Voice: Acting

Effectiveness is everything in your voice-over career, especially in the booth during a live session. Here’s a example from VO pro Tom Dheere’s recent live session, which became a collaboration between client and voice talent …

The voice-over e-learning process can be difficult at times. Re-takes for your mistakes, re-takes for script updates, delays for client team review …. But through it all, keep smiling, advises voice actor and e-learning expert Rick Gordon: Roll with the punches and you’ll be the client’s go-to VO talent ….

Amid all the emergencies and drama of today’s world, the reporting and voicing of it in constant high energy can actually tune the listener out. Speech specialist Dr. Ann Utterback advises looking for peaks and valleys in the copy to keep emphasis where it belongs …

A professional athlete or dancer wouldn’t enter the stadium or stage without warming up the muscles to enhance their performance. As a voice actor, your voice needs to warm up, too. Ready to roll, trill and make funny sounds with Rick Lance?

Would you like to tell certain voice-over clients how to improve their scripts? VO pro Sissy Siero says she’s “an expert witness, judge and jury” for that – as she reads between 20 to 50 scripts a week – “a surprisingly small percentage of which are well written.” Here are three common mistakes she’d advise clients to avoid …

Do you tend to say the word “important” as “impor’ant”? Or “certainly” as “cer’inly”? Do you even know if you do this? It’s risky to drop those medial consonants, warns speech specialist Dr. Ann Utterback. You can sound not as smart as you are, and you might be difficult to understand. Here’s how to fix what might be a stumbling block for you ….

Your natural accent or dialect is a gem to be embraced and respected – but if it’s also a roadblock to expanding your voice-over audition and job opportunities, a path forward is to learn how to switch to ‘General American English’ (GAE) when scripts call for it. VO pro and GAE coach Monique Bagwell explains the concept and training …

Are you voicing healthcare ads – or want to? The key to success in this genre is a VO delivery that’s personal and genuine. And that’s not easy – especially when stumbling over mile-long medical terms. These tips from VO pro and coach Kim Handysides gets you into the doctor’s office and beyond …

True or False: You can only do voice-overs if you have a “great voice.” Or can do accents and “weird” voices. VO pro Rick Lance gives a thumbs up – or down – to these and other notions about voice acting …

Here are two final voice-over exercise challenges from Patrick Fraley: “Be Vwey, Vwey Quiet” and “The Wrong Action” – excerpts from his recent book with many, many more challenges. Get a partner and try these …