Good Neighbor Podcast: Delco
Bringing Together Local Businesses and Neighbors of Delaware County, PA (Delco"") and the surrounding Philadelphia Metro Region.
Good Neighbor Podcast: Delco
Rob Holt: The Voice Calling You To Develop Your Voiceover Talent
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Rob Holt: The Voice Calling You To Develop Your Voiceover Talent
Ever wonder what it's like to swap circuit boards for sound booths? Just ask Rob Holt, the IT guru turned voice talent scout, and now founder of Voice Box, the voice talent coaching platform just outside Philadelphia in Bala Cynwyd, PA.
The founder of Voice Box is Bob Blaisse's guest on this episode of the Good Neighbor Podcast which takes us behind the mic with Rob Holt to share his career transition to voiceover artist and passion for teaching voice talent skills and how to audition a new talent that may lie within all of us. The conversation between Bob and Rob journeys through Rob's unique career switch and dives into his pivotal role as a mentor, shaping the voices that bring stories to life. With Rob Holt's guidance, we're celebrating the unsung artists we hear but may never know by name, while you learn how easily it may be to become one of those voice talents in the near future.
Listen as Rob Holt pulls back the curtain on the enigmatic world of voice acting, to give us a peek into the life of a voice artist beyond the glamour in this episode of the Good Neighbor Podcast Delco coming from Delaware County, PA, the ever-rising nexus of Mid-Atlantic movie and TV production, locally referred to as "Delco." From the necessity of rigorous coaching to the real talk about talent and perseverance, you'll learn all about it. Plus, with the industry's tech transformation, you'll learn how the digital age has opened doors for voice talent to record from home.
If you've ever toyed with the idea of voice acting or simply love the art, tune in for an episode full of heart, hustle, and a hefty dose of Delco charm heard through the voice talent of Rob Holt, founder of Voice Box, here to steer you toward finding your voice and maybe, just maybe, a new career path using your voice talent.
Website: voiceboxvo.com
Facebook: facebook.com/VoiceBoxVoiceOvers
--- About The Show--- Good Neighbor Podcast is a spotlight on local businesses in and around Delaware County, PA (“Delco” ) and Beyond... The executive producer and host, Bob Blaisse, is a community sponsorship advocate, business branding specialist, and publisher of several hometown magazines, including: Newtown Square Friends & Neighbors, Marple Friends & Neighbors and Newtown Edgmont Friends & Neighbors, mailed monthly to more than 12,000 homes in Western Delaware County, PA, and also available for reading online.
Discovering Voice Talents With Rob Holt
Speaker 1Hello, delco. This is Michael Barkan, welcoming you to the Good Neighbor podcast, where fans of local businesses and their neighbors come together. It's my pleasure once again to introduce my friend and neighbor, our host Bob Blasey.
Speaker 2Thank you, michael, and welcome to the Good Neighbor podcast coming to you from Delaware County, pennsylvania. It's the southeastern corner of Pennsylvania. Those of us who live here we know and the world's catching on that we lovingly refer to our part of the universe as Delco, and it's becoming a great corner of the world for movie making and TV shows and we have a lot of stars and great sports teams here in the Philadelphia area. So welcome to the Good Neighbor podcast that celebrates Delco and celebrates good neighbors.
Speaker 2What is a good neighbor? Well, we all live next to good neighbors, likely, but we're talking about businesses that are in the community and are part of the country and that maybe even do business around the country. But they're good neighbors in their community and we have a great guest today. I often like to say you know, a good neighbor is one that sounds like a good neighbor and acts like a good neighbor. I've got a gentleman who is a good neighbor because he uses his voice to be neighborly. Let me introduce and bring to the stage here Rob Hope. Rob, welcome to the Good Neighbor podcast.
Speaker 3Hey Bob, thank you so much for having me on.
