Space Summary
The Twitter Space Spotlight with Kwesi Busia hosted by CediRates. In the 'Spotlight?' space hosted by Kwesi Busia, professionals immersed themselves in enriching discussions surrounding business, finance, and technology. The space revealed valuable insights on networking, financial challenges, technological disruptions, work-life balance, and diversity initiatives. Participants gained a deeper understanding of the evolving landscape of infrastructure, emphasizing the importance of adaptability and innovation in today's digital age.
For more spaces, visit the Infrastructure page.
Questions
Q: How does networking contribute to professional growth?
A: Networking helps in forming valuable connections, opening new career opportunities, and gaining insights from experienced professionals.
Q: What challenges do professionals face in the financial industry?
A: Professionals often encounter regulatory changes, market volatility, and the need for continuous learning to stay competitive in the finance sector.
Q: How is technology disrupting traditional business practices?
A: Technology is revolutionizing business operations, customer engagement, and market strategies, driving innovation and efficiency.
Q: Why is work-life balance crucial in a digital work environment?
A: Maintaining work-life balance enhances well-being, productivity, and reduces burnout risks associated with the digital work landscape.
Q: What initiatives promote diversity and inclusion in the tech field?
A: Diverse hiring practices, inclusive workplace cultures, and equal opportunity policies foster a more innovative and equitable tech industry.
Highlights
Time: 00:12:45
Power of Professional Networking Insights on leveraging networking for career growth and success.
Time: 00:25:18
Financial Industry Trends Discussions on emerging trends and challenges in the financial sector.
Time: 00:37:02
Tech Innovation in Business Exploring how technology disrupts and transforms traditional business practices.
Time: 00:48:39
Digital Transformation Strategies Insights on adapting to digital work environments and maintaining work-life balance.
Time: 01:02:15
Diversity in Tech Importance of diversity and inclusion initiatives for a more equitable tech industry.
Key Takeaways
- Importance of networking for career advancement.
- Tips for navigating the complexities of the financial industry.
- Innovations reshaping traditional business models.
- Balancing work-life integration in a digital world.
- Strategies for fostering diversity and inclusion in tech sectors.
Behind the Mic
Greeting and Catching Up
Hi there. Good evening, Mister Bouzier. How are you doing? Hello. Hey, Chrissy, how you doing? Hi, I'm good, how are you? I'm good, I'm good, man. It's been how many. It's been too long. It's been too long. Yeah. First of all, congrats, and I didn't, I wasn't able to attend your wedding, but I wish I did. And also, congrats on your progress, on your career, everything you've been doing. We delve into it, but I just want to say, like, I'm proud of you and everything you've accomplished. Thank you so much, man. I really appreciate that. Thank you. Thank you so. And thanks for inviting me on here as well. I'm really happy to talk about that, for sure. I mean, I should have done this ages ago. Like, I should have even come to you for lessons on how to even be speaking on here, but then we delve into it with your coaching sessions and all of that.
Introduction to Kwesi Boozier
So let's just start with those who are not familiar with your name, who you are, and just a little intro to what you do. Sure. So my name is Kwesi Boozier. I'm a professional voice actor. I've been doing this for about five, six years now, and I do this full time, so I don't. It's not a side hustle for me. It's not something I do, you know, for fun or on the side. This is how I put food on the table. I'm very happy to say that I found a lot of success doing it. And hopefully throughout this, or definitely throughout this little talk here, I'm going to kind of go through the techniques and tricks and things you need to be aware of. So you can also do it too, if that's what you're interested in. And if you've ever had a love for voice acting or creativity or entrepreneurship, hopefully this gives you some starting ideas that you can implement into your own journey.
Initial Interest in Voice Acting
Perfect. So I'll just start off. When I first met you, when we started hanging out, I never, like, I must admit, it never crossed my mind. Like, oh, how does Chris's voice sound? And this voice I like to hear in an ad or something like that. But how long have you had this interest in voice acting? Or when did you discover you could do this? Sure. So, to be perfectly honest, it wasn't actually an interest I ever had. I kind of fell into it by accident. What happened was I was studying law at uni, as you know, and I did quite good at that, and I was enjoying it, and I thought I'd probably end up becoming a lawyer. What happened was I graduated, and I wanted to pursue higher education in law, but unfortunately, my dad passed away the year after I graduated. Funnily enough, it's actually his birthday today. He would have been 69.
Transition from Law to Voice Acting
Yeah. So that's an interesting thing. And it was difficult. It was difficult, and I needed to figure out what I was going to do with my life after uni, because it's a quite anxious time for most people who graduate. You don't necessarily have a concrete plan, and you need to have, like, qualifications and things like that. So my aunt at the time was, she had started her own media production company, and she was creating audiobooks for Bishop, Daghew and Mills. He has the Macarius 60 set of books, which had never been created as audiobooks before. So she's heard my voice from time to time, and she said, hey, KB, as my family calls me, I know you've got a great voice. This might be something that you're interested in. Why don't you come to the studio and record a book for us? And I said, you know what? Sure.
