How to Be a Voice Actor

by Alan Smithee

  Functionality

  Paid themes tend to have good built-in SEO functionality. This becomes important when you’re optimizing your site for search engines. You can get a plugin that does this (like the All-in-One SEO Pack), but then you run the risk of it conflicting with your theme. In some cases a technical conflict like this is enough to crash your whole site, and that is never a good thing. Which leads us to our next reason to go with a paid theme…

  Tech support

  If you pay for a theme, you are much more likely to get the developer of that theme to help you if you have a problem. In fact, paid themes often have a robust community of users that have dealt with and solved every issue and can help you, whereas with a free theme, well, you get what you paid for. Is the developer of that free theme going to keep updating it so it keeps up with updates to the WordPress platform itself? What about testing it to keep up with plugins? Since you didn’t pay for the theme, you really can’t complain if the answer is no.

  Customization

  If you pay for a theme, not only are you encouraged to customize it to meet your needs, but the developer and community that supports those themes are likely to be able to help you do so. Free themes—not so much (unless you are brave and technically oriented). With free themes you have to go into the Theme Editor and remove this code by hand. And Lori can tell you from personal, sad experience that this sometimes ends with her crashing the entire site, pounding her fist on my desk so hard it scares her dog, then starting all over by re-installing the theme from the beginning.

  If you are a techie, like to learn, and don’t have a tendency to pound your desk in frustration if you mess something up, start with a free theme and see how it goes! It might be just fine for your needs, and you will have saved some money.

  Paid themes save time

  If time is a factor, definitely go with a paid theme rather than searching for and hand-installing a free theme. By the time you install a plugin for each piece of functionality you want to add, it ends up being something of a game of Jenga: Install the theme, install the plugin, activate the plugin, see if your site is still alive. Repeat ten times.

  If it seems like there is a bias here toward paid themes, it’s only because we (as marketers and website makers) just don’t like fiddling with those free themes. If you have the time and patience and want to save money, you can absolutely start with a free theme and see how it goes.

  Just so you get a feel for what themes are and how they differ, here are some examples of both free and paid themes.

  Here is the gallery of free WordPress themes:

  http://wordpress.org/extend/themes/

  Usually there are over 1,000 themes in that gallery, all of which are free for download right now. Scroll through the gallery, pick a few themes, and download them—just so you can see how they work!

  Some of the free themes we like are:

  - Bueno (a free theme offered by WooThemes.com)

  - Platform (from WordPress.com, this is the “light” version of another paid theme we like, Platform Pro)

  If you know you’re going to want more functionality, here are the most popular of the paid themes:

  - WooThemes.com

  - Thesis from DIYthemes.com

  - ElegantThemes.com

  Once you get your theme installed and activated, next you’ll start building pages. Here is what should go on your website.

  Your name. Even if your URL (website address) isn’t your name (like http://yourname.com), your name should still be one of the first things that users see when they go to your website so they can quickly know they’re in the right place. You’ll also want your name to be prominently placed so the search engines can find it and return your website in its results when people search for your name. In WordPress, you will go to Settings> General, put your name under Site Title, and replace “Just another WordPress weblog” in the tagline with something that epitomizes you or your writing.

  Your bio. This is a roughly 250 word summary about you—preferably a narrative about why you became a writer, something about your education if it is relevant, and a mention of some big-names clients for whom you’ve done voiceover gigs.. Go to “Pages,” create a page called “About Me,” and put the bio there.

  Your reels. This is the place to put the final version of your commercial, promo, and narration reels, as well as any other audio samples that you might have.

  Contact information. This is where you’ll put links to social media profiles (like Twitter and Facebook) if you have them, preferably somewhere on the homepage so interested people who might want to help you with your career can find and connect with you. You don’t necessarily have to put your email address right on your site (for instance, you might want to use a Contact Us form), but you should make it as easy as possible for people to get in touch. You might also want to put your agent (or agents’) information here if you’ve secured representation. If you want to use a Contact Us form, we would recommend a plugin called Contact Form 7.

  Analytics. You need to be able to track how many people are going to your site, where they’re coming from, and how long they’re staying, so you can take the appropriate action to get these numbers to be where you want them. You’ll need a Google account for this as well, so pull out your information and log in to http://google.com/analytics. You will go through a series of steps to register your site, then you’ll be given a short block of code to copy. The simplest way to get that code into your site is to download a plugin (from within the WordPress dashboard) called “Google Analytics for WordPress.”

  That’s it! Bottom line—make sure you have something that looks decent, showcases your voice, and makes it so people can get in touch with you (and that you can measure). You can tweak and refine as you go, but when you’re starting out, you just want the basics in place.

