Creating A Home Recording Studio

So, at this point in my journey through the world of voice acting I figure it's a good time to recap. So far I have:

1. Completed my training with one of the best voice training organizations in the country, Voice Coaches, http://voicecoaches.com/

2. Created my demo CD's, with both commercial and narrative samples .

3. Created business cards and letterhead.

4. Sent out letters and demo's to all of the local producers and radio stations.

5. Started booking local and regional voice-over jobs.

6. Accumulated some money from the work I've done.

The logical next step was to create a small home recording studio. Why, you might ask would I do that? Well, the reason is that having the ability to record in your own studio opens up an entire other realm of possible voice-over work.

In today's fast-paced world, companies are looking to turn their projects around very quickly. In many cases, companies need the voice-over portion of the project done within a 24 to 48 hour time frame. Finding a producer, and a studio to record in, and scheduling time to have the voice talent come in and record can be very time consuming. This process also limits a company to only utilizing talent that is within a certain geographic proximity.

With the internet, companies can now go out and seek talent from anywhere in the world, and that is exactly what they do. Companies such as Voices.com, http://voices.com/, created by my friend Stephanie Ciccarelli and her husband David, have tapped into the power of the internet to bring companies seeking voice talent together with voice actors seeking work. Having a home recording studio enables voice actors to audition online for jobs they would otherwise never have an opportunity to try out for.

So, once you've established yourself in your local market (or before if you have the cash to invest in equipment), and started making some money, a great next step is to expand your market by creating for yourself the ability to record in your own studio. Once you've done that, the possibilities are literally endless.

In my next post, I'll talk more about the details of actually building my home recording studio, and point out some of the mistakes I made so you won't have to. Any of you out there who have built a studio, give me your thoughts as well.

In the meantime...keep talking!

Michael

http://mlenzvoice.tripod.com/