Initial Experience with Voice Acting
I'm not doing too much else at the moment, and it seems like an interesting kind of gig, so I'll go do that and make some money from that. And the first time I did it was interesting because I don't know if you've ever done something where, you know, it's. You're not necessarily killing it, but you're really enjoying it. Right. Like, if you tried a sport that you're not excelling at and you're not scoring, but you're really enjoying the process of learning it. Yeah. That was kind of what my first time behind the microphone was like. And, you know, sorry, what year was this? This would have been 2019. This would have been June of 2019. Okay. And so I just kind of kept going at it and building the skill and building the muscle and getting better, and one audiobook became two, which became three, which became four.
Growth and Realization in Voice Acting
And I ended up doing about 15 to 20 in the end, I believe. And then that was it. The project had ended, and I was looking at voice acting beyond working with my aunt, like, doing this as a career, and I found that actually, this is something that people do. This is a real opportunity here. So I bought a microphone, and I put it in this little small room in my house, which I hadn't been used for a while, a couple of years, so it needed some TLC, but I started with my microphone, and I had my laptop on the table, and I started looking for jobs online. And because I'd done this for a year, I got my first job online within about four days. Usually it takes longer than that, but that gave me the confidence to see that, okay, this is really something here.
First Job in Voice Acting
I know. I just kept pursuing that and pushing that, and the rest is really history. Here we are today. Nice. So with the first job, is it possible to say who that was with? Yeah, it was actually. It was an audiobook, because I was kind of marketing myself as an audiobook narrator, primarily because that's where I had experience. It was a self help book by an author called Jean Turk. I believe he is Turkish. And I don't remember the name of the book now, I'd have to go and double check it, but it was a very short audiobook. It was about maybe 50 pages. And, yeah, it was the first time I'd seen that you can put your voice online and you can have a client come to you and say, hey, I'll pay you this much for this amount of work.
Understanding the Voice Acting Industry
And after some negotiation, you can actually get paid that money for the job. So that was really inspiring. And that's when I realized that, okay. It sounded like the first few gigs you got were more geared towards audiobooks. So when, during this period, did you. Did you understand this as voice acting in general? Like what we've been hearing on radio, seen on tv, or what was your perspective? Yes. So I did understand it as voice acting generally, but because I had experience with audiobooks, I kind of started there. And then when somebody was like, okay, I don't have an audiobook I need recorded, but it's a YouTube video. That was when I was like, okay, it's mostly transferable skills.
Expanding into Broader Voice Acting Roles
So let me give this a shot and see how that works. And then once you've done one, it kind of snowballs, and one becomes two become four become eight. And that's how I kind of started voice acting more broadly than just audiobook narration. Yeah. Okay, so. And on your website, I see. I don't know if you posted it. I'll try and put it up there on the space. But you have multiple. You've got several demos which people can listen to. To, like, hear what? Your voice. Well, I mean, they can hear you now, but then when you get into voice acting mode, it's slightly different. And you've even got this UK, and there's us.
Accents and Style in Voice Acting
How. How do you. And then I'm guessing there's probably ghanaian. But then, of course, like, ever since I knew. I don't think I knew you as having a ghanaian accent. But then how does it. How, when a client comes to you, how do you pick, or when they request for different accents, how do you pick which one is appropriate or what's the. What are the various options they have available to them when they come to you? So most of the time, clients are looking for a specific accent. So, you know, certain clients, let's say, in the UK, of course, are going to be more geared towards the british one in the US.
Client Preferences in Accents
And, and because the US is kind of like a global, international accent, I guess, or voice, a lot of brands like that one as well, coming more towards Ghana and Africa, they prefer, you know, a more local ghanaian or african sound. So it kind of depends on where the job is and what, you know, the client is listening for and looking for their brand. So it's. I very rarely weigh in and say, I'll do it with this accent or that accent. It's usually the client which decides what they want to hear. Okay, so with something like the uk accents or the us accents, like, basically those are the two that I see on your website.
Exploring Favorite Accents
But what are some of your favorite accents to do? So those are the two I work professionally in. I've been told I do a good indian accent and, you know, and the ghanaian kind of nigerian accents, I enjoy doing those as well. The reason I don't necessarily market those as heavily is because I'm still kind of learning those ones. You know, a british one is my natural born accent. And then when you're, you watch a lot of american tv, you kind of pick that one up quite quickly. The other two I'm less familiar with.
