Heather Costa, Such A Voice Chief Fulfillment & Content Officer

When I was a young child, I wanted to be Ariel in The Little Mermaid. With dreams of being a Disney princess, I submersed myself in acting and all things music. In 2003, after studying opera, I earned a Bachelor’s in Vocal Performance from the Hartt School of Music. A year after I graduated, I began learning about the voice-over industry and took my first ever voice-over class. That class was with Dan Levine at Such A Voice. From that moment on, my life was never the same. I had never been happier. I finally found my true passion.

After successfully working in the voice-over industry, thanks in large part to the training I received at SAV, I was invited to return to Such A Voice as an instructor in 2005. Having started my college journey as a Music Education major, before transferring into Vocal Performance, the chance to teach something I absolutely loved was beyond exciting.

Over the years, I have worn many hats at Such A Voice. I’ve had the privilege of teaching, coaching, producing, doing post-production, and working on the administrative side. Today, 13 years later, I’m proud to say that I’m Such A Voice’s Chief Fulfillment & Content Officer, one of the four members of SAV’s leadership team. It is such an honor to share my voice-over industry experience and knowledge as the base of Such A Voice’s current curriculum and to have such a prominent part, alongside the amazing SAV team, in shaping up-and-coming voice-over actors.

As a voice-over actor, you can hear me nationally on the radio and television for many top brands including McDonalds, Subway, Herbal Essence, and Today’s Parent. I’ve lent my voice to video games with Square Enix, promos nationally and abroad, and narrations for many corporations such as Lowes and Finish Line. I have also recorded over a dozen audiobooks and the most exciting moment of my career thus far, has been when I became a lead character in an animated Disney series!

I had spent my entire life living in the northeastern United States and almost half of that, working in the voice-over industry. In January 2017, my incredibly supportive husband, our two young boys, and I did the scariest yet most exciting thing of our lives. We moved from New York to Los Angeles for my voice-over career and it’s been amazing.

The little girl who dreamed of being Ariel, who began as a Such A Voice student in 2004, is now a Los Angeles based SAG-AFTRA voice-over artist and audiobook narrator, represented by one of the top LA agents with thousands of VO credits to date and even bigger dreams that she’ll never stop chasing.

Mike Hanko, Voice-Over Coach

So, how does someone get started in the voice-over industry? I used to wonder that myself. My story began in college, where I studied Communications and wanted to be a DJ. I loved music and the concept of bringing it to people on a regular basis.

I did two years of college radio and that did it for me. So you’d think this would be one of those happy ending stories where I go right into a highly successful radio career, right? Sadly, no.

Years later, I learned that I had another talent, training people professionally. It was actually this path that led me back to wanting to do something professionally with my voice.

I submitted an audition to Such a Voice a few years ago and then again in 2015. Content with the feedback that I received, I signed up and completed my voice-over training with them that same year. I have been steadily establishing my career and brand in the years since. I have auditioned several hundred times for commercial voice-over gigs, but my real success has been with audiobooks.

I have narrated and produced over 50 books and have active projects going on as I write this. I find books really fit my strength, which is narration. I love doing different types of books (fiction, non-fiction, self-help, and more recently, history) and I love really getting involved with them. In the interim, I continue to do auditions and other professional projects. As a trainer, I have completed online videos, software simulations, and presentations.

Such a Voice believes in developing its alumni. When they approached me 18 months ago to become a coach, I jumped at it. Coaching allows me to stay connected to this industry that I’ve grown to love and appreciate. It also allows me to teach and help others discover their own talent and start their careers. Take it from me, there is a niche for everyone. As you read this, I wish you much success in your own voice-over career! May it be as fun and rewarding as it has been for me!

Bonnie Gilgallon, Voice-Over Coach

May 2016 was a memorable month for me, both personally and professionally. It’s when I began working as a voice-over technique coach for Such a Voice and when I reached a whole new level of creative fulfillment.

I had been working as a professional stage actress, singer, theatre reviewer, and voice-over artist, and had been occasionally teaching acting classes for years, but often had to supplement my income with what I call “job” jobs – temporary office gigs, etc. It was frustrating and deflated my ego. When I was offered the coaching position with Such A Voice, all that changed.

