I recently had the honor of being interviewed for an article in the Springfield Republican (and no, no political affiliation implied). From past experience I know that such articles tend to bring me a few new clients, for which I’m very grateful, and they also bring in many requests from people wondering how they can become a voice artist too. The article will be out this Friday, so I wanted to be ready to greet those inquiring people and if you’re one of the latter, welcome – this post is for you. Many of my voice-over colleagues have written how-to guides as well, probably with the same title, so you need only enter the title of this post into your search engine and you’ll find a lot of great information.

A word of caution: most professional voice actors are contacted FREQUENTLY by people who want to know how to become voice actors themselves. Many of us are willing to lend a hand. We were all beginners once. But please respect their time and do your homework first. The internet is absolutely crammed with information about everything, including this, so the more you can educate yourself, and the more questions you can get answered on your own, the better prepared you’ll be if you do decide to contact a working voice actor personally and the more receptive they will be to your reaching out to them. Also, we are not in the business of giving free demo critiques, so don’t ask somebody to do this for you unless you know them well.

If you have been auditioning careers, so to speak – that is, you’re considering a change but aren’t sure what you want to do, and the article in the Republican or some other stimulus made you think voice-over is something you could do, then you’re in one category. If you’ve already got steady work in another field and would like to make money on the side, possibly doing voice-overs, you’re in another category. These categories might be called “Willing to Work Hard to Succeed”, and, “Less Motivated to Succeed”. Voice-over is not an easy career path to take, certainly not one that automatically leads to fortune or fame, and you really need to be motivated to become good at it. It takes an initial investment of a non-trivial amount of time and of money for training and equipment. The single biggest misconception about voice-over is that all it takes is a good voice. I would say the majority of human beings have a “good” voice. A subset of those have a voice that’s quite pleasant to listen to, at least for a few minutes. But it’s what you do with the voice that matters. Knowing how much emotion to put into a read, knowing when to back off from emotion and let the words do the work, how to convey the message that is in the words and motivate the listener to do or feel what is intended – that takes skill, which is acquired with much practise. And like athletes and musicians and artists and other performers, you’ve got to practise every day to stay in top form.

A special note to people with a radio background: if you’ve been a radio DJ then you have even more work ahead of you to get that radio sound out of your voice. When you’re a DJ, it really is all about you. People tune in to hear you. In voice-over, if you love the sound of your own voice, nobody will hire you.

So, if you’re still here reading, then I guess you want to hear more about voice-over, so this is what I recommend:

First, read everything you can lay your hands on about the business. You can start by looking at Amazon and searching on voice-over. That will give you about 1,000 entries, some of which actually are about voice-over-internet protocol, which is not related to voice-overs (which means, “voice over picture”, i.e., you see a picture on TV and hear a voice from an unseen person. But there doesn’t have to be a picture for it to be called voice-over. The voice can be on the radio or in an information kiosk or in a doll with a string that you pull or on the telephone telling you to press 1 for English, or it can be an in-store announcement or at the self check-out counter at the supermarket telling you to scan your groceries). I’m particularly fond of Harlan Hogan’s books because I feel like he’s looking out for all of us – sure he likes to make money with his books and products but his advice is terrific. See how many of these books on voice-overs you can get from the library before you go out and spend a lot of money on them. Mr. Hogan has a nice list of recommended reading at his site.

Listen to the commercials and promos (the “ads” for TV programs) on television. Listen to documentaries with narration. Listen to audiobooks. Notice how these are done. What do you like or dislike? A narrator should be unobtrusive – it should be the story that gets your attention rather than the voice. Notice that some commercials are high energy – ads for amusement parks for example, or for a fun kids’ product. Others are somber (“I thought I was taking good care of myself, and then my doctor told me I had high cholesterol”), or earnest (it’s good for us, and good for the planet”), or heart-wrenching (“over 1500 children will die of cancer this year”). Sometimes the difference in tone is very subtle. Notice these differences, and think about how the speaker is conveying the message.

Read aloud. Get used to the energy that it takes to do this. I’m not talking about shouting or reading loudly. Just the physical energy of producing sound for an extended period is tiring and you need to do it every day to get and stay in shape. But don’t just go through the motions. Also try to deliver the message, without letting your voice get in the way of the message. If you have children, then you’ll have an audience, and they’ll probably appreciate your efforts (just save books like The Scarlet Letter ’til after they’re asleep).

Find a good coach for one-on-one training. Harlan Hogan has a list on his website, and that’s a great place to start. Before you choose one, get references. Not testimonials on websites, but actual people that you can talk to or email about the coach you’re thinking of hiring. If there is nobody near you, many coaches will work with students over the phone. The one thing I must caution you against: companies that offer several days of intensive training, at the end of which you will record a demo. Run as fast as you can in the opposite direction! You will be scarcely farther along in your voice-over career than when you started if you go that route, and your pocket will be thousands of dollars emptier. It is simply not possible to get enough training in a few days to record a demo that will enable you to get work as a voice talent. You need to be able to function on your own after training with a voice-over coach, and you simply will not have the experience you need to do that after that kind of shallow training. You should work with a coach for several months or longer before recording your first demo. Some of the top talent trained for years before recording their first demo. Be patient. It will pay off.  Please see an earlier post about demo scripts.

