Heya readers! Welcome to the first "issue" of The Voice Acting Tribune. I guarantee you'll get a ton out of this blog if you stay tuned every week! Like this week, I did a Skype interview with internet voice acting celebrity: Sonicmega. Take a look.
Speedy: Hiya readers! Today I'm here with legendary internet voice actor and AX Idol Winner: Sean "Sonicmega" Chiplock! How're you doing, Sean?
sonicmega: Just fine, Speedy, although I'm sure by the end of this my fingers will be a little sore from everything that's typed, but I consider that a personal challenge. How about you?
Speedy: Oh I'm fine, a little tired, but fine. And trust me, my fingers will be sore-er. I have to type this, and this week's whole issue! But I'm not complaining because I have a great first interviewee.
sonicmega: Aww, well I'm certainly honored to have been both considered and selected - I always enjoy taking the opportunity to share a few words and/or pieces of advice to those looking for it.
Speedy: And that's exactly what this blog is about! Now, are you ready for the interview?
sonicmega: Was that the first question?
Speedy: ...Sure! Why not!
sonicmega: Then I guess we've already begun!
Speedy: Indeed!
Speedy: Second question. Why and how did you get into voice acting?
sonicmega: Hoo boy. Always one of the first questions, and always one of the longest to answer, too.
sonicmega: Takes about 5 minutes just from talking, so let's see how it manages in the written word, shall we?
Speedy: We shall.
sonicmega: From what I recall, it all began back in the high school years, towards the middle of my junior year, in fact, December of 2006. Of course, it was the time when I, like so many others, was thrown into the mess of college invites and proclamations from teachers about "You NEED to have your major picked out before you get to college!"... of course, we'd all find out that's far from being the case, but at the time it was still a pretty big piece of pressure.
sonicmega: Thing is, I wasn't exactly one of those people who already had their life goals set ahead of them - in fact, I didn't KNOW what I wanted to do with my future. Sure, I was taking IB (International Baccalaureate) courses left and right, not like I was slacking off at all, but nothing in particular grabbed at me as something I wanted to pursue.
sonicmega: Science was always sort of a dull point, Math and I stopped being friends ever since Advanced Algebra left me with the cold-hearted, soulless enigma that was Pre-Calculus and beyond. History? I slept through most of those classes, literally. And although I had a knack for writing (something that continues to this day), you couldn't sit me in front of a blank page for hours at a time and expect something to ignite out of my subconscious.
sonicmega: True to form, I spent most of my nights the same way I tend to even nowadays - browsing idly through the internet, viewing and enjoying whatever I happened to come across.
sonicmega: Enter December 29th, 2006.
sonicmega: 2:53 AM
sonicmega: I know this because at the time, the Adult Swim block on TV had begun to cycle over to the repeats for the evening, and Fullmetal Alchemist always held the Midnite/3:00 am timeslot during that season.
sonicmega: Once again, I was browsing without any particular destination in mind, but as the special advert for the AS website came on for the 12th time that evening, something different happened for no particular reason. I decided, out of sheer boredom, to go ahead and check it out, even though I'd never held any interest before then, or even at that time.
sonicmega: So a few moments later, there I was, browsing the website, checking out games, what-have-you. And as I'm browsing, I come across a little advert for an upcoming episode of Trinity Blood, one of the several anime series that were showcasing on Adult Swim at the time.
sonicmega: It was an episode snippet, the 3rd part of Episode 22 or 23 if I recall correctly, and while watching it would have small boxes that would pop up which you could click on. Doing so would pause the episode piece to show extras, such as director's notes, behind-the-scenes stuff, a whole variety of things.
Speedy: Note: These details are VERY important.
sonicmega: Haha, sorry, am I rambling?
