So here goes: Chest up, shoulders back and down, diaphragm engaged.

This is accomplished most effectively when you squeeze your shoulder blades together behind your back; engaging your latissimus dorsi muscles while flaring your ribs a bit, not with your lungs but with your diaphragm. Tiring? Yep. But, you train these muscles by catching yourself slouching and correcting your posture – over and over and over again.

At first, you might slip back into a slouch within a few seconds. In time, your muscles will develop and you’ll find your posture improving drastically. “Chest up, shoulders back and down, diaphragm engaged” needs to become your nature. Your abdominal muscles including your diaphragm and intercostal muscles should all be aware and engaged, because they are the secret to controlling and making the most efficient use of your breath. Start becoming aware of these muscles now. Slow, deep breath… hold that breath steady… and then releasing it in the same controlled manner. This will help your awareness. Be sure to imagine filling the bottom of your lungs as well. Placing your hands on each side of your abdomen will help you have awareness of this area. It should expand and contract when you’re breathing.

One of the keys to controlling your breath and using it to read well is keeping those ribs and those intercostal muscles expanded, even as you speak and use your breath. This opens up your diaphragm and allows you to manage your breathing, enabling you to keep a consistent amount of pressure when you exhale while speaking. Consistency is the mark of a professional. Those of us who have been doing VO for a long time deliver audio that has consistent tone, volume, intensity and energy throughout the entire production. We don’t sound tired or out of breath in the audio we deliver. That doesn’t mean we don’t sometimes get tired or out of breath. It just means we don’t sound it. Sometimes, editing helps fix our sins, but, we also have the breathing skills to keep consistent. Good posture is your foundation for building these skills.

Your head plays a part in your good VO posture, as well. You always want to speak forward. Not up, not down, not sideways. Forward. So, imagine a string runs through your whole torso. It starts at your behind; it runs clear up your spine and out of the top of your head. This is your pillar and your pillar has to be straight and strong. Pull that string straight up through your crown and you’re in perfect alignment. Your face is forward, your chin is ever so slightly tucked. This is your most powerful speaking posture. Make friends with this posture. Not only will it help your VO training, but it’ll make you taller, younger, thinner and more confident. You’re welcome.

Your basic posture for voice over should be either standing or sitting on the edge of your seat. If you were in band as a kid, this will be familiar. If sitting, you need to be on the edge of your seat; one leg can be out front, one can be tucked under the chair. Just be sure your core is engaged.

Air. Yes, we breathe throughout our entire VO but, we need to stay consistent as we use that breath. Start with a full lung of air and don’t come in too strong. Throttle it from the start. You’ll breathe at a combination of two times; one, when there is an obvious breathing point such as punctuation, and two, before you run out. When it’s time to breathe, take “sips” of air, adding on top of the air that you already have in your lungs. This will help you add air before you run out, avoiding loud, gasping breaths. A sip is smaller and quieter than a full lung, so do that as much as you can. Obviously, in a long narration, you’ll sometimes need to stop, take some big in and out breaths, re-supplying your base air, and then pick it up again. Start practicing this, as it’s really more of an art than a science. For practice, take a narration script, something around a page or longer, and read it breathing at each punctuation spot. Then decide where alternative places to breathe might be. Try grabbing a sip of air in a logical spot and see if you can go a little further than the next punctuation spot. Make that air last a little longer. This is how you train yourself to go farther and improve your lung capacity.

Work on your posture and your breathing technique and you’ll be laying a strong foundation for having good vocal delivery and becoming a professional voice talent.

Jessica Magers is an experience voice over actor and a coach/producer with Such A Voice.

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Voice-over training requires a lot of talking! If you are not used to projecting your voice for a continuous period of time, your vocal chords may tire easily. [Teachers: you have a leg up on all of us!] Your vocal chords will eventually adapt to the added demand you make on them as you practice controlling your pitch, attitude, volume and energy. If you find that you feel a bit tired or winded after practicing voice-over technique, maybe you are not using your diaphragm. Learning to use your diaphragm will not only increase your stamina, but it will allow you to control your pitch, attitude, volume and energy more adeptly, and put you in the perfect place to get more voice-over work!

Your diaphragm is a smooth muscle that lies beneath your lungs and controls the mechanics of inspiration. You are always using your diaphragm to inhale and exhale because it is a muscle that works automatically, like your heart. When you inhale, your diaphragm actually contracts to allow air to be sucked into your lungs. Your diaphragm then relaxes, which puts more pressure on your lungs so that you exhale. While your diaphragm does this without your conscious awareness, you can deepen your breath, calm your nerves, and control your voice by consciously engaging your diaphragm.

First, you need to find your diaphragm! Do this exercise to learn where your diaphragm is and what it feels like when you consciously control it.

Start by lying on your back on the ground. Place a book on your abdomen and breath easily for a few minutes, just like you normally do. The book should rise and fall with each inhalation and exhalation. Next, watch the book rise on an inhale, and this time when you exhale try to keep the book (and your abdomen) raised like it was at the end of your … you can deepen your breath, calm your nerves, and control your voice by consciously engaging your diaphragm. inhalation. You’ll feel like you are pushing down into your stomach when you exhale in order to keep your stomach raised, which is why this exercise is sometimes called “deep belly breathing”. Continue to keep the book elevated with your abdomen as you slowly inhale and exhale.

You should feel a definite increase in your lung capacity after doing this exercise for only a few minutes. Try starting each voice-over job or practice with this exercise, and see how you feel after only a couple weeks!

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