Beginner? Working Pro? Somewhere in between? Click on your category below.
Finding the right classes for your skill level is EASY! Just click one of the categories below. If you have any questions about the appropriate category for your experience, we’d love to help you figure it out.
- For BEGINNERS
THE BEGINNING SEMINAR
Directors: Roni Gallimore, Aaron Miner & Vicki Baum
Length: 10-hour weekend seminar
Class Notes: None
If you are ready to begin your adventure into voice-over training, THIS IS THE PLACE TO START! Launch into a class packed full of information, performance exercises and FUN. You’ll explore basic voice acting fundamentals including detailed acting choices and script interpretation – including playback and feedback of recorded performances, making this class a unique experience in online training choices. As your directors take you through commercial and character scripts, by the end of the day you’ll have a much clearer understanding of the voice acting craft, and an awareness of the particular set of skills and techniques you’ll need to succeed in the current voice-over marketplace. THREE DIRECTORS in one class make this a unique training experience!
Directors: Chuck Kourouklis, Brian Sommer
Length: 10-hour weekend seminar
Class Notes: None
Whether or not you think you “do characters”, we’re here to tell you that you DO! Why? Because you’ve been six years old, when playing wasn’t about pretending to be a character, but about being the character, letting go and using your imagination. And with that mindset, you can learn to do anything, even characters. This daring duo will share their insights, tricks and techniques that have led to their remarkable success in the character genre. Gain an enhanced understanding of the character creation process and realize just how freeing and exhilarating it is as an adult to simply let go and play. After this weekend, you will possess an increased confidence in your ability to invent colorful and memorable, yet realistic characters. With Chuck and Brian’s expertise and encouragement, get ready to unleash the characters that live within you that you never knew existed.
INTRODUCTION TO DIRECTING 
Director: Samantha Paris
Length: 7-hour one-day seminar
Class Notes: None
There is no time like the present to start your expedition into one of the most important skills for working voice actors: self-direction. And there is literally no one better on the planet than our intrepid Founder, Samantha Paris, to help you take those first steps. Learning the basics of self-direction including figuring out who you are talking to, and really WHY you are saying the words on the paper (and btw it’s not because you are selling a product,) will not only give insight into what is ultimately going to be expected of you in those more advanced classes, but it will add value to any class you take in the meantime, as you will hopefully be silently directing your fellow students along with the instructor. A class within a class. Neat.
INTRODUCTION TO NARRATION
Director: Vicki Baum
Length: 11-hour weekend seminar AND a 14-hour four-week seminar
Class Notes: This class is being offered in two different schedule formats.
We live in a world where communication is way beyond the written word. Companies brand their innovative products through videos, employers train their employees through videos, medical professionals learn about new treatments through videos and on and on and on. And what do all those videos around the world need? You guessed it… narrators! The different genres of narration are endless including audio tours, audio books, tutorials, medical narration, television shows and documentary narration amongst many others. During this class, you’ll explore some of those narration styles and techniques as you work with a wide variety of copy including the always growing field of narration for the populous tech companies. Learn not only the technical elements of narration, but also how to engage the listener and weave an engaging story that takes your audience along for the ride, without overpowering the visuals. You’ll acquire a clear perspective on the storytelling skills required to deliver strong, connected, narration performances.
LOOSEN UP ALREADY!
Director: Vicki Baum
Length: 10-hour weekend seminar
Class Notes: None
Voice-over intrigues you, even calls to you… But when the moment comes to perform, you clam up, your vocal cords constrict and the wonderfully inspired back story you’ve come up with for this script doesn’t emerge as fully as you’d imagined in your head. You are NOT ALONE! This is a very normal response when you are diving into a creative pursuit, maybe for the first time in your life. You’re worried about being “good.” Let us remind you that for the time being, you get to be a beginner, and you need to give yourself some grace. However (and that’s just a fancy but), you do need to free yourself from the shackles of expectation and just loosen up already! It’s in those moments of total freedom and passion that the “good” stuff happens. So, join in with Vicki, working on a variety of commercial and character scripts, to have fun, be silly and fly free.
SIMPLY ACTINGDirector: Frank Coppola
Length: 12-hour four-week workshop
Class Notes: None
This class could just as easily be called “Introduction to Script Analysis”. Frank teaches the fundamental acting techniques he’s learned and used successfully for decades on-camera and on the stage, both as an actor and director, including breaking down the script into beats and assigning intentions, developing your character’s back story and asking yourself what happened right before the script starts. These script analysis skills are a critical and mandatory expertise that every actor – from community theatre to Hollywood – whether it be voice-over, on stage or on-camera absolutely needs to book the job. Through participation in theater games and improv exercises you’ll increase your comfort level, gain confidence in your performance ability and learn to make bold choices that will bring your acting to life. Spend time learning how to apply these fundamental acting concepts to performing commercial voice-over copy.
THE WORLD OF VOICE-OVER: AN INTRODUCTION
Directors: Vicki Baum, Chuck Kourouklis
Length: 3-hour overview (with performance participation!)
Class Notes: None
Ever dreamed of what it would be like to voice a commercial, a cartoon or a video game? Is it time you dipped your toe into the pool known as the voice-over industry? There is no better place to start than right here. The morning will start off with a hybrid format (students in-person AND online), where you’ll learn to voice actual commercial and character scripts that are simple in nature but packed with fun! Then Vicki & Chuck will offer a straightforward outlook regarding the financial realities of the business, the commitment and training required to become a successful, working voice actor, the advantages and pitfalls of online casting, and how you’ll know when you’re really ready for a demo and a talent agent. You’ll get to ask all your burning voice-over questions. What a fun way to spend a Saturday morning!
- For INTERMEDIATESBEYOND BEGINNING
Director: Vicki Baum
Length: 9-hour three-week workshop
Class Notes: None
Now that you’ve forged a foundation in the fundamental basics of voice acting (and you’re starting to understand what you don’t know YET), it’s time to level up and go above and beyond what you’ve already experienced, to start considering additional factors that deepen script analysis, unbiased self-direction and how you can use them to nuance your performance including subtext, physical environment and character intention. Explore all these elements (and more) that further the specificity and authenticity of your performance. Ultimately, you’ll be able to leverage all of this knowledge as you take a huge leap into more advanced training in the pursuit of your dream.
Director: Chuck Kourouklis
Length: 10-hour weekend seminar
Class Notes: None
What color is love…Orange? Trust…Blue? Excitement…Red? The Colors method has helped thousands of actors including your instructor, construct a richer, more vibrant voice-over foundation by assigning different emotions to a specific color. As Chuck leads you through an exploration of your full vocal and emotional spectrum and associates it with colors, you’ll uncover a multitude of voices and interpretations that you’ve never before considered or realized you were capable of delivering. Not to mention you’ll now possess a tool that is so relevant and effective, it is used every single day by busy, working voice actors.
CONTACT US FOR MORE INFORMATION!
FOUNDER’S SEMINAR
Director: Samantha Paris, Vicki Baum
Length: 8.5-hour weekend seminar
Class Notes: None
This challenging weekend seminar is script analysis, mic technique and a few surprises all rolled up into one. It’s uncanny how much better your acting gets when you understand the script, so Samantha and Vicki will take an in-depth look at that crucial skill of analyzing the script. You’ll work on dialogues and bring the scene alive while tapping into a creative side you never knew you possessed that sits lurking beneath the surface. And those surprises we spoke of? Well, if we told you what they were, it wouldn’t be a surprise now would it? At the end of the weekend, you’ll be shocked, amazed and most importantly excited at the new level of performance you’re now capable of. And let’s be honest, any time spent with the passionate pairing of Samantha and Vicki will turbo-boost your ability to dive into your imagination to make creative choices and level up your acting skills. And that’s kinda the point, right?
CONTACT US FOR MORE INFORMATION!
IMPROV FOR VOICE ACTORS
Director: Anna Mathias
Length: 10-hour weekend seminar
Class Notes: None
Ever wonder what a bowling butterfly would giggle like? How would a rhino with low self-esteem approach a confrontation with a co-worker? Get ready to find out as you open your mind to all the endless possibilities that live in the universe within you while getting rid of that pesky fear that oppresses your true creative self! In this energetic and fun workout, Anna will jolt you out of your predictable everyday choices, freeing you to take chances and find new and unusual characters, voices and approaches to copy that even you didn’t know you had. Using a variety of tried and true theater games and improv techniques that she’s perfected over decades of experience, you’ll gain confidence as you learn to relax. Not to mention that well-placed improv is an effective way to shake up an audition and get you noticed by casting professionals, a true secret weapon for working voice actors.
INTRODUCTION TO HOME RECORDING
Director: Kevin Cleland
Length: 12-hour four-week workshop
Class Notes: Prerequisite: Students must understand basic computer commands such as Cut, Copy, Paste, Save, Save As, Undo/Redo, etc.
In a voice-over industry full of remote live direction and where auditions are predominantly (and by predominantly we mean, like…99.9%) done at home, the opportunity to break into the business is as ripe as ever. And while being a well-trained, skilled actor will always be paramount, so now is having a professional-grade home studio. Don’t fret, that does not mean spending thousands of dollars or being a genius engineer, but you do need to be educated. Join Voicetrax’s Los Angeles-based, demo production master Kevin Cleland as he takes you through the basic fundamentals of home recording including recording hardware and software, editing conventions, exporting sound files along with suggestions for a basic set-up if you don’t already have one. By the end of this factually jam-packed workshop, you will know how to record, edit and submit an mp3 of sufficient quality so you can start getting in on all those super cool, intermediate and advanced Voicetrax classes that require home recording capabilities and be several steps closer to professional grade recordings.
Director: Roni Gallimore 
Length: 12-hour four-week workshop
Class Notes: None
Ah, comedy. The art of making people laugh. Easy, right? Not so fast. Comedy is not just about fun and games… it’s a serious and lucrative business. Behind every well-timed punchline and perfectly executed bit, there’s machinery at work, and it takes more than a good sense of humor to pull it off. Join Roni, one of our resident redheads (did ’ya see her on the cover laughing her you-know-what off?), to explore what makes something truly funny. She’ll utilize numerous theatre games including improv to assist you in the timing necessary to bring comedic radio ads to life, some that are brilliantly written, aaand perhaps some that aren’t quite, let’s just say, Clio Award winners, and leave it at that. When done right, comedy is an art form. It requires patience and practice, and that’s exactly what you’ll get in this world premiere workshop.
CLICK HERE FOR AUDIO DESCRIPTION FEATURING DEB SKEATON
SETTING THE SCENE
Directors: Chuck Kourouklis, Roni Gallimore
Length: 12-hour four-week workshop
Class Notes: This course includes a pre-class homework assignment.
