Beginner? Working Pro? Click on your category below.
Whichever category you click, those will be the online and hybrid classes you see.
- For Beginners
The Beginning Seminar
Directors: Vicki Baum, Aaron Miner
Length: 10-hour weekend seminar
Class Notes: None
If you are ready to begin your adventure into voice-over THIS IS THE PLACE TO START! Launch into a weekend packed full of information, performance exercises and FUN! You’ll explore basic voice acting fundamentals including detailed acting choices, script interpretation, microphone technique, monologues, dialogues, improv and video game characters – including playback and feedback of recorded performances, making this class a unique experience in online/hybrid (both in-person and online students in same class) training choices. Get ready to jump in from the very beginning experimenting with partner improv exercises and audience participation guessing games that revolve around making specific acting choices. By the end of the weekend, you’ll have a solid understanding of the voice acting craft, and an awareness of the particular skills and techniques you’ll need to succeed in the current marketplace, and perhaps even a different perspective of who you are and what stories and characters you can create!
Creating Characters
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.
Finding Your Voice
Director: Samantha Paris
Length: 3.5-hour overview
Class Notes: None
Join Voicetrax founder, Samantha Paris, for an enlightening overview that’s half “everything you ever wanted to know about voice-over” and half interactive exercises where volunteers who are game get to jump right in and actually record a character or a radio commercial! After decades in the industry, Samantha is thrilled to be able to pay it forward by offering this information in a fun, loving, tell-it-like-it-is way. Samantha 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. What a fun way to spend a Saturday!
Introduction To Directing
Directors: Samantha Paris
Length: 3-hour lab
Class Notes: None
Whaaaat? A direction class in the Beginning section of the catalogue? You better believe it! 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 will not only give you 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
Directors: Vicki Baum
Length: 11-hour weekend seminar
Class Notes: None
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.
Simply Acting
Director: Frank Coppola
Length: 10-hour weekend seminar
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 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. You’ll also spend time learning how to apply these fundamental acting concepts to performing commercial voice-over copy.
- For Intermediates
Colors Of Your Voice
Directors: Chuck Kourouklis
Length: 10-hour weekend seminar
Class Notes: None
What color is love…Orange? Trust…Blue? Excitement…Red? The Colors method, originally developed by one of the nation’s most sought-after coaches and veteran Voicetrax Guest Director Thom Pinto, 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.
Got Game?
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 the Bay Area 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!
To Paris And Back
Directors: Samantha Paris, Vicki Baum
Length: 10-hour weekend seminar
Class Notes: None
Join our founder, Samantha Paris, as she takes you on a whirlwind journey, exploring the world of voice-over. Through comedy-driven commercial monologues and dialogues, Samantha will take you through “real world” audition exercises, just like the pros do it. And for good measure, Vicki will crash the party on the second day to work you out on some cool animation copy. Samantha takes great pride in the fact that she personally guides each student through every step of their voice-over voyage, whether your personal path lasts a day, a couple of years or a career lifetime. Working one-on-one with our Founder will not only develop your acting and script analysis skills exponentially but working directly with you will allow Samantha to get to know you on a deeper level, so she can recommend with personal, first-hand knowledge your next best step as your adventure through the voice-over world continues.
Walk On The Wild Side
Directors: Chuck Kourouklis, Vicki Baum
Length: 12-hour four-week workshop
Class Notes: None
At Voicetrax, we are all about teaching real-world skills and scenarios so that when your time comes you will be ready to perform like a seasoned professional. This workshop couldn’t get more real-world if it tried. Using dialogues to work on “sides” (one half of a two-person dialogue) you’ll start to cultivate the skills necessary to make one side of a dialogue sound as if the other person is actually there acting with you. News Flash: in the real-world there likely won’t be anyone on the other side which is why you need to be able to bring to life your part of the conversation all on your own. Chuck & Vicki will use a multitude of tools they’ve learned through- out their careers including utilizing each other. That’s right you’ll be performing dialogues with your Guest Directors! Gasp! Are you freaking kidding? But, please, there is no reason to be intimidated. Chuck and Vicki will make it easy for you to jump on in and have FUN while you’re learning this important skill. And honestly this two-thirds of the Voicetrax Legen-wait for it-dary Think Tank is about as intimidating as a Shar Pei.
- For Everyone
Intro 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%) 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. But 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, advanced Voicetrax classes that require home recording capabilities and be several steps closer to professional grade recordings.
