VO: Tales and Techniques of a Voice-over Actor [Paperback]

Harlan Hogan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1, 2002 | ISBN-10: 1581152493 | ISBN-13: 978-1581152494

One of the country’s top voice-over talents shares his secrets to success in this insider’s guide to the voice-over industry.

Not only does veteran actor Harlan Hogan offer a fascinating personal account of the crazed clients, practical jokes, and amazing coincidences encountered during his twenty-five year career, he also provides a wealth of tested tips for surviving and thriving as a voice-over actor.

This indispensable guide features dozens of techniques to help readers train their voices, gain experience, make a demo, join unions, get an agent, and more. It also includes strategies for finding work in venues outside film and television, including games, automated telephone systems, and even Web sites. Actors, broadcasters, and anyone else who longs to make money speaking into a microphone will cherish this informative, insightful, and often hilarious glimpse at the business.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Any person interested in a career in voice-overs should read this book." -- Michael Wells, executive casting director, Just Voices Casting, New York City

"For an actor pursuing any facet of the entertainment industry, this book contains a wealth of invaluable information." -- Margaret Travolta, actress

"For anyone considering a career in the voice-over business, Harlan's book is a must-read." -- Mike King, ARU, Chicago

"The best VO in the business has written the best (and funniest) book about the VO business." -- Chuck Cohen, executive creative director, C&C Advertising, San Francisco

"Wonderfully amusing and informative reading-–you don't have to be a potential VO to enjoy this book!" -- Milt Rosenberg ,WGN,Chicago

From the Publisher

In the early days of broadcast media, the booming "announcer" voice typified the limited style of voice-over work. In today's world of ubiquitous radio and television ads, automated telephone systems, games, and Web sites, a much broader range of recorded voices has emerged. In spite of the raised profile of the voice-over industry, learning to make money by speaking into a microphone has remained difficult for actors, broadcasters, and countless others who have been told "you have a good voice." That is about to change. Harlan Hogan, one of the nation's top voice-over talents, shares his secrets to success in VO: Tales and Techniques of a Voice-Over Actor.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Allworth Press (November 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1581152493
• ISBN-13: 978-1581152494
• Product Dimensions: 5.8 x 0.5 x 9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (71 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #108,950 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #52 in Books > Humor & Entertainment > Radio > General Broadcasting

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Real Deal, December 3, 2002

By 

Jay Rose (Boston, MA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: VO: Tales and Techniques of a Voice-over Actor (Paperback)

I never met Harlan Hogan, but I also started in radio and soon switched to commercial production. Only I was doing it from the other side of the glass, as engineer--and then director--of quite a few thousand national and regional spots, working with hundreds of VO talents on the East Coast and LA. So I know what these guys go through.

Everything Harlan writes is true: the techniques, the way the business works, the friendships that form between actors competing for the same jobs, the life. Except his way of telling it is funnier than real life.

This is actually two books, interleaved. Chapters alternate between sage (and hard-earned) advice on polishing voice-acting performing and job-getting skills, and some of the things Harlan had to go through to learn these lesions. If you're an announcer, engineer, or sharp producer, you'll chuckle over the war stories. If you're trying to break into the business, you couldn't have a better teacher.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars VO: Tales and Techniques of a Voice-Over Actor, August 7, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: VO: Tales and Techniques of a Voice-over Actor (Paperback)

I am a new vo actor. A wanna-be. I have a good voice, or have always been told, and was ready to knock everyone dead. I enrolled in a class for vo's and I was horrible. I did everything wrong. I needed to do something. So, I bought Harlan's book, VO: Tales and Techniques of a Voice Over Actor. It is laugh out loud funny as he describes his first days and the entire history of his experience in the business.

Not only is it thouroughly entertaining and funny, I learned so much. After I read the book and went back to class, my teacher was shocked! I am sure that prior to having read the book, my performance warranted the, "You better find a new career choice" speech. However, instead of the speech, I was told how much I had grown and how funny I was. This is due the book.

Buy it and enjoy it!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Like talking with a friend, May 15, 2007

By 

G. Littlefield (Bangor, ME United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: VO: Tales and Techniques of a Voice-over Actor (Paperback)

Harlan Hogan provides a lot of explanation of how things work in the VO world (or at least as they did in 2002, when this book was written). He gives great advice while lightly touching on subjects like running your business, jargon, union vs. "pre-union", etc. However, he also offers some insight that beginning voice actors aren't likely to find in a lot of other books. Harlan does this by recounting stories from his own experience that not only entertain, but relate to the major points of each section. He also lets the reader in on inside jokes of the trade like "Blooper's Soap" and the infamous Findus Foods session with Orson Welles. Sure, they're easily Google-able, but how are they woven into the fabric of the industry?

I've done radio for a dozen years, switched to the computer tech side
for another half-dozen and now I'm studying and working on figuring out
where I will best fit into the VO market. This book not only confirmed
a lot of things I felt instinctively, but it also helped me to not
listen so much to the "what if" voice that we all carry with us.