How to become a voice actor: Step 1: Recorder yourself reading a script Step 2: Listen to yourself talking Step 3: Abandon it completelly and become a farmer in Netherlands

I fully expected a 2 second video of him just saying “do it.”

ProZD: Get a basic mic and start practicing. Me: ok. ProZD: Take classes. Me: Seems logical. ProZD: audition for things. Me: of course. ProZD: Make friends. Me: Well, there goes that idea.

This is solid advice because he includes the "don't be a d**k" undertone. Seriously, a lot of the time, the difference between you and another talent is literally how easy you are to work with and get along with.

People always ask “How do *I* become a voice actor?” They never ask “How did *YOU* become a voice actor?”

When I say "Oh I recognize that voice", it's always said with glee. If I can tell who's acting that character, it's likely because I love their work and have heard them in multiple things before! It sucks that people would say that as if it was a bad thing.

"Getting rejected over and over again..." "You will not hear back from the majority of stuff you audition for" This sounds a lot like my job search right now lmao

Hell yeah. I second all of this.

You know I never really wanted to be a voice actor but I'll be damned if I don't watch a ProZD vid whenever it comes out.

ive gotten into VA as of 3 months ago and it isnt like a long shift it just happened, i submitted an audition for something and now here we are im chilling with new found VA friends who i learn from everyday and my biggest inspiration was you, thanks for helping me find what i enjoy doing!

"You have to have range!" Patrick Warburton: *laughs the same way as many characters*

What monsters university taught me is that dreams don’t always come true, but that doesn’t mean you can’t be happy.

He does voice acting on top of trying a ton of food for our entertainment, what a mad lad

I've tried it once and felt waaay too self-conscious.

"Get to a level where you don't choke." PREACH SIR PREACH

If you’re using a janky-ish setup or a setup that you’re worried isn’t “clean” enough, you can easily EASILY use the FREE program, Audacity, to remove like white noise (staticky background noise) from your audio. I’ve seen music labels and youtubers with millions of subscribers miss this really easy step to clean up their audio. It takes almost no time and if you’re worried about quality, you might as well go ahead and do it.

Voice actor here: Putting out as many auditions was how I got into it. I just spoke with my regular voice for as many projects as I was interested in. I didn't get all of them but out of my first 8 or so auditions, I got like, 6 or 7.

"Some voice actors only have one voice" You can feel the panic in Patrick Warburton's soul

It’s true everyone’s VA journey is so different and unpredictable. Sean Schemmel who most of you would know as the English voice of Goku in the Dragon Ball series. His friend told him about Funimation having auditions for teenage Goku and Sean thought nothing of it, coming in and doing the audition. That was his first audition for voice acting and he landed a role of a life time which opened up so many doors for him.

Who doesn’t have ANY intention of being a voice actor, but clicked anyway 👋

I'm a writer, not a voice actor, but so much of this carries over that I think this advice is invaluable to anyone going into my field as well, the steps are just a little different.

I thought that this video would break all my hopes and dreams, but instead it made me realise how much I want to become a voice actor and there is nothing that will stop me from accomplishing my dream job. Thanks man, me and all the people you inspired own you one

Man everytime I try to voice act a character my mom walks in and just looks at me

I appreciate your answer not just being, "It's too hard, don't do it." A good honest, "It's gonna be hard so want it more," plus resources was a refreshing and helpful take. Thank you.

Title: How to Get into Voice Acting Video: How to get hired in the modern job market.

As someone who gave up on my dreams of "going pro" in voice acting, this sounds like the kind of solid advice I've heard from my VA friends and professionals alike. Doing it as a hobby while shifting your main focus as a creator, in my experience, feels much less pressuring. I don't think I'll lose the sense of fun in acting because of it. A lot of aspiring VAs out there are probably looking for a creative outlet and I think your advice of "do it for yourself" was the best-said thing in this video. If you find that acting professionally isn't for you and have fun doing personal projects of your own, you'll at least have those projects to lean back on.

This guy is the definition of “I am a voice actor because of anime”. That’s epic

Regarding networking: a common piece of advice professionally is to network horizontally and not vertically. You definitely touched on this, but it has a lot to do with vouching for your peers and learning from people who you work alongside. You can become friends with a superior or two, but if those two people aren’t hiring they just can’t do much for you. Your peers are much more willing to form a STRONG bond with you because you’re in the same place, and thus are worth much more to your network later on. Make a long term investment in your career, regardless of whether you’re in VA or something entirely different.