Methods for Improving Accents
So I'm kind of working with dialect coaches and things to really practice those before I create lots of different. I was going to ask how you familiarize yourself with them because I was thinking, like, maybe movies. Movies is great. Tv shows, those kinds of things. Just kind of being immersed in the media. If you're really struggling, a dialect coach is very helpful. Okay. Okay. So I shared something up there in the space. It's a post you made one of your first few posts on x. So it's in a world captivated by viral sensations.
Discussing Content Creation and Patience
So is that like a go to demo text? So that particular post was about. So what I like to do on my social media pages, and we'll probably talk about this more when we go into creativity and work life balance. But what I like to do on my social media pages is talk about entrepreneurship generally. And because I coach as well, I coach voice acting, I see a lot of people fall into the same pitfalls. And because voice acting is not a, it's not a get rich quick scheme, right. It takes time to build. It's a long process.
Final Thoughts on Progress and Expectations
And a lot of people think they're going to get in and find success very quickly and then kind of lose steam when they realize it's a lot slower than you might hope. So this post was about talking about how we are consumed in a world where we want things fast, we want instant successes. We see somebody post a TikTok video shrugging their shoulders, and then they're suddenly millionaires. Right. And it does happen to a lot of people, or a good number of people that we see, but the majority of people, it is a consistent grind and a hustle. And I was, that particular post was letting people know that just because you haven't, you know, reached millionaire status in one week of posting a video doesn't mean you're not on track to it, doesn't mean you should give it up, doesn't mean you should be ashamed or doesn't mean you're doing anything wrong.
Inspiring Commanding Speech
Okay, so let's say who was it? the leader of the. One of the leaders. Okay, so basically, when they are trying to say something inspiring to basically inspire the. The. How do you call them, the soldiers. Right? Like, we are preparing for a battle and we're about to, like, go attack something and we may die. It may. It may not go well. How do you describe what would be the prompts for that? Kind of, like, if you, like, commanding would be. Would be one of the words I'd use. Emotional, because there's the, you know, when you're about to die, obviously it's quite emotional, but you're trying to galvanize people. You're trying to inspire them, you know? Yeah. So I just think about what is the goal of what this character is trying to accomplish? What's the goal of what the scene is trying to accomplish? And then I kind of import those words into the text, which doesn't necessarily say that, but that's how I would infuse the words I'm using with that kind of vibe, I guess you could call it.
Oratory Tradition in Africa
So switching away from anime, bringing it back home, I've always had this. This feeling or thoughts that Africa has been, or at least Ghana has been more oratory than written. So, like, we had this, like, by the fireside where, like, they tell stories that we said by the fireside and literally, like, listen to the stories. Like, story time or quick one answer stories. That kind of thing is always been more auditory than written. And that's why like a lot of history, like, and then it's created this perception of we don't like to read. Like if you want to hide something from an african or a black american, you hide it in a book. And I feel like it's always misconstrued because it was more, were more auditory, were more like oral, like telling the stories. So it hurts me to see how we missed out on the whole podcast wave because I feel like it should have been something we should have been big on, but somehow we just did more radio and then kind of missed out on podcasts and like we are now trying to catch up in the podcast scene.
Challenges in Accessing Audio Equipment
How do you feel about the auditory? I don't know what the industry is called, but like the audio landscape in Africa. What are some of your perceptions, some things you've noticed, right. That's a very good contrasting to the western. That's a very good question. I think the biggest thing holding us back is not a lack of interest, it is a lack of access to equipment and good quality equipment, primarily because again, I coach. And what holds a lot of people back who are interested in it is that, yeah, they can get the microphone, but do they have a quiet space to record? Do they have a treated space to record? How are they going to if they need to do it, like in person? Do they have a microphone or multiple microphones or a video camera that's good quality to record that podcast? So it's access to equipment that we really struggle with. And maybe we don't struggle with it as much as we think we do. I do think that we tend to assume a lot of this stuff is a lot more expensive than it is.
Starting Equipment and Early Experiences
Sure. So at the very beginning, you know, you're working on a budget. You don't know how if this is going to be extremely successful. So I wanted to keep costs low. I had a laptop from uni days, so having a computer or a laptop wasn't a problem. What I needed was the microphone and the USB. Microphones are fairly inexpensive, I think at the time. Prices in Ghana have gone up quite a bit from then, but I think at the time was about 750 cds. It was how much the USB microphone was, and you just plug and play it. You plug it into your computer, you're good to go. So in terms of equipment, that was all I needed. In terms of environment, what I needed was a quiet space with minimal echo. So there's not, you know, loud noises from cars going by or children crying or anything like that in my audio.
