#amtrax faq

[amtrax]

amtrax FAQ/About Me

Hello?

-Ahoy hoy!

Who are you?

-My name is Austin Lee Matthews and I’m a voice actor based out of California!

What do I know you from?

-I am the voice of Demon King Jester in Cyberdimension Neptunia: Four Goddesses Online, Jun Kiwatari in Kakegurui, Tatsumi in Sword Gai the Animation, Kai in Atelier Firis, Kagerou and Erst in Summon Night 6: Lost Borders, Grimlock in Transformers Legends, Dave “Killer” Carlson in Wasteland 2, various minor roles in Hunter x Hunter, Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders, Aldnoah.Zero, Magi; The Kingdom of Magic and more! I was also one of the finalists in 2011′s AX Idol Voice Over competition, the first callback for BangZoom’s Opening Auditions in 2014, and I’ve co-hosted a few panels at Anime Expo, Anime Los Angeles and Titan Con.

Don’t I know you from something else too?????

-I mean, probably.

How long have you been voice acting?

-I’ve been voice acting since April 14, 2009 (though I’ve found old cartoons I made before then that I voiced for, but I don’t count those. I count when I decided that I wanted to be a voice actor)

What kind of equipment do you use?

-I use an AT 2035 studio microphone with a Focusrite preamp, a microphone arm that clamps onto my desk, a Kaotica Eyeball acoustic housing, Audacity for recording and general mixing, Protools 10 for heavy duty mixing.

How did you become a voice actor?

-I grew up watching a ton of cartoons, doing silly voices, impersonating and repeating the dialogue from my favorite cartoons, watching documentaries about voice over (especially the Spongebob voice over featurette, which I watched religiously). Finally, I discovered online voice over through stuff like Legendary Frog, The Decline of Video Gaming, Perfect Kirby, DE: Dust, and stuff like that. Finally, after my friends and I fell in love with The Awesome Series, and quoted it so often, my friends encouraged me to start voice acting. I often attribute the Awesome Series as my initial impetus for acting, but so much led up to it that it’d be a disservice not to explain that it was really something I’ve loved my whole life.

How do I become a voice actor?

-Grab a microphone and start recording. Listen to yourself recorded. Get used to hearing yourself recorded. You will hate it for a while. Push through it. Audition for things CONSTANTLY. ALWAYS BE AUDITIONING. Cast a wide net for auditions, find what you are best at and what kind of roles you get cast in most, so you can start casting a line instead of a net. Keep at it. Save money. Get professional equipment. Take acting lessons. If you want to make money off of voice over, you need professional equipment and you need to take acting lessons. If you are using a guitar hero mic, Blue Snowball, or Blue Yeti, you are not ready to be charging money for your voice over. Learn how to mix. If you use Audacity, learn it up and down. If you use Adobe Audition, learn it back to front. If you use Protools, please for the love of all things bright and beautiful take a class in Pro Tools. You won’t be able to figure that program out yourself, I promise. MOST IMPORTANTLY: KEEP AT IT. IF YOU WANT TO DO IT, MAKE IT HAPPEN. DON’T WAIT FOR IT TO HAPPEN. MAKE. IT. HAPPEN

Do you have a voice demo?

-My character demo and commercial demos are available on my website here! I’ll be updating this with a visual reel at some point soon.

How do I make a voice demo?

That is a very big question. My best advice is “don’t do it yourself.” If you are making a demo to be presented to potential directors of online projects (i.e. Youtube, radio plays, etc.) get plenty of help from somebody who knows what they are doing. (I’m willing to help if I have time, but I do charge for my time and work when it comes to demo production). If you are looking to make a demo to present to studios or prospective agencies, save up some money and get a professional to help you. If you don’t have a big enough body of work to pull from, you will need to drop some pretty serious cash to record it in studio. If you do have a big body of work to pull from, you will need a professional to help you go through and pull out your very best bits that show off what you are best at. Either way, if you aren’t a professional, don’t do it yourself. And even if you are a professional, get help and maybe pay a demo director/mixer to do it for you. I put my demo together myself, but I got lots of trusted professional friends and colleagues to give me some serious feedback. I also went to college for sound design, so that helps too.

Who are YOUR favorite actors?

-Oh so many. Patrick Stewart, Betty White, Grey Griffin, Mark Hamill, Bill Farmer, Cree Summer, Maurice LaMarshe, Robert Paulsen, Wendee Lee, Steven Blum, Judi Dench, Kevin Michael Richardson, Jess Harnell, Troy Baker, Nolan North, Robert Downey Jr. James Earl Jones and basically all my voice actor friends, there are too many to list I love you guys ugh.

