With a voice that has reached six of the seven continents, longtime Wilton resident Mike McGonegal has carved a niche for himself in the world of voice acting.

With a degree in electrical engineering from from Stevens Institute of Technology and years dedicated to technical support at Global 360, a software company based in Nashua, McGonegal found himself at a crossroads in 2008. The dot-com bubble had burst, and technology companies began widespread layoffs, which included McGonegal's role at Global 360.

With the tech sector reeling from widespread cutbacks, McGonegal saw an opportunity to pursue a different career path. Raised in southeastern Connecticut in a Navy family, McGonegal's journey into voice acting was spurred by years of encouragement about his vocal talents.

"I was always told, 'You have a great voice, you should do something with it,'" McGonegal said.

Transitioning from engineering to voice acting was not without its challenges.

"You learn very quickly it's not just about talking," McGonegal said. “You're a business owner. You have to do accounting, marketing, sales. You have to do the engineering, the recording, and you have to follow up with customers. It takes a lot of work, I'm not going to lie."

McGonegal said the flip side of the intense workload is getting to work with a variety of clients from around the globe.

"And the farthest I've ever gone to record is Boston," he said.

McGonegal's breakthrough came after training with voice acting coach Susan Berkely. McGonegal got his first job from what he referred to as a "pay-to-play" website, a platform that charges users to submit auditions for jobs. After about three months of auditions, McGonegal got his first voiceover job, which was a narration segment for a museum's World War II presentation. McGonegal played the part of a young soldier from Ohio, whose real-life letter home he read out loud.

Since then, McGonegal has specialized in e-learning narration, particularly in medical, technical and scientific fields. Over his 15-year career, McGonegal has lent his voice to clients that include Mercedes, McKesson e-learning, Walmart, Apple and Paramount.

There are a variety of different types of voice acting jobs, including audio books, e-learning, promotions, explainer videos, animation, advertisements and video games.

"Thankfully, since there are so many genres, if someone wants to get into voice acting, they can find a genre that they connect with," McGonegal said. "I found a home in e-learning -- medical, technical and scientific. It's fun to do."

McGonegal emphasized the importance of the voice acting community.  He said voice actors will often share jobs with each other, especially if they think a different voice actor would be better-suited for a job.

"Voice acting is not as competitive as other industries," he said. "We're supportive of each other and celebrate each other's wins."

For equipment, McGonegal started out with a simple Samson C01U USB microphone. He noted that while it was a good piece of equipment for starting out, professional voice actors rarely use USB microphones because there is a limit to the amount of data that can be transferred via USB. For higher-quality recordings, McGonegal suggests a microphone with an XLR connection in conjunction with a USB audio interface.

An audio interface allows for high-quality sound recordings to be passed to a computer for editing without audio quality loss. This is the professional voice-actor workflow.

These days, McGonegal uses Yamaha AG03 and a Sennheiser 415T professional microphones for recording.

Recording voiceover isn't as simple as sitting down in front of a microphone and speaking, according to McGonegal, as it's important to record in an environment devoid of background noise to ensure the quality and clarity of the recording. To that end, McGonegal built himself a home recording studio, which is a small, enclosed space in which the walls have been padded to prevent unwanted sound from spoiling the recording.

Looking ahead, McGonegal hopes to join what he referred to as the "smaller pond" of well-known professional voice actors who consistently score high-profile work.

To hear examples of McGonegal's voice acting work, visit mikemcgonegal.com.