Extravagant expressions of emotion with a high-pitched female voice or a deep, loud male voice make some anime more enticing. Do you ever think about the creation of these extraordinary voices in anime or the person who works behind the screen to provide us with such a fun, audible experience? Do you know you can become one of the voice actors you may hear in your favorite anime?
Getting into anime voice acting and becoming a professional voice actor is a bit challenging but very achievable goal. If you are fascinated by anime voice creation and its creators, you may become one of them and develop your career into something exceptional, such as anime voice acting. Moreover, as the entertainment sector anime market expands, so does the opportunity for a voice actor. If you want to be part of a high-potential field that may match your passion, you must read the following discussion. Hopefully, that will answer your questions about becoming an anime voice actor.
Anime Voice Acting as a career
In 2021, the market size of the global anime industry was more than 24 billion, and it is estimated that by 2030, it will reach over 48 billion. That is over a quarter of the total movies and entertainment market (95.45 billion).
The anime industry is rising rapidly and profoundly affecting the entertainment industry. Unbelievably, the growth is fastest in the Middle East and other significant areas. This expansion is possible due to the extraordinary quality of anime as the entertainment and high-quality dubbing industry grows based on many streaming sites and distributors.
Streaming platforms are hiring voice actors more than ever. Choosing voice acting in anime is one of the wisest decisions. In Japan, Anime voice actors enjoy celebrity status. This trend is defusing in other areas as well.
Very soon, voice acting and dubbing will be well accepted in the West as enthusiastically as in Japan. This constant expansion was only possible with the help of Voice actors and dubbing artists.
It is amusing to follow your passion and do your job for fun. You not only meet the celebrity but also become one of them. Even an average voice actor can earn moderate money to ensure financial security. The income of an average American voice actor is as good as 76297$ per year. With experience and better skills, you can earn even more.
Bright future, job security, reasonable payment, and a job you can enjoy. What more can you ask for a career?
Here are a few Steps to Becoming a Voice Actor
This profession is a dream job for some of us. But racing the goal and fulfilling the dream requires hard work and perseverance. If you are ready to endure some hardship and become a professional anime voice actor, the following steps can help you achieve your dream profession.
Become an Actor before being a Voice Actor
In the end product, we mostly listen to the actor and see the expression of some compute-stimulated digital characters. That doesn’t mean voice actors are only giving voice. For every moment in anime, voice actors feel first and give their most appropriate performance. They act as well. We do not see them.
In some famous anime and Western animation, you may hear the actors’ names on the silver screen. Some highly regarded actors work in animation as voice artists.
Any delicate voice generation and facial expression of emotion are two sides of the same coin. You can not have one without the other. That’s why you must learn to act like any other voice actor. Attending an acting academy will help you to gain the required acting skills and become a proper voice actor.
Acting is more complicated than you may think. Conveying the perfect impression based on production demand takes a lot of training and hard work. Most popular voice actors are excellent actors as well. To become one of them, you must elevate your acting skills.
Build Your Vocal
You may have an excellent voice but must undergo rigorous training and practice to utilize your full potential. Therefore, you need professional help like a voice coach. The coach or voice-related institute will help you learn the technical part, like generating different voice pitches without damaging your vocal cords or positioning your microphone to get the best outcome.
Some generalized training programs are suitable for beginners. However, based on the particular niche you want to increase, there are specialists to help you achieve your goal.
Any improvements take time. When it comes to voice skills, it is a long-term procedure. All those coaching and practices help you achieve clean and accurate pronunciation, reduce noise and voice consistency, connect with the character, and have more control of your vocals.
In Japan, some voice artists started their voice training as early as their teen years at school. Some schools have specialized voice training programs for potential voice artists.
Contrarily, in the West, multiple avenues can help interested people strengthen their voices to become voice artists. Apart from the institutional help, you can improve your voice by spending more time in your studio and practicing.
Set up a Studio and Practice
A proper studio is vital to practice and becoming a voice actor. To improve your vocal capability, you must practice, record, and listen to your recording to find the areas where the improvements need the most.
Initially, you do not need a professional or expensive studio but a basic one that can do the job. Gradually, you can improve your workstation as you demand. While setting up, you need to focus on the following issues.
Soundproofing and Insulating
Try to choose the quieter part of your home as a studio. You can prevent unwanted noise by covering the room with a blanket or foam padding. This will reduce the noise at a meager cost.
As you manage more funds, you can include additional soundproofing measures like replacing the padding with a sound filter and installing a device to neutralize the remaining noise.
Install Sound Devices
The microphone is an essential device for a studio. There are numerous microphone options on the market. You have to find out the best one that suits your voice. The best way to choose the final microphone is to try as many as possible before the final purchase.
A pair of good over-the-ear headphones is as essential as a microphone. Try to choose the most comfortable one with decent sounds. It will cost you around 100$ or more. AKG K 701, Beyerdynamic DT770 Pro, Shure SRH 1540, and Extreme Isolation EX-29 are most commonly recommended by professional voice actors.
Software Services
Most of us own electric devices like laptops, tablets, smartphones, etc. Some additional software installments can serve you adequately. You can use some free recording software like Audacity. For better service, you must buy premium software like Adobe Audition, Sound Forge, GarageBand (for Macs), etc. If you want to go deep, then go for voice software.
