 Good morning. Good morning everybody. You are watching It's Our Kids. I mean like welcome to the weekend. We're playing Kenyan music. We're keeping it 100% ke. My name is Felinjin. Of course I'm hanging out with the one and only DJ Harry Saw right here. Ukofiti? Ukofiti. Ukofreshi. Ukofreshi. That's what I mean. Ukofreshi barida. Shout out to Ivnyaga. She couldn't be here today so I'm here holding her down. Msi Jali. Atarudi next week okay. I know you guys are like rada. Kuna enda je. But she'll be back next week. She's a little bit under the weather. We're wishing her all the best to that. But they go to her IG to her all her socials when the mum be a quick recovery. Okay. Do that. If you can do that for me that would be amazing. And of course we have our first guest right here in studio. He is he describes himself as a little man with a big voice. He is a voice. Okay. How do you say this? A voice talent coach and he's also a voice of an artist. Let's welcome in studio. Katkona yo. Alright. Let's welcome Henry Mwangangi. Nice nice nice. That's what I was looking for. How are you doing this lovely morning? I'm good. Thank you very much for having me. Thank you so much for coming through. I know it's morning. It's not easy to wake up. But we're so glad you could make it. Thank you. I'm happy to be here. Alright. I know I introduced you but I don't think I did you justice. So kindly if you can use camera for just go ahead and reintroduce yourself to our viewers. Alright. I'm Henry Mwangangi but most people know me as the voice of Henry Mwangangi. I'm a voice talent, a voice coach. Sauti yambayo naskia kwenia adbats. Most of the adbats have done most adbats on mainstream media. This is the face behind the voice. The face people never get to see. They hear the voice there. That is the bad thing about being the voice. Like even movie, the people who do voice-overs for movies, animations. You hear really great voices but you never get to see them. Yeah. I always mention Seth McFallen who is the writer of Family Guy. And in Family Guy Seth does over ten voices. He does like four mainstream voices. True story. He's done that has written the animation and he also does like four mainstream characters and six more characters. But people are so familiar with the voice yet they don't know the face. They don't know the face. Even I remember Gina Carter, the one who did one of my favorite animations. The black series, the one that has, she did like three characters. She's a lady but she voiced like three characters. Ana voice Machali and Naini Dem. It's like one of my favorite, like I'll remember within the interview I'll let you know. One of my favorite, all time favorite animations about Regina Carter. So like the voice can be very deceiving. True. Something I get a lot because the voice is huge, the body is small. That's why you call yourself that, a small man with a big voice. Yeah, that's very far. Let's just go back to where it all started. How did you get into voice coaching and just being a voice of an artist? I think I've always admired voice of an artist. I grew up listening to people with very distinct voices. People like Lerna, Mambo, Boteana. It's a very unique voice. Kenya has a lot of unique voices, voice talents and listening to radio, citizen, KBC and all those mainstream media when you're growing up. You grew up admiring the voices and wondering who really are the people behind the voices. And then I realized at a young age that I could do impressions. That is where you imitate someone's voice. You can do impressions? I can try. So when I did realize that, then I studied journalism as well. You need to do that for us. Like just like do something for us. Because that's what we were talking about in movies. Like you voice the mam, the dad. Give me the scenes, Mori. The mega scenes, Mori. Oh, jeez. I love it. I realize that I could do this while in campus. Mainly that's what I started doing it a sort of a career. I had a friend, his name is Ray Kim Graphix. He does videos for adverts and corporate explainer videos. He used to send me scripts and tell me, can you try and voice this and then realize this is something that people do. And then did research. Find people like Muakazi Kageni who are very huge on that. And people like Jennifer Kanari who has mented me for the journey. I don't know if you know Jennifer. I'm sure you've heard a voice. The person you're calling is not available. Safari call. She's one of the people that has mented me a lot. So you guys have a personal relationship. I consulted her often. Oh, that's amazing. She has also a very unique voice. It stands out among many people. If you hear her, you'll definitely know her. But the funny thing is that people who actually do voice over don't sound like that in real life. Like you would voice something and then if I put you here and the ad here, you don't sound like that in real life. I think you need to differentiate between voice acting, voice over and your normal conversational tone. Because you're given a script, you're directed, you're given directions as well. It's like an actor. You don't go putting on your character in your day to day life. You will not be working around the character. When you work, you're the individual. When you get on screen, on set, you're that character. It's the same with a voice actor. When I'm behind a microphone with the headphones, I'm a different person from the Hindi manganjia. I thought people would recognize me a bit. You were the guy that did that. I know, right? Like this one, they remember like the fiber one. It went viral. So I can imagine if that was his everyday voice. Exactly. You wouldn't work. That's true. You spoke about this when you were in campus. So what did you study? Do you have to measure anything specific if you want to be a voice actor or voice over artist when you measure in that as a career? Personally, I studied journalism. Did radio at multimedia obviously. But it's not a must for a voice actor or a voice talent to have a background in media studies or journalism. It could