Whether you’re a professional actor, a student, or just starting out: if you want to voice for commercials, animation, video games or audiobooks, you need to audition for parts. Auditions are the gateway to your next paycheck. They are also very hard work.
Auditioning is one of the most stressful parts of being an actor. It’s not only about having talent; if you don’t know how to audition properly, chances are you’ll have trouble booking jobs. Knowing what to do and say in an audition room is key to landing jobs.
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There are many different kinds of people who take the plunge into professional voice over work. Actors, singers and some radio personality types are common. But frankly, most of us don’t go into it because we have a strong background in performance or broadcasting. Many of us simply love to read out loud and feel we’d be good at character voices, accents, or just plain narration.
Voice over work is a great way to make money between gigs, supplement your income if you’re working on a show or movie, or even as a career in itself. These days, listen to any radio spot, film trailer, TV promo, video game or animated feature and you’ll hear actors doing voice over work with stunning regularity.
What is Voice Over?
Voice over is the art of delivering pre-recorded dialogue for an animated film, a commercial (radio or TV), a video game (cartoonish or realistic) as well as countless other applications such as automated phone systems for banks and airlines.
Whether you are just beginning in the voice-over industry or you are a seasoned professional, there are ways to get your name and voice out there. And one of the fastest and most effective ways is by creating a demo reel.
But what is a demo reel? It’s not a video, it’s an audio piece showcasing your skills as an actor. It can be used for theatrical auditions, commercial casting calls and more.
It can be tough to decide where to start when putting together your own demo reel. Do you need to hire someone to do it for you? What kind of equipment do you need? How long should it be?
Here are some tips on creating your own demo reel:
Find a script
You will want to include at least three different scripts in your demo reel. Each piece should showcase different aspects of your talent. A great way to determine what type of scripts you should include is by looking at what type of acting you are most interested in doing. Do you want to do some commercial voice overs on radio? Maybe some film narration? Or do you see yourself as the next Disney princess? Pick out a few scripts based on what type of acting you would like to pursue and go from there.
How to prepare for your voice over audition.
One of the most common questions I get asked is, “What should I do to get ready for my voice over audition?” Here are some things that you can do to be prepared.
1. Listen to the copy and read it out loud several times to get a feel for the piece and how you want to deliver it.
2. If the copy calls for a dialect, speak with someone who speaks the dialect and listen very carefully how they pronounce words and how they express themselves.
3. If you are doing a commercial, listen to commercials on television or in the car on the radio so you can get a feel for current commercial production styles. You might even want to record a few of them so you can play them back and study the different ways they are presented.
4. Learn about your client’s company, product or service so you can understand what their message is about. If possible give them a call and ask them about their product or service and why they chose this particular type of advertising campaign. This will give you more insight into what they are looking for in their copy so you can deliver that message effectively.
5. Practice speaking clearly by reading the newspaper out loud
If you want to make a living doing voiceovers, you need to be able to read with variety and express emotion in your reads. That’s the place to start. The best way to do that is to take acting classes – either at a local college or community college, or at a drama school.
Once you’ve learned how to create characters, express emotions and tell a story through your voice, you’ll be ready for the next step: learning how to audition. You’ll need a home studio, which is relatively inexpensive these days. There are many tutorials on setting up a home studio for recording auditions.
Now that you have the skills, equipment and know-how on how to use it – all goals that should be attainable in one year – now you can begin auditioning for jobs online. If you’re going to do this full-time, I recommend you sign up with as many job sites as possible (ACX, Voice123, Voices.com etc.) so that you have plenty of work coming in while you’re building your reputation and client base.
After you get your demo, sending it out to potential voice over agents should be done by snail mail. If you send it by email, it will likely go into a spam or junk mail folder or be deleted immediately. The reason why I say sending it by snail mail is the best way to get an agent’s attention is because you are one of hundreds of people that are sending their demos to agents every single day. When they open their mail, they are looking for something that stands out from the rest.
Here’s how to get your package noticed:
Use a big envelope (9″x12″) so that your package looks different from all the other envelopes in the pile.
Send your demo with a cover letter and a resume on good quality paper. Make sure everything is spelled correctly and looks professional.
If possible, include a picture of yourself on your resume (headshot). Make sure it’s not too large and doesn’t take up more than half the page.
Don’t use a font smaller than 10 point for easy reading.
Do not send a script with your demo unless the agent asks for it. It takes up too much space and makes your package bulkier than it needs to
I am often asked: “How can I become a voice actor?” Well, I guess it all depends on what your definition of “voice actor” is. Do you want to be the guy who records your voicemail greeting? Or do you want to be the guy who makes the final cut of Toy Story 3?
Do you want to be the guy whose voice is heard on the 4pm news broadcast every day? Or do you want to be the guy who gets paid $140,000 per episode to make guest appearances on Friends and Seinfeld?
Do you want to be the guy who’s narrating documentaries for Discovery Channel and History Channel? Or do you want to be the guy who’s getting $75,000 per audiobook?
The first step is deciding which role best fits your unique talents and aspirations. So let’s look at each one in turn.
Let’s call this guy a Voice Talent. His job is primarily one of technical proficiency. He needs to have the ability to interpret direction from a producer or engineer, and then faithfully deliver that producer’s vision. His main job is not acting — it’s more like being a recording technician with some acting skills thrown in.
You hear Voice Talents everywhere: on radio and TV commercials,
