A THOUSAND VOICES
-JEN TAGASA
-ED RAMOS

It’s not just about doing the voices anymore. For voice talents executives Pocholo Gonzales and Brian Ligsay, it is sustaining a craft that has been around before television, and nurturing future voices to be heard.

Mel Blanc was a god, and long after to exist, Blanc’s voice will live on-in Bugs Bunny, in Daffy Duck, in Elmer Fudd, and every other Looney creature in that animation of our youth. Brian Ligsay, marketing director and COO, and Pocholo Gonzales, managing director and CEO of Creativoices Productions, the country’s first voice production, school and management for voice over talents, might just replicate that legacy.

“I’ve done thousands of voice overs,” says Gonzales, who has over ten years of experience as a radio talent. And it all started when then five-year old Gonzales would listen to radio dramas like Gabi ng Lagim, which he says fueled his imagination and sparked in him the idea of capturing attention with a mere shift in one’s vocal characteristic. In high school, Gonzales recalls, he would mimic his teacher’s voices, which quickly got him the class clown status. In college, unfortunately, Gonzales didn’t make it to Mass Communications because the quota had already been filled. So, he had to settle for Creative Writing, where literary greats like Nick Joaquin and NVM Gonzales were teachers. Ironically, the written word wasn’t exactly one of his strengths.

“Nakita mo ‘yung importansya… ‘yung hirap. Sulat ka ng sulat. Eh, wala namang buhay ‘yun! Gusto kong magsalita.”

Gonzales came up with a sound solution – shift courses. He found his salvation in Speech Communication, were he reveled in exercises that would be his defining moments, particularly in extemporaneous speech. Gonzales recounts he had to make up descriptions about things that were available in class, off the top of his head – perhaps pens, or plants or even the desk. Even the oral exams whereby students who’d fallen prey to the dastardly but saving phrase of the “speechless,” the annoying “uhmmm,” got point deductions whenever it was uttered during a speech in class. Gonzales, being the cunning speaker that he is, made use of dramatic pauses and rueful silences when his mind would blank out during a speech, instead of polluting the air with the wicked, “uhmmm.”

Once freed from the confines of the university, Gonzales took to auditioning for a slot on the radio show anchored by Joey Galvez and May Catherine Valle, called, Radyo-Radyo, where some 2,000 people auditioned. And DZMM picked him. He was 17 at the time. To date Gonzales has done voice imitations of FPJ, Micheal V., Mike Enriquez, Marc Logan, and even Inday Garutay.

Meanwhile, Ligsay has over 12 years of experience as professional voice-actor and host for various events. Ligsay’s résumé includes animation features like Zoids (Cartoon Network), games like Terra Wars, TV adverts like Frontier Call for Globe Japan, numerous telenovelas for ABS-CBN and a barrage of other voice over work. Both have recently finished voice acting for the first Pinoy animated film called Libingan from Tuldok Animation Studios.

While the voices from your childhood barely had any semblance of training and some type of rigid discipline when it came to maintaining that modulated voice on-air (in fact, some veterans swear by the smoking and drinking and nightly carousing as effective voice enhancers) the new talents these days prefer to preserve their main source of livelihood by not drinking (too much), and not partying (too much). Ligsay does mention that drinking ginger tea evidently constricts one’s vocal cords, so they stay away from that.

Gonzales informs us that a voice actor (particularly for radio dramas and dubbed telenovelas) must be able to read faster, with the mind working faster than the mouth. He says, “So that when you speak, the lines, you already know how to feel it, you’re already that character. Plus, you should read the script before dubbing so you already know where the story is going.”

If you’re seriously thinking about taking on another career, or making a complete change of how you make money, these professionals emphasize that a voice talent must not be conscious of the environment. If one is too aware of one’s environment the likelihood of acting out a character with supreme confidence, in a booth with people watching and listening, is going to be nil. “You can’t be shy,” Gonzales and Ligsay say. Gonzales effectively demonstrates this all throughout the conversation by going into different voices and giving us samples of old radio drama acting technique, also known as “overacting.” Though essentially, what comes off as overacting in normal performance platforms (like movies or TV), is necessary for radio dramas because sometimes there are drastic shits in emotions. Gonzales masterfully demonstrates this by voicing the character of a young man who has just won a basketball game with a booming, enthusiastic voice. Suddenly he finds out that his father just died, and Gonzales quickly shifts his voice to that of lament, sobbing and wailing. It’s just something else.

