If you’ve been working in the voice-over industry in the last twenty years, but particularly in the last five, you know that rarely do you get the privilege of just “showing up and acting.” The transition from in-studio to home studio work has brought increased accessibility and flexibility, but this has also meant that in order to keep up, actors must acquire a myriad of other skills in addition to performing. Being the best actor for the part will get you the job, but home studio sessions also often require us to be engineers, editors, copywriters, localizers, and notetakers.

Most working actors today, especially those living outside of a major market, have accepted this plate-spinning as a reality of our current industry. But for newer folks, these supplemental duties often lurk in the shadows – until you’re in the midst of a session and a client says, “Can you play that back?”

Don’t panic! There are a few things you can prepare for ahead of time that will make you a rock star in any self-engineered session.

First and foremost, engineering!

Clients who cut out the middleman of an ad agency or audio production company will often expect you, the actor, to handle the recording of the audio on your end. (And it’s a good habit to get into even if they do record on their end – stuff happens.) In its simplest form, this means that you’ll hit “record” in the DAW (digital audio workstation) of your choosing, while simultaneously dialing in to a conferencing platform or phone call to receive your live direction from the client. Make sure to test this with a colleague ahead of time, if it’s your first session. I like to keep my DAW window visible while I’m reading the script, just so I can always have an eye on it to make sure it’s still recording. In between takes I’ll also periodically hit “save.”

Self-engineering also includes minding your gain – especially if you’re on a gaming or animation session, which tend to utilize a wide dynamic range (i.e. you might go from whispering in one line to shouting in the next). Get familiar with your setup so you can anticipate those changes and not waste any takes due to clipping or inaudibility. 

You’ll also want to make sure to test your audio setup on all major conferencing platforms ahead of time (including Zoom, Google Hangouts, Microsoft Teams, and phone patch), so you understand the quirks of each, and ensure that your audio sounds great in all of them. None of these commonly-requested platforms allow for the client to capture your organic audio on their end, so you’ll be fully responsible for recording and delivering a high-quality product.

Slating

On a live session with an engineer, the engineer will usually slate the takes out loud before you begin to record. But since you’re the engineer in this situation, you’ll need to do that yourself. Slating – i.e., saying “here comes take one,” before reading the script – helps everyone stay organized. You can either just say the number of the take, or say the number and then follow it up with what you’re about to do. If the client asks for three versions of the line in a row, you can say, “Here’s take one, ABC,” then read the line three times. If the client asks for an alt (alternative) line, you could say, “This is gonna be take four, alt.” Slating is a unifier that helps prevent confusion when the client is searching for their favorite takes later. Which leads me to my next point…

Keeping track of takes and selects

Usually, the client will be taking notes as you read, but on occasion, they’ll ask you to track their “selects” for them. Selects are the client’s favorite takes that you’ve provided.

It’s advisable to confirm the client’s selects with them before you wrap. If the client is expecting you to put their selects together into one edited file for final delivery, having the slates that we talked about will make it much easier for you to find their favorites.

Timing

One of the most common asks is for you to time your takes and report that timing back to your client. This is especially common in commercial work, where ads have hard time limits; but it can also happen in any genre where the picture is already locked, and you only have a set amount of time to speak.

I don’t necessarily recommend that you run a stopwatch while you’re reading the script, unless that helps you. Instead, just record at the speed that feels natural, and then stop the recording and use your DAW’s tools to calculate the length of the last take. (You may need to edit out mistakes on the fly in order to get an accurate time.) Given enough time and practice, your brain will start to be able to deliver a 30-second read without much conscious effort.

Copy services

You may be asked to make script edits in the middle of a session. This can happen for several reasons:

• The spot is being translated or localized from another language or region, and the current translation sounds unnatural
• The writers realize they wrote too much copy for the time limit, or
• It just doesn’t sound as good as it looked on paper

Whatever the reason, be ready to notate the client’s changes on your script doc, and don’t be surprised if you’re asked, “What do YOU think would sound better here?”

Playback

The first and most common reason you may be asked for playback is that a client will want to hear back previous takes, in order to help them decide which is their favorite. If you’re not comfortable routing your DAW’s audio through your conferencing software just yet, you can often just play it back on your computer speakers.

The second reason is for you! When you work directly with an end client, they won’t often provide an audio reference (i.e. your audition that won you the job, or an example of your previous work together) so you can get back in the zone. You’re responsible for digging up that reference on your own, and playing it back before you start reading.

File preparation and delivery

Sometimes, when working directly with the end client, they won’t even have basic editing skills or software available to them. In that case, they may ask you to comp takes (compile their selects into one cleanly edited final file), edit out mistakes, split files, or clean up the audio quality. Make sure to clarify expectations so that the client leaves happy, and you deliver a product you can stand behind.

Bottom line: Make it easy for them

Of course, most of us would love to just show up and act. I do advocate for talent to adjust their session prices to account for these additional services, but if you can master these skills, being a full-service talent will keep folks coming back time and time again.

Alaina Wis is an award-winning voice actor specializing in commercial, corporate, and interactive work. She is a two-time nominee for Female Voiceover Artist of the Year (OneVoice® Awards), and took home the award for Best Automotive Performance – Female in 2025. Alaina completes nearly all her work from her home studio in Chicago and is an advocate for remote accessibility. She has voiced major campaigns for brands such as United Airlines, Toyota, SIX on Broadway, L.L. Bean, and Rocket Mortgage; and in the gaming world, is best known for her work in Starfield, Zenless Zone Zero, DC Dark Legion, Oxenfree II: Lost Signals, and Skyrim: Bard’s College. She’s also an award-winning screen actor, and a singer-songwriter.

Connect with her on Instagram, X, LinkedIn, IDMb, or on her website.

P.S. If you haven’t yet taken our introductory voice-over class, where we go over everything one needs to know about getting started in the voice-over industry,  sign up here!

P.P.S If you want to learn more from VO experts and grow the knowledge you already have, join our VO Pro group!

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You’ve been working really hard all year on building your voice-over career: auditioning hot and heavy, marketing, attending conferences, workshops, invoicing and bookkeeping, staying organized… You name it! Whether this is your first year as a working VO professional or if it’s your twentieth, one thing that is crucial to your business is maintaining relationships. 

You might think, “But I’m already doing that through my regular marketing.” Well, there’s more to it than just that. Every other pro voice-over talent is also marketing regularly. You’re not the only one, but there are a number of ways to build, cultivate, and maintain business relationships. I find that the best way is to be genuine – people can sense a phony, or a suck-up, a mile away. Don’t be that person. 

Ask yourself, “When was the last time that I reached out to a client, but not to ask for work?”

During your last live-directed session, your client mentioned that their dog had to have surgery soon. Did you check in on your client to see how things went and if their dog is feeling better post-surgery? 

