You know...  I have to say that Paul and I have always been amazed at how many people we have spoken to who have dreamed of being a professional voice actors for years or even decades and each year when they think about making the jump they just don’t do it.  Human nature can be funny like that. I mean, how many of us want to be more physically fit or maybe we want to learn a new language? We know what we want, we know how to get it, but still for some reason we just don’t go after it.  Instead, so many of us just live our lives one year at a time wishing that we could just do the very thing that we are choosing not to do.  Doesn't that sound crazy? We are all guilty of it though.  

With the new year upon us, there could not have been a better time to get the most recent success update from one of our Master Class graduates. If you have ever considered making the jump into the fun and exciting world of voiceovers then please, do yourself a favor and read the story of 2011 Master Class graduate, Matt Martin.  This may just be the nudge you need to stop thinking about your dream, and start working towards that dream of becoming a voice actor. 

49 Year Old Matt Martin In His Own Words

Matt Martin worked in the business/banking world for more than two decades. Matt was a successful stock broker and had achieved many of his life's ambitions. After many years in the banking and financial industry Matt had this to say... 

I was becoming discontent with the direction the company I worked for was headed and the direction of Wall Street in general. I decided I needed to get out. I left that career behind me and opened a construction company. I could see the writing on the wall with the recession starting to take affect in America and I got out of that as well.

Like so many people I meet who want to get into this business, I remember that people always said that I had that voice. You know, the voice for movies and commercials. The voice of a professional voice actor. On the other hand, voice actors I met had commonly told me that the market is just too tough, and that I will never make it in voice acting. It turned out that they were wrong. I now know that they just did not know how to do it!

Then Came Voices For All

I remember I was shampooing the carpets in my house and I had just quit my last job in October of 2010. My wife brought in a mailer from Gig Harbor Community College, near our home. As I stood there cleaning the rugs she told me about VFA’s class called An Introduction To Voice Acting.  She told me I should go and so... I signed up and went.

That class was my first formal introduction to the real world of professional voiceovers and voice acting. I have to admit that the class was a bit nerve racking. I had done a little acting back in my younger days but nothing big. I had not read a script in years and here I was doing it in front of a group of other students taking the class with me. I have to say however that my teacher Mike Elmore was amazing, and at the end of the class I knew this was something that I wanted to do.

A couple days after the class, I spoke with Courtney Thayer and Sherril Stewart from Voices For All. To be honest when they told me about the Master Class I thought it was just too good to be true. The whole time I was thinking it was all smoke and mirrors and maybe not legit. I decided that I would speak to some people I knew who work in the entertainment industry and I found out that VFA was in fact legit and reputable, and known by many as “The Way“ to get into this business. I remember one friend said to me. “Matt, I have always trusted you, now you need to trust me on this. Voices For All is a great company and you need to go for it.”  I have to admit that my wife and I were both concerned because I was unemployed and we wondered if I would be able to really do this. I had no job, and money was going to run out sooner or later. Was this the right move?

Thankfully, I decided to make the jump and just two days later I was on a plane to Minneapolis to fill the one remaining spot in the Master Class that had just opened up due to a rescheduled student. I will never forget that time. There was a massive blizzard so bad that they shut down the whole city. In fact, the snow was so bad that It shut down the kitchen, elevators, and the swimming pool at the hotel. It was pretty crazy.

Then Came The Master Class

What else can I say except this class was way beyond what I had possibly imagined. I remember being totally impressed with so many things: like learning how to dissect a script, the marketing section was great, learning how to create your own identity, and the step by step process of being successful, also the studio and ProTools section. The whole thing was just amazing. At the end of the class I remember Mike Elmore saying, “you will have questions, do not hesitate to call me directly or VFA”  and I asked “are you sure because I can be a pain in the butt.”  He said, “ Yes, please call me or VFA when you need help, any help at all,” and believe me, I did.  

I also remember that making my demo was a kick. It was so fun and invigorating. Mike can get out of you what he wants, and what you need. He is a great producer, especially for new budding voice actors.  

When I got home from the class I had a concrete plan and I went right to it. I started to put my professional identity together. I received my demo soon after, signed up for the sites that I was referred to by VFA. It took me 3 months to get my first job, and then 2 more months for my next job. Then all of the sudden I started getting more and more work. That was when I decided to start marketing hard.  I started sending many more emails each day and I would follow up with them every four to eight weeks. I was receiving more and more positive responses. I even started getting phone calls from people I had never even contacted in the first place!

Then Came Success

One of my main goals was to double my income every month. It was tough some months but I have effectively done it. I have met my goal and that feels just great! When people ask me about my success I tell them this is such a great Job. Everyone in this business is so fun to work with.  It is the best job in the world. Even my local newspaper is calling me now to inquire about what I am doing and how I am doing it. One year ago I wanted to be a voice actor. Today I am a successful professional voice actor with a rapidly growing clientele. I owe so much of that to Voices For All. 

Some of the bigger companies I have worked for as a voice actor are:

• Cobalt Tools
• Lowes
• Ford
• Jack Rabbit Sports Gear
• TV show Dropped Project Alaska
• Iyogi Software
• National Geographic
• Various Music Videos
• Game Trailers
• Game Narration
• Guardian Glass 
• And many more...

You ask me about success.  I have to say I did not expect any less from myself. After the Master Class I figured that I should have been this successful due to the quality of my Voices For All education and support.  Really, I mean I received a great education and great support.  Why wouldn't I be successful? The Master Class gives you confidence and a plan. Then you just have to act on it and follow through.