Mastering Your Vocal Prowess
Director: John Baron
Length: 12-hour four-week workshop
Class Notes: The course includes a pre-class assignment and weekly homework assignments.
Does flub-inducing tension crop up the minute you get behind the mic whether it’s at home or in a studio? Discover how your breath, articulation, clarity of sound, mind/body connection, range, tone, placement, vocal tension and performance anxiety can affect the way you communicate and ultimately your performance, not only in “the booth”, but in other areas of your life. Learn how to rid yourself of verbal blocks and vocal patterns – that you don’t even know you have – that interfere with your ability to speak smoothly, naturally and with ease. John will help you zero in on vowel and consonant combinations that continually give you pronunciation trouble, increasing your mastery of the cold read and decreasing your flubs overall. After spending four weeks with a true “vocal coach” and his methods, you’ll be exponentially more relaxed behind the mic leading to a future full of natural yet commanding performances.
The Pay-It-Forward Parlour
Directors: 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 35-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!
The Jury Is Out
Directors: Peter Coyote, Samantha Paris
Length: 10-hour weekend seminar
Class Notes: This course is an auditing opportunity.
The who’s who of Voicetrax students will be working with none other than Emmy® award-winning Peter Coyote and our fearless leader, Clio award-winner and Founder Samantha Paris, and you, as an auditor, get to witness the whole darn thing! From first rehearsal to showcase performance and everything in between, you’ll see every nuance and how the imagination from the brain of a brilliant actor moves, as Peter works with advanced Voicetrax students on a memorized monologue. How will the performers adapt, adjust and immerse themselves in their monologues? As you witness this process you’ll be absorbing and learning the entire time. And if that’s not enough, at the end of the showcase performances, YOU as a member of the “jury” will help Samantha choose which portrayal will be deemed The Winner.
- 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.
A Gathering Of Actors: Scene Study
Director: Melissa Gray
Length: 12-hour four-week workshop
Class Notes: None
Jump into the fray with Melissa Gray to explore the acting essentials necessary to make an emotional connection to the script. You’ll explore your wants, verbal action choices, selection of beats, variety of rhythms and nuancing, subtext as you work on a scene with a partner. Your scene work will bring a sense of relationship to the performance that translates to radio dialogue work, video games, character pieces… ok, literally ALL of your voice-over acting endeavors. Continue to expand your listening skills so that you are spontaneously reacting, creating a performance that will come from a true sense of what you need and feel in the moment. Work within a custom packet of scenes pre-selected especially for you by Melissa, no voice-over copy to be found! The emphasis will be on script analysis and the emotional and vocal values that translate to the voice-over medium.
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 produces audio for the largest audio tour companies in the world is uniquely qualified to guide you through the most challenging aspects of this specialized niche of the voice-over industry. In this Level 2 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 auditioning is done from home, Peter will assess your self-direction skills on a script that you’ll be asked to record at home.
Copy 911: Turning Disastrous Into Fabulous
Director: Samantha Paris, Chuck Kourouklis
Length: 12-hour 4-week workshop
Class Notes: None
If you’re ready to take on a real voice-over challenge, come prepared to do some very heavy lifting, because this workshop is designed to tax your script analysis and self-direction 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 relevant? Because in the real world of auditions, bad commercial scripts outnumber good scripts 2 to 1 (at least) 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!
Depth Of Character
Director: Samantha Paris
Length: 10-hour weekend seminar
Class Notes: This course includes homework assignments. Students must have home recording capabilities.
What really grabs the audience and gets them invested in your characters and the stories they inhabit? Psstt… look at the title of this class… If they don’t care about your character or have seen similar character types before, they’ll disengage, and you’ll lose them. Join Samantha as she guides you through an extensive exploration of character scripts to get to the true heart of the matter and probe the soul of your character. You’ll go beyond archetypes, reveal their motivation, understand their emotional landscape, explore their flaws and ultimately go beyond what’s on the paper to construct a dynamic, relatable and thought-provoking character that casting professionals, directors and producers won’t soon forget.
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?
Dialogues Only
Director: Samantha Paris
Length: 10-hour weekend seminar
Class Notes: This course will include a pre-class homework assignment.
