Tips For Voice123 Profiles: 'Thinking Outside the Box to Check Boxes'

Have you ever opened a Daily Summary or Weekly Summary and thought, 'Why did I not get invited to this?'. A misconception with some using Voice123 is the belief that the text in your profile plays a part in the SmartCast matching process. The text content of your profile is helpful for being found in search features, such as the one we offer for Voice123 Premium Subscribers, and of course, Google. Regretfully, some believe the best way to handle such situations to get invited more is to check off all boxes. These eager folks may be unaware that they show up in searches that have interested buyers thinking, 'Huh?'. So, how do you make sure you show up in search engines that do not confuse a possible voice seeker wanting to hire you, or increase your ability to be invited for SmartCast jobs?

Think outside the box!

'Help Yourself Be Found While Removing Burden':
Do not short-change yourself on recording capability, and pre/post-production capability, both in Voice Details and My Demos sections of your profile:

• If you do not have a home studio, but know someone who does, set up an agreement with them to record when hired.


• This may be easier to do in major markets like Los Angeles, NYC, Atlanta, or London. Understand, just like any store, you offer a product; your 'voice over talent'. The more equipment, the more buyer options. Have you ever walked out of a store because they did not take your type of credit card? It is the same thought process. The voice talent who offer more choices do, in fact, have an advantage.


• If you do not, and know you can rent a studio, do not burden a buyer with explanations of your heroic tales of what you went through, or why you charge more. These are the best stories to tell colleagues who understand, yes, but because voice seekers do not know you they will actually feel they are troubling you, and use the next person who says, 'I'll take care of it!'.

Does this mean you have to think about studio rental, and cannot provide quick turnaround time?

• Yes, because some jobs ask for voice over work within 6 hours, occasionally, but that is the disadvantage to being without a studio to record at home. However, in this day and age, everyone is able to provide final delivery by email, FTP, or mail.

Does this mean 'Voice123 says, 'Get phone patch, Source Connect, and ISDN!'?

• No, not at all. There are many voice talent working without this on Voice123, and there are so many talented professionals skilled at using these, it is best to take the time to learn how to use it before offering it, or evaluate if you even need it.

What 'not' to do?

• Over-promise by checking off boxes of things you cannot or will not do. It is the equivalent to lying on a resume. Offer what you can offer to complete a job; not what you are practicing. In a global casting environment, your profile and demos work as your spokesperson 24/7! You want it to say the right things to the right people when they post a project or use the Voice123 search feature!

For more info on setting up a profile, see this forum post!


Thank you always!

Steven Lowell
Community Manager
Voice123 Premium Forums
Voice123 Youtube Channel
Twitter: @voice123
Voice123 Meetups!


Photos by Ken Hurst and Marty Portier

Voice123 Community: Meeting People Behind The Voices!

11 Countries Around the World!
There are many Voice123 Meetups to join and organize! Some of the Voice123 Staff will be holding their Voice123 Meetup in New York City, which you can see right here! We are looking forward to meeting all the great Voice123 talent attending! We are truly excited to meetup with members of the Voice123 community! If you happen to be a voice talent in the area, this Voice123 Meetup in Bogota, Colombia will be of special interest to you, too!


“You Are Not Alone!”
It is truly the time to begin thinking the world is your neighborhood! I discovered other Voice123 members lived in Staten Island, New York; the ‘forgotten borough’! I thought I was alone out here! It was wonderful to meetup with Claudette Vergara, a Voice123 talent, who just completed studying with Valerie Smaldone at School of Visual Arts in NYC. A few surprise guests showed up who were interested in Voice123, and had seen my Voice123 Meetup online. Brian and Ryan are studying to be stand-up comics and Sarah works in communications; all of them in New York City. They wanted to ask me dozens of questions about how Voice123 works. We did, of course, celebrate Voice123’s 7th birthday at the close of the Voice123 Meetup!


Not Sure How This Works?
No worries! Take a moment to read over The Official Meetup HQ Blog. You will get some great ideas on how to organize your own and meet other voice artists like yourself! Have fun with it! It is a great, inexpensive way to organize and meetup with people from your industry. This industry is a great deal more enjoyable when you are surrounded by others, who offer positive support to succeed in the best career out there today!

Thank you always!

Steven Lowell
Community Manager
Voice123 Premium Forums
Voice123 Youtube Channel
Twitter: @voice123
Voice123 Meetups!

Voice123 Community News: Worldly Updates!

Great Time for a Voice123 Meetup!
It is always a nice surprise to find out your neighbor may be doing voice over work from home! Take a look at all the Voice123 Meetups from five countries around the world! If there are no options near you, start one in your area! We at Voice123 are also looking into attending Voice123 Meetups started by all of you, to see if we can attend more of them, and connect with the community! The great thing about these Meetups; perhaps realizing that the voice over community is much larger than you had ever expected! So...

