Introduction

JOELLE: Hi everyone and welcome to the first official VAHP or Voice Actors at Home PH Podcast.

Today is a very special day – we’ll be interviewing none other than Dave Soltura.

So I’ll give you a brief bio about him for those that are watching that don’t really know his background yet.

By the way, I’m Joelle. I’m your host for today and I’m also really excited to be interviewing Dave as a newbie voice actor myself.

Because every time I talk to Dave, there’s always something new I get to learn and use in my career.

Before we get into Dave’s background, I’d like you guys to check out and join Coach Aireen Bondoc’s group coaching session this Saturday, from 9 to 11 AM.

If you guys are interested, please check out the URL right here [00:58] – you’ll find all the other details there.

Introduction to Dave Soltura

JOELLE: Before we bring Dave in, I’d like to introduce him.

Other than being a coach here in VAPH, he’s had over a decade of experience as a voice actor, working with blue-chip clientele such as TicTac, Nescafe, Mountain Dew, Jollibee, Grab, and Dunkin Donuts, just to name a few.

He’s also worked with top production houses and studios such as Lunar Animation in London, Big Mouth Voices in Australia, Vobble in India.

And of course, here in the Philippines, TV5, ABS-CBN, STI, Hit, Loud Box, Sound Design, Digit Tracks, etc.

Over the years, he was able to figure out his real voice-over niche, and his bread and butter really comes from doing children’s media.

He is the voice of Tom, Hank, Ben, and Roy in the Talking Tom short series starting from season two episode three, right up to now, amongst other kid-centric or cartoon animation projects that he’s taken on.

A lover of technology, Dave manages the VAPH group and reviews apps, software, gadgets, and equipment on his YouTube channel. So please check that out and subscribe.

He’s also helped create effective VO demo reels under Demo Reel Forge.

So reach out to him once you’re ready to have your pro demo reel done.

I could go on and on about this the whole day, but we’d be wasting time we could use to focus on the real meat of this podcast, which is of course to pick Dave’s brain about how to become a voice actor.

So without further ado, let’s all welcome Dave Soltura.

Dave’s Response

DAVE: Hey guys! Oh my goodness, Joelle, that was quite the intro. I didn’t write that guys, alright? That was something!

Thank you, thank you.

JOELLE: I researched everything about you from LinkedIn to your website and all that, so I hope I got at least a good part of it. I’m pretty sure there’s a lot more to say.

DAVE: I think that’s a pretty good part. I’d say most of it already. Well, thank you for having me.

Joelle’s Questions

JOELLE: Cool! Thanks for being here and for finding time to do this.

Let’s jump into it. The first thing we really want to hear about is your origin story.

DAVE: Oh, man…

JOELLE: Tell us about how you got started in this whole VO industry.

Dave’s Origin Story

DAVE: Well, I love the term “origin story” because that’s very Avengers-like. It makes us feel a bit larger than life. “Origin story”!

Well actually I was a lanky little boy, and I got injected with this vaccine and fwoosh! Super powers! Never mind… (laughs) Okay. Okay.

JOELLE: Super VO powers.

DAVE: Super VO powers. How I wish. Now, I keep saying… “it was a cold December night…”

A long time ago, my big brother and I were watching a lot of cartoons, such as Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, things like that.

And even shows like Doraemon and all sorts of things available on cable TV and local television.

One night, the power went out. Boom. It was black.

And when what you see disappears, suddenly you see everything; your imagination becomes most vivid.

So it’s like, that’s when my inner child emerged. Well, I was six… You know?

But this was a thing, that was like, when that happened, me and my brother and I started talking in voices, sometimes I’d pretend I was Pikachu, and he was Ash Ketchum, or something like that.

We would pretend to be the characters that we were [watching].

At first, it started with ghost stories because it was night and there was a blackout. So it’s like, we were watching this show called Aaahh! Real Monsters at that time, so it was perfect.

JOELLE: Oh, I miss that!

DAVE: Aaahh! Real Monsters, and uh, what do you call it? Was it Extreme Ghostbusters or something? So like uhh… yeah…

JOELLE: Who you gonna call?

DAVE:  Who you gonna call? Right? Yeah, so, that was our theme, at the start. So like, in the dark, we would talk in the characters’ voices.

I can’t even remember all those characters, but I do remember how I felt and how fun the whole process was.

Before I knew it, we were creating parallel universes in our brain, like us in this whole world where the shows we were watching would crossover with each other.

Soon, you have Pokemon characters fighting Digimon characters, fighting Steve Irwin, rest in peace.

Super mixed bag of things where our imagination went, it was just so fun.

So, shout out to you bro, I hope you’re listening to this. Yeah…

JOELLE: How nice having a connection with your brother that way, and how he’s like, helped push you into this amazing career.

DAVE: Absolutely, absolutely. I credit him for like 80%, if not 90%, of my American accent.

Dave’s Siblings and Career

DAVE: I picked up from him. He was the guy who like, grew up with Sky Cable and like, just absorbed everything sitting down in front of the TV.

And me, it’s second hand already because I had him as my practice partner where we would just talk, and he was a bit of an English speaker.

And I kinda picked that up from him.

And we would just communicate that way. At school, we spoke tagalog, Filipino. When I got home, with kuya, we spoke English. Like that.

JOELLE: Wow.

DAVE: That was the background of that.

JOELLE: Is he also a voice actor?

