VA 301 and AI

This episode covers my classes VA301 and Making AI Work For you

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Transcript

 EJ’s Journey into Voice Over English Version Season 4 Episode 4

Episode Title: [  ]

Host(s): ej

Music Intro fades in: Music provided by NEFEX

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Welcome to EJ’s voice over journey where the mic is always on and the learning never stops.
 I'm EJ, a voice actor journeying through the world of voiceover — from auditions and coaching to client work. Whether you’re just starting out on your voice acting path or already deep into the journey, this podcast shares real experiences, lessons, laughs, and challenges straight from inside the booth. Let’s bring scripts to life — together — with heart and soul!"**

EJ no seiyuu no tabi e yōkoso

koko wa, maiku wa itsumo on,   manabi wa tomaranai podcast desu. 

Watashi wa EJ, audishon kara kōchingu, kuraianto no shigoto made, 

Seiyuu  no sekai wo tabi suru seiyuu  desu.

Anata ga seiyuu no michi wo aruki-hajimeta bakari demo,  mōtto fukai tokoro made kita hito demo, kono podcast dewa, booth no naka kara takusan no kei ken,  manabi,  warai ya chōsen wo kyōyū shimasu.

Issho ni, daihon ni inochi to tamashii wo fukikomi mashō!

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Segment 1: [ VA 301  / VA 301  ]

Hello everyone, man was I busy with VA 301 and AI classes. The VA 301 class required more participation than 101 and 201. It could be due to who our teacher was, Deb Munro, my coach, who pushes you to do your best. Or could it be because it’s a 300 level course? You college/university attendees will understand what I mean here.  The work has been fun though. Re-writing our P2P bios, getting to do reads and get live direction and immediate feedback. Not only did my Bio need rework but I recreated my P2P templates. These templates contain information for potential clients. They relay my introduction, my desire to work with them on their projects and what I can provide them. 

Minasan, ohayo gozaimasu. Saikin no hachshukan, 'VA301' to 'Make AI work for you' to iu kousu ni shusseki shite imashita.Totemo isogashikatta desu. ‘VA 301’ kousu wa itsumo yori doryoku ga kakarimashita. Daitai isshu kan de daihon o yonde Roku-on o tsukute odishion o rynshu shimasu. Sensei no namae wa “Deb Munro” deshita. Deb-san wa, watashi-tachi wa besuto o tsukuseru you ni senaka o oshite kuremasu. Soshite, saizen no pafoomansu ga dekite iru ka, oodishon ni katsu tame ni nani ga hitsuyou ka o rikai dekite iru ka o, teinei ni mite kuremasu.

Watashtachi ga odishon rynshu feddobaku o moraimashita. Boku no P2P no purofiiru o kakinaoshimashita. Purofiiru no minaoshi dake de naku, P2P no tenpureeto mo tsukurinaoshimashita. Kono tenpureeto ni wa, kuraianto no tame no jouhou ga haitte imasu. Jikoshoukai ya, issho ni shigoto o shitai to iu omoi, soshite watashi ga tekyou dekiru koto o tsutaeru  naiyoudesu.

The template also contains how much I charge for live directed sessions, what my retake policy is, and other basic business offerings and requirements. I also have my AI rider, or contract, for them to take a look at. This AI rider spells out to a client what I expect from them in terms of protecting my voice and my brand. They can’t use my voice to train an AI Large Language Model (LLM), they can’t use my voice for any new projects they aren’t paying me for. They can’t use my current submission past a certain time period without renegotiating the contract and payment agreement. Basically it states that they can’t do whatever they want without consulting me and reimbursing me.

Boku no Tenpurreto ga kaisha no kakaku to poreshii to AI poreshii mo kaite arimasu.  Kore wa, watashi no koe to burando o mamoru tame ni, kuraianto ni motomeru koto o meikaku ni shita mono desu. Watashi no koe o LLM no gakushuu ni tsukau koto ya, shiharai no nai atarashii purojekuto ni mu-dan de tsukau koto wa kinshi shite imasu. Keiyaku to shiharai no saikoushou nashi ni, kimerareta kikan o koete onsei o shiyou suru koto wa dekimasen. Kihonteki ni, watashi e no soudan ya tsuika no shiharai nashi ni, onsei o jiyuu ni tsukau koto wa kinshi shite imasu.

