- Getting To Know Your Voice
- Embracing Your Voice
- Developing Your Voice
- Studying The Industry
- Creating Voice Acting Portfolio
- Networking In The Voice Acting Industry
- Treating Each Client Individually
This dynamic industry brings characters, stories, information, and emotions to life in various mediums. From beloved animated and video game characters to television ads and corporate information videos, voice acting is a forever thriving and in-demand field for actors.
Read below to learn tips about the ways performers can prosper as voice actors and succeed at getting voice acting jobs.
Getting To Know Your Voice
Becoming a voice actor is impossible without fully understanding and knowing what your voice can do and can not do. It is crucial that actors are aware of the strengths and weaknesses of their voice before trying to get into the competitive industry of voice overs.
Actors can get to know their voice range, style and tone, as well potential acting adjustments to it, by practicing. One of the ways it can be done is by reading scripts out loud and recording it.
Embracing Your Voice
It is important actors do not chase some imagined perfect sound of voice. Reality is each potential project will have different requirements and needs, which is why voice actors should embrace their natural abilities.
While imitating voice tones and styles can certainly appear as part of voice acting work, it is recommended performers put emphasis on authentically creating memorable performances with their own unique natural voices.
Developing Your Voice
To make significant progress, voice actors should be practicing their vocals in:
- breathing techniques;
- vocal stretches;
- articulation drills;
- pitch modulation exercises.
Consistent work on vocal skills will eventually result in more consistent and stronger performances.
Actors should also be willing to leave their comfort zone to expand their vocal range. This means creating various versions of the actual voice and expanding the ways it can sound, like developing various styles, tones, and accents.
A great example for how this can work out for a voice acting career is Bart from The Simpsons. Despite Bart Simpson being a male character, the ten-year-old boy is actually famously voiced by a woman, Nancy Cartwright. She has been doing it since 1987 when she passed on the opportunity to try voicing the character of Lisa Simpson. Cartwright thought her technique to make her voice sound high-pitched would be a great fit for Lisa's brother instead. It was perfect and the rest is history.
By being able to make significant adjustments to voice for a specific role, the voice actor will become more marketable, thus potentially increasing opportunities to get.
Studying The Industry
To become successful in the highly competitive voice acting industry actors have to, so to say, study the game. Performers should deepen their knowledge and understanding of voice acting by regularly researching the industry, including keeping up to date on current trends and new technologies.
Actors should also participate in events like seminars, conventions, or workshops, which feature experienced industry professionals sharing their knowledge, conducting training sessions, and offering networking opportunities. Performers can do some studying from the comfort of their home too, including reading books and watching tutorials online.
Another great way to learn more about the field is by analyzing the most successful voice-acting stories and personalities. Have you ever wondered how Mark Hamill who is best known as Luke Skywalker from Star Wars came to become one of the most acclaimed and awarded voice actors? Or how Troy Baker keeps getting lead roles in some of the most beloved video games of all time? And let's not forget about Seth McFarlane voicing various characters in the same animated series, Family Guy!
Creating Voice Acting Portfolio
A voice acting portfolio, which is often also referred to as voice-over demo or a demo reel, serves the same purpose as any other portfolio - it showcases the performer's best work examples, as well as their skills. The difference from others in this case is that, of course, it showcases how skilled and versatile the actor's vocals are.
The voice over demo reel in the perfect scenario should be around one minute long and feature high-quality audio and video of the performer's past experience. It should include various examples for commercials, audiobooks, narration, voiceovers, and more styles of voice acting.
Voice actors should make sure their portfolio features high-quality recordings and is all-around well crafted since it can really make them stand out in the competitive job market.
Networking In The Voice Acting Industry
Voice actors can also engage with their peers online in various platforms, including online forums and also the previously mentioned seminars, conventions or workshops. It can be very useful in order to exchange advice and other relevant information to successfully navigate the voice over job market.
It is similar how professional connections work in other fields as well but probably nowhere as evident in the entertainment industry. Networking with fellow voice actors and other industry professionals, both in real life and online, can increase visibility in the market of voice acting jobs for a performer and open doors to more opportunities.
Treating Each Client Individually
The routine created by researching the voice acting industry can be applied to employers and clients as well since each project ultimately will be its own unique thing. Voice actors should take an in-depth look into projects they are trying to get the gig for, or hopefully already have been hired, to thoroughly understand the client's needs and requirements.
Researching the project's target audience is crucial for performers because delivering appropriate and authentic vocal accents, styles and tones is important to ultimately meet the quality expectations that the people hearing the final result will have. Effectively, it also means meeting the results the client expects to receive.
Of course, regardless of the project, voice actors should always strive to display excellence at being punctual and prepared for the job. Performers should never stop learning and working at their vocal acting craft, and success at voice acting jobs will surely follow.