just be anyone. We were drawn from different careers. We had a lawyer that was a voice artist, a very huge voice artist, became a judge. He decided let me quit this, let me focus on the judge thing. So it really boils down to having the talent for it. If you have a good voice, it's natural. And then the training sessions and just understanding the dynamics of the industry. But if you have a good voice, you can be a voice actor. You can be a voice actor. No matter what you do. I know you've done, you've voiced a lot, a lot of projects. What can you say are your favorite projects to voice for you? Which one are easy for you? Or you like the challenging ones? Which one can you say, when you get that, you're like, oh, this is easy. We're going to love doing this. Which one do you enjoy the most? Of course, commercials. Because commercials are very short and they pay really well. They pay a lot. So nobody wants to explain. But then I do love narrations and documentaries. It's sort of my passion. So if I want to choose, if I'm going for the money, the commercials, if I'm going for my passion, it's the narrations and documentaries. Yeah. Right. Now how do you maintain your voice? Just to make sure that it does what it's supposed to. So I'm going to start with this. My niece, just the other day they went for these performances. She's just doing school. She's in Pp1. But they went and performed. And then her school is one of those that was elected. And they were supposed to go perform for the president. So the teacher was like, let's just tell her not to eat sweets. Don't drink yoghurt. And she has taken that to the tea. So I go home, come on, kawaii down. How you bred kids. So I go to my sisters. I take her like all the sweet things. And she's like, I can't have that. I'm like, why not? We're going to sing for the president. The teacher says no. So I assume that is the same thing with you. Like when you have, you take that as a career and you take it seriously because it pays your bills. What are some of the things you can do or what are some of the healthy things you do to make sure that your voice stays the way it is? Yeah, vocal hygiene. It's like even for musicians, they do practice, they keep away from certain things. One of the things you're supposed to avoid is smoking. Of course, smoking damages your vocal cords. So if you are a smoker, if you do shisha, you need to avoid kidogo. So that if you want your voice to maintain that quality. But some people do that imagine just because they want to get a huskiness. There is that aspect, but in the long run it's going to be, you'll get the huskiness. You'll have that kefjainange voice. But then it's for a short while. If you want it for the long run, you need to keep away from smoking. You need to keep away from sugary stuff, like you said, sweets, a lot of sugar. Normally if you're going to record something, you're advised to drink warm water for your vocal cords. And just doing regular exercises, like humming, tongue rolls, tongue twisters. You guys did tongue twisters in school. We do tongue twisters today. Oh, so that you don't get the achswech. Yeah, yeah, yeah. The pita, pipa, pikta, pika, pika, all that. So do you have anything you do just right before you start recording? I was told for artists you're supposed to drink a lot of water during and just before the performance, before you go to perform, you need to keep your throat moist. It helps when you're performing. Your throat doesn't need to be dry. So for you before you record, are there some things you're supposed to do? Same, same. I always have a glass of water in the recording studio. So especially for long-form narrations and you will get to a point when your voice is dying. It's dying, yeah. It's a struggle. Replanation, yeah. Other things that I normally do is just like a regular exercise like brab, the lip rolls. Helps to, and then breathing in, breathing out helps to, you know, help you relax because you don't want to go to a script on your tense. Generally understanding your voice, understanding the script as well, normally people will hear an advert 30 seconds and think, oh, they had it so easy. Yeah, it takes forever. It can take a whole day. It can take a whole day. To get what they want. Exactly, especially if you're doing a directed session. I was doing one for Spotify and I was being directed by my producer from Nigeria and then it was through a zoom video sort of thing and had only like three lines took me close to three hours to get them right. We don't like the way you say it. I honestly understand what you mean. I've been there, I've done that. We booked the whole night just to get three sentences, right? So it makes sense. We have a lot to talk about. We still have a lot to learn. But first we take a break. We're coming right back. My name is Filin Jinn, standing in for Ibnyaga and of course I'm hanging out with the one and only DJ Harry So. And we have our guest. He is the voice of Henry Mungangi. The voice of Henry Mungangi. I didn't want to say your name. I know you have a tagline. So he goes by the voice of Henry Mungangi. Alright, let's take that break. We're coming right back. Stay with us. You're watching Isha Cute. My name is Filin Jinn, standing in for Ibnyaga. I'm with the DJ Harry So right here. And on set I'm joined by one amazing voice of artist. He goes by the voice of Henry Mungangi. Nima kasih ya? Well, I know a lot of people are tuning in and not going to join them. What is the voice of an artist? What is the voice of an acting? Maybe you can just give us a brief understanding of what that is. My layman's explanation of what voiceover is is it's part of our day-to-day life. When you walk in town, you hear people shouting, viatu, viatu... da wa mende biruboto. That guy is a voice... There's one that is very distinct, Viatunabe. Viatunabe is the same voice all over again. It's a voice, yeah. But that's voiceover. Literally any sort of voice recording that's being broadcast or layered on some video clip of some sort. And we hear it every day. It's in the