Speedy: No, of course not! Just trying to get a laugh out of these people.
sonicmega: I can cut it down to the important stuff if we need to. We're at that point anyway. XD
Speedy: Oh alright!
sonicmega: One of those very boxes took me to a rather dimly lit room, where my first sight was of three things: a single individual, smothered in a wall of what appeared to be styrofoam panels; a television, paused at a particular timestamp in the epsiode I'd just been watching; and a well-lit booth, from which soon after a man's voice could be heard.
sonicmega: I would soon learn that the man in the styrofoam 'cage' was Troy Baker, and the man's voice was his director, giving him the cues and details for the lines. Further still, I would begin to watch as Troy
Speedy: Troy Baker? The popular anime Voiceover artist that also worked with Transformers: War for Cybertron?
sonicmega: I believe so, yes.
Speedy: Very cool! Continue.
sonicmega: And something magical happened: His voice *became* Abel Nightroad, the main protagonist of the story. Right before my eyes, this real person was speaking, and yet what was coming out of his throat was no different from the character that was on the screen. They were one and the same for that single series of moments.
sonicmega: Troy
sonicmega: But here I was, mesmerized by this sight, this process, this... CONNECTION.
sonicmega: And this little lightbulb out of nowhere clicked in my mind, this little idea that said "I don't know what the hell this is... but man, I gotta get in on this."
sonicmega: For the first time in my life, I WANTED something, to a degree that I'd never felt before. It was definite, and undeniable.
sonicmega: I would proceed to make a folder called Audio Recordings in my Music folder. And as of January 1st of the very next year, I 'began' voice acting.
sonicmega: In any case, that covers the how. The why? That could be so much more extensive, but I've said far too much already, so I'll definitely cut this down into the major points. If anyone wants greater detail, they're always free to contact me. ;D
Speedy: And ladies, he's taken! ;D
sonicmega: At first, I didn't know why I voice acted. All I cared about was that it was fun. But as time passed, I slowly began to understand what it meant to me, and it was these major points that drive my continued interest to new heights.
sonicmega: 1) To take my voice and use it to bring entertainment to other people; give them a reason to enjoy themselves, a desire to watch something, to inspire them to share their own creativity.
sonicmega: 2) To bring life to characters that otherwise may never have had voices. Every day, new series, ideas, concepts, stories are being written, and while I fully believe and KNOW that a great tale can be told without literally being 'told', there will always come a time when an animator or artist will want to move to that next step to giving their creations their own voice. And when they do, I want to be there.
sonicmega: 3) To have the adventures I could never have in real life. Were I to go out and proclaim my intentions to slay a dragon or cast a magical arte (complete with shouted attack name, of course), the best I'd get is a skeptical laugh. But in voiceover, Crispin Freeman can walk into that booth, and suddenly he's sucking souls as a bloodthirsty vampire. Liam O'Brien is heckling adventurers from atop a lofty, comfy floating chair. The possibilities are both endless and boundless.
sonicmega: And, perhaps most importantly,
sonicmega: 4) To achieve immortality. Because even though all things must end with time, digital media has proven to last quite a long while. And even if I end up passing on myself, all someone would need to do is pop in something I voiced in, or load a video up, and I'll be right there to entertain them again whenever they'd like.
Speedy: What an interesting and inspiring story! It makes me wanna do some voice acting right now myself! But we're not done yet! :P
Speedy: But seriously, thank you for that great story. I'm sure it will inspire everyone reading this.
sonicmega: May Lord have mercy on the souls of those people slogging through this wall of text right now, haha.
Speedy: Indeed. We might have to split this in two!
Speedy: But onto the next question.
Speedy: Question #2... er... 3
Speedy: What recording equipment did you use when you first started, and what recording equipment do you use now?
sonicmega: Funnily enough, even though I hear all the time about people shelling out money for a Samson CO1U or similar 'top end' microphone, my microphone I've used has actually remained the same from since when I began at the very start, to right now.
Speedy: Looks like we got us a spot for Amazon!
