"We thought it went very well. The client was happy – and that’s the important thing." – Read more
Voice overs can be a career, or a little extra money on the side, but it’s always fun! First, forget any preconceived notions that you have about the business. If you are returning from a break from VO… understand technology has completely changed the nature of the animal!
For example, if you want to get into voice overs simply because people say you have a nice voice… consider this. Voice is less than 10% of what’s needed to do voice overs. VO is a skill that requires training, practice, and technique. In fact, if your voice is too good, it can work against you, if you are not skilled enough to be transparent. Clients don’t want people to notice the voice…they want people to notice the message the voice is communicating.
If you want to get into voice overs because you think it’ll be easy…and won’t cost much to get into, you’re only partly right. Compared to franchises (Like Subway, Curves, etc.) that can start at $30,000 for a cheap one…and up from there, VO is very inexpensive. However, you will be starting a business, and you will need investment capital. You’ll have expenses for training, marketing, equipment, etc. just like in any other business. If you can’t afford to start a business right now, you can’t afford to get into voice overs right now. However, if that is the case, and you may want to enter the field in the future, DO take advantage of all the free services available to you, to research your possible future career!
If you have been told by an agent or client that you need a demo CD, and you are wondering what to put on it, STOP! You do not want to do your own demo! And any reputable coach I know will not do one for you if you don’t have training, because they don’t want to take your money knowing that you won’t get any work! While it’s obviously not their job to get you work, they don’t want to take advantage of your desire to enter this biz… knowing that you will definitely not get work—since you have nothing to offer yet but a voice (which is worthless without skill.)
Unfortunately, there are a number of unscrupulous companies and coaches who prey on the dreams of wanna-be voice over talent. For liability reasons, I obviously cannot name any for you. As a rule, I’d suggest you train with individual coaches, rather than big companies. As with mom and pop businesses, they tend to care more about you and your success. I also suggest you avoid voice over training that studios provide. For the most part (not always) they know a lot about technical, but not as much about VO itself. And you typically should not learn how to be better at voice over from a coach who does not DO voice overs! Another red flag…do they have a “curriculum” in which your demo is produced based on a formula? This class + That class = demo? That doesn’t really add up! You need a coach who does your demo when you are ready!
Life is a continuum, and when you write your commercial story, you’re showing the listener a small segment of life, a slice of time if you will. To make that slice “real,” to give it the necessary tension to capture the listener’s attention and imagination, create a back story: what led up to the scene your listener is about to experience? What went on in the hour, day or month before this scene?
Sometimes writers have trouble creating dialogue that works for a voice over in a radio commercial because they start the scene at the top of the commercial. I’m suggesting that the commercial is a slice, a snapshot of a continuing story.
Let’s say the spot opens with a woman on the phone with a friend calling from work on a Saturday. The back story might be that she had family plans for the weekend that she had to cancel because of a big deadline and she even had to find someone at the last minute to mind her kids while she was at work.
What’s her conscious goal? To be successful in her position at the company where she works. She also wants to be there for her kids. Her conflict is she hasn’t learned to say no to some of the demands on her time and this bothers her. Imagine her state of mind as she makes the call.
Try writing your story first, and then decide when is the best time to bring in the radio audience to eavesdrop on that story.
When it’s time to record your voice over, sharing the back story for the commercial with your voice actor(s) will help them deliver a more believable voice over performance, will make you a more effective director and will make your commercials compelling stories that will touch your listeners’ imaginations.
Medical Narration is its own animal. It’s a Voice over genre that presents unique challenges, but also offers great rewards.
One of the greatest rewards in Medical Narration is repeat business. Once a client finds a talent who can confidently and competently rise to the challenge, he usually comes back time and time again. It’s not easy for clients to find someone who can do medical narration well. In fact, I’ve 
noticed that even many seasoned voice actors and actresses—not to mention some prominent voice coaches who have decades of experience—do not do a very good job with medical narration!
Why? Perhaps because they focus too much on pronouncing difficult terminology correctly—as if that were the only challenge of medical narration. It’s not. Sure, pronunciation can literally be a mouthful, but that’s easy to remedy. Find out how to say the words and practice saying them until they roll off your tongue like a fluent language.