Started voice acting this year and began with just recording on my iPhone. Everyone starts somewhere and, honestly, worry about audio quality and fancy mics once you’ve nailed the acting and voices part of voice acting.

Really disappointed that this video isn't 2 seconds long with Sung-Won just saying "Stop asking me this question"

Probably the best tip for life in general in this had to be that if doing a creative thing for a living isn't the biggest motivation in your life, and you aren't dumping all of your time and effort into it, it's totally valid to just do it for fun. Any time spent of something that you enjoyed doing is not time wasted. If you want to voice act, or draw, or paint, or make music, and you don't want it to be the only source of income, or even your main one, you are not a failure in that field for just doing it for fun, and any time you spend doing it is worthwhile.

Me, having fun as I do it: hey, this isn’t that bad! i like shouting! Me, listening to the recording: *disgusted, filthy shame as my recorded voice makes me cringe into my soul*

Also as a voice actor, voice acting isn’t an easy job. If you don’t want Morgz-level acting, then I recommend that you either take voice acting classes or teach yourself voice acting and keep practicing. (UPDATE: If I get rejected for a lot of stuff, I just say “oh well” and just keep on auditioning.)

look at h jon benjamin (archer, bob's burgers), he always does the same voice but hes still amazing

I really appreciate SungWon's message that it's totally fine to just do this as a hobby if you like it but you can't handle all the competition. Nowadays there's a lot of pressure to turn every ounce of enthusiasm or talent one has into cash... But that's not healthy, and we could always use the reminder that it's ok to have hobbies.

I studied acting and theater for about 6 years (not anymore for reasons), and felt inspired to share some things I learned during that time, since I'm not not using it. -First, my second high school drama teacher (I went through 3) was originally a casting director and both him and my acting professor had us read 'Audition' by Michael Shurtleff. Shurtleff was a well-regarded casting director mainly for Broadway and Hollywood, and his book walks you through what to do and what not to do in an audition. HIGHLY RECOMMEND -Next, I distinctly remember during orientation into my theater company in college, one of the heads of the department warning us that acting was the thing you studied if you can't do anything else. I didn't really realize what she was telling us until later when I couldn't stand it and changed majors. I can't say it's the same with voice actors (I assume so), but you really have to devote your entire self to acting and the industry if you decide to be a professional. -I had to take a voice class in college, and the most experienced professor taught that class. She taught that class, because actors struggle the most with the voice and marking their scripts. She's worked on big Hollywood movies, because the actors had trouble with voice work/marking their lines. -On the first day of class my acting professor told us that it's okay to be nervous, because it means you want to do a good job. It's all about channeling that energy to your acting. I still use this advice for presentations. -Lastly, being an actor means you have to take extra special care of your health and body. It's really easy to hurt your voice if you don't warm up properly. In my voice class we would do warm up for about half an hour and that included tongue twisters, face massages, lip buzzing for the vocal chords, and yoga to better our breathing. It was a lot, I know, and there's a lot more to learn. I hope this helps at least one person. ☺️

This was like a "hit of reality" for me. I have being lost for almost 3 years of my life, after finishing college, and a few months ago I start to think about been a voice actor in my country (or in another one, I don't specially care about that XD) but hearing this makes me think. I don't know if it will be the job of my life or if I'll give up because I'm not strong enough to keep working on it. Anyway, it was inspiring and very helpful to hear someone who has past the experience. Thank you very much!! ^_^

2:50 I worked in news for 3 years, and even professionals will use cheap USB mics like Snowballs and even just their phone mics. Just GET one. Unless you're using a stick mic from the early 90s, controlling your environment is 1000x more important. Even then, just make a pillow fort.

"This episode was brought to you by the Blue Yeti microphone. The microphone of choice for naïve, aspiring pocasters, voice over artists, and voice actors who "went for it" and inevitably gave up after 3 weeks. The Blue Yeti microphone! Located near the checkout line of a Guitar Center near you!"

