We were lucky to catch up with Daniel Walton recently and have shared our conversation below.

Daniel , appreciate you joining us today. How did you learn to do what you do? Knowing what you know now, what could you have done to speed up your learning process? What skills do you think were most essential? What obstacles stood in the way of learning more?

When trying to learn a new craft, I believe it’s always incumbent on you to seek out the information needed to excel and be proficient in that particular craft. For me, learning how to be a Voice Actor started with watching professionals that I had looked up to and trying to emulate their process/routine in the booth. I would look on YouTube for behind the scenes of animated shows I liked and frequently Voice Actors were showcased in the middle of doing their lines and I would try to copy stuff like their posture, microphone technique, and body movement to just get a framework of how I can efficiently deliver lines. Eventually, I sought to take some local Voice Over classes just to get my feet wet and I came away from those courses with a better understanding of what I’m naturally proficient at and what I need more training in. What I feel I value most and this has been a constant with all of my coaches and teachers so far is that there needs to be an acknowledgment of “who you are talking to”. How we talk to our parents is different from how we talk to our friends and acquaintances, so understanding how to differentiate who I’m addressing when delivering lines helps create a different feeling for a piece of copy from someone else if I’m auditioning for something. I was in college during the COVID-19 pandemic so a lot of my free time was spent at home researching, so I really couldn’t venture to take a lot of in-person classes to get hands-on training, but I was still able to learn a great deal online which was also super helpful.

Daniel , love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Being born and raised in Los Angeles, I feel very fortunate to have been raised in a city that has everything conveniently here for me already. When I was young I would accompany my Stepfather who’s an audio engineer for AVID to various recording studios around the city. We would go to musical artists’ houses like Mary J. Blige, Herbie Hancock and recording studios for TV shows like South Park and Spongebob. My initial introduction to Voice Acting was from behind the glass on the engineering side where I understood how to utilize Pro-Tools which is a Digital Audio Workstation that mixes audio and music in post to its best quality. It wasn’t until I went to college that I had realized that I already established a method of setting myself up for success from an audio engineer’s point of reference, now I just needed the acting proficiency to really get the ball rolling.

What I learned most from playing organized sports is that versatility and availability need to be one of your greatest assets. My coach would say “We can’t put you on the field if you only know one position son”. I realized that being able to be a versatile asset in a collaborative project affords me the opportunity to be depended on and trusted in situations where people need someone to solve a problem that they might have. That’s why my Modus Operandi as a Voice Actor has been “What can I do to be at least 1% better than I was yesterday” because that’s what’s going to make or break me being the person hired for a project.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

For me, Voice Acting is one of those I get to do THIS type of job. During the COVID-19 pandemic, I met so many colleagues and friends from online workshops who were also fairly new to this profession. It’s been so incredible in the years since to see them gain agency representation as well as be in projects and roles that they have dreamed of since they were kids and to see their growth as actors grow exponentially has been such a rewarding experience. What’s also rewarding is getting to meet the Voice Actors who’ve inspired me growing up and occasionally getting a chance to be in projects with them as well. Actors like Phill Lamar, Tara Strong, Kari Wahlgren, and Eric Bauza, etc. have such infallible wisdom when it comes to being a professional that I do my best to take any piece of advice from them when I get the opportunity to see them.

Looking back, are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

There are so many amazing pieces of media and online spaces that I had no clue about when starting out being a Voice Actor that I now recommend to those who ask me how to get started. Dee Bradley Baker’s website iwanttobeavoiceactor.com is one of the most comprehensive resources around that gives you an itinerary of everything you’d ever want to know about how to be a Voice Actor and what you need to do to be a professional. Crispin Freeman has a podcast titled “Voice Acting Mastery”, where he delivers advice and guidance to Voice Actors as well as a wide variety of interviews from other well-established Voice Actors about their journey. Online spaces like Discord and Twitter/X can help cultivate a community of like-minded people who also share a passion for Voice Acting. Kira Buckland’s discord server “Voice Acting Club” can connect you with all sorts of individuals in the creative field who will give you real-time responses and answers to questions you might have for almost anything related to Voice Over. There is no shortage of knowledge you can obtain from people who wish to share this information with you and I’m certainly glad I’ve found spaces where I feel safe and comfortable to learn and grow as an Actor.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://www.danielwaltonvo.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/daniel.d4c/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/daniel.thedirector
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-walton-aa3340210/
• Twitter: https://x.com/dwaltva