People tend to remember kind sentiments like that. You didn’t contact them to ask about any upcoming projects that they think you might be a good fit for, but you sincerely asked about something personal that they shared with you.

Keep it short and to the point; don’t drag it out. Simply mentioning the event is usually meaningful enough. Another way might be to send a short email just to say hello, or to ask how their recent holiday was. Maybe you go above and beyond on a project and deliver a little more than they expected. Offering discounts from time to time is another way to help maintain business relationships. 

Another scenario might be that your client, whom you’ve worked with on multiple occasions,  just doesn’t have it in their budget this time to meet your usual rate. Offering to adjust your rate in this instance to help meet their budget may be a good idea. Who knows, they may remember your generosity and recommend or push to have you on a project in the future.

People tend to prefer working with those they like and get along with easily, and by developing a closer professional relationship, even better. 

Now, I’m not saying that by doing these things it will guarantee you more job opportunities, but it’s a good way to do business in general. People appreciate personal connections. Let’s take Starbucks, for example. Most people, whether they admit it or not, like the fact that they write your name on your cup of coffee or drink, along with a smiley face. It’s a gesture and statement that says, “We appreciate YOU, specifically”. Like Starbucks, we should also have a way of showing our clients that they are appreciated. 

It’s pretty normal for businesses to show gratitude to their valued customers during the holiday season by sending them small gifts.  Now, how are you going to convey this to your clients? 

If you’re just getting started, you might not have built a budget to be able to purchase small gifts to send to your clients. Don’t sweat it! There are ways to show them that you care that are completely free. One way is to create a nice holiday card with kind sentiments. Don’t be afraid to be unique. Customize it to reflect who you are. If you’re humorous by nature, perhaps come up with a funny holiday card. Most people will appreciate the humor. 

Once you’re able to set a budget for end-of-the-year client gifts, you may want to send out some personalized merch with your company name and/or logo. Try to think of something they may actually put to good use. Perhaps a nice pen, a calendar, or a screen cleaner. There are many options out there, but remember not to break the bank by spending a tremendous amount on client gifts. A small token of appreciation will suffice. It’s the thought that counts. You’re thinking of them, and hopefully they’ll also think of you in the near future. 

As the year winds down, it’s the perfect time to take a step back and evaluate your progress, check in with clients, review finances, and set new goals for the year ahead. Whether you’re a seasoned pro or just starting out, this end-of-year reflection can provide valuable insights to help you elevate your voice-over career in the coming months. Here’s how to wrap up the year on a productive note.

P.S. If you haven’t yet taken our introductory voice-over class, where we go over everything one needs to know about getting started in the voice-over industry,  sign up here!

P.P.S If you want to learn more from VO experts and grow the knowledge you already have, join our VO Pro group!

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 “The play is not in the words, it’s in you!” – Stella Adler

If you’ve spent any time acting, you’ve heard at least one Stella Adler quote. Another quote we hear all the time in our industry is, “Acting is reacting”. To me, this really showcases how our life experiences inform our acting; in order to be genuine, we must rely on who we are day-to-day and where we have been.

I’m fairly certain none of us come to voice-over without having done anything else. Moving through life, we all gain insights into the world that are unique to us. We all have different experiences and skill sets.

I, for one, have held a lot of jobs. I’ve worked in kitchens, driven forklifts, sold couches, recycled electronics, and worked in optometry. These jobs all had their own needs and challenges. However, I learned a lot while in those phases of my life. Now, when I find myself working on medical narration or speaking about data security, I feel right at home, because I can apply my life experiences to the script.

If you’re taking your life experiences and breathing life into scripts to be a better performer, then why not apply it to your whole business? It’s really easy to get that tunnel vision: you’ve worked so hard and all you’ve ever wanted is to hear your voice doing the thing! But freelance work ebbs and flows; finding any kind of stability can be hard, so how do people do it?

It’s not a secret!

I’m going to let you in on a little “not” secret. Every single one of your VO coaches is also a full-time actor. I mean, that’s why we trust them to coach us, but think about that for a second. They are doing more than one thing. Sure, they are voice actors, but they leverage that skill to teach. Many even have additional services. They are applying their skills in a new and different way. If you look at the greats in our industry, they’re all doing multiple things and it’s not just teaching acting. 

From a personal point of view, I started to get real traction in our industry when I realized I had a unique skill set that was VO adjacent. I’d been playing in DAWs, manipulating music, doing sound design, and just generally being creative for years already. My experiences made me a natural audio engineer. More than that, having experience on both sides of the microphone gave me even more of an edge.

Looking at my peers, I’ve seen them also succeed by embracing their additional talents. Of course, we should never compare ourselves to others – we each have our own path. That doesn’t mean we can’t take some inspiration. What are others around you doing to expand their brand? Do you have a skill that is marketable to the voice-over community? 

Use what you already know!

We wear a ton of different hats running our own business. What are you already good at? This may take some brainstorming, but we all have unique skills. Take a moment and make some notes. Is there something specific that you seem to just understand better than some? Maybe you had a job in the past that gave you unique qualifications? 

Grab a pen and paper, open a Google Doc, or just turn on the mic and start talking. Do whatever you need to do to get that information somewhere you can access it. There is a good chance that it won’t be long before you see something. To give you a head start, here are just a few of the opportunities I see people taking advantage of. 

Tech Support:

If you are a techie like me, then this is a no-brainer. We get excited about tech and want to know how it all works. Guess what? Most voice actors just want to turn it on and press record. We all know it’s not always that easy. If you can walk someone else through troubleshooting a problem, you are a huge asset. 

Website Design:

There are a lot of domain services out there touting how easy their platform is. Having used a few of them, I can say that is an exaggeration. Some people just aren’t wired to understand website design. If you understand any of these sitebuilders on a fundamental level, you could be the new voice-over website-building guru! 

Graphic Design/ Artist:

A successful business knows how to leverage images to make its brand pop. We may all be artists, but visual art is a unique skill to be proud of. It may seem like just a hobby to you, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have value. If this is your skill, then you could be a master of creating digital media and not even know it!

Canva Expert:

This one is a bit similar, but also super important. Canva is such a powerful tool, and knowing how to use it is a skill. Do you know how to whip up an amazing logo, put together an out-of-this-world slideshow, or make a social media banner that tells a story? If you can make powerful branding, then you have a marketable talent. Double points if you can teach this skill to others! 

Writer:

English majors, this one is absolutely for you! Voice-over needs all kinds of writers. Scripts, branding, and even resumes. Writing a good resume doesn’t come easily to everyone. It is even more complicated in a creative field like ours. If you are a wordsmith you could be crafting all kinds of valuable content to the community and your business margins. 

