We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Ben Balmaceda. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Ben below.
Alright, so we’re so thrilled to have Ben with us today – welcome and maybe we can jump right into it with a question about one of your qualities that we most admire. How did you develop your work ethic? Where do you think you get it from?
For voice actors, our jobs are inherently rooted in the idea of “play”. Acting is more or less a highly refined and professional form of simply playing pretend, it channels the same flow of imagination and internal world-building that a child would when they pick up a cool-looking stick and pretend it’s a sword or a gun. My personal work ethic leans heavily into that mindset, and as a result, every job I’ve worked has been a new scenario to play in, with an endless supply of metaphorical cool-looking sticks to swing around. So really, my work ethic is more of a “play” ethic.
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
I’m Ben Balmaceda, and I’m a voice actor! My portfolio generally lies in the scope of English language dubbing for anime and video games, but I’ve also been involved indie games, student animated films and even a few episodes of The Simpsons as background chatter. Voice acting is a particularly interesting discipline due to how, for many people, it simultaneously is largely unknown yet completely straightforward. Many see voice acting through the lens of “just going into a booth and doing voices”, but what we actually do is more in line with traditional theatrical or film acting, except with the added handicap of not being able to use our bodies and facial expressions to convey intent and emotion. Our voices have to do all of the heavy lifting, and being to convey specific feelings using just our voices is a much tougher challenge than some may initially assume. It’s this challenge that really makes the work worth it, and I’ve been happily enjoying this career for the past 5 years now.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
1. The fundamentals. Voice acting is acting, and while it does lend a particular importance to the voice, it’s still acting. One thing I often tell newer hopefuls in the industry is that there are no bad voices in voice acting, only bad actors. Each voice has a place and purpose in the industry, and the best way to see results with your own voice is to work on your acting and establish a solid foundation to work on. Take acting classes or workshops and build up your fundamental skills and you’ll see results in time.
2. Keep expectations in check, and accept rejection. I like to remind myself that my job as a voice actor isn’t working jobs, but auditioning for jobs. By virtue of how casting works – only one actor will usually play a character at any given time – there will be many, many instances where you won’t get cast in a role you’ve auditioned for. The booking rate for most professionals hovers around 5-10%, which means getting hit by a lot more “no thank you”s than you might be used to. Acknowledging that you’re not gonna have a steady stream of work coming in and that you will have to roll with the punches is one of the strongest skills to cultivate.
3. Have fun! For those that embrace the philosophy of play and simply enjoy the work for what it is, without paying too much heed to fame and fortune, will find voice acting endlessly fulfilling. Being able to embody different characters with just your voice is simply the coolest thing out there, so keep that close to your heart and enjoy yourself! You can actually tell when an actor is enjoying a role, and those performances tend to be incredibly strong as a result, so enjoy it all!
Who is your ideal client or what sort of characteristics would make someone an ideal client for you?
For me, the ideal client is one that has a defined vision for their project/characters. During the voice recording process, not having a clear purpose behind direction can lead to frustration for everyone involved. Imagine you’re recording a scene where a character suffers a heavy loss. Do they feel sorrowful? Enraged? Maybe it’s in the opposite direction and the character is relishing in it. Nothing stops the flow of creativity like asking any of these questions to a client and having them respond with a variant of “I don’t know.” Now, instead of a cleanly laid out journey, the actor has to take a blind guess and hope that whatever they’re doing is correct for the character and scenes. Clients need to have a purpose behind what they want to ensure the actor can deliver ideal results.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.benbevoicing.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/benbevoicing/
- Twitter: https://x.com/benbevoicing
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