Speedy: Haha
sonicmega: Yes, assuming it hasn't changed, you should see that they sell Used for but a SINGLE, solitary penny. And yet, despite the implied quality/price connection, this baby has served me well for the many years I've relied on her and her brethren. In fact, the one sitting on my desk right now is taped together in three places, and I still record my paid projects on a regular basis with it.
Speedy: Would you recommend it to our readers?
sonicmega: I'd say it's worth testing out. The quality really depends on your computer's sound card as well as the microphone itself, and ESPECIALLY your recording atmosphere - a cinderblock room with no absorbing materials is going to sound much different than a carpeted room or a stuffed closet, and there's plenty of ways you can 'improvise' a recording studio with materials found at home. In the AX Live episode that I guest-starred for, you can actually SEE the eccentric draping of blankets I used to achieve a similar effect!
sonicmega: But, as far as that goes, my PC is a 2005 HP pre-built, and yet it
works as well as it does. And, heck, the mic is cheap, so if you've got $1-5 to spare, why not. You might just end up saving yourself $85 over a more elaborate microphone in the process.
Speedy: Very cool! Cheaping out DOES help sometimes!
sonicmega: As for recording programs...I began on Windows Sound Recorder long ago, but naturally there was always a muffled, dirty quality to it all. About a year later, I would discover Audacity, which became my mainstay for a while. Nowadays, I use Wavepad exclusively for recording, due to its amazing nature for removing noise and amplifying audio without losing quality, but Audacity is still great for layering audio (if you need multiple voices going at once, for instance, or pulling off effects).
sonicmega: All 3 programs are free to download, so once again, you don't have to be rich to be able to record decently.
Speedy: I use Wavepad too. I highly recommend it!
sonicmega: Good man!
Speedy: Great response, Sean! I'm sure that helped our readers out a lot!
Speedy: On to the next question.
sonicmega: Sure thing.
Speedy: Who are some of your idols in voice acting? For instance, one of mine is Dee Bradley Baker.
sonicmega: There are various people who I can say I've come to like for one reason or another, usually attributed to their roles.
sonicmega: Rob Smith, as Tiesel Bonne in Megaman Legends (which had an EXCELLENT cast all around, highly recommended game as an example of older generation companies doing things RIGHT with voiceover in an era that failed so miserably)
sonicmega: Johnny Young Bosch, as Zero in Marvel vs. Capcom 3.
sonicmega: Vic Mignogna, as Edward Elric in Fullmetal Alchemist.
sonicmega: And of course, many of the greats both young and old, Wendy Lee, Steve Blum, Bob Bergen, etc.
sonicmega: But there have always been two people who stood out above the rest, who remain plastered as my 'idols' for their own very specific reason; One for range, and one for energy.
sonicmega: Incidentally, one female, and one male.
Speedy: Interesting! Who are these amazing people?
sonicmega: The first, both in a list and personally, is Kari Wahlgren.
sonicmega: Haruko in FLCL.
sonicmega: Saya in Blood+
sonicmega: Konata in Lucky Star
sonicmega: Servbots in MvC3
sonicmega: Raine Sage in Tales of Symphonia.
sonicmega: A wily alien, a reserved swordsmaster, a spry young girl, a chipper mechanic bot, and a wise sage and cleric.
sonicmega: All of them voiced by the same person, but with such radically different personalities. And yet Kari brings a unique tangent to each and every one, makes them so indistinguishable from each other that you wouldn't know it was her without researching it.
sonicmega: I envy and strive for her range more than any other person I know of, even the man who was various Looney Tunes characters. It is my greatest 'business' dream to one day work with her on a project.
sonicmega: You can only imagine how it felt when the first time I met her in person and introduced myself - at Anime Expo 2009 - was also the same day she would come to judge me for the voice acting competition.
sonicmega: And I promised her I would make a point of proving how serious I
was about it, guaranteed her that in two days, I'd meet her again as the winner's circle man.
