The Talking Stega

One thing that got put on hold when we bought this place was my VO journey. No that’s not Vehicle Ownership or Versatile Opinions–VO is Voice Over, or Voice Acting to be exact. In 2014 I started taking some acting and script analysis classes and even set up a sort of recording studio in the big walk-in closet in the house in San Francisco. Then we bought this place, and it took over my life. I still took classes, which actually became much easier when everything moved online during the pandemic. I didn’t have the time to audition for paying work, especially as pay-to-play casting sites like Voices.com and Voice123.com have really esoteric algorithms that determine what auditions may be available to you and when. If you pay the site more you can get better odds, but they still skim quite a bit off the top for very little (in my opinion) value.

Anyway, moving here in 2015 meant giving up my closet “studio,” but I got lucky and right after moving in, I found a suitable replacement on Craigslist. I became the proud third owner of a 4′ x 6′ Whisper Room for far less than a new one costs–like far, far, far less. It came with bass traps, a dozen or so acoustic foam panels, and a ceiling mount to which one can attach stuff.

Slowly, over the years, as I continued to take a class every month or two, the interior of the booth became less spartan and more personalized, and I sorted out a layout that would work for me. At first it was a laptop on a music stand. Then Agent Smith created an LED controller and bought a strip of LEDs that I affixed to the roof of the booth.

It can get pretty stuffy in the booth, so I bought an upgrade–a tiny fan unit to circulate the air and keep the space cooler. The booth came with ventilation ducts that attach to the back, so it was a no-brainer to splurge on the fan. While I was investigating the fan, I also found that the Whisper Room folks sell a little foldable shelf/desk, so I picked that up as well. Now my little MacBook Air sits on the desk with a spare monitor that supports working in a portrait orientation; this way I can have my recording software on the MacBook Air screen and my copy on the second monitor. (I know a lot of voice actors that still print off all their scripts/auditions, but I try to avoid that.)

A while later I had a quick chat with a sales rep at Sweetwater.com, as I needed a new preamp. The one I had didn’t support direct power and instead relied on the MacBook Air. That meant when the laptop went to sleep, the connections between my mic, preamp and computer would become very squirreIy. At the same time I picked up a second ceiling mount to use with a gooseneck microphone holder that allowed me to move the mic out of the corner of the booth. Finally I swapped out the very-uncomfortable-if-sat-on-for-too-long metal task stool for my HÅG chair. The stool is still useful as it’s a great extra seat and/or table. Of late it’s been the resting spot for my basket of the Four Bunnies of the Apocalypse.

Bunnies aside, I was ready, or at least my tools were ready. Then about 14 months ago, as the pit was starting to finally wind down (more on that soon), I decided I was ready to make a proper commercial VO demo (which are basically voice actors’ calling cards) and seek representation…so that’s what I did. Last summer I worked with an awesome friend from L.A. and we put together an awesome demo. A couple months later, I submitted it to an SF-based talent agency and while I was on vacation in February, I was signed to the agency. In mid-March I started getting auditions almost every day, and hopefully I’ll soon book something. Not that I’ll be able to talk about it, as just about every script is covered by half-a-dozen non-disclosure agreements (NDAs).

But here, you can hear my smashing demo:

And visit my handcrafted VO site: boros.net