Jordan Friedman, President and Chief Chill Officer of The Stress Coach has made it his life’s mission to de-stress the world. After being inspired by a stress management class he took, he turned his focus to developing and producing programs and resources on stress management for companies, schools, and organizations. One of the tools he’s created is the Calmcast app, which has sleep enhancers, breathing exercises, and mindfulness trips. The innovative app is intended for wide audiences of individuals from students to professionals. To find voice actors for the various app features, Friedman decided to try Backstage. He shares his best voiceover advice from finding talent for the app.
Know your voice, and how to adapt it.
Freidman says his first experience casting with Backstage produced a huge response in terms of auditions. He was looking for chill voices who could deliver lines in a calm, soothing tone with a neutral accent. “There were a lot of auditions to review, but the Backstage platform makes it easy to listen to, filter, and favorite specific auditions.” Paying attention to the role details and knowing how to adjust your voice can make a difference in your audition. Following content and tone instructions as well as formatting instructions is important to make your submission stand out. Freidman found what he was looking for in the two voice actors he cast, Edward Shock and Chris Perry. He says he “will likely go back to them and others who auditioned with additional work.”
How To Become a Voice Actor Pay attention to the prescreen instructions.
Working with one of Backstage’s casting specialists, Friedman’s casting call was set up to request prescreen auditions, meaning that actors were asked to record lines for initial consideration. Since actors can submit their audition with their initial submissions with the prescreen tool, it is important to follow the instructions the casting director includes. He advises actors to “Read the job notes and directions carefully and record the audition script if asked to do so. Most actors did this for my jobs, but I ended up skipping over those who did not, because it was important to me to hear how an actor would read the actual final project.” Not to mention, it is always important to see that talent can follow instructions.
Add a personal touch
Friedman notes that small additions can make a difference. “I’d recommend that actors include a few words of intro on the recorded auditions such as, ‘Hi, I’m Jordan and I’ve done a few relaxation recordings in the past and really love this kind of work. Thanks.’ It may seem trivial, but these little messages make this work more enjoyable for me because it restores some person-to-person interaction that a lot of our amazing technology has taken away. They also demonstrate interest in the work, which for a small business owner like me, is really important. And when you get a lot of auditions, a brief personal message can help get you remembered.”
Check out Backstage’s voiceover audition listings!