Speaker 2Thank you for coming and Rob is the owner, founder, ceo of the Voice Box. Correct, rob? Correct, yes, now, that name might not be as descriptive as you find. As soon as you know what you do, then you go. Oh right, so you know. We think of Voice Box, as you know, maybe something in our throat or something, but what's in our throat or vocal cords? Rob Hope is a voice talent teacher, a coach that teaches individuals who want to become really actors, but more actors with their voice. Teaches them how to use their voice for appropriate ways where they can actually earn an income, earn a living, whether it is acting with your voice and sound only, maybe even on stage, certain ways to throw your voice and certain ways to sell product or act. But we're going to learn about it here in the episode today. So, rob, tell me, how did this become your mission? To help others to train their voice as a voice coach?
Speaker 3And you know what I like, how you put that, bob because it really is my life's purpose and I never set out on this journey initially. And here we are. You know I've been in the industry now for a little over 23 years and it's been an amazing journey. It really has. I tell people that I talk to who are new to me in my business often I say this is the last thing I think of before I go to bed. It's the first thing I think of when I wake up, mostly every day, and it's the thing I do almost all day. Every day is help people.
Speaker 3And so there's been just like our humble Delco, there's been more visibility over the past years in what a voice actor is and what they do and who these voices are that we hear all the time and don't always necessarily think of that's an actual person and who is that person. And you know there are certain people I meet who always tell me, like I, ever since I was a kid, I heard the voices on the cartoons I listened to and I wondered who that person was and I look them up, and then I later on I heard them in this other project and and that sort of thing, and there's this whole bustling industry that's been going on as long. As you know, on camera acting has, and it's nice to see it get more visibility. I think audio books have really helped a lot to. You know things like that. There's tons of people creating content.
Speaker 3Now you know, art Barkin did a voiceover for your podcast or what, what's his name? The guy just did Michael Barkin. Yeah, michael Barkin, sorry. Yeah, he, that was his voiceover in the beginning of the podcast.
Speaker 1And so there.
Speaker 3You know, I help people basically who want to get into that and I help them from wherever they are to Finding out how to make this a career and so like to get how I got started, basically in the year 2000, before you were born, remember, kids? In the year 2000 I landed a job as the IT guy at what was at the time the biggest casting company in Philadelphia. So I'm a computer guy. I don't know the first thing about acting and all of a sudden I'm doing computers for a company that whoa. They work with actors. That's kind of cool.
Speaker 3And and so to kind of give you the very abridged version of this, like we had just done, we did, like all the night Shyamalan films that came through Philly and and we did a lot of TV and and TV commercials, tv shows, radio, that sort of thing, and and there was a voiceover department and and I had a young sounding voice.
Speaker 3They, the person who was casting at the time, noticed my outgoing personality, I guess, and looking back, bob, I was just filler. They needed a young teen sounding voice, even though I was in my 30s, to fill a slot in in some of these auditions and, lo and behold, I started booking jobs and enjoyed a nice handful of voiceover jobs between, I'd say, 2000 and 2003, and then in 2003, the the sort of big moment in the story came when my boss, mike Lemon, asked me if I wanted to assume the position as voiceover casting director Because the other casting director director was leaving, and so that started really this whole journey of I've worked on hundreds and hundreds of voiceover jobs, as far as Finding the right voice for that job, auditioning them or through other means, helping my linking my clients up with those, those people and and helping them hire that voice. And how wonderful I I think.
Speaker 2Rob, that that what's kind of happened here? You were way ahead of the game in as much as you know, before the advent of video gaming, which, for the most part, became voices needed on top of animation. And even today, when we look at actors and we see their latest parts, if you look at the IBD database, so many of them are doing cartoons and things I know because it doesn't involve as much travel. Some of them are able to record from their own home studios and, you know, years ago, before there was even remote working for the rest of us, some people discovered that they could create a studio in their home, maybe recorded on on tape even, but to record books or to be able to record voice talent that they had and what were they accomplishing. They were accomplishing having a job, but working from their home, and that's really now much more common. But the ability to actually make money with your hands or your senses, you know your art and the art comes out of you in a spoken word.
Speaker 2Rob Holt is our guest, rob is, is it? Founder and CEO? Owner of the company called the voice box, and if you're listening this far, you're recognizing that. Okay, now what's in it for me right, or is this just a story about Rob? Oh no, it's a story about hundreds of other people, because Rob's mission is not only in In a in a motive to cast voices through his company, as a casting director in a way, but also to train people that you too can become a voice talent.