  Home Studio

  While setting up a professional sounding home studio is optional if you happen to live in a major market city and have agency representation, it’s absolutely essential if you work exclusively from online sites. Not only will your chances of booking a job improve if you record your auditions with a professional set up, but many clients who cast through the online sites will expect that you’ll be able to perform the job with that same setup.

  There are numerous guides available for setting up and perfecting a home studio. But for our purposes, let’s focus on the essentials. You don’t need to spend a fortune to create a studio that sounds great; in fact, you can generally do it for between $150 and $300 (not including a computer).

  The first thing you’ll need is a quiet space. Storage closets are good, but you’ll definitely want to select a space that is carpeted. You’ll need to deaden the sound in the area so that you don’t get any reverberation. The best way to do this is to hang blankets—packing blankets are ideal. If you want to get fancier, you can buy egg-crate foam and tack it up.

  Next, recording software. If you’re working on a Mac, you’ll be happy to know that all Macs come bundled with recording software called Garage Band, which works just fine. And if you’re working on a PC, you can download recording software called Sound Forge, which is free.

  Then, you’ll need a microphone. The price will vary anywhere from $50 up to $5000, so naturally, if you’re just starting out, you’ll want one of the cheaper side, and you’ll want one that has a USB plug that attaches directly into your computer. If you have an iPad, there are high quality microphones that plug directly in and sound great. The best thing to do is to go to a place that sells microphones, take your iPad or laptop, and test some out to see which ones sound best with your voice.

  All of the above will work great for auditioning. And if you book a job that requires a “phone patch,” which means the client listens and directs you over the phone while you record, simply purchase a set of headphones that have a phone microphone, and you’re all set. Most cell phones now come standard with these headphones.

  Beyond that, it gets a lit
tle more complicated and much more expensive. Again, if you live in a large-market city, the client will likely book studio time and you’ll work in person. But if you’re working remotely, there are a couple of options. For about the last two decades, the standard in remote connection is called ISDN. Without getting too technical, ISDN provides a high quality signal that can be sent and recorded remotely, and there are a couple of ways you can incorporate this technology into your studio. The first is to buy an ISDN box and set it up in your studio. These boxes are not cheap—they run between $1500 and $3000. Additionally, there’s a service charge to set up the line, as well as a monthly maintenance fee. The best way to learn more about ISDN is to call your local cable provider, or Google “ISDN line” or “ISDN providers.”

  The other option is called Source Connect. Again, without going too far into the technical aspects, Source Connect provides an ISDN-quality feed using the broadband internet line in your computer. There are pros and cons to using Source Connect—service can be inconsistent, particularly if you’re unable to plug in your broadband directly and must rely on wifi for the signal—but there are significant upsides as well. Besides the relatively cheap cost (most services charge $50 per half-hour), there will most often be an engineer on the line who can help sort out technical issues. And then there’s the portability. As long as you can bring your laptop, you’ll have access to Source Connect.

  Again, this section is meant strictly as an overview. There are many reputable and well-written books on the subject, ones you’ll want to rely on as you increase the technical capability and reach of your home studio.

  Areas of Specialization

  As we discussed in The Basics, there are many areas of specialization in voiceover. Voiceover people do commercials, promos, narration, movie trailers, video games, animation for TV and film, audio books, live announcing, and much more. You can choose to work exclusively in one of these areas, but experience shows that those who are able to work in numerous areas work and earn more. It pays to be flexible.

  You may already have an idea about what interests you most in voiceover, but whatever appeals to you most, you will first need to get a solid foundation in…

  Commercial Voiceover

  This is the bedrock of virtually every voiceover career, mostly because that’s where the bulk of the work is. Commercial VO is everywhere: you hear it on the radio, you hear it on TV, and increasingly you hear it on the internet and even in movie theaters.

  The pay scale for commercial work varies greatly. Some non-union spots that are run in regional markets pay very little, while large, “network spots” pay quite a bit. The union, SAG-AFTRA, has pre-negotiated rates, along with usage and payment cycles. If and when you land a national network campaign, you can earn six figures over the course of a year for a single job. Needless to say, for many voiceover actors, this is the brass ring.

  While the goal is always to sell something in commercial voiceover, advertising producers and copywriters turn out an astonishingly broad spectrum of appeals in order to get their message across. Commercial voiceover actors are called upon to be wry, playful, upbeat, relatable, caring, you name it. The one thing they’re usually not called upon to do is sound like an announcer.

  Promo

  Promos are 15- to 30-second spots run by networks to promote their programming. Even if you think you may have never heard a promo, you absolutely have. They’re the spots that begin with “Tonight on Travel Channel…” or “Coming up next on NBC…” Promos help brand a network’s identity. Promo voiceover people may do promos for a single show, or may handle much or even all of a network’s programming.