What would I say to other people who have been thinking about getting into professional voice acting?

Trust Mike Elmore, trust VFA, and trust yourself. You know that somewhere inside of you this is right. Leaving your 9-5 like I did is not easy. (VFA does not recommend leaving your day job when you are first starting out) Trust yourself, trust these people, and you'll be successful if you put your mind to it.

Congratulations Matt... Keep up the great work! We are all so proud of you.

-Stan Denis 

Managing Partner - Voices For All

Winter will soon be upon us, wouldn't you like to feel the sand between your toes instead of the frost on your nose? For the first time Voices for All is offering a vacation destination Master Class located in sunny Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. You will have the opportunity to participate in all our Master Class has to offer while being able to enjoy your downtime doing what vacationers do best... shop, sightsee and relax. We have had a huge demand for this class so don't miss out on your opportunity to be a part of it. The cost is $2990 and even better we offer payment plans to make it really affordable. In this economy who can turn down an affordable getaway? We have handled all the details now all you need to do is enroll and get yourself there! If this sounds as good to you as it does to all of us here in the Northeast check out the details HERE and contact us to get in on the fun!!! 

This is what you can do with a great voice and a VO education from VFA....

We are proud to announce one of our very own VFA students has landed a national advertisement for Ford. Take a listen you make think you are hearing Mike Rowe but don't be fooled it is out very own Matt Martin. Congratulations Matt!  Great job!

To view/hear the Ad for Ford  CLICK HERE

Do you have a character voice that you have perfected?  Why not blog about it, that is what our very own VFA coaches have done. Follow The Adventures of Bettie, featuring the voices for Leah Frederick and Bob Puthoff.

Click Here 

As you are all aware, when Apple intorduced it's newest Operating System (OSX) Lion, Pro Tools 9 MP was not compatible with the new OSX.  We are happy to announce that a Beta version has been released. Pro Tools 9.0.5 is now available for Lion.  Keep in mind this is a Beta version meaning that while Lion users can use Pro Tools now, Avid is still working out the kinks and a fully supported version should be right around the corner. Keep checking back for further information. 

To download the Free Update for MP users - CLICK HERE

It's time to reach out and make some friends. Social networking friends that is. In our Master class we discuss the importance of marketing yourself through social media sites and what a difference it can make in getting your name and skill set out to the public. What people don't often realize is that while you are online searching for companies to promote yourself to, they can also be searching for you. The most important thing to remember is keep your information up to date and make as many "friends" as possible. You never know where your next big break could come from.

I wish that I had Jessie's Girl.... I mean, Mike Elmore's voice!!! 

Mike Elmore, VFA Master Class instructor, will be providing his VO talents as the narrator for Rick Springfield- Behind the Music to be aired on VH-1! Production will begin in a few weeks.  We will be sure to update you as soon as we learn when the program will air. Mike Elmore is soaring high in his Voiceover career.  No Broken Wings on this guy... that's for sure!

Congrats Mike. 

We recently received an email here at VFA Headquarters from our colleague Mike Elmore, VFA Master Class Instructor/Coach/Producer, that we thought might be interesting to share with you:

Hey everyone.  I thought it would be appropriate to stop by the site and share some thoughts.  

As everyone at Voices For All knows, I have been doing voice overs for a long time.  I have won awards, voiced 1000's of commercials, books, promos, trailers, telephony applications, etc.   I have my days down to a science when it comes to voicing, answering email and MARKETING.  I emphasize marketing because it is one of my favorite necessities of this business.  I love seeing my efforts pay off in the form of a "gig".  I also love the fact that you can do it from home!!!  If I owned fuzzy, bunny slippers, I would wear them while I am working all day from my home recording studio.   

Anyway... despite my years of experience in the voice over business, I wanted to thank Voices For All for opening my eyes to some marketing ideas that I had never thought of.  You see, I teach some of the Voices For All Master Classes that are scheduled throughout the year and while I have contributed to the current curriculum of this class, a lot of the class was already in place when I started teaching. As I got a few of these classes under my belt I realized.....there was something during the MARKETING portion of the workshop that kept jumping out at me every time I would get to the portion of the day that mentioned it.  When we are giving an incredible marketing plan to the class there is a time when we go over some great places to submit voice over demos to.  Every time that came up, it kind of made me raise my mental eyebrow and "go hmmmm"!..... as I had never thought of contacting one of the specific types of organizations that we mention.  So.....I put together a template email that I could send to as many of these companies as I could STAND...(there are so many of them).  After about a month or so...I got 3 emails back saying they were interested in using me for upcoming projects.  So far I have voiced 4 projects between 2 organizations and have another one coming soon from the 3rd, directly as a result of this latest marketing concept.  And JUST when I thought I was a MASTER~ haha...  The truth of the matter is...I learn all the time...new ways to market, new voicing techniques.  So thanks to Voices For All for such a well crafted, all-inclusive class and also for opening my eyes to this marketing idea.  There are others that I am going to play with as well that I hope to get the same results from and look forward to sharing them with future Mater Class attendees.  Thanks again.

