Why Would World Famous Voice Actor John Swasey Tell People Not to Become a Voice Actor?

Why Would World Famous Voice Actor John Swasey Tell People Not to Become a Voice Actor?

Super Geek DJ, JP hardboiled
721 Comments

Share

When you go to conventions there are always a bevy of people who are attempting to be the next big thing.  They want to be an actor, musician, or in the case of anime fans a voice actor.  You would think people working in the industry would encourage others to get involved and follow their dreams, yet when prolific voice actor John Swasey was asked what advice he’d give about becoming a voice actor he replied, “Don’t become one.”  We’ll analyze the deep meaning of that “advice,” why his best advice is to not get into the voice acting business, and why that advice applies to all art.

First, voice acting is a strange artform.  In its beginnings, America anime voice actors were simply actors and actresses looking for side jobs.  They simply got an audition for a job, did it, and got the job.  They simply weren’t anime fans, and it was a job.  Because of demand there are now educational methods and college classes for voice acting and of course acting.  And these programs can help people get into voice acting.  People attempting to get into the field of voice acting want the 3 F’s fun, fame, and fortune just like those getting into most other arts in a capitalist culture.  There can be a lot of fun, but the other 2 things come hard.

Swasey has had a lot of fun throughout his voice acting career, and he is known for doing Lord Death from Soul Eater and Sir Crocodile from One Piece.  Lots of times the voice actors are never in the same vocal booth together.  Voice recording is nonlinear with lines being filled in here and there.  The way voice acting typically works is that the main character comes in and records all their lines separately from the other voice actors.  The additional voice actors come and fill in the gaps at another time.  However, doing things this ways provides less ability for the lead character to act.  Swasey says, “Acting is just reacting.”  It’s being very aware of the situation and reacting accordingly to the character.

John Swasey reveals that anime voice actors get only about $50 an hour, which perked up most peoples ears at the panel.  $50 an hour is a lot of money, and it’s the amount I paid to take lessons from world renowned flamenco guitarists and composers per hour!  However, Swasey also revealed that voice actors for anime only work about 10 hours a week.  So most voice actors have to take on side hustles and voice acting jobs.  Just like any other art voice acting is a hustle if you’re main goal is to make money from it. 

Why is his advice the best advice for any artist?  For one he is a high value person in his field, and by Swasey saying that he dissuades a lot of people from getting into voice acting.  I think he’s being very rational and kind by saying so.  For one, he’s simply telling the truth that making a living from voice acting is near impossible.  Second, it keeps the people out of the industry who are not really passionate about the work.  I’ll address the second point.

I love making music, and I love seeing people come and go from the making of music.  Most people get into arts like music for what they perceive as fast rewards.  Money, power, and women.  Most are simply fake.  At best they are trying something for fun that they enjoy, but the reality is the majority of people that get into an art like making music want to appear hard, appear cool, and really think they will achieve fortune and fame.  Meanwhile, most people don’t have the love and dedication of the art they’re dabbling in.  In the realm of hip hop, 1% of the rappers and producers I’ve met have any real music knowledge like music theory or can actually play an instrument.  If you have any knowledge of music you’ll know being able to play an instrument at performance level, meaning playing in front of a crowd, requires an absurd amount of practice and musical knowledge.  That’s real musicality.  Of course, with computer programs like Autotune and more, making music is now accessible to anyone with a computer.  That is a really great thing because making music is what we all originally did together as hunter gatherers.  Every member of the tribe could sing, dance, and make music.  So it’s great that in the modern day world we can make our own form of music relatively easily, but when it’s for individual self gain then it becomes part of just another market of the capitalist consumer culture.  Luckily, all the time, effort, and money required to make real music keeps the majority of people out of making music for the long run.  Meanwhile, for people who really love making music we will be making music for a much longer period of time than the fakes who come and go.  We do it for life.  So I really liked John Swasey’s advice to would be voice actors to not do it.  If someone told me not to make music I simply wouldn’t care, and I’d continue making music, whereas weaker people who really don’t love what they would stop when being told not to do something by someone they respect.  I’d offer the same realistic advice to people who want to make music.  Don’t do it. 

721 thoughts on “Why Would World Famous Voice Actor John Swasey Tell People Not to Become a Voice Actor?”

  128. Vouêtes vraiment bien informé et très intelligent. Vous avez écrit quelque chose que les gens puissent comprendre et faire l’objet fascinant pour tout le monde. Je suis sauver ce pour une utilisation future.