Speaker 2Some of you know it, you've been told you have a great voice. Others think that I wonder if I could do this, because it's thrilling to Think that I can make money for just talking right. In my case, rob, it would have been more, maybe reading you know, audio books. I think I would have enjoyed. Years ago I did some radio work and and I thought perhaps we would do Characters. You know, I had a number of characters that I could throw my voice for and I never really got there, but it was something that was exciting because it's it's like acting, but you can kind of hide a little differently behind your voice and behind the characters that you create.
Speaker 3I've been so blessed to. I've worked with hundreds and hundreds of students now and I I, you know before people can happen upon my website and sign up for like a free consultation where I will jump on the phone with them and talk About this stuff. And so I have heard so many stories over the years and I hear over and over again people who you know say like so my whole life people have told me I, you know, I have this voice and I should do something with it. Or you know, I have one, one student of mine. He works at Philly International Airport and he does airport announcements, sometimes at the gate, and he's like Rob. Not a day goes by where someone doesn't tell me, you know, he's got this wonderful voice.
Speaker 2How can I use it? Yeah, can I. Can I use it for good? Can I use it for money? You know that kind of a thing, rob, the. The Matter of fact is that we're all listening all the time and in some cases, someone has to Speak, and I would imagine that with the advent of AI that we're seeing in print writings it's also happening. You know, with digital and and faces being constructed, we're moving towards something we don't fully know what it is, but people's whose voices can be used, even to add to AI component. I think we're all gonna have our voice used when we want to create an AI avatar of ourselves. Right, we'll be. We'll be doing the voiceovers. I think it's exciting what you do. Tell me a little bit about your, your connections with Anybody famous that you're actually the voice coach, or where the voice coach for anybody we would know. I.
Discovering the Voiceover Industry
Speaker 3Don't think anyone. We know it's that. That's the wonderful thing about the scenes, right it's like people who just have enjoyed these wonderful careers and they just go right.
Speaker 2They can go out in public and do whatever they want you know, my, my brother, was an actor, trained to be actor, and his class was very prominent and they, you know, half went to California, another half went to New York and one of the guys Decided that he was just gonna do institutional film, you know, and voiceover work and you know he was the guy that had the easiest time having a family, easiest time being able to not have to worry about traveling and Probably didn't have to get affected by the whole ego fulfillment of being a star because his own name wasn't known but he played all kinds of parts.
Speaker 2It's an exciting field and and I think that the message here, rob, that we I think we would really want to get out across to the Good Neighbor podcast, we have a good neighbor here nationally, a good neighbor, rob Holt, has just offered to Consult and to take your call, to listen to you and to give you some coaching. And I would imagine, rob, there's gonna have to be a couple there where you're gonna have to say, like we see those folks that come on early on American Idol that, like brother, you just don't have it. You think you do, but you don't. I would advise you to pick a different career or, rob, is it possible, like singers Right, I had someone tell me that anybody can really sing. It's very rare that someone can't be trained to sing. Can you actually bring the best voice out of someone with coaching on how to speak and how to talk, or is it either have it or they don't?
Speaker 3That. That is an area, bob, where the students have really been one of my greatest teachers in this because Through my journeys with them I've seen some people that are have a ton of potential out of the gate and then they fizzle. And I've seen people who Were super slow starters, seem like they weren't really bringing much to this, but had the desire and the drive and stuck with it and are now out there working as professional voice actors and Everything in between. So it is very rare and I get asked that a lot dude Like are you gonna tell me if I'm not good, you know? Or just say, hey, you ain't got it.
Speaker 3Kid, you know, and it's like I, that is such a rarity that I have to tell someone that either Through the train you know, I do a lot of training and it's it's based in reality, so it's like people Can get a sense of what it's like and how much work goes into it, and that ignites the fire in some people and other people go. This was a great experience and I'm richer for it, but I think I'm gonna try on to something else now right, right.