For grads who are using Pro Tools 8, Avid released their latest update... 8.0.5.  This new version has corrected the known issues that remained with 8.0.4.  The update is free for all Pro Tools 8 users.  To download PT 8.0.5 Click Here

As always if you have any Home Studio or Pro Tools questions, please email Courtney@voicesforall.com

If you're not moving forward, you are simply standing still. At VFA we don't like to stand still.  We're always thinking "What next?" and "How can we improve?". One way we continuously improve is by evolving our Master Class content. Starting this month, the VFA Master Class instructors will be teaching a new and improved Master Class curriculum. Much of the class will remain the same, but we have refined some of the technique exercises and updated the marketing approach. The VO industry is ever changing and it is very important for our students to be "in the know" when these changes happen. So in addition to the New Master Class, we also have updated the VFA MC Workbook with all of this awesome information and have made it available to all VFA Master Class Graduates on the Resources page. Just go to the Graduate Login and choose "Resources". The new workbook is easy to identify by adding the word "current" next to the document name!  

We have made improvements to the Home Studio section of the workbook as well, and created a new PT Template for you to use. Check it out now! We think that you'll like the changes.    

To link to the Graduate Login now... Click Here

As many of you know, Digidesign (the maker of Pro Tools) recently became AVID.  Unfortunately, this change caused a halt in production of the MBox 2 for a period of time earlier this year. Now that production is back up and running, AVID has released the 3rd Generation MBoxes, officially known as the Pro Tools MBox Family. The new Pro Tools MBox will still have it's little sister, Mini as well as it's big brother,  Pro. The new hardware is lighter and works more seamlessly then ever before. As production of the MBox 2 Family has ended in preparation for the 3rd Generation, those who order their equipment in January 2011 will be ordering the new Mbox.  There is a slight increase in cost, but the improvements are well worth it. Given AVID's track record.... this new addition should not disappoint! 

To learn more about the Pro Tools MBox Family:  Click Here

Have you ever missed that big audition because you were away from your home studio?  Well, iPhone users may have a solution. Everyday Giants LLC created a new app called iAudition.  This application will allow you to do a quick audition right on your phone and send.  There are also microphones that you can buy to plug into your phone when you travel.  Please note that we are NOT recommending this app as a substitute for your home studio, as it will not produce studio quality recordings. However this could be a useful tool for those of you who travel and would like to audition while you're "on the go."  Good luck!

To learn more...CLICK HERE

While Rich Harlan has been with VFA for some time now, it was only recently that we realized we never officially welcomed Rich to the Team!  Better late then never, right???

VFA proudly welcomes our newest Instructor, Rich Harlan to the Team! Rich came to VFA a few years ago as an Introduction to Voiceovers student.  Like so many of our students, after attending his first class with VFA, Rich became hooked.  Soon he proceeded on to take our Master Class and did quite well with his new career, booking several jobs shortly after graduating. Earlier this year, when we were in search of our newest VO Instructor, we asked our Grads to apply for the job.  Rich quickly went to the top of the list.  His talent, in combination with his charm, won him the position as a VFA "Introduction to Voiceovers" Instructor.  He has had an impact on many lives just as his VFA Instructor had an impact on his. If you have had the pleasure of attending one of Rich's classes, I am sure you have heard the story of how he became known in the VO world as "Rich in Character".  Ever since he has been with VFA, we have been "Rich in Rich"!

It was wonderful to have Rich as part of the VFA Family, but it is even better to have him as part of the Team! While this is long overdue....  Welcome Rich! 

To lean more about Rich, please visit his website: www.richharlan.com

We are!  VFA has it's own You Tube Channel. We will periodically add videos about VFA and the world of VO! This is our way of keeping up with the trends and keeping YOU informed. 

We would love for you to subscribe...  Click Here to check out our You Tube Channel!

Extra! Extra! Read all about it!  Mike Elmore is listed as one of the "most prominent or iconic Voiceover Artists," according to Wikipedia.

Mike is often involved in projects that are newsworthy, but this time, he has certainly outdone himself. Mike is listed in the company of many iconic voice actors such as Mel Blanc, Nancy Cartwight and Robin Williams! This is a huge accomplishment and we are so proud of him! Next time you see him, ask for his autograph! 

From all of your friends at VFA... Congratulations Mike!

Want to check out the article which contains the list?  Click Here

Just when you thought Mike couldn't possibly get any busier, he goes and signs another national contract. For the next six months, Mike Elmore will be working on recording hundreds of :30 to :60 second advertisements for Yelp.com and Yellowpages.com clients. Starting very soon, when you search businesses using yelp or yellowpages.com and you click on the video commercial ad next to the company listing, you could be hearing the voice of VFA's very own Mike Elmore!  So proud of you Mike!  

Want to hear some samples??

Click Here    And Here    Here Too     Last One

Avid (formerly Digidesign) announced the release of PT 8.0.4 yesterday.  This is a FREE upgrade for registered users of the Pro Tools 8 software.  The new version is available for Mac OS as well as Windows OS.  The upgrade will bring lots of performance advancements and "fixes" and also now supported by Window 7.  This is BIG news for those of you who have purchased a new PC and have been using the Beta version of PT for some time now.  PT 8.0.4 also supports the Intel based Mac OS X 10.6.1 - 10.6.3 (Snow Leopard) as well as 10.5.8 (Leopard). For more information about the upgrade...  CLICK HERE

Grads... Please note that we have updated our Template and Manual. If you are using Pro Tools 8.0.4, you will want to download the newest VFA Template and accompanying Manual. As always, let us know if you have questions.

