Tricia Basanyi, Founder of Voiceovers by Trish

Do you ever hear voices? If you’re wandering through a casino in A.C., taking in a museum, or listening to a radio advertisement for your local grocery store, you could be hearing the voice of Tricia Basanyi. At 34, Tricia has made a name for herself (or for her voice, rather) doing voiceover work for the likes of Dole, Caterpillar and Verizon Wireless, among others.

Communications degree graduate? Nope. After realizing college wasn’t working for her, the former Psychology major turned to a (yawn) accounts payable job to pay the bills. At 24, a light bulb went off and Tricia turned her passion for media into an entry-level internship with a radio station, going on to receive her own afternoon program and doing voiceover gigs on the side, while still working her accounting 9-5.

After four years, Tricia’s part-time hobby was viable enough to become her full-time business. Active on networking sites like Facebook and Twitter, she credits several projects per week to effective use of social media. Click here to listen to a sampling of her work, and if you start to hear a voice at the Taj Mahal…well, lets just hope it’s Tricia.

1.  Where is the strangest place we can hear your voice?

Ummmm I’d rather not tell you the STRANGEST place;)  But, I can tell you that I’m the voice for the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City and I do the audio tours for the Miami MetroZoo and a few other parks in Florida.

2.  Why do you prefer voiceover acting versus television/film acting?

Because you can be anyone you want to be! On camera you’re limited to your own looks, but when you only have audio the audience’s imagination is a huge advantage. Plus, when you do a job you’re not so proud of (see answer to #1) you get to deny it!  haha -  When you’re on camera it’s harder to convince people you have an identical twin you didn’t know about.

3.  Has the down economy affected the amount of voiceover work you receive? Or, have businesses turned to radio as a cheaper means of communicating?

Yes, it’s affected it, but in a good way. I’m busier than ever!  Businesses still need to advertise. I give a few more “discounts” these days than before but there’s no shortage of work by any stretch of the imagination. You just have to know where to look and, of course, network, network, network.

4.  What do businesses look for most when shopping for a “voice” to sell their products?

Well, to be honest a lot of it is personal preference. How do you pick which shirt to buy out of 10 different choices? We each have different tastes. I will say one thing though, it’s NOT just the voice itself. Someone could have a fantastic voice but sound like they’re reading when they do a commercial. We all know that’s not a good thing. On the other hand, many people with “average” sounding voices are making a killing in this business because they know how to sound natural and believable. So a good amount of it is talent and skill, knowing what the client wants and who your audience is that you’re “selling” to. Once you have a good amount of talent and voices to choose from, that’s when personal preference kicks in. Like choosing your favorite color. You can’t explain WHY you like it best, you just DO.

5.  Has anyone in public ever recognized your voice?

Yes! A client that did not know I was the voice for the Trump Taj was walking along the boardwalk in Atlantic City over this past summer and heard my voice coming out of the loudspeaker, and immediately knew it was me. He called me and held his phone up to the speaker so I could hear myself coming through my own phone! It was a little weird.  A few other similar stories like that over the past few years.

6.  How do men react when they find out that you “do voices”? Give us the worst line you’ve heard.

You ready for this one? “Ohhhh, so you give good voice, huh?”  HILARIOUS. In general, though, I find that guys find what I do quite fascinating even though I don’t do character voices. They always ask, “so where can I hear you?” They’re pretty curious and ask a lot of questions about it, and occasionally they’ll say “I’ve been told I have a great voice and should look into doing voiceovers but didn’t know how to get into the business.”  Yeah dude, you and 50 million others. lol

7.  Describe the person who would best complement both your life and your business.

My life is pretty fly-by-night. I like to travel a lot because I can and life is short. I work from anywhere and it would be cool to be with someone that had the same freedom. Doesn’t really matter what they do as long as they enjoy their work. I do think that it’s important to have your own interests outside of a relationship, if you do EVERYTHING together things get stale and boring pretty quickly. I do swing dancing, play poker, and play tennis with certain friends on a regular basis and it’s nice to have a guy that has his own interests too, so I can have my “me” time and he can have his.

8.  Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

Well a LOT has changed in the past 5 years for me, so 10 years from now it should definitely be interesting. Professionally, I hope to have realized several projects in the voiceover industry that I’m working on right now, and they should be up and running smoothly by then.  I’m an “idea” person so I imagine I’ll have some other things that I’ll be pursuing and trying to get finished, that as of right now I haven’t even thought of yet.
Personally, I’m not quite sure. Meeting someone would certainly be an enhancement but not a necessity. Children have never been a desire of mine, I have 2 nephews and a niece that I adore, and they keep me quite busy and satisfied on that front. I love my lifestyle but kids don’t fit into it very well, and I don’t see things changing anytime soon.

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