DAVE: Well he did a few projects. He joined me for this project called Armor Hero back in 2013. So Armor Hero is like this Super Sentai genre (let me just lower my gain)…

(Demos Armor Hero lines)

“Dragon Man Form!” Ah, wait, wait… “Activate!” Yeah, something like that. I forgot my lines! (laughs) Yeah. “Dragon Man Form! Activate!” Yeah, there’s like this Ben 10 watch kinda thing…

JOELLE: Love it.

DAVE: Yeah, these Kamen Rider sorts of shows… my brother actually watched the show ‘Zaido‘ on GMA.

Yeah, as like a lot. It’s just the guys, ‘Masked Rider‘-type shows. Yeah, so that kind of thing, so he joined me for that.

He was also one of the writers for that and it was super fun.

Actually, back in 2012, he got into this, he dipped his feet into this industry first.

He got into this contest, joined it, and I was there in an Anime Convention watching him on stage.

I was watching from among the audience and I’m like ‘That’s my kuya, yeah!’

So proud of him, like he can speak ten accents, you know the things like that.

So he was there on stage, and I’m excited to see my brother perform.

And to my memory, it’s like imagine everyone is gray, then there’s a spotlight on us two, kind of a connection thing going on.

JOELLE: (overlap) Awww… how cute!

DAVE: Just how I envision it personally. As he performed there, whatever came of that, it really stuck to me like… I want to be that, I want to be like that, you know, just do this.

It feels very liberating to like live out the characters that you see on TV and maybe make your own, right?

So that was fun. After that… oh yeah, we’re seeing [on the chat]… Jeremy says “Kamen Rider is fire!”

Yeah, so… Yeah, it was so amazing, just falling in love with the industry first. And I would actually say that one of the most important things is to fall in love with the craft, and then everything will follow.

When you develop that passion, everything suddenly follows.

I credit my ‘Ate Ding’ (my eldest sister) as well. She invited me to this audition for ‘Hero TV Dubbing Academy Season 3’.

Basically, it said there like, that they were doing this nationwide casting call and they needed a 30-second clip that required you to explain why you should be chosen for it.

So that ‘Dubbing Academy’ was kind of like… By the way, this is ‘Dubbing Academy’ by ‘Hero TV’, just to be very clear.

‘Dubbing Academy’ by ‘Hero TV’ was like a reality show, not quite that scale, but it was like ‘Pinoy Big Brother’ for voice-over at that time, very short snippets.

Very, very short snippets.

There were eight of us chosen. You know, I just took out whatever camera I had back then. It was then like a second-hand camera sent by my sister from the States.

Ate, Kye, I hope you’re listening!

She sent me like one of my first cameras, my first Digicam. [I] used that to record for that audition and then bam!

Thankfully I was one of the eight participants chosen…

Yeah… and it was fun, it was so, so fun. I got to meet a lot of like pillars in the industry. Counting people like Jeff Utanes and Danny Mandia. They’ve been doing this for quite some time.

Really got exposed to the core dubbing industry itself.

Hero TV Dubbing Academy Season 3

So, dubbing is still, ah, a subcategory of the voice-over umbrella. So that’s just that one sector, right?

So, I got exposed to that, and um, now, would I say that catapulted my career like straight away? I wouldn’t say so.

I was a nineteen-year-old, broke college student on an allowance and things like that, so it’s like, umm…

And at that time there was a conflict with my academics, you know. I had to show up to the theater and if you are, if you’re doing theater class, you have to show up late nights, like seven to ten PM.

Aah, you’re working on your props, you’re rehearsing your lines. Um, theater is very grueling. Yeah.

So mad respect to all our theater actors and stage actors, by the way, super tough stuff.

I mean voice overs also, but I guess I just enjoy being behind the script personally, yeah, you don’t need to memorize.

The Importance of Theater Background

And from there, what happened… I got in. It didn’t catapult my career, but it did plant a passion for the craft.

I got to see what it was like, it set my expectations. I developed my core skills for my vocal control in acting etc.

But I would say it was it was maybe a chunk, ugh. How do I say this? It was a chunk of collective learning.

So I actually took theater as my major in Communication Arts because I wanted to be a voice actor. Yeah. For most people, it’s the other way around.

They start with an acting background, they get like, ‘Hey, you’re an actor, right? You wanna do V.O.?’, ‘Okay, I’ll try that V.O. thing.’

For me, it was the other way around, it was like, ‘Oh, I wanna be a voice actor,’ and I noticed that everyone here has some kind of a theater background, ‘Let’s do it.’

So that led to that.

JOELLE: I was just about to ask also like how important is it to have that kind of theater background, and do you need it, really, to be an effective voice actor?

DAVE: Okay. So, I wouldn’t say it’s needed necessarily, um, I do mention this in my YouTube channel as well that having an acting background is really helpful because voice acting is acting at its core.

Voice acting is acting.

It’s not just about doing fancy voices, you know.

The Role of Imagination in Voice Acting

You learn about things, basic things like mind, body, voice. And some people would add heart, right?

So when you combine all of these things, suddenly your background is more holistic, when you’re in the booth, it’s so much easier to gesticulate. It’s more natural to act from head to the head, to toe. Every fiber of your being is acting.

Yeah. So there’s that.

But I also know of voice actors who don’t have an acting background, um like I have this friend from way back, Alejandro Saab. Shout out to wherever he is right now.

I had a lot of voice-over colleagues and friends from like 2013 and they had no formal acting training. But they were passionate about, you know, getting into the industry.

They were exposed to anime, video games, pop culture things like that, and you know, it just kind of fine-tuned their imaginations.

So that even though they had not set foot into a studio yet, the had skills that were developed in the mind. In the mind. So that’s where a lot of the acting work takes place, and then you draw it out from the mind.