Virtual Assistant:

Admittedly, this is a bit of a catch-all, but there are a ton of opportunities to be a virtual assistant. This category is absolutely massive. It’s not just scheduling, but that is certainly one thing you can do! Are you an expert at crafting emails? Do you have a lot of experience managing CRM’s? If you are a social media master, this could really be your chance to shine! Not to mention the subtle gains of getting to work side by side with another working voice actor. 

These ideas are all just the tip of the iceberg. The possibilities really are endless. Finding ways to stay engaged with the voice-over community while expanding your business is, in my opinion and experience, a double win. So I encourage you to put on that thinking hat and consider all the ways you are unique and talented. Get out there and craft something AWESOME!

Nick Marrs is a voice actor, audio engineer, and BBQ dad based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. You can find him online at: https://linktr.ee/nickmarrs

P.S. If you haven’t yet taken our introductory voice-over class, where we go over everything one needs to know about getting started in the voice-over industry,  sign up here!

P.P.S If you want to learn more from VO experts and grow the knowledge you already have, join our VO Pro group!

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 Before we dive into all the different programs out there, let’s start with the basics. A Digital Audio Workstation — or DAW — is simply the software you use to record, edit, and produce your audio. If you’ve ever opened up a program to record your voice, trim out a mistake, add a little compression, or export a file for a client, congratulations—you’ve already been using a DAW.

Think of it like the toolbox on your computer or phone that makes your voice-over sound clean, polished, and ready to send. Some DAWs are super simple, others are loaded with features, and the right one for you often comes down to how you like to work and what your budget looks like.

If you’ve hung around the voice-over world for any length of time, you’ve probably heard about Audacity. It’s free, it’s simple, and it’s helped a lot of us get started recording auditions and jobs without spending a dime. For many voice actors, it’s all they’ll ever need. You can record, edit, and deliver clean files with zero upfront cost…what’s not to love?

But at some point, you might start wondering, “Should I try something else? Is there a DAW that could make my life easier or my workflow faster?” The good news is that there are plenty of other options out there, and you don’t have to be an audio engineer to use them.

Let’s chat about some of the most popular alternatives voice actors use and why they might be worth checking out, plus a few ways to record on your phone when you’re on the go.

Adobe Audition – The Crowd Favorite

One of the most talked-about DAWs among voice actors is Adobe Audition. It’s part of the Adobe Creative Cloud, which means it plays really nicely with other Adobe programs like Premiere Pro.

The big draw? It’s built for speed and flexibility. The interface is clean, the editing tools are powerful, and the noise reduction features, especially the spectral display, make cleaning up audio way easier. Mouth clicks, hums, weird background noise? Gone with just a few clicks.

The catch? It’s subscription-based, currently around $22/month. That can feel pricey, but if you’re booking regularly, many pros find it worth the investment for the time it saves.

Reaper – The Budget Powerhouse

If you like the idea of upgrading but don’t want a monthly bill, Reaper might be your new best friend. It’s a super flexible DAW that runs on both Mac and PC, and you can fully customize it to fit your workflow.

It’s also very affordable, around $60 for a personal license, and the trial version is fully functional. A lot of VO folks love that it’s lightweight and fast, even on older computers.

Now, full disclosure: Reaper looks a little intimidating when you first open it. The interface isn’t as “friendly” out of the box as Audacity or Audition. But once you get the hang of it, or grab one of the VO templates floating around online, it’s incredibly powerful.

TwistedWave – Sleek and Simple

For Mac users who just want something clean and straightforward, TwistedWave is a fan favorite. It’s not a full multitrack DAW; it’s designed mainly for single-track voice work, which is perfect for most VO sessions.

It’s easy to use right away, and its batch processing is fantastic. If you’ve ever had to normalize and export a bunch of files at once, TwistedWave can do it in minutes. Bonus: there’s even an iPad and browser version for recording on the go.

The only downside? It’s Mac-focused, so PC users will have to look elsewhere. But if you’re in the Apple ecosystem, it’s a fantastic tool.

Pro Tools – The Studio Standard

If you’ve ever been in a big music or post-production studio, you’ve probably seen Pro Tools. It’s the industry standard in those worlds, and some voice actors use it for that reason.

For high-end projects or clients who request Pro Tools compatibility, it’s a solid option. It’s also insanely powerful; there’s basically nothing you can’t do in it.

But let’s be real: for most voice actors, it’s overkill. It’s expensive, the learning curve is steep, and unless you’re mixing music or doing a ton of complex audio work, you probably don’t need it.

 Ocenaudio – Another Freebie

Not ready to spend money? Ocenaudio is another free DAW that’s worth checking out. It’s simple, lightweight, and some users find it faster than Audacity.

It has some nice built-in effects and makes it easy to clean up files without a lot of extra steps. The only drawback is that it’s not as widely used in the VO world, so finding tutorials or templates may take a little digging.

Hindenburg Journalist – Perfect for Narration and Podcasts

If you do a lot of narration or podcasting, Hindenburg Journalist might be a hidden gem. It’s built specifically for spoken-word audio, and it shows.

The software auto-levels your tracks, has a super-easy editing workflow, and is designed for voices rather than music. It’s a bit niche, and you may not need it if you’re mostly doing commercials or character work, but for narration-heavy projects, it’s a dream.

What About Recording on Your Phone?

Sometimes you’re traveling or stuck away from your booth, and a last-minute audition pops up. Good news, there are solid options for recording directly on your phone.

For iPhone users, TwistedWave’s mobile app is a lifesaver. It lets you record, edit, and even apply basic processing right from your phone. Pair it with a decent travel mic, and you can deliver audition-quality audio on the fly.

Another popular option is Ferrite Recording Studio (iOS). It’s designed for podcasters and journalists, but works great for VO. It has multi-track capabilities and built-in editing tools, all optimized for touchscreens.

If you’re on Android, WaveEditor is a strong choice. It offers recording and editing in one app and supports plenty of file formats.

And if you want something more robust on mobile, check out Audio Evolution Mobile Studio (available on Android and iOS). It’s closer to a full DAW, with multi-track recording, effects, and editing tools. For folks who need more control while traveling, it’s a solid option that bridges the gap between a simple voice memo app and a desktop DAW.

Even the basic voice memo apps built into your phone can work in a pinch; just make sure you’re in a quiet space and clean it up later.

Are phone apps a replacement for a treated home studio? Not really. But they’re fantastic for emergencies or when you need to record a quick audition while you’re on the road.

So, Which DAW Is Best?

Here’s the truth: the “best” DAW is the one that makes your life easiest, fits your budget, and helps you deliver clean audio to your clients. Some folks stay with Audacity forever and never feel limited. Others upgrade to Audition or Reaper and swear they’ll never go back.

The most important thing is how comfortable you feel using it. A DAW is just a tool; your clients care about the quality of your final product, not the software you used to make it.