Here’s why:

 Many of, let's face it, all  the posts found on most P2P sites have "in-perpetuity" attached to them. This appears to be some boiler plate on all job uploads. There are well meaning posters on Facebook and Reddit that say don’t take these jobs. Well that’s all fine and dandy until you realize it’s on every gig. How do you grow in this industry when you’re told to not take gigs with this rider attached to the audition?

Kore ga poreshii Seiyu ni toote 'In perpetuity' to wa, tsuika no shiharai nashi de, eikyu-teki ni onsei o tsukaeru to iu imi desu. Kore wa subete no recruitment-jouhou ni aru, teikeibun no you desu. Sore wa sore de kekkou desu ga, dono shigoto ni mo kaite aru to kizuita toki ni wa, mou unzari desu. Oodishon ni konna porishii ga tsuite iru shigoto wa ukeru na to iwaretara, kono gyoukai de douyatte seichou sureba ii no desu ka?

 If you have an agent, meaning you’ve been doing this for awhile and are established and seasoned, that's great. You have someone looking out for your best interest. But if you don't, how do you avoid these? You can simply not take the gig but that means you don’t work and you don’t get better. Having this “in-perpetuity” tag on all gigs makes it harder for new Voice Actors to make a living, reducing the quality of the productions going forward.

Eijento ga iru, tsumari kono shigoto o nagaku yatte ite, jitsureki mo keiken mo houfu na "shishun (seasoned)" na kata nara, sore wa subarashii koto desu. Anata no saizen no rieki o kangaete kureru hito ga iru to iu koto desu. Demo, moshishi souiu hito (eijento) ga inai baai, douyatte korera o sakeba ii no desu ka? Tanjun ni sono shigoto o ukenai koto mo dekimasu ga, sore de wa shigoto ga naku, seichou mo dekimasu. Subete no shigoto ni "In-perpetuity" no taggu ga tsuite iru koto wa, kakedashi no seiyu ga seikatsu suru no o muzukashiku shi, kekka to shite kongo no sakuhin no kuoriti o sageru koto ni narimasu. 

 Anata no rieki o mamotte kureru hito ga iru no desu kara. Demo, ee-jento ga inai baai, douyatte korera o sake-reba yoi no deshou ka? Tan ni shigoto o ukenai to iu de-guchi mo arimasu ga, sore wa 'shigoto ga nai' 'seichou dekinai' to iu koto o imi shimasu. Subete no shigoto ni 'Eikyu-teki (In-perpetuity)' no taggu ga tsuite iru genjou wa, shinjin seiyuu ga seikatsu suru no o muzukashiku shi, kekka to shite kongo no sakuhin no kuoriti o sageru koto ni narimasu. Naze nara, kono sekai de 'Eikyu-teki' ga dou kinou suru ka wa, kou iu koto dakara desu:

 I say that because how “in-perpetuity” works in this world is this:

Today I voiced a commercial for a local bank and I made $1000.00. One or two years later I’m doing much better, have plenty of work and am known in the industry. Chase bank offers me a gig that can potentially net me $40,000.00 for the length of this ad. The stipulation is I can’t have voiced for any other financial institution that is still running that ad in the last year. Well that local bank is still holding the rights to my work with them and won’t renegotiate or stop running the ad. I can’t take the Chase Bank ad now and my Agent isn’t happy because they get paid when I get paid. 

