Ho, Ho, Oh No! It's the holidays and we have to shop! If you have a voice actor in your life, or you are a voice actor and people keep asking you what you want for the holidays, then you've come to the right place. Gabby lays out a whole bunch of ideas that will make any Voice Actor happy.
Gift Ideas For Voice Actors! - From $50 to $500! - 6:48
Hey guys, the holidays are coming up and if you are looking for great gift ideas for your favorite voice actor or aspiring voice actor, stick around. I'm gonna give you some ideas.
HO HO holy sh*t it's the holidays! We have to go shopping for everybody, right? Okay, so if you have a voice actor in your life, or you know an aspiring voice actor, and you're trying to think of great gift ideas for them, I've got a couple of categories for you. I think this stuff will be really helpful.
Let's talk about like the $50 and under category. This is probably one of the best gifting categories for voice actors because there's so much cool stuff. There's books, there's workshops, there's things like a Virtual Voiceover Exchange session, there's introductory videos that you can nab online, there's a lot of group workouts, too, that happen in the under fifty dollar category. Another thing to consider is there's a lot of cables and widgets and small electronic connectors, parts, things that we use all the time and, inevitably, we lose a lot, too. I can't tell you the amount of times I've had to go hunting for a quarter inch jack adapter. Consider a gift card, right? Guitar Center, Sam Ash, maybe even an online retailer like B&H and get them 50 bucks or so that they can use to order supplies and basic things that they might need around the office or studio. If you haven't realized it we spend a lot of time hydrating, I mean a lot, so a really great water bottle, Throat Coat tea (which is something a lot of us swear by) for the days that your voice really isn't feeling up to it, these fun things called xylimelts that are supposed to help amazingly with mouth noise. There's a little spray bottle called Entertainer's Secret, these are all little tricks and things that voice actors tend to keep in and around their studio because they help a lot.
For around 100 bucks there's all kinds of neat things that you can get people. Software, subscriptions, things like VO Peeps where people can participate in monthly workouts and events, and voice over clubs, if you will. You can, for that price, get somebody you know at least a couple of months of their favorite software, something like Adobe Audition or Izotope. Izotope Elements is probably one of the most coveted little studio extras that people absolutely adore and it usually goes on sale this time of year. It's pushing it for the under 100 category because it's like right on the line. They usually get priced at 99.99 but, again, sales and coupons and things you might be able to find this time of year. A really great pair of studio headphones, not a pair of Beats, okay? That's not what we use, cool as they are. Instead, something like these, a Sennheiser set or Audio Technicas. Talk to the people at a place like Guitar Center, they'll be able to point you in the right direction.
If you're feeling generous, let's talk about 250 and under. Believe it or not, you can actually buy a couple of really good interfaces for around 250 bucks. The Steinberg is probably one of the better known. The Focusrite as well, the 2i2, these are kind of solid, steady workhorses that a lot of people use and like in our industry. And yeah, this time of year, again, about 250 is what you're going to spend on this. This is also where you start getting into other types of gear. A really fantastic mic stand, a really great copy stand, or better yet, an extra monitor so that you can put a monitor in your booth and then you don't have to print paper anymore, which is amazing. I did that like 10 years ago, I've never looked back. My god, the amount of money I've saved on ink is incredible! For 250 or slightly less, you can start booking people classes. You can track down their favorite coach and book some studio time, some one-on-one session time for them. It's really easy, too. The biggest thing is just go ahead and figure out the genre, the area of voice-over that your actor is focusing on, and then do a little Google research and track down a couple of names and book a class or two. If nothing else they will undoubtedly learn something. $250 and under is also where you're going to be able to get yourself a nice set of acoustic treatment. It might not be the only acoustic treatment that your actor will ever need but it'll be a really nice start. You can buy Auralex bundles for that price. You can buy generic name products online for that price. You can get some really great acoustic sound blankets through Vocal Booths To Go for that price. A lot of great options there.
If you're feeling super generous, if you're in the $500 and over category, oh boy - we're a little expensive, we're a little pricey, this is where you get into everything from microphones to top of the line audio interfaces, computers, that's one of the biggest things that I think voice actors cycle through more than anything, right? Like, we'll have our microphone forever but our computers we're replacing every two to three years, four years at most, because the technology just is moving so, so quickly. An iPad to be able to put in the booth or any other kind of tablet that you can use as a reader, again, in lieu of a studio monitor. I'll tell you one thing not to buy your aspiring or existing voice actor: that would be a USB microphone. Yeah, don't get that.
We're gonna put links in the description for all of the things that we've talked about and also for more ideas, you can take a look at the resources page on my website. It has all of these products and more listed. Thanks so much guys, happy holidays!
704-674-8294 / GabrielleNistico.com / gabby@voiceovervixen.com
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