Just really quickly, okay? There’s this like case study of like, I was… Yeah, there’s a story where there is like two um control groups for basketball.

Like one team, they’re actually shooting hoops all month. And the other team like they’re imagining shooting hoops all month, just imagining.

And then like at the end of that experiment boom they get the same, ah in 30% improvement in accuracy.

Yeah. I’ll have to look for the actual citation for that, but my goodness…

JOELLE: Yes, please share that.

DAVE: That’s a super solid illustration of what the imagination can do.

On the Importance of Loving the Craft

So yeah, long story short. I wouldn’t say you necessarily need it, because a lot of people have gotten away um with doing it.

I believe Vanille Velasquez as well right now doesn’t have a formal acting background. But you know, it really helps, it really really does help.

JOELLE: O.K., great, well before I jump into my next question. I just wanna mention what I was I forgot to mention earlier, that we will have a sort of game.

DAVE: Yes.

JOELLE: Something new that we’re gonna do today. So, at the end of the podcast, at the end of the interview with Dave, we wanna throw out this game. Whoever wins it will actually get to join us today in the podcast and do like a free twenty-minute script read with Dave. 

DAVE: Yes.

JOELLE: And he’ll give you his expert feedback on your read. So, hope you guys stick around till then. And we’ll tell you when that’s gonna happen and the instructions. But till then, let’s continue.

Tips for Aspiring Voice Actors

So, going back to what you were saying, Dave. I guess maybe the does some up, because I know there are so many steps that you can take to really start your video career. But for you like, what are the maybe top five tips that you can give to aspiring voice actors and how they can hit the ground running?

DAVE: Right.

JOELLE: Or things they have to prepare, or things they should expect while getting into this type of industry.

DAVE: Top five, oh man, I wasn’t prepared for this on the spot, huh?

JOELLE: Surprise!

DAVE: Yes, surprise! Okay. Well, we’re running a podcast now so… okay well… Really the first and foremost, I believe most important tip of all is to fall in love with the craft.

Because a lot of people like ah, yeah I’ve heard tips like start with the skill and then invest in the equipment… and yeah that sequence completely makes sense.

It does. But that follows the assumption that you already are in love with the craft, or at least you have some reason driving you to continue pursuing voice over.

Forgot who as well, but there was a voice actor was like, his litmus test to get people to see if voice over is for them is go inside your room, turn off the lights, and have a little flashlight. Grab a script, and read from that book or script for an entire week and see if you enjoy doing that. Right?

JOELLE: That is a great test.

DAVE: That is a great test, if you’re willing to do that, which by the way is a very vivid day-to-day illustration of what it might actually be like. Many days, like for my first eight years, it was like that.

Especially if you’re starting out in your studio was still um, or if any booth that you have doesn’t have ventilation. You will want to turn off the lights.

Because the lights are hot, right? Do you turn your lights Joelle?

JOELLE: Ah no I kind of like working with light. It helps me liven up the moment.

DAVE: Definitely. Definitely.

JOELLE: I get sleepy when it’s dark so…

DAVE: Exactly! Same here.

So you have to choose between falling asleep and enduring the heat. So yeah, yeah.

JOELLE: You really have to endure the heat. It’s like a sauna. You know, it’s a really nice skin.

DAVE: It is it is. So we have the first to be to fall in love with the craft because everything else will follow once you do fall in love with it. Oh, man.

Investing in Skills and Coaching

DAVE: The second… Then I would invest in the skills and the coaching. And the reason is, when you get into voice over the first time around, you would be so tempted to do a lot of research on YouTube DIY.

Which is which is absolutely fine, because personally I started out that way.

But nowadays, especially here in the Philippines, there are more and more resources popping out, entities like VocAlliance and VAHPH, providing quality coaching and workshops and classes na.

Versus having to figure things out on your own. Trial and error is good. It is good if it is the only option you have given your budget, that is fine and respectable.

Maybe for people who have less of a budget, or for those who are still students, don’t have the option to do coaching, that’s one way to go.

But if it were up to me, personally, I think that taking coaching is still a smarter option, especially now that here at VAHPH we offer it at currently as of this broadcast, five hundred pesos (PHP500) per group coaching session. Do the math.

You can do like for 50k, a hundred sessions. My goodness… a hundred sessions! You know?

JOELLE: Exactly.

DAVE: Right? And if you think about it, how much do we spend on college or on our traditional education?

And these are skills that you directly get R.O.I. from. You invest like… What is.. what is 50k? What is a hundred sessions?

It takes one project, one maybe average commercial to pay that back. Or maybe a medium-sized project.

Ah, see? Joelle’s nodding, right? You can confirm it, can’t you? It’s real, it’s real, right?

JOELLE: Maybe three small ones.

DAVE:  Maybe three small projects. Three small projects, your education for a hundred classes is already paid for, my goodness.

JOELLE: Yes.

DAVE: So, this was not available way back. And back then, our only option was… yeah, the acting classes.

Then you would kind of combine that with the knowledge on the internet about voice acting. It’s like, try to figure things out on your own.

So coaches, they help you go from point A to Z instead of you like going in a zigzag like “where do I go?” Right?

JOELLE: Yeah. “Where do I start?”

DAVE: “Where do I start?”

JOELLE: “Where does my money go?”

Sound Management and Equipment Tips

DAVE: And because I’ve now run out of ammo for talking points, I’m looking at the comments now for tip number three.

Someone’s asking “Cheapest and most effective booth: putting a thick blanket over yourself.” I can confirm that, Charlie.

