Hi Robyn! First, some background: where are you from, and what were you doing before you got into voice-over?

I’m a girl who was born in Dallas, raised in Los Angeles, and chose the Pacific Northwest as my home base for “adulting”.

I grew up with a background in modeling and have done that since I was five.  Fashion shows were my first gigs and I was fortunate to be doing them with my mother at first, in local hometown shows.  Then my parents paid for modeling school which gave me the unique opportunity which I enjoy today.

What projects have you been working on lately?

I just finished a movie trailer,  “Arresting God”, it is a story based on an event that happened during the war in Iraq.  I play an American government bureaucrat in the trailer. You can follow the project on the Facebook page of the same name.

I continue to do interviews for KSVR 91.7 Skagit Community Radio and recently launched a Skagit Valley College edition for Skagit Talks on Thursdays in which I interview teachers and students about the college class offerings on campus.

Last week, from home, I had coffee in my pajamas and recorded voice-over for a news piece needed last minute for broadcast. I also record commercial promos for the station from the comfort of my own home!

I’ve had a few fashion shows and an occasional live music performance tossed in – I really do feel like I play for a living.

Last fall I had a role in a live theatre production of SideShow, which was presented in a 1920’s vaudeville theatre.

How did you first get involved in VO, and what about it made you think you could be successful doing it?

I was looking for something new to try, hopefully using skills I already had or maybe uncover talents I hadn’t harvested. I attended a one-night session with Lisa Foster and got my first taste of working with SAV.  I was intrigued. I felt like it would be playing for a living! Could I really pull that off? The only way to know was to go for it.

How has Such A Voice helped you to get your VO career off the ground?

The reason I chose SAV for my training was that there were so many pleased students, and graduates that were working. But the highlight of the experience was that the training covered absolutely every aspect of voice-over. I completed my training with skills to record voice-over that is broadcast-quality.

What was your favorite part of your Such A Voice training?

I think my favorite part of the training was a toss-up between two things.   I loved the one-on-one sessions where I could perfect a commercial or narrative before the session and then have it critiqued and made better during the session.  But oh, how fun the Guru sessions were. Like a mystery to be solved, each chance to break down the script and determine the delivery was like a game, and I still love that today.  Bill Brooks was amazing and I am forever grateful for all I learned from him.

What was the first job you booked?

The first job I booked came about because my demo included a commercial for my nephew’s car dealership.  

The next job was producing news bites for KSVR for the next year.  I taught another voice artist to do the news and took over the interviews.  I continue to teach what I’ve learned and I am amazed at how easy it is to help others because my own training was so intensive.  I am one of the only voice artists at the station to engineer my own work. I taught the only other VO artist to do her own as well.  It’s been an incredible benefit to produce as well as voice.

How would you describe your niche in VO?

My love for variety, ability to learn quickly and transition easily has allowed me to enjoy a wide array of projects.  This is certainly not for everyone. If I were to have to narrow down my work, I think I would choose podcasting. It is fun, very easy and lucrative while still offering variety.

What are your interests outside of VO?

I like to DJ sometimes.  I enjoy growing things outside.  I like to sing. I made keepsake greeting cards and specialty chocolates.  I teach classes on cards and chocolates from time to time. I love to be outdoors and so I do that between sessions in the booth.

If you could give our current students one piece of advice, what would it be?

My piece of advice is this:  write down your questions. Make use of your time with coaches.  Allow yourself to be stretched. You have nothing to lose but the opportunity to grow as an artist.  Immerse yourself in VO. Pretend to be characters you hear, you might eventually uncover a voice you didn’t know was inside.  Mine was “the green troll witch”.

Anything you’d like to plug?

I look forward to growing Emerald City Voice Over Studios this year.   I have four artists joining me to create a variety of podcasts for local radio broadcast. Also, I’m just finishing a dedicated home studio and have musicians and voice artists interested in using my space. I live out on an island and will have one of the very few studios in the area. Look for my website when the studio officially launches. We’ll have a little ribbon-cutting ceremony. In the meantime, It would be fun to hear from other voice artists, feel free to reach out and find me on my Facebook page Robyn Candelaria Voice Artist.

Eager to get your start in voice-over? Check out our introductory webinar to learn more about how to get started!

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SAV: What projects have you been working on lately?

Johnson: Lately, my time has been dominated by two audiobooks that I was awarded through ACX. The first book narration, The Gift of Grace by Corinthus Alston, was completed and placed within the Amazon, iTunes and Audible retail space toward the end of 2018; and the 130,000-word fictional behemoth entitled Tumultuous Thursday by Melinda Michelle is currently being produced and should be completed sometime within the second quarter of 2019. Both are great projects and I’m thankful that Such A Voice helped put me in a position to ‘hit the ground running’!