Exploring new DAWs can feel intimidating at first, but it’s also exciting. Each one has its own personality and strengths. Try a few demos, experiment with a phone app or two, and see what fits your workflow. Whether you stick with Audacity, upgrade to a more powerful DAW, or add a mobile option like Audio Evolution for travel days, the goal is the same: deliver great audio and make the process as stress-free as possible.

P.S. If you haven’t yet taken our introductory voice-over class, where we go over everything one needs to know about getting started in the voice-over industry,  sign up here!

P.P.S If you want to learn more from VO experts and grow the knowledge you already have, join our VO Pro group!

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For decades, my voice has been my livelihood, often quite literally. Commercials, narration, characters, e-learning modules, each one a new story told through tone, rhythm, and breath. My days were full of scripts, clients, late-night retakes, and that familiar hum of the mic before a session. My voice was my business, my art, and, in many ways, my identity.

Then came Artificial Intelligence.

Sure, it’s been around for a while, but not like this. It crept in quietly, with a few “text-to-speech” apps here and a client mentioning “AI voice options” there. But we’re well past that now. With just a few clicks, anyone can generate a synthetic voice for their project.

The first time I heard one that had a similar sound to me, my stomach dropped. I thought, “Wait a minute that’s my job!” Here I was, aging ungracefully in what I thought was an age-proof career, and suddenly, a program could approximate it. 

For a while, I wrestled with fear that my career, something I built from scratch with skill and soul, could be replaced by an algorithm that never needs a break and never sends an invoice. But after sitting with that discomfort, I realized something: change is inevitable. It’s evolution, and for creatives, evolution can be an invitation.

It forced me to ask, “What can I offer that a machine never could?”

The answer? Plenty.

AI can approximate tone, but it can’t capture truth. It can sort of simulate emotion, but it can’t feel, and it can’t act. 

When I connect with a script, when I imagine the person on the other end of that ad or the character’s secret thought before they speak, something happens that AI simply can’t touch: there’s a spark. It’s real, organic, and alive. Ultimately, that is what we do as voice actors: make a script come alive. 

A few years ago, a client once asked if I’d used AI on a read because it sounded, “too perfect.” I laughed (though a little bruised) because it was me. Since then, I’ve let go of “perfect”. Now, I aim for real: the breaths, the imperfections, the laughter that sneaks in, those are the moments that make people lean in and listen.

On top of what AI can’t do acting, there is another important aspect it can’t replicate: relationships. Relationships are where the fun and beauty of the work truly lives, for me. AI can produce sound, but it can’t build trust. It doesn’t know how to calm a nervous client, pivot mid-session with a director, or check in after a project just to ask, “Hey, how did it perform?” 

The more automated things become, the more our human relationships become the true currency of this business.

I don’t see AI as the enemy anymore – and there are a few narrow use cases where I find it useful. 

I use a Large Language Model chatbot to brainstorm, generate fake scripts for practice, polish copy, and prep for auditions. Sometimes I’ll even ask it to throw me curveballs: rewrite a script in a new tone, or push me toward a fresh character choice. When used with intention, ethics, and curiosity, it has the potential to expand creativity instead of replacing it.

I do believe we need to protect our voices and our rights. Both SAG-AFTRA and NAVA are doing their part in advocating for a fair and ethical world for voice actors, and the industry is served well by following their lead and standing together to maintain the rights and integrity of voice actors. 

Voice-over is still my home base, but I’ve widened the circle: I coach, I consult, I create content. True creativity doesn’t stay in one lane, and every time I teach or collaborate, every time I work with a new voice actor, I get better at listening, storytelling, and understanding what people feel when they hear a voice.

AI will never know what that feels like.

Real voices have texture. They tell the story of the person behind them, the late nights, the rejections, the wins, the lived life that seeps into every syllable. Connection lives in the crack of a voice, the pause before emotion breaks, the moment an audience feels something genuine.

My voice is still my instrument, my livelihood, and my art and proof that authenticity never goes out of style.

P.S. If you haven’t yet taken our introductory voice-over class, where we go over everything one needs to know about getting started in the voice-over industry,  sign up here!

P.P.S If you want to learn more from VO experts and grow the knowledge you already have, join our VO Pro group!

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When I worked on Game of Thrones: Kingsroad, I played over forty different characters: Wildlings, Boltons, Stark Bannermen, Maesters-in-training, Nobles, and the everyday people of King’s Landing. And since the geography and culture of Westeros is based on the United Kingdom, this meant I used Scottish, Yorkshire, Manchester, Received Pronunciation, and Cockney accents to bring these characters to life. In other words, five UK accents were enough to create an arsenal of NPCs, with the accent laying the foundation to define each character’s place of origin and socio-economic class from the moment they utter their first words. 

This is not to humble-brag, but to illustrate a point: the accent is not the character – if that were the case, I would have maxed out at five. Instead, an authentic accent lays the cultural and linguistic foundation of a fully-realized three-dimensional character. From this authentic foundation, we can then create an infinite number of unique characters within any dialect. 

So rather than simply asking, “What makes an authentic dialect?” we should instead ask, “How do I bring authenticity to my characters when using a dialect”? 

Competing with Native Speakers

When you audition for a role with an accent, you may very well find yourself competing against native speakers. You might think – and I’ve been here myself – “Why would they hire me if they can just hire someone with the real accent? Should I even audition?”

The reality in casting is that sometimes dozens of native speakers audition, and none of them bring the character to life the way you, a non-native speaker, do. Sometimes your voice simply fits the client’s vision of the character’s sound better than anyone else’s. First, though, your accent has to be believable enough to compete, or you won’t be considered at all, no matter how good your acting or voice is.

Notice I didn’t say “perfect”: you just need to be believable, consistent, and supportive of the character’s circumstances. The accent shouldn’t define the character; it should reinforce it.

As a Marvel fan, I love Benedict Cumberbatch as Doctor Strange. While his American accent is far from “perfect”, it is believable enough because it is delivered in an authentic, realistic way. Sure, his /ɹ/ and /æ/ sounds aren’t always quite right, and sometimes his placement and prosody slip into his native RP, but audiences forgive this because his performance is grounded. He’s not trying to “sound American”, he’s becoming the American-accented doctor-turned-Sorcerer Supreme Stephen Strange, and I can’t imagine anyone else – even an American with a native accent – playing the role the way he did. 

The same goes for you in voice acting. The client might choose you because of your understanding of the character, your energy, emotional connection, your storytelling, or even your voice. But to even get through the door and into the selects folder, your accent must hold its own beside native speakers. Once you’ve put in the work so that your accent is believable, then it’s your job to stand out and become the character through excellent acting! 

What Authenticity Really Means

People often assume native speakers produce a “perfect version” of their dialect. They don’t, because there’s no such thing. In fact, even the concept of a dialect is a bit misleading! Instead, every person speaks with their own idiolect: the unique blend of regional, social, and personal influences that make up their way of speaking.