I super confirm and affirm that. That’s right, I mentioned in the last podcast but I’ve recorded commercials and have closed a seven-digit project using a blanket audition. Like, blanket audition plus USB mic.

Cause you’d be surprised. It has a massive, massive impact on your audio. You wouldn’t think so.

Because sound, you see, when you are in an empty room, it’s like a ripple. Rippling water.

Now if you have a blanket covering your surface area, the sound has to pass through the blanket once, bounces off the wall, goes back to the mic, it passes through the blanket a second time.

So it’s actually more effective than it seems, even if it’s thin.

Of course, the thicker the better, it really does get rid of reverb.

So, yeah, a blanket. I totally suggest that as well.

So that’s the third one. You know what.. alright…

JOELLE: We can always just leave it at three if you think those are like your top tips.

DAVE: Okay, No. This is one: Have a budget. Have a budget and allocate it. Make sure that you allocate it, like… I would do it this way: roughly seventy or eighty percent for education and then the last twenty or thirty percent for equipment.

And when you do that, you get the skill set and wherever you go, you are a voice actor.

You don’t let the microphone do a voice actor’s job, right? So no matter what studio you’re in, because that’s the thing, a lot of voice actors that I know as well don’t even have home studio set ups.

They just, they’re skilled voice actors and they hop from studio to studio.

So if you had to pick between something that is optional and something that’s required, it’s the acting chops, really.

Yeah, so that’s the fourth one. I will think of the fifth one later.

Strengthening Acting Skills

JOELLE: Okay, we’re going back to strengthening your acting chops. In your case, it’s like, really… the foundation of being a voice actor is really acting. Acting skills.

DAVE: Absolutely.

JOELLE: So you’re suggesting that we really strengthen that part first before we even start a demo, before starting work and all that.

DAVE: Well, I want to balance that, I want to temper that. There’s been this notion, so this is gonna be tip number five.

Okay?

So there has been this notion that, ever since on the internet, that’s like “always get a professional demo producer to do your demo”, which is very, very valid if you have the budget.

Okay, because when I do that…

JOELLE: And how much does that go for?

DAVE: Around about just 120k or so.

JOELLE: Holy smokes!

DAVE: So I did that and when I experienced it myself, I was like, you know what? Yeah, and listening to it, you know, especially when you hire people who are based in L.A. who’re producing demos there.

You know they’re busy. They’re very busy and sometimes the experience can end up being a bit cookie-cutter.

Yeah, but of course the production quality is there. The production quality is definitely there.

Producing Professional Demos

Of course, if you spend the time to really research multimedia, learn how to mix… It sounds intimidating at first, but you know, times have changed.

There are so many tutorials online, there are just so many. So many.

Personally, you know, I’ve been producing demos for quite some time as well.

No one taught me how to make demos, it’s just like… all the industry knowledge added up.

Here’s the thing: When you hear something, you tend to be able to reverse engineer it and break it up into pieces, and then you can figure out how to build it up from the ground up, backwards, right?

So yeah.

But, but, but… if you do have the budget, yeah, go ahead, please hire a demo producer first.

And again, good demo producers will stop you from producing your demo if you’re not yet prepared.

Because you can’t… a good mix will not fix bad acting.

DIY Demos and Professional Guidance

But you do need the place to start.

So what I would do, and what exactly I did back then, was I recorded DIY demos until I reached my limit of what I could accomplish on my own.

Then I said, ‘Okay, so this is what I’m able to do as a self-directed voice actor with my own ‘DIY mixing’, quote unquote. I can’t do this anymore, I’ll hire a professional producer.’

That’s when I started doing that.

It also helps, even if you’re already a pro, when you do hire a pro demo producer, they would also be a great coach for the session because they will hear things that you cannot when you are self-directing.

JOELLE: Right.

DAVE: Yon.

Creating Demos and Finding Your Niche

JOELLE: So, how many demo reels do you have to create? It seems like you tried yourself out before creating your own DIY demos.

How many were there before you decided, ‘Okay, I need help,’?

DAVE: How many were… I think I did four before I reached that point where I said, you know, I’d hire someone. And then when I did that, you know, I did eventually go back to producing my own demos.

Because, to be honest, even though I hired someone of that caliber to do one of my demos, I have not gotten the ROI.

Yeah, because some people expect that like, ‘when I get my demo, I’m okay now. The projects will start flooding in.’ It doesn’t work that way.

People actually need to hear your demo, you need ears on your demo. So there is still some marketing involved.

So it should be, you’re when getting a demo done, you should have a purpose for that demo.

It should be catered to a specific audience or market.

JOELLE: So it can’t just be a mishmash of different types of VO. Like, you have corporate and then you have commercial and then you have your character all in one.

DAVE: Yeah, I… That was a good idea to me at first because I thought, ‘Okay, if I’m more generalist, people will see that I’m very versatile.’ [Excuse me.]

But what ends up happening…

JOELLE: Show your super range.

DAVE: Yes, you have a big range, but what actually ends up happening is you don’t showcase enough of what you can do for each.

So, it’s just too spread out and it doesn’t sound specialized enough.

I mean, if you’re gonna have your heart checked, would you want a general practitioner to check your heart or would you get a cardiologist?

So, it’s still different to get a specialist to do the… you know.

So, same thing with children’s media.

Super amazing thing, this is, how did I find my niche? Well, I didn’t find it, my niche found me, so to speak.

So I just kept offering character animation voice overs in general and then I kept noticing this trend, why do I keep getting cast for kids’ shows?

Ah, well, for one, people have commented that I can sound young. So, that’s among the things.

