George The Tech’s Performer Friendly Podcast

George the Tech sits down with Heidi Rew, full-time voice actor, on-camera actor, podcast host, and co-owner of Atlanta Voiceover Studio, to talk about her unlikely path from childhood performer to radio personality to working voice actor and studio owner. Heidi shares why persistence often matters more than raw talent, what she learned from losing a nine-year client, how Atlanta Voiceover Studio grew from a tiny recording space into a major VO training resource, and why making a demo before you're ready can set you up for failure instead of success. Timeline 00:00 Sponsor: Full Compass + GTT Sound Check00:57 Meet Heidi Rew02:00 From Childhood Performer to Voice Actor05:00 Performing Without “Performing” for the Microphone07:00 Self-Consciousness, Confidence, and Getting Out of Your Own Way11:30 Paying Her Own Way Through College12:30 Internships and Finding Radio14:00 The Many Jobs You Do in Radio16:15 The “Redneck Home Shopping Show”18:30 Meeting Mike Stoudt and the Road to Voiceover20:00 Building a VO Career While Working in Radio23:00 Why You Can’t Compare Your Voiceover Journey to Someone Else’s24:30 Talent vs. Persistence: Who Actually Builds a Career?25:30 Leaving Radio and Going Full-Time27:00 How Atlanta Voiceover Studio Started Almost by Accident29:00 From Recording Space to VO Training30:30 You Don’t Need to Be the Biggest Expert to Be a Great Teacher33:00 Learning to Let Go of Auditions34:30 Big Wins, Long-Term Clients, and AutoNation35:30 What Happens When a Nine-Year Client Disappears?37:00 Balancing VO, Acting, and Running a Studio38:30 The Business Mistake Heidi Wishes They Had Avoided40:00 Growing Atlanta Voiceover Studio — Then COVID Hit42:00 How Virtual Training Changed the Business44:00 Surviving the Financial Ups and Downs of Creative Work45:00 Hiring, Delegating, and Building a Flexible Team48:30 What Atlanta Voiceover Studio Offers Today52:30 How Do You Know When You’re Ready for a Commercial Demo?54:00 Where to Learn More About Heidi and Atlanta Voiceover Studio

George talks with UK-based voiceover engineer and demo producer Henry Willard about the rise of virtual engineering and why more actors are bringing their own engineers into remote directed sessions. Henry explains how having someone handle recording, playback, timing, and client requests can free the actor to stay where they belong: in the performance. They also explore Henry’s approach to creating authentic commercial demos, why overproducing auditions can backfire, the never-ending battle with mouth noise, common home-studio mistakes, and the realities of producing audiobooks by hand in an increasingly automated world. And because two audio engineers can only behave themselves for so long, there’s plenty of talk about Pro Tools, headphones, plugins, noise reduction, Macs vs. PCs, and keeping your processing chain simple. Timeline 00:00 Sponsor and Sound Check01:00 Meet Henry Willard03:00 Running an Audio Business with Two Young Kids05:00 The Reality of Working from a Home Studio07:00 Why Voice Actors Are Hiring Their Own Engineers10:00 What a Virtual Engineer Actually Does11:00 Henry’s Start in Remote Recording14:00 How COVID Changed the Voiceover Workflow16:00 Building a Freelance Voiceover Engineering Business19:00 Getting Into Voiceover Demo Production20:00 Making a Demo Sound Authentic—not Overproduced22:00 Music Choices That Can Ruin a Demo24:00 Henry’s “Palette Call” for Building Personalized Demos27:00 Why Demo Spots Need a Beginning, Middle, and End28:00 Mouth Noise, Perfectionism, and Over-Editing29:00 Mac vs. Windows for Voiceover Recording34:00 How Much Mouth Noise Should You Actually Remove?35:00 RX Mouth De-click and the Problem with Overprocessing37:00 Alternatives to RX and When Your Headphones Are Too Good39:00 Fix the Room and Mic Technique Before Adding Plugins40:00 The Wrong Mic, the Wrong Input—and Other Common Mistakes43:00 Henry’s Approach to Audiobook Production46:00 Punch and Roll vs. Continuous Recording49:00 AI Proofing vs. Actually Listening to the Audiobook51:00 Why Henry Takes a Premium Approach to Audiobook Editing53:00 Henry’s Favorite Tools: Pro Tools, Editus Keys, and Headphones58:00 Keeping Plugins Simple59:00 Waves NS1 and Noise Reduction1:00:00 Apollo C-Vox and Real-Time Noise Reduction1:02:00 More Audio Geekery—and an Invitation to Pro Audio Suite

