Becoming a voice over artist.
Becoming a voice over artist first requires knowing what to expect. What do you need to feel confident walking into a Sydney Voice over studio.
There are many different types of voice over jobs. Becoming a voice over artist for example may require a specific knowledge of languages and accents. If you have had personal cultural experience and training in a range of language contexts, this will definitely broaden your appeal to a voice over studio. I would hesitate to say that a 1 year course in French would qualify you to do a French voice over. But if on top of that you had spent a year or 2 in France and spoke and studied regularly, you could begin to think about such work.
In the same way, it is wise to expose yourself to a wide range of styles and contexts. Listen with intent to ANY advertisement you come across on the television or radio. Normal people listen to the songs and news on the radio. Wanna be voice over artists look forward to the advertisements coming on in between the songs! Listen carefully and repeat what you hear. Granted, not every advertisement will be your style, but the more different types you expose yourself to, the more prepared you will be for a random voice over studio call.
Voice over acting
On a whole other level, there is voice over acting. Many movie roles for animations fall to regular screen actors, but there are several “voice celebrities” of note that specialise in voice acting. One standout is Dan Castalleneta from the Simpsons. Dan is well versed in different types of characters and is a master of changing his voice. He has made famous the voices of:
Homer Simpson
Groundskeeper Willie
Sideshow Mel
Mayor Quimby
Grampa Simpson
Itchy
Krusty the Clown
Barney Gumble
Santa’s Little Helper (yep, he trained himself to speak dog)
Hans Moleman,
The Squeaky Voiced Teen
Blue Haired Lawyer
Arnie Pie
Charlie
Rabbi Drustofski
And at least 10 other random voices that are used as cameo roles.
Another legend of the voice over cast is Hank Azaria who fills in the role of over 20 cameo acts. Nancy Cartwright of courses is legendary for the voices of Bart Simpson, Ralph Wiggum and Nelson Muntz, as well as Maggie Simpson!
These are a very special type of voice over artist and will not necessarily be the goal posts for advertising, narration oriented voice over artists. None the less, they lay out an impressive work ethic and none of them achieved what they did with out hours and years of practice.
A regular voice over artist for advertisements
You too can become a proficient voice over Artist and walk into any Sydney Sound Studio with confidence.
Part of becoming a voice over artist is becoming a fluent reader. You will often only be given the script at a moments notice. It is a great idea to expose yourself to a number of different scripts before even walking into a Sydney recording studio. Here are some practice scripts covering a range of styles and typical situations.
Each of the scripts contain ideas from a director and also important demographic info. They all feature a fictional business. Use them as tool building examples to help you understand how scripts are ordered and formatted.
The scripts also include information about the age of the voice you should portray, the gender (best not challenge yourself on that one…), the role, the accent and other concepts that may be useful. Most however are up to you to put your own spin on.
How to hustle for voice over work
- Firstly, where is the voice over work? How do you land more jobs? This is a big part of the job because of the huge level of competition out there.
- One interesting first step to take is to search for products that YOU yourself would buy. Something genuinely useful that you are interested in. When you buy a product from someone (a product that you genuinely need) you have an in. As long as you have a good email signature, marketing tactics set up with a business card and a web site. Providing this information as a customer of a company gives them an additional connection.
- Particularly a smaller company that perhaps has advertisements and low scale videos on youtube, but not yet voice over. You’d be surprised how you can generate business for yourself if you highlight a very obvious need in a company that is slow of the mark to market themselves. This is all about getting a start. Sales tactics and networking are just as important as your training.
Take advantage of Linkedin. Create a professional profile. You’re not searching for social friends but clients. here’s a link to a helpful set of tips for creating a great profile.
Learn all the techniques and marketing strategies. Before you know it, you will be walking into a Sydney Voice Over studio like Crash Symphony productions and laying down your first advertisement!