Join or organize a Voice123 Meetup NOW!


Voice Coaches: Use Voice123 Meetups & Find New Talent!
Voice123 Meetups are a great way for you to meet with interested voice over students! The location is up to you, and even if the smallest of coffee shops can be perfect! Take this example from Gary Terzza, who currently has the largest Voice123 Meetup (so far)! You can take a quick look at right here.

Gary Terzza is also a member of the Voice123 Coach Partner Program (read more here), based out of London, UK. If you happen to be a voice talent in London, attend and see what other Voice123 talent from the United Kingdom are up to these days! Also attending, Voice123 talent, Jay Britton, a great contributor to Voice123 community forums, and currently auditioning on Voice123, as well as other great voice talent!


Speaking of Voice123 Talent...
Wonderful news arrived about Voice123 talent, Javier Fernández-Peña. You can read about it here. Just an update: He just finished filming an interview with us about a great job he booked as the role of Spanish Buzz Lightyear in Toy Story 3 by PIXAR; a job landed through Voice123. His role in the film has been getting him a great deal of attention, and the movie has been getting very strong reviews online! The movie (Toy Story 3) opened in the United States over just this past weekend and was just short of being the top grossing film for the weekend! He had written us today to let us know the interview filming was complete, and is excited about sharing it with everyone!


'It's a small world after all!'

Steven Lowell
Community Manager
Voice123 Premium Forums
Voice123 Youtube Channel
Twitter: @voice123
Voice123 Meetups!

Image source by Thomas Hawk

Voice123 Community News: Busy Tonight? See a Voice123 Talent at the Movies!

Make a Date to See a Voice123 Talent in Toy Story 3!
We were very excited to learn this week that PIXAR had used Voice123 to hire Javier Fernandez-Peña to be the voice of Spanish Buzz Lightyear for Disney's new film Toy Story 3!

See a small clip here!

We are very excited for him, and hope you are, too! Next week, we will be filming an interview with Javier to share the entire story of how this job came to be! Please keep an eye out for it! In the meantime, we hope you and the family can take the kids to see great voice over work in action, and support fellow Voice123 talent!


Great Time for a Meetup!
This is also a great time to use a Voice123 Meetup! Take a look at all the Voice123 Meetups from four countries around the world, and start one in your area! There is also a Meetup scheduled by the Voice123 staff in Latin America, and from a former voice talent customer service agent from Voice123, now doing an internship in Stuttgart, Germany. We are also looking into attending meetups started by all of you, to see if we can attend more of them, and reconnect with the community!

Create or join a Voice123 Meetup NOW!


Comm-'YOU'-nity Initiative!
Do you have 'How to...' videos from your workday, a special story that you think the community will benefit from reading, or maybe just voice over news you would like to announce? Perhaps an agency picked you up last week? If so, please let us know! You may also discuss it here in our Voice123 forums!


Stick around! More by 'YOU' coming soon!

Steven Lowell
Community Manager
Voice123 Premium Forums
Voice123 Youtube Channel
Twitter: @voice123
Voice123 Meetups!


Image source by Thomas Hawk

Voice123 Community News: Seven is Your Lucky Number!

Back in June 2003, the very first profile was created on Voice123.com. In the past 7 years, close to 125,000 voice talent profiles and 50,000 voice seeker profiles have been created, making it the largest voice over community of online professionals.

To celebrate, we are beginning a community effort initiative to strengthen the Voice123 community and help professionals build stronger, successful voice over careers.

To start off, Voice123 encourages the community of Talents and Voice Producers to meet up everywhere.

What is a Voice123 Meetup?

• A meeting among Voice123 members, just like you, to meet face to face and share experiences working in the voice over industry.
• Voice123 Meetups are free, and are scheduled by any Voice123 active community member by using this link.

Myself, I am also looking to attend such Meetups whenever possible to share my insight about online casting, as a former voice talent with Voice123, now equipped with information to share information with you to help you work online.

Some Incentives to give you online exposure:

• You and your Voice123 Meetup will be promoted via Voice123 blog, Linkedin, Twitter, and Youtube (should you choose to film any portion of the event).
• The best photos and videos of Voice123 Meetup events, will be uploaded to our Social Media channels.
• We at Voice123 will work on incentives that we will encourage you to meetup and actively participate in the Voice123 community.

How Do You Set Up a Voice123 Meetup?

