VoiceOverXtra - Voice Acting: The Mighty Tongue Twister - For Mighty Good Performances,

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The Mighty Tongue Twister ...

For Mighty Good Voice Acting

By Joe Loesch

Voice Actor & Coach

The Mighty Tongue Twister can be the key to a mighty performance.

It may very well hold the magic that turns a good VO performance into great!

You've been honing your skills for some time now. You've been reading aloud at every possible opportunity to direct your reading into conversation ...

Learning microphone techniques.
Controlling those pesky 'P's' and those ferociously windy 'F's'.
Finding new places to breath within a script.
Listening to yourself and weaving the voice that once annoyed you into gold.

Weeks, months, even a year or so later, here you are ... you're a voice actor!

YOUR NEXT STEP ...

But one of the most overlooked and yet simple exercises a voice actor can do is the 'tongue twister!'

We have all grown up at least being familiar with what they are. We have all heard:

Rubber Baby Buggy Bumpers
Red Leather, Yellow Leather
Irish Wrist Watch ... and so on.

Look at it this way, it's sort of like investing in and agreeing to a monthly fee at the gym, and then you don't go to the gym.

Why would you invest in classes, a demo, a USB microphone, recording software, promo materials, endless hours of honing your skills, etc. and then not exercise?

DO THE TWIST

Don't overlook this simple yet mighty step .. .do your tongue twisters!

Here's one of my favorites. Learn it, use it, do it!

She stood in the doorway of Burgesses fish store shop

Inexplicably mimicking him and welcoming him in

Break it down into four sections. Learn each section before moving on:

1. She stood in the doorway -
2. of Burgesses fish store shop -
3. Inexplicably mimicking him -
4. and welcoming him in

Now three times fast all the way through!

I hope you find this helpful. Much success to you in your voice over career!

ABOUT JOE ...

Joe Loesch is a voice over coach, actor, producer and the voice for many cartoon characters for the Disney channel. He narrates audiobooks for Harper Collins, Zondervan Publishing, Thomas Nelson, Pacific Press, Readio Theatre and The Lampo Group, and has voiced dozens of commercials for national and regional advertisers, including Philips/Magnavox, Bridgestone/Firestone, Folgers Coffee, Sun Sweet Prunes, Ford, Chevy and Toyota. He appears in movies and national on-camera TV commercials, and recently recorded and produced Dave Ramsey's Junior's Adventures audio CDs (listen at DaveRamsey.com).

Email: joe@joeloesch.com

Web: www.joeloesch.com

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Comments (5)

Joe Loesch

10/6/2020 at 11:15 AM

Where on the mic does your voice sound best? Are you directly facing the mic? Using it off axis? Using a pop-filter? Are you at least 6 inches from the mic? Do you sound better at 8 inches way?

Always pay attention to your room first. If your room doesn’t sound good, your mic and mic placement will not matter.

William Bruce McFadden

10/5/2020 at 10:41 PM

Joe!

You mention practicing "microphone techniques," but you don't explain what they are... What are they?
Thanks!

Bruce >

Peter Katt

6/7/2011 at 11:13 AM

I practice tongue twisters every morning in the shower! And any time I have trouble with a phrase in copy, I add it to the list to practice (perhaps embellishing it a bit to make it more challenging). Most recently: "Where we require recruits."

Paul J. Warwick

6/6/2011 at 10:39 AM

Thanks!
I love a good twist tonguer! When it becomes muscle memory, I need a new twister!

Debbie Irwin

6/6/2011 at 8:34 AM

Thanks for sharing this new twist on tongue teasers!

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