Voice Acting For Dummies

by David Ciccarelli

  Reading is such an important part of doing effective voice acting, and the best way to improve your reading is to practice. The following sections give you some pointers about how you can practice (or rehearse, as people in the biz refer to it) so you’re more comfortable with your scripts.

  Rehearsing by yourself

  What good to a team is a pitcher who spends his time idling in the bullpen and twiddling his thumbs? When called upon, he is rusty, and his performance is lackluster. On the other hand, a pitcher who spends his time wisely when off the field will be prepared, sure of himself, and is able to step in at a moment’s notice.

  Edison’s wisdom applies to your success in voice acting

  The great American inventor Thomas A. Edison was famously quoted as saying “Genius is 1 percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration,” followed by a lesser known quote, “Accordingly, a ‘genius’ is often merely a talented person who has done all of his or her homework.”

  We feel that this very same quote is so relevant to voice acting. Voice acting is 1 percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration. You can make the most practical strides rehearsing scripts and practicing behind a microphone. Be a genius and spend the time doing your homework and mastering the skills you need to be successful in voice acting.

  Differentiating characters: Taking a more cerebral approach

  You were hired to record a job that has multiple characters. How do you differentiate them? Many voice actors enjoy taking time to create a system for how they do their character and voicing work. Your system can be as simple as a note here and there or as complex as an entire spreadsheet dedicated to each and every character and each character’s voice, and how to make the transition between characters. Here are some ideas that voice actors we know do to differentiate characters.

  Maggie Mustico has mastered the art of organizing characters, sharing “I did an audiobook that had 34 different voices, including the narrator. I would go through each chapter and write down who was in the chapter that had lines, then I would go and distinguish each character by highlighting main characters, and then went to a large box of different color markers and underlined where I couldn’t highlight or I put a dash next to the line. I also had my cheat sheet of colors to characters. I was lucky that each chapter would at the most have between four to ten voices at a time. Before I sat down to record the book, I would figure out each voice, record a few lines for that character and save it as sample file so when I needed to do that voice I could go and listen to my sample file and recreate it.”

  John McLain uses a couple of different methods to differentiate characters, but finds that his usage of these techniques depends on the complexity of a passage, noting, “If a passage has a lot of non-attributed dialogue, I will highlight and/or annotate. But for short, well-attributed passages with just a couple of characters, I typically don’t need to. It just depends on the writing.”

  Bob Derro takes a slightly different approach. “I use a variety of ‘hooks’ which work well for my brain. Everybody’s brain works differently at recognizing text variation. Try it . . . you’ll see. No one easily understands my printing or writing; however, my brain gets it. When I hit a challenging spot in a script I write it out, then the coordination between my eyes, brain, and mouth is automatic. If I have a text problem in reading flow or a stressed word is needed, I will add a stroke line before and after the word. Automatically it stands out, and after reading it aloud a few times, the brain accepts it as a normal sentence without hesitation on that word. Some people ‘stroke’ entire sentences. Whatever works for you is all that matters.”

  In the same way, a voice actor who exercises her instrument and improves her skills on a daily basis is ready to step up to the microphone with confidence at the time of need. Rehearsing should be a part of your regiment as a serious voice actor. As a voice actor, you want to make time to practice and rehearse. Even though you work from home and may wear a number of hats, including actor, recording engineer, producer, and so on, you want to rehearse by going over scripts as part of your homework.

  When rehearsing, you need to have a feel for the text, study it, know its internal rhythm, and make note of appropriate places to breathe. You also need to know how to change the mood of your voice (tone) (see Chapter 5 for the how-to), and how to consistently carry a theme or interpretation for the vocal marathon ahead. Doing so is particularly true with regard to narration and documentary voice-overs.

  When you’re rehearsing and figuring out what homework means from a voice acting perspective, consider the following:

  Understand your instrument. You need to know your voice, respect it, and take proper care of your instrument, which means drinking lots of water and warming up your voice before you use it. Keep track of what irritates your voice and what makes it flourish. Chapter 3 has a lot of information that is helpful in this regard.

  You may want to write in a daily journal so that you can refer back to specific instances or observations. Explore your vocal range and play with different aspects of your voice. As you gain more experience, you’ll want to be able to exercise your voice with the same understanding and skill as a concert pianist tickles the ivories.

  Keep your cold reading skills sharp. You should be able to read well out loud with confidence. Even the most enthusiastic bookworms have trouble articulating a well-phrased passage when asked to do so out loud. Taking time to read out loud can do you a world of good when it comes to reading copy.

  Most voice actors get this exercise when auditioning and apply the ideas and skills we offer in Chapter 11. If you aren’t auditioning yet, read anything and everything from cereal boxes to news articles online. Encountering fresh copy regularly throughout your day can make reading for auditions and jobs easier.

