Welcome to Mindshift Power podcast, a show for teenagers and the adults who work with them, where we have raw and honest conversations. I'm your host, Fatima Bey, the mind shifter. And welcome, everyone. Today, we have with us Jody Krangle from Ontario, Canada. She is a voice actor, and she's the owner of Piece of Cake Voiceovers and Vocals.

She's also the host of the audio branding podcast. And today, we're gonna be talking about voice acting as a career choice. So how are you today, Jody? I'm doing great. How are you doing?

I'm good. I'm good. It was good to have you on. Good. So I'd like to dive right into the conversation.

So tell us, how did you get into this field? What got you started? Well, I've been musical from a very early age. My parents were very musical and encouraging of that, and I used my voice as a singer for a long time before I got into this. Okay.

But, originally, I, volunteered my time at the CNIB, which is the Canadian National Institute for the Blind in '95 and '96 Oh, wow. To articles onto reel to reel tape at the time. Tape. So yeah. Actual tape.

Yeah. And I just I really loved the both the technical and the voicing part of it. So it appealed to my right and left brain. Mhmm. Okay.

So I I really I enjoyed that a lot, and it kinda percolated in the back of my head for a number of years. I was doing Internet marketing and SEO. I was an early adopter of the Internet, so was doing that for a lot of time. And then in 02/2007, when Google became it, that was the only search engine left. Yeah.

I got really bored and, getting really bored, I decided something should happen. So I fixed my focus elsewhere and I decided to get into voiceovers. Oh, wow. Okay. Would would you consider what you do to be fulfilling?

That do you is it something that's like, oh, I do it because it's a job or you really love it? I do really love it. It's it's a very challenging career in that it does take a little while to be able to make a living at it because it is acting, and it is a performance career, and that does take a little time to get known for it. Yes. But at the same time, I'm mostly doing commercials and corporate narrations and the advertising, marketing, and branding aspect of this.

And I find that I really love the psychology behind it. I really love the audio branding of it. The reason that people are looking for a particular sound or a voice or a piece of music or something other than the visuals to entice them into experiencing whatever it is that they're experiencing. So the projects that I participate in, I'm always interested in being right for the company and making sure that the company gets what they need from me to make that deeper connection with their audience, and sound does that for us. So, yeah, it's, it it's a very fulfilling career, and I I really love the aspect of it being creative without me needing to be the face person, if that makes sense.

Yep. Not in front of the camera. Yeah. So I'm not in front of the camera. I didn't write the script.

I perform it so that it sounds like something I would say or it's coming from an authentic place within me. Mhmm. So that people listening think that this is something I would really say. But, but beyond but beyond that, it's it's very, it's very creatively fulfilling in a way that is less stressful for me. Okay.

Is now for those of you listening, I'm gonna let you listen to a little sample of what Jody sounds like, doing exactly what she just said. Welcome to audio branding, the hidden gem of marketing. I'm your host, Jody Kringle, and this podcast will discuss just how sound influences our behavior. And so you and there you have it. And that's what, Jody's talking about is what she sounds like.

Let me ask you this. Now your voice sounds very crisp. It has a certain certain, I don't know, soothing sound to it. However, if someone has a raspy voice or really high squeaky voice or some or a really thick Spanish or Vietnamese accent. Well, could those people do voice acting as well?

They totally could. Yeah. This is less about what your voice sounds like and more about what you do with it. Ah, okay. Yeah.

So it's very important to be able to approach a script and speak it as if you're not reading and as if you are believing what it is you're saying. And that takes coaching. That takes acting lessons. This is acting. They call it voice acting for a reason.

Mhmm. And often, when you're doing a performance on a script, you're looking at a blank wall. You're not talking to anybody, but you should be talking to one person. So you have to have a really good theater of the mind, and that comes with coaching. That comes with the help that's going to get you where you need to be.

But that said, authenticity in voices these days is so important. Okay. And localization is so important. There's a place for every voice out there. It just depends on what genre you wanna work in.

Do you wanna work in commercials or corporate narration? Do you wanna work in audiobooks? Do you wanna work in animation and video games? You know, there's all sorts of different genres that you can go into, and every type of voice will fit. You know?

It just depends on what you wanna do. Okay. That's good to know. I think it's you know, as you know, this this podcast is for teens and, and the adults work with them. And one of the things I like to focus on here and there are different career choices, and I like to present career choices that aren't typically presented to teens.