But duo isn’t just around to dispense little known tricks of the trade, and share there expertise on the art. There is a greater cause to be pushed, for the greater good. Gonzales, who has studied voice acting in the USA, remarks that while there is a wealth of good animation in the country, the voices behind them are lifeless and sometimes are lacking in technique, or character. This is at CreatiVoices for those aspiring to become voice actors, dubbers or do voice over work. Apart form training future talents, Gonzales and Ligsay concern themselves with professionalizing an industry that has long suffered shady contracts and substandard fees. Both reveal how some talents, out of need to get the job, blindly sign a blank contract. A lot don’t even get their talent fees, or sometimes have to endure delayed payments. Gonzales adds he hasn’t even gotten his fee for a TV advert he did several months back. It is an age-old practice that CreatiVoices is trying to deal with by looking out for their artists.

With a pool of highly trained voice talents, and a goal to make the industry better, voice acting, or dubbing will hopefully no longer be just heard in the background. In time, Gonzales and Ligsay hope to create a heritage of an exceptional body work (including archiving various voice recordings), and help build an industry that respects its talents.

Creating Money out of Voices.

Much has been said about the skills and talent one must posses to entertain anyone with their voice. Some of us for years, have adored cartoons, anime and telenovela without noticing the most important factor in the show – the voice actor. Many of us dream to take part in a role that will define a popular koreanovela or anime series in television.

So what do you do, to find your way into the business of voice acting? How do you even start auditioning for the roles? What can you do to make your voice silly and make a living out of it. Fortunately there’s an easy and effective way to learn this.

From the creators of the Philippine Center for Voice Acting that gave you the first International-based Voice Over Acting Clinic.. CreatiVoices Productions present: VoiceWorx! Basic Voice Acting Workshop.

The seminar features some of the Philippine’s best Voice Actors converging into one comprehensive and targeted VO seminar for the voice actor at heart, enthusiasts and those who wish to explore their potential in the arts.

It covers 8 intensive sessions about 2-3 hours each on the art of voice acting, managing your vocal investment, characterization, trade history, and skills and techniques to jumpstart your career in voiceovers. This seminar highlights dubbing for anime and telenovela, taught by leading experts in the field of Television Dubbing.

Participating in this workshop is the father of Dubbing in the Philippines, Danny Mandia who teaches voice acting for dubbers, his direction and supervision includes some of the most beloved animated films in Filipino including, Inuyasha, Zenki, Dog of Flanders, B’Tx, Rorouni Kenshin, Starship Operators, Capricorn, Saber Marionette, and hundreds of others.. Industry experts say you cannot be a “real” dubber without passing through Manny’s direction.

Also appearing in the workshop is Alexx Agcaoili, the very talented voice actor and Director for Filipino anime productions like, Fruits Basket, Rave Master, Mobile Suit Gundam, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Beast Machines, Supergals, Babel 1 and 2, Green Rose, and many more. Taking the role of Dr. Smith in the original Filipino Voltes V and Sanosuke Kagara in Samurai X (Rorouni Kenshin). His contribution to the workshop will be in direct supervision of the recording process and applications of voice acting.

The two is teamed up with writer and translator for television, Neil Tolentino. A well known veteran writer in the industry of dubbing. He will cover familiarity with translation, writing skills and techniques for anime and telenovela. As he says, “You should not only know how to act, but to write what you’re supposed to act..” Directing in Fortune Quest L, and Saber Marionnet J to X, is just a few of the hundreds of animes and telenovelas he has helped become a success.

Leading the seminar is veteran Voice Performer Brian Mathew Ligsay, who started out as a deejay when he was just 16. Now turning 29, he is the Marketing Director and Chief Operating Officer of CreatiVoices Productions, a company with a platoon of 200 Voice over talents at their disposal. He adds, “ Voice acting is an art.. it’s a passion. You speak by heart and you work by heart..” He has done thousands of voiceover jobs for narrations, live events, AVPs, the internet, original animation, gaming, multi-media, radio and television dubbing. Credited to his work in anime is his role in the animated series BECK wherein he took 18 character roles in the show. Brian is also a director, producer and writer for original content.