commercials that are played on radio, on TV. It's in your documentaries. It's in your explainer videos. It's in the animations you watch. It's in the movie trailers. It's everywhere. But there are people behind those voices. I am one of those. Yes. Amazing. I love it. Now I know you mentioned family guy, but who are some of the people that inspire you, voiceover artists that are super great that you are inspired by? In Kenya, we have lots of people that are very talented. Like I said, Jennifer Kanari is one of those. We have Makovon Bada, who does the voice of IBC. We have guys like Ali Mongola. Mokazi. Like Mokazi. Jeff Koinange. Mainak Hageni. He looks a love of classic on a five. Yes, he's a love. This one, this guy. I forgot his name, but he's a white guy who does a lot of videos for DJs. Even for radio Africa. Yes, yes, yes. In Africa, we have the voice of a beam. I was talking about the guy from Nigeria. We have Chilulema from Zim, who is based in South Africa. Very amazing guy. There is no way you know all these people. I do. If you told me to name anyone outside Kenya apart from Hollywood, I'm going to build. I'll start. I can't imagine you have a whole list. I was privileged to be part of the voice of a conference of Africa last year. It was an opportunity to network with people that are doing similar stuff in Africa. Right now, there's a very huge focus on African voices, even with the music, Afro beats. Even voice of us, we have a lot of projects coming to Kenya from Hollywood. Of course, internationally everybody looks up to Morgan Freeman, David Attenborough. Freeman is really talented as well. I know, right? And my favourite is the calming voice of Sir David Attenborough. This is the Atacama Desert. The one who does wildlife. Yes, he does nature and wildlife. So, there are a lot of people who inspire me. Wait, there's also one for football. This one is retiring. I forgot his name but he's retiring. You've probably known Arab Uria. You know Arab Uria, the guy that does tiktoks imitating Peter Drury, the commentator. Yeah, Peter Drury. I think he's the one that is retiring. I have no idea. Let me not lie to you. I'm not a fan of Soka. I don't do football commentations but I do know Peter Drury and that there are so many amazing people that I draw inspiration from and even from right here when I was working, there's a wing for Leonard Mambo Motella. I said one of the greatest of all times when he comes to work. Yeah, one of the best ever to ever do it. It's such an inspiration to so many people. True. And I was telling you about boondogs. Yeah, the boondogs. That's the voice you were talking about. You know Regina Carter. I do know. And she voiced Huey and the brother and there's one other character. She played three characters. Funny enough, in most animations you'll find one person doing more than two, three characters and it boils down to having the talent for voice acting. Like I did a Rick and Morty impression earlier on. The guy that does both Rick and Morty Oh, he does both the characters. Yeah, and he's the guy that's written The show. The show, yeah. Wow. The co-producer. Okay, I didn't know that. I didn't know like he does both characters. What? He plays Rick and he plays Morty. Yeah, he's like the drunk grand pa. Oh jeez. Yes. There's someone who told me creatives are mad and now I understand. True. You have to be able to remind. Even talking to yourself in the booth because most of the times I'm alone in my house with my microphones and a computer it takes a mad person to do that. Mchwa kiku pata kwa zileza. I'll just go away because you know. I'm not but you. Right, and speaking of that what are some of the equipments you need like especially when you're starting over you don't have maybe like you don't have enough to make it to a studio or professional studio for recording sessions but you want to start maybe you start very small what are some of the equipments you need? A phone. If you have a phone that has a good microphone you're good to go. Good audio quality does not have to be complicated. It boils down to finding a quiet place doesn't have to be sound proof. You can use your closet. You can use your duvet, your pillows, as cushions. Anything that absorbs sound. So if you have a good quality microphone you know how to clean audio even on audio lab there are mobile applications for that but then once you've sort of advanced to maybe you have like 50 G's or 100 G's to spare you can start with a microphone, a sound card, a computer or a laptop and a digital audio workstation or audio editing software like Adobe Audition or Logic. Amazing. Because you know like as much as a phone comes in handy it also has a lot of limitations. True. You can not record during the day so you can not talk to a natureza you start and they're like gari, pikipiki, all those noises because the mic is going to peak all that. The mobile phone, microphone is not meant for fine audio recording so you can improvise I mean you can use socks to cover the mouthpiece or you can just record in the middle of the night and everyone is sleeping. And I say this purely for anyone that's a novice and you're thinking your beginner can be said you want to get into it and you're wondering how can I do it without the complicated gear. But then again once you've advanced you're getting huge projects there's need to invest in a solid studio with soundproof equipment with every microphone that are of international standards a good microphone will cost you around 50 G's to 100 G's the sun high size, the international microphone or the noiman so there are these things small details that you need to understand if you want to do it full time and that's why people even go for trainings Ya people go for training and also coaching and that's where you come in you are voice coach so who are some of the people you have already coached and how do you go about that how do people apply for that do they pay or yeah tell us take us through that so I haven't done coaching for long I started last year July because a lot of people kept