Interview No. 187
Interview By: @The-Great-One
Patreon Post Date: August 30, 2023
Today's guest has been the voice actor of over 100 Newgrounds movies, and including games and audio projects well over 300 projects on Newgrounds. With works on Mordecai and Rigby doing salvia, the Evangelion Collab, for which he shared the Triple Crown of Daily Feature, Weekly 1st Place, and Review Crew Pick, and Hellion: Oxenfree (PILOT). This is just a small sample of his work and to try and categorize it further to borrow a phrase would be like trying to catch lightning in a butterfly net. I am most eager and privileged to welcome, @VoicesByCorey.
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Q: We begin as always at the beginning. Where and when were you born?
A: Orange, California, lived in Southern California for 30 years before moving.
Q: What did your parents do for a living?
A: Well, my mom and step-dad are both Inspectors, and they turned me onto it. My dad is currently retired and my step-mom works with LA County Probation and is high up in their ranks.
Q: Did you play around with voices when you were younger? Which voices?
A: All the time! I would mainly do silly voices to make people laugh, but the main voices I first learned were, in order, Eric Cartman, Sonic the Hedgehog (Ryan Drummond’s voice) and SpongeBob SquarePants!
Q: What brought you to the University of San Diego? What did you acquire a Master's Degree in?
A: So I went to the University of San Diego to play baseball! I played there my final two years of my undergraduate schooling. I went to a Junior College in Cypress, CA my first two years. I earned my Master’s Degree in Sports Management.
Q: When and what drew you to the pursuit of voice acting?
A: I’ve always been interested in voice acting. One of the main things that got me into the craft was hearing Robin Williams as Genie in Aladdin. In the 90’s Robin was in EVERY kids movie, so I knew his voice distinctly. When I heard his voice in Aladdin, I asked my dad how Robin’s voice was there, but not himself physically. My dad explained voice over to me and I thought it was really cool they could do that! What drove me to actually pick up a mic and begin my career in voice over was Rob Paulsen. He had a voice acting podcast called ‘Talkin’ Toons’ and I loved listening to it. He had big name voice actors on and when asked how they got started, they always answered, “I just did it!” So, the podcast encouraged me to, “Just do it,” and it’s one of the best things I’ve ever decided to do.
Q: You found Newgrounds through the animation Blockhead. The series TANKMEN would keep your interest. Why did you decide to join Newgrounds?
A: Well, when I first came to Newgrounds, it was 2002, so I was at the age where silly cartoons peaked my interest and Newgrounds had PLENTY of silly animations. Plus, I LOVED flash games and, of course, Newgrounds had a plethora of them too! It was, and still is, a great site to keep yourself entertained!
Q: You originally joined Newgrounds under the name LeVi422. You would go on to change your name to VoicesByCorey. Both usernames are based off your real name. Why did you make the change? Is there significance to the 422 in your username?
A: Yeah! Levi was, of course, derived from my last name LeVier, and the 422 is my two favorite numbers combined, 4 and 22. I will say, my latest favorite number is 28 though (it was my number when I played baseball in college). I remained LeVi422 when I started my career in 2013, but I decided to change my name when I began to take my voice acting career seriously. I wanted to create a brand and have a name that represented my craft. Hence why I switched my name to VoicesByCorey! It’s direct and lets everyone know what I specialize in, voices! I feel if I didn’t make that switch, I wouldn’t have grown as much as I did in my career on Newgrounds.
Q: How did you become associated with the Casting Call Club?
A: When I started branching outside of Newgrounds, I wanted to find sites that would provide paid casting calls. I already knew of Voice Acting Club thanks to Kira Buckland, but fellow voice actors I met suggested Casting Call Club. It’s a great site to find paid and non-paid casting calls. If you’re just looking to get some experience under your belt and practice your auditioning skills, it’s a great site to be on!
Q: You would collaborate with Cerberus Creative on a number of projects. One of the earliest projects you would share with us would be Camp Rogain VA Demo. What was the project you were working on? What can you tell us about working with Cerberus Creative?
A: I owe a lot to the Cerberus Creative team. They were the first team to hire me for my voice over services! They originally hired me to voice Camp Rogain in their mod for Arma 3. Unfortunately, they recast the role without telling, but they made up for it by hiring me as a lead in the mod! I ended up voicing Mikalis Drakon, the Greek leader of the Freedom and Independence Party. My character guided the MC during the final two missions of the mod campaign. Cerberus Creative created this mod for a contest put on by the creators of Arma 3, Bohemia Interactive. Our mod was submitted into the campaign category and we placed first in the contest! It was awesome to be a part of and Cerberus Creative made my first voice over experience meaningful.