The real challenge in medical narration is telling the story. And for good reason. In many medical narrations the terminology is so difficult, and the subject matter so foreign, that even the narrator can’t see the story! How can a voice actor tell a story you don’t know? Yet if the words are spoken in such a manner that the story is not told, the voice actor loses the credibility in the eyes of the most important listener, the audience for whom the script was written. Whether it be doctors learning about a disease, students exploring biological processes, or patients being instructed on how to use a medical device, presumably, the audience will understand what is being said—even if the voice actor doesn’t! And to that audience the voice actor is supposed to be the expert! He or she is the one teaching the information!
So, how can you know the story? There are a number of techniques you can practice. But for starters, don’t let the words get in the way. Don’t get so wrapped up in the medical mumbo that you can’t see past it to the underlying message—the story.
You have a great speaking voice and you’ve always been told you’d be a great voice over artist. So now you’re getting serious about starting a voice over career. The trouble is, you know nothing about what it takes to become a voice actor. Well, the good news is, voice acting is a big business and is only getting bigger. The bad news is, voice over is a highly competitive industry and voice acting jobs are hard to come by. So you need to be armed with reliable information to have your best chance at succeeding in voice over.
There are numerous voice over genres, including commercial voice over, promo voice over, movie trailer voice over, animation voice over, audio book voice over and industrial voice over. What voice over genre is right for you depends on your type of voice and performance ability. Do you have a good narrator voice suitable for audio book voice work? Do you have a natural, “regular” sounding voice, best for commercial voice work? How about a big booming voice perfect for movie trailer voice work? Or maybe you’ve developed a stable of characters great for animation voice work?
Whatever your specialty, the first step in starting a career in voice over is getting the proper training in each of the voice over genres you are interested in. Many voice over casting directors offer classes that specialize in each genre of voice over. A big advantage of being trained by a casting director is that, if they’re impressed with you in class, you may get called in for voice over auditions, and you may even get a referral to a voice over talent agency.
Once you’ve gotten the proper voice over training, you need to get some honest feedback as to whether you’re ready to move forward with producing a voice over demo reel. You can ask the person who trains you, or you can take the voice recordings you produce in class and present it to anyone in the voice over industry for feedback. The important thing is, before you spend any money producing a voice over demo reel, you need to be certain that you’ve refined your voice acting skills enough to move forward with a career in voice over.
Once you’ve gotten the assurance from a voice over professional, you’re ready to produce a voice over demo reel. A voice over demo reel is a professional recording of about six to eight excerpts that feature your voice speaking copy. You will need a separate demo reel for each and every genre of voice over for which you are pursuing voice work. A demo reel should run between 60-90 seconds and display a good vocal and emotional range. Some people misinterpret this to mean feigning voices or dialects, but that’s not desirable. You really just want to demonstrate enough versatility to be able to perform a variety of voice over copy. Voice over agents and voice over casting directors want to be comfortable knowing that they can throw a lot of different voice over copy at you, from peppy and energetic to solemn and intimate, and you’ll do a great voice over read every time.
If you are up on all the articles, podcasts, webinars and fabulous coaching available to you then you have 
probably heard that you should only give one take in your voice over auditions! Let me first state that I believe that there is merit in this and there are many people who accept your voice over auditions who ONLY want one take. You must always follow client specs or audition requests and get to know each of your agent’s preferences and follow their needs.
As I said, I have been the decision maker and in many voice over projects I cast, I received one take from almost every voice talent! I found myself wanting more options from some talent and I didn’t want to have to ask for another audition…. as a talent myself I respect this is unpaid time. I have heard that we should just ‘know exactly which take is the one to send’ and while I completely understand this philosophy I would like to propose another perspective. I question ‘would it really hurt us if we did post more than one take?’ The worst that could happen is they don’t listen to the other choices, but would we really hurt our chances if we provide multiple takes? I believe there is only one way this could hurt you, which is doing each take the exact same.
Take one should always be your best take and what you think the client wants the most (but make it unique as everyone is following that rule or at least should be) then take two can be something you KNOW would be much better and then a possible 3rd take that is a risk – something completely different. The third take should only be there if something worked out in your voice over auditions that is different and worth a shot, don’t just put a risky take in there just because – you have to believe in it! As you may have heard, ’you only have the first 4 seconds and the client will know if they want to hire you or listen to more’, but I don’t think it will hurt your audition providing some other options, after all we can’t read the clients minds and there is ALWAYS another choice. That is why each voice over audition submitted is unique.
