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Do you have what it takes to be a voice-over artist?
29-05-2015 Posted by Lee M. Ross in Developing your talent

Voice actors record voices for animated films and television shows, they narrate documentaries and television and radio commercials. If you love acting and believe you have a distinctive voice, then this might be a good opportunity for you! Read on to learn how to get started.

Voice over work is one of the few fields that it is equally suited for people who are ambitious as well as those who are lazy - although only the ambitious ones will be able to make a living with it .  What other profession allows you to sit down and read and get paid for it?  But, is it really that easy?  For those of us in the bizz; we know it's not.

Voice over work is very concentrated and energy consuming.  Every nuance that one can normally count on in a conversation has to be interwoven in your voice.  The listener has to be able to picture what you are saying without the aid of watching your lips flap.  Here's a few pointers that could help you get started:

  • Take singing lessons:   After all, it's all about voice control.
  • Take acting lessons:  If you want to play a character in an animated TV series, being able to act is essential.
  • Imitate the voices of famous actors or fictional characters:  Learning to imitate them can help you build your flexibility and recognize pitch and tone.  Besides if you are good your friends will love it… for a while.
  • Record yourself:  Get used to hearing your own voice the way others hear it.  When you speak and hear your own voice inside your head, your head bones and tissues tend to enhance the lower-frequency vibrations. This means that your voice usually sounds fuller and deeper to you than it really is.
  • Practice reading text out loud:  Being able to read aloud effectively is essential for voice acting, especially if the job requires you to read from a teleprompter, a monitor or a paper script.

Here are a few actual quotes we've overheard in studios:

        'Doing voice work is like acting without the make-up or costumes.'

        'Your reading was good, but, I need something a bit more yellow'

        'You're a pro, how do you pronounce – Worcestershire's rural cichlids?'

and finally

        'Leave your name at the door, maybe we could use you for some crowd noises.'

In another blog, we'll get into a little more technique.  (Pronounced Tek-neek not tech-nee-cue)

 
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