  This field is a bit friendlier to people with traditionally “good voices” than commercial, though that’s shifting. The good news is, with the proliferation of cable channels, there’s more work than ever. But unlike commercial work, which can continue to pay after the session is completed, promos are usually paid for up front in session fees. This varies, but it’s the basic rule. While it doesn’t pay as much on the back end as commercial, the upside to promo work is that it can be very steady, and in voiceover, a notoriously fickle field, having consistent work is always a good thing. Some promo campaigns can continue for years, and may demand numerous sessions per day.

  Another positive is that with the influx of celebrities in national TV ad campaigns (Ed Harris for Home Depot, Jon Hamm for Mercedes, Jeff Bridges and Morgan Freeman for… well, everything), promo is one place where rank-and-file voiceover talent still reigns supreme, mostly because celebrities don’t have the time required to do a whole promo campaign.

  Voice actors who excel in promo have a natural sense of how to draw people in and make something sound exciting and worthy of a viewer’s time. They also have the ability to vary the speed of their reads, because promos tend to move very quickly. Their reads are sandwiched in between what are called “SOTs” or, literally “sounds on tape” (which gives you an idea of how old this field is). When a promo voice is brought in, the promo itself is generally done and the voice is the last thing that’s needed to complete the spot for air. Thus, because all of sound effects, music, and the snippets of dialogue are already in place, a promo actor must work skillfully around these “posts” and fit his read “to time.”

  In most cases, promo people work in a studio equipped with a TV monitor, allowing them to keep one eye on their script and one eye on the what’s being shown on the monitor. This is called “reading to picture.” It sounds like a balancing act, but after a few sessions, it becomes second nature. Again, do your homework here. Familiarize yourself with the tone and attitude the different networks convey in the promos they air. And more importantly, listen to the promo voice. Then, when you’re called in to do a promo audition for a particular network, you’ll have an idea of what type of read they’re looking for.

  Trailers

  When most people think of voiceover, they think of Don LaFontaine. Don was the original “In a World…” trailer announcer. He was the guy who had the killer voice from the movie trailers that got you excited and made you want to see whatever film he was promoting.

  Sadly, those days (and Don) are now gone. Most modern movie trailers have little, if any, voiceover. The little VO work for trailers is now reserved for the ads for films that are run on TV. Yes, it’s still a voiceover field, but it’s much diminished from what it was. Usually, any voiceover you’ll hear in film trailers is generally meant to parody the big-voiced trailers of old. This is not to say there’s not work in trailers; only to say that it’s not the powerhouse it once was.

  Narration

  Besides audiobooks, narration is where to go if you’re a natural storyteller. Programs that call for narration are documentary-style, informative pieces that require a narrator to string all the various information together. As such, narration sessions require many “cues,” or script points, to read in a given session. And like promo, narration usually only pays upfront on a per-session basis. That said, if you manage to land a show that lasts for a few seasons, you can create steady work.

  Also like promo, this is another place where people with more classic, announcer-type voices can find work (though again, this is also in flux). The key skill here is the ability to understand the dynamic of a story, with its beginning, middle, and end. Here, you will also be called upon to read to picture. Again, with a little practice, you’ll get the hang of it.

  Animation

  Animation voiceover people claim to have the most fun of anyone else in the field, and why not? They get to do crazy voices, be high energy and over-the-top, and generally be silly for a living. What’s not to love?

  As such, the world of animation is highly competitive, and most of the people who have made it there have done more than their fair share of dues-paying. This is a field where living in a major market (LA, almost exclusively) is pretty much a requirement if you want to make it big. Additionally, it really helps to know your craft.

  While having a
flexible vocal range is a definite plus, the ability to act is, once again, of utmost importance. So is the ability to ability to improvise, to create a seemingly endless array of characters, and, more importantly, to be able to maintain those characters vocally.

  If you think of the classic animation characters, the one thing that’s consistent, is, well, consistency. The actors who create those voices have the uncanny ability to understand and play those characters over what is often several hours at a stretch. So not only do your acting chops come into play, but so does the ability to lock that particular vocal character into place.

  For animation, we highly recommend taking a class, and there are two people whom we highly recommend in particular:

  Bob Bergen

  (818) 999-3081

  Pat Fraley

  (818) 400-3733

  If you want further proof as to why should work with either or these guys, just check ‘em out on IMDB. You’ll be astounded.

  Videogames

  Videogames have become a powerhouse on the entertainment scene, and this trend doesn’t show any signs of dying down. As with animation, a voice for videogames will be expected to both create and sustain a number of characters over the course of a given session.