When I discovered that, I looked back, how many of these… Okay, how many of all my projects, how many of these projects are character projects?

Of the character projects, how many of them are children’s media?

And I checked, about seventy percent? Fifty percent? was in children’s media.

So from there, I reverse engineered it. “You know what, I’m gonna tell people that it’s my thing.”

And surprise, surprise, like, after a month from changing my niche, publicly, a lot more children’s media groups contacted me. Which led to bigger projects.

Live Stream and Audience Engagement

Which is also… when you, when you do that, you actually don’t limit yourself.

Because sometimes, you know, you would assume that a cardiologist can also take out your teeth if they have to, or deliver a baby if they have to.

So, they actually see you as like an evolved generalist.

So it’s not gonna limit your opportunities as well. And this is like, you also know for yourself that you are capable of playing video game roles internally.

But externally, just make it convenient for people to know, your current skillset and the exact people who you serve.

Yeah, it’s a convenient label, in short.

JOELLE: Yup, it’s a go-to.

DAVE: It is a go-to.

JOELLE: Sorry, sorry to cut you off. I just noticed that the comments section of the podcast was limited.

DAVE: Oh, how come?

JOELLE: Not sure.

DAVE: [in jest] I am so sad!

JOELLE: Like, how come no one’s commenting anymore?

DAVE: Oh, like, yeah, there after fifty comments? Yeah, it reached fifty and then it stopped. Oh, “Dave Soltura limited who can comment-” What? I didn’t do that.

JOELLE: But that’s you!

DAVE: But that’s me! I didn’t do that. Well, that’s okay guys. We love you and we know that you are listening.

Preparing for the Game

JOELLE: Yeah, how are we gonna play the game later though?

DAVE: Oh… Okay, maybe we can reply. We can, hmm…

JOELLE: How to do this?

DAVE: How do we do this? Maybe we stop the stream and form a new one? Nah, nah, that wouldn’t work out. Huh… Okay guys, first one to post in the VAHPH group…

Yeah, not as part of the actual stream. Then we can have them do it.

JOELLE: Yes, I think we could do that instead.

DAVE: Yes, we can do that instead. Okay.

JOELLE: So are we gonna launch that already? Are we doing the game now?

DAVE: If you’d like. Yeah, sure.

JOELLE: Okay… Alright, so I guess we’re gonna jump into that. I still have so many questions, Dave. But okay…

DAVE: Sure thing. We’ll save that for some other time.

JOELLE: Okay. Fine. But okay…

Summing Up the Advice

DAVE: Yes.

JOELLE: I think before we jump into the game, can I just ask one last question?

Just to, you know, to close the interview?

DAVE: Sure thing.

JOELLE: Okay, so what is the most important advice that you can give to aspiring voice actors?

DAVE: Most important advice… I thought I already did give that. Okay…

JOELLE: Like, maybe just to sum it up?

DAVE: Okay, so… okay, I’ll tie the loose ends.

JOELLE: The comments are back on, though.

DAVE: Okay, I’ll tie the- oh? They’re back on. Cool, cool. Okay, well…

JOELLE: Thanks to Luis. Thanks, Luis!

DAVE: I can see that. I awesome. Okay. So if there’s one most important piece of advice…

Falling in Love with the Craft

So the first is, falling in love with the craft gets you into the industry. It may also be your reason.

Yeah, so falling in love with the craft gets you into the industry, but you would need a separate reason to keep you going.

You know? Falling in love with the craft itself could be it. It could be the passion that keeps you going.

But you know, if there’s something else it could be you know, family, it could be friends, it could be someone you love, a cause that you are fighting for.

Those are the things that really sustain your drive and commitment to pursue voice over.

Because you know, like, to be honest, there are some days that I’m starry-eyed, like, ‘Man, I can’t believe I wake up and record voice overs.’

But there are also days where I’m like, ‘I just want to sleep today.’

Understanding Your Motivation

Yeah, so…

JOELLE: I totally understand.

DAVE: It does happen. Like, ‘Does this have to be today? Was the deadline really today?’

But you know, you remember, “Oh right, I have my wife and…” I was going to say kids, but.. I have my wife.

JOELLE: [in jest][gasp] What are you saying, Dave?

DAVE: I’m not saying anything. I have my… you know, I’m just kinda assuming that in my head. Yes, so…

So yeah, I have my reasons for waking up. “Was that a Nescafe thing? Why do you wake up in the morning or get up?”

Yeah,  yeah. So getting up is different from waking up. Yeah…

JOELLE: Yes, so it’s like it’s another challenge.

DAVE: To sum it up, “Know your ‘why’. Know your ‘why’, and that will sustain you throughout your voice-over career.”

JOELLE: That’s beautiful. It’s like always have an anchor.

DAVE: [overlap] Yes, that is your anchor.

JOELLE: To keep you steady and bring you back. Awesome!

DAVE: [overlap] Yes. There we go.

JOELLE: Thank you so much, Dave!

Winners Script Reading

I still have so many questions, but fine, we will save that for another podcast.

But I guess now it’s time to get into the Winner’s Script Reading portion of our podcast.

So like I mentioned, this is something new that we’re trying out.

So, I hope everyone that’s watching right now are able and willing to join this fun game.

DAVE: Woohoo!

JOELLE: So okay, listen up. I’m going to share the mechanics of the game now.

Mechanics of the Game

So by the way, whoever wins this game gets to join us right now on this podcast and do a free script reading with Dave.

Okay, so…

DAVE: Yes. And just a heads-up that if you do get on the podcast, there’s a good chance that it will be seen on YouTube as well.