Soooooo…. yeah…. welp… this class will include dialogues…. only. But you probably already knew that, riiight? Anyhoo… actors at their core long to work with real, live partners, but when it comes to professional voice-over that’s rarely the case. Yet even when you are performing 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? It also stands to reason that by working with a partner on voice-over copy it will strengthen your acting skills overall. So, join our founder for a fun, freeing weekend of reacting to one of your Voicetrax family members.
Direct Thyself II
Director: Samantha Paris
Length: 10-hour weekend seminar
Class Notes: Prerequisite: Direct Thyself I or prior approval from Voicetrax.
Why do you need Direct Thyself II or the more than a dozen other self-directing classes we offer? Because learning this tricky-but-totally-crucial-to-your-success thing called self-direction takes tons of practice. It’s a process that takes patience and evolves over time. We like to call it “time in the saddle”. The twist this time around is working on scripts you should do well, but whatever reason you don’t. It’s uncanny how directing another person allows you to see more clearly what the script actually needs therefore clearing the way for you to perform it well. At the end of this weekend you will be a better performer having sat in the director’s chair again. Giddyup, Hoss!
Funny Money
Directors: 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, it’s a skill that you’ll 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 professional, 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.
Imagination Revisted: The Think Tank Edition
Directors: Vicki Baum, Chuck Kourouklis, and Roni Gallimore – aka VCR!
Length: 12-hour four-week workshop
Class Notes: This course includes a pre-class and weekly homework assignments.
The moment is here… Their fans have spoken… And we’ve listened. The first EVER class taught by the Voicetrax Legen-wait for it-dary Think Tank (aka the two carrot tops and cue ball) has arrived! And they’re ready to put you to the test! It’s time to unleash your inner six-year-old and explore your imagination the way you did as a child. Before each of the first three weeks, you’ll develop a character and then come to class as the character you created. Inhabiting the character from every angle will stretch the boundaries of your imagination and you’ll recognize you are ultimately waaay more creative than you ever thought possible. Spend two weeks with Roni and one week with Vicki digging deep into each character’s backstory while performing commercial scripts. With feedback from The Rowdy Redheads and help from your peers, figure out which of your three concepts was your strongest character embodiment, and perform as that character for Chuck in the final week who’ll choose a “winner” who will win a free private lesson with Roni! Commit to the character deep dive and just go for it. Stretching your acting muscles has never been so freeing!
Japanese Animation Essentials
Director: Ned Lott
Length: 10-hour weekend seminar
Class Notes: None
Have you ever dreamed what it would be like to become a voice talent for dubbed anime films and games? These are very good days in the anime business, especially in the West. More anime shows are reaching a wider audience than ever before. Japan is really taking Western audiences and their viewership seriously and depending on revenue coming from Western fans. At the heart of these upward trends is the revolution of online streaming. What does that mean for voice actors? One very exciting word: Opportunity. And you can be sure if there is a voice-over genre where the opportunity is growing, we will bring it to our students! With Ned’s decades of expertise in this growing piece of the voice-over pie, you’ll participate in a real-world, hands-on learning experience, as you develop the skills necessary to deliver lines in a natural, “non-dubby” way. You’ll even be introduced to the concept of “lip flap” with a real-time dubbing exercise in class. Gain a better understanding of how to break into this flourishing branch in the voice-over universe.
No Such Thing As A Monologue
Director: Jeannie Elias
Length: 10-hour weekend seminar
Class Notes: None
Talk to me, baby! Trained actors know there’s no such thing as a monologue. Even when there is no other character in a commercial, you are always speaking to someone, gauging their reaction, hoping to move, inform or to get something you need from someone. With Jeannie’s guidance, you will focus on mastering the commercial “monologue”, both comedic and serious, in the spirit and with the mindset of a dialogue. You’ll learn to identify the arc of the scene and the character’s objectives. Bring your monologues to life! Find out how to stay present using techniques like substitution and pre-life and create the truthful communication that is necessary for contemporary commercial reads.
Script Analysis
Directors: Samantha Paris, 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 tantalizing triad 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!
Shifting Gears
Director: SF Agent
Length: 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 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 should know!
Simply Acting II
Directors: Frank Coppola
Length: 9-hour three-week seminar
Class Notes: Prerequisite: Simply Acting or prior approval from Voicetrax.
