About
Starting at the start…
Act I: A Brief History
I must have been six years old. I can still remember that two-slot cassette player, measuring about the size of a forearm. But this cassette player was special—on top, next to the record button, were three small holes with a word above it that spelled, “Mic.” Well, imagine my surprise when I discovered the record button for one cassette slot wasn’t just for copying one cassette to another, but also for recording yourself talking. And the discoveries continued. Hearing yourself speaking right back to you has its own magical qualities, but then I started adding more to it—add some emotion, try to create an affect. Add a dash of a beginning, a middle, and an end. Our hero, the brave little boy, has an adventure. Within me, the story was born.
Stories truly are magical. We can trace these electrifying utterances back to the beginning of humanity, huddled around a campfire, listening to tales of the mythic, the heroic, the ancient. Yet, the true magic, I believe, isn’t merely in the fact that whisps of air and vibration can translate from one human to another and convey not only information, but intention, feeling, power, but can also string together vast complexities and yearnings of the human spirit, and how they can do so through a transcendence of time.
My life has been about storytelling from the beginning. Fast-forward to days at Iowa State University, studying Literature and Creative Writing. It all has led to what feels to me like a calling, a vocation of sorts. My studies, my choices, they’ve all led to this life as a voice actor.
Act II: The Calling
To put it mildly, I’ve been obsessed with sound for as long as I can remember. Many of us salivate over high fidelity home theaters, the acoustics of live theater venues, or even the enveloping and fully immersive sound of a good pair of noise cancelling headphones. Same here! But there was always a step more: to understand not only how it worked—the physics of it all—but also why it has such an effect on us, and what that impact can truly be and become.
In high school, I studied the acoustic components of a vehicle interior, and what gave way to a more enriching sound in the structural design of the car. In addition to that, I was DJ for high school dances (proms, home coming, and the like), along with weddings and special events, in addition to setting up live sound for concerts and public event venues (a love and passion that has carried on through the years, helping setup live events whenever the opportunity presents itself).
Of course, working as a voice actor lends itself perfectly to this obsession with sound and its effects on us as human in all shapes and forms. My love for it gives this insatiable curiosity to constantly strive for all the ways to better engage with the listener, to provide the best experience they could possibly have.
To me, the transcendence occurs when a listener is moved or has a response to a piece of audio that they weren’t aware was even possible, or in giving a feeling that touches them in a way that feels almost unreal or impossible.
The calling is an insatiable desire to create a resonance so deep that it touches the very core of who we are. We’re story tellers, and our stories deserve to be told.
Act III: The Vision
It is all about the vision of the client and the creatives when it comes to creating a project that truly makes an impact in a way that speaks to the specific listener/viewer the client and creatives have in mind. When I get into the booth everyday, when I’m studying technique (acting, voice over, audio engineering), it all comes down to an insatiable desire to fulfill my part in the project as best as possible. That goes from the very first contact, with discussing the project, providing an audition or scratch read, all the way to the very end, the finished vision that is the finalized video/project. My goal now and always is to maintain the sharpest set of skills in all things needed to give not only a good, but a great performance.
Keeping the skill of a voice actor sharpened and ever-expanding means leading and participating in weekly script performance workshops. It means keeping a pulse on what’s trending and relevant for today’s deliveries, and staying abreast of what’s to come, thus preparing for what may be needed from clients in the future. It means working with coaches that help push you beyond what you believe possible to be constantly growing. It means not only knowing your equipment inside and out but also being able to use it as an artist uses a brush—wielding and maneuvering it in a way that reflects creativity in its purest form, within the framework of knowledge and skill honed from constant practice and study.
The vision is constant education, practice, living outside a comfort zone, courage, and showing up for what’s needed. This is a promise to each and every client, and also a promise kept with myself.
Encore: What’s Ahead
The future is bright. I feel honored to be part of such a creative, passionate, and visionary community. I can’t begin to describe all the incredibly talented creative directors, writers, producers, audio engineers, fellow VO talent, agents, coaches, and clients I’ve met along the way. Being able to play a role within these talented teams, providing what part I can to the vision, is something that’s difficult to describe in words. This is truly a vocation within which I do my best to try and remain grateful and humble, something never to be taken for granted, both in the booth and when in contact with all these talented teams and people.
My will is to give back in all the ways I’m capable for the present and into the future. That means within the VO community directly, but also with all those that I have the great honor to work with. In the end, it’s a community of talented, like-minded individuals coming together to produce something that has the potential to resonate to the very core of who we are. For that, I will always seek to be more, to do more, to give more to all of those I have the privilege of connecting with in the industry.
Now, let’s get to work!
Custom auditions always available upon request.
Just send over job details, a scratch track, voice acting references, or any noteworthy details you feel would help encapsulate the feel/scope of the project (and what you are looking for), and we can get some custom auditions of the script read to spec to drop in to a scratch video, or simply to have as a jumping point.