I finally had a steady source of income that allowed me to use virtually ALL of my talents: teaching, public speaking, acting, voice-over technique, and even a bit of writing. Not only do I get to experience the joy and satisfaction of helping students develop their own voice-over skills on a daily basis, but I also know I have become a much better voice-over artist myself in the process. I have learned so much from my students. They’ve taught me to listen more, to understand how each individual learns differently, to help them overcome fears and emotional blocks, and how important it is to maintain a sense of humor through it all!

Everything I do now professionally involves using my voice, which might seem surprising since I did not speak at all until the age of two. Voices have always intrigued me. My mother was a singer and a teacher, and always stressed the importance of articulation and the correct use of the English language. I began acting and singing as a kid, and it all just evolved from there.

I was a Vocal Music major in college, did a few spots for a friend at a local radio station, got my voice-over training and demos through Such A Voice President, Dan Levine, in the late 90s back in Washington, D.C., and the rest is history.

I have done hundreds of voice-overs since then, many during my 13-year tenure as a news anchor at KNWZ, a local station in Palm Springs, where I currently live.

My schedule is very full now with coaching my voice-over students, singing gigs, acting in plays, writing theatre reviews and teaching traffic school, but I’m also still a successfully working voice-over artist.

I am so grateful and proud to be a member of the Such A Voice coaching team. It’s been a wonderful ride, which I hope continues for many years to come!

Tia Sorensen, Voice-Over Coach

My journey with Such A Voice began in 2014. I was working at a job that was soul-sucking and personal life circumstances had me searching for a change. Like so many of us who get into the voice-over world, I had been told that I had a nice voice. Voice-over sat in the back of my brain for a long time and, all of a sudden, it was asking to come forward. But as with any new endeavor, there were so many questions. I turned to Google. “How do you become a voice-over artist?” I asked Google. “Well, check out this nifty company!” Google said. That’s how I found Such A Voice.

I jumped into the VIP program with my lovely coach, Bill Sleeper. After my commercial and narration demos were complete, he suggested I look into audiobook narration. “Reading a book out loud? How hard can that be?” I thought.

LOL, you guys. LOL.

I completed my audiobook demo with another talented and amazing coach, Michael Yurchak. I received excellent guidance from marketing guru, Joleene Derks, and I was ready to build my voice-over business.

It was slow going at first. I would go to my full-time job during the day, then spend many evenings and weekends in my home studio. I built momentum for a couple of years. Two and a half years ago, my partner, Jake, encouraged me to quit my full-time job and dedicate myself to my growing voice-over business. I was terrified, but excited. The first year was… rough. The second year I could breathe. And now, in the third year, I’m excited to say I’m flourishing.

In almost five years as a voice-over artist, I’ve completed over 70 audiobooks, a couple dozen explainer videos, several corporate and e-learning projects, as well as some TV and radio commercial work. Soon, I’ll be back to coaching sessions with Michael Yurchak to prepare for my animation demo! I love coaching for Such A Voice because I’ve been there and I get to share my experience with my new students.

In conclusion…

There is nothing more rewarding than to see the success of your students, and to be so proud of their achievements, that you welcome them back as staff. Such A Voice wouldn’t be who we are today without the passion, dedication, and joy that people like Heather, Mike, Bonnie and Tia bring to this company along with all the other amazing members of the SAV team. We are thrilled to be a part of their journey and know that we’re continuing to make a difference in many careers today!

See what our other employees have to say about their experience working at Such A Voice. We also love hearing your experiences with our voice-over training program, so join in all the conversations on our Facebook page to share your story! 

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The biggest obstacle I’ve faced in my voice-over career is something I never would have considered: tension. I was worried about the usual things like learning my audio editing software, making sure my home studio was up to par, finding my unique delivery, etc. Those are all great things to focus on! But then I started getting weird pains and aches in my neck and throat. I couldn’t get a full breath when I was recording. It was making for choppy deliveries.  Vocal tension and fatigue seemed to be setting in really quickly. I tried not to panic, but this was really bad, right?