Going deeper into the story is something that all actors must learn, developing it into second nature. To succeed you need to engage your imagination, the most important tool in your arsenal. You must discover it, nurture it and then develop it. But how exactly do you do that, especially in a 30 second script? In this workshop you will continue on the path started by Simply Acting, learning and further developing new tools and techniques designed to refine your craft. This class will teach you how to partner with your infinitely creative imagination. Using both dramatic and comedic longer form scripts from plays and movies – contemporary and historical – you’ll develop the ability to create the arc of a character’s story. By sussing that skill out in longer form, you’ll develop the muscle memory to go deeper into character, and you’ll be able to succinctly apply it to the shorter form of 30 and 60 second reads. This class will beautifully set you up for the more advanced levels of scene study classes by knowing exactly where your treasure chest of creativity lies and how to access and feed it, so you can break it down to break through.
Tainted Tales Too
Directors: Devin Glischinski
Length: 10-weekend seminar
Class Notes: This course includes homework assignments. Students must have home recording capabilities.
Continue skipping down the spooky, wooded path with those classic nursery rhymes and lullabies from your childhood that have a macabre story behind them. In this super spine-tingling sequel, Devin will let you loose on dialogues from these iconic stories. But somehow Devin has made an already twisty class even more twisty. Between Little Red Riding Hood’s Grandmother and the Big Bad Wolf who’s the predator? Or perhaps the acting partner on one side of a dialogue will get the chance to prepare and the other actor will just have to react. Once again this incredibly unique class will focus on script analysis, acting choices, character work and fine-tuning your analytical ear. You may never look at your childhood the same again!
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.
Teaming With Talent
Directors: Vicki Baum, Aaron Miner
Length: 12-hour four-week workshop
Class Notes: This class will include 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. But 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 Taming Of The Mic
Director: Chuck Kourouklis
Length: 9-hour three-week workshop
Class Notes: None
If you’ve ever puzzled over how to show greater range and imagination in your voice acting, this class presents specific microphone techniques that can help you breathe life and variety into your performances. From practical, technical issues like how to minimize “p”-pops and sibilance, to creative ideas on how to establish a sense of scene, create the sonic environment and define your characters, Chuck will reveal the many tricks-of-the-trade that he’s developed during his 20 plus years in the broadcast and voice-over industries that will immediately take your performances from 2D to a full three-dimensional experience for the audience. It should go without saying, but we’ll say it anyway: 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.
VO Fight Club
Director: Aaron Miner
Length: 10-hour weekend seminar
Class Notes: This course includes a pre-class homework assignment. Students must have home recording capabilities.
Ok, sure, we could go with the obvious opening line for this class description and say the first thing about VO Fight Club, is you don’t talk about VO Fight Club, but that would be silly (and lazy) because as voice actors talking is what we do. Join Aaron, your ultimate cornerman, as he takes you through the rigors of a true voice-over clash. Students will contend in a March Madness tournament-like bracket throughout the weekend until the final two are left to battle it out for the grand prize: a half-price four-week or weekend class! But before you ask, “How will I be involved in the action if I get eliminated early?”, don’t worry because there is something very important we haven’t told you about this seminar: It’s really a direction class disguised as a competition class! That’s right, no matter the ultimate outcome of the performance side of this class, Aaron will be coaching the constant flow of student directors guiding the actors still in the game as the audience weighs in on who won each round by articulating who they would cast and why. Performer, director or judge. What part will you play? At the end of the weekend, Aaron will choose the best director who will win a private lesson with our current Top Teacher, Vicki Baum.
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.
You Should Be Committed
Director: Sirenetta Leoni
Length: 12-hour four-week workshop
Class Notes: None
No, we aren’t making a public statement on your sanity (seriously, who are we to talk?). We’re just saying that to really stand out and get your performances noticed whether it be by your agent, a producer or someone hiring online, you have to make clear, strong acting choices and then… GO FOR IT! (we were going to say “just do it” but apparently that’s already taken…) Through a series of specially designed, practical exercises and games, you’ll be exposed to important acting concepts including being crystal clear about who you are and who you’re talking to, raising the stakes, setting the scene, being in the moment and actively listening. You’ll discover how crucially important these questions are and why being ultra-specific and then totally committing to your choices will bring about a more engaging and ultimately more competitive performance.
- For Advanced/Working Professionals
A Real Page-Truner
Directors: Roni Gallimore, PJ Ochlan
Length: 10-hour weekend seminar
Class Notes: This course includes a pre-class homework assignment. Students must have home recording capabilities.