Speaker 2Oh, rob, speak to a moment, if you could, about Is there enough work in the industry? I mean, everybody has a voice. There's a lot of people that want to be famous or want to feel like they're getting paid for their voice and talent, all that, but but given training practice, stick to it. This is it easier to get voiceover contracts and voice talent deals and it is to land in a TV commercial.
Speaker 3Is it easier than on camera? I would say I don't know. Probably, though. I would say you know there is a. It is it's an amazing time to do this, and a lot of that we owe to technology there. It is like you said, it's it's a hundred percent home-based business from most people. So I, sensing my own sort of lack of relevance and helping my students in the career part of this like I would get them all geared up and then have fun storm in the castle sort of I'm always. I'm always there to support my students.
Speaker 3So, in order to support them further, in October I signed up for what is the largest of what we call the pay-to-play Platforms for voiceover. It's a huge like online marketplace when there's voice seekers seeking jobs, and I've been auditioning since October. I've done Part time, you know, just doing a couple of day. I've done almost 350 auditions. I've booked a few clients on there and and Done a number of jobs. It's been. It's been good, made some money, and you know I go back to the like 2000 to 2003 when I was doing this in person.
Speaker 3It would have taken me 20 years to do 350 auditions and I would have had to travel to New York and back to Philly and down to DC and, you know, maybe out to monster casting and in Pittsburgh, you know, and and so it's just I've did, I've done 300 auditions from right, where you're seeing me, right here in front of this exact mic. You're seeing me speak on not traveling at all.
Speaker 2That's wonderful. So the message here is that those listeners out there that would like to investigate this here we have a company that will help you investigate. They have a website that you can learn from and even sign up for some free course, perhaps for the beginning intro course, or get a chance to even speak to Rob Hope, who was listening to right now. If you'd like to investigate voiceover talent, go to Rob's website, which is voice box V oh Like for voiceover. Voice box vocom, israel. Land at the voice box Rob holds company and Consider whether or not this might be for you.
Speaker 2If you're listening to this podcast, there's a reason why you've been drawn to it and there's an opportunity to get started in an industry that you thought you'd never figure out. Well, we have a coach, we have some talent here to judge your talent, and then we also have a lesson plan, an ability that you can actually Follow coursework. Sign up to become part of the team there and the group and let Rob Coach you towards a new career and would be a new career using your voice as a voiceover talent artist. Rob, I want to thank you so much for joining us here on the Good Neighbor podcast, as we started the program today.
Speaker 2I mentioned that you know we had a good neighbor here and why you can hear it in the mission of Rob Hope. He's interested in helping people Discover their own inner talent, something they hear every day come out of their mouth, maybe not knowing that it can become a lifestyle, living, hobby and Career. So, rob, thank you for being a good neighbor to your community. You've got the good neighbor award today and we, I would like to get a chance to meet you in the future because, who knows, maybe one of my sons or myself, or or maybe I'll have this memory from 40 years ago when you know some characters to come in at me and it could be a good future.
Speaker 2Maybe I'll be reading books for senior citizens never too late to start.
Speaker 3I have people starting in their 80s and 90s. Sometimes it's wonderful.
Speaker 2Everybody. Give Rob Hope a chance to Meet you. First. Go to his website at voice box V, like Victor. Voice box V oh for voiceover. Voice box vocom. And consider a future as a voiceover talent With the help of Rob Hope from the voice box.
Speaker 3Thank you for being a good neighbor, rob. Thank you so much for having me on, bob. It was really good chatting with you. I'm honored to be on here. I'm a, you know, been been here in Havartown for 26 years in the same house, so, and before that I was all the way over in Narberth, just on the other side of the border to Monco.
Speaker 2So thank God you landed in Delco and yeah been in this area for a long time. Thank you for being a guest on the good neighbor podcast in Delco. We'll talk soon.
Speaker 3All right, bob.
Speaker 1Thanks again, thank you for listening to the good neighbor podcast hosted by Bob Lacey. This is Michael Barkan inviting everyone to get on the good neighbor team. Nominate your favorite local business to be featured on an upcoming episode by going to GNP Delcocom or by calling Bob at 610-557-3745.