how to – Such A Voice https://www.suchavoice.com Voice Over Training and Demo Production Wed, 22 Aug 2018 16:20:58 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0 https://www.suchavoice.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/cropped-favicon-32x32-1-32x32.png how to – Such A Voice https://www.suchavoice.com 32 32 Working Wednesday: The ABC’s of Finding Your Signature Sound https://www.suchavoice.com/blog/2018/08/22/abcs-finding-your-signature-sound/ Wed, 22 Aug 2018 16:20:58 +0000 https://www.suchavoice.com/?p=11423 Read more

]]>
YouTube Video

target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">signature sound. You might be wondering, What is your signature sound?

Your signature sound is, by definition, your money voice. It’s the unique signature delivery and niche sound that people will consistently hire you to perform. As opposed to an extreme, stylized vocal delivery, your signature sound is most often the voice and style of copy that allows you to perform the most genuine, natural deliveries.

There are so many opportunities in the voice acting industry that there’s no reason for you to feel the need to alter who you are and what you sound like in order to be successful. The most important thing is for you to discover for yourself your own personal and particular vocal qualities and sound, own them, and go for it. Here are three steps to get you started!

 

Authenticity: Be true to yourself! It might seem boring or hard to believe that your signature sound can be this straightforward. Trust in this and you’ll be on your way.

Branding: By mastering your unique sound and point of view, you’ll have an original, go-to brand to build outward from. Your signature sound will most likely end up being the voice that will help launch your voice acting career and land you most of your voice-over work.

Commitment: It often takes time and hard work for you to discover your signature sound. You’ll need to be committed to performing a wide variety of copy, and make sure to build time in your schedule to experiment with your reads daily. If you stay committed to finding it, you’ll get there!

Interested in learning more about how to find your signature sound? Check out our upcoming 3-day Rock the Mic Facebook LIVE event that starts next Monday, August 27th. On the 27th at 8pm Eastern, Bridget Renshaw and I will be discussing the importance of including your signature sound in your voice-over demo. Plus, we have two other AWESOME webinars, which include a day in the life of a voice-over artist and a one-on-one coaching session. That’s right, you’ll get to experience what it’s like to train with us and then see your voice acting career grow!


Register here to get access to all of the Rock the Mic webinars.

Source

]]> Working Wednesday: How To Stay Social as a Self-Employed Voice Actor https://www.suchavoice.com/blog/2018/06/27/working-wednesday-stay-social-voice-actor/ Wed, 27 Jun 2018 15:56:24 +0000 https://www.suchavoice.com/?p=11102 Read more

]]>
YouTube Video

voice actorBefore jumping into my voice-over career full-time, I worked as an Academic Recruiter for a large university. I would give presentations almost everyday to huge groups of high school students about the college admissions process. I was constantly surrounded by people and collaborating with my co-workers. Then, all of a sudden, it was just me and my microphone. While I loved my work as a voice actor, it was incredibly isolating, and I found myself feeling lonely and a little depressed. I quickly realized I had to make an effort to stay social and connected to the world outside my studio.


Here are a few things you can do to fight that isolation:

 

Work outside of your house whenever you can. When you need to reach out to clients, prep manuscripts, or do anything that doesn’t require your studio, go to a coffee shop, library, or park. I have a regular coffee shop that I go to a few times a week. The employees have gotten to know me, so it’s like having a group of co-workers that give me delicious beverages.

voice actorUse social media to connect with other voice actors. Search for Facebook groups. Find your tribe on Instagram or Twitter. If you’re a Such A Voice student or alum, make friends in the VO Pro Membership group. It’s nice to be in-touch with people who understand what you’re going through and can cheer you on.

You don’t want to talk about voice-over day in and day out. So, schedule time with your friends to meet up for coffee or lunch at least once a week. You need that quality human interaction.

Take acting or improv classes to improve your voice-over skills. This is an exciting, challenging, and smart way to meet other like-minded people and keep your social and creative cup full. Google local theater groups or acting teachers and sign up!