  Listen to your voice. You are your own worst critic, but you’re also the person who knows your own instrument best. Be sure to record your exercises and read-throughs. After you have recorded, sit down and listen to your voice being played back through the speakers. What do you hear? Compare your most recent work with what you have done in the past to see how far you’ve come.

  When listening to your voice, be aware of what it sounds like when you’re tired versus well-rested, when you’re anxious versus calm, and so on. Know how your voice reacts to things, such as caffeine, dairy products, and spicy foods.

  Be aware of what’s going on in the industry. Keep your eyes open and your ears tuned to what’s happening around you, especially in areas of interest and to voice-over work that you typically book. You may need to listen to commercials, watch cartoons, or purposefully hit up kiosks and websites to hear how the voice actors who got hired delivered their lines. The sky is the limit for finding free goodies on voice-over related topics (Chapter 3 discusses your many options in greater detail.)

  Train on your own, with peers, or with a coach. You can train in so many different ways — alone, with peers, or with a voice coach. Many voice actors train by themselves each day and take the initiative to attend gatherings of local voice actors to work on reading skills, character development, and improvisation skills. Some train weekly with a coach.

  Whatever you choose to do, be consistent and do your best to have fun with it! Encounters with other voice actors often help you to challenge yourself. Working with a coach can help you to set attainable goals. Chapter 3 talks about more about training.

  Rehearsing and researching your script

  Doing your research and rehearsing upfront can save you a lot of valuable time going back and forth with the client for questions and potential revisions to the script. You want to gain a proper understanding of the script so you can then interpret it and give a polished reading. Chapter 5 explains some tips you can use to research and interpret a script.

  When rehearsing your scripts, we find it helpful to have a number of photographs on hand to inspire y
ou. You can produce a more authentic read by looking at an image of a loved one and speaking to this image as though he or she is your audience.

  Keeping characters straight

  When you’re reading for a project that involves multiple voices and drastically different characterizations, keeping all those voices distinct while maintaining a steady read is important. Refer to Chapter 5 for ways you can take more in-depth notes in a script.

  To differentiate the characters, you can rely on many different techniques. The primary methods are as follows:

  Highlighting: Use a number of different colors to identify where certain characters speak. Assign a special color to each character so that each time you see that color coming up in the script, you know who is about to speak and can prepare to change voices.

  Annotation: Add comments on your script to remind yourself of what you’re supposed to do. Explain with a “note to self” what you need to do to either create that character or shift your voice to another character.

  Hooks: You know yourself better than anyone. That being said, you likely have shorthand or a way of notating that works best for you. If you need to include little pictures, symbols, or markings on the script (think like the markings on a musical score), use these types of hooks.

  Cerebral: If you like color coding, highlighting, or other visual indicators that you can connect thought or expression with, you can find this method particularly useful. See the nearby sidebar, “Differentiating characters: Taking a more cerebral approach” for some examples from voice actors.

  Physicality: Sometimes you need to get your whole body into a read or a character. Changing your posture, facial expression, or moving in a certain way can help you to get into character. See the nearby sidebar, “Combining vocal touchstones with physicality,” for some examples from voice actors.

  Combining vocal touchstones with physicality

  Although you perform voice acting behind a microphone, you don’t have to be limited to just movement and fluctuation regarding your voice. Here are what some voice actors we know have to say about this topic:

  Melba Sibrel has some great tips for how she goes about developing each one of her characters’ sounds. Melba says, “When developing the sound for various characters, I use the old acting trick of picking a phrase from each character’s lines and using it as a touchstone, to create a sound memory of how that character talks. Letting a physical attribute accompany it also helps me — a hand motion, head lean, facial tic, even sometimes holding an object — developing the characters physically will lead to their unique sounds. For reference I record each character voice in a separate file and listen to them just before reading the chapters in which they appear. I don’t mark the manuscript to delineate unattributed characters’ lines. I think doing so would throw me off.”

  Diane Havens internalizes the characters she voices combining both physicality and their back stories, sharing “I try to completely visualize and physicalize the characters, become them when I reach their parts, and use a stance, expression, or gesture unique to them to cue myself into them. Creating complete back stories on even minor characters helps — and then even similar type characters end up sounding different — at least to me.”

  Chapter 8

  Recording Your Demo

  In This Chapter

  Figuring out whether you’re ready

  Knowing whether you’ll record yourself or use a professional producer

  Contemplating music in your demo

  Reviewing your demos

  Recording your voice-over demo is one of the biggest steps you can take professionally to move ahead in voice acting. Most people feel comfortable making a demo after they’ve gone through some training and often work with a producer to help shape the best sample of their voice as possible.