Balancing Creativity with Business
That's a very good question, and there's so many different angles to answer that from. What I would say is that you want to be true to your pricing structure and you never want to work for less than you think you're worth. And if you know that there is a project that you're doing which could potentially bring your client a lot of money, I think it's only fair that you price yourself appropriately because you are contributing a lot to that project. So you also, I mean, yes, you do need to be mindful of what the client's budget is. And not every job, especially as a newer voice actor, not every job you do needs to be about the money. Sometimes it is about, you know, I need something on my portfolio that represents this side of my voice. I need a meditation, or I need, you know, something that shows me with other people, like as a character.
Creative Freedom in Content Creation
And I talk about things that I'm passionate about, and I do things in a way that I enjoy, and I write the scripts and I put the music at the back because that's where I get to exercise my creative muscle. You know, when you're working for a client, you're not, you don't have as much freedom to be creative, but when you're creating your own content, which, you know, is fairly inexpensive to do in today's day and age, and I encourage any voice actor to create their own content, you get to be more experimental and more free with how you express that creative muscle. So I'd say I kind of separate the two in terms of creativity and business.
Struggle with Work-Life Balance
And then work life balance is something that I've struggled with in the initial stages because, as I mentioned earlier, like, you're not paid a salary at the end of the month when you're doing your own business, voice acting, or any kind of other entrepreneurship, you're paid according to how much you can hustle, essentially. So I really struggled to take my foot off the pedal, and I used to work on weekends, and I used to not end my days early, and I used to, you know, work at a certain time and, you know, 06:00 p.m., 08:00 p.m., up till midnight. I could be working these days. I am more conscious about that. I would say getting married has helped with that a lot because, you know, you have to structure your time around somebody else as well.
Managing Work Schedule and Personal Life
So I don't, you know, I don't work after a certain time. I try to limit my work on weekends as much as possible. You know, most weekends I don't work. If there's a project that I really like or I'm getting paid a certain amount, then I will, you know, go out of my way to do that. But by and large, I don't work on weekends. I start. I used to start, you know, I woke up at 06:00 a.m. and I'd start work to past 06:00 a.m. right. Nowadays I start, I wake up at six. I don't start work until about 8910, maybe, and just healthier practices that allow me to enjoy what it is that I do and still have a life outside of what it is that I do, you know?
Introduction to Voice Acting
Yeah, that's epic. A few things I want touch on. First off, congrats on your one year anniversary. That was. Thank you very much. And thank you very much. Funny enough. So, Christie, his wife and I all went to the same uni, so it's really wonderful seeing them come together. And speaking of work life balance, like, you still brought your woman into this industry. How did that turn out? Like, how did she discover that she's also interested in this? I'm guessing that was. It was through you.
Influence and Inspiration
Largely through me. She had a creative background before as well. She used to do, like, plays and acting, and in church, she used to do church choir, singing and things like that. So she had some kind of foundation in creative arts before she met me. But I think the way that I do voiceover and the way that I approach it is, I think it inspires a lot of people. I'm not trying to praise myself. I learned it to do it this way from other people. The praise is not on me, it's on really on the people who taught me. But when you do it as a career and you can see that this is something that, you know, it's fun, it's dynamic, you get to make your own hours to a certain extent, and you can make a good living out of it.
Getting Started in Voice Acting
I think it really does inspire a lot of people to look into it, and I suggest that everybody looks into it and, you know, because the secret to voice acting is not having a great voice. You do need to train your voice and you do need practice, as you do in any skill. But it's not like you're either born capable of doing this or you're just not capable. It's. The real secret is in the marketing, really. It's making your voice heard by the people and in the places that can actually pay you a living and doing that consistently and doing that widely.
Secrets to Building a Voice Acting Career
So to answer your question, I did kind of bring her into it in the sense that I kind of solidified ideas and passions that she'd always had throughout her life. Yeah. So that's definitely something. So it's more of you became an embodiment of the things you've learned from other people, and then she has some creative background and she saw that in you and it's like, oh, yeah, okay, this could be the thing for me. Exactly. I hope there are some people on this space who can take that.
Experience in the Industry
And because I know, for example, there's jude on the space who is in the media communications space. He might be considering, maybe he's written, but he might be considering like, audio. And like, you never know what happens because, like, in your case, you just tried it out because of your auntie and you discovered you could make a living out of it. And I don't know if you share the numbers, but I think you've shared it somewhere before. You made over four K and USD.
Platforms for Voice Acting Work
But yes, that was one platform. Yeah. What platform was that? And like, basically, how'd you get gigs? And what that was Fiverr. So Fiverr is a freelance marketplace where basically people put on whatever service that they do and then other clients come and find your service and then hire you for a job. So it's not a passive source of income. I'd say it's semi passive because you do need to set up your gig description. You do need to set up your gig image.