Since I'm only in my sophomore year of college and also on the complete wrong side of the country, I don't have much of an option in terms of a job. There's a lot of things I'd be scared of if I ever try. Agents, moving to a new state (much less one my parents won't step foot in), trying to get a job, rejection, you get the point. But for now? I just do it for myself. Dumb memes, video game characters, etc. It gives me something silly to do in hard times like these, and I can use my god-given blessing/curse that is my squeaky pitch changing voice. Sure, I haven't done much, but I've had fun, and that's what matters. I'm glad you're making sure people know that. It's funny-- last night I actually finished watching Aggretsuko S3, and a lot of what I saw Retsuko go through kinda reminded me of myself with the voice acting and all my anxieties about it (also you were really good in it). Thank you, SungWon. Keep on being awesome! King Dragon sends his regards!

Speaking as someone who went through all the steps and didn't "make it," SungWon is dead on accurate about everything.

This honestly lit the fire under my ass to try auditioning again. Tho may need a better setup first

I read in an interview that Mark Ruffalo went to 600 auditions. I know that's not exactly the same thing, but I imagine a 'ton' of auditioning probably applies here as well.+

Audio engineer here: if you're looking for a solid mic that will see you to doing some beginning work, the lower cost Blue mics are really great, and they even make USB stuff. I have a special edition Blue Spark mic I bought on sale 5+ years ago for only about $135 (I think it was normally around $175 at the time and they've gone up since) that one of my coworkers and I put up against a $1000+ AKG mic that's a very standard mic for professional recording and they were incredibly similar. You do get what you pay for, though - cheaper mics are going to be more prone to picking up electronic/ground noise and make hums and hisses, they're gonna be more delicate and prone to breaking, and they will not last as long as something you really shell out for. But when you're just starting out recording yourself, if you can find a decent starter mic from a reputable company (Blue, Shure, Audio Technica, Sennheiser, etc.), that will be great for you to just start out until you can afford to upgrade. Or look for something gently used on eBay! Also, a nice preamp/xlr input interface, like a 1/2 input Focusrite Scarlett, will get you a great sound and not limit you to USB mics. That and figuring out programs on your computer to record into - I recommend an actual DAW like Reaper, which is not expensive and has a very long free trial - and you can concentrate on everything else that SungWon is telling you to do here!

Yes. My dream of learning how to be a character in shrek has come true.

2:19 *the hottest thing pro ZD has ever done.* (Boy bands want to know your location)

Get into Dungeons and Dragons! It can help improv and voices and it's a lot of fun anyways!

After watching this video, this proves that anyone can be a voice actor if you have the passion, courage, determination and strong to enter this industry. I can admit that Im a type of person that cannot handle rejection and criticism, but in order to pursue this career, I need to not just work hard and practice but also prepare myself and build "a thick skin". Mistakes, criticism and rejections are part of the learning process. Right now, I don't have the money to go to attend classes and theatre, but I keep practicing my acting skills. Thank you so much for showing the way.

Holy crap you were in aggretsuko? Cool!

As a fan, and as an aspiring voice actor, I'm glad to hear your own personal thoughts on the subject of breaking into the field. One thing I constantly struggle with are the various anxieties that come with lack of experience, so I must say there's something oddly comforting about hearing you say in no uncertain terms "Put yourself out there, it'll go away with time",and "Make your own stuff". That's just enough of a push I need to get to work on a few videos of my own!

I love that you mentioned doing voice acting for fun, on your own. I've been practicing my voice acting skills for years, but I don't want to do it professionally because I don't work well with others on creative projects, and I don't want to be under pressure to do a good enough job at it to be worth people's money, and I quite frankly don't want to subject myself to frequent rejection because I'm too soft for that. I voice act all the time for my own projects, and it's sub-par work that I'm truly passionate about and proud of. I'll always make my money some other way. Thanks for giving props to that path! 👍👍

Have you taught before? This was such a good balance of honesty and encouragement without being condescending or dismissive. Great video!

Hm yeah I would imagine putting out things like your own abridged series would gather experience

This man is true legend he has my genuine respect

Loved this. It’s rare to get an encouraging yet harshly realistic video like this. I feel reinvigorated. I’m not in the game but I’ve always felt discouraged by “you NEED this microphone” videos so this is awesome.

Well done. You knew your voice was a gift, you made it happen, and you help people. Thank you.

