Let’s continue our journey exploring our voice overs intriguing and surprising roots.
The last piece covered the first 100 years of the industry in part 1 of this series. If you missed it, be sure to start there first!
Let’s just dive in where we left off shall we? The groovy 1970s!
If you’re more of a visual learner, check out out History of Voice Over video instead:
The Magnetic Era
The 1970s – The Birth of Audiobooks
The early 1970s saw the Sony Walkman’s western popularity soar – the cassette player stormed the world. The trademark Walkman name quickly garnered use as the unofficial term for all personal audio devices.
Cassette tapes overtook the record player in its market share, in no small part due to the remote nature of the playback devices. One of which was the Sony Walkman.
Listening to music was the primary use for the Walkman and similar devices; however, another form of entertainment emerged – the audiobook.
Audiocassettes presented an ideal medium for abridged audiobooks. They were narrated, recorded, and distributed in audiocassette forms for playback devices like the Walkman and in-car stereo cassette players.
This incredible development also opened up literature to brand new audiences. Disabled and foreign audiences alike could easily engage with written media due to increasing accessibility options.
By the end of 1987, the niche market was worth a tidy $200 million. Today, it is worth $1.5 billion.
1979 – Darth Vader
The late 70s and early 80s was a hectic time in voice over history – using a voice over in films wasn’t unusual by any means.
ADR (Automatic Dialogue Replacement) was already a popular method of re-recording an actors lines in a professional studio environment. However, besides animation and foreign film, few movies required complete dubbing in the same way as Darth Vader’s character in Star Wars.
Released in 1977 to roaring success, Star Wars: A New Hope and its sequels The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi made Darth Vader a legend.
He was wowing cinema-goers with his unusual and distorted voice. Significantly, his lines are all dubbed by James Earl Jones, the on-set performance by David Prowse.
Jones’ darker, heavier, and intimidating voice fit Darth Vader like it was fated. Definitely one of the best decisions in cinema history.
The Digital Era
1980s – Early voice over in video games
Video games media demonstrates best the early developments in the digital era.
Castle Wolfenstein, released in 1981, is one of the first proper instances of voice over in video games. The player character, B.J. Blazkowicz, is tasked with escaping Castle Wolfenstein – a heavily fortified Nazi compound.
The inclusion of speech amped up the intensity of the gameplay with the Nazi guards shouting, “Halt!” and “Kommen Sie!“ in a fruitless attempt to prevent escape.
The low quality of the audio recordings, a consequence of the time’s limited technology, added a raspy shriek to the audio clips, which added to the player’s anxiety.
The inventive game developer, Silas Warner, was singularly responsible for the implementation of audio and speech. He invented a new digital audio recorder, aptly named Voice, and this unique device set the bar for early video game voice over.
In the succeeding decades, professional voice acting has become a borderline necessity to keep distracted gamers engaged with the story.
Borrowing much from cinema, the bar for quality is a galaxy away from where we began. Today, video games include some of the best voice acting performances in the history of voice over.
1990s – The Digital Revolution and the Role of Unions
The digitisation of information and the internet revolutionised the voice over industry, making audio production more accessible.
This shift freed content creation from traditional, expensive studio processes, allowing anyone with digital know-how to produce high-quality audio. Digital Audio Workstations (DAWs) and more affordable equipment enabled small studios and independent artists to thrive.
Initially, ISDN technology facilitated live-directed voice over sessions, but it was costly and primarily used by TV and radio networks. In the early days, acting unions controlled the industry, with voice actors recording in studios and receiving payments through agents or unions.
Today, most voice actors record in home studios, negotiate their own rates, and often edit their own work. As technology advanced and prices fell, professional audio recording became accessible to the layman, allowing experienced voice actors to operate independently.
1990s – Anime and Otaku
In the West, animation thrived under Disney and Pixar, while in the East, Japanese animation, or ‘Anime‘, was on the cusp of becoming a powerhouse, relying heavily on talented voice actors.
Anime made significant cultural impacts in Japan during the 1980s with hits like Hayao Miyazaki’s Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind and Dragon Ball. However, the industry declined following Japan’s economic downturn.
