It’s been a while since our last featured VA talk with D-Mac. With some of the forum activities lately, it seems like the general interests in voice-over is still pretty high. I turned to Lucien Dodge for his input on this field, as well as his own experiences as a voice actor.

Lucien has been featured as Nathan in Surface, Kiz in Xin, and some Kazahana characters such as Yuen , Yuta, and Keita.

Q: To start things off, do you mind talking about your latest status as a VA?
A: I’ve been working in NYC for the past year or so auditioning for commercials and the likes. Most recent ones that were on the air were a couple of radio spots for McDonalds which you can hear on my web-site, www.luciendodge.com/blog/.

Q: Already a pro.
A: Yeah, been making great progress. I have an agent and everything.

Q: Before we learn the actual process, what was your life like before you decided becoming an VA?
A: Before I discovered voice acting, I had been involved in theater in my home town of Ithaca, starting off with school plays and moving on to some local theater groups. It’s all acting after all.
I just found I loved the craft of voice-acting more than anything else. I knew when I was about 15 that this was really something I wanted to do. Theater was a way for me to hone my skills as an actor, even when I knew I wanted to pursue voice acting as a career.

Q: Your initial VA equipment?
A: My first pieces of equipment consisted of my Dad’s old 4-track recorder, and a Shure SM58 microphone. Starting off with a very decent vocal microphone helped to keep my standards as far as sound quality high I think.
I would switch out my equipment over time, eventually leading to the current setup I have which is a Studio Projects C-1 microphone, an ART Tube Preamp, and my MacBook computer.

Q: What was your first project and how did you come cross it?
A: I remember my first online voice acting projects was a Final Fantasy Tactics audio drama, in which I was cast as a slimy nobleman who gets canned. I remember it was the death scream in my audition that sold it.

Q: Does doing something out of the ordinary always help your audition tape stand out?
A: It certainly helps get it noticed. Whether or not it helps depends on the person listening, and how they react to your particular choice.
They might love it, they might hate it. What’s important is for you to follow your instincts, and make it interesting To You.

Q: Any other advice on “how to land your dream roles”?
A: No different from landing any other kind of roles. Just work hard, practice, and keep at it.

Q: Tell us about a groundbreaking role you had.
A: I think my cameo on the Pokemon animated series gave me a credit that I could throw the name of out to just about anyone, and they’d know what I was talking about. Was my first gig in NYC, and for a worldwide known animated kid’s series broadcast on Cartoon Network. You can bet I was blown away.
In addition to all that, I felt very good about the performance I turned in.

Q: What do you think is the success ratio for becoming a professional?
A: Steep. Even quite talented people have been discouraged, and give up. Which is why persistence, and knowing you want to do the work that badly is so important.
It’s because of the number of people doing the work already, it’s because of the people who WANT to do the work, it’s getting access to the jobs themselves, getting studios to notice you, find auditions, all of it.
You have to break in somehow, or else no one will give you a second glance. You can knock on their door for hours about your ‘amazing talents’ but it’s getting them to open that door and actually give you a listen that’s the trick. Because it’s such a close-knit community, often places have their favorites already, and don’t feel the need to re-stock or listen to new talent.

Be open, and enjoy the work at hand. It’s a tough career to pursue, with lots of hurdles and intimidating odds, but if you love it more than anything, you’ll find a way to do it.

We’ve been highly benefited from a group of talented voice actors/actresses in our projects, mainly from these two online communities: Voice Acting Alliance and Voice Acting Club. So we thought we’d chat with some of the admins, who are also VAs from our various projects, to dig out some fun facts about the VAs.

So I chatted with Deven Mack (D-Mac), who has played the roles of Austin Drakes, Kendrick Cage, Momoshiro Kazahana, Rick Jones…etc.

Q: Can you describe the two VA boards a little?
A: Voice Acting Club specializes in voicing flash animations, while the VAA leans to more radioplays and anime fandubs.

VAC members tend to be a bit younger, but there are a few veterans there like myself, Edwyn, Kagome and Tomamoto.

Q: Just how big is the online VA community?
A: I haven’t been around quite long enough to learn much of it’s deeper roots and humble beginnings, but in recent years, the online community has been growing exponentially, with both the VAA and VAC reaching into thousands of registered users.

Q: How closely do the online VAs interact privately? (more…)

It’s no longer news that we consistently get a lot of amateur writers emailing their ideas to us, hoping that their pieces would be animated someday. At the same time we also get offers from amateur writers who want to turn our series into fictions in order to make profit out of (huh?).
However, there are also times when we get to meet some truly talented and genuine writers who captivate us with their stories and style of writing. We’ve met quite a few of these talented authors through the years, and are always happy to work together with them and support them.
Are you a person who enjoys writing for fun? Do you already have plans to move on to the next step? I had a chat with Lifepoint1 community member and a gifted writer Taige (Jon Copsey) about writing as a form of storytelling.

Taige’s Writing

Q. Tell us a bit about your education background and your experience?
A. I have a MA in Ancient Art, and I’m currently working part time as an intern for a local archives and a local newspaper. I took many create writing courses in university which greatly helped.

Q. Ancient Art?
A. I have always liked classical history, mainly Roman and Greek cultures. Ancient Art is the study of their artistic styles and forms, such as sculpture, wiring, pottery, architecture…etc.

Q. How long have you been writing and what kind of stuff do you write mostly?
A. I’ve been writing for about 10 years now. Normally I write short stories; at times I try a proper novel but usually would lose interest halfway through when I can’t develop the plot. I have to be in the right mood to write.

Q. Do you consider yourself an amateur writer?
A. I suppose I am since I don’t write for money, but I write for fun. I am a professional writer when I write articles for newspapers, but when it comes to fiction, it’s just a hobby. Maybe someday I may collect my best stuffs and try to get them published.

Publish Your Work!

Q. What are some ways to get your work published? (more…)