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Comment by delgaudm | Hacker News Reader

Quit development, became a voice actor. A lot like a freelance developer or designer is a hustle, but damn do I love being behind a mic. If you need a voice for your explainer I'm still pretty comfortable with tech lingo terms, although I could not tell you what a tensor is!

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Quit voice acting, became a developer. Your voice is good for commercial and promos and that's where all the well paying work is, so good move on your part!

Voice acting is one of the super rare meritocracies left. You can't sleep your way to the top or bullshit your way to the objective. Networking really helps (especially at the upper echelon of agent representation) but on your way there, you can either do it or you can't.

Hey do you have any resources like books or youtube that can help someone work on their voice?

Im not looking to get into voice acting at the moment, but I do love what some actors are capable of doing with their voice. For example James Gandolfini, his voice is completely different as Tony Soprano from his real life voice. Granted, he has voice and dialect coaches, but ANY book or video that can help me even begin to learn how to manipulate, open up, free my voice etc would be helpful, thanks! And, good luck with your new career.

Pick up any reading material.. a magazine, newspaper, anything.. and just read it in a different voice. Create a character in your mind with an accent and just read it as that person. Then start having conversations with other people you don't know, introducing yourself as that character. You'll have to invent life details on the fly, but that's fine as long as its consistent. Do this for about a year.

It's really the acting part that matters in the end. :D

Thanks! Acting and "inhabiting" a character is critical. The person you're pretending to be has to feel as real to you as you are to yourself. Staying in character is very challenging.

You might find "Singing and the Actor" useful. IIRC it covers anatomy and is more than just about singing.

I have a very deep voice, it's usually the first thing people notice about me. Strangers will comment on it in public and ask if I do any voice work. I've toyed with the idea of getting into voice acting but I'm not sure where to start? Do you have any advice on getting started part time?

Sure! Read aloud into your phone. Try and make it sound like you're NOT reading. Listen back, and do it again. If you want to do fiction, you also need to learn how to act. Which is significantly harder.

And a shameless plug for my YT channel accessible at boothjunkie.com which is all about home studio setup for voice work

I would love to do this too. Congratulations, sounds like a lot of fun.

Thanks. I do love it. Sometimes when I'm working it feels like I'm stealing money I'm having so much fun.

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