Voiceover Training – The Essential Step For Any Voice Actor

Voiceover training is an essential step for any voice actor. It helps in developing the skills needed for this industry and allows you to train continuously.

However, there are times when training alone will not work. For instance, when it comes to overcoming nerves while auditioning for commercials or lip synching in a studio.

Home Studio

Home voiceover studios are affordable, and easy to set up. With a well-treated space and a good quality microphone you can create an amazing sounding recording.

Great audio is essential to video productions and a key component of professional work. Muddy or difficult-to-understand audio tracks can frustrate viewers and lead them away from your content. Thankfully, these problems are completely preventable with the right training.

As a full-time SAG-AFTRA voice actor, Jordan Reynolds has a deep understanding of how to deliver high-quality recordings from a home studio. Whether it’s for commercials, corporate narration, online learning, video games, or promos, there is a high standard of audio quality that must be met.

The first step in achieving the perfect home studio audio is understanding the basics of vocal tone and inflection. Voiceovers require a friendly and engaging tone, but should also be clear enough to be understood by people from all around the world. This involves pacing, vocal inflection, and pronunciation, as well as avoiding things like mumbling or shouting.

Fortunately, this is something that you can learn on your own with the right guidance. This self-paced course will teach you how to dissect, improve, and elevate your raw VO audio so that it sounds just as good on the finished product as it does in your own head.

Marketing

The best way to grow your skills as a voice actor is to take advantage of opportunities that allow you to perform. This can be through live webinars or a one-on-one session with an instructor. Whether it is a voice coach or a more experienced mentor, these sessions will help you hone your craft and make valuable connections.

The other way to learn is by attending industry events. This will give you the chance to meet other voice actors and hear their stories. It will also help you to understand the different aspects of the business and how they can affect your work.

You will also want to learn how to market yourself. This can be challenging, especially for someone who is just starting out, but it is essential if you want to get a steady flow of work. Be sure to find a balance between marketing yourself and spamming people, however, as you don’t want to push too hard or be seen as a nuisance.

Another great tip is to create a brand and social media presence. This will help you build a following and give clients confidence in your abilities. Developing this type of reputation will also make it easier for you to book bigger projects. This is because producers value the fact that you have a dedicated audience on a certain platform and are therefore more likely to invest in you as a voice over artist.

Script Understanding

Script comprehension is a crucial element in the success of any voiceover project. Whether it’s a voice over for eLearning, or a commercial for your company, the listener wants to hear engaging content that keeps their attention.

In the case of eLearning, the best way to do this is to keep the voice over to a minimum and allow the visuals to do most of the heavy lifting. This is why it’s important to create short, simple scripts that include clear and concise sentences. Also, avoiding the use of abbreviations and long numbers (spelling them out is always preferable) will make the process much easier on your voice over actor or text-to-speech Voice Avatar.

The tone of the script is also very important. Depending on the brand and purpose of your content, it may need to sound professional, educational, or a little bit snarky. It is also a good idea to have someone outside of your team read your script, as it will often sound different when it’s being read aloud. This will also help to identify tricky spots that may not stand out when read in isolation but can become problematic when recording. Adding transition words like “yet, but, because, and meanwhile” can also help prepare your listener for a change in pace or tone and make the content more interesting to listen to.

Accents

Accents add personality and believability to characters, voice over narrations, and even a brand’s tone of voice. They help tell a story that’s relatable to audiences while delivering on the emotional elements of the script. A voice over with an accent can be fun and light-hearted like a sassy French narrator or a commanding British voice that speaks with authority.

According to a well-known rule of thumb by UCLA professor emeritus Albert Mehrabian, only 7% of meaning is found in the words themselves, while 38% is delivered by intonation and rhythm of voice. Therefore, it’s important to have a voice actor that is able to convey the tone of the script and a believable regional accent.

In her sessions, Sammi teaches voice actors how to listen closely to the pronunciation of each individual sound in the accent they’re learning. She instructs them to pay attention to the stress patterns and the way each accent sounds compared to their own natural speech. She also focuses on how the tongue, jaw, and lips move differently to perform each accent.

Achieving a new accent requires practice and dedication. It’s not a quick process, but with the right training and a passion for the craft, it can be done in no time at all. Adding an accent to a voice over can make the difference between sounding like an amateur and professional.