    Reply

  132. CJ1111BA0576、タグホイヤー偽物時計N級品激安通販専門店弊社ではメンズとレディースのタグホイヤーリンクスーパーコピー、タグホイヤーリンク偽物、タグホイヤーリンクコピーなど世界有名なブランドコピー商品激安通販！タグホイヤー(TAGHeuer)偽物時計取扱い量日本一を目指す！タグホイヤーリンクスーパーコピー時計新作続々入荷！全品送料無料！
    Dredge Hose For Rock

    Reply

  163. My brother recommended I might like this web
    site. He was entirely right. This post truly made my day.
    You can not imagine simply how much time I
    had spent for this information! Thanks!

    Reply

  165. Wonderful beat ! I would like to apprentice while
    you amend your site, how can i subscribe for a blog web site?
    The account aided me a acceptable deal. I had been tiny
    bit acquainted of this your broadcast offered bright clear
    concept

    Reply

  167. Hello there. I found your site by the use of Google even as searching for a similar subject, your web site came up. It looks great. I have bookmarked it in my google bookmarks to come back then. Gertrude Carr Carita

    Reply

  168. Do you have a spam problem on this blog; I also am a blogger, and I was wanting to know your situation;
    we have developed some nice methods and we
    are looking to exchange techniques with others, why not shoot me an e-mail
    if interested.

    Reply

  170. Hey there! I realize this is kind of off-topic however I needed to ask.
    Does operating a well-established blog like yours require a lot of work?

    I am brand new to running a blog but I do write in my diary on a daily basis.
    I’d like to start a blog so I will be able to share my experience and thoughts online.

    Please let me know if you have any recommendations or tips for new aspiring blog owners.
    Thankyou!

    Reply

  172. My spouse and I stumbled over here coming from a different web address and thought I might check things out.
    I like what I see so now i’m following you.
    Look forward to looking over your web page for a second time.

    Reply

  174. Hello there! Do you know if they make any plugins to safeguard against hackers?
    I’m kinda paranoid about losing everything I’ve worked hard on. Any recommendations?

    Reply

  196. I like what you guys are up too. Such intelligent work and reporting! Keep up the excellent works guys I’ve incorporated you guys to my blogroll. I think it will improve the value of my site :).

    Reply

  198. That is very attention-grabbing, You are an excessively professional blogger.

    I’ve joined your feed and sit up for searching for extra of your fantastic post.
    Additionally, I’ve shared your web site in my social networks

    Reply

  246. you are truly a excellent webmaster. The web site loading pace is incredible.
    It sort of feels that you are doing any distinctive trick.
    In addition, The contents are masterpiece. you have performed
    a wonderful process in this matter!

    Reply

  252. Thank you for the good writeup. It in fact was a leisure account it.
    Glance advanced to far brought agreeable from you!
    However, how could we keep up a correspondence?

    Reply

  253. I take pleasure in, cause I found just what I was having a
    look for. You’ve ended my 4 day long hunt! God Bless you man. Have a great day.
    Bye

    Reply

  261. Howdy! I simply want to give a huge thumbs up for the good information you may have right here on this post. I will probably be coming back to your weblog for more soon. Catlee Joachim Inge

    Reply

  274. Hello I liked the article, thank you, I hope your site will be successful, you support me tooHello I liked the article, thank you, I hope your site will be successful, escort you support me too

    Reply

  304. You really make it appear really easy together with your presentation but I find this topic to be really
    one thing which I feel I would never understand.
    It seems too complicated and extremely huge for me.
    I’m taking a look ahead in your subsequent publish, I will
    try to get the hang of it! games ps4 allenferguson games ps4

    Reply

  306. Have you ever considered publishing an ebook
    or guest authoring on other blogs? I have a blog based on the same subjects you
    discuss and would love to have you share some stories/information. I know
    my readers would value your work. If you are even remotely interested,
    feel free to send me an e mail. ps4 games allenferguson ps4
    games

    Reply

  313. Thanks for one’s marvelous posting! I quite enjoyed reading
    it, you can be a great author. I will be sure to
    bookmark your blog and will often come back later on. I want to encourage you to definitely continue your great job, have a nice afternoon!

    Reply

  318. I think what you said was actually very reasonable.
    But, think about this, what if you added a little content?
    I ain’t saying your information isn’t good, however what if
    you added something that makes people desire more? I mean Why Would World Famous
    Voice Actor John Swasey Tell People Not to Become a
    Voice Actor? – Super Geek DJ JP hardboiled is kinda boring.
    You ought to look at Yahoo’s home page and note how they
    create post headlines to get people interested. You might add a related video or a related pic or two to get people interested about what you’ve got to say.
    Just my opinion, it would make your posts a little bit more interesting.

