12 voice acting tips: how to develop as a voice artist
Have you thought about flexing your vocal talents and giving voice acting a go? From TV commercials to gaming, there’s a great range of jobs for a talented vocal performer.
Be prepared for a lot of training, exercises and practice; however, if you have a good voice, this is definitely a performance area worth exploring. Let’s take a closer look at voice acting.
What is voice acting?
Voice acting is where the actor (also called a voice artist) performs a character or narrates some sort of information using only their voice. You’ll have heard voice actors in animated films, cartoons and radio plays, and the gaming industry is a real growth area. Voiceover or VO work also encompasses narration, such as over commercials and documentaries. Actor Brian Cox enjoys this aspect of his work:
“I love voiceovers. I love the discipline of it, going into a studio and selling whatever I need to sell. In acting you are selling an idea and an emotion and in voiceover you are selling a product, and you give it just the same value.”
How to start voice acting
You don’t need lots of experience to start going for voice acting roles. In fact, Brian Cox recommends voiceover work as a great early starting point for actors:
“If you’ve got a voice, send it off to an agent, and see if you can get some voiceover work to sustain you in your early days.”
However, there are a few steps you can take to help you land that first VO role. When you’re starting out:
- Find an agent who specialises in voice acting
- Get a voice-acting coach and start honing your skills
- Start to grow your network (the above two people will help here)
- Look out for notices for voice-acting auditions
- Practise your skills and record yourself
- Become familiar with recording equipment and technology
- Make a few demo recordings so you’re always prepared
- Refresh your demos as your skills develop
How to be a good voice actor: 12 top tips
If you’re thinking about specialising in voice acting, here are a few things you’ll need to do.
- Take voice and acting lessons
Voice actors need to keep up their regular acting lessons – your work isn’t simply reading out loud. Sorry for the double-whammy here, but you’ll need to add specific vocal coaching to your timetable, too. A professional voice acting coach will teach you different voice acting techniques, alongside helping you with your breathing, articulation and delivery. You’ll also be taught how to take care of your voice. Brian Cox advises all actors to learn voice acting skills properly:
“I encourage you to take as much vocal study as you can, because that’s working on the instrument. You also need to learn about tone and how it works in relationship to emotion, intention and intellect.”
Voice acting is one of the techniques that every actor needs to know. Even if you decide against VO work, explore voice coaching as a way to hone this skill.
- Learn how to breathe
A vocal coach will teach you how to breathe properly, which is an essential skill for a voice actor. Take note of the punctuation in a script, because that will guide you. You can also go through the script, making your own notes about when to pause.
- Do regular vocal exercises
“Take care of your voice and do regular exercises to train it”, advises Brian Cox. Even if you’re not recording, carry out daily vocal exercises to keep your voice in shape. Breathing techniques, humming, buzzing, tongue twisters, projection exercises, accent practice… All these exercises look after your most precious instrument and keep it recording-ready.
- Warm up your voice
Never start a recording without first going through your full vocal warm-up exercises. Your vocal coach will help you devise a routine that works for you, and it’s super-important that you always stick to it.
- And warm up the rest of you!
Voice work is surprisingly physical: even standing still in a studio takes a physical toll after a while. Warm up your body as well as your voice with a few simple stretches and loosening up exercises. Find moments to move about during the recording session so you don’t stiffen up. Lastly, work on your posture: our voices work better when are bodies are correctly aligned.
- Take singing lessons
Brian Cox is advocates professional singing lessons to improve your voice, even if you have no intention of singing:
“Take singing lessons if you can afford it. Singing opens the voice up in a very big way and is something that young actors should do. You have to work on making your voice open and not tight, on freeing it, and that work is exceedingly important.”
And you never know, you might discover you’re a better singer than you thought! This opens up a whole new world (and we bet you sang that line in your head, right?).
- Get good at sight reading
Voiceover work can be pretty pacy, and you might be presented with a script on the spot. Learning how to quickly pick up on the points to emphasise and where to breathe is a very useful skill. Practise sight reading out loud whenever you get the chance: newspaper articles, recipes, junk mail… our daily lives are full of opportunities to practise our vocal skills.
- Keep on top of tech
A lot of voiceover artists work from remote studios (this is a major advantage of VO work), and so you have to be reasonably tech savvy. If you decide to go down this route, it’s worth investing in a soundproof space at home, so you have a small freelance recording studio set up. Take time to become confident in recording, mixing and mastering your own audio.
- Listen – a lot
Keep listening to other voice actors. Watch TV commercials and animated movies, listen to audio books or radio plays and podcasts. We all learn from each other in this industry.
- Create different voices for different characters
Practise trying new and different voices. This isn’t simply switching accents – you can create a great variety of voices through changing tone and pace. Brian Cox suggests this vocal exercise:
“Create distinct voices for different characters you might play. Practise switching between these voices to develop versatility.”
- Prepare for each job
When it comes to voice acting, approach the role in the same way as you would any other character. Explore the character, their backstory and motivations. Character development is just as important in voice acting as it is in a physical role.
If you’re recording something like a commercial voiceover, remember that “time is money” in the studio and you’ll be working at a fast pace. Prepare everything before you go in, such as getting to know the script well, planning which voice or accent you will use and starting to warm up.
- Drink water
Stay well hydrated and always carry a bottle of water with you. This seems like such obvious advice, but the first time you forget your water during a recording session, you’ll very quickly regret it!
Has our guide made you think about a career in voice acting? Learn more from actor Brian Cox in his BBC Maestro course on Acting. He discusses the importance of the voice in performance, and also gives us a lot of helpful advice about vocal care and training.