Gigs and Client Interactions
You need to have a good portfolio, have good demos on there. But once that's set up, it's really for the clients to come and find you and then they will be the ones giving you jobs, as opposed to a different freelance platform like upwork, where the clients post jobs on there. And then freelancers send in like a cv and say that I'm qualified for this project because X, Y and Z, here's a link to my demos, and then you get hired and paid for that in that way.
Maintaining a Wide Client Base
So, yeah, so I, you know, you, the secret to, I think any successful business is to get as many clients as possible. And the secret to my success, if there is any, is that I, I'm not a snob when it comes to where my work comes from. I will work, you know, as long as it's not morally objectionable and I feel like I'm being fairly compensated for it. I will work for anyone, and I will, you know, I'm not fussy about which country you're in.
Global Opportunities in Voice Acting
I'm not particularly fussy about, you know, all these other things. If you've got a good job and you're paying a fair wage and there's nothing in the content that I object to, then I don't mind working on fiverr. I don't mind working on upwork. I don't mind working with my aunt. I don't mind in person gigs or word of mouth. I'm happy to do it all. Yeah. And in terms of getting compensated, obviously the foreign ones will pay more than the Ghanaian ones, but then what's that journey been like?
Earnings Breakdown
How much would you say the breakdown of your revenue outside Ghana versus Ghana? So Africa. Let's group Africa together. Yes, the majority of my. The most. The bulk of my work does come from outside Africa. And on average, the jobs do pay better. Yes, but it really depends on your negotiation skills and I guess, which clients you're working with. But, yeah, I would say that most of my work comes from outside Africa.
Payment Variances
And, yeah, on average, they do pay better. Yeah. And in terms of. A lot of people have this. What's the word? Like, does this is. This is uncomfortable hearing your own voice. And at least for me, so, like, whenever I host Twitter spaces, I've never listened to them after. I, like, I'm pretty sure that there are some things I could learn, like maybe my pacing or how I interject and that kind of thing, but it's very hard listening to my own voice.
Overcoming the Challenge of Listening to Oneself
How is that like you, like, for you, in. In terms of improving or honing your skills, I feel like you are. You're pretty much forced to listen to your voice over and over again, like you said. Yeah, you are. Let's say 08:00 a.m. or 09:00 a.m. and, like, you close. At the end of the day, you probably take. You have, like, 20 takes and you have to listen. Is it perfect? Is it good enough for the client? Is that annoying? Or.
Accepting Voice Critique
It's something I used to like. Does it still annoy you? What does that feel? It's something you get used to, but it's never not annoying, even to this day. Like, there's a lot of inherent cringe in voiceover that you kind of need to embrace. And the more you do it, the easier it gets. But often people in creative spaces are quite self-critical, and they're like, oh, I should have read it like this, or should have done this, or I should have done that.
Growth Through Experience
And it doesn't necessarily ever go away. But I think the more you do it, the easier it is to do. And the more you get positive reinforcement from clients, especially paying clients, the less you worry about it, because it's like, okay, I don't necessarily like how this sounds, but if I've got over 100 people willing to pay me over a $100 for this kind of work, maybe my opinion on my own voice is not the one that I should be listening to.
Mood and Tone in Performance
Maybe it's the clients, and they seem to like it. So just keep doing what, you know it is that you're doing. And does that make sense? I think that makes sense. Yeah, yeah, yeah, it makes sense. I don't know. Forever. That's making me think about anime again, because it's got to mean that you mentioned if it's good for the client, like it, that's good enough.
Expressing Emotions in Voice Acting
Because at the end of the day, they are the ones paying. And it's making me think of. So in terms of anime, sometimes they have to get into the mood of the tone where it's like, if the character is, let's say, crying or. Yeah, they have to. They have to, like, sound passionate. How do you get into that mood? Because I don't think I've seen any or heard any of your recordings where you had to. But, like, how easily do you think you can do that?
Techniques for Emotional Resonance
Oh, wow. That's a great question. And there's lots of different things that you can use to kind of stimulate that as an actor. Some people like to listen to music, sad music or music that makes them feel a certain way. I think if you've ever been to the gym and, like, there's a certain song that comes on and you just go into, you know, like, beast mode, as it were. I think it's that kind of thing. Right? Like, certain things can trigger you if you're thinking of a sad interaction you had with maybe an ex or a parent or a friend or whatever.
Finding the Right Emotional State
Yeah. Space where you. You find yourself able to create work that you didn't think that you'd be able to do. Yeah. Because I am quite introverted person naturally. Right. I'm not. I remember. Yeah, exactly. Like, I'm not. I'm not the most expressive person. But I've kind of learned how to do that based on. On. On this job because. And it surprises me, even to this day, how expressive I can be with some of my characters and some of my voices.