To make sense of and codify this diversity, linguists group similar idiolects and call this collection a dialect. So, for example, if we take a group of traditionally working-class speakers from East London, we can broadly describe their shared speech as Cockney, a dialect that has evolved and diversified over time. From there, we can make accurate generalizations: most Cockney speakers tend to drop their H’s and swap their th sounds for f or v (“am I bovvered?”) that instantly place a character in Historical or Modern East London.

The mistake many actors make when learning dialects is that they stop at the generalization. They learn the “rules” of the dialect (e.g. “in Cockney you drop your H’s” or “New Yorkers say coffee with a rounded back vowel”), but never learn how real individuals actually speak. The result is often a performance that sounds like a sample from an accent textbook rather than an actual *cough* authentic person. 

To find authenticity, you have to go further than the pattern and study how one person from that dialect community really talks: their pace, melody, posture, and even their quirks. The humanity of the character and believability of the accent come from finding the balance between textbook “correctness” and realistic inconsistency. Inconsistency is the next piece of the puzzle, but you can’t just be inconsistent wherever you want. There are rules to the inconsistency! Ok…let’s break this down: 

First, let’s imagine dialect work as a toolbox. Inside, you have a wrench, a hammer, a soft mallet, screwdrivers, and pliers. If you need to pull out a nail, the “correct” choice is the back of the hammer (that’s what it was made for). But you could also get creative and use a flat screwdriver to pry it loose, then finish with the pliers. It’s not ideal, but it might get the job done. You definitely wouldn’t use the soft mallet, though! And if you’re trying to remove a Phillips-head screw, your only choice is to use the right size Phillips screwdriver. (And if you don’t have one, well, you’re screwed!)

In dialect work, you have two major toolboxes: sounds (placement, consonants, and vowels) and prosody (intonation, rhythm, and melody). Your job is to make sure both toolboxes contain the right tools for the dialect and that you know how to use them appropriately.

If your native idiolect doesn’t include a certain “tool” (say, a vowel sound or placement pattern), you have to acquire it through consistent practice. For small personal projects, say, an improv bit or a YouTube sketch, you can improvise with what you have and deliver an inauthentic caricature. But if you’re walking into a professional VO session, your client expects you to show up with the proper tools and use them effectively from the start.

Ok, Danny, but WHAT IS AUTHENTICITY?!

Alright, fine, you’ve waited long enough!

In my personal and professional opinion, an authentic character with a dialect requires building a new idiolect for every character you play. With this approach, you’re no longer thinking about a vague category of Yorkshire or Scottish, you’re thinking about how one specific person from Yorkshire or Scotland would actually speak. It’s quite literally the difference between “doing an accent” and embodying an actual human being (fictional or not).

The tricky part is that you have to do all this while acting: you can’t be in your head about vowels or rhythm, you have to trust the work you’ve put into it to live in your body so you can focus on story, emotion, action, intention, truth, and connection. The only way to do this is by practicing while you act — a lot. 

So what does it mean to “learn an idiolect”? 

Let’s start with the idiolect I know better than any other – my own!

My natural speech blends rural Northern California, casual Los Angeles, and educated General American, with a touch of French and Spanish from a few years living abroad. Add in the influences of being a millennial gamer, a linguistics nerd, and a queer performer, and you get something entirely unique: the Danny Scott idiolect!

Now, let’s look at how I pronounce one simple word: “that”

Sometimes I’ll pronounce the final /t/ with a crisp aspirated [tʰ] (especially when I’m teaching or speaking carefully). More often, I’ll use a glottal stop [ʔ] (“that goes”) or a tapped [ɾ] (“that I”). And if I’m being super casual, I might even drop the /t/ altogether (“that’s so cool!”).

But these aren’t strict rules for “pronouncing the word ‘that’ in Danny Scott’s idiolect”, instead, they are options: tiny adjustments depending on context, emotion, and who I’m speaking to. Once you start listening for these options for all the words and phrases of English and start to see how they work in real speech, you begin to understand that that’s how every real human speaks: fluidly and “imperfectly” responding while using a living toolbox of choices that shift with circumstance (put that on my epitaph!) In other words, the concept of a “correct accent” may be accurate for a dialect textbook, but inauthentic for an actual human being. 

Within our own idiolects, we constantly move between careful and casual speech, adapting to who we’re talking to and why. Authenticity in dialect work mirrors that. 

So, how do you find that kind of authenticity? Find real people. Use the internet. Watch interviews, vlogs, podcasts, anything that lets you see and hear real speakers whose accents move you (and if you’re like me, save them and make huge YouTube playlists so you can come back to them again and again!) Don’t just listen for vowels; notice their posture, rhythm, melody, and how their emotions shape their speech. Watch their mouth, their teeth, their eyebrow muscle: it all factors in! 

Then start building your arsenal, speaker by speaker, idiolect by idiolect. Learn their patterns, their musicality, and their quirks. Once you’ve studied enough individuals, you’ll start to recognize not just the actual rules of a dialect, but the freedom within it. That’s when you stop imitating textbook accents and start building real, believable characters.

And that’s the note I will end on today – performing a dialect with authenticity is not about adhering to the strict ruleset of a dialect, but rather, finding the freedom within it. 

(And side note: if you’re serious about dialects and are wondering about all those symbols I used a few paragraphs back, that’s called the International Phonetic Alphabet, the IPA, which will become your best friend!)

Danny Scott is a voice actor, dialect coach, improviser, and director — and a proud linguistics nerd based in Burbank, California. Known for his sharp ear and quick adaptability, he’s built a career on bringing characters and accents to life with energy and precision.

Credits include Game of Thrones: Kingsroad (2025), where he performed Yorkshire, RP, Cockney, and Scottish roles; Reverse: 1999, where he played the Floridian squirrel Buddy Fairchild in addition to performing in French and voicing Spanish, Russian, Greek, British, and Italian accents; Mafia: The Old Country, voicing dozens of Sicilian characters; and How to Train Your Dragon, contributing Scottish walla to Berk’s bustling world. Check out Danny’s website: dannyscottvo.com

P.S. If you haven’t yet taken our introductory voice-over class, where we go over everything one needs to know about getting started in the voice-over industry,  sign up here!

P.P.S If you want to learn more from VO experts and grow the knowledge you already have, join our VO Pro group!

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It’s spooky season! 

Time for leaves to change colors, candy to be purchased in bulk, temperatures to drop (except in Texas, because fall is a myth here), and you to catch a fright from doing that very necessary but very scary voice-over task you keep putting off. You know the one. 