    Reply

  330. First of all I want to say fantastic blog!

    I had a quick question in which I’d like to ask if you do not mind.
    I was curious to know how you center yourself and clear your mind
    before writing. I’ve had a hard time clearing my mind in getting my thoughts out.
    I do enjoy writing but it just seems like the first 10
    to 15 minutes are generally lost simply just trying to figure out how to begin. Any recommendations or hints?
    Kudos!

    Reply

  337. Wonderful beat ! I would like to apprentice while you amend your website, how can i subscribe for a blog site?

    The account helped me a acceptable deal. I had been tiny bit acquainted of this your broadcast offered
    bright clear concept

    Reply

  338. Today, I went to the beach front with my children. I found a sea shell and
    gave it to my 4 year old daughter and said “You can hear the ocean if you put this to your ear.”
    She put the shell to her ear and screamed.
    There was a hermit crab inside and it pinched her ear.
    She never wants to go back! LoL I know this is entirely off topic but I had to tell someone!

    Reply

  396. I seriously enjoy your web site.. Exceptional colours & concept. Did you make this Site your self? Make sure you reply back again as I’m planning to generate my incredibly own site and want to know in which you received this from or what precisely the topic is known as. Numerous many thanks!

    Reply

  398. The road seemed to stretch on endlessly before us, but Alexis assured me that our journey was near an end. We’d turn before long into thick woods and travel through narrow, winding roads until we reached her family’s cabin. I had no choice but to trust her as GPS had given out nearly 20 minutes ago.

    “There’s good wifi and okay reception at the cabin,” she’d told me, “but you can’t get there unless you know the way.”
    https://cynthycalvelo352.jimdofree.com/
    So here I was, driving alone in the middle of god knows where with a girl who was my student just a couple of weeks ago. Her and her four best friends had been together from first grade all the way through high school and now they had graduated with very different futures ahead of them. They had decided to kick off “the best summer ever” with a week long stay at Alexis’s family cabin. Alexis and I were heading up before everyone else, the four other girls and four guys.

    Reply

  403. Hey There. I found your weblog making use of msn. That is a rather well written article. I’ll Make sure you bookmark it and come back to go through extra within your practical data. Thanks for that submit. I’ll certainly comeback.

    Reply

  404. Hey there just desired to provide you with A fast heads up. The text within your articles appear to be jogging from the screen in Opera. I’m unsure if this can be a format issue or anything to do with browser compatibility but I figured I’d publish to Enable you recognize. The format appear fantastic although! Hope you get the challenge preset quickly. Many thanks

    Reply

  408. I’ve been browsing online more than 4 hours today, yet I never found any interesting article
    like yours. It is pretty worth enough for me. In my opinion, if all site owners and bloggers made good content as you did, the web
    will be much more useful than ever before. 0mniartist asmr

    Reply

  425. We are a group of volunteers and opening a new scheme in our community. Your web site offered us with valuable information to work on. You have done an impressive job and our whole community will be thankful to you.

    Reply

  431. Hi! This post could not be written any better!

    Reading through this post reminds me of my good old room mate!
    He always kept chatting about this. I will forward this page to him.

    Pretty sure he will have a good read. Thank you for sharing!
    asmr 0mniartist

    Reply

  433. I was wondering if you ever considered changing the page layout of your blog?
    Its very well written; I love what youve got to say.
    But maybe you could a little more in the way of content
    so people could connect with it better. Youve got an awful lot of text for only having one or 2 images.
    Maybe you could space it out better? 0mniartist asmr

    Reply

  434. Every weekend i used to pay a visit this site, for the reason that i want enjoyment, since this this site conations really good funny information too.
    asmr 0mniartist

    Reply

  455. friends meme positive adjectives in english , Ivermectin 3 mg sale buy ivermectin for humans positive reinforcement quotes for students. usdjpy positive correlation community health center greenville ky . houston community college biology labs, culture vulture meaning community definition world health organization community first credit union orange park fl climax community definition in your own words Canada fe8_0f7 , community market , community health center stamford ct .

    Reply

  456. individual level leadership community bible church volunteer opportunities , community bridges nonprofit. community bridges globe arizona buy lyrica buy lyrica online , environments w/o cellular respiration positive feedback mechanism definition positive reinforcement used by teachers , community definition multicultural community first credit union cd rates? community first credit union venmo community definition rhetoric, followers does charli d’amelio have community bank dansville ny.
    project planning process youtube , positive reinforcement and negative reinforcement are similar in that both community action agency darlington sc positive affirmations everyday.

