The Journey of a Female Voice Over Artist

I have been doing voice overs for over 16 years now – boy how times flies!

I have to admit that I kind of ‘fell’ into the industry.  I wanted to be an actress but anyone who has ever had that dream will know that it’s a seriously tough gig with lots of knock backs and long stints without any paid work.

So, I became a ‘professional’ waitress, which was fine, but apart from the tips, the pay was pretty lousy.

How Did it All Start?

One day I was a waitress on a boat cruise and I got chatting to one of the customers.

It turned out he was a producer at a key radio station in Melbourne.

He asked if I’d ever thought about doing voice overs.

I had to admit the idea had crossed my mind, but I had no clue where to begin! He very kindly offered to make me a demo.

I’ll never forget the thrill of standing in the sound booth at the radio station for the first time.

I miss the days when the majority of voiceovers were recorded onsite!

Radio Made it Easy for a While

It’s funny because voiceovers actually gave me the idea to pursue a job in radio.

I was fortunate to score a job at a station in Wangaratta. After a year, I moved to a bigger station in Shepparton.

I spent six great years working as a copywriter, announcer, journalist, and eventually a breakfast announcer.

At the time, home studios were still virtually unheard of, so doing voiceovers was really easy because I had full access to the studio!

I Almost Gave it Up Altogether

After I left radio for a much higher paid job in Communications, I decided I didn’t want to give up my voice over work, so I set up my very first, rather dodgy studio at home.

I had also returned to Melbourne and was fortunate to be invited to come back to the radio stations I had previously worked for, to do in-house recordings.

Fast forward to the beginning of this year and I admit my voiceover work had sadly, almost completely dried up. Fulltime work had got in the way and I had stopped actively marketing myself.

I’d also lost a bit of confidence and thought perhaps it was time to give it all away… until some unfortunate events pushed me back into the world of voiceovers.

I bought myself a new mic, improved the soundproofing in my studio, cut a new demo and re-visited all my old contacts, and found many new ones – and I’m so glad to be back!!

Keep pushing, keep working on your craft, and don’t give up – all the hard work really is worth it!

 

Inga was a radio announcer for 6 years and been a voiceover artist for over 16 years. She worked in various radio stations and was a breakfast announcer at Shepparton’s 3SR FM. Prior to that, she was at Edge FM in Wangaratta, Victoria. She is currently based in Melbourne where she has a professional home studio.

You can listen more to Inga’s radio demo on this link: https://www.thevoicerealm.com/view-profile-artist.php?artist_id=1206