 

Whether you find your footing in social media, professional development, networking, or your local coffee shop, just make sure you’re keeping your spirits high. A happy voice actor is an engaging one. After all, your business needs its CEO, star talent, and sales person on their A-game.

 

And we always appreciate hearing about how we’ve helped you get on your A-game. Share your positive experiences about Such A Voice and engage with other voice talents! 

Source

]]>
How to Get Started With Your Professional Voice Acting Career https://www.suchavoice.com/blog/2018/05/03/how-to-get-started-voice-acting/ Thu, 03 May 2018 15:00:56 +0000 https://www.suchavoice.com/?p=10674 Read more

]]>
voice actingYou may have been told our shockingly simple secret, taken our webinar and received your complimentary voice evaluation, or maybe you’ve taken our introductory voice-over class in person. Regardless of how you got to Such A Voice, you’ve had the realization that becoming a voice actor could be a different and much-needed career change. But, how do you actually do it? How do you start your voice acting career?

There are a couple of things that can propel you into the vast world of VO that many of our coaches (who are all voice actors and were once in your shoes) have suggested.

  • Throw your ego out the door because there’s always room for improvement. Ok, keep your ego intact because you need it for your self-confidence (which is a must in the VO industry) but don’t assume because you’ve taken a few workshops that you have the chops now. You need to train and practice on a regular basis, just like an athlete, just like a musician, just like a professional chef. Beyonce didn’t make it to the top and then just stop and let the fruits of her labor work for her. She still practices, rehearses and continues perfecting it all. Laying down some cash for proper voice-over training with coaches may feel costly at the time, but you have to consider that those sessions will pay for themselves after you’ve had a few job offers, which ideally you will if you keep working on improving your skills. A voice coach will take you out of your comfort zone and help you to grow as a voice actor in ways that you wouldn’t otherwise on your own. The best part of working with a coach is that it’s fun!
  • Make it happen, don’t wait for it to happen. Well, there’s some waiting involved after you submit auditions of course, but I’m talking about being proactive and sharing your enthusiasm for your new career endeavors with everyone. The more people who know you’re getting into voice acting, the more likely you are to find work. Networking is huge and although you may cringe at the idea of it, again, it’s a step outside your comfort zone which can potentially bring results. This can also mean getting your business cards made, launching your website, your business Facebook page, and your LinkedIn profile. It means cold calls and emailing prospective clients. Prepare yourself for rejection and take it with a grain of salt when it happens. Remember that a rejection doesn’t mean you don’t have talent, it means you didn’t fit the voice description of what the client had in mind.
  • voice actingSetting realistic goals helps you with time management. It can feel overwhelming to embark on a voice acting career. If you’re anything like me when you feel overwhelmed you shut down and don’t accomplish anything except accumulating a YouTube history of funny cat videos. Now as entertaining as that is, it’s not going to bring you anything but guilt later on for not getting anything done. So, set goals for yourself and I’m talking realistic goals. Not goals like- Send auditions this week. No, that’s too broad and too vague. Get detailed with your goals and ask someone to hold you accountable. This could be the voice-over coach that you’ve invested in. Setting goals will ideally teach you how to organize your time as well. What helps me is to use my Google calendar as my guiding light. I write my goals into the time and day slots that I want to get them done. When I do that, I usually achieve said goals. If I just think it and assume I’ll get it done, it doesn’t happen. In that case, what gets done is more accumulation of cat videos. With setting goals and practical organization of your time, it can be helpful to create a routine for yourself so that you’re dedicating a set amount of hours each day to starting your voice acting career.
  • A professional demo and high-quality equipment are key. I cannot stress enough how important a professional demo is. Imagine you’re interviewing someone for a job and they show up in ripped jeans with their hair askew. Would you hire that person based on your first impression? Unless it’s for a heavy metal music booking company, probably not. Your demo is your prospective client’s first impression of you. If there’s background noise or the sound is muffled or you’re popping your p’s too much, that’s going to reflect poorly on you and what the client assumes your capabilities are. Get into a studio with a producer and director so that you can take advantage of their expertise. Don’t forget that we can help you with that too!