Q: The first movie you would voice act for would win the Daily Feature, Review Crew Pick, and Weekly 2nd Place awards. You would voice Butt-Head in Mordecai and Rigby doing salvia. How did you meet MartinFelice? What was it like working with him? Looking back on this movie, what would you have done differently as a voice actor?
A: I actually met Martin through Newgrounds! He posted in the voice acting forum stating he needed voice actors who could impersonate Beavis and Butt-Head. I reached out immediately because I knew I could do both voices. He thankfully cast me as Butt-Head and the rest is history! I love that animation because it was one of my first Newgrounds toons and it was animated incredibly well! If I could have done anything differently as a voice actor, I would have listened to Butt-Head a bit more so I could pinpoint the nuances of his voice. I feel there were times where my performance didn’t hold up to Mike Judge standards.
Q: How did you come to work on FreaksOUT!? What is it like to voice two different characters in the same movie?
A: I landed the roles of Mayor Chill and Uriel the same way I did with Butt-Head! WINprince posted a help wanted message in the voice acting forum and I jumped right on it! Thankfully he gave me the roles! It’s actually really cool getting to voice multiple characters in animations! It’s happened quite a few times throughout my career and it always puts a smile on my face. The cool thing with Mayor and Uriel is the face they had accents! Mayor was British and Uriel was Irish, so I got to play around with accents for the first time as a voice actor!
Q: One of my favorites by you has to be King's Drive Audio Play. It is incredible to hear this calm voice turn into a desperate despicable character bit by bit. How did you come to meet Seth Bramwell. What drew you to this character?
A: If I’m not mistaken, I met Seth through Newgrounds as well! I wouldn’t be surprised if I was cast through the voice acting forum again! I truly enjoyed being a part of King’s Drive because it was my first attempt at an audio drama, which I’ve always loved. I also got to show off my emotional range for the first time as a voice actor! I feel that’s ultimately what drew me to the audio drama. Getting to portray a character who seems like an ordinary driver, but turns out to be a psycho who wants revenge for his daughter’s death. It was intriguing getting to bring that transformation to life! The only thing I didn’t like about it was my audio ha! I recorded half the audio in my makeshift recording space, and the second half I recorded at a studio my cousin owned, so it sounds WAY better than my home recording! The overall product was fantastic though, I was very proud to be a part of it!
Q: JoshDytonVO is a favorite voice actor of mine here on the site. You would get to work with him on Space Quest. How and when did you meet Josh and become a part of Space Quest?
A: JOSHY BOY! First off, I absolutely LOVE Josh, and he’s one of my best friends, even though we’ve never met in real life! He’s one of the reasons I’m still voice acting today. Him and our other buddy, @NickSenny, have continued to push me to be the best voice actor I can be and they’ve supported me through everything. I’m so thankful for those two dudes, much love to my brothers! <3
I met Josh through a project we both worked on! We were both cast in the base defense game Space Raiders in Space. Funny enough, Nick was cast in the game as well! It was the first project we got to work on as a trio. I voiced the lead, Andy, Nick voiced the hilarious surfer bro Jimmy and Josh was the charismatic, and flirty Narrator. We all agreed that we should start our own group, make projects and voice in them! That’s how we created our trio team, Cerberus. Now, I don’t know if Josh created Space Quest solely for us, but I do know it was an idea he had for awhile. Him and Nick voiced in the first episode, and Josh asked me to voice in the second episode, which I happily agreed to voice in! It’s always a pleasure working with my buddies. I’m hoping we get another episode of Space Quest soon!
Q: You would use your voice to compete here on Newgrounds under the 13th Voice Acting Contest. The theme was Horror. You would end up placing 6th in the contest. What is the difference in using your voice in competition versus a project?
A: I would say the biggest difference between a project submission and competition submission is solely the writing! Not only did I have to come up with voices, but I had to put together a story that was compelling and fit within the parameters put in place by the judges! I wrote a story based on a concept I’ve had for a while. To me, I didn’t execute it the way I wanted to, and it didn’t really fit within the Horror theme they asked for. If I could go back and record it again, I definitely would and make adjustments to my story. Another key difference are restrictions you’ll have in a competition. We have a time limit and it affected my submission because I had to leave out crucial story details to fit within the time limit. When you’re in a project, it can be as long as you want it to be!
Q: You would go from competitor to judge in the 14th Voice Acting Contest. How did you form a process in judging voice actors skills?