The skill of captivating storytelling that beguiles your audience is at the heart of every successful audiobook ever no matter the subject. Yet if you don’t understand the author’s intent you can’t tell their story. Roni will kick off the weekend helping you assess specific book styles with a packet of at-home audition copy to see what kind of books are specifically right for you. As she hands off your learning experience to PJ, he will focus on understanding the author’s intent, the nuances of the multitude of possible author points of view and how that can and should affect the tone of your storytelling. You’ll pick apart scripts and spend time deep diving into the true purpose of the story being told, so you can assemble them back together in the most compelling way. You’ll also hear about the business of audiobooks from two different perspectives: the actor that records at-home and the one that goes to a studio. A comprehensive look at this billion-dollar industry.
Best Damn Demo: Characters! & Narration!
Directors: Character: Samantha Paris, Brian Sommer
Narration: Vicki Baum, Melissa Gray, Sirenetta LeoniLength: Character: 15-hour five-week workshop
Narration: 18-hour six-week workshopClass Notes: Both of these courses include a pre-class and weekly homework assignments. Students must have home recording capabilities for each class.
When we hit on a format that works, we have no shame in going back to the well and “gently petting that alive-and-kicking horse” (Get it? We’re lovers, not fighters). Our troubles emerged when we were trying to decide which genre we should develop for class: characters or narration, narration or characters? Finally, a member of the legen-wait for it-dary Voicetrax Think Tank said, “ummm… why don’t we just do both?” Brilliant! Format refresher: During these two separate information-packed (and when we say packed, we mean stuffed to the rafters and beyond) workshops you’ll explore what you do well and what you should do well, and therefore what you should continue to focus on in your training. For a narration demo showing range is the key. For a character demo what are the most common archetypes that you need to include in a professional demo? In these eye-opening classes you’ll develop a clear understanding of the demo production process and 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 the last week of class, students will have produced, performed, self-directed and packaged their own mock demo. But most importantly, these workshops break down into a major self-direction exploration.
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, expected to lock in immediately and not let the residue of your last performance affect your next performance. Just like the real world! Hmmmm…
Direct Thyself: The Black Belt Edition
Director: Samantha Paris
Length: 24-hour six-week workshop
Class Notes: Prerequisite: Other Voicetrax self-direction classes or prior approval from Voicetrax. This class includes weekly homework assignments. Students must have home recording capabilities.
Ever wonder what it would be like to teach a voice-over class? Well maybe not an entire class, but a portion? In this self-direction-palooza of a workshop you’ll sit in the director’s chair and take an entire roster of students through their paces with your clear, precise and concise (hint, hint) direction. Your self-direction skills will be stretched, tested and evaluated, and that’s good thing. Because, as always, the prime objective of directing your fellow students is to improve your own self-direction and give Samantha a window into your soul brain to hear what you’re telling yourself when auditioning at home. And remember this: nothing much grows in your comfort zone, so be brave and jump in!
Discovering Your Inner Artist
Director: Chopper Bernet
Length: 10-hour weekend seminar
Class Notes: This course includes a pre-class homework assignment.
Join Voicetrax alum, Chopper Bernet, and discover the joy and passion that has always driven true artists to cultivate their craft. This class is about risk taking, finding your strengths and weaknesses, and learning to tell stories through acting. Perform scripts you usually don’t get the chance to do that will get you out of your comfort zone and push your artistic boundaries. Find out what happens when you go deeper into your own personal story and bring that organic honesty to your read. Be ready to go for it, potentially fall on your face, get up and do it again, ultimately learning and growing from the experience which will result in you becoming a much stronger actor.
Finding Your Character Compass
Director: Townsend Coleman
Length: 9-hour three-week workshop
Class Notes: The course includes a pre-class homework assignment. Students must have home recording capabilities.
Do you sometimes feel lost when receiving a character audition in class or from your agent? Do you get overwhelmed with what to do to make it original, rich and believable? Iconic character voice actor Townsend Coleman is back “in town” (digitally, of course) to be the Sacagawea to your Lewis & Clark. Students will record scripts at home for in-class critique. Townsend will be your guide and delve into your performance choices flushing out the different facets the character offers. After receiving Townie’s sage advice, you’ll get an opportunity to get back into “the booth” (digitally, of course) and try it again, which most actors are always itching to do. Your expedition from good to great starts here by getting the good kind of “lost” in the genuine character that springs from within you. Happy Trails to you!