  Making a voice-over demo is a very personal, artistic, and technical process. You can go about doing this on your own, but we advise that you consider the possibilities of having a professionally produced demo. Your voice-over demo can be your ticket to success and often serves as the first impression of your voice to a prospective client.

  In this chapter, you discover the ins and outs of recording and how to make sure you’re ready to record. You take a look at the approaches of recording — recording at home versus recording in a professional studio — and whether to incorporate music. We explain how you can evaluate demos, decide when to update your demo, and get some tips for taking your demo to the next level.

  Are You Ready to Record?

  You can combine many elements of interpretation and performance to create the presence you’re aiming to achieve in order to make a killer demo. In this section, we give you several tips to prepare yourself for recording.

  Asking yourself the right questions

  Before you start to record a demo, you need to be prepared and understand what to expect during the process. Ask yourself these questions to help you gain a better appreciation about the process:

  Have you invested in regular vocal training with a professional voice coach? No amount of producing or background music will cover a voice actor’s inability to effectively deliver a variety of scripts. Get proper training and coaching before you cut your demo. Chapter 3 discusses the benefits of voice training and the options available to you in great detail.

  How much have you practiced? Your personal comfort level using your voice as an instrument and performing reads determines whether or not you’re ready technically to record a voice-over demo. Wait until it feels just right. Flip to Chapter 7 for how to practice your scripts.

  Do you feel confident in your abilities? A major part of this battle has to do with how you perceive your abilities and whether you think you’re ready to move ahead with a demo. Remember that recording a demo is an investment. Whatever you have recorded will be the crown jewel in your marketing efforts. Make sure you feel confident in your abilities before stepping into this process. Chapter 5 has information that you may find useful for building your confidence in areas of script interpretation and performance.

  Have you set achievable goals? Terry Daniel, professional voice actor and voice coach, says that every spot on your demo should be unique with the goal of highlighting your range and vocal abilities. Additionally, each spot should sound real as if it were a paid gig. Pay attention to detail in your takes because the client most certainly will. You want to make them want you.

  Do you have realistic expectations of yourself? When you receive training, you have the opportunity to explore not only your voice but also whether your expectations are realistic. Your voice coach can help you to set achievable goals to help build your skills and confidence in preparation to record a demo. You may find Chapter 6 to be of interest for determining which demos are essential when creating your audio resume.

  Have you listened to demos of established voice actors? You can find many demos online. Try www.elance.com, www.voices.com, or www.youtube.com.

  Are you taking advantage of free resources? With so many wonderful helps on the web today, there are no shortages of ways you can find out more about voice acting and specifically what goes into a great voice-over demo. Do everything you can to take advantage of credible resources online to help you develop your voice acting abilities as a career voice actor. Chapter 1 details some great resources and ideas for studying on your own.

  Getting ready before you make a demo

  You need to take baby steps before you can make sure you’re ready to record your demo. You’re in control here, so consider our suggestions here about what to do to be prepared:

  Invest in vocal training with a professional voice coach. Guidance when you’re preparing to record a demo is of absolute importance. Some coaches specialize in creating demos. Even if it’s just for a short while, working with a coach can make a big difference. You
can flip to Chapter 3 for more information on training with a coach.

  Practice. Knowing your stuff pays off and keeps your voice fit. Read each day and also try different ways of saying the same thing. Always practice by reading the script as it’s written. Chapter 11 talks more about going over scripts and interpreting them.

  Have confidence. Believing that you can do something will come through in your performance. Recording a demo is preparation for sharing your voice with the world and those individuals who can hire you. Chapter 4 talks about understanding your role as a voice actor, which is critical to giving a confident performance.

  Set achievable goals. If you want to do your best, you need to set goals you can reach. A voice coach can help you with this. Setting realistic goals is very important so that you can achieve them.

  Have realistic expectations of yourself. What stage are you at as a voice actor? Have you done a voice-over before? Being realistic with where you are experience-wise is a healthy way to approach making a demo.

  Listen to demos of established voice actors. Go online, like to www.voices.com and other voice acting marketplace websites, and listen to how a good demo sounds.

  Take advantage of every free resource you can. So many ways exist that can give you more information about demos, the do’s and don’ts, and samples of other voice actors’ demos for inspiration. It’s amazing what a simple search query about a voice-over demo can turn up. See Chapter 1 for more resources that can help you.

  Choosing Your Approach

  Your voice-over demo is vitally important, so proceed carefully and thoughtfully when planning how your demo will be produced. This section gives you some guidance on producing your own demo or choosing a professional to work with.

  Taking the DIY path

  Your demo takes a lot of careful planning and ultimately should cater to your strengths as a voice actor and producer. When recording your own demo, first take into account the number of spots (or segments on your demo) you want to voice and script and their arrangement, the pace of your reads, self-direction, and the production of certain elements, such as music and sound effects.