Voice Acting

Do you want to start a fun side career as a voice actor/actress? Well, read the following to know exactly how to start. 
Note: these instructions are not for those actually wanting to earn money. 

Necessaries: 

. microphone 
. headphones
. computer or tablet with recording abilities, preferably a computer
. Casting Call Club
 
Software For computer:
. whatever recording function comes with the computer, (Voice Recorder)
. (Movavi Video Converter 1,) but if you want something free, then (MacX HD Video Converter Pro) works as well
. Audacy 

Software For Tablet or Phone:

. (Voice Recorder) 
. an audio editor and cutter 

Background info: I usually record the audio on my tablet and then send it to myself for editing, however, I have also had to record on my computer and edit on my tablet before. 

Instructions: 

First, find a need for your voice. I usually find these just by browsing on Discord servers full of animators. Every now and then there is one who needs a voice in their animation, which I usually just run into. However, if you do not know a bunch of people who like making videos, then you will have to go to the extent of seeking out a "mission." This is where I suggest you look up (Casting Call Club,) a site where there are constantly projects being opened up for all different voices. Simply browse the site until you find the role you want to voice. I suggest you look for specifically free roles at first to start off, that way if you are good enough, others can recommend you to larger projects. 

Once you find the role you want it is time to audition. The site is pretty easy in finding out just how to do that. Simply click "Submit Audition" under the character's profile and upload the audio you recorded. But wait, you haven't recorded your lines yet. So how does that work? 

For Computer:

In your own computer's search bar, which is usually to the bottom left of your screen, search up (Voice Recorder). I Will go through how to record audio using your phone in a minute. Once the voice recorder is up, plug in your microphone and headphones, or just use a headset if you have one. For some reason, my headset didn't work for my PC so I had to buy a separate microphone. After everything is plugged in make sure to test record first to see that everything is working. Make sure your audio doesn't have any severe background noise.

The test audio sound good? Great! Time to move on to actually recording your lines. Casting Call Club should already have the role's audition lines available. You can either copy and paste these lines onto a word doc and scale them up so you can see them easier, or look directly off the site itself. Recite the line(s) a few times. Then record several versions of each line, using emphasis in different areas.  After you have finished recording, listen closely to each line and eliminate the bad ones or the ones you think wouldn't fit. By the end, you should have only one remaining of the several takes. If none of them were good then take a short break and come back later and try again. 

Once you are done recording, it is time to edit the audio. Download either (Movavi Video Converter, which is good but costly) or (MacX HD Video Converter Pro, which is free but not as high quality). Both of these softwares' purpose is to convert the audio files from .m4a to .mp3. This might not seem like much but ask almost anyone who sends out these applications and they'll most likely say that they always prefer .mp3 files. 

Movavi: 

Open up the newly installed app. Either drag your audio files into the Movavi window or press "add media." Once you press that go down and click "Add Audio." The file window should open up and once that happens just find the recordings in your files. Double click the audio file(s) you want. You can convert multiple files at once with Movavi. Once the recording is in the Movavi window you can trim it in there if you want. Next, go down in that same window into either "audio" or "popular." .mp3 should be in "popular" but if you still can't find it then there is a search bar right above the options that you can use. Click on the .mp3 file type and press "convert," which is in the bottom right corner of the window. There are other settings besides convert, like where you can save it to and quality, but I never really mess with those. Right away you get your converted file, ready for sending.. or editing. 

MacX HD Video Converter Pro: 

As far as I know this software works very similarly to Movavi, however, there are some clear differences. I do not use MacX but I did find a short and handy tutorial for anyone who might be interested. 
Tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=37&v=mEqHNH--3cI

Editing Using A Computer: 

Alright, you have come this far, now let's make sure your work is worth it. One of the biggest ways people can tell between those who care and don't as much, is the audio quality. If there is background noise then only those with low standards will except your auditions. So the best way to make sure you get that role is by increasing the quality of your audio. But how does one do so? Simple. Download a free app like (Audacity) and open it up. Either drag and drop the recording from the files into the Audacity window or go to "file" then "open" and then find and double click the audio file(s). 

Once in Audacity double click the audio and go up into "effects." From there, press "amplify." A new window should open up and on it should be two boxes with numbers where you can click and type in random numbers. Look at the bottom box. It should at default be "-0.0". Change that to "-6" and just press enter. What you just did made your audio a little louder and more "crisp." After you have nice "crispy" audio, drag your mouse over the quiet portion of the audio. It is time to get rid of that background static. Once you have a silent section selection, head over to "effects" again but this time look further down to "noise reduction." When you click "noise reduction" a new window should pop up. Click the top and largest button "get noise profile." Once that is pressed notice that there is no change, but don't worry. To actually get it to work, double click to select the whole audio and go back to "effects." Almost at the top there should be a new button that says, "repeat noise reduction." Click that and it should get rid of the background noise. Keep in mind that it probably won't be enough to cut out conversation though. Just the pesky static. This alone should help your quality EXPONENTIALLY. Other than that the quality of your audio will depend a lot on the audio of your microphone. 

Once you are done and are satisfied it is time to finally send in the recording. Go back to Casting Club Call and press "submit auditions." Go up and click "browse audition files" and find your lines once again. All that is left for you to do is send a little note if you want and submit... And now.. to wait. 

For Tablet: 

Install an audio recorder if you don't have one. I suggest (Voice Recorder) because of it's simple functions and great quality. And it's free! plug in your headset or microphone into the tablet and prepare yourself to start recording. Record a test audio to make sure everything sounds good and is working. 

The test audio sound good? Great! Time to move on to actually recording your lines. Casting Call Club should already have the role's audition lines available. You can either write the lines down on paper or look directly off the site itself for reference. Recite the line(s) a few times. Then record several versions of each line, using emphasis in different areas.  After you have finished recording, listen closely to each line and eliminate the bad ones or the ones you think wouldn't fit. By the end, you should have only one remaining of the several takes. If none of them were good then take a short break and come back and try again. 

Once done recording you can either send the recordings to yourself, like I do, or save them and upload them directly to Casting Call Club. I always send the audio recordings to myself through Discord or Gmail to then edit on my PC, so I am not a specialist in editing the sound on the phone or tablet. I do know however that there are several free audio editor apps that can be used in a time like this. 

Once you are done and are satisfied it is time to finally send in the recording. Go back to Casting Club Call and press "submit auditions." Go up and click "browse audition files" and find your lines once again. All that is left for you to do is send a little note if you want and submit... And now.. to wait. 

Synopsis: 

Alright, I hope this helps you in voice acting. I hope this was helpful in general. Byeee