Home Recording II
Director: Kevin Cleland
Length: 12-hour four-week workshop
Class Notes: This course will include a pre-class and weekly homework assignments. Students must have home recording capabilities.
The fact is that as an auditioning, working voice actor these days, the quality of your audio is just as important as the performance. Great sound quality means increased opportunities for income, since what you record at home is actually ending up on the television or radio more and more often. There are powerful tools at your disposal, but you can do a lot of damage if you don’t use them correctly. How far do you go before you leave the sound file alone? And what is the difference between cleaning up a file and going too far, making it sound slick and too professional and losing all the authenticity you worked your a$$ off to achieve. These days it’s not just about your sound quality, but also your ability to be the engineer. Building a reputation as a voice actor that can do it all – act and engineer – will bring you even more opportunities. And what about sound connection platforms used in professional session like Source Connect? This workshop is designed to make you into the jack-of-all trades, capable of connecting with the client, recording the session as well as quickly analyzing what might be technically wrong and responding with a precise fix, and acting (oh yeah… THAT!). When a producer or director works with you and listens to your audio, the only thing they should be aware of is your brilliant performance.
How To Walk, Talk & Chew Gum
Director: Allyson Vox
Length: 10-hour weekend seminar
Class Notes: 10 students only.
This seminar will launch students into the very exciting technology of Performance Capture (PCap) – (formerly known as Motion Capture or MoCap) – utilized by big name film studios in the making of movies including Avengers: Infinity War, Avatar, The Hobbit and Lord of The Rings and the biggest video game developers who’ve distributed games including Uncharted, Mass Effect, Final Fantasy, Call of Duty, Resident Evil and The Last Of Us, just to name a few. This training has become a required skill for any voice actor who wants to make it big time in video games. There’s a few of you out there, right? As a veteran of this discipline, Allyson will introduce you to the basics including what it’s like to be on a PCap stage, the equipment that it utilizes (and there’s a LOT) and even take you through some scenes as you move about as if you are on a theatre stage using props! Get out from behind the mic, put your comfy clothes on and play with a pretend sword against a fellow ‘Traxer!
Know Your Zero II
Director: Vicki Baum
Length: 12-hour four-week workshop
Class Notes: Prerequisite: Know Your Zero Level One. This course includes a pre-class homework assignment. Students must have home recording capabilities.
Just when you thought you knew everything you needed to know about your Zero, this level II class is going to get even “zero-ier”. (whoa, did we just make up a new word? call Merriam Webster!) Guided by Vicki Baum, the creator of the Zero vernacular, you’ll revisit your personality and vocal trait lists and add to them and further explore your super fun and freeing Anti-Zero, all while directing your fellow students in class and providing feedback on their at-home recordings. Basically, each student at one point during the four weeks, will be assisting Vicki to teach the class. Trait lists, directing and feedback, oh my!
Marketing: From Grass Roots To High Tech
Directors: Emiko Susilo, Katherine Tole
Length: 12-hour four-week workshop
Class Notes: This course includes a pre-class and weekly homework assignments.
Great, so you’ve been studying, working hard, and you feel the time has come to start working on the business side of your voice-over career. But where do you start? We’ve brought together two Voicetrax home-grown alumni who’ll come from two different approaches for this particular part of the industry. Emiko will start you off with her successful philosophy including face-to-face networking and utilizing your sphere of influence. Then Katherine will join the festivities to share her technology-driven method of marketing including what social platforms are most effective, what’s important for a website and obtaining agents in multiple regions. A fun fact (and who doesn’t love a fun fact?) Both of these ladies enjoyed success before they had agents, so this information-packed workshop is definitely the place to start!
Men Only: The Legends
Directors: Erik Braa, Dave Fennoy, Brian Sommer
Length: 10-hour weekend seminar
Class Notes: This course will include a pre-class homework assignment. Students must have home recording capabilities.
Can’t you just hear this class title being performed with a booming voice rattling your bones and your soul? We sure can, every single time. This triumvirate of video game expertise has come together to take you through what it means to be a man in the world of video games. A Viking? Check! A Zombie killer? Check, check! A Barbarian King? Check, check and check… But guess what? It’s not all about big voices. With the explosion of video game opportunities that just keeps getting more and more robust, every kind of voice and man is required by game producers. So along with the requisite big and hairy characters, these gentlemen will take you through a cornucopia of different roles to stretch your range, add to your variety and make you a video game man to be reckon with.
