Today we’d like to share an interview we did with Mella Barnes, a session singer/songwriter based in Nashville. Mella has been able to carve out a living for herself utilizing her voice, music, and other creative pursuits in unique ways. One of the things Mella does for income is Voice Acting. Voice acting is a very popular and highly sought-after skill by small businesses, Fortune 500 companies, entrepreneurs, in addition to film and TV. Practically every time you hear a commercial, voice acting is involved in some way. Mella has been able to provide this as a service to a diverse array of clients, including other musicians. It’s been a great way for her to earn additional income as part of her musical pursuits and most of all, she enjoys it! Here at The Crafty Musician Blog, we are always in search of ways musicians can earn extra income with their music. Read on to learn more about Mella’s experiences with voice acting and who knows? Maybe this is something you can do too!
By the way, if you’ve been following our blog, you might find Mella a bit familiar. Mella is a guest contributor here at The Crafty Musician and her last guest post was equally as intriguing as our topic today!
What is voice acting?
Voice acting is basically acting, but you don’t have any visual aids so the entire performance is carried in your voice. Of course, if you’re doing cartoons, the characters will act a bit for you. However, for commercials, audiobooks, or promos, you’ve got to sell an emotion with your voice.
With commercial voice acting, you’re both acting and selling something. You’re typically selling an emotion and tying it into a product. For example, a calm/relaxed voice for a laundry detergent is selling the idea that you can relax because your laundry is clean. You’re not just selling the detergent, you’re selling the feeling of getting chores done. I hope that makes sense!
What first piqued your interest in voice acting?
I’ve always loved cartoons! I grew up on The Simpsons and I always loved listening to commercials to analyze what they were doing vocally. I also loved the idea that you could have a whole career in a studio and never have to tour or go anywhere (but that’s just because I’m an anti-social weirdo).
I started in session singing. I happened to be in the studio one day when a voice actor couldn’t make it. I casually mentioned that I could do it if they wanted, and they ended up liking it so I did a bunch through that studio. Almost everything is virtual now but I’m glad I got that in-person experience!
What sort of voice acting jobs do you get?
Sadly, I’m not great at impersonations. I can’t do accents well or change my voice easily, so I typically get jobs that use my natural voice. This is usually just straightforward ads or promos. I also did a “please don’t run by the pool” vocal for a hotel once, haha.
My most common jobs are either excited or relaxed; I think those are the attitudes I “sell” best. If it’s an energetic commercial, I act like a cool, older sister of a teen show. I’m the experienced, cool sister you want to be, so you need this jacket (or whatever I’m selling). If it’s a relaxed commercial, I go into my hippie yoga instructor voice. You can trust me, just breathe and buy this dish soap.
What has been your favorite voice acting job thus far?
Although I primarily do commercials, I love doing cartoons! My dream is to be on a major show one day. I hope The Simpsons still exists by the time I’m big enough to audition, haha.
I also do voiceovers for songs quite a bit. Someone will hire me to be a news reporter in the beginning of their song, or just a random chant over music or something. Those allow me to be completely creative and explore new techniques and styles.
What differences are there between recording vocals for a song and recording vocals for voice acting?
For voice acting, you really have to put your whole body into it. You might think you’re overdoing it, but since no one will see you, your voice is even more important. I think it’s easy to tell when celebrities aren’t trained in voice acting but try it anyway. There’s a lack of energy or something, you can just tell.
For both singing and voice acting, you have to be in the right mindset. I don’t know if any other session musicians or voice actors struggled in quarantine, but I learned the hard way that you can’t just record whenever you have time. You have to prepare mentally and physically or it will show in your performance.
One major difference between voice acting and singing is that you can get away with less quality audio for singing. I always tell beginning session singers that they don’t have to have the most expensive equipment. While that’s still true for voice acting, you have to focus more on quality a bit. A song’s mix engineer can fix average audio (to an extent). In voice acting, you’re auditioning with just your voice. There’s no music to cover up your room noise, and your audition is going to be played along with hundreds of others, and it will be easy to tell who is using quality gear.
What kind of clients do you service?
A lot of my companies are smaller or local brands, which I much prefer to working with larger corporations! The money may be better with big ad agencies, but it will burn you out so fast. I would get calls at midnight asking for last-minute changes, they’d change their minds a thousand times, then it would take forever to get paid. Smaller companies are usually more hands-on, you talk directly to the person who makes decisions, and you typically have a much better and easier time. Of course, I wouldn’t turn down a larger company, haha. Sometimes the money is worth it, sometimes not, so you just have to decide what’s worth it to you!
How long does it take to do a job?
This is always tricky, because it depends on the job itself, the client, the deadline, etc. I usually have a turnaround time of 3-5 business days. However, if I have a 24-hour deadline, I can’t wait until I’m in the right headspace, I have to force myself to get there.
