Every trade looks after its tools. A carpenter sharpens the chisels, a chef never lets anyone else touch the knives. In voice over, the microphone, the computer and the software are the easy part. They can be replaced. The instrument that can't is your voice.
A job that uses your voice all day puts it at risk, and the actors who last are the ones who learned early what wears it out and what keeps it well. This is a practical read, not a medical one. When in doubt, see someone who is.
How do you know it's in trouble?
- Has your voice gone hoarse or raspy?
- Does it crack after you've been talking for a while?
- Has it suddenly dropped in pitch?
- Does your throat often feel raw, achy or tight?
- Has talking become an effort?
- Are you constantly clearing your throat?
A yes to any of those, if it lasts more than a couple of weeks, is worth a doctor's appointment. An ear, nose and throat specialist is the person to diagnose anything going on with the vocal folds, and they may refer you to a speech-language pathologist, who can retrain how you use your voice so the problem doesn't come back. Voice actors go to them the way athletes go to physios. It's not a sign of failure.
What causes voice problems?
Sometimes illness: a chest infection, inflammation from reflux, allergies or something irritating in the air. Far more often, though, it's how the voice is being used. Misuse and overuse strain and fatigue the vocal folds, and a tired voice compensates with tension, which makes it worse.
No rest between sessions
Long practice, back to back auditions, a demo session on top, and no quiet time in between. A fatigued voice is running out of fuel faster than it can refill. Build breaks into the day and take them.
Pushing it to the extremes
Shouting drives the folds together hard enough to damage their lining. Whispering, surprisingly, is nearly as bad, because it holds the folds in a strained half-open position. Both are outside your normal range, and both cost you. So does hard throat clearing and a harsh cough. If you must clear your throat, sip water first and try a gentle "hm" instead. If you must cough, take a deep breath, hold it a moment, and push the air out with a silent "h" rather than a bark.
The three habits: rest, hydration, intake
- RestThe voice and the whole body. A tired body is a weak, uncontrolled voice, and it's when technique slips and strain happens. Sleep counts as practice.
- HydrationSteady water all day, room temperature, because it takes half an hour to reach the folds. Coffee and alcohol take out more than they put in.
- IntakeFruit, veg and grains for the throat lining. Go easy on spice and fat late in the evening, and ask a pharmacist before any medication that dries you out.
Rest
Resting the voice is only half of it. Rest the whole body. Physical tiredness shows up in the voice as weakness, a lack of control, a narrower range and a duller tone, and it leaves you without the concentration to use good technique, which is exactly when strain happens. Sleep is a vocal exercise.
Hydration
The vocal folds vibrate against each other hundreds of times a second to make sound, and they need to be moist to do it without friction. Water is the only thing that keeps them that way, and it takes around half an hour to get from your mouth to your folds, so drink steadily through the day rather than gulping before a session. Room temperature is best. Very cold water numbs the mouth and throat. Alcohol and caffeine both dry you out, and dry you out more than the drink puts back.
Intake
Beyond water, be sensible about what else goes in. Plenty of fruit, vegetables and whole grains keeps the lining of the throat healthy. Spicy and very fatty food late in the evening tends to bring acid back up while you sleep, and reflux is one of the commonest reasons a voice actor sounds rough in the morning. Some medications dry the throat, antihistamines especially, so if you need them, ask your doctor or pharmacist about alternatives. Avoid mouthwashes with alcohol in them. If you want to gargle, warm salt water does the job.
Before and after a session
Athletes don't sprint cold, and you shouldn't narrate cold either. A short routine either side of the work does more for your voice over a year than any single product will.
BeforeTen minutes to warm up
- Two minutes of gentle humming, low to high, no pushing
- Lip trills and tongue trills on a slide, up and down
- Three tongue twisters, slowly, then at speed
- A paragraph of the actual script, read quietly, then at level
- Water within reach, room temperature
AfterFive minutes to cool down
- Gentle descending hums, like a sigh with pitch
- A few slow, deep belly breaths
- Quiet for a while. No phone calls straight after a long read
- More water, and something to eat if it was a long session
And know when to stop. Pain is a stop sign, not a hurdle. If a session starts to hurt, or your voice cracks and won't settle, or you find yourself pushing to make sound, end the session and rebook. A client would rather have the files tomorrow than a hoarse voice for a month. If it keeps happening, that's the doctor's appointment from the top of this read.
Breathing for stamina
Three breaths a day
- The push outBend, empty the lungs, rise and fill. Hold for twenty, arms up. Four times.
- The rib stretchFill to the top, hands on hips, feel the ribs stay wide. Hold for twenty. Four times.
- Belly breathingOn your back, stomach hand rising first. In, hold seven, out for eight. Five cycles.
The next step is breath. Think of it as strength training for the voice: more air, better controlled, means more power behind the folds, longer phrases without strain, and a steadier tone at the end of a long paragraph. Three simple exercises, a few minutes a day.
The push out
Stand up straight, knees soft. Bend forward from the waist and push all the air out of your lungs as you go. Come slowly back up to standing, breathing in at the same steady pace, until your lungs are comfortably full. Hold it for a count of twenty, or as long as is comfortable, raising both arms above your head as you count. Relax, lower the arms, and breathe out slowly. Four times.
The rib stretch
Standing tall, empty your lungs. Breathe in slowly until they're as full as they'll go. Hold for up to twenty seconds, with your hands resting on your hips, thumbs forward and little fingers meeting in the small of your back, so you can feel the ribs staying wide. Release the air slowly. Four times.
Belly breathing
Lie on your back. One hand on your stomach, one on your chest. Breathe in slowly and deeply, pulling the air down so the hand on your stomach rises higher than the one on your chest. Hold for about seven seconds. Breathe out through the mouth for a slow count of eight, tightening the stomach muscles at the end to push out the last of it. Five full cycles. This is the breath you want under every long read.
A vocal coach can take this a lot further, and if you're serious about long form work like audiobooks and e-learning, it's worth the time.
A healthy, strong voice isn't just this year's income. It's the next thirty years of it.
Starting out is exciting, and the fear of missing a chance can make you say yes to everything, rest for nothing and forget the instrument entirely. Don't. Protecting your voice is the most important thing you'll do in this career, because without it there isn't one.
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