywhere So if I'm bored somewhere I'd be like, why can't I put ninja here? And like try and find a place to hide it and take a picture or do something weird and It just became From there it just kind of blew up Into something very fun And then I had to get a lot of ninjas because they started like one fell off a boat And I was just stressing out my husband so much like we need to get you more. I can't handle this anymore So So ninja can't travel right now But I I mean like I have enough ninja pictures to fill So many albums one day. I'll actually make one But it's fun Well traveling is fun traveling's fun when it's safe Well traveling. Yes. Oh my gosh. Is anyone having an interest fun? Yeah, is anyone gonna want to get on an airplane again? It's I'll let you know how it goes It hurts We were supposed to go to japan before all this started I was saying you guys china and japan and we all know how that went. Yeah. Yeah I'm happy to be here and you know, I just hope everyone is okay. And one day we can all travel again I can't wait a couple more questions. Yeah. Yeah Shantae yerby. Well, hoping that's the right way of saying that name. Um What is one thing you wish you knew when you first started out? I'm gonna assume that She's asking about voice acting started out voice acting That's a great question. Shantae. Um, I hope I'm pronouncing that right as well Oh Goodness the one thing. Um gosh everybody, you know is meant to be there in a very philosophical kind of way, but You come across and I guess this is life as well, but you come across people for different reasons in your life And I wish that I had kept in touch with people that I had met early on in this career Um For so many different reasons a myriad of reasons, but I think every single person you meet Could be your next co-star could be your next friend could be your next I guess playmate Could be your next director. Um And not that I've ever burnt bridges in my life. I don't think at least with voiceover. Um, but Maybe a few here and there who knows but I guess I wouldn't say I wish I had known that because I'm always like be kind to everyone you meet But your receptionist is gonna be an agent one day The person at the front desk at the studio is gonna be a director one day And I guess that's more like my advice really than something I wish I had known Which is just be nice. Nobody wants to work with a douche I Yeah, no, I can't I can agree with that one. Um All right, we got one from lee pennie lee. Where are you? Yes, uh, this is is this rebecca's idea of taking ninja to the next level What what's my idea of taking ninja to the next level? I don't know you tell me I don't know. I mean, how could you do the next level? Give me ideas because I can't make a ninja in public so If you're talking about the little ninja you're talking about me, um You know, I don't really like to ninja strangers so much But you tell me what do you think I should do to take it to the next level because I'm Oh video Have a ninja in space ninjas in space That would be amazing Ninja video, are we talking ninja human or ninja? I'm not sure maybe you can clarify Which one do you mean? Ellen had one more question. Um She said talk about the letters That you send to people all over the world She is amazing. Telling pilots is going. I need guys Um, so I started this thing called postcards for kindness. Um, check it out on facebook join us and letters of love to people um It started in response to In the summer last summer fall We were having that slew of gun violence and everything like that And uh, I had seen the story about a girl who said she was afraid to go out of her house because she thought everybody was bad And that the bad people were gonna get her and it just like tore me and so I came up with this idea because I I wanted to help and You know donating money and whatnot. You don't really ever know exactly where it's going to go But something tangible that you can get in real life. I think makes a huge difference, especially right now um So I started postcards for kindness and got school boards involved and Stores like in Dayton, Ohio all the stores that were involved with the shootings and wallmarks Got all these places involved to give addresses and allow us to send things um And just started this movement of people like hear the addresses and I started printing up postcards for people and give them them to strangers and stamped and just send them and uh, it grew into this very beautiful thing where suddenly care homes what we call Um nursing homes here in LA in the uk. They call them care homes and elderly homes started joining the page on facebook and it just Grew into this whole thing between sending cards to care homes and then they would send them back and it Not gonna get the club. Do y'all stop it. Um, I have a tissue here somewhere Don't get for cleft again Thank you But yeah, so it just grew into this international movement and especially right now People need that more than ever people need something a card from stranger that just says you're loved or i'm thinking about you I hope you're okay It just makes a world of difference in my mind. So i'm always Collecting, you know, I always say and anybody out here listening right now If you know somebody that could use a card in the mail Um or something that is celebrating a birthday alone or has lost of anything. Um Just email postcards for kindness at gmail Send me the address the name a little story about it and as long as you're okay with it being public I post it to the specific facebook group and people just start writing. It's amazing Joan baker had reached out her mom Had a birthday and she was isolated because of all this And I want to know from Joan how many she got because there were at least 30 people on the the page Or like i'll send her one i'll send her one i'll send her one and it's just like Just makes me happy People need that there needs to be more more love and kindness. And so yeah, that's where yeah Yeah, we got one more question here from is bear Is there is izbear? Well, hello. Hi is bear. It says hi rebecca How do you or did you go about finding voiceover classes and or teachers that helped you along the way? Great question great question um I start asking people I started looking online um There's someone who who I know I still richard tatum richard. I don't know if you're out there right now Uh, I was talking to someone about voiceover like years ago and I said, oh he does it talk to him So I took him out for lunch and I said hey, I want to study. Where should I study? He started giving me a list I'd go there Then I ask other people who are you studying with and then they gave me a list and You look online and you just have to be um very judicial and do your uh research When you find a teacher depending on if you're doing it online or if you're in la or new york or something and just find people And I and ask other people. What did you think about that teacher audit a class if you can? um bob bergen i'll tell you quick stories quick as I can um Very in the beginning he was one of my first teachers and I wanted to study with him so bad and I