For fun, I decided to take advantage of the effects in Adobe Audition. So, I recorded myself a bunch of times, then had fun changing it around, like making some parts stereo, or changing the pitch, or even making my voice echo. Here's the final "product":

This just shows how with technology these days, you can make really cool stuff with sound. There's also a site called Voice Changer where you can quickly run a recording through a process that you like, and it can do lots of really cool effects, and even customize and make your own! Just go to VoiceChanger.io.

I've mentioned Casting Call Club (or CCC for short), including my post right before this one, and it's a site where I can find over 1,000 casting calls, although unfortunately, less than 10% of them are actually paid. Even if there is a role that is paid (if you're there for the pay), most of the time it's going be $5-10. Sometimes I'll come across some that are actually pretty good (not that long ago, there was a videogame developer who needed some voice actors to play at least 10 roles, and was paying each actor $300 (except I wasn't in the age range of the characters)), and it's a very good place for practice. The projects that aren't paid, most of the time isn't worth it, mainly because anyone can host a casting call for free, so there are a lot of people who aren't very serious about their project, or who are, but end up giving up on it because they don't have enough time for it (mainly because either their work or school) . And most of the actors have really bad mic quality and aren't very good. But again, there are still some professional people there. And CCC isn't only for voice acting, it's also for singing, art, video editing, directing, producing, audio engineering , composing, and animating. But if you're starting any of those talents, I would totally recommend CCC, as it's very good for practice and getting started.

Last month I auditioned for a character on Casting Call Club, a site where I can audition for casting calls. I auditioned for a character (young Luke Skywalker), and they chose me. They then gave me the scripts for the character, and I sent my lines to them. They have a Youtube channel and make Star Wars and sometimes Marvel comic fandubs, and put sound effects and voices with the pictures of the comics. It's really cool, and if you want to see them, you can click here.

I've now played as 4 different characters for them, and they have a group chat with all the actors, the director, and the sound designers. It's been a great opportunity to connect with other actors and a good way to practice VO.

Recently I learned a very useful tool in Audition; the Noise Reduction Process. This came in very handy when editing a podcast and there's a lot of bad white noise in the background. Well, this effect saves the day! If I select a piece of white noise from an episode (it has to be only white noise by itself) then right-click it and click "Capture Noise Print", then select the whole episode (or wherever you want it to take out the white noise), then go to the "Effects" rack, then select Noise Reduction/Restoration > Noise Reduction (process), it'll lead me to the control panel where I take it out.

It should look like this:

Whenever I finish editing a podcast, I always run it through a program called "Auphonic", which will level out the decibel level, remove any weird hum throughout the podcast episode, and level out the stereo sound. We started using this program about 2 months ago. It's helped out a lot and especially helps out when some spots are quiet or other spots too loud. We've learned what helps is if we take out a little of the top part of the editor screen, it gets all of those annoying saliva sounds. I've also learned some new to do besides just editing a podcast, because one of my clients asked if I could get 2 excerpts from the episode so that she could use them to advertise on Facebook. That started about 2 weeks ago.

Also, I have another blog for my voice over (yes, that's another passion of mine that actually started me in editing by learning a lot about Audition), and the address is voiceofsimeon.posthaven.com. Hope you enjoy that blog too!