So by being on the show, you understand that you also give us permission to have you on our YouTube channel. You give us consent by being on the show.

JOELLE: Yes, alright. So this is how the game goes. The first person to comment the special word that I’m about to mention as soon as I mention it is the winner.

Those really simple mechanics, so go to your comments. When I mention the special word type it in and the first to comment wins.

Are we good?

DAVE: We’re good.

JOELLE: Are you ready? Okay, the special word is… “passion”.

Announcement of the Winner

And go!

DAVE: Passion fruit? Purpose?

JOELLE: Just “passion”.

DAVE: Filipino? Uhh, paper?

JOELLE: Oh, yay, we have a winner already!. Yay!

DAVE: Yes, Charlie is the winner. Wow!

JOELLE:  It gets my reacts, but yay, Charlie Alemania is the winner. Congratulations.

Technical Difficulties

DAVE: Congratulations, Charlie!

JOELLE: Just give me a second. I will send you a link to join us on the podcast… Oh no… Can you still see and hear me?

Because my screen just blanked out!

DAVE: Your screen blanked out. I can, I can hear you, I can see you.

JOELLE: Dave, do you mind helping me? Because I can’t see anything on my screen right now.

DAVE: Okay, absolutely. So, I will send the guest link myself. I’m so glad I’m actually a co-host from a technical standpoint.

So, oh, some people…

JOELLE: Thank you for the support!

DAVE:  Even though some people were delayed with the comments, they kept going!

Thank you for the participation.

JOELLE: Thanks, guys! How supportive!

DAVE: Yeah. Guys, if you keep watching our videos on our channel, who knows, we might be able to do mic giveaways once the channel is gonna fight. I mean, who knows, right? Who knows?

JOELLE:  Can I join?

DAVE: That’s cheating! A normal, very nice Røde pod mic.

Message to the Winner

Okay, let’s see. Ah… Charlie posted the comment. We are scrolling down. Scrolling, scrolling…

JOELLE: My screen is still black. so I might have to pop out for a bit and pop back in.

DAVE: Sure thing. Alright, Joelle, no worries. Toodles!

JOELLE: Toodles!

DAVE: Okay, and now I am so alone… Charlie, please message me because your comment got buried.

I’m clicking the 83 comments thing, and I’m only seeing four. So, how do we do this?

Just message me, I will look at my message requests. I am standing by with my message requests.

There, okay, there we go.

Hahahaha, Alrighty!

Alright…

Sup Jeric? Sup?

Yes, Joco, this is an SM7B. Dave, do you also use an SM7B?

Introduction of the Winner

Okay, there, Charlie has messaged me. Hello, Charlie. Here is your special guest link.

Please don’t share it with anyone else. Alrighty! Hah! this is, this is so exciting.

Yeah, if you’re nervous, don’t worry. We’re just as nervous as you are.

Oh, when Joelle left, my face became bigger. So, how do we shrink that? There…

Oh, my label is Joelle Villafranca! [laughs] How do I change that?

We’re both Joelle Villafranca!

JOELLE: Oh my gosh, why?

Script Reading by the Winner

DAVE: Okay, Charlie, we can see you in the stream backstage already. Let us know when you are ready, and we will add you to the stream.

Yeah.

Showing your face is optional. So, maybe just tell…

JOELLE: Hi, Charlie!

DAVE: Hello, Charlie. Okay. So, send me a message if you are good to go.

And I’m so excited. M. Gucci!

Yes, that is a very expensive brand. Hello, Charlie! Welcome, Charlie.

CHARLIE: Hello. Hi.

DAVE: Hello, hi! How are you?

JOELLE: Hi, Charlie!

DAVE: Yes, how are you?

CHARLIE: I’m nervous ’cause I rarely read in front of people.

DAVE: I understand. I understand. Same here. I only read behind the mic.

 CHARLIE: [Whoops. I seem to] not be able to hear you at the moment. Hang on.

Reading the Script

DAVE: Alright! So do you want English or Tagalog?

CHARLIE: I could probably do better at English. Not gonna lie.

DAVE: Okay, alright, let’s do English. Character, commercial, or narration? Those are genres of voice over.

Alright.

CHARLIE: I think I could do character for now.

DAVE: Character for now. Okay, well. Huh, huh, huh, huh, huh… Okay, so let’s try something interesting.

I’m going to use ChatGPT this time around to come up with a script, just for the sake of this thing.

“Write a script about an Android… no… a cyborg… named Charlie who needs…”

CHARLIE: I’m sorry? What was that?

DAVE: I’m writing a prompt for an AI script generator right now. I’m typing it right now.

JOELLE: Dave and technology.

CHARLIE: Oh yeah, ChatGPT is nice.

DAVE: “… who needs to self-destruct to destroy the core of an ancient superweapon.”

CHARLIE: Ooh…

JOELLE: Woah.

DAVE: This is just random prompt…

JOELLE: Just off the top of your mind!

DAVE: Off the top of my mind. Yes, that is how we do things. I told you, my brother and I started out that way.

So, by the way, improv is another great genre or skill that you can study.

Okay, so I have not seen the script myself, but you will see it, and this is gonna be fun.

Okay, are you ready, Charlie?

CHARLIE: Ah, sure.

DAVE: Okay. Uhu… “share my screen”… “Understand, let’s proceed”. I’m gonna share a window right there. There we go. Just show it on the screen.

JOELLE [Matthew McConaghey impersonation] Alright, alright, alright!

CHARLIE: Ohh… [Dear Lord…]

DAVE: Okay. It’s a mouthful. It’s a lot, okay, but you can just start with the Charlie lines.