Looking over hill and dale, there is no voice-over copy to be found in this workshop. A wide, rolling expanse filled only with scenes (dialogues) from movies and plays for you to work on over a month’s time with a partner! As you dip your toe into the scene study pool for perhaps the very first time, you’ll discover what we say from the start of your training: voice acting IS acting. Approach the skills of script analysis, self-direction and reacting to a partner as you strengthen your foundational acting skills in a whole new way. Lean into the visualization necessary as you learn to “block” (the physical movements) a scene. And before you start fretting about having to memorize your script, STOP! Memorization is not required, but you will be asked to become quite familiar with your scene which will come naturally as the weeks progress. And just as you think you’ve traversed every nook and cranny of your scene with Chuck, Roni will step in and offer further points of view to add additional layers to your work as you volley back and forth between Guest Directors week by week. And when it’s all said and done you can translate all the advantages of working a script for weeks with the same partner and apply it to your voice-over repertoire because remember, voice acting IS acting.
CONTACT US FOR MORE INFORMATION!
VOICE-OVER 411
Director: LA Agent
Length: 10-hour weekend seminar
Class Notes: None
This intensive workout with one of Los Angeles’ most experienced and enthusiastically supportive talent agents will consist of industry insights, advice and how-to’s. Topics such as professionalism, attitude, goals and industry do’s & don’ts will be explored. Along with the informative industry conversation with someone who knows the lay of the voice-over land, you’ll participate in live in-class performances, getting feedback from Agent B, while getting an exclusive behind the scenes peek at what agents are actually looking for in the auditions they receive. You’ll get to ask an industry veteran all your burning questions. A voice-over gift for sure!
WHAT A CHARACTER
Director: Brian Sommer
Length: 12-hour four-week workshop
Class Notes: This course includes a pre-class and weekly homework assignments.
Explore the cornucopia of characters that perhaps you don’t even realize are lurking inside you. How might your dastardly villain sell earthquake insurance? Or what about your best superhero on a first date? Find out as you perform an ambiguous script and examine how a character would act in different situations and surroundings. You’ll gain practical experience as you are challenged to dig deeper into the psyche of your character making it more authentic, well-rounded and easier to sustain, a must-have skill when it comes to video games, animation and narration recording sessions.
- FREE for EVERYONE!
Director: YOU and your fellow students (and perhaps a Guest Director will pop in!)Length: 3-hour lab, monthly
Class Notes: None
There’s seriously never been something so “for everyone” in the 37-year history of Voicetrax. We really mean it: Beginners, Intermediate and Advanced/Working Professional students, even Alumni! E.V.E.R.Y.O.N.E. is invited. This special lab was born from our desire to give back to our Voicetrax family and provides the virtual “bricks-and-mortar” for a FREE monthly workout group. For one day each month we are opening one of our Zoom channels for you to remotely drop in and work on whatever kind of script you choose including dialogues as we utilize breakout rooms for partners to practice in private. You’ll get the opportunity to receive performance feedback from your fellow students as well as providing constructive critiques of your own, which we all know very specifically helps with the ever-important self-direction skills necessary for success. Learn and have fun in a casual environment. And did we mention there could just maaaybe be a surprise pop-in by an elite Voicetrax Guest Director? Guess you’ll just have to show up to find out!
- For INTERMEDIATE/ADVANCED
3… 2… 1… BLASTOFF!
Director: Brian Sommer
Length: 12-hour four-week workshop
Class Notes: None
Take flight with Voicetrax Alum, Brian Sommer, in this rapid-fire workshop. Your turn will begin with an unseen character audition sheet. On the ready, set, “GO” from Brian (he has a stopwatch and he’s not afraid to use it), you will have 3 minutes to make your acting choices preparing for your performance, 2 chances to record the copy with Brian and will choose 1 of those takes to submit. Because Brian will be putting a “revolving door” on the class roster, there’s no time for deep philosophical character study. It’s so easy to get wrapped up in finding the character, that we forget the basics (who, what, where, etc.), so this class compels the student to return to those basics. The rapid-fire approach and limited time will force you to focus on the fundamentals and trust your training to create a believable, unique character.
Director: Rebecca Schweitzer
Length: 14-hour two-day workshop
Class Notes: This course includes homework assignments. Students must have home recording capabilities. This course is in-person only. Come on down!
The symbiotic relationship between voice-over acting and stage acting will be fully explored in this world premiere weekend workshop. Acting since she was five years old, Rebecca has a lifetime of experience to bring to her students and has carefully crafted a curriculum especially designed for the current needs of Voicetrax students. She’ll take you from the stage to the sound booth and back again. What fundamental truths do these two styles (and all styles really) of acting have in common? What habits and techniques do not translate? Trying to project to the back row of a theatre in a sound booth perhaps? But it goes even deeper than that. How is backstory creation affected based on your acting style approach? How can these two styles inform each other? As more and more voice actors are being encouraged by their voice-over agent to enter the on-camera world, this class becomes all the more relevant.
CONTACT US FOR MORE INFORMATION!
ANIMATION MOTIVATION
Director: Matt Moy
Length: 10-hour weekend seminar
Class Notes: This course includes a pre-class homework assignment. Students must have home recording capabilities.
From his time on prime-time television or his character credits, Matt is stoked to guide you through a variety of animation scripts. It’s time for you to work with this very special Voicetrax alum rock star! From home recording performances that will receive feedback in class, to fun and exciting animated characters performed live in class, you’ll get an opportunity to pick his brain and learn how Matt’s experienced, comedic timing applies to dissecting scripts. How does he bring variety to his individual reads? How do you create different reads for the same script? With Matt at the helm, all those questions will be answered, and a wondrous time is sure to be had by all.
AUDIO TOUR NARRATION
Director: Peter Dunne
Length: 14-hour four-week workshop
Class Notes: This course includes a pre-class homework assignment.
Remember the first time you were transported to another place in time just by listening to an engaging museum audio tour? Learn the art of storytelling with Peter Dunne who has locally cast, directed and produced audio tours for many of the world’s best-known museums and most prestigious exhibits. To expand your audio tour auditioning skills, you’ll read a wide range of copy from scholarly and intellectually demanding narratives to funny scripts for kids. Peter will coach you on getting through the challenges all voice actors face during long sessions including reading cold, taking direction on the fly, handling difficult words and sustaining energy, characters, dialects, concentration and connection to the copy as you weave an engaging and imaginative story. And don’t forget, this subset of the narration genre is ripe with repeat busine$$.
CONTACT US FOR MORE INFORMATION!
Director: Chuck KourouklisLength: 10-hour weekend seminar
Class Notes: This course includes a pre-class homework assignment. Students must have home recording capabilities.
This barn burner of a seminar is part roller coaster ride, part memory jolt, and ALL an exercise in The Grand Unifying Theory for Voice Actors. Most voice-over pros are actively auditioning these weird, arcane, totally-out-of-context-one-sided character scripts. Now here’s THE question: to fill in all those missing pieces and get that darn character off the page, how many of you are remembering to use the tools you’ve acquired over the years at Voicetrax? Chuck will pry the sarcophagus open and dust off some impactful tools you might have forgotten. Get ready for “anything goes” – spontaneous improv, spontaneous direction, turn-on-a-dime changes. And when the dust settles, you’ll be one bad ass motherchucker, just like our wonderful Mr. Kourouklis. Consider the resulting swagger a free gift with purchase.
CONTACT US FOR MORE INFORMATION!
BEAT IT!
Director: Vicki Baum
Length: 12-hour four-week workshop
Class Notes: This course includes a pre-class and weekly homework assignments. Students must have home recording capabilities.
When telling a story in a 30 or 60 second commercial script, you don’t have time to dilly-dally (it’s a legit word youngins… look it up). To be competitive, it’s crucial for you to understand the structure, rhythm and emotional shifts – called beats – within the story being told. Being a unit of action within a script that typically signals a shift in energy, mood or direction, beats help build tension, reveal character motivations and drive the story forward. Hone your abilities to expertly recognize when one beat ends and another begins, and the significance of these transitions. Additionally, you’ll learn how to create a “beat map”, a written outline that details the progression of beats within a script assisting you to track the emotional journey and making it easier to bring the words up off the page. A technique that makes your life easier? We’re here for that!
CLICK HERE FOR AUDIO DESCRIPTION FEATURING ALVIN LIN
BEAT IT! CHARACTERSDirector: Vicki Baum
Length: 12-hour four-week workshop
Class Notes: This course includes a pre-class and weekly homework assignments. Students must have home recording capabilities.
This wildly popular approach to script analysis is back and taking on characters in this iteration. Returning too from the commercial version of this class is the “beat map”; a written outline that details the progression of beats with a script that assists you in tracking the emotional rollercoaster that often comes in a video game or animation script. In fact, we’d go so far as to say that even though you usually have longer than sixty seconds to tell the story, there are more beats – a shift in energy, vibe or direction – in an average character script versus a commercial script versus a narration script. That means more work on the front end for a more glorious end game performance. As you learn to recognize where one beat ends and another begins, Vicki will take you “deep beat diving” introducing the philosophy that perhaps you can have more than one vibe within one beat. What?!? Insert mind-blown emoji here. Demystify character script analysis once and for all as you create the path that takes the words up and off the page.
CONTACT US FOR MORE INFORMATION!
Director: Vicki Baum
Length: 12-hour four-week workshop
Class Notes: This course includes a pre-class and weekly homework assignments. Students must have home recording capabilities.
Tired of spending time auditioning online with few positive results? NEW FLASH: It may not be your performances that are holding you back. (Insert pearl-grasping gasp here) Do you need to apply your training and submit a creative, organic performance? Of course! But when it comes to online casting sites there is much more strategy to it and it can be super intimidating to know where to start but have no fear! Vicki has booked in the top 10% nationwide on Voice123 for years, and this comprehensive, A-Z class reveals not only how she does that, but how she consistently books through various other audition resources as a result of her networking and hustle. Vicki will cover her entire online auditioning strategy including which auditions to choose, how to build your profile and professionally communicate with potential clients as well as how she keeps track of her finances, bills clients… basically how she acts as CEO running her voice-over business. And as a special bonus, for the first time EVER, Vicki will welcome in a bonafide Voice123 employee to ask all of your burning algorithm (and other) questions straight from the platform’s mouth!
CHARACTER DISCOMFORT ZONE
Director: Roni Gallimore
Length: 12-hour four-week workshop Class Notes: This course includes homework assignments.
There you sit all snuggly and oh so comfortable… aaaahhhhh… (insert annoyingly abrupt air horn here) Now get the “H-E-Double-Hockey-Sticks” all the way uuuuuuuupp!!! Are you ready for a challenge? Of course you are because you know very well that you can be comfortable and you can grow, but you can’t do both. But don’t fret! Roni, the kindest member of the Voicetrax Legen-waitforit-dary Think Tank, will guide you through character scripts that are outside of your wheelhouse to make these specific roles, well… part of your wheelhouse. Each week Roni will come at this incredibly relevant exercise from a different approach. One night she might give you a dialogue and plenty of time to practice with your partner, or maybe you’ll have a monologue with little to no time to prepare and only your instincts to guide you. As you stretch and grow in a safe environment with Roni’s loving support, you will be amazed at the sheer volume of characters you are genuinely capable of bringing to life.
