We had the good fortune of connecting with Cadden McArthur and we’ve shared our conversation below.
Hi Cadden, what is the most important factor behind your success?
One important factor that I’ve learned to incorporate into my own business & one major part of working at Atlanta Voiceover Studio is building & maintaining connections with clients & partners. It’s easy to fall back on overly professional language & focus on the product rather than the person, but connecting with the client to see what they need out of a voiceover session or what an aspiring talent hopes to get out of training goes a long way providing the best aid you can AND making the other person feel confident when they work with you.
Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
To me, voiceover differs from other creative fields from how purely collaborative it is. Whether you’re working with other talents & coaches to widen your perspective or with the client & director mid-session, VO is a great medium for building collaborative stories & delivering shared messages. From the amount of times you hear voiceover described as “getting paid for talking into a mic,” you might EXPECT it to be easy, but from my own experience, I can tell you that any voice actor – new or old – constantly combats the pressure of important gigs, the anxiety of feeling like you’re not as good as the other talents in the room, the confusion of how to communicate the intention of a script, & much more. It’s not EASY. Like any performative field, it takes practice, dedication, & instruction. And one of the best ways to get all three of those items is to work with others; never stop training, & NEVER believe that you’ve learned all there is to learn because there’s always someone out there with a technique you haven’t tried or a story you haven’t heard.
For me, that’s some of the most fun you can have in voiceover, remaining empathetic & open to other’s perspectives so that not only you can understand other people around you, but so that when it comes time to get on the mic, you can communicate those perspectives effectively & believably.
I love helping the stories in people’s heads come to life.
Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Anyone who’s been in Atlanta long enough can tell you there’s ALWAYS something to do here.
A good fallback for me & my friends is Battle & Brew Game Bar. The nerds that we are, we always enjoy trying out some new games we haven’t played, answering some nerdy trivia questions, or enjoying some fantasy themed foods & all of the above in an appropriately nerdy atmosphere.
Another thing I appreciate about ATL is how many interesting pop-up attractions there are. If you keep an eye out, you can find anything from a van Gogh exhibit to a ballon museum.
And then there are the old reliables that never really disappoint like going to Midtown or Piedmont Park.
Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I really can’t overstate the progress that I owe to everyone at Atlanta Voiceover Studio. Mike & Heidi have been constant sources of inspiration, motivation, & information as I’ve pursued VO in my own right. I also owe a great deal to all of the engineers & instructors for their perspective & openness with their experience. AVS & everyone involved in it are real & true embodiments of the values of stewardship, freedom, & grace & I can easily say that I would not be within MILES of where I am now in my VO journey without them.
Website: https://caddenmcarthur.com
Instagram: @caddenmcarthur
Linkedin: cadden-mcarthur-vo
Image Credits
Business Shown: Atlanta Voiceover Studio Individuals Shown: Cadden McArthur, Mike Stoudt, Heidi Rew, Adam Schneider, Chloe Dolandis, Julie Shaer, Edilio Diaz, Trevor Johns, Aaron Goodson, Dan Fishman