CHARLIE: Okay. Alright, let’s see… “We see a barren landscape, buildings in the background… suddenly figure in the distance moves closer…” Okay, I’m a cyborg, apparently. “Huge structure towering ancient superweapon.”

“He knows the only way to destroy it is by self-destructing, but he hesitates.” Oh my, this is nice. Alright.

DAVE: Okay,

CHARLIE: “It’s time to do what I was built for!” Oh, Lord… this is a bit confusing.

DAVE: Whenever you’re ready.

JOELLE: Yup.

CHARLIE: Okay. “It’s time to do what I was built for! I was designed to destroy weapons like you, and I will not fail!” Oh Lord, most of it are narrations. Okay, sorry.

DAVE: Okay, no that’s okay. That’s okay.

JOELLE: Maybe you can do a cold read first.

DAVE: Yeah, it’s a cold read. It’s alright, it’s alright. It’s alright. No pressure. We’re not assessing your reads right now. I just did. Just go through it. Just go through it! It’s a cold read. Yeah.

CHARLIE: Uh… “‘It’s time to do what I was built for!’ Charlie takes a deep breath and walks towards the weapon’s core. The closer he gets, the more his internal systems begin to overheat, but he pushes on, determined to complete his mission.

Suddenly, a voice booms out from the weapon, ‘You cannot destroy me, Cyborg! I am too powerful.’ Charlie knows he must act fast. He begins to input code into his system, preparing for the self-destruct sequence.

‘I was designed to destroy weapons like you. And I will not fail.’ The weapon begins to shake and hum as if it knows what’s coming.

‘You are a machine. You cannot make decisions for yourself.’ Charlie ignores the taunting voice and continues the sequence.

The weapon’s core starts to pulse, a sign that it’s about to self-destruct.

‘It’s now or never.’ Charlie takes a deep breath and initiates the final sequence. His circuits begin to overload, but he keeps going.

The weapon’s core explodes in a blinding flash of light and Charlie is caught in the blast.” Fade out.

DAVE: Very well done! How did that feel?

JOELLE: Nice!

CHARLIE: I’m honestly just… my hands are still shaking. Sorry about that.

DAVE: No, that’s good! You know, shaking is, you know, a sign of intensity sometimes. So, that’s great, Yeah. You have very clear diction and enunciation. Very good.

CHARLIE: Thank you.

DAVE: That gives you a strong base for voice over already. There, awesome. Okay, well let’s do this again, and you be Charlie and I will be the voice.

CHARLIE: Okay.

DAVE: This is gonna be fun. Okay, so you can start with the ‘It’s time to do what I was built for.'”

CHARLIE: My heart was beating fast. Okay.

DAVE: Okay.

JOELLE: Breathe.

DAVE: Alright.

CHARLIE: Ikuzo!

DAVE: Whenever you’re ready.

CHARLIE: Oh, I thought you were also starting first. Cuz it starts like… okay. Um… “It’s time to do what I was built for!”

DAVE: Okay. I’ll pick up the narration, and I’ll do the voice, and you do the Charlie lines. Okay.

CHARLIE: Oh, right! The voice! Oh my God, I’m sorry!

DAVE: no, it’s all good. Yeah, I don’t know the mechanics well. We’re doing this, this is the first time we’re doing this. So, thank you for joining us. Okay. So…

“Charlie takes a deep breath and walks towards the weapon’s core. The closer he gets, the more his internal systems begin to overheat. But he pushes on, determined to complete his mission.

Suddenly, a voice booms out from the weapon, ‘You cannot destroy me, Cyborg, I am too powerful.’ Charlie knows he must act fast. He begins to input code into his system, preparing for the self-destruct sequence.

CHARLIE: “I was designed to destroy weapons like you and I will not fail!”

DAVE: “The weapon begins to shake and hum as if it knows what’s coming. ‘You are a machine. You cannot make decisions for yourself.’

Charlie ignores the taunting voice and continues the sequence. The weapon’s core starts to pulse, a sign that it’s about to self-destruct.

CHARLIE: “It’s now or never…”

DAVE: You know, that’s awesome. How did that feel?

CHARLIE: It was, yeah, it was nice. I was actually just trying to imagine how the cyborg would feel.

Not gonna lie, it’s like all in, you know?

As, and like… from what I’ve seen from most people, but like I’m trying not to do a character. I’m trying to do the character, and what he sees, what he’s supposed to feel at the moment. Cuz like, yeah…

DAVE: Fantastic. You know, I hear that. I hear that. I can tell that you’re already in-character and the fact that you have this quivering in your voice, that shows that you really are internalizing the situation.

Um, that is not a beginner skill, I would say. Awesome. Awesome, have you had any acting training in the past?

CHARLIE: Um, no. The best I’ve come to having acting training is like when my high school teachers would be like, ‘Oh yeah, you go ahead and group up and you go act up this situation and stuff… ‘

DAVE: [overlap] Ah, yeah.

CHARLIE: And role play in high school, right? Where…

DAVE: [overlap] Right, yes.

CHARLIE: Like your classmates make you try to laugh in front of the…

DAVE: [overlap] Yes, yes.

CHARLIE: In front of the whole class. Like, you’re all having fun. It’s all good and games, but like, people get dramatic. Cause like most of the shows at the time that were famous was like, ‘Why did you sleep with my wife?’ in like all the good Filipino dramas.

DAVE:  Yeah, Filipino stuff, telenovelas. Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. Great, great, very nice. Well, what was once a role play is now something that you can turn into a career.