What are your favorite movies?

-Kung Fu Panda, Into the Spider-Verse, Summer Wars, Up, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, Tokyo Godfathers, Paprika, Zooptopia, Empire Strikes Back, Scott Pilgrim VS the World, Redline, Batman Mask of the Phantasm, The Ghost and Mrs Muir, Thor 3, Avengers, Batman, The Great Mouse Detective

What are your favorite games?

-Undertale, Katamari Forever, A Hat in Time, Mario Kart 64, Star Fox 64, Super Mario Sunshine, Ghost Trick, Mass Effect 3, Paper Mario 2, Pokemon ORAS, Borderlands 2, Burnout Revenge, Megaman Legends 2, Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island, Tetris Attack, Kingdom Hearts 2, Kingdom Hearts 3, Kingdom Hearts DDD

What are your favorite TV shows?

-Megas XLR, Cowboy Bebop, Nichijou, Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood, Gurren Lagann, Teen Titans, Batman TAS, Batman Beyond, Kill La Kill, Futurama, The Simpsons, Spongebob Squarepants, Dragonball Z, One Punch Man, The Flash (Season 1), Madoka, Little Witch Academia, Gravity Falls, Ducktales

ARE YOU IN [insert show that hasn’t been released or had any casting announcements made for]?

I’m unable to comment on my involvement with projects that have not been released or that the client has not made a casting announcement for. You will find out as soon as I am at liberty to say, I promise! I wanna talk about it as much as you wannt know about it!

Anything else I should know about you??

-I’m actually pretty chill and mellow, love answering questions, and just love to help people create. Also, I’m nuts about monster people.

[amtrax]

Megaton Girl FAQ Masterpost

Here is a bunch of potential questions that you may have about Megaton Girl for both new and long-time followers!

What is Megaton Girl?

Megaton Girl is a scripted podcast (which is to say a radio play) that I would describe as a superhero comedy with lots of action, adorable romance, and an overarching story. The pilot is available here and I highly recommend checking it out if you want an idea of what the style and tone of the show will be.

Okay, well what’s the basic story?

From the official description:

After getting struck by a radioactive meteor, Connie Opland becomes the latest contender in a world of super hero celebrities: Megaton Girl. With the help of her girlfriend and secret publicist Laurel Fitz, and her mentor and manager Kirby, Connie aims to dethrone the corrupt and arrogant Captain Valiant as the greatest hero in the world!

That sounds totally radical, dude.

Thank you, 90′s-slang-spewing question asker.

I have very specific tastes. How will I know if I like this show?

If you enjoy any of the following, you’ll probably really really like this show: Stories with LGBTQ protagonists, Marvel and DC comics, Megas XLR, Teen Titans, The Adventure Zone, Critical Role, The Thrilling Adventure Hour, Mission to Zyxx, Hello from the Magic Tavern, Sonic Boom, Swat Kats, and honestly just check it out. The pilot’s only like 15 minutes long, and I think you’ll really love it if you check it out.

Well, who is the show about?

Connie Opland AKA Megaton Girl: A snarky, bubbly and easily excitable young woman with a love of food and low tolerance for jerks. After a bad run in with a corrupt superhero named Captain Valiant, Connie gets struck by a meteor and gains super powers. She dons the persona of Megaton Girl and begins a career in super-heroics, hoping one day to dethrone Captain Valiant and give the world a hero that actually gives a shit. She’s not very bright or quick to the uptake, but she has a ton of grit and determination. No matter how many times she hits the mat, she’s always back on her feet and ready to fight back. She lives with her best-friend (and now girlfriend), Laurel, in a cheap apartment in Los Dioses, California. Powers: Super strength, flight, energy beam attack (expelled through mouth), enhanced durability. She still feels pain and isn’t completely invincible, but she can withstand a megaton explosion and walk away alive (though VERY hurt).

Laurel Fitz: A shy, composed and brilliant lady with wonderful artistic talent and a passion for documenting the feats of superheroes. She is the newest member of the Olympus Illustrated news team. Her job is to essentially write and illustrate comic pages documenting the latest superhero news. When she gets on the bad side of her boss (whom is secretly Captain Valiant), she gets humiliated and demoted in front of the whole bullpen. When Connie gets superpowers, Laurel begins to secretly rebel against her boss by publishing a website dedicated to documenting the feats of Megaton Girl. She also begins learning the basics of superhero coaching from Connie’s manager, Kirby, who sees a ton of potential in her. She lives with her best friend (and now girlfriend), Connie, in a cheap apartment in Los Dioses, California.

