There is one feature I always love to attend at anime conferences. That is the voice actors' panel. I liked hearing some weird voices from Richard Epcar. I was surprised to find that he stars as the voice in the new Skyrim game. My favorite voice actor present was J. Michael Tatum. Among many other roles, he is the voice of Jiro Muchizuke in Black Blood Brothers. Classic.Voice acting wears on your throat just like singing does. There are some tricks to deal with this. Ellen Stern said she steams her throat before and after jobs each day. A small cap full of brandy helps keep your voice strong during the job. Take it easy on this one. You don't want to be slurring.
There are no short cuts in the voice acting industry. Get trained. That is the fun part. Beware of scam artists trying to milk you for your money. Don't train specifically on voice acting. Study plain acting. Learn how to be yourself and find your own voice. Practice by speaking text from kids books aloud for 10 minutes each day. This will help you do cold readings.
One interesting insight was that video game voice work pays more than anime voice overs. I was also surprised to hear J. Michael Tatum's story. He said he would not speak when he was young due to a speech impediment. Now he rocks. Go Jiro.