Sure. And I think voice acting is one of them, and I I do think it's a viable one. And I think, I find that people that do it tend to do tend to love it. And it it's not for everyone, but who it's for, it's really for. Yeah.

And I think some people who it's for just wouldn't even try if they didn't if it wasn't presented to them, you know? Sure. So let's let's talk let's talk about the elephant in the room when it comes to voice acting and and certain types of writing and many other careers. AI. Mhmm.

AI has taken over, AI has been AI has been, you know, a buzz topic for the past, like, year or two, but AI has actually been around for a long time. Google is the first public usage of an AI if you really wanna look at it. At least the first one that I can think of. So someone can fact check me on that one. But, you know, we have been using artificial intelligence for quite some time, you know.

I don't know, twenty, thirty years now. And but we just never really we just didn't get to the level that we're at with it right now. So with AI and AI generated voices being a thing that are used now, do you think that the need for voice acting will ever go away? I don't think so. No.

Because it's called acting for a reason, and a computer isn't gonna do that. You know what? I agree. I've heard some things on YouTube in particular that, you know, AI mispronounces stuff all the time and doesn't get cultural norms like a person would. Yes.

Very much so. So, yeah, if you want your name pronounced correctly or you want the place you lived in or or live in pronounced correctly, then generally, AI is not the way to go. But, you know, I can see where it's useful. I can see where some people might need to use it because it's cheaper. It does take more time, though.

So if if there's a a a client or an ad agency or, you know, someone needs a a voice and, you know, they they don't mind cutting corners, then AI can do what they need to in a pinch. But at the same time, I talk a lot about audio branding. So when you're talking about the sound that you're associating with your company, do you want that to be, an AI voice, or do you want that to be a genuine human being that can authentically connect with the people who are going to experience your business. So how do you wanna show up as your business? Because your sound very much tells people who you are.

Is an AI going to tell people who you are? It could, but you may not like what it's saying. Well, not only that, but I think AI says I'm not human, and therefore, I'm not going to deal with you as a human either. That's the message that it says. It sound cheap to me.

Okay. And I'm I'm not saying that's gonna be forever. I mean, honestly, AI is getting better all the time. But I do think also that it takes a certain amount of programming time for the people who are putting this together. And so do you want to pay a voice actor to do something for you in ten minutes that's gonna take you two hours to program and will get you better results from the human?

Right? Mhmm. Or do you wanna waste your two hours of time? How much is your time worth? I guess I guess is what I'm asking here.

Right? So you're either gonna pay a voice actor to do something in a shorter amount of time and get a better result, or you're gonna spend those two hours of time trying to program the AI to be like a human and do as much of that as you can, but pay less to the AI, but pay more based on how much time you're taking. Yes. So, you know, it depends. I think that's true, not just with voice acting, but with a lot of things.

We tend not to count the cost correctly. It's like, oh, but this only costs so much money. Yes. But you're you're gonna pay less money, but you're gonna be paying more in time and frustration. Exactly.

When you pay less money. So sometimes I'd rather pay money than stress Yeah. And time. And And I understand that there's a time when one of them is more viable than the other. Right.

I get that. I totally do. And I'm thinking that, like, you know, lower end stuff that really doesn't need a human voice, like, maybe phone systems, you know, that that like IVR press one for whoever this name is. The only problem with that is you wanna make sure the AI can pronounce the name properly. Yeah.

So, yeah, that becomes an issue. But, you know, there are some things like, I I know there are a lot of explainer videos out there on YouTube that are using AI voices. I don't know. Some advertisements on YouTube that are put together in probably five seconds use AI voices. I don't I mean, it's kind of like spam, because you know that someone is falling for it.

Right? Or they wouldn't keep putting it out there. But they're sending millions of these spam emails, and maybe one or two people are falling for it. Right? So how many millions of explainer videos do you wanna put out there pissing people off before you get that one or two sale?

You know? Like, I I don't know. I to me, it doesn't make any sense, but maybe to someone else, it does. I'm not saying AI is bad all over. I really love what AI does for us as far as stimulating creativity.

Right. So Right. Rather than expecting it to write it for you, it's really handy when you're staring at the white page and you just need a prompt to get you going. Right. Right.

I love that use of AI. I think that it's it's perfect for that kind of thing. It it it it kick starts things. It keeps you from staring at that blank white page for too long, which I think is fantastic. But at the same time, I don't think it's a replacement for humans, and I don't think that it should ever be used as a replacement for humans.