 

If after reading this article, you’re still feeling apprehensive and not jazzed enough, here are some books that I recommend to get you off your tush and into the world of voice acting!

The War of Art by Steven Pressfield

The Big Leap by Gay Hendricks

You’re a Badass at Making Money by Jen Sincero

 

We always enjoy hearing your feedback, so join the conversation and see what’s trending about Such A Voice!

 

We also provide more tips about how to get started with your voice acting career on our YouTube channel. We even have a video for this post, so you can hear the blog author, Bekka Burton, in action. Check it out below: 

 

YouTube Video

 

 

 


                                                                                                   About the Author

bekka burtonBekka Burton is a copywriter, scriptwriter and copy editor at Such A Voice. She’s also an English Language teacher forcing fun grammar activities onto unsuspecting students in Barcelona, Spain. She’s currently studying an online Diploma course for Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages from Trinity College in London and will be pursuing a Master’s in Linguistics in Fall 2018. When she’s not studying, writing, editing or teaching, she’s sure to be found hiking mountains, reading books, and eating her way through many European cities.

 

 

 

 

Source

]]>
Voice-Over Demos: How To Create A Compelling Voice-Over Demo https://www.suchavoice.com/blog/2018/02/02/how-to-create-compelling-voice-over-demo/ Fri, 02 Feb 2018 16:00:29 +0000 https://www.suchavoice.com/?p=9989 Read more

]]>
voice-over demoAs a voice-over artist, your voice-over demo is the most useful tool you have in getting your voice heard and allowing potential clients and agents to have a comprehensive understanding of what you offer as a unique and capable voice talent. When you think about it, your demo is your calling card, business card, and resume all rolled into one! That’s why your demo needs to be a professional, high-quality showcase of the best work you can do.


Here’s how to create a compelling voice-over demo:


Get up to Speed

It’s important to become familiar with industry standards and understand the reasoning behind them before creating your voice-over demo. Most demos are around 60 seconds long these days. One reason is because people have shorter attention spans than ever before. Another reason is that there is more content being made nowadays and potential clients simply don’t have enough time to listen to longer demos in order to decide who they are interested in working with. Making sure your demo fits into the voice-over landscape shows clients that you’re in tune with what’s going on in the industry.

 

Focus on Genre

It’s important that your voice-over demo showcases one specific genre, as opposed to being a compilation of different genres on one demo. Voice seekers are busy, and they don’t have time to wade through a long montage to eventually see if you can master the style they’re looking for. That’s why having a genre-specific demo that accurately showcases your current skill set in that particular genre is a must for any voice-over artist.

Commercial and narration demos are common genres to focus on initially, and will remain staples of your demo arsenal. As you grow in your voice work, you may want to create specialty demos in other genres. These include animation, promo, audiobook, narration, and foreign language.

 

Great Content

When selecting scripts for your demo, make sure the copy is strong and allows you to shine as a performer. Choose marketable content that accurately reflects your capabilities. Ensure the spots you choose are evergreen, meaning that they can be used months and potentially years down the road without the content feeling dated.

 

Show Your Range

As a voice actor, you’ve honed the ability to create a variety of different reads and interpretations. Your demo should showcase your best performances, showing enough range and versatility to capture the listener’s attention, hold it, and leave them wanting more.

 

Quality Matters

Your demo should reflect the level of professionalism and quality you aim to offer your future clients. In keeping with a high standard of excellence, it’s optimal for your demo to be professionally recorded in a studio. The most marketable passages with the strongest performances should then be selected, ideally by a post producer with experience in the industry. Finally, an audio engineer should bring their expertise to the table, adding music and sound effects, and ultimately editing, sequencing, mixing, and mastering the demo.

 

It’s easy to feel nervous about creating your voice-over demo, especially for the first time, but if you start out having these key points covered, you can feel confident that you’re ready to create a compelling voice-over demo.

 

Check out our VO Pro Membership and the Such A Voice blog for more content like this!

