SONY CREATIVE SOFTWARE: You have a varied background in the industry. When did you decide to focus on voice over work?

Naomi Mercer: I was singing in several bands in Seattle before I moved to Los Angeles in 2002. Whenever we'd record in the studio, we'd use ACID Pro. Then, when I moved to LA, peers suggested I try voice over work in addition to the on-camera acting I was doing. I figured I already have the gear and the software to record from singing, so maybe I should give it a go.

SCS: How did you break into the business?

Naomi Mercer: I started taking classes in 2003 and booked my first job that same year. But it started out slow and there's a lot of down time waiting for the phone to ring. When I did that first job, I drove down to a recording studio and just stood in front of the mic while an engineer took care of the rest. I wondered if I could get more jobs if I had the edge of being able to record and edit my own work. Someone recommended I check out some online voice-over websites like Voice123.com. Before I knew it, I was working. It started with local and regional radio spots all over the country, E-Learning jobs, phone trees and voice-over gigs to teach people English in other countries.

Soon I had more than enough to put a reel together and I tried to get an agent in Los Angeles. My credits were regular work, but nothing high profile. However my agent was willing to take me on because she liked the idea of being able to email me auditions that I could just send back to her rather than having to schedule me to come down to their studio all the time. Since then, my agency has cut every actor that doesn't have home studio capabilities from their roster.

I consider voice over to be my day job while I continue to pursue work in film, television and music. It's fun, expressive and creative, I get to be my own boss and I love the technical side of the work as well.

SCS: What have you been up to recently?

Naomi Mercer: I'm still with CodeBaby, Inc., as the voice of CeeBee. They're making customer service on websites more personal and helpful, and I'm the voice behind that.

I recently taught "The Business of Voice Over" with Guitar Center up and down the West coast. That was a seven-hour workshop that started with how to set up your home studio, covering where to find work, how to execute and deliver, and finally, how to negotiate and collect your money.

I had four roles in Mass Effect 2! The game went on to win the Ultimate Game of the Year that 2010's Golden Joystick Awards, as well as bunch of other awards.

During that time I also became the voice of Geobeats. This company strives to become the "go to" spot online or on your phone to get quick, concise and interesting information about landmarks, sites, cities and cultural events from every nook and cranny across the globe. This is a personal passion of mine, as I have wanderlust bad.

I'm also the voice of Navman Wireless, the world's leader in vehicle tracking. My voice teaches companies how to use their geotracking software that tracks over 180,000 trucks worldwide.

I've also recently done work on "The Young and the Restless" and the EA Sports commercial I'm in ran 1000 times in January alone. I auditioned for both of those jobs using ACID Pro 7.

SCS: You've got a history using all of our products. Which, if any, do you use most?

Naomi Mercer: I use ACID Pro 7.0 everyday. I use it to record and edit auditions and jobs. I also use it to lay vocals down on top of a beat that I get for music. It's so intuitive that, even if I don't know how to do something, I can almost always figure it out if I look at the buttons and in the menus long enough. I also started using Vegas Pro to create demo material for work in film and hosting. I also loved the idea of not having to wait around for someone to cast me in their music video. I can make a song and music video myself, right now, using Acid Pro and Vegas Pro.

SCS: What do you think our applications do best?

Naomi Mercer: The best thing about Sony Creative Software products is that if you know how to use one, you practically know how to use them all. A lot of the menus, commands and short cut keys are similar between Acid Pro, Vegas Pro and DVD Architect, which makes it much less intimidating to start using new software.