While that task might be looming in the dark like a monster from your dreams, there’s no need to do OTHER things that will also chill your bones and make you wish you had taken up needlepoint instead. Let’s face it: other than being in front of your mic in your booth, most of the voice work we do tends to be fairly mundane, and can be downright boring at times. But sometimes, you can run into situations that make you want to pull your hair out and trade your Sennheiser 416 for a 2015 Nissan Pathfinder and drive off into the sunset singing Carly Rae Jepsen. 

But here’s a secret: it doesn’t have to be so scary! I’ll share my frightening tales with you so that you can see that with a little confidence and preparation, the horrible can become humdrum. 

The Peculiar Case of the Unpaid Dubbing Assignment 

We all usually move with the best intentions, and we assume the best intentions in others. Most of us are nice people, and we engage with mostly nice people who are well-intentioned, but every so often, you find yourself in a murky swamp where you don’t get paid because you didn’t document the terms of your agreement. 

I agreed to perform some dubbing work for an international dubbing company that shall remain nameless. Along with some fellow Such A Voice alumni, my role was to supply ADR services for a variety of foreign-language television shows. It was a great opportunity: I had never done any dubbing before, and this was a way to learn, get my foot in the door with a dubbing company, and get paid. 

Eagerly, I dove into numerous assignments, working with some really talented voice actors and very nice producers who even asked for my input on translations and localization (like, “Would this person really say it like this in English?”). Over the course of several months, I took on several assignments and learned a lot about the process along the way. What I DIDN’T get, however, was payment. In my excitement to get started, I didn’t ask some important questions about when and how payment would come, how they were being funded, etc. In the end, I did not get paid for my work.

The Not-So-Scary Outcome: I learned to ask all the questions I need to ask about a project before I accept it, and I DID learn how to do ADR work. 

The Pay-To-Play Obsessive-Compulsion Fever

It’s very common for new voice actors to gravitate toward the numerous online services that will send you auditions for a monthly, quarterly, or yearly fee. I’m sure you can name a few off the top of your head without straining a brain muscle. Colloquially referred to as “pay-to-plays” or P2Ps, these sites and services are great places to source auditions curated (mostly) to your unique voice and preferences. I have used them from the beginning of my voice acting career, I still use them, and I know of several big-name voice actors who make quite a good living off of P2Ps. They are a reasonable, reliable source of both auditions and jobs. We can debate which ones are better than others, but much of that comes down to personal preference and how much you’re willing to spend to get the best opportunities. 

However, many new voice actors can get too caught up in “gamifying” the P2P experience, spending far too much time and mental energy on how many listens they get on their auditions, whether they’ve been shortlisted, and obsessively checking to see the status. In my case, I would stalk one particular site, hitting refresh over and over to see if any updates had occurred, feeling exhilaration if my audition was listened to and outright bliss if I was shortlisted, but also feeling disappointment, dejection, and doubt if I wasn’t selected. It was unhealthy. I began associating my worth as a voice actor with the statistics on the screen of whatever P2P site I was looking at, and I was so focused on the numbers that I wasn’t diversifying my outreach, I wasn’t doing nearly as much self-marketing. I was locked into a virtual death-spiral of audition, submit, refresh, rinse, and repeat. It was a toxic relationship. 

The Not-So-Scary Outcome: Once I recognized the signs, I took a beat and thought about what I was doing and whether the juice was worth the squeeze, so to speak. What was I gaining from the constant monitoring? I made a choice for myself: I began dialing back my presence on the particular P2Ps that offered that level of scrutiny, and focused more on my networking and marketing. I still do some P2Ps today, but I have fully adopted the “fire and forget” philosophy: giving the best audition I can, submitting it, then moving on with my life. It’s made my relationship with auditioning so much nicer.

There are lots of things to be wary of in voice acting: artificial intelligence, unscrupulous clients, a buildup of static electricity on your mic. But you shouldn’t be afraid of too many things. Most frights are simply the combination of you + inexperience with the situation. Listen to your mentors, your coaches, your peers, and you will find that it really doesn’t have to be so scary to be a voice actor.  

But go ahead and sing some Carly Rae Jepsen. I bet she’d appreciate that. 

Shaun Scott is a voice-over artist working in Medical Narration, Commercials, e-Learning, and more. His clients include Exxon, Temple University, Spotify, Stryker, SignifyHealth, and Carvykti.

Visit his website at: www.shaunscottvo.com

P.S. If you haven’t yet taken our introductory voice-over class, where we go over everything one needs to know about getting started in the voice-over industry,  sign up here!

P.P.S If you want to learn more from VO experts and grow the knowledge you already have, join our VO Pro group!

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At some point in every voice actor’s career, they need to start thinking about making a demo, a reel, or some samples. Oftentimes, people can get confused about the differences between these things and what they’ll need for different genres and niches. So let’s break down what the difference is between a demo, a reel, and a sample.

Let’s start with the granddaddy of all of them all: the demo. A voice-over demo is a collection of short spots that showcase your acting ability and range within a certain genre. A demo should also be focused on one category. For example, you don’t want to have video game/interactive spots on the same demo that you have commercial spots. Each demo should be specialized for the specific genre you want to showcase. 

The average voice-over demo is about a minute to a minute and a half long (sometimes longer in certain cases). A demo usually consists of short scripts within a given genre to demonstrate your range and abilities within that genre. Scripts are usually written for the specific demo, and do not have to be real gigs you have actually worked. 

The demo is meant to showcase the culmination of your experience and abilities in a condensed format that you can then use to pitch yourself to agents, studios, and casting directors. It needs to be short enough not to take up a lot of their time, but also attention-grabbing so that they stay interested. Also, it’s a good opportunity to show off a bit! A demo is going to be one of your biggest marketing tools, so it needs to be professional, captivating, and a selling point for you as a voice-over artist.

Next, let’s talk about the reel. Sometimes people will use this term interchangeably with “demo.” It is also a showcase of your abilities; however, a lot of people will refer to a reel as a short collection of credits or things you have done. Unlike the demo, where the spots are all made up, the reel is usually comprised of snippets of things you have booked and worked on in the past. A good example of this is the visual reels we see people post on social media: someone might take short snippets of different characters they have done for various video games or anime, and create a showcase of them together.

Finally, let’s talk about samples. These are a little more abstract and can vary a bit from genre to genre. They are usually singularly focused on one specific thing and not a wide variety of range and characters like the demo and the reel are. Let’s visit audiobooks for a moment as an example. 

Samples work well in the audiobook world because of the long-form format; an audiobook sample would be one specific thing, such as an excerpt from a sci-fi novel. If I were to record 2-6 minutes of a sci-fi novel, this would be a sci-fi audiobook sample. When we look at characters, someone might ask for a sample of a “loving dad type character.” This would be me recording only a small spot of that specific character archetype to submit, not dissimilar to an audition. A sample is a focused, singular thing, meant to fill a specific need.

