Here at Such A Voice, we talk a lot about how having a great sounding voice is not the

1. Say it with a smile: When you’re talking on the phone with someone, you can hear them smiling or frowning, can’t you? It’s the same when you’re recording something for VO. If you’re not smiling, it’s impossible to sound happy. Just try it. Say some good news out loud but say it frowning….See? You gotta smile!

2. Emphasize the product: If you’re doing a commercial spot or an advertisement for something where you’re the voice selling the product, it helps to highlight that product’s name. Be wary of making it sound forced though, just remember a little emphasis adds a lot of oomph.

3. Stop reading the script: Have you ever gone to listen a speech where it’s very clear the speaker is just reading their notes verbatim? Snooze factor, right? Even though you’re reading a script, make it sound conversational, like you’re chatting with your friend.

4. Chat with a child: Along the lines of making your reads sound like you’re chatting with your friend, try to go even deeper and make it sound like you’re chatting with a young child. This typically makes you sound friendlier and more enthusiastic.

5. Pace yourself: A common tendency when reading scripts is to read them way too quickly. Slow down there, buckaroo! Your audience wants to hear you and not have to decipher what you might be saying.

6. Express yourself: Madonna was on to something when she sang those two lyrics. In voice-over, you need to be expressive and believable. You don’t have to be over the top expressive, but you definitely need to deliver a bit of a theatrical read to keep your listeners entertained, especially if your voicing the commercial that’s preventing them from watching their favorite sitcom at that moment!

7. Play with characters: Get out of that comfort zone of yours and play around with various characters that you’ve created. In order to convey the right feeling you need to analyze the copy and view it as completely different and new than anything else you’ve voiced. Developing and embracing new copy is a really fun way to get into different types of characters you may not even knew you had inside you!

8. Gimme a dose of inflection: If you’re voicing a commercial, an excellent voice-over technique to use is to begin your read at a slightly higher pitch and then let your voice fall a little. Beginning a copy with a higher pitch level grabs the listener’s attention.

9. You’re darn good at what you do: Believe that! I know, I know, it’s impossible to feel confident all the time but confidence gets you places, gets you jobs, and most importantly, helps you read copy with that special “je ne sais quois.” So do what you need to do to start feeling as confident as you can. This could be via exercise, positive self-talk, daily affirmations, meditation, or therapy, to name a few. As long as you do you and you do it with confidence, that’ll shine through in your reads.

10. Mysterious like Casey Kasem: Remember Casey Kasem’s American Top 40? If you said no, navigate to Google and educate yourself on some pop culture! If you said yes, do you also remember how he used a tactic much like mysteriously whispering out of the stereo speakers? That was intentional and he was good at it. If your script warrants it, a little mysterious breathy voice-over can go a long way.

What are some voice-over techniques that you use? Write them in the comments below!

Don’t forget to also engage with other voice talents on our Facebook page and share your experiences about Such A Voice!

We’re also on YouTube, too! Be sure to check out our YouTube video for “Top Ten Voice-Over Technique Tips!”

                                                                                                                                  About the Author

Bekka 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.

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You may have been told our

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.
• Setting 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: 

                                                                                                   About the Author

Bekka 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.

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For this week’s staff spotlight, we’d like to introduce you to Bekka Burton, our copywriter, copy editor, and scriptwriter.

SAV: Hi Bekka! Thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to tell everyone a bit about your background and how it applies to what you do at Such A Voice.

Burton: Hello, thanks for the opportunity! My background is the English language really. I studied creative writing at Champlain College (many moons ago), I’ve been an English language teacher for the past five years (teaching in Costa Rica, Panama, and now Spain), I’m currently studying a Diploma in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL), and I’ll be starting my Master’s program in Linguistics next Fall  at the University of Buffalo. Here at SAV, I write copy for the website as well as scripts for our students, and I also edit everything that goes “live” on the website. I speak Spanish and sometimes get the opportunity to either translate or write scripts for Spanish speaking students too, which is a really fun challenge for me!

SAV: What kind of content do you like to write the most?

Burton: What I really love is nature writing. I am not a city person; I need nature and I love hiking and observing what’s happening around me and then writing about it. Sadly, I haven’t written anything like that for quite some time. Life and work get in the way. Check out the short story, Living Like Weasels, by Annie Dillard. I like writing stuff like that.

SAV: What is a funny tidbit of information about you that not a lot of people know?

Burton: I collect Mexican “calacas,” the ornately painted Mexican skulls that are really common during their holiday El Día de los Muertos. Whenever a friend goes to Mexico, I always request they bring one back for my collection!

SAV: What is a recent book that you have enjoyed? What did you like about it?

Burton: Because of the all-consuming Diploma course I’m taking at the moment, the books I’m reading are all textbooks on English grammar (dryly written, but I actually totally geek out on it and love learning what exactly an adverbial phrase is as opposed to an adverbial clause!) or how to teach English, how languages are acquired, etc. But, you’re probably a bit bored by that so a book that I read pre-Diploma course that I loved was, All the Light We Cannot See, by Anthony Doerr. The story takes place during WWII and one of the characters is blind. The way Doerr uses all that character’s other senses to describe how she “saw” was just spell binding. I couldn’t put the book down.

SAV: If you could live in any period of history, when would it be?