CONTACT US FOR MORE INFORMATION!
COPY 911: TURNING DISASTROUS INTO FABULOUS
Directors: Samantha Paris, Chuck Kourouklis
Length: 12-hour four-week workshop
Class Notes: None
If you’re ready to take on a real challenge, come prepared to do some very heavy lifting, because this workshop is designed to tax your script analysis and interpretive abilities to the nth degree. Give any average voice actor a well written script, and chances are that he or she will do at least an adequate job of performing it. But it takes a true voice-over champion to turn a horrific script into a listenable or even good commercial. Why is learning this skill important? Because in the real world of auditions, bad commercial scripts outnumber good scripts 2 to 1 and the pay is the same. Throughout this class, you’ll tackle script after cringe-worthy script and learn how to clear this minefield without getting blown to smithereens! PRIZE ALERT: This workshop will include a fun mystery challenge whose reward to the winner will be a free private lesson with Samantha!
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DIALECT INTERVENTION
Director: PJ Ochlan
Length: 12-hour four-week workshop
Class Notes: This course includes a pre-class homework assignment.
Your bad accents have affected us negatively in the following ways: it makes us sad that your British video game character sounds more like he’s from New York high society and it keeps us up at night thinking about the session where you’ll have to sustain your shaky Chicago accent (that regrettably sounds equal parts Irish, US Southern and just plain bad) for 100+ lines of dialogue. But don’t give up, there is hope! We’ve invited interventionist, award-winning voice actor and dialect dynamo, PJ Ochlan, to rehab your inconsistent dialects. This class is formatted to give you the time you need between classes to absorb the process, so that when you finish you will possess the knowledge necessary to practice and polish an accent you can take to the bank. Throughout this odyssey PJ will introduce you to his tried-and-true approach to building ANY accent in the world, which translates to solid gold for a video game voice actor. The time has come for you to make a decision. Will you seek help today?
DIGGING DEEPER
Director: Chopper Bernet
Length: 18-hour six-week workshop
Class Notes: This course includes homework assignments. Students must have home-recording capabilities.
The idea of this class has been burning deep in Chopper’s soul for some time now, and for those of you who don’t know Chopper yet, that’s deeeeep. Yes, he has worked in the voice over world for twenty plus years doing animation (Spirit), commercial (Charles Schwab) and promo (NBC, MSNBC), but he has also been on-camera on television shows, as well as acting in micro budgeted films as well as massively budgeted films (Terminator 3). He is an actor through and through, and he is ready to share his hard-earned experience with our students. Chopper will utilize monologues and scenes from film and television, as well as some improv exercises, assisting you to keep going deeper into the motivation and behavior of your characters. Chopper’s knack of bringing out of you a depth of acting you didn’t know your soul was capable of, will certainly keep you riveted all six weeks.
CONTACT US FOR MORE INFORMATION!
Director: Samantha Paris, Sirenetta LeoniLength: 8.5-hour weekend seminar
Class Notes: None
By now you’ve had a touch of the self-direction ideology of voice-over, and you’ve likely (and by likely we mean absolutely, 100%, for sure) heard from multiple teachers and working professional students that self-direction is the name of the game when it comes to auditioning, and they’d be exactly right. These days you are on your own to create an attention-grabbing, competitive audition. This seminar presents your chance to sit in the actual director’s chair, and you’ll soon realize that by having to articulate a clear analysis of a script as a director for one of your classmates, you will gain confidence in your ability to break it down for yourself when you are recording alone in your closet. Spend a weekend in the director’s chair channeling your “inner Samantha”.
Directors: Samantha Paris, Vicki Baum
Length: 12-hour four-week workshop
Class Notes: This course includes a pre-class homework assignment. Students must have home recording capabilities.
It’s common knowledge to most that have been around the voice-over industry for even a minute that self-direction is the name of the game when it comes to home auditioning, especially with the popularity of numerous online casting sites. These days you are on your own to create an attention-grabbing, competitive audition which can be difficult especially when the scripts are… shall we say… less than stellar (ok, we’ll say it, the scripts are s#!t!). You’ll be put through the paces of directing yourself as you pre-record those aforementioned scripts at home. Throughout class, Samantha and Vicki will provide straightforward feedback on your home recordings and take you through live performances of commercial and narration scripts obtained exclusively from online casting sites (so, yes, they’re s#!tty). But let’s face it, not every script you audition for whether it’s online or from an agency is going to be Pulitzer Prize winning, so there’s no time like the present to learn now how to navigate and dominate this type of copy.
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Director: Erik Braa Length: 10-hour weekend seminar
Class Notes: None
Get your funny on, as you work with one of the most naturally hilarious and spontaneously goofy (in a good way) voice actors we know! Utilizing comedic monologues, dialogues and group scripts, Erik will avail himself of his years of experience to help you bring comedic performances to life. Not only is comedy FUN, but it’s also a skill that you’ll most definitely want to develop as comedy is an incredibly lucrative business. Actors who have the cheekiness to just let go are a dream situation for agents, casting professionals, directors and producers. Nothing is off limits. Reacting to your partner? Yes. Getting lost in the scene? Absolutely. Improv? You better believe it. All of this is in full play as you get serious about the business of funny.
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GET IN THE ACTING GAME
Director: Dave Fennoy
Length: 10-hour weekend seminar
Class Notes: None
Join one of the first Voicetrax students ever, Dave Fennoy, as he explores approaching video game performances from a true actor’s perspective, as if they were cinematic characters because in video games these days they are! Dave is globally known for his gaming credits (The Walking Dead, anyone?), which means his ability to create a multi-faceted, genuine character is on point! With a million-dollar voice, Dave could have rested on his laurels, but he’s studied hard to develop his acting chops and he’ll absolutely do the same for you. Spend the weekend with Dave as he shares his philosophies examining how authenticity and context always bring a starring and even a bit player video game performance to life.
Directors: Chuck Kourouklis, Brian Sommer
Length: 12-hour four-week workshop
Class Notes: None
How lucky are we that we have two of the most accomplished & prolific video game actors in our back pocket: Chuck Kourouklis and Brian Sommer! This powerful pair have put their heads together and created quite the curriculum. Because of Chuck & Brian’s extensive experience, both having appeared in League of Legends, The Walking Dead and The Wolf Among Us (seeing a pattern perhaps?), they are in a unique position to give you advice, guidance and direction from BOTH sides of the sound booth glass. Not only can they speak expertly on what a producer is looking for since they’ve booked once or twice or, oh that’s right… hundreds of times, but they are also in a position, being actors themselves, to delve deep into the actor’s process and teach you what it takes to create a memorable audition that gets you cast. Needless to say, this class is intensive, involving and relevant – so come ready to play!
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HOME AUDITION HAVEN
Directors: The Voicetrax Legen-waitforit-dary Think Tank (VB, Roni & Chuck), Erik Braa
Length: 12-hour four-week workshop
Class Notes: This course includes a pre-class and weekly homework assignments. Students must have home recording capabilities.
Are you standing all by yourself out in the cold world known as home auditioning? Brrrrr… Come into the safe and warm refuge with your beloved Think Tank & The Viking himself, as these four professional voice actors guide you through script specs interpretation, understanding the writer’s intent, as well as making strategic, but bold acting choices. Each week your Guest Director will reveal their personal auditioning process so you can create your own, unique method that works best for all the internal and external life variables that can and will affect your ability to audition competitively. This workshop will assist you in avoiding the pitfalls of home auditions including knowing when to say “it’s done” and hitting submit while resisting the temptation to perform a bajillion takes and engineering the life out of the read. Build certainty and lock in your entire home auditioning process that will ultimately raise you to a level of professionalism that impresses.
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JOIN THE CONVERSATION
Director: Libby Clearfield
Length: 12-hour four-week workshop
Class Notes: This course includes homework assignments. Students must have home recording capabilities.
In this immersive, world premiere workshop with actress, casting professional and brand-new member of the Voicetrax clan, Libby Clearfield, you’ll hone the art of conversational acting, focusing on techniques to make scripted monologues feel natural, spontaneous and most importantly? Authentic. Whether you’re performing in a film, on stage, or in voice-over auditions, this class will equip you with the tools to create believable, relatable characters through organic speech patterns, savvy script analysis and real-life interactions. Through these practical exercises with Libby’s guidance, you’ll explore ways to break down scripted lines and bring your own unique voice to every role. Discover how to shed rigid line readings (ACTOR CAUGHT READING!) while overcoming common habits that make your performances feel “stiff” and enhancing emotional connection and spontaneity in your delivery. Embrace a more fluid, emotionally truthful performance style that resonates with audiences.
KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE
Director: LA Agent
Length: 10-hour weekend seminar
Class Notes: This course includes a pre-class homework assignment. Students must have home recording capabilities.
When asked what is the ONE thing she wishes every voice actor from beginners to seasoned professionals would absorb with a universal wave of her magical, directing wand, our wise Los Angeles agent immediately said: be as specific as possible as to WHO are you talking to! It’s amazing how many actors forget this critical piece of the backstory when analyzing a script, even though it is one of the basic fundamentals taught from the very beginning. And be specific! Not some nebulous, faceless person, but somebody you actually know, so your imagination can visualize them, and grab on to the emotions of the script. Agent B will get you to dig deeper into this part of script analysis to make sure you are precise in who you are talking to which will assuredly lead to an infinitely more natural and less “read-ee” performance.
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LESS IS MORE, BUT NOTHING IS NOTHING
Director: SF Agent
Length: 10-hour weekend seminar
Class Notes: None
You know that saying, “less is more”? Well, this is an entire seminar focusing on that exact premise. With the preponderance of real and conversational requests from producers and casting directors, the phrase “not over the top” is showing up all the time in copy specs. What does that mean? How far is too far? Most importantly, how do you stop from going too far in the opposite direction and delivering a boring, flat performance? Join this revered San Francisco agent whose been at the top of this industry for decades (and continues to be) to get an insider’s view on this very popular current trend and learn the balance between going for it and leaving your audience wanting more.
OFF THE PAGE
Director: Tasia Valenza
Length: 10-hour weekend seminar
Class Notes: None
As you start to really amp up your performances to a working professional, real-world, competitive level, one of the hardest things to do is to take words that you didn’t write and might not ever say, at least not in the way they’ve written it (have you EVER said introducing while sharing an exciting secret with a best friend?!?), and make them feel genuine, alive and real, aka “getting the words off the page”. Professionally performing since childhood both in front of the camera and behind the microphone, Tasia will employ her tricks of the trade, literally born from a lifetime of breaking down scripts of all flavors, to assist you in digging deep to flush out the true meaning of the script while developing the skills necessary to get unnatural voice-over copy to sound off-the-cuff and true. Approach commercial scripts as “mini plays” from a true actor’s perspective to get the most of out the script and your performance.
