Galneda's audio Reviews on Newgrounds

[Voice reel]

Okay! This is a good start!

First off, never delete this. Always have this up, with the upload date and time intact, so you have a measuring stick to progress. You have a frame of reference for your own personal growth. From now on, just keep uploading, keep practicing, keep it where people can see it. Because someday YOU could inspire a hopeful voice actor, and you'd have something to show for that you've been putting in the time and experience.

Second, moving forward, keep the runtime at a crisp 60 seconds. What you have here isn't bad, 1:12 ain't breaking the bank, but typically speaking, a brisk 60 seconds is sufficient to demonstrate your range.

Speaking of range, that's what I would focus on moving forward.

0:00 to 0:06 Awesome. Believable delivery, really cool standard American action protagonist. Would fit right at home in a Michael Bay movie or Jason Bourne or the like.

0:07 to 0:12 I would drop this one, because it's a little too close to that first one. It sounds like the same character.

0:13 to 0:24 I would drop this one too, because it sounds like you got a jawbreaker in your mouth. It's really risky, also, to pitch your range with something that flies too close to racial stereotypes. This one might cost you opportunities, because some clients don't even like profanity-laced demos. Which is something I need to work on as well, I'm guilty of it too. But you don't want a bit in your demo to potentially rub a prospective client the wrong way. You want to WOW them with your abilities.

0:25 to 0:30 is the superior iteration of the last voice. You got the rhasp, you got the country drawl. I love the ambient sound design here with the bootsteps, gun-cock, and country music. I'd option this one for v2.

0:31 to 0:45 is more confusing then anything? I get that it's like a foreign captive in a warzone situation, but he sounds high? Or that he just woke up? And it's clear as day that he's speaking softly and quietly while distant or nearby gunfire is popping off. It's kinda contradictory...like he's chill and confident in, what's apparently supposed to be a loud and tense situation. That would've been a great opportunity to demonstrate your ability to PROJECT and use a high-head commanding voice.

And that would stand out with what you got here so far. "WE'RE GETTING HAMMERED DOWN HERE, SIX-FOUR-ONE BRAVO, WE NEED AIR SUPPORT!!! NOW!!!!" or, keep with what you got, "LISTEN! YOU'RE GONNA HAVE TO TRUST ME!!! I DON'T LIKE YOU AND YOU DON'T LIKE ME, BUT IF YOU DON'T CUT THESE GODDAMNED ZIP-TIES, WE'RE ALL DEAD! WHATS IT GONNA BE, SERGEANT!!?"

0:45 to 0:53 if it was reworked a little, you could pitch yourself to be hired for anime by making this scenario more anime. Like, this voice isn't alien to anime dub style of acting, but the "bullshit" and the subject matter don't quite lineup? Think of an anime you saw recently, and how you could fit into that world, and this voice would be gold for something like that. Just be sure to differentiate it from voice 1 because it's kinda close.

0:54 onward is just a slightly younger inflection of the previous voice.

And it also calls attention that THE ENTIRE thing had reverb on it.

Audio Effects are like spices to a soup. You want to use a splash of thyme here, a singular Bay Leaf is enough, but if you use too much of any one spice, it takes over the flavor of the whole soup and it's imbalanced.

You had a great ear for detail with most of your soundscaping. The warzone ricochets, the old west segment, those were gold. Have some of them that are clean! Like zero or few effects. Maybe even crisp clean audio, and outdoor ambience like traffic or wind blowing or a distant storm over the horizon. You exhibited wise restraint not to give every single scenario a music soundtrack; that's what I'm talking about- exhibit restraint in effects used to enhance the bit.

Secondly, think more outside of the box as to how you can broaden your range of potential roles.
There's a lot of heisters. A lot of modern gangsters, thugs, outlaws, a cowboy, cops, criminals, soldiers, detectives, it's all pretty condensed into a theme of potential roles, and you wanna WIDEN THAT SUCKER out, because what you have here quantifies an EXTREMELY thin margin of character roles if that's your primary motivation to becoming a voice actor.

Like, action, crime drama, western, action, action, action.

Where's the sci-fi, where's the romance, where's the fantasy, where's the shonen, where's the isekai, etc

Think more generally, more blocky when you brainstorm how you can diversify your reel.

Like (FAMILY ROLES)
The Teen Son isn't gonna sound like the Older Brother. That Older Brother is off to college, and he's not gonna sound like the Uncle. The Uncle might sound similar, but different to the Dad, because the Dad is taking charge and issuing commands because "He said so". The Dad isn't gonna sound like the Grandpa.