And I don't think that for your company, it's a good look or a good sound. I love that you brought out that point. I want those who are considering this as a career, you know, or just just considering it. I want them to know that too, like what the realities of it are and and not think, oh, I can't get into that field because there's no future. And I do believe No.

No. I agree that AI can replace a lot, but it it can do a lot, but it cannot completely replace humans in every aspect. It's it's not going to become humans. And if you are acting, it's not going definitely, it's not going to replace you. But acting is the key part.

If you're just speaking lines, yeah, sure, an AI can replace you. Yeah. You're right. You're right. The key thing is that it's acting.

The voice the voice is acting. Even if you're reading an audiobook, it is acting. The inflection of your voice. Definitely reading an audiobook. Audiobook is, like, perfect for, like, theater majors and people who love film and, like, yeah.

That's an acting actors type of medium, like, especially if you're doing if you're doing, like, fiction. Definitely. It's a it's an actors it's like audio drama. It's it's definitely an actor's place to be. Yeah.

And I know I know people who love audiobooks, who just live for them, and they're just, like, making them and listening to them. So Wow. I mean, that's fantastic. I don't do long form anything myself. I stop at five minutes of finished audio or less.

That's all I do. Right? But I'm I'm all into the advertising, branding, and marketing aspect of this. There are people who love animation. They just love it to death, and they wanna be a character so bad.

Yeah. Yeah. That's acting. That is definitely acting. And there is coaching that's needed for that.

You can't just start off knowing everything because you don't know what you don't know. Right. So coaching is is just the most important thing that you can do to start off because you need a demo, and that demo is expensive. And if you're gonna make that demo, you wanna make sure you're ready, and your coach is the one who's gonna tell you if you're ready. Yeah.

Good point. Good point. Let me ask you another question. When it comes to, location in that, you know, in, being a voice actor, does your location where you physically live, does that really matter that much? Not as much as you might think.

It depends again on what genres you're trying to get into. If you wanna be in animation, it's becoming less and less needed, but LA is really the place to be for animation. There are some places I think Texas has a lot of anime and, video game stuff that's going through there. So, again, that can be a good place to be. Toronto just opened up a, Netflix studio, I believe.

Oh, wow. So Yeah. So dubbing dubbing is, you know, for particular voices is gonna become a really big thing here because they do a lot of had someone recently bring that up to me. Yeah. Didn't know he didn't know I was gonna interview, but it just reminded me of this converse it made me think of this conversation because Yep.

He he was showing me, examples of dubbing that he's done for himself, and he did a really good job. Like, I actually thought that he was the voice of the character I was looking at. And I didn't know that that was such a big thing, and I found it kind of fascinating. Yeah. So there are a lot of things that Netflix produces that are in other languages.

Yeah. I've noticed that. Specifically, Korean, actually. They do a lot of Korean dramas and science fiction fantasy dramas and stuff like that. Right?

But they need English dubbing voices and, you know, Spanish speaking as well. That's huge. Right? Mhmm. So they need dubbing voices that are going to take on the characters for these, these shows of theirs.

And, yeah, these days, it's less important where you are because a lot of people have home studios. Like, I have a home studio right behind me, and that's you know, I work from home all the time. So, really, it doesn't matter where you are in certain instances. It does depend on what genres you wanna be in. Very good details to know because I I wouldn't have known that either.

So thank you for pointing those things out. Now let's talk about pros and cons because I think that we should always think about, you know, pros and cons of anything we're gonna get into career wise or anything else, really. So what would you consider to be we'll start off with the the cons of getting into voice acting, and then we could talk about the pros. Okay. It takes a while.

Okay. It takes a while. Going to make you money overnight. And if anyone tells you that, they are lying to you and run away really quick. What what would you consider a while?

Well, I will say, for instance, for me, it took me about two and a half years to be able to make a viable full time living. Oh, okay. And that was just matching what I had made in Internet marketing and SEO, and that wasn't all that fantastic. It was certainly, five figures. It was not into six figures.

Okay. And, but there's no real limit. That's the really interesting thing about this. Like, I have far surpassed that now after sixteen years. You know?

It it takes a while, but but, yeah, I mean, it's gonna take a while to make any money at this because it's not something that happens overnight. You have to build up clientele. You have to get a lot of pies to put your fingers in. So Mhmm. There's online casting sites.

There's agents. There's reaching out directly to particular ad agencies and video production companies and places that make these types of content that need a voice. There's all sorts of other ways that you can get your voice in front of people, But a just to start off, you need the coaching and then the coaching to tell you you're ready for the demo, and then the demo, at least a commercial and a narration demo, maybe a commercial narration and animation demo, if that's what you wanna get into. And then you need a website. You need a calling card.