First of all, if you’re experiencing any of these things, don’t be stubborn like me. Go to an ENT immediately. I put it off for way too long, which only made my stress levels go through the roof. I was so convinced they were going to tell me I had to stop working that I just avoided it. Yeah, I know, pretty dumb.

I finally decided I couldn’t put it off any longer. I scheduled my appointment. Really long story short, I had this very common vocal disorder called Muscle Tension Dysphonia. I’ll let you do some internet research on that, but the bottom line is, I was speaking with so much tension the muscles around my larynx were acting like a cage. I learned this way of speaking somewhere along the way. Likely a combination of speaking to huge groups of people at my last job and, interestingly enough, emotional distress. Your emotions can have a huge impact on your voice. So, yay therapy!

I’ve now been going to a speech therapist regularly to resolve this issue. I’ve learned some great massage techniques to release vocal tension before I begin recording and I wanted to pass some of these on to you in this week’s Working Wednesday video.

Here’s the overall lesson: if something doesn’t feel right, get it checked out! No need to suffer in silence.

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Before jumping into my voice-over career full-time, I worked as an Academic Recruiter for a large university. I would give presentations almost everyday to huge groups of high school students about the college admissions process. I was constantly surrounded by people and collaborating with my co-workers. Then, all of a sudden, it was just me and my microphone. While I loved my work as a voice actor, it was incredibly isolating, and I found myself feeling lonely and a little depressed. I quickly realized I had to make an effort to stay social and connected to the world outside my studio.

Here are a few things you can do to fight that isolation:

Work outside of your house whenever you can. When you need to reach out to clients, prep manuscripts, or do anything that doesn’t require your studio, go to a coffee shop, library, or park. I have a regular coffee shop that I go to a few times a week. The employees have gotten to know me, so it’s like having a group of co-workers that give me delicious beverages.

Use social media to connect with other voice actors. Search for Facebook groups. Find your tribe on Instagram or Twitter. If you’re a Such A Voice student or alum, make friends in the VO Pro Membership group. It’s nice to be in-touch with people who understand what you’re going through and can cheer you on.

You don’t want to talk about voice-over day in and day out. So, schedule time with your friends to meet up for coffee or lunch at least once a week. You need that quality human interaction.

Take acting or improv classes to improve your voice-over skills. This is an exciting, challenging, and smart way to meet other like-minded people and keep your social and creative cup full. Google local theater groups or acting teachers and sign up!

Whether you find your footing in social media, professional development, networking, or your local coffee shop, just make sure you’re keeping your spirits high. A happy voice actor is an engaging one. After all, your business needs its CEO, star talent, and sales person on their A-game.

And we always appreciate hearing about how we’ve helped you get on your A-game. Share your positive experiences about Such A Voice and engage with other voice talents! 

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Hydration

The first thing I do when I wake up is drink water. I make it through a full 20 oz. bottle before I move on to the rest of my routine and then I make sure to continually drink water throughout the day. This helps eliminate mouth noise that can ruin a good recording.

Exercise

A quick workout routine in the morning wakes you up, gets your lungs ready, and loosens up any leftover phlegm you might be hanging onto. Gross, I know. You really don’t want that stuff hanging around when you step into your booth.

Tea

Warm beverages throughout the day are a great idea. If you’re not a tea drinker, become one. I like to start my day with hot water mixed with two tablespoons of Apple Cider Vinegar, half a lemon squeezed, and a couple teaspoons of local honey. It’s an acquired taste, but it’s really good for your vocal health and it clears out your sinuses.

Warm-ups

Stretch, do tongue twisters, use singing exercises, and massage out the tension in your face before you start recording. Never skip this! It will keep your voice healthy and you will always give a better performance.

Share a comment with your favorite morning vocal health routine! Next week, we’ll talk about how to beat that feeling of isolation that can happen when you’re a voice actor working from your home studio.

Also, be sure to check out what’s trending now about Such A Voice. Don’t be shy, join the conversation and hear what other VO talents have to say about their experience! 

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We all know success is better achieved with set goals. However, it can be difficult to figure out the process that works perfectly for you. Organizing my voice-over goals and making to-do lists are just a few of the things that I do to keep myself on track with my voice-over career.