The groundbreaking anime Neon Genesis Evangelion, written by Hideaki Anno, revitalised the industry. Its character-driven story and exceptional voice acting set a new standard, influencing future series like Cowboy Bebop and RahXephon.
Anime’s appeal grew beyond niche audiences, with Studio Ghibli’s Spirited Away becoming the first non-American film to win the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. This success fostered Otaku culture, a dedicated fanbase with passionate ‘Sub vs. Dub‘ debates.
Today, anime’s popularity continues to soar, with many voice actors including anime localisation and dubbing in their portfolios.
Voice over in the 21st Century
Celebrities in Voice over
In recent decades, voice over has legitimised itself, now viewed as a promising career. While there are still those who do not consider voice acting to be ‘real acting’, this is an outlook eroded year on year.
One of the chief reasons for this change is that many of the cited ‘real actors’, the celebrities lend their voices to commercials, video games, and audiobooks. Of course, this has been the case in animated films for decades, with figures like Tom Hanks as Woody in Toy Story.
In video games media, the trend started to take off in the noughties, with celebrities like Patrick Stewart and Samuel L Jackson voicing characters in The Elder Scrolls and Grand Theft Auto franchises.
Throughout the 2010s, celebrity voices became a commonplace addition to any AAA video game title. Some celebrities have found outstanding success in the video games medium, such as Christopher Judge’s performance as Kratos in God of War.
Motion Capture (MoCap) technology allows animators to capture the actors’ visual likeness and facial expressions, e.g. Kit Harrington in Call of Duty and Keanu Reeves in Cyberpunk 2077.
It is rare to see a new release in the animation industry that doesn’tfeature a celebrity in its cast! It is a large portion of the marketing cycle for any new release.
These acts further serve to validate the professional value that has built up across the history of voice-over.
Emerging voice over trailblazers
While there is an assortment of celebrities making their way into voice acting, there are also well-known names that have grown within this industry. Specific figures show up as voices in what feels like every piece of animation and video game media.
Voice actors like Nolan North, Troy Baker, Jennifer Hale, Laura Bailey, Steve Blum, etc. These people have crafted their professional space due to an unrelenting dedication to their art. As a result, these people have celebrity status in gaming circles.
Video games, anime, western animation – each of these industries rivals typical Hollywood films for the attention of entertainment lovers. So, it only makes sense that voice actors start to become the beneficiaries of this growth.
The New Digital Frontier
The growth of YouTube has opened the floodgates to a prosumer culture and opportunity is abundant for countless industries in this environment, none more so than voice over.
Online video platforms have become a prevalent format for entertainment, the wealth of concepts and fresh ideas on websites like YouTube are countless. Explainer videos, independent animation, narration for YouTube vlogs and stories, corporate video content, and more. Many of these video formats requiring professional voice over services to amplify their messaging.
There is an unlimited number of channels on YouTube looking to produce professional-quality content with the best YouTube voice over they can find.
Excess Supply and Easy Access
The growth of broadband technology, faster computing speeds, and the proliferation of freelancing networks have led to online remote productions being the norm. Becoming a freelance voice over talent is as simple as having a quality condenser microphone, computer, and access to a website like Fiverr or Upwork.
These P2P voice over websites do not assure quality; however, the pure quantity of low-cost talent has made competition fierce and created an overflow of supply. As a newcomer, getting noticed can take a lot of time. This is where platforms like Voquent exist, only accepting professional voice over talent vetted and approved before being made available for casting.
However, this ease of access has undoubtedly demonstrated the individuality of voice over artists. Never in the history of voice over has the artist had such control over the work they agree to take on and the quick career growth they can achieve.
The digital era has given also birth to a world where voice over talent can set up a recording studio and work anywhere, circumventing the need to be based in a specific city or region.
While voice actor unions can offer some welcome assurances, a voice actor doesn’t need an agent or representative to ply their trade.
While the industry is doubtlessly populated, it is easier than ever to get started, and more opportunities are appearing for voice over professionals all the time.
Conclusion
The long and rich history of voice over is inherited by the talent using their voices every day to inform, sell, teach and entertain.
Voice Actors with home studios have more autonomy than at any time, with daily opportunities to reach mass audiences. And more exciting times are ahead!
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