11/24/10 -  UPDATE for PC users!!! If you had Pro Tools 6 or 7 and you have recently upgraded to Windows 7, you will notice that your PT software is not compatible.  Well if you want to upgrade to PT so that you can use Pro Tools with Windows 7.... the upgrade charge is substantially less then purchasing the software as if it was new.  To find out more details contact Martin at Full Compass or Click Here

We have been busy here at VFA making some great changes that will impact our Graduates.  First of all, we have completed a new "Keywords" system for building your profile.  Now, you can supplement the words you have already chosen with a few words from our list too.  If you don't see a word from the list that you would like to use, no worries, you can add your own keywords to the list as well.  We encourage you all to check it out soon and update your keywords. Updating your keywords (as well as your entire profile) regularly is a great way to stay focused and fresh.  

Secondly, since we have many Grads that have now been working in the VO industry for a while, we thought it would be good to add some advanced resources for the veteran VO artist.  Now you will see a category of resources which will assist you in building your own personal website and advertising your small business, in addition to many other new resources that will help you amplify your current marketing and networking efforts. 

So, what are you waiting for?  Go and check out the new resources and update your profile.  

The following article, once again, serves as proof that Leah is the perfect candidate for teaching our Fantastic Advanced Audiobook Workshop!  She was recently signed to narrate not one but two children's audiobooks.  The first is called "Sharing Snowy" and the second it "The Undergardeners".  She has been working on a very large educational narration gig for one of the Gelncoe McGraw-Hill Science books.  She will be voicing the over 1000 definitions in the textbooks glossary!  This is not the first job she has performed for the textbook enterprise. These are some exciting jobs, Leah.  Congrats!

I addition to teaching Intro and Master Classes for VFA, Mike Elmore has been in production for a series of national radio/TV commercials for Capcom/Gamestop.  His voice is being used for the promo for the release of the latest version of a hugely popular video game series and its accompanying toy!  Kudos to you Mike for booking this fantastic opportunity.  Way to go! 

We are very proud to announce that one of our Graduates has been recognized by ForeWord Magazine. "Elijah's Coin" by Steve O'Brien, narrated by Bob Nielsen (VFA GRAD), is a finalist for ForeWord's 2009 Audio Book of the Year. ForeWord's Book of the Year Awards program was designed to discover distinctive books from independent publishers across a number of genres. The Awards program often serves to provide these worthy projects with a second wind of publicity. The finalists, representing 360 publishers, were selected from 1,400 entries in 60 categories. These books are examples of independent publishing at its best. The winners will be determined by a panel of librarians and booksellers selected from the Magazines' readership. Gold, Silver, and Bronze winners, as well as Editor's Choice Prizes for Fiction and Nonfiction will be announced at a special program at BookExpo America in New York City on May 25. The winners of the two Editor's Choice Prizes will be awarded $1,500 each. The ceremony is open to all BEA attendees. We at VFA are cheering for Bob.  We will be sure to keep you posted when the winners are announced in May.  Congrats to you Bob for doing great work!  

For a full list of the finalists searchable by category, publisher, title, and author, Click Here.

UPDATE 4/21/10: We just received notice that Elijah's Coin, the audio book, has been named a Silver Medalist in the Nautilus Book Awards.

The Nautilus Awards recognize Books and Audio Books that promote spiritual growth, conscious living & positive social change,  while at the same time they stimulate the "imagination" and offer the reader "new possibilities" for a better life and a better world.

There are three rounds of judging.  Silver medalists are those that survive the first two rounds of independent judging. Silver medalists go onto a third set of judges to select the Gold Medal winner.  Nautilus will award the Gold Medal on May 26 at the BEA convention.

Previous Gold and Silver medal winners of the Nautilus Award are Deepak Chopra, Barbara Kingsolver, Eckhart Tolle, Katherine Neville, and .....wait for it....His Holiness The Dalai Lama.

We have some amazing news to share with you. Our teammate Leah Frederick came to us a while ago stating that her mother, Phyllis, was in need of a Kidney transplant.  After several potential donors were tested and found not to be a match for Phyllis, Leah's sister posted a plea for a donor of Facebook. Lo and behold, a donor came forward! Kirsten, an old family friend whose own brother's life was saved by a bone marrow donor, volunteered to be tested. Once it was determined she was a match, she offered a kidney to Phyllis. The surgery took place in January and we are very excited to announce that Phyllis, Kirsten and Gertrude (the donated kidney was named Gertude) are all doing fine! The community where Phyllis lives was so touched by this act of kindness that the local news and the newspaper did stories about it.  This is truly a miracle and we are glad that everyone is doing well. 

If you would like to view the news story please CLICK HERE

If you would like to read the news article please CLICK HERE

For more information about live organ donation or if you would like to make a donation to the Kidney Foundation please CLICK HERE or National Marrow Donor Program CLICK HERE.

Eric Hunt, one of VFA's fabulous Master Class and Advanced Workshops Instructors, has just signed a contract for his latest gig with the Pennsylvania Dept. of Education.  This will be an ongoing contract for him to voice a series of online courses intended for teachers, staff, and administrators of the PA public schools system. Eric will be narrating this series which will consist of Powerpoint presentation style online courses that will address many areas "behind the scenes" of PA public school education including how to send a school lunch contract out for bidding as well as new current technologies in curriculum and instruction. As an education company and knowing how important education is, we at VFA are proud that Eric is part of this project.  So if you are a PA teacher or PA school staffer, you will be getting to know the Voice of Eric Hunt very soon!  Way to Go ERIC!  

It has come to our attention that Pro Tools 7.X.X is not compatible with Windows Internet Explorer 8.  If you have been affected by this issue, you can uninstall Windows IE 8 as a solution. Please follow these few simple steps in order to uninstall Internet Explorer 8.

