Latest / The Scene Projects / Andrew Silver on Voiceover, Broadcasting, and Tips for Aspiring Creatives

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Andrew Silver on Voiceover, Broadcasting, and Tips for Aspiring Creatives · The Scene Projects

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  This program is part of the Scene Projects podcast network.
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  Scene Project features interviews with independent musicians, comedians, and artists
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  from across the Midwest.
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  Become part of our community and support local art wherever you are.
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  Welcome in to another exciting episode of the scene.
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  I am your host, Bubba Starts, and with me today is voice over artist, Andrew Silver.
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  Andrew, welcome to the show.
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  Thank you.
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  Thank you, Bubba.
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  It is a pleasure to be a guest on here.
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  Yeah.
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  Well, before we get too far into, you know, everything you're doing now, just kinda love to
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  give you the floor, get a little bit of your backstory, and we'll pick up the conversation
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  from there.
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  Yeah.
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  So my backstory is for a number of years, people have informed me of their love for my
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  voice.
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  And I was fortunate enough to hear of a voice coach out of the Philadelphia area, not in the
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  city, but in the suburbs, actually, within ten minutes of St.
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  Joe's University from a voice coach, and I trained with him.
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  And throughout the course, this was a referral through a family friend.
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  They informed their other attendees of articulation, breathing methods, narrative,
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  overall fundamentals to keep in mind when recording voiceovers to the point they
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  instructed their students on how to turn into actors.
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  I just find it so interesting.
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  You know, I've talked to several voice over artists now in the course of this show.
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  Some of them coming from a a music background, but you would kinda come from, you know, a
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  little bit of the, marketing side of it.
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  So kinda, you know, working with a team that's developing copy and putting out marketing
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  materials to now be in the person that's, you know, reading the copy from the marketing team
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  as part of that larger marketing plan.
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  Right?
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  But, I realized how important it is to have the right voice for the, you know, product or
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  service that's being offered.
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  It's a really cool thing.
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  It feels like you kind of, yeah, just fell into it by having a good voice.
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  Right?
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  Exactly right.
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  Well, speaking of the marketing, yes, I do have a degree in communications, so I've
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  successfully applied that throughout my career.
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  And, yeah, I mean, like I said, I have the voice where I fell into it.
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  But throughout the course, it's more than just having a good voice.
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  It's how to use it.
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  It's how to be very specific.
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  And when you turn into that actor, it's like, do you have that corporate narrative form, or
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  do you have, like, the fun acting character read?
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  So and because that's led to me having quite the variety of assignments.
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  And I'm open to all kinds of assignments.
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  So, yeah, I mean, like, the the voice, it's more than having a greater voice.
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  It's how to use it in the right scenario, in the right voice that fits.
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  My little brother, Zach, when he was going through high school, he worked at our local AM
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  radio station.
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  He wanted to do more so the sports broadcasting, but, of course, you know, to to
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  pay the bills during the week, you're in the studio and, you know, running.
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  They were still playing, you know, rock music on the AM station, but doing news reads and
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  those.
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  So I kind of grew up with him being the broadcaster.
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  Right?
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  Being the the voice actor, if you will.
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  Because it's acting, it's just a a live setting compared to, you know, being in, you know, your
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  home studio now, I'm assuming, and kinda working on these things.
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  But it it's an incredibly underrated piece of a marketing plan.
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  It is the voice, the inflection, the style, the tone, right, of the marketing in general
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  because not all, are created equal.
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  Yes.
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  That that is a very valid point as far as underrated.
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  There are situations sometimes where people don't realize that the need for voice over is
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  very vital.
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  Even a fifteen to even something that's fifteen to even just thirty seconds, it's fifteen
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  seconds is better than nothing as far as being that voice because again, and the other also
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  underrated element is having the right voice for it because the voice that seems to, fit.
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  So, yeah, it's kinda cool that your brother was part of in that broadcasting realm.
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  So, yeah, you're definitely right from that perspective that sometimes people don't
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  appreciate it, and then they realize that they could definitely use that voice and even for
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  even the brief amount of time, only if they focus on creating content just a little.
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  Well and with content creation being what it is now, I think that having the right ideas around
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  it, to having the not just the actors there, but having actors and and people that
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  understand the reason why.
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  You know?
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  For me, I I don't necessarily know all of the pieces.
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  I I in fact, I'm getting more interested by the day about taking one of these voice over actor
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  classes, to get a little better at what I do because so much of what I'm doing is not just
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  in the video space, but in the audio space.
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  And having these, you know, conversations, I just had, my my new friend, Christy Harsh, we
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  had a long conversation.
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  She's a female working in this space, and the reason that she got into it and stays in it is
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  because the female community of voice over artists are very underserved.
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  It's very tilted towards a male Yes.
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  Space.
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  But having a female voice for products and services and she wanted to get into the sports
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  world, the sports spaces with these things.
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  But then it was very underserved.
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  I mean, maybe, you know, 20 or less percent of the voice over acting that was happening was
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  represented by females.
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  So, yeah, I I'm really intrigued that with more content coming out now, you don't have the
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  outlets of just the major TV or radio stations.
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  We have so much more podcast advertising and something that I've mentioned to you is like,
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  man, I might be able to keep you busy doing our ads because people hear my voice enough on my
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  show already.