​​Kono sekai de 'in-perpetuity' ga dono you ni kinou suru ka to iu to, kouiu koto na no desu:

Kyou, chiho ginkou no CM o rokuon shi, 1000 doru o kasegu to shimasu. Ichi, ni-nen go, watashi wa gyoukai de yuumei ni nari, shigoto mo juujitsu shite imasu. Soko de Chase Bank kara, 40,000 doru ni mo naru ookina shigoto no oodaa ga kimashita. Demo, jouken ga arimasu. 'Kako ichi-nen kan, hoka no ginkou no CM ni出演 (shutsuen) shite inai koto' desu. Ano chiho ginkou wa, eikyu-teki na shiyou-ken o motte ite, saikoushou ni mo oujite kurezu, CM o nagashi tsuzukete imasu. Sono kekka, watashi wa Chase Bank no shigoto o ukeru koto ga dekizu, ee-jento mo houshuu o erasenu tame fuman o dakimasu. 

You can stop using P2P sites and begin to cold call potential clients. Find your own work. However, this doesn’t remove the “in-perpetuity" issue. You get the contract for the gig but the client stipulates this in the contract and they tell you to sign. You say remove that or I won’t sign. They say fine we’ll get someone else who will because there are plenty of hungry folks out there who will take the gig.  New VA’s hungry for work with no idea on how to deal with contracts have taken a job that could have netted $500.00+ for $150.00 and may be trapped in the above scenario I described. Unless you get coaching, become part of a network of VA’s you may not understand what’s happening. Now you’re contributing to a race to the bottom where VA’s are no longer able to make a living wage. 

P2P saito o yamete, kuraianto e chokusetsu eigyou (ko-rudo ko-ru) o suru koto mo dekimasu. Jibun de shigoto o mitsukeru no desu. Shikashi, sore de mo 'Eikyu-teki (In-perpetuity)' no mondai wa nakunarimasen. Keiyakusho ni sono joukou ga ari, sain o motomerareta toki ni 'sore o sakujo shinai nara sain shinai' to tsutaeta to shimasu. Suru to aite wa, 'jaa ii desu, hoka no hito o sagasu dake desu kara' to kotaeru deshou. Shigoto ga hoshii shinjin wa takusan iru kara desu. Keiyaku no chishiki ga naku, uete iru shinjin seiyuu wa, 500 doru no kachi ga aru shigoto o 150 doru de uke, soshite saki hodo hanashita wana ni hamatte shimau no desu. 

 Kouchingu o uketari, seiyuu no nettowaaku ni kuwawattari shinai kagiri, nani ga okite iru no ka o rikai suru no wa muzukashii deshou. Sore de wa, seiyuu ga seikatsu dekiru dake no chingin o erarenaku naru 'kakaku kyousou no doro-numa' ni jishin o oikomu koto ni natte shimaimasu.

The description above applies to “Non-Union” workers. Not those belonging to SAG or Fi-Core. If you belong to these groups then this is less of a worry. However non-union talents need the union members' assistance to help fix the issue. We also need to band together to have practices that lower our earning potential and keep us locked into unfair contracts removed.

Jouki no naiyou wa, SAG ya Fi-Core ni zokusanai 'Hi-yunion (Non-Union)' no waakaa ni atehamaru mono desu. Korera no dantai ni zokushite iru nara, shinpaigoto wa sukunai deshou. Shikashi, hi-yunion no tarento ga kono mondai o kaiketsu suru ni wa, yunion menbaa no tasuke ga hitsuyou desu. Watashi-tachi wa danketsu shi, shuuyu-ryoku o sage, fukouhei na keiyaku ni shibaritsukeru you na kankou o nakusu tame ni koudou shinakereba narimasen.

This also means that going forward if all talents are stuck under these binding contracts then there are no experienced talents available and the sector stops being viable. You say use AI to do the commercials because it is so good and cheaper than using humans. AI can create the scripts and/or read the words but AI doesn’t have the ability to add nuance, subtlety, emotion and change any of this based on directed cues. There’s more to voice acting than just reading copy.