Overall, the demo is your genre-specific showcase meant to show off your abilities in a given genre and market yourself. The reel, sometimes used interchangeably with the demo, is also a showcase of your range and abilities in a given genre, but usually made up of past credits you have. The sample is a focused, singular spot or example.

Just like selecting the right tool from the toolbox, this will help you know specifically what you need for different applications. If a casting director wants to hear your video game demo, you don’t want to send over a reel of past commercials you’ve done. If a publisher wants to hear an audiobook sample for specifically romance novels, sending over your character demo might not be the move. Hopefully, this helps clear up some of the confusion surrounding these three tools, and you can go forth and use them effectively! 

P.S. If you haven’t yet taken our introductory voice-over class, where we go over everything one needs to know about getting started in the voice-over industry,  sign up here!

P.P.S If you want to learn more from VO experts and grow the knowledge you already have, join our VO Pro group!

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Marcus is a biracial (Black/Jewish), non-binary voice-over artist.

They got their start in audiobooks and have since branched out to other areas such as commercials, animation, video games, ADR, and more. Marcus can be heard in a wide variety of projects, such as multiple video games, including Star-Lord in Marvel Snap, multiple voices in various anime, including Gintama, DanDaDan, Windbreaker, and That Time I Was Reincarnated As A Slime, commercials, multiple audiobooks for Penguin Random House and other publishers, and multiple live-action dubs!

Marcus has always had a passion for storytelling and entertaining those around them. They have used this passion to fuel their drive in voiceover, and also launch and helm “Queer Quest,” organizing and running tabletop role-playing games for the Queer Vox Community. Marcus also serves on the board of directors for Queer Vox where they serve as a PR director, and also help with organizing community events and classes.

Outside of the booth, Marcus enjoys D&D, anime, painting, kayaking, hiking, making their own dice, and hanging out with their 3 dogs.

Check them out at https://queervox.org/ and their personal website https://marcusrvoice.com/.

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Ever find yourself second-guessing your sound?

“What’s that weird noise I’m hearing?”
“My recordings don’t quite sound right.”
“Oh no… I’m not hearing anything at all.”
“Is my audio quality ready for this big project?”

If you’re a voice-over artist, you’ve probably asked yourself these questions at least once—and if you haven’t yet, you will. The real question is: When should you audit your signal chain and recording environment?  

Let’s start by breaking down what those are.  

 What’s a Signal Chain?  

Your signal chain is simply the path your audio takes from your voice to your ears, including all the gear in between. 

A basic voice-over signal chain usually looks like th is:
Voice → Microphone → XLR Cable → Audio Interface (with preamp + ADC) → USB Cable → Computer/DAW → Audio Interface (DAC) → Headphones/Monitors

You might also have or add other gear, like a standalone preamp or in-the-box processing like plugins, but this is your basic home studio setup.

What’s a Recording Environment?

Your recording environment is the space you record in—your “home studio.” Whether it’s a pro booth, a walk-in closet with panels and flannels, or a fortress of moving blankets—if that’s where your mic lives, that’s your recording environment.

When Should You Audit Them?  

In short: whenever something changes.

Here are some common triggers:  

 Physical Changes to Your Space

• You’ve moved to a new recording space
• You’ve repositioned your booth, desk, or mic
• Furniture or gear has shifted around
• You’ve added, removed, or changed acoustic treatment

Equipment or Software Changes

• New microphone
• New interface
• New computer
• Different monitoring setup (headphones or speakers)
• DAW or operating system updates
• Outdated drivers finally catching up with you 

When Audio Quality Drops

• Hiss, buzz, or hum appears 
• Static, clicks, or pops sneak in
• New reflections show up out of nowhere
• Volume mysteriously drops
• Recordings start sounding muddy, boxy, or hollow

Changes Around Your Space

• Seasonal shifts (HVAC noise, open windows)
• New appliances or electronics
• Construction, activity, or changes in adjoining rooms or outdoors

 Before Big Projects

• Before recording a demo
• Before a major client project
• Before a live-directed session

At Regular Intervals

• Quarterly or twice a year
• Acoustic materials can settle or sag, and gear can slowly degrade
• Subtle changes sneak up on you over time, so a routine check keeps you ahead of them

Signal Chain: Your First Stop When Troubleshooting

Is this thing on? (No, don’t tap your mic.)

When something sounds off, it’s e asy to overthink. (“Maybe my interface firmware is haunted!”). Instead, start simple. Check you  r signal chain: 

• Is phantom power on?
• Are your cables firmly connected?
• Is your interface actually selected in your DAW?

Sometimes the fix is that simple.

As you build your career, it’s smart to keep some “known good” gear handy—like a spare XLR cable or a small travel rig (mic + interface). Swapping pieces out one at a time can help you pinpoint issues fast.  

If you’ve run through your checks and are still stuck, don’t be afraid to call in a pro. It can save you time, money, and sanity (not necessarily in that order).

Why It All Matters

The quality of your audio is one of the clearest signs of professionalism. Clients won’t always tell you if your sound isn’t up to par—they’ll just quietly choose someone else. Especially for remote work, clean, consistent audio is often the deciding factor between “almost booked” and “you got the gig.”

Final Tip

Keep a reference recording from when your booth soun ded its best (ideally one that’s been approved by a coach or audio pro). From time to time, record the same script and compare. If something sounds off, you’ll catch it early.

Audit regularly. Sound great. Book more. Your best work deserves the best sound.

P.S. If you haven’t yet taken our introductory voice-over class, where we go over everything one needs to know about getting started in the voice-over industry,  sign up here!

P.P.S If you want to learn more from VO experts and grow the knowledge you already have, join our VO Pro group!

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When you tell someone you’re a voice-over actor, they might picture you standing in a sleek, high-tech studio with glass windows, glowing lights, and racks of gear. For some, that is reality (or it used to be before the pandemic) – but for many working professionals, the studio started in a much humbler place. Closets, PVC pipes, moving blankets, and even makeshift forts have helped countless actors get their start. Building a booth isn’t about having the fanciest setup right away; it’s about creating a space that works for you. I’ve built five of them in my career and have gotten and recorded work in all of them.

The beauty of voice-over is that you can begin almost anywhere. Over time, your booth can grow with you – from a beginner’s closet setup or pillow fort to a mid-level PVC build or various industry ‘booth-to-go’ products, all the way up to a professional-grade studio. Let’s break down how that journey often looks.

