Today, I'm obsessed with taking voice lessons, particularly, voice-over lessons. I've always thought it was something I would enjoy and possibly, have a secret talent for. I do a dead-ringer of Marv, which I'm very proud of. I remember entering a contest in Winnipeg where the winner would get to announce a WWF wrestling match that was going to be in town. I DON'T EVEN LIKE wrestling, but thought it would be fun to be able to introduce the show using Marvin the Martian's voice. So, I entered the contest, leaving an entire phone message in Marvin's voice, but with wrestling-style-announcer intonations. (Does that make sense?) I never won, but I realized that if given the opportunity, people will do anything for a little notoriety.
Anyway, back to voice-overs and lessons... I found a few workshops that looked pretty interesting. Wouldn't that be fun? Providing the voice of various animated characters or hearing your voice in a commercial? (Actually, I don't like my real voice...)
Here are some helpful tips from James Arnold Taylor, Professional Voice Over Talent who has created created over 8000 bits that were heard on radio stations worldwide (http://www.jamesarnoldtaylor.com/bio.html):
Hone your craft – If you’re really serious about voice-over, study, practice, and take care of your voice on a daily basis. It seems most people believe voice-over acting is simply talking into a microphone and doing funny voices. Nothing can be farther from the truth. In voice-over all you have to convey every type of emotion is your voice. Making faces or using your hands and body to express yourself is great, but nobody gets to see that in voice-over. Acting is the most crucial skill and there is a large divide between acting and mimicking. Just because you can imitate others doesn’t mean you can just go out and do what they do. You must know how to make what you’re reading in a script sound as though it is free flowing from you. You also have to be able to read things “cold” meaning having never seen them before. Most voice acting is done with a script you’ve received a few minutes before the recording session begins. You have to be extremely flexible with your emotions and your attitude. It is a very demanding profession yet very rewarding if you’re dedicated to it.
Vocal taboos – Some of the most damaging things you can do to your voice are: shouting, speaking in a tone that is out of your normal range, speaking from your throat rather than your diaphragm, constant clearing of the throat, and not properly warming up your voice.
Keep hydrated – Water is a necessity in keeping your vocal chords/voice properly moisturized. Without it, your voice dries out, which can lead to loss of voice; this is very damaging to your vocal chords and can hamper your vocal range. Also, if you lose your voice, you can’t work. There are throat sprays to help keep your throat moisturized. I use one often throughout each day.
Practice, practice, practice – As I mentioned earlier, you always have to be ready to perform. I personally started out reading anything and everything I could out loud to get used to hearing my own voice and properly speaking. I liked comic books especially because they cover a wide variety of emotions and characters. Even if you feel silly at first, keep practicing and reading, it’s the most crucial part of the audition process.
Study – Get your hands on everything you can about acting, vocal health, and voice-over. You can start by simply going on-line and doing searches for these topics. The Internet is filled with tons of info and I highly recommend finding out as much as you can.
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