Skill Development in Voice Acting
So it's a skill you pick up the more you do it. I'd say a lot of voice acting is. Is really a skill. And the more you do it and the more you practice it, you'll find yourself able to do things that you didn't think you'd be able to do. Yeah. Okay. So, on what you just mentioned, what some of the. Well, we. Let's talk about things you're passionate about.
Exploring Favorite Voice Acting Genres
But then in terms of voice acting, what are some of the tones or moods you enjoy the most? And then what are some of the ones that you kind of, eh. You don't really enjoy or you're not really good at. Right. So my favorite would probably be, like, corporate work. It's. It's kind of my natural voice. Just. It's not the most modulated when I speak. It's. It's quite still and neutral.
Understanding Modulation
What does that mean? Sorry. So, modulation is like, if you talk like this, and there's never any change in variation in your voice, it sounds very robotic. Right. And then, you know, sometimes you talk like this, and sometimes you talk like that, and it's way more expressive when you say things like this, you know? Yeah. One. This is one which, when the little I was learning about, like, public speaking, where it's like people are trying to say something and it's not a question, but they ended, like.
Common Communication Pitfalls
And exactly, like, exactly. Yeah. How annoying is it hearing people? Like, when people. You get back to the passionate stuff, but then when people are speaking to you, how annoying is it when you hear them using tones wrongly? Like, do you ever pick it up? It's like, wait, why are you talking like that? Like, you idiot. I don't pick it up when I'm speaking to people, but I do pick it up when it's in, like, a recording session, you know?
Critical Listening in Recording Sessions
Oh, okay. Yeah. Like a podcast or, like, a coaching session. Or, you know, when. When it's time, when you're expected to deliver something in a certain way. So if, you know, I'm coaching a client, I'm like, please deliver this in angry voice or a certain. Certain voice. Like, you want to sound certain right now. It's your name. You need to sound certain. You should end that on a down note.
The Importance of Tone and Inflection
So I'm crazy. Boozier is a question. I'm crazy. Boozier is a statement. You know what I mean? Are you lost? Exactly. So inflection is incredibly important, and modulation and things like that. Vocal techniques, if you don't know them, you will probably use the wrong ones at the wrong time. Again, that's the skill of being a voice actor, is knowing which tool to use at which time.
Combining Passion with Technical Skills
Yeah. Okay. So then let's get back to the passions to, like, which are the tones or voices you are passionate about. Like, so I really enjoy the kind of corporate, steady, you know, it's kind of just how I speak. It's a bit. It's very simple. You don't have to exert yourself too much. It's clear for people to hear.
Finding Ease in Different Genres
It's not necessarily the most engaging, but if it's something like a bank, for example, which is just trying to get information across. They're not trying to excite you. They're not trying to stimulate you. They're just trying to inform you. That is a very easy kind of mask for me to slip on because my natural voice is quite a bit like that. Anger is one that I do enjoy.
Exploring Character Work
It's not one that I get to use very often because a lot of my work is more commercial and narration work. I haven't had the opportunity to do much character work because character work is usually done in person. So every. All the characters in the project.
Character Work Limitations
Yeah. Character work is not something I get to do much because productions usually want all their actors who are doing characters to be in the same space with the same microphone. So all the, you know, voices sound like the same quality. So as a freelance voice actor from Ghana, I don't get much opportunity to do character work because you need to go to the places. Yeah. It is a shame. Hopefully, that'll change one day. But as of now, I don't get to do as much character work as I'd like. But anger is an emotion that I do like to do in the microphone because I don't have much reason to get angry in my personal life. So it is so far outside my wheelhouse that it's so much fun to perform.
Remote Work and Emotions
Okay, let's try something. You work remotely, you get paid in dollars, so this might not affect you as much. But a lot of people, a lot of our followers, for example, follow us for exchange rates, and they get pissed off when the rates are going up, but obviously zero for you. But. So then that's what makes it acting. Let's imagine in this scenario where as the exchange rate goes up, it pisses you off. So let's. Let's. Let's just hear you get angry about the exchange rates. I mean, I completely understand why people get annoyed when the exchange rate goes up. Because we're starving here, we're suffering, and every single time we think we are getting somewhere, the exchange rate keeps going up and up. And it's harder for us to make a living here or something like that for us.
More on Character Preferences
Yes. Okay. That sounded very. Yeah, I think the president would work on it ASAP because we can't have people sounding like this. Okay, so that was good. Okay. What are some of your. Okay, wait, you finished? Okay, so that was. And then characters. You mentioned characters. Do you like to do more? Do you have specific. Go to characters that you've created yourself or that you. You've seen or heard somewhere that you like? That's a good question. A lot of my character work, if I have any, is I like to do characters in other accents. So, like, if I was doing character in the american accent, for example, it would sound like this. And that's fun for me because it's quite far from what I sound like normally, and it's more excitable and more energetic naturally.