SAV: Since you started your VO career, what has been your favorite project and why?

Johnson: I would have to say that the audiobook Tumultuous Thursday has been my favorite project because as a fictional undertaking it provides the challenge of voicing males, females, and many characters with varying accents. A second runner-up would be the commercial that I was contracted to produce for Matta Construction Services. I earned valuable experience in script creation, video production, incorporating music tracks, and of course, delivering the VO. I had a lot of fun with that one!

SAV: What would you say your niche is in voice-over?

Johnson: I would say at this point Audiobook narration, based on the projects that I’ve been awarded and am currently working on up to this point, and commercials based on several of the ‘liked’ auditions that I have received on Voices.com.

SAV: How did you make your way into voice-over in the first place?

Johnson: I’ve always been told that I have a strong, distinctive voice, and after a transition out of the corporate world in 2017, I decided to look towards expanding a natural gift and ‘dipped my toes in the VO pool’.  After a successful voice-over evaluation from Such A Voice’s Brian Thon and the subsequent completion of the Such A Voice training program, the rest, as they say, is history!

SAV: Do you have a background in art/performing of any kind before you started VO?

Johnson: I have to say that my service within my church’s Worship Arts Ministry (our men’s and church choirs) and my success as a leader during my corporate career have had a major impact in me launching into the voice-over industry. My service in ministry offers never-ending encouragement, and the preparation in serving within the Worship Arts Ministry does wonders, not only for building confidence in using your voice publicly, but also confidence in reaching for the higher heights in all that you do.

In regards to my professional career, all my experience in communicating across different corporate organizational groups, senior managers, associates, etc., forces you to express yourself in many different ways at varying times throughout the day. It is similar to doing ‘back to back’ VO auditions that require different tones, inflections, demeanors, etc.

SAV: What was the most beneficial part of your training with Such A Voice?

Johnson: Such A Voice provided an excellent foundation for launching into voice-over. Most beneficial for me was the excellent one-on-one voice-over instruction received from my voice coach Jessica Magers (read more about Jessica on the SAV Staff Page). One example out of the many valuable lessons was that she really pushed me to see the importance of script analysis and looking beyond the words on the page to find the true meaning of the script before acting it out.  

SAV: What do you like to do outside of VO?

Johnson: For me, I really enjoy spending quality time with my family and this transition into the VO lifestyle has afforded me a flexible schedule to do just that. I also enjoy reading and cooking a meal or two.

SAV: What’s the most helpful advice you’ve received related to voice-over?

Johnson: The most helpful advice I received was when I was told to ‘relax and deliver’. I’m finding that when you relax you will increase your chances of delivering a read that is natural and ‘in the pocket’. While I was in the studio recording my audio demo reel, I was told by the sound engineer that my vocal delivery was ‘in the pocket’. I must admit that I had to confirm afterward if he meant that as a compliment. I’m happy to report that he did!

SAV: What advice would you give to folks just starting their VO journey?

Johnson: I would like to let them know that, “it’s all about the business, baby!” You need to ensure that you have a viable business plan that includes your corporation set-up, marketing plan, website development, invoicing infrastructure, etc. The marketing sessions with Joleene Derks are an invaluable resource to me on this front. This piece of the pie was a real challenge for me and I will admit it is still an evolving piece.

From a technical standpoint: while you are editing (in whatever software), remember to edit out the unwanted items that you hear, and not so much what you see on the sound wave. The goal is to provide the client with a clean, natural voice flow. Finally, I’ve found that this VO path gives nice healthy servings of audition rejection and isolation while recording and producing. At the same time, moments of elation and numerous opportunities will also knock at the door. Just keep working hard, keep learning, and keep your hand to the plow!

Eager to get your start in voice-over? Check out our introductory webinar to learn more about how to get started!

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For years, we have booked voice-over jobs together. So much of that is because we possess a genuine chemistry. However, it’s also our ability to commit to our characters and have the moxie to jump off the page, to do improvisation. That’s right, stray a bit from what’s written. We’re not talking about changing the writer’s good words. We are speaking of the in-betweens, buttons, and subtle nuances that our characters would say. If we stuck to the words on the page, they would sound too robotic and stilted, and you know it’s all about being the average Joe. But the average Joe does not speak concisely. Our youngest kid repeats things three times before he actually gets to the point. He’s excited to tell the story, but he’s still formulating his thoughts and buying time in that repetition. It’s quite endearing.

One of the best marathons we ever ran was when we were cross-training with yoga. The more we ran, the more rigid our muscles became. Yoga freed us from that, forcing us to flex our muscles in an entirely different way. Improvisation does the exact same thing. Every piece of copy we get has a place where we can throw in slight nuances that make the piece jump off the page.

