A Beginner’s Guide to Voiceover Acting. (Part 1)

In one voice over group, one individual said that ever since he was a child, he has been told that he has a unique voice, and that he would love to learn to make money doing voiceover work. It is true that voice acting that there is a lot of money in voice acting. Whether you are a client, or a talent, or an agent, the money is pretty big.

Now, the question that we need to unearth is whether or not, anyone can be in the business. As a person with the passion for voice acting, who has knowledge with numbers, and management, being an agent or a client might be easy for you. However, on being a voice talent, simply having a good voice does not qualify you for the job.

You do not need a degree to become a voice actor, either. What you need to have to be eligible to do the business are essential skills. Yes, having a quality voice is one advantage, but the voice acting business is a jungle, and only the fittest survives. There are plenty of jobs out there, but, you cannot get a job easily, because there are more trained people than you are. Before you go into the battle, you need to be equipped with knowledge. Subscribing on voiceover websites like The Voice Realm can also help you, because our type of websites feeds you with the essential knowledge that you need in order to have an edge among others.

There are a lot of things that you need to know if you are considering the voice acting career path. In this blog, you will be able to get answers to some of your questions on how to become a professional voice actor. So, how does an individual become a voice actor? What are the essential skills that I need to have? These will be a series of blogs that will guide you on how to become a voice actor. The following blogs that will be tackled include voice acting skills, technical skills, and business skills. The first one that we will be discussing is about voice acting skills. This will serve as your guide if you want to pursue voice acting this year.

What do I need to know about voice acting in order to become a good voice actor?

This is by far the most essential skill that you must have if you want to make it big in the business, or even be in the business. As a voice actor, your job is mainly to read and interpret the script that the client gave you. Voice acting as its name suggests, is acting using your voice. You would need to know how to make listeners feel you without seeing you. If you have a good sounding voice, you would need to undergo training to hone your skills. You need to develop your innate talent. 

Theatre actors have the advantage when it comes to becoming a voice actor. Why is that so? Theatre actors know how to breathe properly, how to enunciate properly, and how to deliver lines with emotions. These are essential voice acting skills that you need to have in order to sound good behind the mic. No, you do not need to become a theatre actor first in order to become a good voice actor. What you need to do is learn what they do to improve their performances. Read articles on how to practice breathing, and how to improve your enunciation. You can also watch videos to help you. Watching videos of voice actors can help you in the long run. Do not imitate their speaking voice. What you need to do is try to figure out the way they speak. So, why do you need to pronounce words properly? It is crucial that your speaking voice is clear, because you need to sound appealing to your listeners. You would not want to mispronounce that client’s brand! Having a good diction gives you an advantage. 

After doing these steps, try reading out loud, and record yourself using your mobile phone, and have other people listen to you and give comments. Aside from voice acting skills, you need to have a good character. You should be able to accept criticism without feeling bad about it. Learn to improve in the areas where people think you are lacking in. 

If you have enough funds, another idea that will actually help you in the long run is finding a voiceover coach. As a beginner in the business, having a coach is a must have. Why? Voice over coaches are experts. They will be able to assess your strengths, and weaknesses, and they will have just the thing to improve the things that you are lacking. But before deciding to hire a voice acting coach, you should be able to learn how to be trainable, because coaches will do everything to bring out the best in you. 

Having a coach can also help you expand your network in the field. Of course, these coaches have been in the business, so they already know some people that will help you start your career.  The voice over industry is very competitive, so, having someone to guide you with the insides and outsides of the business would really be helpful.

To sum it up, these are the things that you need to do in order to have skills in voice acting:

• Subscribe to voice acting websites to know the things to know the voice acting business.
• Practice proper breathing.
• Practice your enunciation.
• Practice reading with emotions.
• Develop a good character.
• Hire a voice coach.

Now that you already know the basics of voice acting, you can indulge yourself in the blog posts in The Voice Realm, for you to get more ideas. If you need a voice coach, you can contact us, and we can help you look for one! On the next blog, you can expect to read about the technical skills that you need to have.

After reading the post, where are you now in your career as a voice actor? Have you started some of the steps that we have covered in this topic?