Accents and Practice
Yeah. Okay, so that's. Does the typical american. Let's do Texas. Like a Texas. Like a cowboy doing a texan accent is not that hard, actually. Oh. I don't get much opportunity to do that, but the more I do it, the more I like it. Okay. Yeah, that's good. Have you. Have you practiced that before? Is that something you've ever had to do? Are you. No, I just. I just pulled that out. Okay. Those really good. Let's do. You also mentioned you're good at the indian, and I think nigerian accent. So let's do those two. So. Okay. Indian accent would probably be something like this, because I lived in UAE for good part of my life, so I got quite comfortable with doing this accent. It's not perfect. I will continue to improve, but we start from here. We do good job.
Exploring Accents
Okay. Yeah, that was good. That was good. But I think I prefer the texan and the american ones. Let's try nigerian. Nigerian accent sounds something like this. Maybe it is a bit black panther, a bit wakanda. But we will continue to do this and we will improve. Yeah. That was given to cholera vibes, the marvel one. Did you have to use this accent or what accent? No, I didn't. They asked for the UK one specifically. Oh, wasn't it for. What was it for? It was for Black Panther two. Yeah, yeah. It would have been a good opportunity, wouldn't it? Yeah. Like. Oh, okay.
Insights into the Industry
And does this. I know, justice. Yeah, justice on the space. You remember just from. So Josh also watches anime. Like, he's always on my neck about completing one piece. Josh PC hasn't even started one piece. He's waiting for it to end. But anyways, I've been thinking, like, if we could dub anime to, like, ghanaian pigeon, or there's a west african pigeon, like, a blend of the nigerian and the ghanaian pigeon. That would have been so dope. But do you think? Yeah, you know, it's definitely an opportunity. How do we get there? I think the best way to start doing it would be to do it not just like a proof of concept. Right.
Building Opportunities
So you'd start with a couple of. Get a couple of actors together, record over the scenes, and then kind of build a following and build some traction with that. Because what these western companies and western brands really respond to more than anything is money. And if they can see that there is an audience in something, they will take a look and try and capitalize on that. So the best way to really make anything happen from an african perspective is to show where the money is. If we can get some voice actors and dub over some things and if it can become popular, there is a youtuber, I think I'll look for his stuff. He does. I've seen some of his videos.
Utilizing Social Media
He does Vegeta in a nigerian accent and it's really good and it's really funny. And it would be great to kind of capitalize on that and do more such work, you know? Okay. And that's essentially part of what you are. Wait, hold on, I think I found. Is it Michael? I think it. Oh, yeah, I think that's him. It might be him. I think I probably found him. I'll just put it up there on the space. I think that's him. Yeah, that's it. Okay. That's him. Okay, cool.
Courses and Growth
So speaking of how we can build it, I feel that ties into what you are doing with your voice. Your voice. Acting essential scores, because I saw Toby Wood. Yeah, he's one. He's one of your students. And basically the more people you can get in the space, the more. The easier it is to develop this industry are talking about. Exactly. And all our value goes up because the more people see that there's value in this, we all get paid more, you know? So, just before we get into questions soon, I'll open up the space for if anyone has questions or comments like Jude or anyone else.
Overview of the Voice Acting Course
If you have questions for Chrissy, you can ask. You can just put up your hand or just ask in DM's and I'll get back to you. But before that, kwesi, could you tell us through, like, take us through how it doesn't have to be Toby specifically, but like your other students or people who take your course. First of all, what's the course about? What does it entail? And then what are some of the things you expect people to take away from enrolling in that course. Chrissy? Sorry, not sure if you can hear me. I think I lost you. Sorry, guys. If you can hear me, can you put a thumbs up?
Technical Difficulties
I'm not sure if I'm the one logging or Chrissy is having network issues. Hello? Okay, I got a thumbs up from Josh. I think Chrissy's having network issues. Okay, so then, yeah, if any of you have questions, I'll put a link to Chrissy's course. If any of you have questions, you can ask via DM or just put up your hands and. Hello? Can you hear Chrissy? Are you there? Okay, yeah. You're back.
Course Curriculum
Yeah, yeah. Oh, good. Fantastic. Sorry about that. So your question was about the voiceover course, right? Yes. So just take us through what a course entails and then basically what people can expect to take away when they complete the course. Sure. So I teach voice acting. As it was. I learned voice acting. And basically we divide voice acting into three major pillars. There's the performance aspect of voiceover, which is the fun stuff. It's the stuff everybody knows, the behind the microphone stuff.
Components of Voice Acting
It's where we talk about accents and inflections and pacing and all those kinds of things. Then there's the audio editing side, and that's the part where we really focus on. Okay, so you've got this audio file, but there is, you know, cars in the back and there's kids crying. And then, you know, maybe you want to add music or you want to make sure the music isn't too loud over the voiceover. So that's where we discuss making your voice, whatever you've recorded, sound the very best it can be, eliminating problems, maybe speeding it up if it's a bit too slow, all those kinds of things.