Voiceover veteran Thom Pinto joins George the Tech for a trip through more than four decades of VO—from cutting quarter-inch tape in radio to voicing trailers for The Breakfast Club, Sixteen Candles, Uncle Buck, Planes, Trains and Automobiles and more. Thom shares stories from the golden age of LA voiceover, explains how he’s stayed relevant as the industry has changed, and talks about his current focus coaching documentary and docuseries narration. George and Thom also dig into what today’s talent needs to succeed: versatility, self-direction, a dependable home studio, and auditions that sound polished without sounding overproduced. Timeline 00:00 Zoom, Tech Changes, and Old-School Stories13:00 Meet Thom Pinto19:00 From Radio DJ to Production Director21:30 Discovering Ernie Anderson22:00 Working with a Voiceover Legend27:00 The Golden Age of LA Voiceover28:30 Getting Signed and the “Bean” Nickname30:00 How Casting and Auditions Have Changed35:00 Versatility, Longevity, and Staying in the Game39:00 Bill Ratner and the Art of Working Fast42:00 Thom’s Brief On-Camera Career44:00 How Thom Became a Voiceover Coach46:30 Buzzy’s and the Classic LA Studio Era48:00 Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, and the Movie Trailer Years50:30 Filling In for Bill Ratner53:00 What Today’s Successful Voice Actors Have in Common54:30 Why Voiceover Is Harder Today56:00 Why a Professional Home Studio Matters57:00 Don LaFontaine and the Home Studio Revolution58:15 Bo Weaver: Remote VO Before It Was Normal1:00:00 ISDN, ipDTL, Source-Connect, and Adapting to New Tech1:03:00 Coaching Becomes a Bigger Part of Thom’s Career1:06:00 Finding His Lane in Documentary Narration1:07:30 Voice vs. Interpretation1:10:45 Coaching “Primetime Narrators”1:13:25 What Thom Hears in Audition Audio1:15:00 When Processing Makes an Audition Sound Too Polished1:18:15 Stop Editing the Life Out of Your Read1:20:00 How Much Comping Is Too Much?1:21:55 Where to Find Thom1:22:15 Final Wrap and Thanks

Many voice actors know the term conversational read—but fewer understand what actually makes a performance feel authentic. George welcomes Hugh P. Klitzke to discuss the evolution of conversational voiceover, the changing casting landscape, and why coaching has become more important than ever. Hugh shares his unconventional path into voiceover, lessons learned working behind the scenes at a New York talent agency, and how those experiences shaped his teaching philosophy. They also discuss Hugh's popular Open Studio coaching sessions, the value of letting performers observe real coaching in action, and why creating genuinely helpful free content has become one of the strongest ways to build trust in today's voiceover community. Whether you're a newer talent or several years into your career, this episode offers valuable insight into developing stronger performances—not just better recordings. Episode Timeline 00:00 – Introduction and podcast setup 03:10 – Hugh's musical background and unexpected path into voiceover 10:45 – Working behind the scenes at a New York talent agency 18:20 – Why Hugh eventually began coaching actors 26:40 – Leaving the agency and launching his own coaching business 33:15 – Building the Conversational VO brand 40:30 – Why conversational reads are harder than they sound 49:05 – The philosophy behind Open Studio 58:20 – Helping experienced voice actors solve performance problems 1:08:15 – Creating free educational content that provides real value 1:15:40 – Final thoughts and where to learn more

In this episode of the GTT Performer Friendly Podcast, George Whittam talks with voice director, casting professional, producer, writer, actor, and VO coach Andy Lerner about the intersection of performance, audio, and modern voiceover. Andy shares how he moved from engineering and comedy radio production into directing and coaching, including his work in the SpongeBob SquarePants universe during COVID. He also offers practical advice for newer voice actors on training, rejection, improv, mic placement, and avoiding overly edited, lifeless auditions. Timeline 00:00 — Sponsor Message00:31 — Sticking With Acting01:49 — Meet Andy Lerner03:29 — VO Atlanta Highlights05:55 — Bridging Tech And Talent08:34 — From Engineer To Studio Builder14:02 — Comedy Commercials Era15:19 — Edgy Ads And Changing Norms18:09 — Joining SpongeBob During COVID22:01 — Directing A Legacy Franchise26:48 — Remote Workflow And Cast Praise29:01 — Fans, Conventions, And Voicelings33:27 — Neurodiversity In The VO Community35:54 — Showrunner Role And ADR Pickups38:56 — ADR Fixes Explained39:50 — Why Andy Coaches Newbies42:41 — Handling Rejection Gently44:50 — What Casting Wants47:44 — Be 401, Not 40050:13 — Training Before Voices51:29 — Mic Placement Mistakes53:21 — Stop Over-Editing01:00:08 — Workflow And Software01:03:14 — TwistedWave Special Paste01:06:05 — Know Your Genre01:09:42 — Workouts And Where To Find Andy01:12:22 — If You Feel Cringe, Quit01:13:49 — Stick With It Anyway01:15:23 — Final Thanks And Wrap