 


About the Author

claudine ohayonClaudine Ohayon is an Emmy Award-winning director/producer, commercial and promotional voice talent for brands like Verizon, Listerine, and MasterCard, native Brooklynite, published photographer. She was also the live announcer for the first ever televised Hollywood Film Awards on CBS.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Source

]]>
How to Manage Relations with International Voice-Overs Clients https://www.suchavoice.com/blog/2018/01/25/tips-for-managing-relations-international-voice-over/ Thu, 25 Jan 2018 17:00:51 +0000 https://www.suchavoice.com/?p=9946 Read more

]]>
 
 

I am most fortunate and grateful to have had much sustained success as a voice-over actor international voice-overfor nearly twenty years. Over that time, I have seen seismic shifts in the industry. One of the most significant has been the transition towards home studio production. With the advent of new technologies that make home studios affordable and large files transferable through the Cloud, the whole world is – literally – in my hands. Over the last decade, many of my bookings have come from producers in countries such as Canada, the UK, Germany, India, Israel, China, Mexico, and Brazil. When a production requires North American English, opportunities with international voice-over clients abound. You can connect with exciting work from all around the world, whether it’s through P2P casting sites, talent agencies, or your own marketing efforts from the comfort of your home.

Here are some helpful tips for managing relations with international voice-over clients:

1.) First of all, don’t shy away from going after international voice-over work. Whatever marketing you engage in, expand it out and beyond the borders. When you see international calls through Voices.com and Voice123, go for them! When you are looking to get signed by talent agents, go for international voice-over agents. There are numerous representatives to be found in Canada and the UK, as well as non-native English speaking countries. Whether you’re reaching out to foreign production companies, casting directors, or talent agencies, you’ll find that all of them will keep a roster of ‘Uhmuhrican’ voice talent.

international voice-over2.) When it comes to booking work, go into deals eager, but with eyes wide open. You want to verify their validity and ensure payment will be made no matter who the potential new client is. That goes even more so for international voice-over clients. Before delivering sessions, make sure you’ve checked out their online presence and confirmed the payment process. PayPal is usually the best way to complete international transactions. If you are not 100% sure the client will be a reputable partner then arrange a partial payment up front. However, don’t over scrutinize them to the point that you lose them as a client.

3.) As far as rates go, expect less money when dealing with international voice-over clients. Generally, rates for foreign productions are less than in the US. I’ve found that Canadian and European clients pay pretty much on par, and Latin American and Asian countries less. Personally, I’ve turned down a lot of work from clients because the pay was too low, but for those of you looking to break in and get some credits, your competitive advantage can be taking these lower-paying higher-volume projects.

4.) One of the great things about being a VO actor is that gigs can come calling at any time. Don’t be surprised when contact gets made late on a Sunday night or early on a Monday morning. Note the time difference. Expect emails from Asia before you go to sleep and ones from Europe before you wake up. The varying time differences also mean that correspondence may take longer. Be patient, but have an email device on you at all times so you can respond to notes immediately and avoid a 12 – 24-hour delay.

5.) Also, when it comes to scripts, expect to have to do some editing. Unless it’s a native English production, the script you receive will either have been translated to English or drafted by a non-native English speaker. Usually, clients are open to and solicitous of you making changes for grammar and colloquial-ness, so feel comfortable doing that. Just make sure that you first run any changes by the client.

6.) Finally, keep things professional and formal. Different cultures interact differently, but you’ll be safe if you always err on the side of professional politeness. If you impress a client with your talent and business acumen, you very well may become a main go-to for future projects. Because international voice-over producers are often not as savvy about finding talent, there may be less competition, and once they find someone they like, they’ll keep coming back for more.

 

Check out our VO Pro Membership and the Such A Voice blog for more content like this!

 

We’re also on YouTube. Check out the video for this blog post:

YouTube Video

 


                                              About the Author

Alan Schwartz has many years of experience in the voice-over industry. His voice has been heard in TV and radio commercials, promos, documentaries, animated films, video games, and much more. He has worked with the following brands/companies for national commercial campaigns: Sprite, Verizon, Yahoo!, Smirnoff Ice and TGI Friday’s.  Check out Alan’s website to see more of his work.