Before you can hang out your shingle, you need a quiet place to record and you need good quality equipment to record with. A computer, a good microphone, a preamplifier, and digital recording software are indispensible (and don’t forget, you need to learn how to use them too!). In the “old days” you were limited to working with studios within driving distance of your home, and to make a living as a voice actor you had to live in an area with a lot of studios. This is no longer true if you have your own studio – you can work all over the world. You need a small space to record, like a closet, or, if you don’t have a closet to spare, you can construct a box to put your microphone in, and line it with acoustic foam. Your recording space should be isolated from your computer so that the noise of the computer fan does not show up in your recordings. If you visit Harlan Hogan’s store you can get ideas for equipment that will not require you to eat Ramen noodles for the rest of your life. Eventually you can build your own recording booth (or hire somebody to build it). A detailed do-it-yourself sound booth build is described in detail at the blog of voice actress Bobbin Beam. You can also look at home studio tours to get ideas.

Some of your clients will want to be able to talk to you while you’re recording, so they can direct your read. At the beginning, it might be enough simply to use the telephone. A phone with a good wireless headset can do the job. With a wireless headset you can stand at your microphone and record, and your client can hear you and direct. Using Skype to communicate with your client during a recording session is also an option. Eventually you may want to acquire Source Connect (please see my earlier post about Source Connect) or ISDN to enable you to get studio quality audio to your clients in real time. Source Connect currently costs around $600 to purchase, but there are no monthly fees.

About that shingle. How do you go about hanging it up? A website is a must. With your own domain name and a professional appearance (not a free one with ads on it – and stay away from photos of yourself and images of microphones)! This is where potential clients can go to listen to your demos and decide if they would like to contact you. If you’re knowledgeable about web design, that will save you some money; otherwise you will need to hire a designer. I can recommend a few. Put a lot of thought into how you present yourself and your business to the world. Look at the sites of other voice actors for inspiration (but it goes without saying, so of course I will say it: don’t copy them!!). The design of marketing materials such as business cards, letterhead, mailing labels and whatever other accessories you feel are necessary, should tie in with that of the website.

Getting work. Once you’ve got the training and the demo and the equipment and studio and website and all the other stuff, how do you find clients? That’s the multi-thousand dollar question. We all do it differently. Many of us work in the business for years before getting an agent, and many voice actors get all their work on their own. Getting an agent is something that comes later in one’s career, not at the beginning.  You have to find the ways that work best for you, but probably most of us start by contacting production companies. Visit their websites and decide if you think you’re a good fit. Call them or email to offer your services. Keep in mind that these people are all busy and all of them are contacted by a lot of people offering their services. Read marketing books and business books to get insights into how best to approach this. When I call, I usually just ask if they use voice talent in their projects, if they keep a talent roster and are accepting new demos. Speaking of demos – I used to put my demos on a CD (which required designing cover art and getting everything duplicated – a big expense both to produce and to mail out and there were usually a lot left over when it was time to record new demos). This is arguable but I would say the majority of producers would rather have a link to demos on your website than receive a CD in the mail.  If you find that a lot of people are asking for CDs then you’ll have to reconsider. Or just concentrate on those that don’t! Why waste money and continue to create a demand for plastic that’s going to end up in a landfill (if you don’t have an awesome plastics recycling program in your town like I do).

Many voice actors get work or try to get work by paying a fee and joining an online casting site. This is a good way to keep in shape, because if you’re not finding audition opportunities via other channels, this will give you a lot of chances to get real scripts and real auditions. That’s good experience, and you might actually book jobs from these sites. The downside is that many of the jobs posted on such sites have rather low budgets, and any time you’re competing with other voice talent based on the dollar figure you say you’ll do the job for, the quality of the entire experience is diminished. Furthermore, the business model of these sites is backwards. You’re paying money for the opportunity to compete for work. Some of the sites even charge you a percentage of the fee on jobs that you book! In addition, there is no quality control in the membership, so anyone can join. Anyone. I know somebody who signed up his border collie for membership. And if the dog had at least made an attempt to hide his status as a canine, he would have gotten away with it. Some people have great luck with the casting sites, and they’re an important (but not exclusive) component of their marketing plan. Others have no luck at all. Whatever you decide to do, keep in mind that you shouldn’t rely on any one approach to the exclusion of others, and that this is a quickly evolving marketplace. What works well now might not work at all in a year, so you need to reevaluate your approach regularly.

Now, what are you going to charge for your work once you get it? Rates for freelancers – the ultimate hurrah’s nest!! Please see my posts, Setting Rates in the Voice-over Business, and Perceived Value in Voiceover, under Most Popular Posts, to your left. Also see Paul Strikwerda”s The secret to landing any freelance job and Dave Courvoisier’s take on rates.  Here I will just say, you worked hard to train to do this kind of job, and you worked hard to land the gig, now you must charge a decent rate so you can stay in business.

That’s about as far as I can take you, my friend. If you decide to proceed, I wish you all success. It’s wonderful work, but a difficult way to make a living, especially in the early years, and then again when there is a saltational change in the way that business is done (such as when the Digital Age arrived and suddenly “everyone” could do voice-overs). Take the work seriously, respect the people you encounter who do this for a living and they’ll be glad to help you along. Give back when you can. There will be times when you’ll be discouraged and consider giving it all up. Those times might be frequent, as you’ll hear “no” far more often than you’ll hear “yes”. And it isn’t for everyone. But good luck deciding if it is for you.

Other Resources:

Peter O’Connell’s Voice-over Entrance Exam
Dave Courvoisier on Getting Started in Voice over
Getting Started in Voiceovers: My take by David Houston
Some humble advice on how to get into the voiceover business