PRESS ONE FOR IVRDirector: Vicki Baum
Length: 7-hour one-day lab
Class Notes: None
Please hold… Your class description is very important to us… We will be with you in just a moment… In this workshop, Vicki will help you develop the skills and techniques necessary to work on voice activated response systems (automated phone prompts also known as Interactive Voice Response), including appropriate style, clarity, maintaining consistency and energy and techniques such as “concatenation”. And why should you be interested in IVR? Well, not only are the initial sessions usually very long (long = well paid), but when a bank needs to add a few prompts to their phone tree, who are they gonna call? (pleeeease don’t say Ghostbusters, that joke is sooo 1984, you know who’ll they’ll call… YOU! again and again and again) You’ll finish this workshop with a greater understanding of what it takes to be the “voice of a company”.
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REMOTELY SPEAKING: THE BERMUDA TRY-ANGLE
Director: Agents from New York and Los Angeles, Erik Braa
Length: 9-hour three-week workshop
Class Notes: This class includes weekly homework assignments. Students must have home recording capabilities.
New York… Los Angeles… San Francisco… The holy geographical trinity of voice-over populated by two bad-ass talent agents from New York and Los Angeles, and San Francisco acting powerhouse, Erik Braa. These experienced industry professionals, who are in the trenches every day, are ready to give you direct, non-nonsense feedback to your performances. We’re pulling out all the stops so you can virtually criss cross the country to hear what the best in the business thinks of your acting chops. And before you automatically assume (and we all know what that makes out of “u” and “me”) you know exactly how this class will unfold, you don’t! The instructors steering this will ship will illuminate different approaches or angles for you to try (see what we did there, huh, huhhhhh? Boy, are we clever…) in the scripts provided to you to record in your home studio for in-class feedback.
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Director: Thom Pinto Length: 10-hour weekend seminarClass Notes: None
How many times have you read direction that says “real and conversational” but all you see are copy points, copy points… and more copy points? Ugh. The struggle is real. The reality is that in our voice-over world of natural and extemporaneous, many scripts still require being able to deliver a strong dose of hard sell. Learn to balance these two worlds as Thom shares a variety of practical techniques he has developed to handle challenges typically encountered when auditioning for retail copy including over-written scripts, awkward phrasing, disclaimer tags and way too many exclamation points!!!!!
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Directors: Samantha Paris, Vicki Baum, Chuck Kourouklis, Sirenetta Leoni
Length: 18-hour six-week workshop
Class Notes: This course includes weekly homework assignments.
Simply put… if you don’t get the script, you don’t get the gig! This quintessential quad of teachers will help you unravel the mysteries of script interpretation as you analyze a variety of TV and radio commercials, animation, video game and narration scripts while discovering how to dissect copy intelligently to give you a leg up on the competition. You’ll learn to look for hidden clues (aka “bunnies”) and not just the ones buried in the body of the copy, but the ones you can glean from the sound effects, visuals, directions, music, length, even the agency name. Strengthen and broaden one of the most important foundational skills necessary for voice-over success.
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SHIFTING GEARS
Director: SF AgentLength: 10-hour weekend seminar
Class Notes: None
To engage your audience and win auditions, your interpretations must have facets, hues, shades, peaks and valleys, ya know… variety. Your instructor, a veteran talent agent, will help you develop intuitive, interesting and unique reads that highlight the “authentic you” and rid you of any “one note” tendencies – a huge challenge for most actors – your performances may have. (Wow two quotes in one sentence. Thank goodness we aren’t saying this in person. The “air quotes” would be seriously annoying…) He’ll work with you to bring out an authentic and unpredictable quality that will grab the attention of agents, producers and clients and help you book the job, and let’s face it… he knows!
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Director: Ned Lott
Length: 10-hour weekend seminar
Class Notes: A professional sounding singing voice is not required. Seriously! 😉 This course includes a pre-class homework bassignment.
Over the last several years the demand for characters that sing in feature films, television series and apps has greatly increased, and that will be the focus of this super unique class. Now before you say “Nope. Not me. I can’t sing!”, pleeeease remember that not every nutty, silly animated character sounds like Mariah Carey, Barbra Streisand or The Candlestick from Beauty And The Beast, so you don’t have to either! And if singing is totally comfortable for you, then it’s time to bring that “shower superstar” into the light. Get out of your comfort zone, let loose, remember why you started in voice-over in the first place and have some fun. And we haven’t even mentioned how singing your copy can bring about a freer you – oh wait... we just mentioned it… Whether singing scares you or you’re eager and ready to get your singing groove on, we know you’ll leave this class with an expanded fearlessness to audition singing characters.
TAKING ON THE PROTOTYPES
Director: Thom Pinto
Length: 10-hour weekend seminar
Class Notes: This course includes a pre-class homework assignment.
Producers frequently (what’s a word that’s more frequent than frequent? Oh yeah, always…) cast voices or write character specs using “prototypes” as a frame of reference. Whether they’re looking for someone who sounds like the hot “celebrity du jour” or a veteran voice actor who is highly regarded within the industry but not a household name, this seminar will give you a chance to immerse yourself in a wide variety of styles while listening, duplicating, and broadening your own vocal range by “borrowing” from the most sought-after spokespeople and character actors. By mimicking another actor’s syncopation, tone or attitude it will not only widen your interpretation possibilities, but it can open the door, inspire creativity and be the foundation of a whole new character for you to develop. This is a “must have” skill for any working voice actor.
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TEAMING WITH TALENT
Director: Vicki Baum, Aaron Miner
Length: 12-hour four-week workshop
Class Notes: This class includes weekly homework assignments. Students must have home recording capabilities.
We stopped short of calling this Vicki vs. Aaron (who would you bet on?), but it’s true that each week the roster will be divided between two teams who will duke it out for serious bragging rights. And don’t get too cozy on the team you’re on initially because each week the teams will be rearranged based on a very specific genre and style including commercial girl/guy next door, accented video game and cartoon characters, villains and villainesses, wise storytellers and authoritative but approachable narrators. This class hits on self-direction, script analysis, script choice, performing without much time for preparation, and includes a wide variety of genres and roles that are asked for often in auditioning. Super relevant and taught by two working voice actors. And if this jam-packed workshop isn’t enough, at the end of the four weeks, both Aaron and Vicki will each pick an overall “winner” and whomever they pick will win a free private lesson from them. C’mon, we needed to have some kind of contest, it is called Teaming With Talent.
THE COLOR OF ACTING
Director: Thom Pinto
Length: 10-hour weekend seminar
Class Notes: Prerequisite: Colors Of Your Voice or prior approval from Voicetrax.
Okay, so you’ve mastered the primary colors including blue, you’re feeling good about green. And you’re confident when it comes to their close cousin as your performances are being vaulted by violet. But how’s your aqua? Or your beige? Join the creator of the Colors acting system, Thom Pinto, where you’ll continue to examine the subtleties and nuances of using an expanded color palette when you create interesting and unique acting choices, including incorporating this technique to differentiate reads when tasked to do more than one interpretation. Experiment with longer monologues, funny partner reads, and some exercises designed specifically to help you be more visual with your performance.
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Director: Chuck KourouklisLength: 12-hour four-week workshop Class
Notes: This course includes homework assignments. Students must have home recording capabilities.
If you want to be a musician you need to learn to play the instrument, so if you want to be a rock star voice actor you need to be able to do the exact same thing with the microphone. It’s more than the technical things that include minimizing “p”-pops and distortion. It’s about establishing a scene (are you speaking from the other room?), the script analysis necessary to figure out that scene (are there words you are saying to yourself?) and then using proximity effect (your closeness to the mic) to leverage your authority, warmth or conversational quality. And then, oh yeah, lo and behold remembering to implement everything you’ve learned. Your mic technique skills should be continually developing right along with your self-direction, script analysis and acting skills.
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THE VERSATILITY FACTOR
Director: Chuck Kourouklis
Length: 12-hour four-week workshop
Class Notes: This course includes a pre-class assignment as well as weekly homework assignments. Students must have home recording capabilities.
It’s no secret that flexibility and adaptability are major ingredients to achieving success in the San Francisco Bay Area voice-over market, but let’s get real: it’s important everywhere. Do we honestly think there are a bunch of “one-trick pony” actors crushing it in Los Angeles? Not likely… And even more relevant, in the course of one day of home auditioning, an actor can very easily be asked to audition numerous different styles. In the four weeks of this workshop you’ll expand your skill set by covering four different genres of audition exercises. Unearth the secrets of delivering a memorable monologue, compare and contrast new school and old school narration, fine tune the art of acting in a vacuum with wild lining and navigate those pesky, deceptively difficult tags. You’ll traverse the rocky landscape of multiple genres and develop the true “versatility factor”.
Director: YOU!!
Directors: Vicki Baum and whatever Guest Director/alumni/working professional student might pop in… mwahahahahaha!
Length: All Participants – Preliminary round recorded at home
Finalists Only – Final round recorded at home plus 7-hour one-day lab
Class Notes: Students must have home recording capabilities.
Ladies and Gentlemen START… YOUR… ENGINES!! Rev up for a fun and exciting class/competition that will result in the winner receiving a FIVE HUNDRED DOLLAR class credit. Have we got your attention, now?? We’ve brought back our real-world Voicetrax competition due to its immense popularity. With self-direction mandatory for today’s working voice actor, (it’s never too much practice) this class will dive headfirst into the what-do-you-do-with-a-script-when-left-to-your-own-devices quandary. In the preliminary round, each participant will submit three home recordings (just like the real world) that will be judged by The Legen-wait for it-dary Voicetrax Think Tank. Every single preliminary participant will receive feedback on your recordings. The 12 chosen finalists will be advanced to the one-day lab and asked to submit further home recordings. During the Finals lab, you’ll work out with fresh scripts as well as decompress with Vicki, as she reviews your home recordings, gives her valuable feedback and announces who took the checkered flag as the winner of the Voicetrax 500!
Director: Chuck Kourouklis, SF Agent
Length: 12-hour four-week workshop
Class Notes: This course includes weekly homework assignments. Students must have home recording capabilities.
A shell game of another flavor, this class will ask you to keep your eye on “The Lady”, namely a feedback-eligible script from an industry veteran. To play, your “dealer”, the delightful Chuck Kourouklis, will offer three scripts each night, one of which is a recent audition script that will be eligible for feedback from a top SF agent that works in the trenches every day listening to hundreds of auditions. The twist? You won’t know which of the three scripts the feedback-eligible audition is. Will it be the scripts you record live in class, or will it be the one you recorded at home? Only the dealer knows for sure. Guess you’ll have to bring your best stuff each night, script after script after script. The engineer will send the recordings of the selected script to the SF Agent who will not only provide straight-forward, get-to-the-point, professional-standard feedback, she’ll also tell you if you performed an audition she would submit to the client. Learn exactly where you stack up compared with working voice actors, or if you are a working voice actor get that precious audition feedback you long for. Get used to handling your nerves while you focus in on a brilliant performance when it’s truly all on the line.