A: Thankfully, LuckyDee, who orchestrated the contest, put together a grading scale for us so we could examine every component of a submission. We would focus on the voices, then the acting, then how they fit within the story, then the story itself, then their editing of the submission. There was so much that went into judging and it was a lot of fun too! It also put into perspective what I should be focusing on when I record for an audition, or project!
Q: One series you have done a lot of work for would be In the Shadow of the Valley. What can you tell us about M.M.M. Studios and how you became a part of this project? What's it like working on a large series?
A: M.M.M. Studios was great to work with on ‘In the Shadow of the Valley!’ I found them through Casting Call Club and auditioned for the lead Martin. Thankfully I was cast in the role and got to participate in another audio drama, my biggest one to date! The cool thing about the audio drama is that it’s based on a book written by the head of M.M.M. Studios! The story is a prequel to another book written by the same person! It was really fun to be a part of it, but it was a lot of work! We recorded 30 chapters for the audio drama and I had a lot of dialogue to record being the lead. The final episode had me record over 120 lines if I remember correctly! It was a great experience for sure, not only for my voice acting, but my audio editing skills too! I got into a groove with editing because of this project!
Q: You and I not only have a friend in common, but a project as well. How and when did you meet Fro? What was it like for you working on THE FROLLAB - The Father of Forums?
A: I met my Corey counterpart through the Voice Acting Collaboration! Fro offered to write some skits for us to record and the rest is history! Fro is a TREMENDOUS writer and I always enjoy seeing what he puts together. Some of my favorite audio skits from the NGVACs, like ‘The Pretenders,’ were written by Fro. Aside from the NGVAC, I worked with Fro on his podcast, ‘The Dom and Fro Show,’ and we interviewed Aaron Long! Fro is an awesome dude, and I’m glad I can call him my friend. He’s a great representation of what every Corey should be like.
I loved working on The Frollab! I had the chance to narrate the story put together by all the collaborators! I narrated the first half, while my buddy Geoff Galneda narrated the second half! It was hilarious and an awesome tribute to Fro!
Q: On the subject of Fro, on the Off The Wall podcast hosted by ThatJohnnyGuy and myself we talked to Fro about a project you two would be a part of. One of the funniest damn songs I have ever heard on Newgrounds. What can you tell us about I'm a Simp For You by The Simpletons?
A: Hahaha! ‘I’m A Simp For You,’ was all derived in the Newgrounds Podcast Server if I remember correctly. Me, Fro, PyschoGoldfish, and a few others, were talking about how dumb it was that people were buying bath water from Belle Delphine. It turned into a whole discussion of how weird some people can be and how awesome it would be if we made a song about it. So, we sat there writing lyrics for an hour or so while MrSnuggles put together a catchy track! The Simpletons created the best simp song ever and it was the biggest hit EVER on Newgrounds. Sadly, we let the fame get to our heads and we disbanded after we released the track. We’ve talked about getting back together for a world tour, but Fro didn’t want to leave his cat at home, which is understandable.
Q: You would sing alongside with other Newgrounds members with another hilarious song. How did you become a part of the song Welcome to Ram Ranch - Cloppin' Clyde? What was it like to work on it?
A: I was fortunate to work on Ram Ranch simply because @TeraVex is a homie! Tera reached out to me and wanted to know if I was interested in hoping on the track. So I happily obliged and recorded vocals as a super country sounding bloke and Elvis. It was really fun and hilarious as well. Tera let us improv some dialogue that found its way into the song and it just makes the song that much better!
Q: Hania, Cayler, Jazza, Zachary Louis, FolegAlmighty, and MistyEntertainment are all past singers who have joined us in the past. You are another singer added to this list. Unique is this situation, where you have been a voice actor on the site first and have sung in songs on the site. I always was interested in how voice actors develop their character towards singing. How are you able to make a character sing? Is any musical training required?
A: I mean, I would say that being able to hold a tune while staying in character is a must, but it can be tough. Thankfully, the only times I’ve had the chance to sing on Newgrounds' tracks, I sand in my natural voice and over the top with my others. So there wasn’t a lot of effort to truly stay in tune and sing to a standard. With Ram Ranch, Tera wanted us to be over the top and silly with our deliveries so that’s how I performed. With Simp For You, we wanted to sound bad on purpose haha! So if I was out of tune on that track it was all part of the performance. I will say though, if you’re looking to be in animations that feature songs, it doesn’t hurt to have vocal training. Look at Jim Cummings, he’s one of the biggest voice actors out there and sings in nearly every Disney film, or show, he’s appeared in. It also makes you versatile because a studio doesn’t have to search for a vocalist to sing for you.
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