    Reply

  477. I was wondering if you ever thought of changing the layout of your website?
    Its very well written; I love what youve got to
    say. But maybe you could a little more in the way of content so people could connect with it better.
    Youve got an awful lot of text for only having 1 or 2 images.
    Maybe you could space it out better?

    Reply

  478. therapie act livre pharmacie de garde marseille telephone where to buy stromectol , pharmacie auchan caluire pharmacie zac bank . therapie comportementale et cognitive metz pharmacie de garde marseille 13 , pharmacie bordeaux bergonie pharmacie herboriste bordeaux pharmacie amiens azzedine pharmacie lafayette charleville . pharmacie de garde qui appeler therapie de couple woluwe , pharmacie lafayette orthez therapie de couple islam . pharmacie dumont bourges pharmacie beauvais intermarche , medicaments urticaire medicaments diabete pharmacie en ligne usa pharmacie ouverte yvetot . pharmacie tassigny angers comprime un generique , pharmacie eisenbeth boulogne billancourt pharmacie ouverte ile de france . pharmacie ouverte autour de chez moi pharmacie de garde aujourd’hui joigny , technique therapies breves therapies that have received clear research support are called pharmacie leclerc gonesse pharmacie bordeaux rue sainte catherine .

    Reply

  479. Normally I do not read post on blogs, but I would like
    to say that this write-up very forced me to check out and do so!
    Your writing taste has been amazed me. Thanks, very nice
    article.

    Reply

  483. What i do not understood is in fact how you’re no longer really a lot more neatly-liked than you
    might be now. You’re very intelligent. You understand therefore significantly when it comes to this topic, produced me personally
    believe it from a lot of numerous angles.
    Its like women and men don’t seem to be involved except it’s one thing to do with
    Woman gaga! Your individual stuffs nice. At all times handle it up!

    Reply

  484. Hi! This post couldn’t be written any better! Reading through this post reminds me of my previous room mate!
    He always kept talking about this. I will forward this write-up to him.
    Pretty sure he will have a good read. Thank you for sharing!

    Reply

  485. I do consider all the ideas you have offered in your post.
    They’re really convincing and will certainly work.
    Still, the posts are too short for newbies. May you please prolong
    them a bit from next time? Thank you for the post.

    Reply

  502. An outstanding share! I’ve just forwarded this onto a friend
    who was conducting a little homework on this.
    And he in fact bought me breakfast because I discovered it for him…
    lol. So allow me to reword this…. Thank YOU for the
    meal!! But yeah, thanks for spending the time to talk about this
    subject here on your blog.

    Reply

  503. Hey! This is my 1st comment here so I just wanted to give a
    quick shout out and tell you I really enjoy reading through your articles.
    Can you suggest any other blogs/websites/forums that go
    over the same subjects? Thanks a ton!

    Reply

  505. Hello! This is kind of off topic but I need some help from an established
    blog. Is it hard to set up your own blog? I’m not very techincal but I
    can figure things out pretty quick. I’m thinking about creating my own but I’m not
    sure where to start. Do you have any points or suggestions?
    Appreciate it

    Reply

  506. I blog frequently and I seriously appreciate your content. Your article has really peaked my
    interest. I’m going to bookmark your site and keep checking for new details about once
    per week. I opted in for your RSS feed too.

    Reply

  510. hello there and thank you for your info – I’ve certainly picked up anything new from right here.
    I did however expertise a few technical issues using this website, since
    I experienced to reload the site many times previous to I could get it to load correctly.
    I had been wondering if your web hosting is OK? Not that I am complaining, but slow
    loading instances times will sometimes affect your placement
    in google and could damage your high-quality score
    if ads and marketing with Adwords. Anyway I’m adding this RSS to my e-mail
    and can look out for a lot more of your respective fascinating content.
    Ensure that you update this again soon.

    Reply

  512. I just like the helpful information you supply in your
    articles. I’ll bookmark your blog and test once more right here regularly.
    I am fairly sure I will be told lots of new stuff right here!
    Good luck for the following!

    Reply

  521. Hello this is kind of of off topic but I was wanting to know if blogs use WYSIWYG editors or if you have to manually code with
    HTML. I’m starting a blog soon but have no coding know-how so I wanted
    to get advice from someone with experience.
    Any help would be enormously appreciated!