Only On The Voicetrax Channel
Directors: Thom Pinto, Chopper Bernet, LA Agent
Length: 10-hour weekend seminar
Class Notes: None
Next on The Voicetrax Channel: What’s better than a promo class with a top-notch promo performer as Guest Director? How about a promo class with TWO skilled, successful promo wizards whose authority on the subject is absolutely unparalleled? And an LA Agent that auditions the best of the best for promo work? Well, we just happen to have the holy trinity of promo experts. Thom (current KRON-4), Chopper (former national NBC) and Agent X represent decades of experience in this genre of voice-over, and they will take you through numerous styles of promo (spoiler alert – promo is not all the same) including news, talk shows and television show teasers to give you a well-rounded exposure to this world of well-paid promo performers. And ladies, before you think that promos are only for guys, the times haved changed and there are opportunities for everyone. So set your remotes for expertise times three, premiering this spring… Only on the Voicetrax Channel!
Precise & Concise
Director: SF 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 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 guy will take you on a self-direction odyssey where you will have to explain to him (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 himself, Agent T 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.
Remotely Speaking
Directors: Carli Silver, Tina Morasco, TWO LA Agents
Length: 9-hour three-week workshop
Class Notes: This course will include a pre-class homework, assignment. Students must have home recording capabilities. This class can and should be repeated.
New York & Los Angeles… two of the capitals of voice-over… with agents and casting professionals. Who better to give you direct, non-nonsense feedback to your pre-recorded performances. We’re pulling out all the stops, so you can virtually criss cross the country and back again to hear what the best in the business think of your acting chops. The accomplished professionals steering this ship will illuminate different approaches or angles for you to try in the scripts provided to you to record in your home studio for expert in-class feedback. And with the addition of New York-based Carli & Tina from the casting juggernaut Sound & Fury never before has this class been so on-point about how to turn out bookable performances.
Sommer Smackdown
Directors: Brian Sommer, Ben Gabaldon
Length: 12-hour four-week workshop
Class Notes: None Gabaldon
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 for former video game director/producer extraordinaire, Ben Gabaldan. It’s time to get real, and this class is as real as it gets.
T. G. I. F.!
Director: Samantha Paris
Length: 12-hour four-week workshop
Class Notes: This course includes a pre-class and weekly homework assignment. Students must have home recording capabilities.
In this cornucopia of a workshop Samantha is locked and loaded to bring the FUN back to Friday and give you exactly what you need. How is that possible? Because before this class happens, Samantha will look at the class roster and custom build her lesson plan to specifically address what those 12 particular students need at the moment. Could it be commercials or characters? Maybe a dramatic monologue? Might it be exploring famous prototypes? Perhaps a name draw where you will secretly observe your fellow ‘Traxer over the duration of the 4 weeks and perform as that person on the last Friday? We know it will be self-direction, oh and a contest! Well, of course, a contest… And, well, whatever it is, it will have you saying, “FUN abounds on TGIF” once again!
The Master’s Master Class
Directors: Peter Coyote, Samantha Paris. Whoa! Both of them? You better believe it…
Length: 10-hour weekend seminar
Class Notes: This course will include a pre-class homework assignment. 10 students only.
Join The Master himself, Peter Coyote along with Voicetrax Founder, Samantha Paris in this high-level dramatic and comedic scene study class. The crème de la crème of Voicetrax students will come to class with one side of a memorized dialogue chosen for them and a partner with tremendous care by the Voicetrax Think Tank. They’ll work all day with the Emmy-Award winning actor Peter Coyote and Clio-Award winning actress, Samantha Paris. You’ll be flabbergasted by what Peter’s brilliant acting mind will glean from the words on the page and the emotional context he brings out from inside you. Then they’ll immediately go to a breakout room and work side by side with Samantha who will bring her own world-class script analysis to the performance. On the second day, students will participate in a Samantha-hosted showcase of all the dialogues. Then the jury of auditors that have been watching all along (oops… did we fail to mention there will be a real “live” – and by live we mean online – audience of fellow Voicetrax students? Our bad.), along with Samantha will chose a “winner” who will win a free private lesson from the founder herself. Two Master teachers, a live audience AND a prize at the end? Total perfection!
The Versatility Factor
Director: Samantha Paris
Length: 18-hour six-week workshop
Class Notes: This course includes a pre-class and weekly homework assignments. Students must have home recording capabilities.