This “Moxie” that we mentioned comes with some slight risk-taking and you have to be proficient at it. It’s not about finding the funny. Some of the drollest things that you can add get the biggest laughs. Sometimes funny can fall flat, especially when people are trying to BE funny.

After 30 plus years in the business, we both agree that there are times we have found ourselves getting stale and falling into the same habits. It’s easy to do, especially when we are locked in a booth all day by ourselves with no one to feed off of. So, we further educate ourselves with improvisation classes because there are wise nuggets to be gained from every single person we have had the pleasure of learning from. Shaking things up and learning different techniques is wonderful practice. The training of improvisation is an amazing platform to learn how to stretch your muscles. It teaches you about listening, supporting your fellow performers, and being spontaneous. Since we started with The Second City, we have seen a steady rise in our bookings, our copy feels fresher, and we are more excited to challenge ourselves in becoming our characters. And no exaggeration when we say a good improvisation class is filled with so much love, fun, and laughter that it pours itself into your work and your life.  

To learn more about Jessica and George Grant, visit their website here!

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I hear it from voice-over professionals and from folks who are brand new to the industry. “How do I train my voice to sound better?” It’s a refreshing question and one that every voice-over artist should ask themselves. Because hey, let’s face it, some of us were born with a great voice and some of us had to work hard on our craft but regardless of natural talent, you can train your voice to sound better. The most important thing to do is to get a coach who can help you improve on both your strengths and weaknesses, but if you’re looking to level up in your spare time, here are a few ways to do so.

First and foremost, care for your voice. When you step up to the mic, you want your throat, mouth and tongue to be in tip-top shape. For this reason, hydration is one of the most important things that a voice-over artist needs to focus on. A dry mouth will quickly ruin your reads so plan on drinking water throughout the day. Don’t just start chugging water once you hit the studio either, prepare well ahead of time. Needing to take multiple bathroom breaks can ruin your flow and, if you’re working with an engineer, be a serious waste of time and money.

Being conscious of the temperature of your beverage is also important. Ice cold beverages should be avoided. Tea and room temperature water work best and some VO artists like to use sprays to make sure their vocal cords are feeling golden. Play around with what works best for you but the bottom line is that you should find something that helps you avoid a dry mouth and clears out your throat.

Next, warm up and stretch out! Personally, I like doing a few tongue twisters before I start recording. I try and do them in my low register, my normal speaking voice and then in a high register. Be sure not to push your voice too hard. If your throat starts to feel any discomfort, back off a bit. You want to stretch out your vocal cords, not stress them out. Also, it’s better to do your voice warm-ups while standing. Sitting down works for some people but I’ve always found that standing up, stretching out your diaphragm and focusing on getting ready to project your voice will help to train it best.

When you’re feeling ready to rock, try reading your script (or scripts if this is just practice) in different styles. It’s good to think about who you are as a reader and what you should sound like, but it’s always  helpful to play around with that. Let’s say you have a script for a car commercial. Well, you’re probably going to want to sound happy, friendly and cool. After all, you’re selling a car to the listener. But why not try reading the script in different ways? This is an excellent way to help train your voice. Read the script as though you’re mad. Then do one where you’re really sad. Finish it off with an over-the-top read where the ad is suddenly the funniest thing you’ve ever read. Record all of these different styles and analyze them. Were there certain words or phrases that sounded better in one of these styles? I feel that far too often, we get stuck on a style of read for a given script and miss the chance to learn a few new VO tricks. This job is fun and while you should take it seriously, don’t get too stiff with it!

Once you’ve gone through the script a few times and feel familiar with it, try doing a take without looking at the copy itself. Obviously this only works if you’ve memorized what you’re recording but the easiest way to sound like you’re talking with someone, rather than reading to them, is to stop reading! When I have a script memorized, I like to focus on an object or picture in the studio (often it’s one of my cats, who have ruined some of my best work) and do a take where I’m speaking with my chosen target. This can make a read sound much more “real” and conversational. It’s also an excellent way to train your voice to live outside of the copy. Believability is one of the hardest things to teach and thus, I think it’s one of the most important things for you to practice.

Finally, listen to other voices as much as possible. This goes hand in hand with coaching as we all need as much perspective as possible. If you’ve read any of my previous posts, you know that I’m a firm believer that one of the best ways to train our voices is by listening to those who have found success using theirs. Don’t ignore your competition! Find out what it is that landed them the gigs that you would have liked for yourself. Do they read with more warmth than you? Do they emphasize certain parts of the script that you would have done differently? Listen to their work on youtube, voicebank.net or even voices.com. Professionals don’t practice on their own. They look to their colleagues and coaches to constantly improve and continue training themselves to be better at their job.

How do you train yourself to make your voice better? We’d love to hear from you so comment below!

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