Go to Start

Go to Control Panel

Go to View Recent Updates 

View list until you spot Windows Internet Explorer 8

click Uninstall

VFA is very proud to announce that two members of our team have committed to running marathons to benefit the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

On two different occasions the VFA family has been affected by Leukemia.

Michael Benedetti, brother of VFA Founder and Managing Partner, Paul Benedetti, was diagnosed with Leukemia 35 years ago when he was just 6 years old. There were eleven children who had T Cell Leukemia at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston.  They knew nothing about this cancer or how to treat it at the time. After many years of struggling and fighting, an experimental surgery saved two of the eleven children, one was Michael. Remarkably, he is doing very well today. Paul's wife Marilu, VFA's Financial Administrator, will be running her very first marathon in honor of Michael. 

Samantha, a wonderful little 5 year old girl, is the niece of Casey Rose, VFA's Student Administrator. Sam was diagnosed with this dreadful disease only 6 months ago.  Recently she received a bone marrow transplant and is doing very well.  Sam's cell counts are rising everyday, which is incredible. She has had her fair share of battles with infections as a result of the transplant, however, the doctors seem very hopeful that within the next few weeks she will finally be able to leave the hospital. Casey is running her second marathon in honor of Samantha. Our thoughts and prayers are with the Rose family as they fight this disease together. 

• Marilu will be running in The Rock 'n' Roll San Diego Marathon to benefit the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society on June 6, 2010.  You can visit her fundraising page and donate by clicking HERE.

• Casey will be running in The Vermont City Marathon to benefit The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society on May 30, 2010. You can visit her fundraising page and donate by clicking HERE.

As committed entrants of these marathons both Marilu and Casey are obligated to raise thousands of dollars each to participate.  The funds being raised will be allocated in the following way: 76% of the funds raised by the Team In Training program go to The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.  Research (25%), patient/community service (33%), public health education (15%) and professional education (3%). 

The VFA team has promised to do everything it can to help both Marilu and Casey to raise the money needed for this wonderful event.  Any size donation would be welcomed and appreciated.  If you would like to donate please click on the links above.

We thank you wholeheartedly for reading.

We're thrilled to announce VFA's latest endorsement!  Several months ago, we were introduced to Direct Sound Extreme Isolation Headphones.  With several audiophiles on the team at VFA, they were sure to be put to the test!  VFA's toughest audio critic, Paul Benedetti, compared the Direct Sound Extreme Isolation Headphones to the other headphones that we have been recommending to our Master Class grads and these headphones were up for the challenge!  In the categories of quality, cost, durability and comfort, the Direct Sound Extreme Isolation Headphones received an A+ across the board.  We would like to welcome Direct Sound Extreme Isolation Headphones into the VFA family and thank them for both their endorsement of VFA, as well as their support of our Master Class graduates.  

After completing the pilot video for Bing.com a few months back, Mike Elmore (one of VFA's talented Instructors) was hopeful for the chance to be able to voice more of the 100 travel videos Bing had planned.  Well, Mike just signed a one year contract to be the official narrator for Bing.com Travel.  Mike will be narrating through visually dazzling productions, highlighting attractions in over 500 vacation destinations worldwide.  Way to go Mike!  

To hear Mike on the pilot video for Las Vegas... click here.

For those of you who have the new Mac Snow Leopard OS (lucky you), Digidesign now has the fully supported PT8 available for you. While we had no issues with the pre-release version we did hear some concerns about using it, but now you should feel comfortable and confident about making the change. Digi/Avid have made many improvements with the newest version and have taken the wants and desires from users into consideration when creating these updates.  To read more click here! 

We knew this all along but now finally have some statistics to back it up.  Voiceovers can be a great source for additional income. As reported by Voices.com, the VO industry is set to grow 7.5% from 10.9 to 11.7 billion dollars in 2009. Meaning that there is plenty of room for aspiring voice actors to enter the industry. Also according to Voices.com voice talent earnings have increased by 82% in the last year due to higher paying jobs and longer contracts.  WOW! The flexibility of this industry is allowing people to work a full time job but also, from a home studio, to double as a voice actor on the side and bring in extra income.  Now, this is by no means a get rich now industry, it will take practice and an understanding of marketing. But there has never been a better time than NOW to get started!  Click here to view the Voices.com Report.

Ask any of our graduates and they can tell you that we've been long-time fans of Entertainer's Secret Throat Spray.  Well, we are happy to announce that VFA is now being endorsed by Entertainer's Secret!  We are thrilled about this recent endorsement and want to personally thank Entertainer's Secret for graciously gifting our future Master Class graduates with a sample bottle of their spray.  Our producers and students have seen some pretty amazing effects of Entertainer's Secret when used in the studio during demo production.  It's effective in reducing mouth noise, assisting with dry mouth and soothing a hoarse voice. Click for more information on Entertainer's Secret.

Leah Frederick, one of VFA's amazing "Introduction to Voiceovers" instructors and highly talented VO producer, has just completed her latest gig! Congratulations Leah on your Christmas CD project for Super Simple Learning. The CD will be be released nationally in the coming weeks. This is a repeat gig for Leah as Super Simple Learning used Leah's voice to create the Super Simple Halloween CD as well. One of the songs Leah recorded for the CD was turned into an animated video!  GREAT JOB, LEAH!

We are now on Facebook and Twitter! We would love for you to Become a Fan on Facebook and Follow us on Twitter. Tell your friends! Hope to see you there.

