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?

我很好。我很好。很高興你來。很好。所以我想直接開始對話。

那麼，跟我們說，你是怎麼進入這個領域的呢？是什麼讓你開始的？嗯，我從很小的時候就對音樂很有興趣。我的父母非常熱愛音樂，並且非常鼓勵我這樣做。在進入這個領域之前，我已經用自己的嗓音唱歌很久了。好的。

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?

你會不會覺得，我做這份工作是因為這是一份工作，還是真的熱愛它？我真的很熱愛。這是一份非常具有挑戰性的職業，需要一段時間才能以此謀生，因為這是表演，是一份表演事業，而要成名確實需要一些時間。是的。但同時，我主要做商業廣告和企業解說，以及相關的廣告、行銷和品牌推廣工作。

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.

是的。不在鏡頭前。是的。所以我不在鏡頭前。我沒有寫劇本。

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?

他們完全可以。是的。這跟你的聲音聽起來怎麼樣沒關係，更取決於你如何運用它。啊，好的。是的。

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.

我不知道，大概有二、三十年了。但我們從未真正達到現在的水準。那麼，既然人工智慧和人工智慧產生的語音現在已經被廣泛使用，你認為配音的需求會消失嗎？我不這麼認為。不會。

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.

確實如此。所以，是的，如果你想讓你的名字發音正確，或者你想讓你居住的地方發音正確，那麼通常來說，人工智慧並不是最佳選擇。但是，你知道，我知道它在哪裡有用。我知道有些人可能需要使用它，因為它更便宜。不過，它確實需要更多時間。

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.

對吧？不然他們就不會一直放了。但他們發了數百萬封垃圾郵件，說不定有一兩個人會上當。對吧？所以，你得放多少個解釋影片來激怒別人，才能促成一兩筆銷售？

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.

不。我同意人工智慧可以取代很多東西，但它能做很多事情，但它不可能在各方面完全取代人類。它不會變成人類。如果你在行動，它肯定不會取代你。但行動才是關鍵。

如果你只是念台詞，當然，AI 可以取代你。是的。你說得對。關鍵在於演技。

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.

是的，現在你在哪裡已經不那麼重要了，因為很多人都有家庭工作室。例如，我家後面就有一個家庭工作室，你知道，我一直都在家工作。所以，在某些情況下，你在哪裡真的不重要。這取決於你想從事什麼類型的音樂。了解這些細節很重要，因為我以前也不知道。

謝謝你指出這些。現在我們來談談利弊，因為我認為我們應該時時思考，無論我們從事什麼職業，或其他什麼，都應該考慮利弊。所以，你認為我們從事配音工作有什麼弊端？我們先從利弊談起，然後再談利弊。好的，這需要一些時間。

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.

好的。而且，其實沒有真正的限制。這才是真正有趣的地方。例如，十六年後，我已經遠遠超越了那個極限。你知道嗎？

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?

你有一個簡短的個人簡介。也許你還有一張自己的照片，上面有你的示範作品，而且它們很容易下載。確保它們可以下載，因為沒有人想訪問你的網站卻無法下載你的演示作品，因為經紀人、客戶或其他什麼人，他們想下載它，然後把它展示給其他人。你明白嗎？他們想這樣做，這樣他們就可以選擇要你還是其他人。

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.

這就是為什麼擁有自己的網站是個好主意，因為這樣，至少你對這個媒介擁有控制權。如果它宕機了，責任雖然落在了你的主機上，但至少你還有一些追索權。說得對。所以現在大家都知道為什麼了，她推薦的是網站。是的。

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.

嗯，我的意思是，除非你付了錢，否則代理人是拿不到錢的。因為通常情況下，如果你加入了工會，他們只能拿到10%的提成。如果你不加入工會，他們可以拿到10%到25%的提成，我看過的。這得看情況。好的。

我也不知道。知道了就好。嗯。你還有什麼優點和缺點想列舉嗎？嗯，就像我說的，缺點嘛，得花點時間才能說清楚。

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.

吉他，你知道，GarageBand，我記得在Mac上是免費的，Twisted Wave 也是Mac上的一個。 Audition，我用的是Adobe Audition，但我需要每月付費。哦，好的。所以，為了能夠定期進行專業的錄音，你需要一些設備以及一個經過聲音處理的環境。所以，這需要一些時間來準備。

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.

是的。你知道，要讓大家了解它需要什麼。當然。確保人們不會對它抱有幻想，要相信它很神奇。是的。

正如人們常想的。我的意思是，這有很多優點。我的意思是，我熱愛我每天所做的事情。每天都有不同的客戶，每天都有不同的工作。

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.

所以有很多優點，但你也必須意識到缺點。是的，說得對。如果我可以做這些，我可能會演卡通裡的角色，因為那很符合我的個性。是的。

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.

有一些很棒的文章，真的很適合在職配音員。哇！太棒了！謝謝你提供的資源，我一定會把它加到節目筆記裡，有興趣的朋友可以去看看。

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.

很高興你聽得開心，我的確很享受。所以，喬迪，非常感謝你的到來。感謝你抽出時間，自願貢獻你的時間和專業知識，希望能幫助那些想要從事你所做的事情的人。好的，謝謝你邀請我。

是的，我鼓勵大家去研究一下。是的，我很樂意回答問題。我不是教練，但如果有人提問，我很樂意回答。太棒了。再次感謝。

謝謝。現在輪到我來轉換一下思路了。我想花點時間稍微改變一下大家的想法。我們之前討論的是一個大多數人即使應該從事也不敢想的職業。配音員通常不會像我們年輕人那樣被當作一個可行的職業，但事實上它確實如此。

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.