Pocholo Gonzales steps in as the moderator of the group - a multi-awarded voice talent who outlasts the number of voices he can make. Whenever you hear a Mike Enriquez, Mark Logan, Babalu, FVR, Erap, Juan Flavier sound alike on radio, expect that to be Pocholo. He can do more than 100 voices at any given time and is the CEO and Managing Director of CreatiVoices Productions. Saying, “This seminar is a US-based Voice Over training workshop, localized to fit the Filipino Market..” His exposure to Commercials for Radio and Television provides an extensive source of industry norms and practices one must understand in order to break into the business.

The Workshop which is limited to 10 students per class and starts this June 16, for the regular classes which is held once a week for 8 Saturdays. Pilot classes start on June 18, which compresses the entire workshop to about 1 session per day, Mondays to Fridays, so you can finish the seminar in 8 consecutive days. Both offer the same content, but they recommend you take the regular classes if you are just starting in the industry.

“Whatever your skills are, voice acting can help you out...” Ligsay adds. “Any form of verbal communication can be effectively delivered with the use of voice acting. If you constantly work and meet people, write scripts for events, engage in sales or you just want to boost your speaking performance... then this workshop is a must.”

Enthusiasts can call 729-7274 for registration, drop by at their office at the 3rd flr Left Wing (Lightblue bldg) 1745 Dian St Palanan Makati City. You can visit their website at www.creativoices.com or email brian@creativoices.com for details about this exciting event. But hurry, time and seminar slots are running out.


What is a Voice-Over?
“ A voice over is any recording or performance by one or more unseen voices for the purpose of communicating a message” – James Alburger. Any message you hear without seeing the

performer is considered to be voice-over. This means voice-over is all around us! Whether you are listening to the radio, watching movies or television, dining at your fast food restaurant or riding the rail transit, voice-overs can be heard!

Is doing Voice-overs hard?
Voice-overs can actually be done by anyone! And it’s a very rewarding job indeed. A lot of Voice Talents are being paid to play and many professional voice-overs get their kick out of the industry just by enjoying what they do. Anybody can do a voice-over, but not everybody can do voice acting.

The Hope of the Voice Acting Industry

“With great talent comes great responsibilities,” as evidently seen on the works of Pocholo Gonzales CEO of Creativoices Productions. This man of action is using his experiences and theories to shoulder the fortification of the voice acting commerce.
Born with a vision, a chap with enormous passion on the field he truly belongs advocates the strengthening of the voice talent industry. At an early age of 12, Pocholo already visualized himself as a voice talent; he promised himself the glamour of radio by being firm on his dream to be heard by millions of people. Completely aware on how voice actors of before failed to make the profession a legitimate industry, he aimed to take the trade notches higher.

Filipinos are known for their talent, bearing powerful vocal chords that has been available ever since the era of zarzuela to radio drama. But the golden voice was turned into a cheap commodity.

Since then voice talents are taken for granted, now being paid by 80 php per script recording compared to its former price of 500 and 300 php, considering that voice acting has long been running as an entertainment and information channel and is still a necessity in the given scenes.

male voice talentfemale voice talent
A Blend of Voice and Technology

Adept voice control, latest technology and the best entrepreneurial skills, all combined for a business not only designed for profit but also as haven for voice talents, was started byPocholo with Chiz Escudero Pocholo Gonzales, CEO of Creativoices Productions.

“Nagstart ako sa zero, wala akong pera ang naging puhunan ko lang boses ko.”(I started with nothing, the only asset I have is my voice.) But this field is the CEO’s first love so he braved the odds and turned his talent into a more serious business.

Through adequate skills and natural talent he operated a company dedicated for voice acting. “We started 2005, pero ang first name of our company is Univoicesal Productions. I was inspired kasi by Universal Studios pero short-lived siya so we created Creativoices Productions.” (We started in 2005 but the company was first named as Univoicesal Productions, because I was inspired with Universal Studios but it was short-lived so we recreated it as Creativoices Production,) he shared.