We are now officially supporting Pro Tools 8!  We typically wait a little while after new releases to make sure the kinks have been worked out.  Grads, be sure to log in to the Resources section to download the new VFA PT8 Template, and the MC Workbook has been updated with the necessary changes!  For those of you who are just getting the hang of PT7, don't worry.... we still support that too!

Still at just $999, the VFA recommended Macbook has been redesigned.  New features include a Unibody Enclosure (seamless) originally created for the Macbook Pro,  an LED-backlit 13.3-inch glossy widescreen display for an even more spectacular viewing experience and MacBook is designed to have less impact on the environment than most other computers. It’s energy efficient, free of many toxic materials, and made of recyclable materials.  This fine machine runs on a Intel Core Duo processor and up to 7 hours of Battery Power.  Installed software is Mac OS X v10.6 Snow Leopard (Pro Tools Prerelease available) and iLife '09!  For more details please visit:  Apple  

We just received word that Avid/Digigesign announced the immediate availability of a prerelease version of Pro Tools software that provides expanded Mac OS X 10.6.x Snow Leopard compatibility to Pro Tools 8 users. If you’re a Mac-based Pro Tools 8.x.x user, Pro Tools 8.0.3pr software is provided as a convenience should you wish to begin your transition to Snow Leopard before a fully tested and qualified version of Pro Tools becomes available. This is good news for our those of you who have recently made the switch to the beautiful new  Mac Book or Mac Book Pro.  To learn more please visit this link:

Pro Tools Prerelease Now Available for Mac OS X Snow Leopard

Voices For All turns four years old this month!  That's right, it was four years ago that VFA first started, bringing together an incredible group of voice acting industry professionals with the goal of providing the most needed, relevant, education and support possible.  We are so proud that in these four short years VFA has become such a well respected educator within the VO industry.

We are also very excited to announce that the new Voices For All website is finally here!  Many of you probably knew that as soon as you saw it.   We encourage you to explore what our new website has to offer.  Our brand new Education section has articles about the industry written by our staff, information about our newest classes, and even a comprehensive FAQ section.  There is a section dedicated to our brand new recording studio as well.  Please take some time to see what VFA is up to.  We hope you find this new site helpful and informative.  As always, don't hesitate to contact us with any questions you may.

We are very happy to announce that Courtney Thayer has been promoted to the position of Assistant Director of Operations!  This is a very important position here at VFA, and we are sure that all of our staff and students will benefit from her efforts.  Courtney has been so very reliable and proactive since she first began her affiliation with us.   She is a natural fit for this position and we congratulate her on her success.

VFA is proud to introduce you to our newest teammates. Everyone please welcome, Carolyn, Marilu, Bob, Patrick, and Dustin. We continue to be so very fortunate to be able to attract talented and competent teammates. We encourage you to check out the Staff section of our site to learn more about our new family members.

We are proud to announce that the new VFA headquarters and recording studio have been completed.  We are delighted at how well it all came together.  From this point forward all Albany Master Classes will be held in our new headquarters, and all Post Production of our MC grads demos will be completed in our new studio.

The Studio at Voices For All is already off to a great start.  This studio was designed with high end corporate clients in mind.  The setting is very modern and professional.  Our goal was to create a place that would offer the comfort to encourage creative development, while at the same time creating ultra high quality productions.   To learn more about our new studio please visit the Studio section or our website.

The finishing touches are being put on the new VFA Headquarters and Recording Studio. VFA is set to host our first Master Class at our new location. We are very excited to be nearing the completion of this great space. Keep checking back and look for the soon to be coming photos.

As many of you know, Voices For All has been very fortunate to have had an amazing 3.5 years thus far, and as a result we have outgrown our current offices.  Paul and Stan have just finished the deal for the build out of our new headquarters in Saratoga County, NY.  Construction is underway and we are expecting to be moved in by April 1st of this year. Thank you to everyone for making this company such a pleasure to be a part of.

We are such huge fans of Apple computers that we thought out of respect for the company it was worth a mention on our site that the very first Mac came out 25 years ago today. Steve Jobs and Apple Computer changed the computing world in 1984, and we are so thankful they did.  Anyone who is a graduate of the VFA Master Class knows that we are big advocates of Apple computers.  Happy Birthday Mac!!

As always, VFA is committed to continuously evolving and improving the quality of education that we offer to our students.  2009 will be no different.  During the winter/holiday break, we have been hard at work researching and tweaking both our Master and Intro Classes. Looking forward to another great year ahead.

Voices For All does not take the selection of our instructors lightly.  We have grown into a very well respected education company largely due to the talent and knowledge of our instructors.  We are proud to introduce Leah Frederick as our newest Intro Class instructor.  Leah is a graduate of the VFA Master Class, and has found great success as a Voice Actor.  Leah also has a formal education in music, and is an extraordinary vocalist.  To learn more about Leah you can visit our staff page.

Our graduates have been begging and pleading for us to offer post production services for their continually evolving voiceover demos.  All of our graduates with studios know that having a studio at home is a great way to continually work on their skills, and to continually refine their demos.  Subsequently, they have always come to us with the question of where to get the post production work performed on their dry tracks.  We have been concerned with taking on too much of this kind of work, but at the same time we have not found another studio that we feel certain will take the kind of care that we would like to see given to our grads. So with that in mind, and with the endless requests by our grads, we are happy to say that we are now offering post production services to our Master Class graduates. You now officially have access to preferred pricing on the same post production services that were used for your original demos.  This means if you wish to provide us with dry unprocessed voice tracks, the VFA studio team will add appropriate music and effects, de-ess, take out breath noises, clicks and pops, process, and master your home studio demos, to make them the same professional quality as your Master Class demos. To learn more about this service you can visit our Studio contact page to inquire.