So, you know, some, website is kind of iffy. I would say you could probably, if you had your fingers in enough pies, get away without having a website, but your website sells for you $24.07, and it's a really good thing to have if you can. So You can there's so many ways of having free websites. They're not gonna be the most dynamic websites, but, you just need something that sells your skill and shows people what they can do. Right?

You you have a short bio. You maybe have a picture of yourself, and you have your demos on there, and and they're easily downloadable. Make sure sure that they can be downloaded because no one wants to come to your website and not be able to download your demos because the agents or the clients or whatever, they wanna download it so they can show it to other people. You know? They wanna be able to do that so they can choose if they want you or someone else.

And if they can't download your demo, they're not gonna choose you. So yeah. Would a YouTube channel work for that? Pardon me? Would a YouTube channel work for that?

Yeah. It could. It totally could. Okay. Yeah.

I would say that it's not ideal because then you're relying on YouTube, and YouTube can shut you down at any time. You know what? You're right. They they've become more and more censored, and more and more people are not putting things on there because they're getting a little too sensory. Any social media at all.

That's why it's a good idea to have your own website because then, at least, you are you have control over that one medium. And if it goes down, it's your host, but at least you have some recourse. Good point. So now you're all hearing why, she's recommending a website. Yeah.

Because there are There are a lot of people who don't have a website, who are completely successful voice actors, and and people regularly use their voices all the time. Most of those people are relying entirely on, agents for their work. And Yeah. Some people can do that. If these agents are yeah.

Well, I mean, agents don't get paid unless you get paid. Because typically, they get you know, if you're in the union, they only get 10%. If you're nonunion, they can get any anywhere from, 10 to 25, I've seen. It just depends. Okay.

That's I didn't even know that either. That's good to know. Mhmm. So any more pros and cons you wanna list? Well, I mean, like I said, cons, it's gonna take some time.

So I would suggest to anyone, who's younger, who's starting out in this, don't rely on it for your full time living in the beginning. Mhmm. And don't stop school. Yeah. This is not an instead of school type of career, I would suggest, but I think you can do it safely and well, even part time.

I think it's it's it's good to do that. And learning is key. So the coaching is key. Getting a good demo is key. The demo costs money, so make sure that the coach tells you you're ready before you do that.

And it so it's gonna take time. It it can be very nice to help fund school, though. So, you know, depending on how well you're doing, it can really be a great part time job to have while you're in school. So I I do recommend it for that if you can if you can pull it off. The the equipment is coming down in price at this moment, but it still is a little bit pricey.

I mean, you're still gonna have to get yourself a treated space. You're still gonna have to invest in a microphone. Doesn't have to be a hugely expensive microphone. Mhmm. You can wait until you're actually making money at it before you start investing in a really good mic.

But you need a condenser mic. Specifically, you need an audio interface because, generally, you don't want a USB mic because they just don't have the same kind of sensitivity as the kind of condenser mic you're gonna need for the quality you need for voice acting. Oh. You can get away with it for podcasts, and I'm using a USB condenser mic right now that sounds perfectly fine, but I wouldn't suggest this necessarily for for voice acting. Oh, I didn't know that.

Okay. Yeah. So it because you really need it's a very specific nuance. The the the voice yeah. You need to have the full rounded effect of that voice, and you don't want any, like, any frequency that's not at its peak.

Like, you don't like, you know, you don't you don't wanna have a microphone that keeps your voice from being displayed in the way that it should be. Oh, okay. I got you. Right? So you want something that is going to give you as natural a sound to your voice as is possible, again, depending on the genre.

But, generally, you're probably gonna want a mic that's a condenser mic with a a cardioid direction, probably in and around the hundred and 50 to $300 mark to start with. The audio interface, again, anywhere from a hundred and 50 to $300, You need a computer, and you need a software package, probably, like, Audacity would work. That's free. Yep. Audacity.

Guitar, you know, GarageBand, I think, is is free on, it's, Twisted Wave is is another one on a Mac. Audition, Adobe Audition is what I use, but I do pay a monthly membership. Oh, okay. So there are there is a certain amount of equipment that you need along with a sound treated environment in order to be able to do this professionally on a regular basis. So that takes a little bit of time to put together.

I'm not saying it's impossible. I'm not saying it's hugely expensive. You could probably do all of it for less than a thousand dollars. Okay. But, you know, but at the and and those prices are coming down all the time.