One of the main components of a successful career in any industry is versatility, and voice-over is no different. In fact, versatility is mandatory to make it in voice-over. Get ready to stretch yourself and run the gauntlet through many of the various disciplines of acting as Samantha takes you through a memorized scene study, characters, commercial and… really… who knows what else? You know that Samantha always has a few tricks up her pretty little sleeve, but they are invariably for your own good. What we do know is that self-direction skills will be needed throughout. You’ll dig deep each week to strengthen your skills in each category (no one-trick ponies here). And after all that hard work, the last week will be a performance showcase where you bring your best stuff, all for the prize of a free private lesson from the founder herself. Huzzah!
Three In A Row: Level II And Beyond
Director: Thom Pinto
Length: 10-hour weekend seminar
Class Notes: Prerequisite: Three In A Row or prior approval from Voicetrax. This course includes a pre-class homework assignment. Students must have home-recording capabilities.
Lights, Camera, Action! (insert catchy theme song music here… bap, bap, bap, ba, ba da, dap…) Ok, so technically there’s no camera involved since this is a voice-over class, but this show must go on! Why? Because being able to effectively perform a tagline or branding phrase three times in a row each with distinctly different attitudes is a mandatory skill for every voice actor working professionally everywhere. Thom will take the lessons offered in the first and second level classes and crank up the heat, asking you to direct yourself on different copy including the ever-challenging two and three-word lines and direct you live. This skill is so current and relevant that no matter what kind of audition you submit or job you book – commercial, video games, narration…even medical narration (it’s true!) – having the finesse to give them a variety when asked to rip off three in a row will truly pay off!
Thrown For A Loop: ADR w/ Ned Lott
Director: 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.
Two In A Row: The Video Game Variation
Directors: Randall Ryan, Gillian Brashear, Chuck Kourouklis
Length: 10-hour weekend seminar
Class Notes: This course includes a pre-class assignment. Students must have home recording capabilities.
Your trusted steed Chuck will lead you into this weekend, establishing the ground work and creating a safe space that will allow you to unlock the inner voice of your artist heart that brings the unique you to your character performances. So when Randall Ryan and Gillian Brashear take the helm you’ll be ready to hit your mark. Variety is the spice of life and in video games it’s the whole meal. You must always possess a viable (not just different for difference’s sake) second take on any video game character you do for auditioning and most definitely when you’re in session. Yes, Randall and Gillian will explore character development, realism, versatility and vocal care (dying can be a real strain on the ‘ol vocal cords), but they’re also about nurturing your soul, reminding you of your worth as people, as storytellers, as reflections back to society, and to encourage you hold onto the love of the art form of voice-over.
Voice-Over Pentathlon
Directors: Samantha Paris, Thom Pinto, Melissa Hutchinson, TWO LA Agents
Length: 18-hour six-week workshop
Class Notes: We’re sure with the cornucopia of Guest Directors involved in this class, there’s bound to be some homework at some point and we’re sure it’ll include recording at home. So, get your home set-up ready to roll!
Do you have the versatility it takes to run this gauntlet? We hope so because that’s the name of the game in today’s voice-over market. Online casting sites are replete with a variety of genre scripts, and few agents are interested in one-trick ponies. This vigorous challenge offers FIVE different teachers with FIVE different lesson plans with a little something here for everyone including commercial, characters and narration (did we mention versatility?) plus a few sweet surprises for you to find out about in the moment, just for fun. What can categorically be affirmed is that each of these top-shelf teachers will challenge you to flex your voice-over muscles into a gold medal-winning performance.
What You See Is What You (Will) Get
Director: Vicki Baum
Length: 10-hour weekend seminar
Class Notes: This course includes a pre-class assignment. Students must home recording capabilities.
What’s that? Over the hill and beyond the horizon? It’s you, envisioning yourself in a scene, fully engulfing yourself, letting the moment take you over. No phones, no computers, no responsibilities. Just you and your imagination taking you to creative and inspiring places. Once back from that mind-bending projection, Vicki will assist you in applying that freedom of imagination to your acting experiences, bringing realism, authenticity and heart to anything you do in the future whether it’s a Pulitzer-prize winning play, a comedic television show or ruminating on celery for 99 cents a pound. You’ll travel through numerous visualization exercises that will no doubt connect you to a deeper, more profound part of yourself. A far-ranging and illuminating seminar to be sure.