When I first took on the job of teaching students about game development one of the things I was most excited about was that I was going to get to learn about voiceover work. I had grown up with the soothing/scary/somber/satisfying voices of my favorite books read by narrators with tongues of silver. I thought, “I need to learn how to do that.”
Alas, life came along and I never did…until I was challenged by a kid who asked very seriously one day, “So, you are telling us all about how to be a voice actor. What kind of credits do you have?” It was absolutely the kind of question I would have asked my own teacher. I was flabbergasted. I had no street cred. I hadn’t ever done it in my life.
After spending a night (or two) thinking through it, I decided that I needed some experience AND we needed a space to record the right way in my classroom. I began a search for resources for the classroom and a way to get into the game personally.
Two years later and I have narrated multiple audiobooks with multiple characters on the Audiobook Creation Exchange, with the Blades of Leander series by Jason Halstead being some of my favorites and requiring 40+ distinct voices. The work was hard, time consuming, and a rockin’ good time as I recorded in a closet in my house. At the end of the experience I was absolutely convinced we needed a professional space at school to record in.
In 2016 the search for a vocal recording space found a crescendo. With my successful selection as the 2017 Colorado Teacher of the Year came many other benefits to my program including finding funding for a Vocalbooth. Vocalbooth was very helpful and allowed us to purchase a used booth for a reduced price. In late 2016 the booth was delivered in a giant crate and in 2017 the students came in on their own time over two weekends and constructed a recording space for their peers. Now we have a recording space in my classroom in which students can record voiceover work, sound effects, musical performances, and auditions for college/gigs. Talk about building the future for students. Built by students for students.