TOURS, TUTORIALS & TALES: THE STORY WITHINDirector: Vicki Baum
Length: 18-hour six-week workshop
Class Notes: None
This workshop is prepared to take your narration skills up a notch or two or maybe even three (it IS six weeks after all) while still telling a great story. And since narration is one of the dominant genres in the voice-over industry with opportunities multiplying year after year, this class is a perfect vehicle to transform you into a narrator to be reckoned with. By further honing your visualization techniques, script analysis, self-direction and acting choices, you’ll learn to deliver the more authentic and conversational reads that are in demand. You’ll span several genres including audio tour, industrial tech, documentary, tutorial and medical narration that are so prevalent in today’s narration market.
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Director: Vicki Baum
Length: 12-hour four-week workshop
Class Notes: Students must have home recording capabilities.
You may be wondering who the “H-E-double hockey sticks” is Veebz? Funny story. Chuck has the habit of giving Vicki a variety of nicknames because she signs everything VB, and one of those nicknames is Veebz! Although perhaps you could have figured that out on your own with her name listed above as Director. Hmmm… ANYHOO, let’s talk self-direction! No matter your skills as an actor or your ability to analyze a script, if you lack the appropriate level of self-direction know-how, booking a voice-over job is made a whole lot more challenging. Join Vicki aka VB aka Veebz as she employs her “Vibe Check” philosophy to strengthen and SIMPLIFY your approach to self-direction. And if you think because you’ve been in a class and/or a private lesson with Vicki where she’s talked about this that you already know what this class is all about, trust us when we say she is taking The Vibe Check thing to a whole new level. Are you picking up what we’re putting down? Groovy.
CLICK HERE FOR AUDIO DESCRIPTION FEATURING KATIE BENTY
Directors: Chuck Kourouklis, Vicki Baum, Aaron MinerLength: 10-hour weekend seminar Class Notes: None
Gain wisdom, confidence and the ability to think on your feet from this role-playing seminar as Chuck utilizes his fellow Guest Directors to throw numerous different real-world recording situations at you born from his wealth of personal experiences, including running a session from your home studio with a director that’s inexperienced and can’t articulate what they want, a producer who doesn’t want to direct you live (cuz he’s just too busy) and you’re supposed to figure it all out, or what about a live session where multiple directional approaches are thrown out at you? Chuck will serve as your “angel”, determined to earn his wings by helping you learn to deal with adversity, uncertainty, insecurity and a host of other confidence assassins that can undermine an actor’s ability to give their best performance. Feel more in control and better prepared to handle the art of self-direction even under the most challenging and demanding real-world circumstances.
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VOICE-OVER VISION BOARD
Director: Vicki Baum
Length: 12-hour four-week workshop
Class Notes: This course includes a pre-class and weekly homework assignments.
Vision boards have long been an effective tool for successful people (Tyler Perry, Jaime Foxx, Oprah Winfrey… heard of them?) To create a stable of core characters for commercials, narration and animation that you can use time and again throughout your career, you really need to dig deep (nope… deeper) into the details, and that’s where Vicki comes in. After a decade of constant creation, Vicki will finally share some of the pages from her voluminous character binder. To create your own pages, you’ll use visual elements including magazines, books, online pictures, key words and fabric (yes we said fabric) to create a life story for a commercial, narration and character persona and then perform them using an appropriate script. Vicki has over 50 questions that she’ll continue to ask as your creation materializes before you. Brilliant acting comes down to being the role not just playing the role, and with your newfound inspirational character vision board, you’re well on your way to exceptional performances.
WOMEN ONLY: WELCOME TO ANNOUNCERVILLE!
Director: LA Agent
Length: 10-hour weekend seminar
Class Notes: None
Ladies, if you’ve been told once, you’ve been told a million times in specs, “we don’t want an announcer”. But what about all those roles as newscasters, promos, phone prompts, retail (shoes, malls, supermarkets and cars), talk show hosts, field reporters and infomercial gals? (take a deeeeep breath) If you’ve been told you’re too announcery then this class is for you. And even if you haven’t been told you’re too announcery, there is money to be made in this area, so ALL WOMEN serious about expanding their range and marketability should be developing these skills. Act now!! Limited time offer!!! Operators are standing by.
- For ADVANCED/WORKING PROFESSIONALS
ACTING FOR AUDIOBOOKS: VOLUME II
Director: Roni Gallimore
Length: 14-hour four-week workshop
Class Notes: This course includes homework assignments. Students must have home recording capabilities.
Prerequisite: Once Upon A Time, Acting For Audiobooks Level One or prior approval from Voicetrax.
You’ve dipped your toe in the billion dollar a year pool known as audiobooks by taking the original Once Upon a Time class and it felt nice, safe and warm. You’ve started working on your male/female character separations and begun to hone your ability to talk to yourself as well as developing a consistently engaging narrator. The time has come to turn the page and take it to the next level. In Volume II, you will delve deeper into the treacherous tones of convincingly voicing the opposite sex, a mandatory skill for audiobook success. Additionally, Roni will open a whole new chapter by sharing her expertise, hard won by trial & error and real-world experience, on how to clean your files of all auditory annoyances such as mouth noise, clicks and buzzes which will lead to your “happily ever after”.
AM I MISSING SOMETHING? AUDITION REVIEW… & SO MUCH MORE!
Director: Samantha Paris
Length: 5.5-hour one-day lab
Class Notes: This course includes a pre-class homework assignment. Students must have home recording capabilities.
Have you submitted an audition that you thought was great but didn’t book it? Naaah, that’s NEVER happened… How about submitting one that seemed to feel just a bit flat, but you were at a loss as to how to fix it? Bring ‘em in and let the ears of your fellow auditioning ‘Traxers guide you to the answer. Your classmates can’t figure it out either? Well, guess who can and will? Yeppers… that’s riiiight! The idea for this class was based on all of you who have done “Audition Review” private lessons with our Founder, Samantha Paris. This one-day class will be a fun, fast paced, informative, love/tough (but still supportive!) love class with the goal being to bring you one step closer in more consistently submitting stellar, competitive auditions that book the job. The “so much more”? Hmmmm… guess you’ll have to show-up to find out.
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ARCHETYPE INSIGHT
Director: Melissa Gray
Length: 12-hour four-week workshop
Class Notes: This course includes weekly homework assignments.
Knowledge of present-day trends is always half the battle when putting together a voice-over performance, especially when it comes to commercial copy, and archetypes are an often-underutilized technique to hitting the perfect pitch. Melissa will guide you through the current, major archetypes for commercials including (but certainly not limited to) the bold and confident trustworthiness of the hero-heroine/protagonist for an inspired, new product, the soothing, alluring invitation of the seductress for luxury product ads or maybe even the menacing and condescending vitriol of the villain-villianess/antagonist in… who knows what! By mastering these archetypes, you’ll learn to move seamlessly between the diverse types of commercial scripts with a keen understanding of how to adopt distinct archetypes to suit the needs of different commercial projects. The framework that Melissa will provide will get you one step closer to booking the job by putting you one step AHEAD of your competition!
AUDIO TOUR NARRATION II
Director: Peter Dunne
Length: 14-hour four-week workshop
Class Notes: This course includes homework assignments. Students must have home recording capabilities.
Peter Dunne who has for years produced audio tours for the largest companies in the world is supremely qualified to guide you through the most challenging aspects of this specialized and lucrative niche of the voice-over industry. In this Level II class, you’ll tackle “real world” audio tour recording issues like working under severe time pressure or dealing with complex scripts that require you to be able to understand and communicate abstract concepts like “synesthesia” and “Dadaism.” (Look ‘em up!) You’ll also learn how to handle character scripts which are frequently used in both adult and family tours and require you to sustain a specific dialect or vocal placement for hours at a time. And because as is it with most of the voice-over world that auditioning is done completely from home, Peter will assess your self-direction skills on scripts that you’ll be asked to record at home throughout this workshop.
AUDIO TOUR NARRATION LEVEL 3Director: Peter Dunne
Length: 14-hour four-week workshop Class Notes: None
An innovative, new approach has taken hold in the audio and multi-media tour industry. While many museums and famous sites still adhere to the narrator/curator driven “guided-looking” method to audio tours, others are looking elsewhere for more immersive and evocative approaches to interpreting art. In this workshop, Peter will explore some of the approaches being developed and expand the conversation into what these might sound like. You’ll play with ways to convey the language from these new scripts, which are often informal and suggestive of discovery rather than a definitive narrator feel. Become a narrator that’s savvy in the most current style of audio tour narration. Level 3 will also serve as a refresher for the many audio tours that still seek to offer an informed perspective because well-delivered information never goes out of style!
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BE SCENE AND HEARD
Director: SF Agent
Length: 10-hour weekend seminar
Class Notes: This course includes a pre-class homework assignment.
In this monologue master scene study class, one of the most successful agents in the country is bringing his razor-sharp wit and finely-tuned ears and eyes to guide you through the emotional nooks and crannies of a pre-selected, fully memorized scene from a play or movie that you might actually be cast in. Work collaboratively with this agent who’s watched thousands of actors perform monologues, with a theatre acting background himself, as you open the hood on your interpretation and dig deeper to create an authentic portrayal that gets to the heart of the matter and transforms the words in the scene into a rich, layered, purposeful and thoughtful performance that transcends.
BEST DAMN DEMO PERIOD!
Directors: Sirenetta Leoni, Chuck Kourouklis, Samantha Paris
Length: 18-hour six-week workshop
Class Notes: This course includes homework assignments. Students must have home recording capabilities.
During this information-packed (and when we say packed, we mean stuffed to the rafters and beyond) workshop you’ll develop a clear understanding of the demo production process from start to finish including copy selection, recording, editing, post-production, design, branding and marketing strategy. Whew! Not to mention these six weeks are one hell of a self-direction class (maybe the most self-directy of them all) as you direct yourself through several demo clips. Samantha, Sirenetta and Chuck will help you to discover what your strengths are and how to highlight them in a way that will grab the attention of agents and producers, as well as common mistakes to avoid. By week five of class, students will have produced, performed, self-directed and packaged their own mock demo, as well as getting a chance to tweak your final demo after feedback from Samantha, so by the very end of class you’ll have a final-FINAL mock demo.
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BRITISH-ISH: A JOURNEY TO MID-ATLANTIC & BEYOND
Director: PJ Ochlan
Length: 10-hour weekend seminar
Class Notes: None
Descend into the amorphous Mid-Atlantic accent without clear lines of distinction and no true right vs. wrong architecture. The ambiguity of this accent limits the “rule book.” Get ready as PJ – Dr. Dialect himself – demystifies the robustly requested (and by robustly we mean all.the.damn.time.) Mid-Atlantic accent. If you want to be competitive and book video games, this accent must be in your arsenal… FULL STOP. And what about the Beyond? We actually mean this literally and geographically this time around as PJ will incorporate aspects of English and other Euro accents to give everyone a bigger Trans-Atlantic toolbox to work with. This ups the challenge and gives you a lot more to play with as you rid yourself of that rudderless Mid-Atlantic boat in the middle of the ocean, sun beating down on your forehead, lips chapping, and focus in on a true Mid-Atlantic accent.