Source

]]>
How to Follow Up with Voice-Over Clients and Agencies https://www.suchavoice.com/blog/2018/01/04/how-to-follow-up-voice-over-clients-agencies/ Thu, 04 Jan 2018 16:00:41 +0000 https://www.suchavoice.com/?p=9849 Read more

]]>

 

voice-over clientsWe all know how harrowing it can feel to make that first contact with a potential client. It feels like the success of our business is dependent upon that initial contact, especially if that potential client is someone that we really want to work with. In reality, the initial contact is just the first step in creating a relationship with voice-over clients and agencies. Oftentimes, the potential client doesn’t answer when we call or doesn’t open our first email to them. Why is that? They receive a lot of first contacts from voice-over actors. They’re busy trying to keep their own current clients happy and they’re not just waiting around for you to email or call them. Hard to believe, right? In the advertising and marketing world, it is said that a prospect needs to see your campaign SEVEN times before they make a purchase.
It’s very normal if your prospect/potential client doesn’t get back to you right away.
That’s why a good follow up strategy is so very important. Here’s how to follow up with voice-over clients and agencies:

  1. Tell them when you will contact them again. In your initial contact, let them know when you will follow up with them. Don’t ever leave the conversation/email/voicemail open ended. Always have the next steps planned out before you make the call or send the email. I like to give the prospect a follow-up time frame of one week after my initial contact, and then every 2-4 weeks after that. That way, everyone knows what to expect.
  2. Write down everything! Whatever the time frame that you give the prospect, write it down in your calendar (whether it is electronic or paper). Make notes of when you told them you’d reach out to them again and then reach out again at that time.
  3. Do exactly what you’ve said that you’ll do. By following up with a client, you’re giving them the perspective of what it’s like to work with you and that’s very important. If you tell them you will contact them in a week, do you do it? If not, what does that say about your professionalism?
  4. Be creative in your follow up. We work in a creative business – use it to your advantage! Send them a personalized recording of your voice with some music in the background. Wish them a “Happy Chocolate Cake Day” or whatever random day the calendar says it is. Look on their website/social media feeds to find out what is important to them and incorporate it into your follow up. Compliment them on their recent projects and explain that this is the reason why you are so eager to work with them!
  5. Follow their instructions. Let’s say you actually do speak to a potential voice-over clients – yay! During the conversation, you offer yourself as a resource for their voice-over needs for any clients they may have, or any new clients they may get. They tell you to send them your demos. Make sure to ask them when they would like you to follow up with them.  It’s important to honor their request. No one likes a pest. Then again, if they don’t hear from you at all, how do they know you still are working as a voice-over actor? I like to follow up quarterly with those whom I have sent demos to.

Once you see that the contact and subsequent follow-up schedule is a process in building a relationship with the potential client, you can take some pressure off of that first contact. Many voice-over actors stop following up after the initial contact when they don’t hear back, yet that’s the worst thing you can do. Follow up! Keep following up with voice-over clients and agencies until you get a hard “no.” Remember, it may take up to SEVEN times before you get a response. It takes time and organization, but following up will reap big benefits!


Check out our VO Pro Membership and the Such A Voice blog for more content like this!

 

There are two other ways in which you can tune into our blog!

You can access the audio version of this article on the Such A Voice Soundcloud.

We’re also on YouTube. Check out the video for this post:

YouTube Video

 


About the Author

Jillian Nielsen is an expressive voice talent with over 14 years of experience in radio and television commercial and promotional voice-overs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Source

]]>
How to Notice Trends with Advertising in Commercial Voice-Overs https://www.suchavoice.com/blog/2017/12/28/notice-trends-advertising-commercial-voice-overs/ Thu, 28 Dec 2017 06:00:24 +0000 https://www.suchavoice.com/?p=9799 Read more

]]>
commercial voice-oversWhen we talk about “trends” in voice acting, the word, “trends,” itself reflects the nature of the voice-over business – it’s ever-changing. It’s important to keep up with these changes in order to stay competitive in your auditions. Luckily, if you are observant and analytical, it’s fairly easy to tell which way vocal deliveries are headed!  (Note: In this article, I am referring specifically to commercial voice-overs, however, trends tend to influence all genres.)