• Organizers must be an active voice talent/producers of Voice123.
• Organizers should include details of the location and the date of the meetup.
• Organizers are responsible for Meetup logistics regarding selected locations.
• Attendees must RSVP to the meetup they want to attend via the Voice123 Meetup event page (if they are active Voice123 members we suggest including their complete Voice123 profile).
• Voice123 has the right to retract any offer or remove meetups at anytime, if the integrity of our brand has been compromised, or created by unathorized members.
• Attendees under their responsibility

Best regards,

Steven Lowell
Community Manager
Voice123 Premium Forums
Voice123 Youtube Channel
Twitter: @voice123

Voice123 Spotlight: "More Living With a Voice Actor"

In April 2010, Voice123 featured Dianne Russell's article, "On Living with a Voice Actor", an inside look into life with Adam Behr; one of the most highly successful voice over talents on Voice123!

"There is an element required for voice acting: Flexible Time.

I had a regular 9-5 job until four months ago, when Adam and I left Canada for South Africa. I now have an incredible amount of free time. Normally, I am not one who enjoys lounging about the house thinking life is a day spa; without work I feel bored and scattered. However, because my partner is a voice actor, I am not stuck at home alone. Instead, Adam is home with me, working away in the little recording studio he created in the second bedroom. He works whenever he pleases, choosing jobs that fit not only his ability and interest, but also our schedule. He is usually up in the morning checking email by about 8 AM, after which we often head out for a long power walk on Cape Town’s spectacular seawall, eat lunch, do some grocery shopping and head back home by mid-afternoon.


His work really kicks in at night when online sites like Voice123 start pumping out voice over jobs for the day (we’re on Africa time). By 7 PM he is in full swing, creating amazing characters in colourful accents, while I make dinner, pour us some great South African red and catch up on my blog. The evenings are busy for my voice actor, but that doesn’t mean we can’t be together. His studio is equipped with a single bed, so I often read while he’s recording. He asks me for opinions on various tracks, and we spend hours laughing at his crazy voice characters, listening to audio books and commercial copy. The nights usually end around 2 AM.

Another benefit to his flexibility is that Adam is free to live wherever he chooses. All of his gear is portable and much of his voice over work is Internet driven; aside from losing a day or two in travel time, he can live a completely nomadic lifestyle. For me, a woman with an English as a Second Language teaching certificate (I am a travel nut), this 'location independent lifestyle' is one I fully embrace. My home is wherever Adam and his voice equipment are, and that could be anywhere! Amazingly, due to having agents in major cities all over the world, local studio work (wherever ‘local’ happens to be) becomes an important part of his day. Since arriving in Cape Town, he has landed radio spots as the voice of two national restaurants chains, and the World Cup 2010 frenzy is bringing heaps of football-related work.


Finally, because Adam has such an amazing range, he is offered work from all corners of the globe. He is able to pick and choose what he wants to do, when he wants to do it. One minute it is a Hollywood movie trailer, the next it’s a European video game, and the next it is a corporate project for the UN. This is where Voice123 has the edge over other sites due to the variety of applications and the variety of the types of voices needed. Exercising this much control over one’s workload is not a luxury that most people are given. Voice overs and voice acting are allowing Adam to create exactly the kind of life he wants. In turn, this allows me to live the life I want, since currently we both want the same kind of life: flexible.

Living with my voice actor in South Africa is truly living the DREAM."

Voice123 thanks Dianne Russell and Adam Behr (seen here in this interview) for sharing their story with us. To increase focus on you, the community of Voice123, please share your voice over stories with us here!

Steven Lowell
Community Manager
Voice123 Premium Forums
Voice123 Youtube Channel
Twitter: @voice123

Voice123 Community News! 'Updates on Voice123 Forums!'

The following content was written by Voice123 talent on our Voice123 Forums!

Voice Over Tech Tips: Breathing a problem for you behind the mic?

Did you ever listen closely to your audition, and notice that in between sentences you suddenly hear a quick inhale, exhale, or maybe clicks? Voice123 talent, Greg Vautour, writes in our Voice123 forums, 'Is breathing getting in the way of work'. This is a great forum discussion about the various types of software, and technology, voice talent are using to record and edit auditions on Voice123.

WANTED: Audio and Copy Reading Tips!

While the demand for great audio quality has always been a necessity, media has become a 'world stage', so finding out what people think of your demos or copy reading (even if for just a little 'morning coffee reassurance') is always helpful. Check out this forum post by voice talent, Stevan Speheger of Voice123.

Generally Speaking: Higher Paying Gigs

If you have ever looked through a daily summary, or the project directory, you will notice the production requirements, such as ISDN, Source Connect, Phone Patch, or FTP, are usually requested for better paying gigs. However, if you look closely at the forum post, you will find varying opinions as to 'why this happens'. Don't be intimidated by technological acronyms! See this forum post here!

Thank you always for being part of the Voice123 Community!

Steven Lowell
Community Manager
Voice123 Premium Forums
Voice123 Youtube Channel
Twitter: @voice123