If you have contacted Voices For All recently, or if you have recently viewed the Staff Section of this website, then you know that the VFA team continues to grow.  We feel so incredibly proud of our team of talented, committed, and just downright great people that we are so lucky to work with.  As VFA's reputation continues to grow, we attract more and more high quality teammates.  In addition to all of the already well known VFA team, we would like to formally introduce Brian Mansell, Courtney Thayer, and Sherril Stewart, to rest of the extended VFA family.  We encourage you to visit the Staff Section and learn more about these valuable new teammates.

We are proud that VFA is now known as a premier Voice Acting Education Company in the U.S.  We are also very proud of the amazing team of instructors that we have attracted.  They spend countless hours meeting, researching, and developing their craft for the sake of our students.  Amazingly, our instructors do much more than just teach the most informative, relevant, and needed classes in the VO industry.  They are also highly skilled, and very successful, professional Voice Actors as well.  To highlight this, we asked VFA Voice Coach/Instructor/Producer Mike Elmore, to give us a quick run down of some of the work he has done in the last couple months.  The following is what he gave us...

• The John Tesh Radio Show (cruise promo)
• The 80's on 8 - XM Satellite Radio (bumpers and promos)
• Skinny Moose Radio (intro, bumpers, liners)
• iRadioNYC.com (intro, bumpers, liners)
• Nest Entertainment (animation)
• Furuno (Major, worldwide product launch / video promos)

Keep in mind that Mike lives in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, and travels two weeks out of every month for VFA.  The majority of Mike's work is done from both hotel rooms with his portable studio, and from his home studio.  Mike is living proof of how properly trained Voice Actors can make a very good living from anywhere.  

One of the things that we at VFA pride ourselves on, is our continued commitment to improving education.  For that reason, we are continually evolving our Master Class. Almost every class we teach has some type of new content added since the previous class.  In May, VFA went live with the biggest changes to our Master Class since its inception with great success.  We have no doubt that this is the most comprehensive and up to date, Voice Acting education that can be had anywhere.  We would like to send a special thanks out to John Pruden and Andrea Langworthy, for their hard work and long hours spent to ensure that our students receive the very best information and tools in this industry.  As part of our ongoing efforts to support to our members, all of our past graduates can always log in to the Resources section of our website, to download the newest version of the Master Class workbook, as well as all of our other continually updated resources.

May 2007 will mark a very important first for VFA.  We will be holding our first Traveling Master Class, with many more in the schedule to come.  Due to the inability of some of our students to travel to Albany, NY, for the Voices For All Voice Acting Master Class, we have chosen to schedule a good number of classes around the country.  Within a week of announcing every Traveling MC, the schedule fills up rapidly, and we are confident that like the Albany MC, they will all sell out soon after they are announced.  If you are considering one of our traveling classes, don't wait to enroll.  We can only conduct so many of these classes every year, and they will be filled to capacity far in advance.

What a successful year already.  The whole VFA team was very excited and optimistic about the coming of 2007.  With our growing team, and continued refinement of our education curriculum and services, we knew that this year was going to be a good one.  What we did not know, was how many of our Master Level graduates would be contacting us with their success stories.  We are so proud of the success that so many of our graduates have achieved in their first year.  We have graduates that have done Animated Movies, Video Games, National Commercials, Audio Books, and so much more, all in their first year!  VFA is very happy to see our graduates making good use of their education.

Over the past year, VFA has experienced unbelievable growth. This growth is a direct result of our amazing team.  We have finally updated the Staff Section of the website to formally introduce the world to the entire VFA Family.  As you will see, the reputation and success of VFA has attracted a group of stars and industry professionals.  Even beyond their credentials, the VFA family is made up of people with rich, exuberant personalities.  Our team is here to ensure that every student of VFA has the best possible experience, and the tools and knowledge they need to find success in the Voice Acting world.  So, on behalf of the entire VFA family, we would like to say a big HELLO to everyone.  Here's to a sucessful 2007 for all!

As we near the end of 2006 we do so with pride and a feeling of achievement. VFA held its first Master Class on on May 19-22 of this year, and has since graduated many very talented new Voice Actors.  The response to our classes have been overwhelmingly positive, as can be seen in our Alumni Section. The success stories reported by our graduates affirm our methods of getting aspiring Voice Actors ready to enter this rewarding business.  We have continued to evolve both our Introductory and Master Classes, through feedback from our students, and our continued research in the Voice Acting Industry. We feel a great sense of achievement and success as a First Class Education and Support Company for aspiring Voice Actors.  We look forward to 2007.

Mbox® 2 Mini is the world's smallest, most affordable Pro Tools LE system ever. Whether you're a musicican or voiceover artist who's new to recording, or a seasoned pro on the go, Mbox 2 Mini packs professional features into a robust, ultra compact, easy-to-use audio workstation to record and mix wherever your inspiration takes you. And with its diminutive size, Mbox 2 Mini literally puts the power of Pro Tools in the palm of your hand.  By taking out some features that a VO artist doesn't need, this now reduces the cost of your home studio investment.

Over the next 70 days our instructors will be teaching our Intro Class at over 50 schools across the USA.  From New York to California, and many places in between.  Look for our class at Educational Institutions everywhere, or visit our Contact Us section for information of when we might be in a city near you.