Tune in to any network channel and you’ll see and hear wildly divergent commercials, yet you’ll also see one common trend with commercial voice-overs today: they’re real, believable, and entertaining.

Advertising is veering away from the sales pitch in commercial voice-overs for a variety of reasons:

  1. Folks are much more sophisticated today. There is a general mistrust of hard-selling commercials.
  2. People are busier than ever, and in some ways, more isolated from others due to technology. They want to hear someone real and approachable, who they can relate to in a personal way.

Believe it or not, smartphones may be the biggest driver of change in advertising. According to the Telegraph, “…The average human attention span has fallen from twelve seconds in 2000, or around the time the mobile revolution began, to eight seconds.” (Watson, 2015). This means advertisers must constantly devise clever new ways to hold the audience’s attention!

Since they only have a few seconds to grab our attention, ad agencies are cooking up everything from talking bathroom fixtures to highly produced commercials that seem more like movies (think about the recent road trip/Volvo ad). Commercials run the gamut from the ridiculous to the sublime.   

Advertisers are also trying to capture the audience’s attention by using well-known actors. This trend is shaking up the voice-over industry! There was a time when all you needed was a great voice for a commercial, but now we must use voice acting techniques to bring more dimension to our delivery.

Now more than ever, it’s imperative to bring our unique human qualities to voice acting. It’s our responsibility to understand the copywriter’s emotional intention for the actor, and then make it our own.

One way to get connected to the writer’s intention is to ask ourselves, “Do I care about what I am about to say?” If you do, great! If you don’t, you need to find a way to make yourself care. Therein lies the connection.

Acting coach Joe Pearlman believes it’s imperative to know what exactly makes you unique. He calls it discovering your “fingerprint.” It’s that thing about your personality you can’t change and wouldn’t want to change. It may be a quality that you think is a flaw like a quirky laugh, a funny way of inflecting, or a unique tone in your voice. Determine what it is that sets you apart from everyone else and flaunt it!

Real human beings are now a sought-after commodity in casting. Luckily, you fit the bill! Work on bringing your total self to each read. Each day, before you record, go to the mirror and say, “I am enough.” Because you are.


If you enjoyed this blog post, then check out our VO Pro Membership and the rest of the Such A Voice blog for more voice-over tips. 

There are also two other ways in which you can tune into our blog!

You can access the audio version of this article on the Such A Voice Soundcloud.

We’re also on YouTube. Check out the video for this post:

 

YouTube Video


About the Author

Nancy WilsonNancy Wilson is a producer and coach at Such A Voice. She is a busy voice actor and environmental writer, as well as a member of the SAG/AFTRA Radio Plays committee.

Source

]]>
How To Grow Your Voice Acting Skills, Part 1: Imagination https://www.suchavoice.com/blog/2017/12/07/how-to-grow-voice-acting-skills/ Thu, 07 Dec 2017 16:00:56 +0000 https://www.suchavoice.com/?p=9681 Read more

]]>
voice actingIn a recent blog titled, Voice-Over Auditions: How To Stand Out As A Voice Talent, I talked about how actors are changing the landscape of voice-overs by bringing their voice acting skills to their craft.

Actors are meeting the needs of an ever changing advertising industry, one that is scrambling to keep the attention of a more sophisticated audience.  Simply put, listeners no longer want to be sold something. Instead, they want to be entertained by an interesting human being who they can relate to.

Good actors know how to make any commercial relatable by turning the copy into a story with a believable character. It’s exciting to identify, flesh out, then relate to a character in a story. Character development is a skill which grows and evolves over time, which is why even the greatest actors never get tired of acting!

But, how do you make an interesting story out of a very straight forward commercial, say for toilet paper? Now this requires lots of imagination.

Most of the time, we need to create a story where there seems to be none. This is why imagination is a key ingredient for voice acting.

When we were kids on the playground, we constantly created characters out of nothing. We believed we were the cowboy, princess, or wizard without any reservations. Our imaginations were wild and free and allowed us to create characters, circumstances, and relationships without limit!