In terms of recording time, I would say I’m in the booth for about 45 minutes for a 30-second read. That’s if I have no tech issues, the script is perfect, etc. I think a lot of people think it should take 30 seconds, so there’s a lot of “expectation management” to be done upfront.
How do you go about getting new clients? Are there any job platforms you recommend?
Most clients find me through my website! I highly recommend starting a website for anyone wanting to do voice acting professionally. You can post your reels on SoundCloud and embed them into your site.
There are a bunch of job platforms (like Fiverr or Upwork), but I would say to use caution when working with them. Some of them are based on algorithms that I think aren’t fair to women. They’re based on how often and how quickly you respond to messages, so when half of your messages are creepy or not worth responding to, it will affect your rankings. However, if you don’t mind responding to those then feel free!
There are also sites like Voice123, which are known as “pay to play” sites. You’ll pay a yearly membership and have access to audition for jobs that the public doesn’t get. Some people love them, some don’t, so you’ll just have to learn what you prefer.
What is the financial investment to start a voice acting service?
You’ll absolutely need a quality microphone and a decent sounding room. In voice acting, you can tell immediately when someone doesn’t have pro sound. You can make a demo in a pro studio, but then you’ll need access to that studio for jobs, because your reel needs to match your delivery for clients.
I also recommend making a website, which can be expensive but you can get cheaper, ready-made ones if you’re just starting out. The sound quality is so important, though, so I recommend focusing on that!
This is just a hunch, but I think more companies would rather work with someone with great sound that isn’t as great of an actor, over a great actor with bad sound. You can coach someone to act better, but there’s little you can do to fix bad sound.
You can get a quality condenser microphone for a few hundred dollars, hang some blankets in a closet and start there. You’ll also need decent headphones, an interface to connect the mic to the computer, and an audio recording program or DAW. Some DAWs have free trials, so you can try some and see what work for you. I’m guessing most people reading this already have some recording equipment since they’re on Crafty Musician! 🙂
Would you be willing to share how much you make a month with voice acting? If not, would you be able to share an income range to expect?
Sure I’m fine with it haha! Voice acting is my “side hustle” to my session singing, so it honestly varies. It’s usually a couple hundred a month, give or take. Voice acting income range is similar to music, because you have people making millions of dollars for one episode of a show, but then there are way more people like me who can’t make a living off of it, but they average it out so it seems like everyone in voice acting makes $50k a year, haha. We all know that’s not true for music! Sadly, it’s not true for voice acting either, but there’s always the hope that you’ll become one of the bigger earners someday.
The price of a voice acting job depends on the market size, the company value, the length of the ad, and the amount you feel comfortable charging. A lot of people are afraid to negotiate, but do a little background research on the company before offering a price! Your time and talents have value!
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Most of the work I do is “for hire,” meaning I’m paid upfront one time and I don’t get any royalties. This is fine for smaller jobs that I know won’t be worldwide or anything. You can negotiate on this too if you want more or less money upfront!
Are there any training programs you recommend?
I took an in-person voice acting class, which I don’t think exists anymore. However, I do know of a few online courses available. Right now I’m taking the Nancy Cartwright MasterClass on voice acting. She is the voice of Bart Simpson and several other characters. I’m vlogging about my experiences with the class, so follow me if you want to know how it goes!
Be careful about some schools, though. If they promise vague things (like “commercial success”) or if their reviews seem fake, you’ll want to do some research. Most companies/clients don’t care what voice-acting class you took, so whatever course helps you perform better is what you should use!
What advice would you have for someone who wants to get into voice acting?
Before doing anything, I would assess what you need. Unfortunately, there is a barrier for entry and that is quality gear. You don’t need a $5,000 microphone, but you can’t just record straight into your laptop in your bathroom. See what you need and how much it will cost.
Once you have what you need, then it’s just a matter of putting yourself “out there.” I know that sounds like old-school advice, but really it’s just like you would promote your music. The goal is to get clients or maybe an agent, so your marketing, social media, etc should focus on that. You can also sign up for any of those job boards or Pay-to-Play services if you want to do that.
I also recommend constantly working to improve your craft. Read the news out loud. Find scripts online and get a friend to do them with you. Take an online course if you can.
Also, be nice to the studio people if you record in person! There are many stories of great voice actors who lost jobs because they gave the sound engineer an attitude. Voice acting is fun, but you also have to be receptive to criticism and feedback. It’s a small industry and word goes around!
More about Mella: Mella is a session singer, songwriter, and voiceover actor. Her work has been featured in national commercials, radio spots and music educational facilities. Outside of the studio, Mella has a passion for animal rescue and is often fostering dogs or rabbits. She blogs frequently about the music industry at www.mellamusic.com.
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