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BUT WHAT I REALLY WANNA DO IS DIRECTDirector: Lee Porter
Length: 10-hour weekend seminar
Class Notes: This course includes a pre-class homework assignment. Students must have home recording capabilities.
Really? Do you really want to direct? This notorious, long-standing, Hollywood trope aside, as an auditioning voice actor the answer is moot (it’s like a cow’s opinion, it doesn’t matter, it’s moo…thank you, Joey Tribbiani…) since you really have no choice in the matter. Continuously being left to your own devices to submit an imaginative, stand-out, yet uniquely you audition is a challenging (yet doable) mountain to climb. Help is on the way! Lee Porter will be by your side as you direct your fellow students on animation copy. He’ll gently guide you back in line if you stray from the most precise or accurate direction, giving you your own personal, self-direction ideology to pull from when you’re at home. So, are you an actor that would rather be a director? Nope! After this weekend you’ll be an actor who is also a director for yourself.
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CAUGHT IN THE ACTDirector: Samantha Paris, Frank Coppola
Length: 12-hour four-week workshop Class Notes: This course includes a pre-class homework assignment.
Never before in all their years together has the superstar duo of Samantha Paris & Frank Coppola taught a class together. How is that possible? Never mind that mishigas because the moment has arrived, and we’ve got a doozy of a world premiere class that’s worthy of this pairing. Some will work on monologues and some dialogues, but all the scripts will be brand new, never used in a Voicetrax scene study class before! But before you get too settled into your own bubble, getting super cozy with your assigned script, here comes that dastardly self-direction to crash the party. Not only will you work up, under and through your script, but you will be put to the test to direct your fellow ‘Traxers’ performances in class. New teacher duo? New scripts? Student direction? A truly new experience.
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CHARACTER TRIFECTA
Director: Kemma Filby
Length: 10-hour weekend seminar
Class Notes: This course includes a pre-class homework assignment.
Just as the name suggests our Los Angeles voice-over professional, Kemma Filby, will direct you on three very current and lucrative styles of characters: super cartoony and broad cartoons, seriously grounded, real person cartoons and fantastically forceful fantasy/battle video game characters. What a wonderfully eclectic collection! This triad of character studies will force you to be on your toes and ready for anything as you pivot from one style to the next and again to the next with a director who knows want she wants, expected to lock in immediately and not let the residue of your last performance affect your next performance. Just like the real world! Hmmmm…
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CHARACTERS OFF THE CUFF
Director: Janet Varney
Length: 10-hour weekend seminar
Class Notes: This course includes a pre-class homework assignment. This course is in-person only.
The Voicetrax universe is sooooo lucky to count amongst the family the incredible Janet Varney. With a lengthy list of character voice-over and on-camera credits, Janet is widely known as the co-founder of the iconic comedy festival, SF Sketchfest. She also has a mighty impressive track record of mixing it up with her famous friends in the improv world. Characters and improv… improv and characters. Hmmmmmm…. We’re sure we’ve heard that somewhere before. With Janet combining character scripts with improv games, this class is such a hoot, with lots of zany antics, laughs, and learning, too, that Zoom just won’t do. Even though we all know how Voicetrax is basically crushing this whole online class thing, if we do say so ourselves. It’s clear this party has to be experienced live, so it will be an in-person class only. After all is said and done and the frivolity has run its course, Janet will have put a jolt in your character performances that will take your interpretation off the page and book the job, all while having one hell of a time in the safest possible environment.
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Director: Jeannie
EliasLength: 10-hour weekend seminar
Class Notes: The course includes a pre-class homework assignment. Students must have home recording capabilities.
Unleash the multitude of unique and genuine characters that you know (and some you don’t know) are inside you. During this seminar, animation veteran Jeannie Elias invites you super advanced students into her world of cartoons and how she analyzes scripts to produce an attention-getting, show-shopping performance. And she should know. Have you seen her IMDB page? You’ll be challenged to bring a two-dimensional soup of words to life by breathing authenticity (even in the goofiest of situations) and fun into characters both wacky and more straightforward. Up your character game and unbottle your potential with Jeannie.
COMMERCIALS vs. CARTOONS vs. VIDEO GAMES
Director: LA Agent, Brian Sommer, Dave Fennoy
Length: 10-hour weekend seminar
Class Notes: This class can and should be repeated.
This uniquely formatted seminar offers you a side-by-side-by-side look at the differences and similarities between commercial, cartoon and video game characters – when to be broad, when to be subtle and real and everything in between. You’ll discover the appropriate lively tone and energy for your Saturday morning characters and learn how to “dial it down” while sustaining the reality and intensity required for video game characters, not to mention developing the funny yet conversational and believable characters that commercial copy demands. You’ll gain a deeper understanding of the nuances of these unique voice-over genres and challenge your versatility.
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DIALOGUE DECONSTRUCTIONDirectors: Samantha Paris, Brian Sommer
Length: 8.5-hour weekend seminar
Class Notes: This course includes a pre-class homework assignment. Students must have home recording capabilities.
Actors at their core long to work with real, live partners, but when it comes to professional voice-over that’s rarely the case. And with so many dry, unimaginative solo and monologue auditions, it’s quite easy to get stuck in a rut with your creative edges starting to fuzz. Auditioning one side of a dialogue all alone, you need to be able to sound like there is a real partner standing there beside you. And what better way to practice that skill than an entire seminar of nothing but comedic, partner work? You’ll free up all that imagination that might be atrophying after months in your closet auditioning alone. From a script analysis perspective, dissecting dialogues forces you to be more creative and see more in the copy which will in turn help you see more in your dry monologue copy. See how this all fits together? And a little-known, secret benefit about practicing dialogues? Well, since every monologue is actually an inner dialogue, these scripts help you work on your conversational read, which as we all know is the most over-used word, yet still most desired performance element in all of voice-over. Punch your ticket now to join our Founder, Samantha, and Brian for this non-stop Dialogue-a-palooza!
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FIFTY SHADES OF REAL
Director: Scott Parkin
Length: 9-hour three-week workshop
Class Notes: This course includes a pre-class homework assignment.
Doesn’t it seem that darn nearly every audition you receive has the direction “real, natural, genuine, conversational”? It’s time to get your mind out of the gutter (we know what you were thinking when you read that class title…) and get ready for Scott Parkin, a nationally, in-demand voice actor and ex-copywriter/casting professional who ACTUALLY knows what it means when they ask for real; just how “real” do they truly want it? TV commercial real, radio commercial real, narration real, conversational real? There are oh so many shades to choose from. And how do you get to that place within your own personality in the most unobtrusive, comfortable and natural way while still being able to show numerous, slight variations of real depending on the script and product? Scott will use several of his proven methods including improv (DON’T PANIC… improv doesn’t always mean funny) and will provide students with practical application that you’ll be able to incorporate into your process as soon as you click “leave meeting.”
F#@K THE SPECS
Director: Samantha Paris, Brian Sommer
Length: 11.5-hour three-week workshop
Class Notes: This course includes homework assignments. Students must have home recording capabilities.
The specs on a piece of voice-over copy have long stirred epic debates on how much or how little to pay attention to them. Are the specs a barren wasteland that say, “friendly and conversational?” On the other end of the spectrum, are the specs verbose (longer than the actual script even) and conflicting, making it easy to get caught up in them, getting in the way of a truly connected (translation: bookable) performance? So, what do you do? Every time you look at a new script the FIRST THING you should be asking yourself BEFORE you look at the specs is “what are the words in the script telling me?” In this workshop, you’ll get the answer to that all-important question. Samantha and Brian will take you through various spec-centric exercises with commercial and characters scripts respectively including reading the script without benefit of the specs to see if you naturally SEE the specs in the script. Find out what happens if you let the words on the page tell you what to do instead of relying on the specs. Take your script analysis skills to the highest level by making strong acting choices that result in a SPEC-tacular performance. See what we did there?
GETTING (SOURCE) CONNECTEDDirector: Kevin Cleland
Length: 3-hour one-night lab
Class Notes: Participants need to be prepared to download the FREE version of Source Connect. Kevin will walk you through it at the beginning of class.
Source Connect has become absolutely essential to any serious voice actor, allowing you to send a studio-quality feed from your computer. In fact, the majority of agency auditions now actually require you to have Source Connect. It’s just a given. So if you want to maximize your income potential, you will absolutely need the capabilities Source Connect gives you – and the sooner, the better. An industry veteran, Kevin Cleland, will take you through all the finer points of installing and calibrating the software, and he’ll show you just what to expect in a recording session, de-mystifying the whole process! You’ll gather all the knowledge you need to arm yourself with this crucially important tool.
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HE SAID/SHE SAID: NARRATIONDirectors: Chuck Kourouklis, Sirenetta Leoni
Length: 14-hour four-week workshop
Class Notes: This course includes a pre-class homework assignment and weekly homework assignments. Students must have home recording capabilities.
Chuck and Sirenetta are playing both sides of the script in this workshop that explores the subjectivity that is pervasive in voice-over. Week to week you will be performing the same scripts for both Guest Directors and receive feedback from them as well as get their critiques on stuff you recorded from home. This gives you the opportunity to contrast and compare the thoughts from two professionals very knowledgeable in the world of narration. What did they agree on that was great about your performance that you should keep front and center in future performances, and what do you need to work on to bring consequent reads to a competitive level? Are they using different words in their feedback but basically saying the same thing? Or are they at odds, but both pointing out things you should work on? Find out as this teaching twosome challenges you to bust out your best storyteller.
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INDUSTRIAL STRENGTH STORYTELLING
Director: Thom Pinto
Length: 10-hour weekend seminar
Class Notes: This course includes a pre-class homework assignment. Students must have home-recording capabilities.
Every story matters whether it’s revealing a new wonder drug, introducing breakthrough software, sharing a company’s philosophy to new employees, or navigating a tutorial about investments. As a vastly experienced documentary narrator, Thom knows how to tell a great story. And although there are numerous technical plates to spin while navigating the industrial style narration prevalent today, being able to engage your audience through dynamic storytelling remains at the heart of any competitive narration performance. Through imagery, music and immersing in the subject matter, Thom will teach you to treat even the dry, informational or technical non-broadcast narration with same kind of TLC. And just for good measure Thom will be throwing in a round of sh*##y scripts because you’re bound to come across those in your career, especially if you are auditioning on the myriad of online casting websites. Focus on making your perspective crystal clear, especially since audiences will only see and hear your message once. Experience a weekend that will assist in bringing a memorable, winning quality to your auditions.
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Director: Samantha Paris, The Voicetrax Think Tank
Length: 8.5 hour weekend seminar
Class Notes: This course has a pre-class homework assignment that includes memorizing an assigned scene prior to class which means this course has a drop deadline that is one month (not two weeks) before class starts. Class may and should be repeated.