Okay, well, let’s do this one more time. Let’s get the narration now. You be Charlie. I’ll be the voice, let’s go.

Okay.

CHARLIE: “It’s time to do what I was built for!”

DAVE: “You cannot destroy me, Cyborg, I am too powerful.”

CHARLIE: “I was designed to destroy weapons like you… and I will not fail!”

DAVE: “You’re a machine. You cannot make decisions for yourself.”

CHARLIE: “It’s… it’s now or never…”

DAVE: Very nice. Okay, so let’s change that up a bit. The ‘It’s now or never’. Let’s turn that into an exclamation point. So It’s gonna be, now, very dramatic like beep… bam! You know?

CHARLIE: Oh, like it’s about to explode at the moment?

DAVE: It’s about to explode. Let’s turn it into that. Okay?

CHARLIE: Okay.

DAVE: Well… one more time.

CHARLIE: “It’s time to do what I was built for.”

DAVE: “You cannot destroy me, Cyborg, I am too powerful.”

CHARLIE: “I was designed to destroy weapons like you, and I will not fail!”

DAVE: “You are a machine. You cannot make decisions for yourself.”

CHARLIE: [grunts with effort] “It’s now or never!”

DAVE: Nice! It’s so hard to give feedback! Your delivery is clean. This is, this is awesome.

JOELLE: I love the tone of your voice. It’s perfect for this kind of character.

DAVE: It is, it is.

JOELLE: Androgynous, but also.. adversarial.

DAVE: Absolutely. Well, that’s awesome, Charlie. Are you looking to do voice overs full time or part time?”

CHARLIE: I actually want to do it full time because like, I don’t know if you can work from home and like I just want to be able to cook for my queen, not gonna lie, help her de-stress.

Cause like I know. I know she’s gonna be having a hard time working, like doing call centers and stuff, and I just want to do what I can.

DAVE: Now that’s awesome. And you know, voice over, if you do it right, with the acting skill, business acumen, and technical skill combined, you would really be able to make a good lifestyle out of this.

Yeah. Find more time with family, more flexibility in your life, you know. Maybe go on a trip to Hawaii, Japan, wherever you wanna go.

Yeah.

JOELLE: And work from there too.

DAVE: And work from there too! Yeah, I haven’t done that yet, but goals! Yeah, very nice. Okay, Charlie, thank you so much. I just want to say, I want to leave it with you have great acting chops even now. Your diction is clean.

You understand thought units and characters seem to be one of your strengths. We haven’t heard your commercial samples yet, but that’s something for you to explore.

But now you have a strong character base. So when you see like, character related auditions, I highly suggest you go for it. One path for growth that I can suggest right now, although I haven’t heard your full range: I would suggest that you explore the different character archetypes and voices that you can come up with.

Yeah. Okay! Well, thank you, Charlie.

CHARLIE: Yay!

JOELLE: Great job, Charlie.

DAVE: Thanks for joining us.

CHARLIE: No problem. Thank you for the opportunity and um, yeah!

DAVE: Yes! take care.

CHARLIE: Bye!

Final Words

JOELLE: Amazing!

DAVE: Amazing!

JOELLE: Amazing!

DAVE: Incredible. Yeah, we should do that again some time.

JOELLE: That was a great idea to do this. So I guess, guys, you got to see a snippet of how it is to have coaching specifically with Dave, and it’s the same also with every other coach that you’ll find here at Voice Actors at Home.

See how much insight, and input, and learnings that you get from them. So, join na!

DAVE: Join na! Sali na!

JOELLE: Sali na!

DAVE: That’s kinda read that I keep you, sali na.

Yeah, it’s not my niche, but yeah, had to do some of those scripts as well. Joelle, thank you, thank you for hosting this first episode.

JOELLE: Thank you for asking me to host. Great learnings too!

DAVE: Yes, great learnings for everybody.

JOELLE: Now I know how to use, melan[cholic].

DAVE:  Woohoo! Alright.

JOELLE: But yeah guys, also, don’t forget Coach Airene’s group coaching session this Saturday, nine to eleven A.M. Please join us. Please click on the link, or join that link, the URL below to find out more.

DAVE: Yeah, Coach Irene, woohoo! Alright.

JOELLE: So I guess before we end, you have any parting words, Dave?

DAVE: Yeah, just again, fall in love with the craft, know your purpose, and you know… There really isn’t more to add to that! And, you know…

JOELLE: Passion!

DAVE: Passion. Support yourself with- support yourself… Surround yourself with a support group. It really helps to have some people who share goals with you. Who are probably maybe a step further.

Just a step, not several steps, because I find that sometimes it can be intimidating. So, you know, it could be more, it could be less.

But if you’re able to be in a room with long term pros and still have the openness to learn from them without being intimidated, that is also awesome. Right?

JOELLE: Yes, 100%. Are we wrapping up now?

DAVE: Yeah, we are wrapping up.

JOELLE: So thanks so much, Dave, for spending your afternoon with us. Thank you, everyone, who watched this podcast. Thank you so much for your support.

We hope to do this again next week. Next week?

DAVE: Yes, next week.

JOELLE: Yep. We’ll post who our new guest is and who our host is as well. So if you guys have any questions already, before then, that we can tackle in our next podcast, feel free to just send us a message.

What’s happening to my voice? Ahem.

DAVE: Vocal rest.

JOELLE: You can leave a comment here already… Yes, vocal rest. But otherwise, thank you again so much and we’ll see you next time.

DAVE: [Imitating Blue from Blue’s Clues]

JOELLE: Bye!

DAVE: Bye!