I highly recommend up to 3 takes max and you should always place your best take first (whatever you think is the best choice out of ALL the auditions you did) If the client liked what they heard enough in your first take, they will want to listen to more. Just remember if your third take sounds the same as your first take then even if they loved the first take, they will now dislike the voice over read as it will showcase you have no variety. So variety is key here to make multiple takes worth your while.
“How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.” –Anne Frank
Luckily, I discovered my voice when I was a very young child. I loved performing for others. So I just did it. I joyfully acted, danced, tapped, twirled and sang my way through my youth for whoever would watch or listen. As I grew, I realized that my purpose in this world is to touch the lives of others using my voice and inner power. So I just did it. I built a career as a voice talent with that vision.
Early on, I looked for every opportunity to impact people with my voice and gifts, whether on the phone, face to face or behind the mic. I care deeply about your experience. So I just continued developing my craft. Female voice over, voice narration, voice acting, radio voice over, I do it all.
Today I realize this impact at a much deeper level, with every syllable I speak and every minute action I take. At this very moment, I can turn around and speak heartfelt love to my husband and children, listen to a friend, speak kindly to my neighbor or the grocer, and make a difference in their lives. It is this voice, and these simple and small acts that bring me closest to using my gifts for a higher purpose.
My voice acting career truly begins with who I am when I get out of bed in the morning; first with the relationships that I am building inside myself, in my home, on my street and in my community. This is my fastest, most direct way to improve the world. And this opportunity is available to me at every moment. Right now, I can turn around and just do it.
Director prep: First, you need to understand the script and what you want the voice talent to accomplish. A way of clarifying this for yourself is to listen to a performance from a commercial, film, video or TV show that you’d like your actors to emulate in feel, tone and attitude. That gives you a target to aim at. Determine in advance how you’ll direct them to achieve that. This will vary depending on your actors’ skill, experience and your relationship with them.
Secondly, make sure the voice over talent understands what needs to be accomplished. Let your actors in on those little secrets: who is the audience? Are they eavesdropping on a conversation? Listening to a voice mail message? Are they being spoken to directly? How do we want the listener to feel?
Don’t ask the actor to produce a feeling or you’ll get something forced. Tell them what you’d expect the listener’s reaction to be – to cry, to laugh, to reminisce, to be energized, etc.
What thought do we want to leave the listener with? What action do we want them to take? What’s the underlying attitude and agenda of the person speaking? Often it’s in contrast to the spoken words and can add great interest to the spot.
Describe the character(s) physically, psycho graphically and sociologically. Give your voice actors information, so they can understand where each character is coming from.
If you’re directing dialogue, explain the “back story” – the relationship and history of the participants. Are they coming into this scene after a fight, or after making love? After a life- threatening experience or a spiritually uplifting one? Have the voice talent emotionally experience the moments before we enter the scene, either by imagining themselves there, or by pulling the appropriate emotions from their own experience, so they’re in character from their first breath. Have them ad lib or “read into” the scene. Even the tag reader should hear what’s gone before to understand how to read the tag.
If the final commercial will be produced with sounds in the background, often it’s helpful to play those sounds over their headsets while they record. If they hear the traffic, or the sounds of a mountain stream, or the fireworks, or the loud music at the club, it will help put the voice talents “on location” so they’ll speak with the appropriate volume, projection or intimacy.
Remember that you’re doing radio. The audience will only see the characters your actors are creating in their mind’s eye. Try doing the same thing. Close your eyes and listen to your talents’ delivery. That way you won’t base your direction on they way they look, their facial expressions or physical movements. It’s kind of like listening to…the radio.
Whether you’re a writer, producer, actor, or director, developing directing skills will make a world of difference in your commercials.
Directing is…inspiring, coaching, encouraging, cheer leading, getting inside the psyche of a voice over actor and planting seeds so that that voice actor will bring to life words on a page. Good directing not only improves the final production, but it improves the skills of the voice talent being directed.
The result is a more believable commercial. The audience, the client and the station will are the beneficiaries.
