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At age 3, I lived in a town with 10 black people.
I HATED being the kid with the "weird carpet hair" kids kept touching. I HATED my hair. I never knew of black barbershops or all our possible styles.
Being Voice Director on "Hairdos & Hair Don'ts" for PBS Kids' Lyla in the Loop was personal.
Viewable here in the US and on the PBSKids App!
And I can't emphasize enough...
We on Team PBS are still VERY MUCH ALIVE, more than ever thanks to viewers like you!
What that voice director do?
Sam Riegel? He basically directs the voice actors on their performances lol. Andrea Romano is considered the queen of the industry (she just retired), but Sam isn't just a voice actor he is a Voice Director who is amazing at his job! He does Ducktales, the Disney Junior shows Sofia the First and Elena of Avalor, and more!! He won an Emmy for Danger & Eggs!!!
Here is a list of his Directing work!!
I'm sure you hear this a lot, but I can't express how happy I was to find out that you, the voice actor of Sonic in Sonic Prime, were ALSO the voice director for Dust: An Elysian Tail. I've held that game near and dear to my heart since my childhood, and I really admired your work in Sonic Prime. I recognized your name in the credits when I replayed the game recently, and it was quite a pleasant surprise! You do really good work.
Thanks so very much! Any positive word about Dust means SO much to me and I'm so grateful that it resonated with you so deeply.
I completely threw my life into casting and directing the voice actors for about a year and a half. It was the culmination of everything I wanted to give back to the online VA communities I started in and I'll always have a deep emotional attachment to that world and its characters.
A Tribute To Andrea Romano
Not gonna lie, after June Foray this week (which, super belated RIP; you WERE my childhood in many ways, Madame Foray), I was super worried when Ms. Romano started trending. But a retirement is an equally sad loss to the voice acting community.
She was and is a titan in this industry for many reasons, but I think the one that strikes at the heart of why she was so good, outside perhaps of her versatility, is that she was always on the lookout for new, fresh talent. Look at how she molded Kevin Conroy into the perfect Batman. Or how she drove Jensen Ackles to emotional heights he can never truly reach on Supernatural as a bitter, traumatized Jason Todd. Then there’s things like her incredible work with children and teenagers on shows like Avatar and its sequel Korra (as well as adults who unfairly still SOUND like teens); Zach Tyler Eisen seems to have vanished, but he WAS Aang.
And she kept this up to the end. Bex Taylor-Klaus acclimates to the whole of Pidge in Voltron Legendary Defender incredibly quickly, and I can’t help but think Andrea played a large role in making her so comfortable and confident in the part.
Rest well. You’ve more than earned a retirement. Thank you.
Most of my voice direction is done over the internet, so it's rare that I have the opportunity to work with my actors in person. Last summer I had that privilege in working with the immensely talented Edwyn Tiong/omahdon when he traveled from Australia to California last summer for the Dust:AET cast party. In Apotheon, I cast Edwyn to voice wayward souls the player encounters in the domain of Hades. I could not ask for more out of a recording session. (I ended up using the takes where he "hit" the microphone. HA!)
Voice Directing Stuff I Learnt in Practise
A spin off of a train of thought I had while watching this video, I just wanted to talk a bit about my experiences with voice directing.
I've been working with voice actors of one sort or another since 2002, and have learned some of the fundamentals to casting along the way, as well as my own personal limitations in the director role (one being that I'm not able to take live recording sessions over Skype for anxiety reasons). I've had character parts filled by a couple of the better known VAs on the internet scene, as well as a couple of popular Youtube video makers with a talent for bending the vocal chords. And even more excitingly, I've had a chance to work with (at the time) fledgeling VAs and hear them improve in the craft.
What it comes down to is this: Acting comes first. Acting always comes first. A fitting character voice is definitely important, and the VA being known already is cool, but if the person taking on the role cannot capture the emotional range the character needs, then you're going to run into some frustrating and uncomfortable situations. That also goes for being able to keep a voice consistent.
In the past I have had to go through the process of explaining to a VA that things aren't working out for either acting or consistency reasons, but this outcome was my fault. Back then, my eagerness to get voices to characters did, at times, make me cast people without thoroughly putting them through their paces as the character. These days I try my best to reduce disappointment for the VA and stress for me by doing multiple follow-up auditions if I think their voice fits.
Of course if the VA is new but you can hear their potential, there is always room for honing that potential in the field, if that VA doesn't mind running the risk of possibly stepping back from a character role if it's not quite working out.