asked Can I audit and I went to the first class and audited and he's like a four-year waiting list And somebody that night just didn't show up And then at the end of the night they called and they said I can't come next week either something I can't remember it was so long ago and he's turned to me and he's like well, you're here You've already been here for the first class. You want in? yes like World aligns like that sometimes So hopefully I answered your question. Just do your research and ask people you trust Go online to the facebook community and ask people that you trust Who they've studied with and see if you can audit make sense Every teacher has a different approach. So you don't know in like acting school if you're gonna like Strasburg or if you're gonna like Uh udah again or any of these stuff just figure it out what works for you Well, Rebecca, it's always great to see you. It's always great to see you in person because you and I both need a big hug I think oh my god Well, we'll get to it eventually but thanks so much for being with us tonight. It's been a pleasure Thank you for having me here and and good luck with all this cool stuff that you're doing right now Thank you and keep everyone out there. We'll get through this keep working. We got it Alrighty, thanks for being with us. Thank you. All right. Bye. Bye. All right. Well, George and I'll be right back to wrap This up into a nice tight little something around it right after these mess Hey guys, this is tom also known as the boys of spongebob square pants And you want to fill your ear holes and your eye holes with dan and george and the audio body shop? Snails like it too As a voice talent you have to have a website But what a hassle getting someone to do it for you and when they finally do a break or don't look right on mobile devices They're not built for marketing and seo. They're expensive You have limited or no control and it takes forever to get one built and go live So what's the best way to get you online in no time? Go to voice actor websites.com like our name implies voice actor websites.com just does websites for voice actors We believe in creating fast mobile friendly responsive highly functional designs that are easy to read and easy to use You have full control no need to hire someone every time you want to make a change And our upfront pricing means you know exactly what your costs are ahead of time You can get your voice over website going for as little as 700 dollars So if you want your voice actor website without the hassle of complexity and dealing with too many options Go to voice actor websites.com where your via website shouldn't be a pain in the you know what Your dynamic voice over career requires extra resources to keep moving ahead Now there's one place where you can explore everything the voice over industry has to offer that place is voice over extra dot com Whether you're just exploring a voice over 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 Voice over 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 audiobooks auditioning casting home studio setup and equipment Marketing performance techniques and much more. It's time to hit your one stop daily resource for voice over success Sign up for a free subscription to newsletters and reports and get 14 bonus reports on how to ace the voice over audition It's all here at voiceover extra dot com. That's voice over x t r a dot com This is anthony mendez. You're watching voice over body shop Hey, it's that time of the show where we talk about our lovely sponsors source elements the busy bees that created source connect And men they are super super Busy, but the good news is because they've had so many new people added to their user base so many new customers They've also been able to to expand their customer service at the same time So That wasn't good. Yeah, that was cool at this count. I believe source connect has over 10 Um tech support people ought at the ready now You know working essentially around the clock, you know, so they can service all the different markets and all the different continents with tech support And I as far as I'm aware There is no other Competing platform that has made that kind of an investment in tech support And I think that it's just one of the many things that does set them apart They've been working on source connect for it's been viable and used on promos and all sorts of big time production stuff for Way north of 10 years. I think probably more than 12 years now And uh, it's just getting more dialed in and honed You should get online get get signed up with an account So you can be available for source connect sessions when They fall in your lap and if they do or just so you can be available to audition for them It's really important head to source elements source dash elements calm and get a 15 day free trial Um, you definitely definitely want to watch a video. I produced on this it's on youtube On getting source connect standard for voiceover. It's also available at georgethetech.com Slash sc check that video out get a little user guide to learn how to use it It's there's a process to setting it up. But once it is set up, it is seamless. It is smooth Um, anyway, we appreciate their sponsorship and we'll be right back to wrap it up. Thank you This is anthony mendez. You're watching voiceover body shop. Oh good Well, go ahead. It's always great to see rebecca. Don't we never you know, because we haven't seen anybody in a while but especially her One of the one of the really nice people in our business and great to great to see indeed So, uh, next week on this show, we'll have uh, it'll be tech talk number 36 Yep, we're gonna tape that here in just a little bit. Yeah, so we'd love to get your tech questions Get them here in the facebook chat room. But who are our donors of the week? Yes, and we are still getting donations, which we really appreciate you can donate right on the website or get a subscription and be just on auto donate donate, which I believe some of these folks are those kinds of people like sarah borges phillips appear Trey speaks for you. That's trey's mow trey mosley thomas pinto natasha marshuka brian page patty gibbons danna birdsall and uncle roy of ant land productions all Sponsors and or donors and I believe also subscribers On that on our donation system because their names come up Over and over and over and over and over which is freaking cool. Thank you everybody All right Well, uh, we need to thank our sponsors too like harlin hogan's voiceover essentials voiceover extra Source elements boheroes.com voice actor websites dot com and jmc demos All right. Well, thanks to jeff holman on chat room duty tonight and on facebook And our technical director who's pulling her hair out one strand at a time Uh, sumer lino and lee pinney who is joining us tonight for just being lee pinney Well, we'll be back with tech talk next week. So stay tuned for we're going to record that now But you can watch it anytime you can watch this interview all week too That's going to do it for us. I'm dan lennard and i'm george woodham and this is voiceover body shop or vo bs