Kore wa kongo, subete no tarento ga kou shita kousoku-teki na keiyaku ni shibarareta baai, keiken-houfu na jinzai ga inaku nari, kono sekai jitai ga naritatataku naru koto mo imi shimasu. 'AI wa yasuku te kou-hinshitsu da kara, CM wa AI de ii' to iu iken mo aru deshou. AI wa daihon o tsukuri, moji o yomu koto wa dekimasu. Shikashi, AI ni wa nuyansu ya sensa-sa, kanjou o kometari, direkushon ni awasete sore-ra o kaetari suru nouryoku wa arimasen. Seiyuu no shigoto wa, tan ni genkou o yomu koto ijou no mono na no desu.

How do we fix this? Do we get this verbiage removed from contracts? Not likely as this is how business has been done and for good reason. Clients don’t want someone voicing for their competitor any more than they allow an employee to work for them and a competitor at the same time.

Then once the established VA’s are recognized by clients as unwilling to take these contracts, the newly incoming VA’s do the same? Then the clients are put between a rock and hard place because they are being rejected and can’t get their projects done? Sure some will move to AI but that doesn’t appear to be a viable choice based on how AI commercials and other production is being poorly received. At least at this time.

Kore o douyatte kaiketsu shimashou ka? Kore made no bijinesu no yarikata de ari, sore ni wa jyuubun na riyuu ga aru tame, kantan ni wa kawaranai deshou.Kuraianto wa, jugyouin ga doushou-taisha de douji ni hataraku no o yurusanai no to douyou ni, seiyuu ga kyougou-taisha no nareeshon o suru koto mo nozomimasen. (eikyu-teki) wa, gyoukai ni oite sore-zore no yakuwari ga arimasu. Sore jitai wa mondai no hon-no-ichibu ni sugimasen. Hontou no mondai wa, sore ga dou unyou sase, dou tsukawarete iru ka to iu ten desu. Dareka no seichou ya shuuyu-ryoku o samatageru 'eien no shirushi' to shite sore o tsukau no wa, kouhei dewa arimasen.

I’ve been told that there’s a 10 year length of time in which the “in-perpetuity” clause expires; However, I haven’t been able to find this during online searches. I haven’t conducted a lengthy search yet so it’s possible that it’s true.

Eikyu-teki (In-perpetuity)』no joukou wa ju-nen de shinkou ga nakunaru to kiita koto ga arimasu. Shikashi, onrain de kensaku shite mo sono jouhou wa mitsukeraremasen deshita. Mada kuwashiku shirabete inai node, hontou no kanousei wa arimasu ga...

 What I’m doing, and suggest that others do, is make sure you go to NAVA at https://navavoices.org/ and read what they have to protect themselves from predatory clients and scammers. Just about all posts on Vocies.com have this in-perpetuity line so they don’t have to keep paying beyond a certain point. That point is right after you complete the task and they go on for months and years making money off your work while they have paid you peanuts and because you are attached to that production, preventing you from being hired on a similar project by another client. What I mean is if you take a gig and represent a Sam’s Bank then a year later Fred’s bank wants you to voice for them you may not be able to due to the in-perpetuity clause in the previous contract. A Reddit post I ran across on this in-perpetuity issue is much better at explaining this if you want an example.

 Watashi ga jissen shite ite, hoka no hito ni mo susumetai no wa, NAVA (https://navavoices.org/) no saito ni itte, akushitsu na kuraianto ya sagi kara mi o mamoru houhou o yomu koto desu. Voices.com no toukou no hotondo ni wa 'Eikyu-teki' no rain ga arimasu. Kore wa, aru jiten ikou no shiharai o sasu tame desu. Tsumari, shigoto ga owatta chokugo kara, karera wa wazuka na kyuuryou de anata no onsei o nannen mo tsukai-tsuzuke, rieki o e-masu. Sore ga anata o kousoku shi, hoka no nita purojekuto de saiyou sareru no o samatageru no desu. Tsumari, Sam’s Bank no shigoto o uke, sono go ni Fred’s Bank kara irai ga kite mo, mae no keiyaku no 'Eikyu-teki' joukou no sei de ukerarenaku naru kanousei ga aru to iu koto desu. Reddit ni kono mondai ni tsuite no yoi rei ga arimasu.