Burton: During the reign of King Henry VIII! I love reading books that take place during this period in history. I find the way they lived very fascinating. I once visited Hampton Court Palace outside of London and thought it was the coolest place!

SAV: What fictional place would you like to visit?

Burton: The Castle at Winterfell ruled by House Stark (but only if Jon Snow were in residence, haha) but I would never go beyond the wall. If you’re not a Game of Thrones fan, you have no idea what I’m referring to.

SAV: If you could host a talk show, who would be your first guest?

Burton: Beyonce, hands down. Although I’d probably be so starstruck, I wouldn’t be able to function. I’ve seen her twice in concert (Toronto and Barcelona). Her shows were mind blowing.

SAV: Out of all the places you’ve traveled to, where has been your favorite?

Burton: This is a very difficult question to answer because traveling is my passion (apart from English grammar). I have to narrow it down to three categories: mountains,cities, and towns.

Mountains: The Dolomites (the mountain range in Northern Italy that forms part of the Southern Alps). I’ve been there twice to go hiking and snowshoeing.The mountains there are just wild and breathtaking.

Town: Innsbruck, Austria. I’ve been there countless times because I have a very dear friend from there. It’s so charming and beautiful. It’s surrounded by 360 degrees of mountains.

City: Amsterdam. The history, the canals, and the bikes!

SAV: If you were to create a slogan for your life, what would the slogan be?

Burton: It’s not a slogan, it’s one of my all time favorite poems which is a haiku by Mizuta Masahide.

Barn’s burnt down

Now

I can see the moon.

This resonates for me on many levels. One, I used to be an organic farmer in Vermont for eight years, so I know the importance of a barn and how it basically represents your livelihood. So if that barn burns down, you’re screwed. However, to me the moon is sacred so if you feel you’ve lost everything (your “barn” has burnt down), there is still something good that you can find within that loss and that’s your moon.

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A script is a bit like a fire to me, the more air you give it to breathe, the more it can have the potential to jump from the pages and come to life. A script has a backstory and a place it continues to even after the words have ended. Voice-over actors are trained to interpret a script, read it and own it, then create a story with those words so that the listener feels a stir of emotions. It’s not the easiest thing in the world to do, either. It takes oodles of practice, mistakes, and successes to reach that relationship with your voice-over scripts.

As one of the two copywriters at Such A Voice, I get the fun job of writing voice-over scripts! I have the wonderful challenge of creating a backstory in my head, setting the scene, and then contemplating how I can allure the audience with what I write. Even if it’s only a 30-word commercial for a household cleaning product or a narration about polar bears, I apply the same method. If you’re a student at Such A Voice and I’m writing your demo scripts for you, I have the pleasure of hearing some of your takes. While listening to your voice, I think about what words you might naturally say, how you would say them, and subsequently, convince me of something or keep me captivated. The most interesting part? I have no idea what you look like! Everything I’m writing comes from the feelings you’ve conveyed to me with the takes that your coach has shared with me. That’s really something, isn’t it? It’s your voice and your voice’s personality and pizzazz that’s guiding me to write these topics.

There are a couple of things that you can do for a demo script that you cannot do for a hired job. If the producer feels that it’s best, you can change words so that they flow more naturally for you. Also, you and the producer can select sections of the voice-over scripts and splice them together to showcase the best phrases and words that speak to your abilities. You cannot, however, do this, for a job.

Scriptwriters don’t always have the luxury of knowing what the voice sounds like, though. Scripts are often written before a voice talent is chosen. I’m making a tacit connection with the voice actor when I write these of types voice-over scripts. I write them with the hopes that when they are read, the actor would more or less interpret them the way I had intended. This can be difficult since I don’t know the voice-over artist personally and I can’t write to them in order to clarify my intentions. What I can say is that I trust the voice actor and I have confidence in them that they’ll interpret the script in the best way they see fit.

When I’m finalizing my drafts, I read the voice-over scripts out loud. It could be that anyone overhearing me reading off the script thinks that I’m a lunatic who loves to promote shampoo and conditioner in the privacy of my home office. However, what I’m doing is seeing if the words flow. Do they sound right together like words in a poem do? Or do they clash and not complement each other? Think of a script as a room. When you walk in is everything in order, does the energy flow nicely, is the sunlight beaming through the windows, and are there colors that draw the eye? Or is the room full of disorder, are the curtains askew, are there dirty plates accumulated in the corner?

There’s a certain interplay between the copywriter and the voice-over artist. Yes, sometimes a script is actually written specifically for you, as is the case with demos for SAV students. However, you’re often given a script for a job that wasn’t written for you, but rather for the message you are sending or the product your voice is representing. In either case, the copywriter wants you to make the script come alive, to connect to the words, and to make that fire burn. The copywriter is handing you the torch of, “Make This Script My Personal Story.” One of our coaches once told a story of a voice-over student commenting on his love of sturdy garbage bags because he hated when garbage bags broke easily. Now, let’s be frank, garbage bags are some of the most mundane household objects there are, right? However, that student was able to connect with that script for a garbage bag and make that commercial really stand out.

To reiterate, as a copywriter, I have total trust in the voice-over artist. I put the words on the page and then read them out loud to hear how they sound. From there, I know that it’s really up to you, as the voice actor, to make the words leap from the page and entice the listener.

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 post:

About the Author

Bekka 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 a Diploma course for Teaching English 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 and eating her way through many European cities.

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