But at the same time, you do need to do it. So it does take a little bit of time and organization and having a space in your house that you can do this. Thank you. Yeah. Thank you for giving us some very, specific details and and, you know, realistic information because that was one of the reasons I I asked you on the show was because I knew you would do that.

Yeah. You know, give the the realities of of what it takes. Sure. And make sure that people don't have myths about it and that it's magical. Yeah.

As people tend to think about it. I mean, there there are a ton of pros. I mean, I love what I do every day. It's and it's a different client every day. It's different work every day.

It's exciting. It's wonderful to be the voice of a product and and have them, you know, trust your voice to sell or, you know, not sell their their product. Right? It's it's enormously rewarding work, and it can pay very well. So those are and you can do it really from anywhere for the most part.

So there are a lot of great pros, but you have to be aware of the the cons as well. Yeah. Good point. If I were I was thinking if I could if I was to do any of that, I would probably play a character in a cartoon because that would fit my personality. Yeah.

Someone who has who's a who's a smartass with a lot of little attitude. I would that'd be perfect for me. That'd be great. Yes. A lot.

Definitely. Really wouldn't be too much acting, but I could do myself as anything to do. From a a point of authenticity. Right? They all come from a point Yeah.

It's you but slightly different. Right? Yeah. Yeah. So if I I was gonna ask you how can a team get into this field, but I really think you kind of answered most of that already.

You know what? I'll give you a website that they can check out if they wanna get more information and they wanna figure out who the good coaches are because a lot of them are listed on that website. Oh. It's called voiceoverextra.com. Voice over x t r a Com.

And maybe you can put that in the show notes. Yeah. I will definitely make the show notes. Yeah. If they check that out, they'll see that there are workshops that they can purchase for, like, $50 just to watch the workshop and see what happened.

Oh, okay. You can you can audit classes that come in. So if you're not one of the people that's gonna be taken up on stage to actually do a reading, you can be in the audience for a lot less money depending on what genre you wanna go into. You can just watch a workshop at the actual time, or you could, like, because I think then you get a replay as well as part of the package. There are a lot of the coaches are listed on that website.

There are some great articles. It's really for working voice actors. So Wow. That's excellent. Thank you for that that resource, and I will absolutely add that, to the show notes so that those of you who are interested can go there.

So, last but not least, tell people how can we find you. Sure. I am at voiceoversandvocals.com if they wanna check out my work and and if they want to check out the podcast where I talk about the power of sound and how it influences our buying decisions, but also our daily lives all over the place. That's called the Audio Branding Podcast, and that is at audiobrandingpodcast.com. I wanna add to that.

For the Audio Branding Podcast, I actually am talking to the audience right now. I actually listened to, a couple of episodes of that. And I'm not gonna lie, you did some mind shifting on me because I never thought about the importance of sound in some of the ways that you I could totally see everything that you and your guests were talking about. I'm glad, yeah. And I don't remember the man's name, but it was, there was this one particular one and you were talking about the importance of sound and how it affects us, on a psychological level.

And Mhmm. I'm all into anything psychological, so I I really could hear what you were saying and I found it fascinating. So I do highly recommend that you guys take a listen, to to the podcast because you'll probably learn something or gain a new perspective that you just never thought about before. I did. Thank you.

I'm glad you had a good time listening. I I did. And so, Jody, thank you so much for coming on. I appreciate you taking the time and volunteering your your time and expertise to hopefully help help someone out there who's looking to get into doing what you do. Well, thank you for inviting me.

And, yeah, I encourage anyone to look into it. And, yeah, I'm happy to answer questions. I don't coach, but I'm happy to answer questions if someone has them. Awesome. Thanks again.

Thanks. And now for a mind shifting moment. I wanna take a moment right now and shift your thinking a little bit. So we talked about a career that most people don't think of getting into, even when they should. Voice acting is not something that is typically presented to our youth as a viable career, yet it is.

Sometimes we need to think outside of the box of what we want to do and where we want to go. Sometimes in order to find that beautiful spot that a career or whatever that we would love, we have to think outside the box. So I ask you this question, what is waiting on the other side of your thinking that would also be lucrative and rewarding? I don't want you to answer that for me. I want you to answer that for you.

Thank you for listening to mind shift power podcast. Please like and subscribe to my YouTube channel at the mind shifter. If you have any comments, topic suggestions, or would like to be a guest on the show, please visit FatimaBay.com/podcast. Remember, there's power in shifting your thinking. Tune in for next week.