Listen to how people speak. The pitch changes that occur when they’re happy or depressed, the audible tension when they’re under stress, the sound of an angry person speaking with a tight jaw, are all reference points for a good director to have. As your voice talent moves through the commercial, keep asking yourself, “Is this how a person in this situation would sound?” That’s the mark you should be aiming for and nudging your voice talent toward.
A common mistake is to ask the voice talent or voice actor to emphasize too many words. This can make it sound too much like a pitch or announcer voice and not like a conversation. Sometimes just a small rise in the pitch of a word will make it stand out. Remember, your listener is participating in the conversation. Involve their imagination by not having the voice actor give it all away in the delivery,
Believability starts with the casting. Find the best voice actors you can afford. This will make your job much easier. Instead of telling them how to read the script, tell them why you wrote it the way you did. Let them bring their experience to it. You may be pleasantly surprised.
Be confidant of the performance you’re anticipating, so you don’t confuse and frustrate your talent by changing direction after each take. However, you may also get interpretations you hadn’t planned for. Be open to changing your preconceptions and going with the new direction if it works better than what you had in mind.
Try to make the session fun and keep your voice over talent relaxed, even if you and the client may not be.
Get out of the studio. Go on, pack up some portable equipment, gather your actors and go on location to where the story is situated.
Good radio commercials are stories which all take place somewhere – in a car, by a lake, at a breakfast table, in a bathroom, kitchen, field, forest – so go there. The sound will be more natural. It’ll stand out on the air because it won’t have that dry “studio’ sound.
Your voice actors will sound more authentic. The ambiance of the location will affect their performances.
If your voice over is supposed to take place in bed, have them record while lying in bed, or at least on the floor. It loosens them up, allows them to better relate. In some locations they may have to speak up to overcome background noise, or whisper more intimately if they’re nose to nose in a closet.
Whether your voice over talent is in a shower stall, sitting on a couch or standing on a step ladder pretending they’re painting – each position places the diaphragm in a different position, so the voice will sound different.
Are they talking while dancing? Have ‘em dance. Are they wrestling, tickling, running, walking, climbing or hiking? Then have ‘em engage in those activities while they act out your script. Put that traveling couple in the back seat of a car while someone drives and someone else engineers the recording.
If the place has background noise, you’ll have to monitor your takes carefully, so the ambient sound doesn’t overpower the voices.
Trying to get a natural-sounding story from your client? Clip a mic on him to capture his words as he walks around his restaurant, store, warehouse, parking lot or dealership. Some people think and speak more clearly from the heart when they’re moving.
Thinking “out of the studio” can also give you ideas for commercials. Don’t just describe the new trail system through your town, put a voice talent on a bike, wire them for sound and record their observations as they ride the trail.
Is this a technique to use on every spot? No, but once in a while you can lift an ordinary campaign to a new level by going out there in the real world when you’re ready to record voice over.
If you make your voice over performance in your commercial sound like real life, instead of sounding like a commercial, you have a better chance of capturing the attention of that over-communicated-to audience listening in.
In natural conversation, people just don’t stay close-mic’d. They turn, bend and move. Try putting up a few ambient mics in the studio that are fed to separate tracks to give your voice actors a chance to do the same, while capturing their voices. These “off-mic” bits of dialogue can help your commercial make a huge leap in believability.
If your voice over actors are good, and know who the characters are, where your story starts and where you want it to end, have them toss the scripts and improvise their way through. You may end up with dialogue that sounds more natural than the script. If nothing else, it gives your talent a chance to pull away from the restrictions of the page and stretch out.
You’ll find that much can be conveyed with just a change of tone of voice, a cough, a throat clearing, a chuckle, a pause, a stretched word, or an interruption.
You want your voice talent to react to each other and to the situation, not just read lines. A technique I learned from Chuck Blore is, after your voice actors are familiar with the premise, pace and content of the spot, give each voice a partial script. Actor A’s script has only Actor B’s lines. Actor B’s script has only Actor A’s lines. Each must simply react to what they hear. This will force them to interact with each other.
Dialogue; whether it’s in a film, book, play or a radio commercial is a conversation. The more natural you make the voice acting experience, the more you invite the audience to partake. Listeners have far too many demands for their attention. An invitation can be warmly welcomed.