One of the most important ways we can grow as voice actors is to cultivate our imaginations. Society, stress, and adult responsibilities have stifled our imagination, but it’s still there! It’s begging to come out and play!

There are plenty of ways in which you can grow your imagination. Try doing the following:

  1. Decrease the amount of multitasking you do on a day to day basis. Doing more than one thing at a time is death to the actor. Practice being in the present moment. Meditate.
  2. Sharpen your observation skills. Practice just sitting in a park or busy street and people watching without checking your phone or Facebook. Try to imagine who these people are and what kind of lives they lead. This practice provides wonderful material for your voice-over characters!
  3. Find a place that stimulates your senses. That could mean getting out in nature, going to a museum, or visiting a zoo. These places provide images that feed your imagination.
  4. Take an improv workshop! This is a great way to get in touch with the child you used to be, to be more playful, and to take risks.

One of the greatest acting coaches of all time, Stella Adler, believed imagination was everything. Below is an exercise she used in her classes to help her acting students develop their imaginations:

Imagine you’re walking along a country road. See absolutely everything in precise detail:

“How long is your shadow?… How green is the grass?… Are there cows?… Tell me three or four things that make the cows logical and real…You’ve imagined it. Therefore it exists.”  – Stella Adler.

In future blogs, we’ll be looking at more ways to create stories and characters in our commercial copy. Plus, we’ll explore honing in and clarifying who we are and what we bring to the copy. It’s a skill that makes us stand out from the rest!


Stay tuned for a blog coming soon on what vocal styles are trending in voice-over!

And don’t forget to check out our VO Pro Membership and the Such A Voice blog for more voice acting tips. 


There are two other ways in which you can tune into our blog!

You can access the audio version of this article on the Such A Voice Soundcloud.

We’re also on YouTube. Check out the video for this post:

YouTube Video

 

 


About the Author

Nancy Wilson is a producer and coach at Such A Voice. She is a busy voice actor and environmental writer, as well as a member of the SAG/AFTRA Radio Plays committee.

 

 

 

 

 

Source

]]>
How To Use Improv to Build Confidence In Your Voice-Over Work https://www.suchavoice.com/blog/2017/11/16/how-to-use-improv-to-build-confidence/ Thu, 16 Nov 2017 08:00:43 +0000 https://www.suchavoice.com/?p=9554 Read more

]]>
improvImprov is a vital way for voice-over artists to build confidence in their skills. Why? Because as modern day voice actors, we’re spending more time working alone in our home studios than ever before. With no one to bounce our performances off of, it makes sense that creating fresh, creative, dynamic performances time after time can become difficult. Losing perspective on the work we’re doing can quickly lead to insecurity. These classic rules of improv can help you build confidence in your voice-over work. 

Create the where (and who and why).

Improv is performed without costumes, props, or scenery. Improv actors need to focus on quickly establishing a vivid sense of place, building a relationship to the other actors in the scene, and defining a purpose for being there. As a voice-over artist, this practice can help you become more confident in your script analysis skills, making it easier for you to establish the “Who am I? Who am I talking to? What is my point of view?” in any script.

Learn to adapt.

Actors need to keep moving through a scene together even if the circumstances change, otherwise the entire performance will fall apart. This requires listening to scene partners, making spontaneous choices, and remaining fully present in every moment. As a voice actor, this practice will prepare you to respond to direction, react immediately, and continue varying your deliveries throughout an audition or a recording session.

Contribute something.

One of the basic tenets of improv comedy is known as “Yes, and…” The actor’s job is to accept what is presented (“Yes,”) and contribute something to the scene (“and”) no matter what crazy things actors present to one another in an improv setting. This practice will help you make any script your own, establish your unique point of view, and provide you with confidence when developing characters.

There are no mistakes, only opportunities.

In improv, there’s no safety net, no road map, and no way to control what’s about to happen. At first, it can be a terrifying thing to try. You might worry and think “What if I mess up?” There’s this special beauty in the art of improv. This magic in improv often exists where a “mistake” shows up as an opportunity to make the scene better. As a voice actor, this practice can help you to take risks, feel excited to perform, and turn perceived setbacks into happy accidents.

