James Arnold Taylor is one of the most in-demand voiceover actors working these days and one of his frequent gigs is as the voice of Fred Flintstone. In this video, he lets us peek in as he records a few lines for a commercial in his home studios. Back when Fred was voiced by Alan Reed or Henry Corden, those gents had to drive to a studio somewhere to record their lines and the director would usually be there, along with any other actors. These days, a lot of voice work is done this way in a home studio.
When I'm voice directing a whole show, I always try to gather the performers all in the same studio at the same time so they can see other and feel connected to each other and react to each other. It has been my experience that most actors prefer it that way…or would if there wasn't the possibility that in the time it takes to do one job that way, they could do five jobs the way James does the one in this video. Five jobs are almost always more lucrative than one job. But I'm talking here about longer episodes with more than a few lines. For a few lines, the way it's done here is fine…and often, the client prefers it this way so their director can do his or her job by phone and not have to fly to where the talent is.
James is a pro and as you'll see, he isn't hurrying to end this session so he can move on to something else. He's making sure the client has what they need. And finally, note also that he's doing most of Fred's gestures, throwing his whole body into the effort. It's not about the imitating. It's about acting…