Today we’d like to introduce you to Marcus D. Stimac.
Hi Marcus D., it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
A little information on my personal background:
My name is Marcus Stimac, I am the founder of Record U and also the founder and artistic director of the Shakespeare Everywhere theatre company. I grew up in Milwaukee, and I moved down to Dallas in 2005 to pursue my BFA in acting performance at Southern Methodist University. I graduated in 2009, and have been active in the arts and education industries ever since. I have performed with many of the local DFW theatre companies and have also worked as a teaching artist with many arts education providers like Junior Players, DramaKids, and Group Excellence. After graduating, I started getting into voice work for Funimation Studios in 2011, and I started directing there as an ADR shortly after in 2013. Since that time I have voiced in over 160 different titles, and Directed on more than 75 different shows. Some of those titles include: Dragon Ball Super, My Hero Academia, One Piece, Ghost in the Shell: Arise & Ghost in the Shell: The New Movie, Attack on Titan, Black Clover, Kaiju No 8., Fire Force, and many others.
About Record U:
Like many ideas, Record U actually started on a whiteboard in my bedroom.
During the pandemic we were seeing that studios were shifting to recording more of their talent remotely. As I began helping my friends start their voice acting journeys, I began to see that there was a large need for training and support for people who were interested in getting involved with voice acting. I started developing Record U with my brothers (John Stimac and Michael Stimac) and we formally launched the company in 2023.
We had envisioned creating a voice over training program where a student could get everything they needed to start their journey as a voice actor and help them find success. We had been hoping to create an educational platform for voice over that would not only be more comprehensive, but also accessible to a wider audience than some of the existing programs out there.
In the beginning we actually started with providing monolog coaching for students looking to improve the quality of their acting. We did these sessions at the Richardson Library back before we ever even had access to a studio space. As our capabilities increased we were able to grow our offerings to include a wide range of services including: training on how to build a voice over business, ADR Dubbing practice, Industrial and Commercial campaign practice, demo reels, portable recording booths, group experiences, and more. Our in-person services are currently held at Iolite Studios, located off the Dallas Parkway in Addison, but we take students remotely from all over the world as well. We currently provide all of our services in both English and Spanish, and our Record U Cares Division has begun development on voice over training and programming with increased accessibility for individuals with special needs.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Every time you are trying to do something that makes a difference it takes a great deal of planning, time and thought. People care deeply about their dreams and goals, and our goal was to help change people’s lives. I always say “We aren’t in the VO business, we’re in the Life Changing Business”. To do that we knew we had to really take the time to understand our students’ needs, and focus on bringing them an experience that actually made a difference. It’s not enough to just prepare someone for the industry, you need to care about their success afterward. That road can be a real challenge because it takes an incredible team, industry quality material, an organized system, and of course financial resources to help develop these things.
There have been other challenges in creating awareness about the great work we are doing, and increasing our visibility in the voice over training space. And I’d like to give a shout out to our incredible team who has been doing an amazing job of that this year.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
In DFW many people may know me from my professional stage work, performing with the many local DFW theatres. Some of you may know me from my time as Artistic Director for Shakespeare Everywhere and previously at Shakespeare in the bar. But nationally I am more known for my voice work. I have over 160 credits from my voice work on anime and video games. Some of the more notable credits include: Bergamo in Dragon Ball Super, Dragon Ball Legends, & Dragon Ball Sparking Zero, Tiger in My Hero Academia, Cheddar Bambroski in Tiny Tina’s Wonderland, Dr.Hogback in One Piece, Saito in Ghost in the Shell: Arise & Ghost in the Shell: The New Movie, Tomás in Attack on Titan, Heath Grice in Black Clover, Giovanni in Fire Force, Narrator of the Golden Kamuy series and many others.
What sets me apart from others is that I develop communities of passionate industry experts united under the worthy cause of doing meaningful work. I am known for doing a lot with a little, I am skilled at building complex things with limited resources, and turning that into something lasting and meaningful. But I am mostly known for my big heart, my ability to inspire and collaborate with others, my boundless creativity, and my sense of humor.
Any big plans?
Record U is gearing up for its first Anime Convention appearance in September of this year. We are also very excited to be focusing on bringing our Spanish programming to local acting professionals and working towards establishing Dallas as a hub for Spanish speaking voice talent and work in voice over production. We have been in talks with some potential partners in Mexico about opening a recording space in Playa Del Carmen, Cancun.
We are also really looking forward to launching our offerings from our Record U Cares Division, whose sole focus is providing training and programming for individuals with special needs and providing support for organizations doing meaningful work in that space. Some of the exciting things we are currently exploring are providing video resume packages to assist with vocational placement for individuals with special needs, working on adapting our existing services to be accessible to individuals with autism, and moving towards in person group experiences in collaboration with places like hospitals, shelters, and cancer treatment centers.
Pricing:
- One on One Training Session – $2oo
- Headshots (1-2 looks/outfits)- $250
- Group Experiences – $400 / hour
- Voice Over Demo Reels- $1000
- Portable Recording Booths- $4,000
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.recorduniversity.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/urecordingu/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61563330773763
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/recordu/
- Twitter: https://x.com/urecordingu
Image Credits
Jordan Fraker, Lexie Shamir, Crystal Gann, Michael Stimac