Here’s my process:

Do a Brain Dump

We carry a lot around in our brain. If you try to organize your voice-over goals entirely using your memory, you’re just asking to feel overwhelmed. Write down every single thing you have to do. Include the tiny stuff like buy eggs and the big stuff like sign with a voice-over agent. Break each of these down into manageable tasks. Buying eggs is pretty simple and includes little prep work. Signing with a voice-over agent is going to require a bunch of prior action items.

Organize Your Lists

Separate your tasks into different days. Make categories like Today, Tomorrow, This Week, This Month, This Year, etc. I recommend keeping these lists on your phone using an app like Wunderlist. That way, your list is in your pocket at all times. Organize your Brain Dump items into these categories. Every day you’ll check your lists and move items around accordingly. If you think of any new tasks, just plug them into the appropriate list. This method is expanded on in one of my favorite books, Push by Chalene Johnson.

Must-Dos vs Want-Tos

There are always going to be things we have to do to reach success that aren’t fun. It’s just the reality. These are called the Must-Dos. Must-Dos are like business finances or collecting leads. Want-Tos are the things that still need to get done, but are much more enjoyable, like recording a new commercial for a client or working on a monologue for an acting class. Condense the Must-Do tasks into a couple of hours during your day. Stay focused, put your phone on airplane mode, and get to work. This will get those less desirable tasks out of the way quickly so you can work on the stuff you really want to.

Here are a few personal book recommendations to help you achieve your goals:

Push by Chalene Johnson

You Are A Badass At Making Money by Jen Sincero

The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron

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Working Wednesdays: Taking Care of Voice-Over Business

When you think “voice-over business,” the really exciting part in that phrase is “voice-over.” We sometimes forget about the “business.” You’re likely going to spend more time out of your booth doing office hours than in the booth recording, especially in the beginning. You have to generate those auditions and find jobs that are going to keep you in the studio. It’s important to have some tasks you’re going to accomplish every single day that will move your voice-over business forward. Here are a few of mine:

Organizing your to-do lists.

I’ll talk more about how to create effective to-do lists next week, but right now just get all of your tasks out of your head and onto paper or into your phone. You can’t start a voice-over business or be self-employed without keeping track of your action items. I know you want to progress in the voice-over world as quickly as possible and keeping to-do lists will give you a solid foundation in which to grow from.

Networking

The more people who know you do this, the more people there will be to hire you. Start telling them you’re an amazing, professionally-trained, and easy to work with voice-over artist! The internet makes it really easy to reach out to people via email, but don’t forget about in-person networking, too. Either way you go, figure out who you’re going to target: ad agencies, e-learning companies, audiobook publishers, explainer video companies, etc. Make sure you keep track of who you’re contacting and reach out to people consistently. It can be as simple as tracking this information on a spreadsheet or you can invest in a CRM like VoiceOverView or Nimble.

Training

You want to be on top of your game, right? You have to keep training. Take in some kind of voice-over information daily. Listen to podcasts, read books, become a Such A Voice VO Pro Member, invest in one-on-one sessions with a coach to brush up on your skills, do a YouTube search. There are so many ways to grow! Next week, we’ll talk about setting goals for your business. See you then!

Also, be sure to join the conversation and share your positive experiences about Such A Voice!

                                                                                                                    About Tia

Tia Rider Sorensen is a voice actor and writer in the Salt Lake City area. She got her start with Such A Voice in their VIP program and has since completed over 50 audiobooks, several corporate and explainer videos, as well as some commercial and animation work. You can see more of her work at www.tiasorensen.com.

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There’s this old saying: “Only learn something once. After that you’re a total expert and will be lauded as a genius in your field.”

Just kidding, that would be ridiculous. How about this one?

“You don’t understand anything until you learn it more than one way.” -Marvin Minsky

Ah, better.

