Buffalo Voiceover
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The people and the room behind the mic.

Buffalo Voiceover pairs a working, award-winning national voice actor with one of the most respected recording studios in the country, right here in Western New York.

Maria Pendolino, voice actor and instructor

Your instructor

Maria Pendolino

Voice Actor & Instructor · Founder, Buffalo Voiceover

Maria Pendolino has spent the better part of two decades doing the thing she now teaches: booking the job. As a Buffalo-based, award-winning national voice actor, she has voiced work for content and brands including Saturday Night Live, Xfinity, Monday Night Football, Google, Whole Foods, Dannon, and American Express, narrated for television and film, and earned multiple industry awards along the way, all from a professional home studio, working with clients around the world.

Before voiceover, Maria built a performing career on stage and screen: more than 40 theater productions, including in Buffalo with Lancaster Opera House, Alleyway Theatre, Buffalo Laboratory Theatre and more, a recurring television role, and film work that screened at the Toronto International Film Festival. That performer’s instinct is exactly what she brings to the booth: voiceover isn’t about a “radio voice,” it’s about acting, storytelling, and connecting with a real listener.

As an instructor, Maria is refreshingly straight with her students. She teaches the craft and the business: how the industry actually works, how to avoid the scams that prey on newcomers, and how to build real, bookable skills at a sustainable pace. Her goal isn’t to sell you a dream; it’s to give you an honest, professional foundation and tell you the truth about where you stand.

See more of Maria’s professional work at her personal website, Voice By Maria.

Rich Ells, engineer at GCR Audio

Your studio engineer

Rich Ells

Engineer, Mixing & Mastering · GCR Audio

Every class puts you in front of a real engineer, and that’s Rich Ells. Rich earned dual degrees from SUNY Fredonia (a B.S. in Communication for Audio Production and a B.S. in Business Administration with a Music Industry concentration) and joined the GCR Audio team as an intern before becoming a staff engineer in 2019.

Beyond GCR, Rich engineers and produces for NPR and PBS and handles audio for live events and performances. A drummer and percussionist himself, he draws on a musician’s ear to help performers find their true sound, mixing and mastering with real attention to detail and a bit of his own flair.

He’s recorded artists including Benny the Butcher, Shyheim, Che Noir, and Rick Hyde, and his voice-over sessions span national clients like Netflix, NBC Universal, Warner Bros. Discovery, and Penguin Random House alongside many local companies, exactly the kind of professional session you’ll learn to work in class.

The studio

GCR Audio: Western New York’s premier recording studio

You’ll train at GCR Audio, Western New York’s most accomplished and respected recording destination. With two locations on Franklin Street in downtown Buffalo, these professional, working recording facilities are now the home base for Buffalo Voiceover classes.

GCR Audio’s original location at 564 Franklin St. occupies a genuine piece of Buffalo music history: the former chapel of the 150-year-old, historically protected St. Margaret’s Girls School. The room opened in 1980 as Trackmaster Audio, designed by world-famous studio architect John Storyk (Electric Lady Studios). Through the ’80s and ’90s it was the go-to room for Rick James, Spyro Gyra, Ani DiFranco, the Barenaked Ladies, and the Goo Goo Dolls, whose John Rzeznik and Robby Takac worked there, and whose first #1 song, “Name,” was recorded on site. The Goo Goo Dolls resurrected the studio in 2007, and in 2009 Robby Takac reopened it to the public as GCR Audio. Since then, it has hosted artists like James Taylor, Lil Wayne, Andra Day, and Korn.

GCR Audio’s second location at 510 Franklin St. opened in 2023 as GCR expanded into voiceover and ADR recording for film, television, video, advertising, audiobooks, podcasts, and more. Since then, it has hosted sessions for clients including Disney, Netflix, Lucasfilm, NBCUniversal, Fox, Penguin Random House, and NPR.

Both locations feature outstanding rooms and run top-tier vintage and modern gear (SSL, Neve, Chandler, API, Neumann, Telefunken, and more). These world-class working studios make the perfect classroom for learning voiceover at a professional level.

Visit GCR Audio ↗
GCR Audio's original studio at 564 Franklin Street, a red-brick former chapel in downtown Buffalo
GCR Audio’s original location at 564 Franklin St.
GCR Audio's second location at 510 Franklin Street, the voiceover studio in downtown Buffalo
GCR Audio’s second location at 510 Franklin St.
1980
Recording in this room since its Trackmaster days
8–10
Students per class, real mic time for everyone
15+
Ages welcome, from mature teens to adults

Ready to step up to the mic?

See what’s offered, from a beginner-friendly 101 to genre deep-dives and demo prep.

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