How to Become a Voice Over

Essentials Skills Voice Talent Need to Succeed

May 2, 2009 Dan McCurdy

The voice over industry is becoming increasingly crowded so new entrants need to be well prepared to succeed.

Becoming a voice over may not be an immediate route to fame and fortune, but voice talent new to the industry can increase their chances of getting more than their fair share of the work available, by having the skills that are in demand. Talent alone in any area is seldom enough, and wanting to become a voice over is no exception.

Find a Voice Coach.

There is a great deal that voice work and using the voice in acting have in common. Voice coaches tend to work in both areas, and any acting classes or gathering of actors will point the direction of the best voice coach in the area. This may be formal voice coaching as part of a course in an educational institution, acting college, or organised actor’s course or there are many voice coaches who work freelance and offer private tuition and classes.

A voice coach will help improve the voice, make the most of the natural voice and offer versatility and adaptability; characteristics very useful in the world of commercial voicing. There are voice overs who believe their voice is enough for them to succeed, and all they have to do is offer themselves to the world. Voice work is unlikely to come to them, as their offer can be limited. The voice over who can adapt and change to demands is more likely to pick up any work that’s going.

Practice Voice Work.

The next step is to get better and find work. Getting better is matter of experience and practice and unfortunately as in many industries, people looking to hire voice talent tend to want experienced voices. But how do experienced voices become experienced without experience? There are a number of areas that can help.

• Listen to as much voice work as possible
• Examine the different types of voices on radio, TV, cinema, and on the internet
• Visit the websites of voice agents and listen to demos
• Practice as many types of voice work as available.

Finding the Natural Voice.

There are many types of voice work and having gained some knowledge of what’s involved in each, the aspiring voice should now have some confidence to be able to choose the area of voice work they might feel they want to concentrate on. Without excluding any area of work offered of course, a particular voice may be suited more to one area than other. This will become the main area they feel their voice fits naturally better into than others. Areas of voice work include:

• Radio and TV Commercials
• Documentaries and Commentaries
• Programme Presentation
• News Reading and Journalism
• Audio Visual work including commercial and public information presentations
• Voice Dubbing, and radio plays.

Recording a simple voice demo showcasing a natural voice is a good first step, and many voice coaches will offer this as part of their training. With this and the knowledge they now have, rather than simply turning up a studio or a voice agent’s door and asking to be a voice over, a voice actor now has something more to offer.

The copyright of the article How to Become a Voice Over in Radio Journalism is owned by Dan McCurdy. Permission to republish How to Become a Voice Over in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

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