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Ashton Haugen Voices
About
Hello, creative human! My name is Ashton Haugen, and I am an actor, college instructor, and voice talent from the greater Los Angeles area who loves to help new talent begin their acting and voiceover journey.
I have been a full-time voice actor for the past 6 years, and it never fails that when I tell someone what I do for a living, they ask, “How do I become a voice actor?!” After hearing this time and time again, I knew there was an opportunity here to help people.
After coaching several people of varying levels of experience in the entertainment business, I discovered that so many of them had similar misconceptions about voiceover. The three most common are…
1)Being a voice talent does not mean you are an actor.
2) Being a voice talent does not involve running your own business
3) I won't need to find my own work
It also never fails that when I debunk these misconceptions, people are amazed! They say things like “What do you mean I have to have acting skills? I thought I only had to read?!” or “There is no way I could run my own business,” or my personal favorite, “But I thought my USB mic was good enough to get started!”
Here are some of the things I teach new voice talent:
-I help them realize that being a voice talent means that you are an actor.
- Help get them acting training
-I teach acting as well as help people find classes online to fit their needs
- Having a “good voice” is not enough
- Helping apply acting skills in the voiceover space, no matter the genre.
- Why it's important to have good improv skills and be able to take direction
- How to use multiple takes on an audition to show off your voiceover and acting skills without wasting the casting directors' time by giving them the same take over and over.
-You can't spell “Voiceover” without CEO
- The value of being a true entrepreneur and owning your own business
- You need to market yourself as a business because you are a business
- Do you have a website?
- Do you have a headshot (or a nice picture of you to send out to talent buyers)
- Are you networking?
- How is your social media functioning?
- You need to run your business as a business because it is a business
- Are you keeping track of your finances as a business would?
- Do you have the organizational skills to run a successful business?
- This means having many different samples ready to send out
- This means having contracts/rate cards/invoices/ AI riders for your business ready to use when you need them.
- How do you tackle your schedule and time management?
- What is your plan to protect yourself from fraud?
- What is your plan to help protect yourself from artistic theft via AI?
- Do you have good customer service skills? (but can still stand up for yourself if need be?)
- You need to have a home studio that is broadcast-ready.
- Setting up a good recording space
- What equipment is necessary and what isn’t
- What is Source Connect, and why do you need it
- How to edit your auditions without going overboard
-You need to know the jargon!
- Get familiar with the VO and business terminology you don’t know
-Take advantage of all the free or inexpensive resources around you!
-Finding reputable places to get freelance work will be key for any voice actor just starting out
- Building your resume is important not only to show agents that you are “bookable” but to give you experience on the mic and in front of a computer.
- There are a lot of ways to find work, but not all of them are equal.
- Pros and cons of Play-to-Plays
- Pros and cons of “freelancing” sites
- Other places I have been successful at finding work and clients through
-How to get yourself on rosters and make relationships with the people who can get you the audition.
- How to decide what your rate card should be (and what a rate card is!)
- How to reach out to potential clients through cold emails
- The power of saying “yes” to an opportunity even if it's “scary”
- How to spot a voiceover scam online
As I type all of this out… even I realize that this seems VERY overwhelming. But the truth is, it is the basic skills and information people need to have when starting out in this business. And most importantly, it is doable! Newbies just need to take it one step at a time.
“There are no beginners in voiceover” - Mike Delay, Real Voice LA
You are either right for the job, or you are not. No one is going to give a new talent a “break” because they are “new”. That's where I come in. I love to help people prepare to tackle their goals head-on and create the voiceover business they have been dreaming of.