I would be the best voice actor... *without my voice cracks*

Always nice to have original, kind folks like him.

this was very grounded and informative. those who have researched career paths specifically and with dedication can tell. it was really really helpful because you not only gave good info to cut the crap but also you gave layers in addition to the information. thank you

Honestly this has been really helpful for both the links and honesty. I’ve been working with my voice for a while now but only recently thought about expanding my horizons. This is something I’ve been wanting to pursue for fun for a long time.

Hey ProZD, I've been looking into voice acting for a while and going through a lot of resources and trying my best to practice vocally, hearing your personal take (someone I've looked up to in the voice acting scene) really helps out a lot. Thank you

This video was cool and constructive until he threatened me to break my leg

The website you shared was INCREDIBLE! Thanks so much for mentioning this resource. :)

I needed this video... I’ve been trying to get my foot in the door and I have been feeling down recently.... but after watching this video it just reaffirmed that I really want to do this for the rest of my life. Logically I know this business is filled with “no’s” and awkward-ness at times..... but it gets to you and when it does... sometimes there’s no motivation to do anything at all, even functioning on a normal level. I’ll keep trying my best. Again, thank you. I needed to see this.

I don't want to be a voice actor but I am interested regardless.

I found that acting when your hanging out with friends online is a lot of fun. It’s like purposely overreacting to stuff. Kinda helps get you over the self conscious thing

This was lovely, thank you for your time, honesty, and your very fufilling answer

This was the most helpful video for someone looking into the field and trying to decide if this profession is right for them. Thank you for taking the time to make this!

notification: “how did I get into voice acting” me who wants to be a voice actor: *CLICK*

Wow. I don't know what it was about this exactly--maybe just how frank and upfront SungWon is about the topic compared to other resources I've looked at--but I feel like this really cleared a lot of the murkiness out of the way for me. Like I really feel like I know now more than ever that this is something that I want to do, despite how tough it might be to get myself out there. Guess I've got some work to do! Thanks for the insight, man! =)

I really appreciate this video thank you very much! I am currently going to film school for this very reason and for the very area you are currently in with animation and gaming! I really revere your range and intensity, and you've been one of my favorite voice acting KZfaqrs for sure! Looking forward to seeing you in more stuff! 😃

This was both incredibly inspiring and insightful, Thank you so much! My voice acting stepping stone starts this month... Within a week I've been offered 2 separate opportunities (by 2 completely different parties). I've never done proper voice acting before aside from some narration and being interviewed on podcasts, so this new world intimidates me- a lot. I've spent a few hours watching different videos on HOW TO START VOICE ACTING, and by the time I reached your video I had totally forgotten you do voice! (watched many of your past KZfaq videos before, but haven't actually subscribed... surprisingly...) Long story short- this was a brutally honest video, and a very direct approach to the beginning stages of voice acting. Seriously, thank you for making this video!

My middle school principle at our graduation said: "It's not *who* you know, It's *whom* you know" Networking is important in most careers, but I bet it's extremely important in voice acting.

I wanted to voice act when I was younger. Then I realised I'm a Swedish girl with a 33% Swedish, 33% British and 33% American accent who hates to dub Swedish things because they sound stupid. And then i realised my English sounds even more stupid. I gave up and became a vet tech instead. The animals don't care if you sound stupid.

Having just watched this video, it’s really surprising how much I needed and could have used this advice. You were always one of my inspirations, Sungwon. All of what you said hit real close to home, and it would have helped back when I was hanging my head low in the sand. Regardless of whether or not you read this or not, I just want to give you my thanks.

This is about the simplest explanation I could've hoped for. Thank you for this.

My wife has a voice-acting credit, for an indie studio's recent game. She's on IMDb and everything. She saw an audition call, auditioned, and was accepted. (She auditioned for another game, but didn't get it) She's also done many videos and used to be a stage performer. My brother doesn't have an IMDb credit, but he played the main villain (and the villain's long-suffering computer sidekick) in a series of flash videos. He just asked the animator, and the animator said yes. ("Took a chance", as my brother's LinkedIn page says) I, on the other hand, have had an interest in voice acting since the 1980s, learning the names of various voice actors and following their careers. I've fallen behind a bit, but I can still recognize quite a few even if they're doing "funny" voices. In the mid 2000s, I was asked to voice act for a friend's student video (she was going to school for animation, and this was her senior project). I was really excited about it and threw myself into it, recording several takes. But she didn't like any of my takes, threw out all those recordings, and wound up playing all the characters herself. That's the closest I've ever gotten to voice acting. Or any acting. It's kinda discouraging.