My Origin Story or That Time I Googled Voice-Over

When I first decided to pursue a voice-over career, I was on a break from work. I was miserable in my job. Life circumstances had left me in a rut with little direction. I needed something I could be proud of. Something that was mine. It was time to pursue voice-over, but there was a big question that I had to ask: How do I become a voice actor? I ended up asking Google this question. Seriously, that’s all I did. That led to a link for Such A Voice and then some amazing conversations with lovely people about voice-over coaching. Finally, I told my husband I was going to invest in a voice-over training program to become a voice actor. I will never forget it because his face was excited for me, while his brain was probably thinking, “What the heck is she doing?” But, I had that tone he knows so well that meant: “Trust me. I know what I’m doing.” Shortly after, I began my voice-over coaching with Bill Sleeper for my commercial and narration demos, followed by an audiobook demo produced by Michael Yurchak.

After that, I never had to learn anything ever again and ended up building a whole career on learning all of the information one time!

I’m kidding… remember the first part of the blog post? We’re doing that again. Look alive.

I received incredible voice-over coaching from the SAV staff. They gave me an amazing foundation and a wealth of knowledge that I still use everyday in my work. I’ve built a successful voice-over business that I’m proud of. If I had relied solely on my voice-over coaching sessions and never sought out any other knowledge, I would be in a very different place.

If you’re serious about taking a passion and making it your career, your life, and your purpose, it requires a lot of you. Here’s the oversimplified version: you are introduced to a skill, you love the skill, you train in the skill, you do the skill for money or accolades. People say “Wow, look at their mad skills!” What you never hear is people saying, “Wow, look at how they keep improving their skills and investing in continued education like a serious professional!” However, that’s kind of the most important part.

Natural Talent is Not Enough

When I was four years old, my grandma signed me up for piano lessons. We discovered I had some natural talent. I had a knack for timing and musicality. By the age of eight, I was competing for a chance to tour with the Utah Symphony Orchestra. There were hundreds of competitors and only seven finalist spots. I played my Mozart Concerto for the judges and totally nailed it. I vividly remember walking up to the finalist list they posted on the bulletin board at the end of the day. If I was a finalist, I had to stay and perform again. If I wasn’t, I got to go to the zoo. I was an alternate, and all of the finalists were present, so I got to go to the zoo. My eight-year-old heart was thrilled because, ya know, penguins.

I competed for several more years before deciding being a pianist wasn’t my ultimate goal, but let’s focus on those four years between my first lesson and my trip to the zoo. I had natural talent, but that alone wasn’t getting me anywhere near that competition. First of all, I had an amazing teacher. She gave me the tools, provided me with honest constructive criticism, and encouraged me to grow, but even that alone couldn’t develop my skills. It was the hours, and I mean HOURS, of practice time and music theory study. It wasn’t always pretty either. Most of those hours were spent playing scales and chords over and over again to build dexterity. It was going through countless flashcards to remember time signatures, note values, symbols, music history, etc. It was playing one line of music with a metronome, increasing the tempo little by little. This usually ended with me laying on the piano bench sobbing while my grandma made me a grilled cheese.  So, let’s drive all of this home.

Devour Voice-Over Knowledge

Soak up all of the knowledge you can about voice-overs and this industry. Take what serves you, let go of what doesn’t. Your needs are going to change. It’s just like reading your favorite book at different times in your life. You will find different lessons as you grow and gain experience.

Where do you find this info? If you’re in a Such A Voice Demo Program or are a VO Pro Member, you have access to a lot of information from VO experts. Watch the videos, listen to the bi-weekly teleconferences, and read the blog. Go back to all three of these resources and do it all over again. Don’t let it go to waste. In my opinion, one of the biggest mistakes you can make in your voice-over training is to ignore these materials. Listen to podcasts by VO professionals, read VO books, budget in additional
voice-over coaching sessions to keep your skills fresh, attend conferences, find voice-over workshops in your area, and take a local improv class. Invest, absorb, repeat.

One of the most motivating things I ever heard was on the ID10T podcast with Chris Hardwick. I’m paraphrasing, but he made the comment that even people like Steve Carell and Tina Fey, while they had natural comedic talent, had to train for years to become who they are.

So, I leave you with this question: Who do you want to become?

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                                        About the Author

Tia Rider Sorensen is a voice actor and writer in the Salt Lake City area. She got her start with Such A Voice in their VIP program and has since completed over 50 audiobooks, several corporate and explainer videos, as well as some commercial and animation work. You can see more of her work at www.tiasorensen.com.

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