He recalled that, “Nagsimula kami sa maliit, recording muna sa bahay tapos nagkaroon din ng sariling recording studio at as of now I have 200 voice talents sa record.” (We started small, recording our projects at home until we had our own recording studio and as of now I have 200 voice talents in record.)

With a mission at hand, he prepared himself by taking the proper education. He took up a Bachelor Degree in Speech Communications and Masters Degree in Broadcast Communication at the University of the Philippines, Diliman. To flourish his skills even more he attended Voice Acting Lessons in Hollywood, mastering the art of voice acting in its various forms such as radio drama, dubbing, voice over for commercial, AVP and Narration.

He branded himself as the Voice master having the talent and the knowledge that will carry the future of this small-scale industry into greener pastures.

Pocholo is lobbying a blend of talent and technology, making use of the latest gadgets to enhance the voice industry. He is the spearhead of a now best selling service – the podcast, a revolutionary method of sending voice-over information via the Internet. Derived from its root words Ipod and Broadcast, Podcast resembles a radio program available in the Internet.

The company’s operations serve as a host that protects the rights of voice talents while ensuring not only the needed quality but to as much as possible exceed the studioclient’s expectations on voice services. With this, the company earned big clients from different industries such as politicians who used the podcast for its electoral campaign; (Election 2007, a tie up with inquirer.net is an example of Podcast) Advertising companies for voice over on commercials, TV and Radio companies for radio drama and dubbings and many other.

Standing solely in the market as voice providers, the company patterned its business from international voice over standards. There are many recording studios in the Philippines but only Creativoices focus on the welfare of voice artists.

Heroic Voice

Voice acting is not a dying industry; in fact just like celebrities flaunting their beauty in the screen, these talented people whose voices echo through the TV, radio and every other medium, should also have their share of the limelight for they are also stars on their own right.

The number of foreign shows that are turned into Tagalog broadcasting and Anime’s that swept the screens of today is a proof that Voice Acting is then and still an imperative part of entertainment. Therefore voice artists are also big players in the industry.

For the implementation of his plans, Gonzales established an institution that will serve aspocholo sanctuary for voice talents. “Why not create something for the industry,” he shared as he unravels his mission of founding Creativoices Productions. “Basically this is my passion, my first love, it has been here ever since but the craft was not professionalize.” So the young CEO took it upon himself to make his talent a better vocation. His small voice is his armor to continue the legacy of voice acting as he strives to change the future of other budding talents.

Creativoices for Pocholo conveys a lot of meaning, “Creating Voices, creative voices or the voice of creativity. So the company’s function is to focus on voice acting as an art,” he added. By establishing the company, Pocholo aims to address the individualism among voice artists. “Kasi dito sa Pilipinas ang problema ng voice talents, kanya kanyang diskarte kaya walang tintawag na market value. Kahit na anong galing ng isang voice talent Kung wala kang entity, pwede kang ibagsak ng malalaking kumpanya.” (The problem with Filipino Voice talents is that they work individually, therefore losing their market value. No matter how good you are if you don’t have an entity, big companies could easily turn you down.)

Next Generation of Creativoices

“Sound can be visualized and imagined a thousand ways so casting imagination to its listeners, that’s the wonder of voice over work,” shared by Pocholo also a Director of Hero TV and the youngest board member of the Animation Council of the Philippines.

Combing the flair for innovative voice acting and entrepreneurial skills, Creativoices is growing by leaps and bounds, “I keep on studying researching and discovering new trends” revealed by the voice actor as the secret components of a successful business.

Creativoices has been a part of E-services Philippines a fair designed by the Center for International Trade Exposition and Missions for IT companies in two years and by joining such exhibits the CEO is dreaming to make the Philippines the center of Voice over industry in Asia like call center or BPO in principle.

Envisioning the future of the company, Pocholo shared his plans, “Plan ko mag venture in the future sa another entity na related like video. Gusto ko din kasi ng mga video documentaries.” (I’m planning to venture into another entity that is related to audio projects like video because I am fond of video documentaries as well.) The company’s focus is on the artistry of being a voice talent; and because of technology nothing is impossible on producing the best audiovisuals giving limitless possibilities to their listeners and viewers.

For more information on Creativoices Productions log on to www.creativoices.com.