I thought that was a sketch lol

Thank you ProZD! You make awesome content and are great at providing advice!

Thank you so much for putting this together. I know in a sense this was a self serving video to reference but I felt like a friend of mine was giving me that hard to have conversation and lighting a fire under my ass. I love what you do and how approachable you seem. Keep up the great work my guy.

Voice Acting is quite hard, but I find it extremely fun.

Thank you, these tips were actually profoundly helpful.

this is probably like the 12th video I've watched on this topic and it's without a doubt the most candid and helpful

This is such a great video that is honest, straight forward, and exactly what I needed. Thank you!

I’ve wanted to get into voice acting since I was a kid and honestly seeing you talk about this gives me the confidence to actually try

voicing npc's in my DnD sessions I think has really helped me get into character mindset and get used to acting in front of other people, complete strangers even. It has also helped me develop my range and know what I'm comfortable with.

This was really great, thank you for this!!! The bit about just doing recordings etc when you start just to get comfortable is exactly what I needed to hear!! It felt a little overwhelming trying to figure out where to put my foot down, but now I can absolutely tackle that first! I’ve already been doing a little bit just playing around with acting with my dnd group (lol) Thank you for such great advice!❤️❤️

I am literally taking a semester off to start voice acting, so this is a huge help! Thank you for the info, Mr. ProZD!

It's been my dream to become a voice actor. Thank you for taking the time to create this.

I don't want to be a voice actor but this was still fascinating and I ended up watching the whole thing. I have a lot of respect for people who pursue artistic careers considering how high the risk is that you won't even make a livable wage. They must be really passionate to work so hard at something that's not even guaranteed.

Thank you ProZD, this video really helped me a lot with how to get into voice acting I was lost at first when I first started out but I have taken your advice and I am starting to get somewhere. I voiced a character for a series on KZfaq that I am very proud of!!

I just played move or die for the first time with a few friends yesterday, and you were an announcer for the game and I was shocked because it sounds even better than I thought it could! Keep doing what you do you are great

Voice acting is something I never considered before I got three of my friends on separate occasions tell me that I should try and get into it. I play (too much) Dungeons and Dragons and I always give my characters their own voice, and role playing is something that I love and I’m really good at. I have no trouble getting into a character and just... *being* them. I’m just afraid I don’t have the confidence to really pursue it. I think it’s something that I could excel in, even just for fun, but I’ve always been to afraid to try. The way you laid everything out so realistically really helped me think about it more. I’ve used various resources and looked into this on a few occasions, the information is largely the same but as a long time fan of yours, your personal account means more to me than just another article. So, thanks for taking the time to make this video for us. I think I’m going to give it my best shot.

Just want to give a bit of info to any women who want to rise to be voice actresses; it's going to be a little bit harder for you if you start your content on Social Media like twitter or in discords as there's a bit of a stranglehold on voice actress work by a few NSFW VA's, even if the role is safe for work. But keep at it and don't give up and you will do fantastic, I promise. We always need more voices.

This is an incredible video, a lot of people needed to hear this. Thank you.

Thank you so much! I love how honest and frank you were. Great advice all around dude

The thing I see most with new VA's is that they get discouraged because they auditioned for many roles but didn't get chosen for any of them. I can say that yes it feels very humbling, but it's not because y'all are bad VA's. Most of the time (like said in the video) the producer of the project just found that your voice wasn't fitting for the character and that is totally fine. You got it in you and determination is key in this industry. Keep auditioning and eventually you'll be picked. It's nothing personal whatsoever. You're not immediately going to be the next Tara Strong, but the more you keep it up, the more you're going to climb up the ranks. - A beginning VA ^^

OMG I didn't know you voiced Legrange, what a legend you are.

I love the voice over industry and love seeing more and more of this type of content. Have a great week! 🎧🎙💪

I'm not an aspiring voice actor, but this might be my favorite video of yours. I love hearing expert opinions about entering varied fields of entertainment. It is such an intimidating experience to attend auditions early on (I'm a musician), for many people. Video's like these fill me (and definetely other viewers) with a lot of confidence. Thanks!