Dive into the invigorating world of partner work using scene scripts from plays and movies. Explore the true, honest, human connections that allow the craft of acting to truly awaken in your soul and lead you to a riveting or hilarious or poignant performance. Your time with Samantha will strengthen your overall acting skills including being more authentic, “in the moment” and letting the character speak through you. Then on Sunday, The Voicetrax Think Tank will come in to bask in your scene study glow and choose one set of scene study partners who will each receive a free private lesson. Ultimately, this experience will absolutely, positively make you a better voice actor.
IT’S DIRECTION & THEN SELECTION
Director: Samantha Paris, Lee Porter
Length: 8.5 hour weekend seminar
Class Notes: This course includes a pre-class homework assignment. Students must have home recording capabilities.
This dynamic duo are ready to bring you into their world (with a little role-playing help from Samantha Paris and YOU!) with this world premiere class. It’s your lucky day as you have just been “signed” with Voices by Samantha Paris, a brand-new start up talent agency created just for this class. For your first audition, your animation chops had best be in order because the very busy and successful showrunner, Lee Porter, has a new (faux) project! The bar will be set high, as if you were actually up against professional caliber competition. Will your auditions make the cut? Will you need to be sent back to the drawing board? And how will Mr. Porter feel about your work? Are you going to book the gig? Find out in this fun, super-fast paced weekend where your auditioning and self-directing skills will be pushed and pulled, stretched and tweaked.
CLICK HERE FOR AUDIO DESCRIPTION FEATURING ASHLEY HAUSER
LEAVE NOTHING ON THE TABLE
Director: Janet Varney
Length: 10-hour weekend seminar
Class Notes: This course includes a pre-class homework assignment. Students must have home recording capabilities.
A table read (aka read-through) is an organized reading of a script with all the actors present at one… table (see what we did there?) in which the voice-over, stage direction and scene headings are read out loud. Table reads are an essential part of the script development and writing process, as writers use them as an opportunity to fine tune their stories, sharpen their dialogue and hear what works and what doesn’t. Join the table read universe as you pre-record auditions at home for Janet to listen to and cast ahead of class. Then a true-blue table read will commence in-class with all the expectations of exploration, improv and living in the moment as the scene moves you to whatever your imagination can create. Be a part of this collaborative undertaking with one of the founders of the iconic SF SketchFest comedy festival.
NARRATION REALITY CHECK
Director: Vicki Baum, Dave Fennoy
Length: 10-hour weekend seminar
Class Notes: The course includes a pre-class homework assignment. Students must have home recording capabilities.
With the isolation that home auditioning brings, are you starting to lose perspective on where your narration “chops” stand? Are you in a rut or do you not even know if you’re in a rut? Is it time for a reality check? Take advantage of the opportunity to have your best narration “stuff” critiqued by two professionals who absolutely know what it takes to “make it” (what’s with all the “quotation” marks?) in the very lucrative and wide-ranging voice-over genre of narration. Vicki and Dave will review your work and give you feedback on your performance AND your choice of scripts. You’ll also benefit from the opportunity to hear what your colleagues are doing left to their own devices and how you stack up. You may even get a chance to get back in the “booth” to make your directors’ suggested adjustments, which will ultimately bring your performances to an even-more competitive level.
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Director: NY Agent, ummm… duh.Length: 9-hour three-week workshop
Class Notes: None
One of our favorite NY Agents decided to get away (not really), take a holiday from her neighborhood (not so much) and is hopping on a flight (virtually via online conferencing platform) and coming west and she’s bringing a whole lotta wisdom and East Coast confidence in her carry-on (and by carry-on we mean her big, beautiful brain). From script analysis to learning what an agent is listening for in a winning audition and everything in between, this New York dynamo will take you through a series of scripts that will test your abilities. She’ll keep the pace moving, so you may be sweating your you-know-what off by the end of the class, but will it be totally worth it? Of course it will… Fuhgeddaboutit! Sorry, we had to…she doesn’t really talk that way, not that there’s anything wrong with that.
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Directors: Samantha Paris, Chuck KourouklisLength: 10-hour weekend seminar
Class Notes: The course includes a pre-class homework assignment. Students must have home recording capabilities.
The world of NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreement) projects is growing. And it’s not just the number of projects, but the budgets these jobs boast are eye-popping to say the least, as in $ix-Figure eye-popping. Sure, the scripts are often random and a significant amount of them are bland, but we’re betting the pay-off will silence any inner (or outer) complaints you may have. And the good news is there are some scripts in this thrilling niche genre that will challenge your creativity. Now you may be wondering how we are going to provide confidential scripts for a class about confidential scripts. Good question! No lawyers will be needed as no contracts will be broken. There have been enough of the Voicetrax working professional students that have booked these massive paying jobs, that we have been able to write our own scripts that reflect the flavor of the ones we can’t show you or talk about or else we’d have to… well you get our drift. So, keep your mouth shut and don’t ask any questions until it’s your time to voice your career all the way to the bank!
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ONE-TAKE MASTERS
Directors: Vicki Baum, Chuck Kourouklis
Length: 10-hour weekend seminar
Class Notes: This course includes a pre-class homework assignment. Students must have home recording capabilities.
Let’s be crystal clear, we aren’t going to drop you in the deep end of the “one-take pool” straight away, but you best be ready to step up to the plate knowing you have one swing at booking the job. Gone is the wiggle room of letting your first couple takes be a warm-up, lazily leaning on the director to manufacture your performance, eventually hitting on something only to be asked… why wasn’t that your first take? Time is money, people! And if you’re actively auditioning (or even home-recording for class homework), allowing yourself more than two or three takes risks working the copy to death and overthinking everything. Overthinking? We don’t know any actors who do that! We all instinctually know that the 7th, 8th or 9th take is never going to be better than the first few fresh ones. As two of the three members of the Voicetrax Think Tank take you through imaginative exercises and simulated auditions you’ll gain confidence in your choices to be bold from the start. What happens when preparation meets pressure, so that you come “hot out of the gate” on your very first take?
PINTO’S PLAYBOOK FOR PROFESSIONALS
Director: Thom Pinto
Length: 10-hour weekend seminar
Class Notes: This course includes a pre-class homework assignment. Students must have home recording capabilities.
Let’s be honest, this seminar is just an excuse to spend a weekend working out with one of Voicetrax’s most beloved instructors. But beyond that, Thom does have a plan to bring your already successful professional self to the next level by throwing lots of different scenarios at you including recording from home, bringing in scripts of your choice and a few special tricks from Mr. Pinto himself. He’ll encourage you to take risks, try something new, be thick-skinned and create a nuanced performance to get the competitive edge every working professional (or going to be) is looking for. Success loves to breed complacency, and this “tough love with Thom” weekend will send Mr. Complacency running for the hills.
Director: LA Agent
Length: 10-hour weekend seminar
Class Notes: This course will include a pre-class homework assignment. Students must have home recording capabilities.
Have you ever found yourself at home, trying to self-direct and gone on so long in your head that you don’t even remember what the actual freakin’ question you asked yourself was? Have we got the class for you! Half game show, half talent agent wisdom, our industry veteran agent and one hell of a lady will take you on a self-direction odyssey where you will have to explain to her (without nattering on, please) right before you perform just exactly what you are directing yourself to do. What’s the twist? There’ll be a maximum word count allowed for your explanation. Can you do it in 50 words? 20 words? Can you describe exactly what you are going to perform in just one word? Yikes! With the master of short but potent direction herself, Agent R will help you to create the habit of being precise and concise with yourself, so you come out the other end with a specific, authentic and job-winning audition, all by yourself from the comfort of your own home.
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Director: Chuck Kourouklis
Length: 7-hour one-day lab
Class Notes: This course includes a pre-class homework assignment. Students must have home recording capabilities.
Are you a professional voice actor whose booking rate is in a bit of a slump without the benefit of feedback to know what needs adjusting? Are you a dedicated, well-trained Voicetrax student who is on the precipice of auditioning and looking to hit the ground running as you launch into the auditioning era of your voice-over career? Perhaps, you’re doing ok with your booking rate and are just looking to check-in, get some of the valuable feedback most auditioning voice actors never receive and get inspired by your fellow thespians. If characters are where you are looking to rev up your reads, then Chuck is the perfect pit crew chief to fix you up. In a collaborative effort, Chuck and your fellow students will be offering up feedback on your character home recordings all day long so you can leave the pit stall ready to win the race and the job!
CLICK HERE FOR AUDIO DESCRIPTION FEATURING LAZLO BEAUREGARD
PROFESSIONAL PIT-STOP: NARRATION
Directors: Vicki Baum
Length: 7-hour one-day lab
Class Notes: This course includes a pre-class homework assignment. Students must have home recording capabilities.
So, yeah, ummmm, it has probably not escaped your attention that this class is titled nearly the same as the one listed above. And it has likely further not escaped your deductive reasoning that the class description would be quite similar, if not nearly identical… and you would be right. This is our attempt to thwart that awkward situation by needlessly nattering on about nothing in particular. So, bottom, line? Read the class description above and substitute narration for characters and Vicki for Chuck. That is all.
CLICK HERE FOR AUDIO DESCRIPTION FEATURING KAYCEE MCNEIL-ELDER
RADIO DRAMA REDUXDirector: Brian Sommer
Length: 12-hour four-week workshop PLUS a few extra rehearsals (perhaps) PLUS a LIVE PERFORMANCE (for sure!)
Class Notes: This course includes a pre-class and weekly homework assignments.
Once upon a time, in the olden days of yore, families and their neighbors would come together and listen to radio broadcasts of Sherlock Holmes, Gunsmoke, Perry Mason, Superman and more. Radio broadcasts were so much a part of everyday life they could influence mass movements, such as the night Orson Welles told millions about an impending alien invasion… a “War of the Worlds.” Re-live those times and join Brian Sommer as Voicetrax brings back the radio drama! Before the registration of this workshop is even completed there will be scripts sent out and auditions submitted for you to make it into the class and into the cast of one of TWO radio dramas to be produced! Make sure to eat your Wheaties because over the four weeks of this workshop, Brian and the students will rehearse both scripts and prepare them for a live performance, like live… like in front of people! Including table reads, direction from Brian and rehearsal, rehearsal, rehearsal for the live performance that not only will have other ‘Traxers in attendance, but also the public at large, the fast-paced nature of this genre will make everything else you do in voice-over seem easy in comparison. Get ready to be fearless, make a bold choice and go!
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Director: LA AgentLength: 7-hour one-day lab
Class Notes: None
Your mission should you choose to accept it is to infiltrate this one-day lab and retrieve all the critical voice-over knowledge being offered. New intel suggests that one of the most successful animation agents in the country will be homing in in her super cool agent gadget-like way ready to engage a few select voice actors who are ready to step up to the plate and expand their character skills in a more intimate setting. As always should you or any member of your class be caught phoning in your performances, the secretary will disavow any knowledge of your actions. This class description will self-destruct in 5 seconds…
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SHE SAID/SHE SAID: HOW’D I BOOK THAT?
Directors: Roni Gallimore, Vicki Baum
Length: 12-hour four-week workshop
Class Notes: This course includes a pre-class and weekly homework assignments. Students must have home recording capabilities.