Beginner Closet Booth

If you’re just starting out, the closet booth is practically a rite of passage. Picture a laptop perched on a small desk or shelf (or even a stool or a cardboard box), a desk mount placed backward on a few books to hold your mic at the right height, and your clothes hanging just inches away. The truth is, closets can sound pretty good. Hanging clothes act like natural sound absorbers, soaking up reflections and deadening the space. Many pros still use closets because they’re convenient and surprisingly effective. My first closet booth was unfortunately a bit too close to the bathroom, where an unseen fan that never seemed to stop ruined many of my takes – the perils of a small Manhattan one-bedroom apartment with only one small closet. I built another booth like this when I was in St. Petersburg, Florida, for two months during the winter – that booth cost surprisingly little money, and the quality was pretty spot on. But using a laptop in these booths was a means to an end; once it got too hot, the laptop fan kicked on, and I had to stop recording. So I had to get long cables and run them under the door… but I liked being able to edit on the fly, so that became an issue. For sessions, I used to put an icepack wrapped in paper towels underneath my computer to keep it cool. Ahh, the memories.

Acoustic foam panels and bass traps can make the setup stronger, and laying down a rug or multiple layers of carpet helps minimize floor reflections (and noisy downstairs neighbors). Is it glamorous? Mmm, no, not really. Will you sometimes laugh at the fact you’re wedged between winter coats, whispering ad copy into a USB microphone? Absolutely. But the closet booth has undoubtedly launched countless careers.

PVC Frame-and-Blanket Booth

As you start booking more work, or just advance in your training and find other resources to put into your career, you might find that the closet booth just isn’t cutting it. Maybe it’s too cramped, or maybe you need a space you can assemble in another room. Enter the DIY PVC booth. With a handful of PVC pipes and connectors from Lowe’s (and a little creativity), you can build a lightweight frame very quickly. This is what I did five years ago when I moved to Hawaii for six months without telling any of my clients – and since I was using my same microphone, they never knew the difference.

Drape moving blankets or heavy sound blankets over the frame, clip them if necessary, and you’ve got yourself a portable sound booth. Mine was 4’x4’x7’ – and I also had Lowe’s cut me a 5’x5’ wood ‘ceiling’ that I placed on top of the frame, with acoustic foam glued to it on the inside and moving blankets across the outside top. I got some thick shag carpeting for the floor to cut down on any reflective surfaces. Sure, it did not look fancy, but it had a vibe – and anyway, nobody saw it but me. Truthfully, these setups can get surprisingly close to professional isolation. It was no match for the Saturday morning suburban leaf blower or chainsaw, but it pretty much blocked everything else out. Many actors love the flexibility of this build – it can go in a spare bedroom, a basement, in a corner of any room, or even travel with you if you keep the connections small and you’re doing remote sessions or auditions consistently on the road.

Mid-Level Closet Upgrades

Somewhere between “clothes closet” and “PVC fort” lies a hybrid that works beautifully for many: upgrading the closet itself. Adding foam panels to the walls, using thicker bass traps in the corners, and investing in higher-density sound blankets can take the sound to the next level.

At this stage, you’re not just preventing reflections – you’re shaping the tone of your recordings. Carpeting or rugs underfoot, door seals to minimize outside noise, and careful placement of your mic and computer (sometimes outside the booth to reduce fan noise) can make a huge difference. When I moved into my latest apartment in Brooklyn, it had several 3.5’x3.5’ closets – I picked one and got to work – adding layers of professional rubber acoustic treatment on the floor, placing a perfectly cut piece of wood on top, then adding carpet mats and finally carpet so my ‘floor’ was probably 5” thick. I foamed out the inside completely, added bass traps in every corner from floor to ceiling, got a small desk, mounted my monitor on the wall, installed a boom arm with a shock mount to the back of my desk for my Sennheiser 416 (shotgun mics are fantastic for NYC apartments), added a few extra touches, and my new studio is considered ‘broadcast quality’. I did have to hire an electrician to put an outlet in there – you can’t trust running a professional studio with a bunch of extension cords after all. Also, the big step was buying a used Mac Mini to put in my booth – since it has no fan, there’s literally no sound in there but me. This booth was a bigger financial commitment to be sure, but I made the money back quickly and never looked back.

Actors often look back on this phase fondly. I certainly do. It’s the moment you start realizing, “Wow, I’m really building a studio!” There’s a sense of pride in creating a space that feels more polished and professional – even if at root, it’s still a closet with some acoustic upgrades.

Professional Builds

Eventually, you may want a fully isolated booth – something like a WhisperRoom, Studiobricks, or a custom-built studio. These booths provide top-notch sound isolation, meaning you can record even if your neighbor is mowing the lawn or your kids are watching TV down the hall (although honestly I’ve heard plenty of stories to the contrary – your location and outside environments will always be a factor) I haven’t had the need, or frankly the room, to make that investment and I’ve been a professional voice actor for 28 years.

These are major investments, and not every voice-over actor needs one. But for those who work full-time or live in noisy environments, they’re game changers. Professional booths also tend to offer more space, better airflow, and a cleaner aesthetic – all of which can make recording sessions more comfortable and client-friendly. I recently bought a house in the Pocono Mountains, and actually built a booth from scratch in my shed that’s about twice the size of my booth in Brooklyn. I consulted with a known professional booth-builder, but ultimately decided I was just going to stick with the method that had been working for me so far. This time, I had to replace the shed’s roof, build actual walls, add a door, and put up interior insulation and drywall to actually create a ‘room’ that was about 8’x4’. It was pretty exciting. I then once again foamed out the inside completely, added my bass traps to round out the corners and pointed ceiling, and even had to add a baseboard heater for those cold Pennsylvania winters. I did buy all new gear, including another Mac Mini, so with the construction, it was definitely a more sizeable investment. But when I bring my mic with me – again, no one can tell the difference. In fact, it’s even quieter than my Brooklyn studio since I only have to worry about deer and squirrels instead of noisy neighbors or illegal dirt bikes on my street.

The Big Picture

The journey from closet to pro booth isn’t just about equipment; it’s about growth. Each stage represents an actor investing in themselves and their craft. That first closet read, surrounded by clothes and whispering so the neighbors won’t hear, can feel awkward. But years later, standing in your custom studio, you’ll remember that moment as the start of something real.

And here’s the ugly truth: clients actually don’t care what your booth looks like! In fact, over Source Connect, ipDTL, etc, they can’t see it anyway. They only care how you sound. If your audio is clean, warm, dry, and free of distractions, then your booth is doing its job – whether it’s built from designer panels or hanging blankets.

Final Thoughts

Voice-over is one of the few industries where you can truly start from almost nothing. A closet, a mic, and some blankets are enough to get going. With time, experience, and success, you can upgrade your booth into something more advanced. The important part is that you start.

So don’t wait for the perfect setup. Use what you have, improve as you go, and take pride in every stage. Because in the end, building a booth anywhere isn’t just about soundproofing – it’s about carving out a creative space that belongs to you. Be positive and creative, and get excited – happy building!

P.S. If you haven’t yet taken our introductory voice-over class, where we go over everything one needs to know about getting started in the voice-over industry,  sign up here!

P.P.S If you want to learn more from VO experts and grow the knowledge you already have, join our VO Pro group!

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