approaching me and saying you've been doing this you've been seeing you do this can you help us know how to get into this and then I started sort of training friends pro bono at first and then right now we have a group it's called the Yankee and Voice Talent we have like 230 plus talents that are under me that's huge ya it's huge we have weekly meetups on Wednesdays via Google where I just give lectures free of charge on how to go about the business of voice over because it is a business on its own you need to understand the business aspect of it apart from the talent aspect of it yes you are talented but how do you manage your finances how do you send your invoices how do you make the cold calls to clients to get the jobs how do you handle your branding your marketing it's a very very important I'm so signing up people are signing up people keep joining everyday we are signing up so those who want to sign up how do they go about it look for us Yankee and Voice Talent on social media on IG there's a link or they can just reach directly once you join the link I'm there Godfather himself I love that as you wind up there's one other thing I want you to know how do you have that how do you make sure that you have that one consistent voice that when everyone or anyone hears it they know that is the voice of Mungangi how do you make sure that because you can have you can be amazing at it but you have different voices the way you sound here is not how you sound here but if you need to have that consistency what do you do one is quality builds down to quality audio first of all if you're going to record with any project doesn't matter how much the client is paying you you need to understand that whatever project you're putting out there is going to represent you as a brand so if you've taken a project you have a really and you say let me use the phone to record this one of course it's going to sound different than if it was recorded on a road microphone or any other type of microphone so if you want consistency and people to identify with your voice use quality microphones use standard microphones all your projects the other thing is giving it your all I would say just give every project your all whether it's a low budget high budget sometimes you do projects free to just get yourself out there even on your auditioning because people need to understand that you also audition you don't learn the job Henry Mungangi is a voice artist let's give him the job there are so many people that are talented it's like acting everybody knows who he is but he's still auditioning you still have to go to audition exactly even in voice over talents will get lots and lots of auditions so if you want to stand out just ensure quality deliver your best the rest will come exactly I want to know one thing as we wind up I tell you we're winding up what has been the highest playing job you've ever received what was it all about it was a commercial I don't know if I'm at liberty to say for whom you don't have to mention your brand you signed non disclosure agreements it was a commercial that paid me around $2,000 for one job and it was amazing among voices.com people need to understand that you don't have your clients will come from all over the world so if you get an international client they'll pay international standards but there are jobs that have done so people can sign up for voices.com if you want to get it's a free platform but if you need exclusive membership of course you pay I think $500 per year okay $500 for Kenyan right now Naim Chumi is not I don't know okay not even $4.60 because Naim Chumi is not but if you want jobs you need money to get money Thank you so much for coming through I know you have a parting short probably maybe inspire just people who are just coming up they don't know how to go about all this you can probably just tell them something and also tell us something anything you want to tell us First of all I want to shout out all the members of the Young Kenyan Voice Talent and the members of the Voice Actors League of Kenya which is like Jennifer Kanari Jasmine Street the founders of the Voice Actors League of Kenya been very instrumental in my journey the first major jobs that I got commercial jobs last year was through the Voice Actors League of Kenya then for those that want to you know pursue voice over as a career what I advise you to do is to seek information it's out there literally we live in an age where all skills on YouTube skills on the internet and you have access to people coaches and people that have years of experience and the best time to get started is today don't postpone it take a book, take your bible whatever script you have in the room record it listen to yourself have someone else listen to it get the feedback repeat Practice makes perfect and of course thank you so much for coming through would love to have you some other time to shed more light on this it's not a career a lot of people have ventured into and I feel like it's something that people can actually explore right alright so if you have any shout outs in your social media this is also the time to do that alright I'm actually going for a meeting with the animator Society of Kenya because we have exciting animation projects coming up and I want to shout out to the animation society of Kenya I didn't even know there is animation society of Kenya now we know photographer society of Kenya shout out to the unclean voice talent Muriti Nyaga my family if you want to find me the voice of Henry Mungange across all social media platforms the voice of Henry Mungange so if you have a project known as Afika Bay hit him up if you want to know more about voice acting about being a voice of an artist make sure you follow him at the voice of Henry Mungange and of course thank you so much for stopping by we do appreciate that we love it come next time tell us about all these things come on Kenya association of animators there are so many associations we love to know all that alright just a little message let me talk to the guys at home