Feedback times TWO! On separate weeks you will receive feedback from your Guest Directors on the exact same performances, giving you the opportunity to contrast and compare the thoughts from two professionals. What did they agree on that was great about your performance that you should keep front and center in future attempts, and what do you need to work on to bring consequent reads to a competitive level? Additionally, all the scripts you’ll be performing (with minimal direction since that’s what it’s like in your closet at home), will just happen to be projects booked by your Guest Directors, other Voicetrax alumni and perhaps an active ‘Traxer! You’ll get to hear their WINNING auditions as well a commentary on their approach to the audition. What was special? What risks did they take? How did your audition stack up? All these burning questions will be answered as they divulge their tricks of the home-auditioning trade. A unique and wonderful window into the thought process of successful, working voice actors. Your online and agency auditions will undoubtedly be all the better for receiving all this insider information!
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Directors: Brian Sommer, Ben Gabaldon
Length: 12-hour four-week workshop
Class Notes: None
Let’s get ready to ruuuuuumble!!! Join Brian in this voice-over octagon of his making, where real-life is gonna smack you in the face. In this video game class Brian will provide you with audition sides which you will perform live, (so no chance to do 4,000 takes and edit the hell out of it like – ahem – perhaps you do at home). Brian will then cast the video game after giving you “the gloves are off”-type feedback on your audition. You’ll practice your assigned role with Brian, all to get ready to perform like in a real session for former video game director/producer extraordinaire, Ben Gabaldon. It’s time to get real, and this class is as real as it gets.
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Director: Sirenetta Leoni
Length: 12-hour four-week workshop
Class Notes: This course includes a pre-class and weekly homework assignments. Students must have home recording capabilities.
In this immersive class created for those of you about to embark on auditioning and THEREFORE BOOKING jobs (you’re damn right!) or working professionals that want to up the ante on their live recording session skills, participants will experience real-world voice-over recording sessions from somebody who actually directs real-world voice-over sessions for a living! Sirenetta has spent her days for many years as a session director and will bring all that wisdom to roost in this workshop. From call times, to mic technique, to receiving directorial feedback and adjusting components like emotional context, pacing and phrasing on the very next take, to session etiquette do’s & don’ts, ALL will be revealed. With Sirenetta, you’ve never been so darn prepared for the real thing.
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TECH SUPPORT TUNE-UPDirector: Kevin Cleland
Length: 3-hour lab
Class Notes: Prerequisite: Intro to Home Recording or prior approval of Voicetrax.
Has it been a minute since you trudged through the innocence of Introduction of Home Recording? Aaahhh… the good ol’ days… Have you amassed a list of technical questions that would help you with your class homework, auditioning or recording sessions? As an eventual working voice actor (and for a time before that milestone is achieved), you ultimately end up using recording software, but are you using it efficiently? Kevin will go “deep nerd” on student pre-class submitted questions (and in-class questions, too), as you explore the many facets of home recording and tools you maybe didn’t know existed. All this knowing your recording set-up will improve workflow which will fundamentally and inevitably help your voice-over business $oar.
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Director: Aaron Miner, Rhiannon Brogan
Length: 10-hour weekend seminar
Class Notes: None
Let loose in the playground of educational toys and apps! Aaron & Rhiannon, two very experienced toy voice actors, will visit multiple sectors in the voice-over toy industry where the FUN is baked right in, and review the specific skills toys demand including consistency, diction and, of course, acting! And even if you think you’ll never voice a toy (NEVER say never) in your career, the character work in this class will up your animation and video game skills, too. Besides, the opportunities in the toy genre continue to grow year after year and once a toy producer knows you can handle the session, they call you back time and time again, without auditioning! That’s the dream now, isn’t it?
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THE MAKING OF A 3.0
Directors: Vicki Baum
Length: 9-hour three-week workshop
Class Notes: This course includes a pre-class and weekly homework assignments. Students must have home recording capabilities.
Jump in to four weeks of sharpening your critical ear by explaining what you would do to make a performance better, the fundamental skill of successful self-direction. Sounds simple, right? Sure… You should know by now that with Vicki there is always a twist meant to propel your comprehension forward. The twist this time around? You won’t be rating yourself and deciding what to do to make your performance better; you’ll be breaking down the performances submitted by all of your fellow students and telling each of them what to do to make their performances better. Learn to achieve that elusive, yet majestically perfect 3.0 score on our Founder Samantha Paris’ infamous performance rating scale, by bringing a colleague’s good performance to a beautiful, bookable masterpiece.
THE SHOW MUST GO ON
Director: Lee Porter
Length: 10-hour weekend seminar
Class Notes: This course will include a pre-class homework assignment. Students must have home recording capabilities.
Welcome to a FIRST for Guest Directors at Voicetrax (for at least as long as we can remember, which honestly is not saying that much…)! An animation house SHOWRUNNER. That’s right, we said showrunner. And what is that? Exactly what it sounds like. When executive producing an animation series, Lee is responsible for… well… everything under the sun including budgets, casting, writing and directing, which shhhh! don’t tell his bosses, is his favorite part of the job. Not only will you get an incredible look behind the curtain, but Lee will give his straightforward feedback to pre-class, at-home recordings. He will also bring his very actor-friendly style of directing to the mock-session work you will experience in-class throughout the day. And who better to ask any questions you might have on how the animation sausage is made?
Director: Ummm… Charlie Adler
Length: 12-hour four-week workshop
Class Notes: This course includes a pre-class and weekly homework assignments. Students must have home recording capabilities.
Sometimes you get an opportunity to learn from absolute genius and this workshop is one of those instances. We’ll be completely honest, we aren’t exactly sure what Char- lie’s animation lesson plan will include, but see, that’s the thing. You don’t sign up for this class because of the format or curriculum. You sign up because it’s Charlie Mother F’ing Adler. He is an icon in the voice-over industry, from his brilliant acting career to directing big-name animation projects to his one-of-a-kind, straightforward sense of humor. It’s easy to see there is literally nobody else on this planet like Charlie. ‘Nuff said.
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THROWN FOR A LOOP: ADRDirector: Ned Lott
Length: 7-hour one day lab
Class Notes: None
The technical definition of Automated Dialogue Replacement, also referred to as “looping”, is the process of re-recording audio for purposes including improving audio quality or reflecting dialogue changes. But it’s so much more of an artistic challenge than that. It’s replacing a lead actor’s voice or bringing the characters in the background to life through improvised dialogue. Sound interesting? It should, since it represents yet another huge set of opportunities for working voice actors. The first half of this lab helmed by ADR veteran Ned Lott will focus on learning the ADR process with some exercises to prepare for spontaneous and improvised acting. Then you’ll put your newfound knowledge to the test in the belly of the beast and virtually go into an actual ADR studio in Burbank to work on numerous ADR skills including streamer vs. beeps, walla, listen and do, callouts, follow the line, assigned dialogue and sound-a-likes. Don’t know what these things are? You will after this action-packed day.
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THE FINE TUNING OF A PROFESSIONALDirectors: LA Agent, SF Agent (seems appropriate, right?)
Length: 10-hour weekend seminar
Class Notes: This course includes a pre-class homework assignment. Students must have home recording capabilities.
As you pursue your dream of being signed by a talent agency and becoming a working voice actor, there are a lot of nooks and crannies of the daily processes and the industry at large that you may have questions about but either you don’t have an agent yet to ask or you don’t want to bother the one you do have. (Pro tip: remember… you’re the client!) Spend all weekend learning straight from two agents’ mouths the answers to all your burning questions that spark debate (slating in character anyone?) and those questions that may be more mundane but nonetheless just as important to your understanding of the voice-over landscape. Not to mention that we have both NorCal and SoCal covered so you can compare and contrast the trends in the two geographical areas. And before you assume this class is all talk, we wouldn’t get two top agents together without having a good old-fashioned acting workout complete with self-directed home recording and in-class live feedback from two of the best in the business.
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TO EACH THEIR OM
Director: Erik Braa
Length: 7-hour one-day lab
Class Notes: This course includes a pre-class homework assignment.
Take a moment to get into an extra comfortable position, preferably lying down if that’s possible, as you take in the information of this class description. That’s right… breathe in… and out… wonderful. Modern consumers have realized how important it is for them to meditate which means the meditation app industry is set to hit 5 billion dollars revenue in 2025. Keep that breathing slow and steady, but yes, we did say billion with a B. That kind of snuck up on all of us, didn’t it? We have manifested the unlikeliest of instructors to take you on this “guided” tour of what it takes to be a competitive meditation narrator. Erik Braa, more famously known for his burly, Viking-like characters in a zillion video games, just happens to have the delicate touch for meditation. He’ll let you in on the techniques necessary for this burgeoning slice of the voice-over pie. And hey, at the end of the day, who else will be able to say they’ve been taught how to narrate a meditation app by a Viking?
CLICK HERE FOR AUDIO DESCRIPTION FEATURING STEPHANIE FUNG
UTILITY PLAYER UNIVERSITY
Director: LA Agent
Length: 9-hour three-week workshop
Class Notes: This course includes weekly homework assignments. Students must have home recording capabilities.
Just like any career, the more versatile your skill set is, the more attractive you are to agents, producers, casting agents and ultimately… clients. School is in session and Agent B is locked and loaded and ready to knock your socks off with her “cornucopia of variety” lesson plan. Each night the focus will be on a different genre of voice-over, so not only will you receive feedback and script analysis ideas, techniques and approaches from one of the hardest working agents in the business, you’ll be strengthening your ability to create momentum in your booking rate by being the ultimate utility player full of variety and range.
CONTACT US FOR MORE INFORMATION!
YOU TALKIN’ TO ME?
Director: LA Agent
Length: 10-hour weekend seminar
Class Notes: This course includes a pre-class assignment. Students must home recording capabilities.
How many times a week do auditioning voice actors see the words “friendly, natural and conversational” on a script? Ahhhh yes, the over-used, generic Triad of Death. The place where commercial performances go to die. You scream to yourself, doing your best Janet Leigh from Psycho impersonation, asking yourself: “How do I do that? What do they want?” The challenge is the vast majority of commercial opportunities are calling for that type of read. That’s where Agent N comes in! She will guide you through understanding how to hone in on being the best YOU, you can be, instead of trying to emulate what you know it’s supposed to sound like – or as we like to call it “chasing the melody” – of the style of commercial script you are performing. You’ll work on commercial scripts that are in your wheelhouse, as well as ones that make you stretch. At the end of the weekend, you’ll no longer fear the natural, conversational commercial read.
THE BEGINNING SEMINAR
INTRODUCTION TO DIRECTING 
LOOSEN UP ALREADY!
SIMPLY ACTING
THE WORLD OF VOICE-OVER: AN INTRODUCTION
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Director: YOU and your fellow students (and perhaps a Guest Director will pop in!)
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PRESS ONE FOR IVR
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TOURS, TUTORIALS & TALES: THE STORY WITHIN
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GETTING (SOURCE) CONNECTED
HE SAID/SHE SAID: NARRATION
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