Again clients may turn to AI to create their projects but right now many are finding out it’s costly in time and effort to create what they want. When the project is done and if the public rejects the final product they’ve failed their client and are not likely to be viewed in good standing. Remember not all corporations have created their own production centers and still use other firms. They are the middle of this sandwich with VA’s on one side and corporations producing products for sale to customers on the other. Also, based on the Superbowl ad reviews, the public isn’t all in on AI generated ads.   

Kurianto wa AI ni tayoru kamo shiremasen ga, genzai no tokoro, risou no mono o tsukuru ni wa jikan to doryoku ga kakari, kosuto ga takai to kizuite iru hito mo ooi desu. Moshi kansei shita sakuhin ga yo-no-naka ni ukeire-rare-nakereba, karera wa jibun no kuraianto ni taishite sekinin o hatasenu koto ni nari, shinyou o ushinau deshou. Subete no daikigyou ga jisha de seisaku dekiru wake dewa naku, seisaku-gaisha o tsukatte imasu. Karera wa, seiyuu to daikigyou no 'itabasami' ni nte iru no desu. Mata, Suupaa-booru no CM no hyouka o miru kagiri, ippan no hito wa mada AI seisaku no koukoku o ukeirete iru wake dewa arimasen.

Segment 2: [  Making AI work for you / AI o jibun no tame ni hataraka-seru ]

The second class, Make AI work for you, is about making AI work for me. I’ve been using MyClaw (Front end for OpenAI), ChatGPT and Gemini. I use these tools to assist me in branding, marketing, character creation and idea creation. Not everyone is a genius at one or all of these tasks. Some of us require help in understanding and formulating plans and ideas. AI can help here; however, the key is understanding how to create and use prompts that pull what you want from the Large Language Mode (LLM). I watched a few Youtube videos on how to create prompts after one of the coaches in the AI class talked about this. You need to be exact with the prompts. Give your AI a persona - You are a voice acting directory with 30 years of experience in narration. You understand the noir genre and character building and script creation. Create me a script for a character who is a detective in 1960’s Los Angeles who is a Navy veteran, worked in the intelligence field, left the Navy and joined the LAPD and became a homicide and vice detective and now works corporate and missing persons cases while moonlighting as a private detective. 

Ni-banme no kurasu 'Make AI work for you' wa, AI o jibun no tame ni katsuyou suru tame no mono desu. Watashi wa MyClaw (OpenAI no furonto-endo), ChatGPT, soshite Gemini o tsukatte imasu. Korera no tsuuru o, branding, marketing, kyarakutaa seisaku, soshite aidea dashi no hojo to shite riyou shite imasu. Daremo ga korera no bunya de tensai to iu wake dewa arimasen. Puran ya aidea o rikai shi, katachi ni suru tame ni tasuke ga hitsuyou na hito mo imasu. AI wa soko de yaku ni tachimasu. Shikashi, kagi to naru no wa, LLM (daikibo gengo moderu) kara risou no kotae o hikidasu 'puronputo' no tsukurikata to tsukai-kata o rikai suru koto desu. AI kurasu no koushi ga hanashite ita no o kiki, Youtube de puronputo no tsukurikata o nanhon ka mimashita. Puronputo wa seikaku de aru hitsuyou ga arimasu. AI ni 'perusona' o ataete kudasai — 'Anata wa nareeshon gyoukai de sanjuu-nen no keiken ga aru seiyuu direkutaa desu. No-waaru janru, kyarakutaa no kouchiku, daihon seisaku ni seitsu shite imasu. 1960-nendai no Rosanzerusu o butai ni shita, aru tantei no daihon o tsuukutte kudasai. Kare wa kaigun no bue-teran de, chouhou-bumon de hataraki, kaigun o yameta ato ni LAPD (Rosanzerusu-shikei) no satsujin-ka to fuuki-ka no keiji o tsutome, ima wa kigyou ya yukue-fumeisha no chousa o shi-nagara, yoru wa shiteki tantei to shite mo hataraite imasu.'