Right there you got like four tiers of age brackets.

Think about careers that are VASTLY different from one another.
You got the inner-city cop down and pat, but is that gonna sound anything like a college professor? A Scientist. A surgeon.

Is a yoga instructor, leading a meditation, gonna sound anything like a drill sergeant?

Is a pilot gonna sound like a naval fleet admiral?

And lastly, you gotta UP the accents. But only feature your strongest accents.

If you're white, don't do black. Don't do asian. But you could skim it by being a love guru with a deep and soulful voice, or a dignified and refined samurai in feudal japan. As long as you're not all like "SHIIIID BABEH" or "OH HERRO" y'know what I mean? Nobody likes a stereotype, anybody can do em, and they're old-hat and lowballin' dick moves. You know right from wrong- please use your best judgment. Like, I don't care if you can do a PERFECT Cheech Marron. You have to consider, how is that going to get you work? If you're gonna be sending this out to Burbank, you want to be memorable, but in a positive way. Stand out, without negativity.

You got sixty seconds. Only feature your best. Your range. From highest comfortable pitch, to lowest. From softest to HARDEST. From this to that, the thing that's gonna make a producer listening to it say "THAT'S THE GUY, GET HIM IN HERE." That's what you're after. That magic sauce of believability and immersion.

There's lots to train. Accents to research, online tutorials of vocal coaches for different accents, and what's gonna REALLY help diversify your reel is PROJECTING more, from your chest, not your throat, not the back of your mouth.

Hit me up when you got another reel, and I'll leave a review like this one!

[Cascade]

This is a really fucking cool atmosphere. Like an impending storm looming toward an ancient cathedral consumed by vine and pipework alike.

[RIP General BBS]

Touched my heart. The only time I was ever a moderator was on the General BBS, and it's gone.

I had even been curating a new thread for days to open up discussion about the military, and it's lost. When I tried to re-open the tab, all of it got autodeleted. It is a question that'll never be asked.

Hopefully this charges activity into people's review-spaces and news blogs. That traffic just finds somewhere else to be, because that's all that COULD happen. Somehow, I know this will benefit the community here. Just doesn't seem like it yet, but it will.

[No More Cookies!]

This came out great! Everyone killed it with their respective impersonations, can't wait to work with y'all again!

VoicesByCorey responds:

If you’re down to help out with the new one just let me know Geoff! 😁

[The Dom and Fro Show Ep 3: Interview with Geoff Galt]

You both are kings! Thank y'all so much, this was a lot of fun! I'll use a better microphone next time, lmao. Thanks for going through editing this, I apologize for talking so, so much. I think I even interrupted a few times, I'll get better about that moving forward.

Much love, stay safe, THRIVE! Let's collab on something soon!

-GG-

DomAndFroShow responds:

Dom got a new mic and we tried a new system where we both record with audacity at the same time and it worked beautifully. In 2 episodes the quality will go through the roof in comparison.

[Melancholy]

Holy shit, this is heavy as hell! I love the pace, I love the tone of the guitar, it all feels so huge! Based on what I've heard from your soundcloud and now this, you've been killing it lately, and I'm stoked for you.

Would you mind if I sampled this for a rapbattle entry with a collab credit?

Sinitech responds:

Thanks, man! If you want to put a verse on it or something, it's all yours, brother.

[Flashburn & 50N05 - It's on 33]

Yo, get in touch with New Retro Wave on Youtube to get more ears on your stuff, this is pretty legit.

[All Blues]

Perfect music to back a party and add a flair of class to the ambiance. It's VERY conversational; smooth, groovy, and never disrupts itself or the atmosphere for the sake of it. This is the kind of thing you could put on for your lady by a fire-place...as opposed to 87% of the metal in my library which would be better suited for thrashing her INTO a fire-place.

It's a cool change of pace from the kind of music I expect to hear out of the Audio Portal, and on that note, it's really nice too. If I reviewed this a few years ago, I'd probably deduct points for it not standing out or being dynamic and complicated...but by being bluesy, and not deviating from the theme at it's core, it's sturdy at the foundation, and like I said, there is ABSOLUTELY demographics and situations that would absolutely call for this kind of talent. With that in mind, it excells at what it does. So full stars and vote!

Lageira responds:

Thanks man! I'm glad you liked it :)