Apple continues to wow the world with its amazing new line of computers.  It's complete, Apple has converted every model of computer they offer over to Dual Core Intel processors.  The reviews are amazing.  Not only are these computers built to a higher standard, lightning fast, easy to use, and far more stable, but now they are actually less expensive than similarly equipped competing PCs, such as Dell and Sony.  And all new Macs not only run OSX, but can also run Microsoft Windows (but we can't understand why anyone would want to).

As usual, we are all over the USA teaching our introduction classes and looking for great talent.  This month we visited Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Colorado, and California!  Another incredibly talented Master Class also graduated!  We had a great time getting everyone ready to go out and attack the voiceover world.  We look forward to hearing stories of the success our students are having in this fun and rewarding industry.

We have finally had an opportunity to spend some time with 2 new very key pieces of equipment for our Master Class graduates.  The New Apple MacBook, and Digidesign MBox 2 with Pro Tools 7.1.1.  We are very happy so far with the performance of both of these components.

As we expected the MacBook is an amazing value offering a huge amount of computing power, and many great features for right around $1100.  The MBox 2 is very much like the original MBox, only with a more modern look and updated specs for the same price.  We still feel that this is the best audio interface value for the voiceover artist home studio.  Protools 7 seems to be a big improvement over version 6.9 .  If you have attended our Master Class, then you know that Pro Tools is the industry standard for recording.  Protools 7 now boasts many new features and new plugins that sound very good.  We highly recommend all 3 of these products.

Andrea is in Georgia and Florida this week.  We look forward to finding some good potential Voice Actors from the South.  Then she heads west.  Texas here we come!. This will be our first time in Texas. We are very excited to see how the Texans can perform scripts.

VFA wishes you all a happy and healthy 4th of July...  We are actually taking some time off to relax for once!

VFA left for Illinois for the week to travel all around the Chicago area! Then we spent the last week of June back in Washington State.  Andrea got to meet some very talented people this trip, and as always had a great time in Seattle.  She keeps threatening to move there!

We have shipped Andrea off to Phoenix, AZ, this week, to once again teach introductory classes.  We continue to get amazing feedback from Andrea's students around the country.  We are proud to have her on the VFA team.  She is a great Instructor, Voice Coach, Producer, and Teammate!

Andrea Langworthy, Paul Benedetti, and Stan Denis, just taught our newest version of the VFA Master Class on June 9th-12th.  This class is the industry's most informative and rigorous for sure. We have added many new exercises and drills to the technique workshop, and honed our marketing information.  The feedback from our most recent graduates was extremely positive, and we look forward to continually evolving this class, to ensure that VFA stays number one.  Thank you to the graduates of the June 9th class.  We had a blast!!

Andrea Langworthy, one of our Master Voiceover Coaches, just got back from California, where she not only enjoyed teaching students at our introductory class, but she also loved the views of the high cliffs and the Pacific Ocean.  VFA looks forward to returning many times throughout the coming year.

Two fully packed classes have Voices For All on a short trip to the Midwest!  This will be our first time out there, but the response has been overwhelming.  We look forward to a great time in Omaha.

This past weekend, VFA held a sold out Master Class for Professional Voiceover Artists, who have already previously attended voiceover training with another organization.  We held this class because we have heard so many times that most companies simply don't offer the personal attention, or the service, that is required to make it in this business.  So often Voice Actors are left with no direction for actually pursuing this career. The entire VFA team had a great time working with this group.  We certainly expect to hear great success stories from these fantastic Voice Actors.  We are proud to to say that the the feedback on the class was truly inspiring.  Everyone seemed to have had a great time and learned a lot.  VFA is fully committed to continuously updating and improving its workshops and presentations, as well as the overall student experience.  We would like to send out a special thanks to all of the wonderful talents who attended our Master Class held on May 19-22.  Please keep in touch!

Voices For All has completed the first of many recurring visits to the Capitol of our country.  This past Saturday morning saw a full class of aspiring Voice Actors raring to go.  GWU is a favorite place of ours in DC, and we look forward to teaching many more classes there.

Over the upcoming weeks you can expect to run into Voices For All throughout Washington State.  In fact, we are currently in Washington, and we are meeting and coaching some very talented people.  Very much enjoying the culture of Seattle as well.

Voices For All just returned from Kentucky.  Our Master Voice Coach spent a week teaching and coaching in the beautiful state of Kentucky.  He reports that in this state live some of the nicest most polite people he has ever met.  We look forward to going back very soon.

We are excited to announce that the students in our upcoming Master Classes will get to record in the newly renovated MaxTrax Studios.  The MaxTrax team are nearing the completion of this project.  They tell us that the studio will still have the comfortable and relaxed feel that everyone has to come to know and love about MaxTrax, but that we can expect to hear even better quality recordings (we did not think that was possible).  MaxTrax is a commercial ProTools based recording studio that features equipment from Neumann, Royer, John Hardy, Brent Averill, Langevin, Toft Audio, Demeter, Requisite, Groove Tubes, Empirical Labs, Purple Audio, Summit Audio and much more.

OK, maybe that is obvious since you are on our new website right now.  After much hard work by our entire team and Media Graphics Group,  the new VoicesForAll.com has been born, and not a moment too soon.  Just as VFA is the company that offers the highest level of education and support to voiceover artists, we wanted to have a website that continued in that same tradition.  We encourage you to browse our site and see what we have to offer.  You will see a Resources button right next to the Member button in the top right corner of site.   This is for our Master Class graduates.  If you click on that link and log in, you will find a host of helpful resources at your fingertips.  Voices For All is committed to helping our members any way we can.