Organize Your Credentials and Portfolio
The best way to represent yourself when a job opportunity appears is to make a demo reel between 1 and 3 minutes. Sometimes, a single demo reel can ensure you a job.
Increase your online visibility through platforms like YouTube, Soundcloud, etc. You can open your website and upload your reels and works as a portfolio. Always arrange your work from the best to normal during the organizing. The work your employer may recognize or value must stay on the top.
You can work on independent projects or start-up films for low payment or free. They will enrich your portfolio. Furthermore, freelancing for independent projects as a voice and dubbing artist can help you improve your skills and credentials.
Finally, ask every employer to use part of your work (you did for them) as your reel for your website or platform. Not all of them may permit you to use them. But only some increase your credentials and probability of securing more assignments.
Networking and Connection
The anime voice-acting activities are mostly constrained to limited people and places. Most of the profession-related people know and repetitively work with each other. You must try communicating with associated personalities and letting them know about your credentials.
Attending anime conventions like Anime NYC, Anime Matsuri in Houston, Sakura-Con in Seattle, Anime Expo in Los Angeles, etc., can help you to meet and talk to dubbers and representatives. That won’t help you instantly, but later auditions with their studios may enhance your chances of getting jobs.
Maintain good relations with your clients. You may need to find out which is connected to the studios you dreamt of working for. This cordial relationship sometimes comes as a blessing in disguise.
After the introductory period, you must get an agent. Some communication and connection could be more accessible to achieve and maintain. Arents are specialized in those particular jobs. However, they can help you to find a better job with ease.
Prepare to Move
Only some assignments are good enough to execute from long distances or online. For professional work, you must go to the studio you work for. It is an intimate task with your voice director. They might want maximum performance; one way to achieve that is close interaction with the voice actor.
It will help you perform your best and connect with the people associated with casting and producing animes. If you want to grow a career, these close contacts will help you immensely.
Besides voice acting, dubbing is more technical and requires a more direct association. For better timing with the voice cast of the main anime, feel and give the correct impression and interpretation of every moment. There is no alternative but to stay close to work.
Skill Diversification
If you want to set your ambition for something magnificent, more than one skill may be required. You must muster additional advanced skills that may help you find the edge over others in the audition.
Learning Japanese can be one of those skills that help you better understand the insights and details of anime. You can not act in Japanese and may still work in English, but this understanding can help you perform better and precisely concerning the Japanese version of anime.
Yelling and Screaming are integral parts of anime. With other requirements, if you can master those two things, you might stay ahead of your competitors.
To aid your profession, you must watch as much anime as possible. These jobs only get more manageable if you can become a fan of anime. It will give you some valuable insight and acquaintance with the pattern of anime cultures, which will help you do some exceptional voice acting or dubbing that no one else can do.
Enhance your technical knowledge and skills through some courses and online learning. This post-production capacity will reward you initially while you are developing your career. After some success, you must manage a post-production partner with those particular skill sets.
Nail the Audition
Audition is the absolute goal for all anime voice actors. It is the direct way to showcase your unique skills and abilities. Audition is only sometimes bringing you success. Sometimes, established voice actors get rejected at the audition. Some strategies below can help you to reduce the rejection rate.
Finding information about job openings is more accessible than in the past. There are proprietary sites with unique algorithms that match your voice to the job requirements. However, you can go to the audition of a selected few and focus on them.
It would help if you tried for the job that suits you best. If the job is compatible with your skill set, there is a high probability of getting the job. Refrain from wasting your time out of your niche.
Go to audition as often as possible. Even a failed audition gives you valuable experience that can help you improve. More frequent auditions leave you at home in certain circumstances. This efficiency will help you all over your life.
Shortcomings
Anime voice acting is magnificent as a job, but the road to success is integrated with some shortcomings you must keep in mind for all future success. Most frequently appeared, a few limitations associated with voice acting are given below.
It will take the most valuable thing from your life, “Time.” You have to work hard for a comparatively long time before the achievement. You have to endure lots of rejections, and No. Besides, you have to wait a long before significant payoffs.
This profession sometimes tests the limit of your vocal cords. Intense scenes held lots of Screaming and yelling, which can be stressful and tiring.
Initial equipment as a beginner may not break the bank, but with professional capacities, you have to upgrade everything and go for premium software. That can be costly and bite a portion of your income.
This job is not that community-based. Apart from the audition and team-based projects, much of your time will be spent practicing and working on independent projects in your studio. This type of work is only for some.
You have to stay on constant learning and training and keep your voice sharp. For the sake of these, you have to participate in workshops and hire coaches that will cost you perpetually.
Final Thought
We have tried our best to give you a rough idea about becoming a voice actor for anime. If you are not a native Japanese speaker, then the most common opportunity for you is to work as a dubbing artist in anime. This is the fastest-expanding sector in the anime industry outside Japan.
Mostly, dubbing is technically more complex and more sophisticated. The globalization of anime has ridden on the vocal cords of dubbing artists. On behalf of streaming and other platforms, more people watch anime in the English dubbed version now.
Millions of people can hear your voice for eternity through anime voice acting. This highly popularized sector is gaining popularity among the people associated with it as voice actors.
Shortly, this field will grow, and this growth will primarily take place outside Japan. As the expansion happens, the demand for anime voice acting rises exponentially. It is high time for any anime lover to become a voice actor, which will integrate anime enthusiasts into it.