    Reply

  529. Have you ever heard of second life (sl for short). It is essentially a online game where you can do anything you want. Second life is literally my second life (pun intended lol). If you want to see more you can see these Second Life websites and blogs

    Reply

  530. Howdy! This is my first visit to your blog! We are a team of volunteers and starting a new initiative in a community in the same niche. Your blog provided us beneficial information to work on. You have done a wonderful job!

    Reply

  537. The road seemed to stretch on endlessly before us, but Alexis assured me that our journey was near an end. We’d turn before long into thick woods and travel through narrow, winding roads until we reached her family’s cabin. I had no choice but to trust her as GPS had given out nearly 20 minutes ago.

    “There’s good wifi and okay reception at the cabin,” she’d told me, “but you can’t get there unless you know the way.”
    https://medium.com/@markusyandel5628/sex-and-suicide-2d543211926e https://medium.com/@lednerffwq61/they-call-me-phallus-ch-02-b6dc4020a2ab
    So here I was, driving alone in the middle of god knows where with a girl who was my student just a couple of weeks ago. Her and her four best friends had been together from first grade all the way through high school and now they had graduated with very different futures ahead of them. They had decided to kick off “the best summer ever” with a week long stay at Alexis’s family cabin. Alexis and I were heading up before everyone else, the four other girls and four guys.

    Reply

  538. I like this post, enjoyed this one regards for putting up. “‘I have done my best.’ That is about all the philosophy of living one needs.” by Lin Yutang.

    Reply

  539. scoliosis
    I’ve been exploring for a little for any high quality articles or blog posts in this kind of area .
    Exploring in Yahoo I ultimately stumbled upon this web site.
    Reading this info So i am happy to express that I’ve an incredibly excellent uncanny feeling I found out exactly
    what I needed. I so much for sure will make certain to don?t
    overlook this site and provides it a glance regularly.
    scoliosis

    Reply

  540. scoliosis
    Hello all, here every one is sharing these kinds of know-how, thus it’s pleasant to
    read this web site, and I used to go to see this webpage everyday.

    scoliosis

    Reply

  547. scoliosis
    Have you ever thought about adding a little bit more
    than just your articles? I mean, what you say is important and everything.
    But think about if you added some great photos or video clips to give your
    posts more, “pop”! Your content is excellent but with
    images and videos, this site could undeniably be one of the most beneficial in its field.
    Good blog! scoliosis

    Reply

  549. Have you ever heard of second life (sl for short). It is essentially a video game where you can do anything you want. Second life is literally my second life (pun intended lol). If you want to see more you can see these second life articles and blogs

    Reply

  553. pharmacie lafayette zenith pau medicaments thyroide vip medications buy naltrexone without prescription , pharmacie avignon rue de la republique pharmacie de garde marseille aujourd’hui 13005 . therapie cognitivo comportementale alger pharmacie angers dimanche , pharmacie brest rue de verdun traitement bouton de fievre pharmacie de garde marseille 14eme therapy couples kaiser . pharmacie lafayette jeu concours medicaments depression , produits medicamenteux en anglais pharmacie uchaud . pharmacie lafayette mulhouse pharmacie argenteuil rue paul vaillant couturier , pharmacie en ligne nevers pharmacie de garde gap pharmacie lafayette rodez therapie comportementale et cognitive stress . pharmacie bailly facebook therapies de couple film , pharmacie huynh bordeaux pharmacie de garde hyeres . pharmacie veterinaire angers pharmacie ouverte royan , pharmacie lafayette quatre pavillons pharmacie boulogne billancourt les passages medicaments zolpidem medicaments ototoxiques .

    Reply

  557. scoliosis
    If you are going for most excellent contents like I do,
    simply pay a quick visit this website every day because it
    presents quality contents, thanks scoliosis

    Reply

  558. scoliosis
    Howdy, I believe your website could possibly be having web browser
    compatibility issues. Whenever I take a look at your website in Safari, it looks fine
    however, when opening in I.E., it has some overlapping issues.
    I simply wanted to give you a quick heads up! Aside from that,
    fantastic website! scoliosis

    Reply

  560. Have you ever heard of second life (sl for short). It is basically a game where you can do anything you want. SL is literally my second life (pun intended lol). If you want to see more you can see these Second Life authors and blogs

    Reply

  563. dating sites
    Write more, thats all I have to say. Literally, it seems as though
    you relied on the video to make your point. You definitely
    know what youre talking about, why throw away your intelligence on just
    posting videos to your site when you could be giving us
    something informative to read? dating sites

    Reply

  565. Have you ever heard of second life (sl for short). It is essentially a game where you can do anything you want. SL is literally my second life (pun intended lol). If you would like to see more you can see these Second Life articles and blogs

    Reply