Marketing Your Skills
Then there's the third pillar, which is marketing your voiceover. So you might have a great recording, which sounds great in editing, but if nobody hears it, nobody can hire you. So what we do in the marketing section module is where we discuss the very best ways to make your voice heard by the people and in the places that can get you the most amount of money within the shortest amount of time possible. So everything in my course is, again, it's not a quick fix. It's not about making easy money, but it is about making you find success with as little stress as possible.
Course Details
It's taken out all the mistakes that I've made. It's taken the shortcuts and tricks and tips that I have and that I've learned in my time doing this and it condenses them into. It's about 4 hours, a four hour course of three modules recording the editing, the marketing. And that's what you get in the voiceover essentials course. Awesome. So I've put up a link to the your post about to be or one of your successful students, Toby would, so people can check it out.
Future Opportunities
And of course your website is Kwesi Boozia Kwesi busia.com, so people can also check it out and enroll for the course. And just before we drop off, I just want you to take us through. Maybe I just want to share with you, I think part of what you're mentioning about branding and then marketing, I'll just share my marketing two cent from the experience I have. I think it would be really dope if as your students enroll for the courses gets bigger where you could have some sort of your content channel where you have like, whether it's anime or whatever, some kind of content.
Content Creation Ideas
We have different characters and it's like they are practicing, but then at the same time it's sort of like promoting them or promoting the quizzy boozy brand. I think that's really cool. So it's like, that would be really cool. Definitely something that I'm interested in doing. Something that I'm in the works of doing. And yeah, stay tuned. I've got a lot of plans in terms of making voice acting more widely accessible, especially in Africa. Yeah.
Support and Collaboration
I mean, if there's any way we could support you, like in terms of if there are any ideas, if any of your students want to host Twitter spaces or anything like that, where they can like, practice what they are learning in real life, just let me know how we can help and really appreciate that. Thank you. I hope the audience was able to take a lot from this and learn from you, not just from their voice acting point of view, but then the entrepreneurship ideas you shared and your creative, your creative skills and also your work life balance, there's a lot of gems you dropped here and definitely looking for it.
Looking to the Future
I'm sure we could follow your progress and then have another space where we talk more and then you share with us some of the new clients you've worked with and some of the exciting things you've worked on. Absolutely. Next, I'll just have the last word. If yes, for sure. If there's anything you want us touch on we didn't get to or you just want to share with us, please feel free to do that. And then we just end it there.
Course Giveaway Announcement
So I wanted to do this thing where in order to just kind of get people more familiar with the voice acting industry, I wanted to do a giveaway where, and I think it'll probably, I'll have to, you know, talk more about this on my social media platforms, just so everybody is aware of it. But I think I want to give an opportunity for people to get access to my course free of charge. I want to give away access to my course for three lucky winners. Basically, I want to create a system where people send in their voiceover demos or their voiceover recordings, and my team and I will have a listen to them.
Selection for the Giveaway
And for three lucky winners, they get access, full access to the voiceover essentials course. So if you please, all of you, stay on my social media platforms. I'll be posting about this within the coming days, giving you more information. How you can entertain the goal of this is really without you going through formal training. I want to see the kinds of people who, it's likely that they'd stick this out, right? So I want to see people use their own initiative to learn how to record things in good quality.
Recording Techniques
And, you know, not necessarily go out and buy a microphone, but even if you're using your phone microphone, like, implement techniques that make that sound as good as possible. And how would you share it? How would you, how do you record it? What kind of scripts have you chosen for yourself? So that's kind of what I'm interested in. And for the three people which me and my team think have done really well, you'll get access to the voiceover essentials course. So please stay tuned for more information about that.
Anticipation of Future Sessions
And, yeah, looking forward to it. Epic. So his social account, especially on Instagram, is Kwesi Buzia. Kwesi, b U S I A. So you can follow him. And I'm sure some of you would win the giveaway. And definitely looking forward to hear more from you, Chrissy, and probably anyone who got inspired from this space. And it's been wonderful talking to you and I look forward to seeing the things you achieve in the future.
Closing Remarks
And definitely we should catch up soon. Absolutely. Thanks so much for this. I really enjoyed it. It's great to talk about this. I'm very passionate, so. And happy birthday to your dad as well. And thank you. I think you should dedicate. It's only right you dedicate this to him and, like, congrats on the things you've achieved. Like you've been, you're doing really well. So, yeah, thank you. Have a good night.
Final Well Wishes
And to our listeners to have a good rest of your night and have a brilliant start to September. I need to, man. Thanks so much. Yes, sir.