Improv can help you be more confident and capable behind the mic. Plus, it’s a ton of fun, too! Want to try it out? Look for an improv class or Meetup near you. In the meantime, here are some more improv-centric things to explore:

http://dontthinktwicemovie.com/

https://www.amazon.com/Upright-Citizens-Brigade-Comedy-Improvisation/dp/0989387801

http://improvencyclopedia.org/games/

 


About the Author

Claudine Ohayon is an Emmy Award-winning director/producer, commercial and promotional voice talent for brands like Verizon, Listerine, and MasterCard, native Brooklynite, published photographer. She was also the live announcer for the first ever televised Hollywood Film Awards on CBS.

 

We’re giving you two other ways to tune into our blog!

You can access the audio version of this article on the Such A Voice Soundcloud.

We’re also on YouTube. Check out the video for this post:

YouTube Video

Source

]]>
Voice-Over Auditions: How To Stand Out As A Voice Talent https://www.suchavoice.com/blog/2017/11/09/how-to-stand-out-in-voice-over-auditions/ Thu, 09 Nov 2017 16:00:28 +0000 https://www.suchavoice.com/?p=9530 Read more

]]>
voice-over auditionsI talk a lot about the fact that a growing number of working actors are “discovering” voice-over. The fact that Backstage magazine (the actor’s bible) published a very comprehensive article about voice-acting this week is pretty telling. This is exciting news! Actors are applying their acting techniques to commercials and narrations, thereby changing the landscape of voice-overs, and raising the bar of what’s expected of their performance. This means voice actors must grow in exciting ways to meet the challenge. And now more than ever, voice actors need to find ways to stand out in their voice-over auditions!

Consider these stats from SAG-AFTRA and the US Department of Labor and Statistics:

  • There’s been a 900 percent increase in the number of voice-overs required to be voiced over the last three years.
  • It takes an average of 200 auditions to book a job.
  • There are nearly 9,000 union (SAG-AFTRA) voice-overs produced monthly across the country.
  • A bulk of voice-overs both in and out of the U.S. are non-union.
  • Of those auditioning, the likely contenders to book the project are consistently narrowed down to about 10 percent.
  • More than 85 percent of everyone auditioning is disqualified from booking the job for a variety of reasons.

—Backstage, by Kate McClanaghan, October 27, 2017.

There’s a lot of great news here! The number of voice-over audition opportunities have increased dramatically. The average number of voice-over auditions it takes to book a job (200) is simply a fact of life, but you may find that you book a job much sooner than that.

As voice actors, it’s our task to make sure we are one of the ten percent who are booking voice-over auditions. We do this by being the most professional and by standing out from the crowd.

To stand out and to be one of the “ten percenters,” we can’t just be good, we have to be outstanding.

We stand out by doing the work that completely turns the copy into our story.

After you have honored any directions provided and performed deep script analysis, ask yourself the following question:

Do I care about what I’m about to say?

A simple question, but extremely effective. If you care (and have a deeply personal connection to the copy), get specific about it. Develop a two-word emotional hook that clearly defines how the story makes you feel. If you don’t yet care, you must find a way to make yourself care. This requires digging into the words to find the one thing in that copy that you can connect to. 85 percent of folks auditioning today don’t do this crucial step!

Your uniqueness separates you from everyone else. In fact, the things you may think are “flaws” may actually be the qualities that help you book your next job! Get to know yourself and hone in on your most interesting characteristics! You will discover that casting is celebrating you and your uniqueness like never before.


Don’t forget to check out our VO Pro Membership and the Such A Voice blog for more content like this!

There are two other ways in which you can tune into our blog!

Listen to the audio version of this blog post on the Such A Voice Soundcloud!

We’re also on YouTube. Check out the video for this post:

YouTube Video

 


About the Author

Nancy Wilson is a producer and coach at Such A Voice. She is a busy voice actor and environmental writer, as well as a member of the SAG/AFTRA Radio Plays committee.

 

Source

]]>