William Kirby: A grumpy, no-nonsense old man with a long, once-celebrated history of superhero managing. He represented and coached the best of the best for decades before being forced into an early retirement by his last client, Captain Valiant. He distanced himself from society and lived out of his gym locker room for 15 years, until Connie and Laurel popped into his life asking for help. He’s long past his prime, so he calls in favors from heroes around the globe and beyond to assist in training Connie to be a hero herself. On the side, he begins to teach Laurel how to be a superhero coach, seeing her as a worthy future successor to his business.

Chuck Bradford AKA Captain Valiant: A vain, pompous, power-hungry man who is a superhero in job title only. He does everything for personal gain, even when it comes to stopping crimes. Once represented by Kirby, he cast his old manager aside when Kirby refused to coddle his ego. He lied, cheated and beat his way to the top of the superhero world, and stood unopposed as the most powerful hero in the world for a little over a decade. To fuel his ambitions, he runs the Olympus Illustrated news outlet, wildly overemphasizing his own deeds and often minimizing the efforts of other heroes. There are few heroes who verbally oppose him (and even fewer who physically oppose him), as he has been known to turn the world against those who seek to bring him down. Powers: Super strength (amplified by years of bodybuilding on top of his natural superhuman power), flight, energy beam attack (expelled through eyes), enhanced durability (comparable to Megaton Girl, though with a much higher pain tolerance due to more years explosions and bullets in his face).

Doctor Menace: A bombastic, bumbling, over-eager supervillain with copious amounts of intellect, but none of the brilliance to put it to much use. None of his plans have ever succeeded, his inventions are in perpetual “early-access,” and no hero or villain ever takes him seriously. In spite of his endless list of failures, he sets high goals for himself and always gets back up after every failure, with just as much vigor and excitement as ever. He just loves being the bad guy, no matter what gets in his way. He dreams of one day being the respected arch-nemesis of a powerful superhero with whom he can be locked in ceaseless bloody combat for all time, and to join a league of supervillains with which he can begin his conquest of the world. Also he’s stuck in a too-small tin can of a mech suit. Haha. Powers: Extraordinarily high IQ, high tech armor and gadgets with seemingly endless resources to create more, and limitless determination.

I watched the pilot and I [totally loved it]. Where’s the rest of the show?

We’re working on that! We want to turn this into a full series and already have several episodes written, but in order to produce a full series we will need funding to make sure that everyone involved is paid for their time. One possible goal is to get the show picked up by a podcast network so that we can run the show like a podcast with commercials. Another possibility is Patreon or some other form of crowdfunding.

Is there anyway I can help with that?

The absolute BEST thing you can do right now is to share the pilot. Reblog it, retweet it, TALK about it. Get the word out, and I do mean the word.Use the #MegatonGirl hashtag on Twitter. Tell people what you think, because word of mouth is the best form of getting people to listen. Tell US what you think! Share your thoughts on the pilot, leave iTunes reviews, leave Youtube comments! We want to know what you think!

This sounds like it’s gonna take a while! I want the show now! And an Oompa-Loompa too, daddy!

PUT THE GUN DOWN! WE CAN TALK ABOUT THIS, OKAY?! Alright, okay okay. How about we make a full first episode for now, and see what happens? We’ll produce a full origin-story episode about how Connie and Laurel become girlfriends, how Connie gets her super powers and begins her rivalry with Chuck, and how Connie stopped her first supervillain? It’ll be about an hour long and be a proper start to the series. That sound cool?

Looks like you keep your kneecaps today, sir.

Thank you for your blessing, gender non-specific question asker.

I have fanart/AUs/other fan related content that I want you to see. What’s the best way to get your eyes on it?

Tag me on Tumblr @amtrax or on Twitter (at)amtraxVA, and/or use the proper “#Megaton Girl” tag on Tumblr and the #MegatonGirl tag on Twitter! I have gotten some LOVELY fanart and I love seeing all of it, so if you have some and you want it seen, that’s the best way to get it seen!

Hey don’t you run away from me! I have other questions!

And I’ll gladly take them, any time! Either leave them in my askbox or Tweet it at me! I’ll always answer it as best as I can without spoiling too much of the show. I also put out a call for questions and art requests every week for Megaton Girl Megatuesday, so keep any eye out for that as well.

For now, I think that’s a good spot to leave this. I will update this later as necessary, but I hope your basic needs are tended to for now! Thank you for your time and hope you enjoy what’s to come next!