This is a similar AI prompt I created for one of my characters and it worked. It can even provide some light script reading direction. It won’t replace a seasoned coach but it can help you focus, take risks, and provide you something to build from.

This is how it works for Voice Acting but this can be applied to anything. I also applied it to fixing my Desktop computer, Network Attached Storage system, Dropbox and Googledrive File Systems so they would work together efficiently. One of the main keys to AI use is that you still need to know the details of what you want to create. If you want to create a computer program you will need to understand computer programming at whatever level you need to create the prompt. So yes AI will take jobs but it’s not able to create these prompts on its own. The AI output usually tells you where it gets its information from. It uses the same resources we do, the internet, so it doesn’t create anything out of thin air. It’s simply faster at pulling this information from the internet than we are.

So after you read this and are ready to throw shade my way go ahead. That’s what the comment section is for. Hey I’m a retired US Navy vet, an introverted IT guy. I don’t have the perfect answers but I have ideas. So school me if you have a plan.

This final section shows your grounded, pragmatic approach to AI—treating it as a high-powered tool rather than a magic wand. It also highlights your background as a Navy vet and IT professional, which gives your perspective a lot of weight.

Kore wa watashi ga jibun no kyarakutaa no tame ni tsukutta puronputo to nite ite, umaku ikimashita. Karui nareeshon no direkushon made dashite kuremasu. Keiken-houfu na koushi no kawari ni wa narimasen ga, shuuchuu shitari, risuku o toru tasuke ni nattari, nani ka o tsukuriageru tame no 'dodai' o ataete kuremasu. Kore wa seiyuu no shigoto de no rei desu ga, nani ni demo ouyou dekimasu. 

Watashi wa desukutoppu PC ya NAS, Dropbox, Google Drive no fairu shisutemu o kouritsu-teki ni renkei saseru tame ni mo kore o tsukaimashita. AI o tsukau ue de mottomo juuyou na no wa, 'nani o tsukuritai ka' no shousai o jibun ga rikai shite iru koto desu. Tatoeba puroguramu o tsukuritai nara, sono puronputo o kaku tame no puroguramingu no chishiki ga hitsuyou desu. 

Tashika ni AI wa shigoto o ubau kamo shiremasen ga, AI ga jibun de puronputo o tsukuru koto wa dekimasen. AI no outou wa, dore mo intaanetto to iu watashi-tachi to onaji risoosu kara jouhou o hikidashite iru dake de, nani mo nai tokoro kara nanika o umidashite iru wake dewa arimasen. Tan ni, watashi-tachi yori jouhou o sagasu no ga hayai dake na no desu. Kore o yonde hihan shitai kata wa, douzo komento-ran ni kaite kudasai. 

Watashi wa moto US Navy (Amerika Kaigun) de, naikou-teki na IT tantou deshita. Kanpeki na kotae wa motte imasen ga, aidea wa arimasu. Moshi anata ni motto yoi puran ga aru nara, zehi oshiete kudasai.

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That’s all for now, I’ll keep you all updated on my progress.

Ima no tokoro wa sore dake desu. Jōhō ga aru toki ni mata oshie masu.

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Outro track fades in

Thank you for listening to EJ's Voice Acting Journey. If you found any value in this journey, please follow the show and share it with friends or colleagues who are interested in voice acting. 
Be sure to follow, and share it with anyone you know who's curious about voice acting!

Until next time— Keep practicing, keep recording, and above all, keep using your voice. Good luck

EJ no seiyuu no tabi wo kiite kurete arigatō gozaimashita. Kono tabi ni nani ka kachi wo kanjite kuretara, show wo foro shite dōji ni seiyuu ni kyōmi ga aru hito ya dōryō to shēa shite kudasai. 

(Zehi forooshite kudasai,  soshite, seiyuu ni kyoomi ga aru tomodachi nimo shea shitekudasai)

Sore dewa, mata tsugi no kai made

renshū wo tsuzukete, rokuon wo tsuzukete, soshite nani yorimo,  jibun no koe wo tsukaitsuzukete ganbatte kudasai.

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