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  Right?
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  And I and while host read ads are a very, you know, that that's how a lot of us are are
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  making money and funding our podcast and and using that voice.
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  Sometimes it's more powerful for a brand to have it read by a professional and to have that
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  delivered inside of the podcast instead.
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  Yeah.
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  So I I definitely see your point, and I wanna jump on a few things.
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  The female portion is underrated.
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  In fact, of my class, there were only two females and the rest were males.
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  So yeah.
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  And, definitely, females do fit certain voice over projects better.
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  In fact, I, I I was part of an audio drama where there was a male and then there was a
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  female, and the female was the right choice for the project.
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  In fact, she ended up voicing, two different characters.
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  And as far as content, yes, I mean, video and radio automatically comes to mind, but there's
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  podcasting, there's social media, there's things all over the place where even the voice
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  over for a fifteen second thing on a social media is as impactful as a three minute video.
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  That's brings me to my next question is where do you find your work?
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  Do you have an agent?
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  Are there websites that you're using to find that?
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  And and then, I guess, of tied to that is, what is your audition process like on the voice
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  actor side?
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  Well, I mean, usually, for my work, I like to put my name out there.
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  I do I am I have my samples uploaded on some sites, but I always like to reach out to
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  different marketing, advertising, communications, productions, software,
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  companies that would need voiceovers or have clients that need voiceovers and also depend on
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  referrals and also putting myself out there as just being open to all kinds of projects and
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  all kinds of reads.
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  I mean, like, a podcast could have a read for, like, a local car dealership, or they could
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  have a advertisement for a local retail store.
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  So, again, that that's that's the other thing also.
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  Well and each one needs its own voice.
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  And you had mentioned the female actor, having two different roles in that.
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  Yes.
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  Capable and willing to kinda do different voices and kinda more character acting, I
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  guess?
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  Yes.
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  I did.
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  I did that a number of years ago for a grad student who needed me for something because
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  different eighth graders having a conversation about something.
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  So that's, when it came into play.
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  And then also on another project that was a part of, I had to impersonate a school teacher
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  and part of an arcade game, so that also came into play as well.
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  But when working with this person I'm referring to two different projects.
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  I'm working with a female, have to do the different voices.
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  It was really impressive how she was able to switch around.
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  Well and I think too I mean, obviously, some of the best voice actors in the world have been
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  working on The Simpsons for thirty plus years now, and we don't often realize that the voices
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  of seven different characters are Frank Castellaneta.
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  Right?
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  Like Wow.
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  And and when they add a new one, it's usually someone existing in the show already that's
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  just putting on a different voice.
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  And to me, that's so intrigued because, like, I have this one.
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  Right?
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  Like, this this is what I was given, and I don't necessarily have, more to offer in that.
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  I think maybe I'm a little shy to try different voices for fear of, the ridicule.
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  Right?
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  And which sounds odd for me.
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  I've spent most of my life on stage singing songs and and performing.
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  But to take on the voice of another character, to me, seems, extremely intimidating.
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  Oh, yeah.
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  Absolutely.
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  I mean, because it's because, like, I've even had some assignments where they I wasn't even
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  thinking about it, and then they noticed it.
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  I mean, one, had an assignment.
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  It was a photo montage for a wedding.
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  I didn't think about it.
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  And then when I looked at the lines and I looked at the assignment, I'm like, it gave
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  there was somewhat confidence and belief, and the assignment went as well as it did.
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  It was unexpected.
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  It it wasn't the in the traditional realm, but it was a great opportunity, and it there was
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  nothing to lose by going for it.
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  What advice would you give to, you know, budding character actors or voice actors or
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  even, you know, some of our fans that are obviously musicians and listening to this to
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  get into the voice acting world, to maybe open up another, you know, stream of revenue for
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  themselves or to just try something different?
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  A big thing I like is to work smart, not hard.
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  That's a motto that I like to go by, working smart.
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  And, again, also, like, just because I have a great voice, it might not fit for everything
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  because I make the most of what it fits for because it definitely fits for a lot of things.
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  But then there's some things I'm like, you know what?
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  I'm just not meant to my voice is not meant to be for that role, and I accept it because
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  there'll be plenty of opportunities.
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  I might not fit for a three minute video, but I get fit for a twenty second social media ad.
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  Awesome.
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  Well, Andrew, go ahead and, share where everyone can find you online before I let you
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  go, and, appreciate your time this morning.
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  Yeah.
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  So, you can reach me out at (215) 260-4392.
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  Again, (215) 260-4392.
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  You can email me, andrewsilver8582@gmail.com.
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  I am also on LinkedIn.
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  I'm on SoundCloud.
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  I am on voices.com, voices123.com, and I'm on Upwork.
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  That's where my work is uploaded, but you can you can reach out and contact me again at the
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  email and the phone number I just gave you, and I will be more than happy to be your voice that
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  you need for your project.
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  You nailed it, buddy.
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  Thank you so much for, jumping on the show this morning.
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  I I appreciate it, and thanks for being part of the scene.
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  My pleasure.
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  It it was a it was a it was an absolute pleasure to be a part of the scene.
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  Thank you for having me.