Speedy: And of course, you did!
sonicmega: I can only hope my fulfillment of that very thing left an impression on her she won't forget anytime soon, even if the name doesn't come back immediately when it's mentioned next.
sonicmega: But for a woman with such range, who is her equal in energy?
sonicmega: Allow me to turn you to the likes of Cu Chaspel from Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates. To Dist the Rose, the laughably excessive evildoer from Tales of the Abyss.
sonicmega: And then, to the dark and dooming Gaara of the Sand, from the ever popular Naruto franchise.
sonicmega: And then, let me turn you to face the man behind that very trio:
sonicmega: Liam O'Brien.
sonicmega: The energy he puts into his roles is paralleled, to my knowledge, only by Vic Mignogna's emotional range, but his ability to just EXPLODE with energy in characters like Dist, that wacky, eccentric, energized and triumphant cacophany of sound, is something I hold in high regard.
sonicmega: I have always loved playing characters with high energy, and if I can one day play the kind of role that he does so well, it would be just about heaven.
sonicmega: Get Kari Wahlgren directing me for that very role, and I'll refuse to believe I hadn't already died and GONE to heaven.
Speedy: It will definitely happen one day, man. Keep going at the rate you're at, and I guarentee it.
sonicmega: There is still a *lot* left for me to learn - and even, to some extent, a lot for me to recall that I've forgotten since I started, or let slide behind or slip into bad habits. But I never intend to stop trying.
Speedy: That's the spirit! Keep on trucking!
sonicmega: You too!
Speedy: Haha thank you!
Speedy: Anyways, are you ready for the second to last question?
sonicmega: Sure thing!
Speedy: Excellent!
Speedy: Next question.
Speedy: What is your favorite voice to do, and why? If you don't have a single favorite voice, what's one of them?
sonicmega: Steiner, without a doubt. From Final Fantasy IX's full game dub being hosted by Actorman99 on Youtube. Although some would say it became the bane of some of my lower-register voices, his bumbling attitude and gruff tone have become the favorite of many, and it always excited me to see people commenting on the vids saying that Steiner was "exactly how they imagined he'd sound". I can only hope another script piece comes my way soon so I can bring him back again, but yes, definite favorite.
sonicmega: On the other end, my old man "Eunace" voice has become a major hit as of late, taking part in no less than 3 productions simultaneously; a radioplay, a televised series, and a more personal project. He's the opposite end of the spectrum from Steiner, very energetic and wily and high pitched, but damn if he isn't fun to play.
Speedy: Very cool! Great voices indeed!
Speedy: Now, I think we're coming to an end here, but before we end the interview, do you have anything to say to the readers?
sonicmega: I'll be completely honest here, just as the people whose panels I attended said to every willful individual who ever claimed "I WANT TO VOICE ACT!" -
sonicmega: Do not dive fully into this profession if you only "think" it's something you'd like to do. Voice acting demands so much, yet offers so little, requires so much practice and input but every day great Voiceover artists are rejected from jobs. It's a permanent temp job, and depending on the kind you go into, might not even pay that much.
sonicmega: But if this is something you see and hear about, and the only thought you can hold is about how fun it will be the day you're in that booth, then by god, get involved. There's simply no other way that you can take part in such an expansive and prolific profession like this, and I dare you to find a more fun way to make money that still involves making a complete fool of yourself at times. If it's truly what you want out of life, then rest assured it will keep giving you reasons to be happy with the choice you made.
Speedy: Alrighty! Thanks so much for the interview, Sean! We all hope you become pro one day! :D
sonicmega: Thank you so much for the time, Speedy! Guaranteed that not only will I get there in due time, I'll be waiting for the day we meet each other in the studio together!
Speedy: Heck yeah! We'll be dynamite!
Speedy: Thanks for reading viewers, have a great day!
I really enjoyed reading that. Sean is awesome, and the interview was great. Thanks to both of you!
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