When you do a basic internet search for training techniques for voice overs, you will find a slew of recommendations to deepen your voice, raise your voice, sustain your voice, or change the character of your voice altogether. If you are new to voice acting, it's natural to follow the advice of the voiceover sages who have made it big in the industry.
While the pros have great pearls of wisdom to bestow on us all, don't forsake your common sense to enhance your voice and your career! Not all advice out there is worth following, and many pieces of advice can actually hurt you.
This is by new means a complete list, but it's a good start!
1. Regularly drink and smoke. You might think this is common sense already, but many DJs were (and still are) told to drink alcohol and smoke on the job to help give their voices more resonance. While regular smoking and drinking will help them gain resonance, it comes at the cost of their range of pitch. What many people don't know is that this is a natural process that comes with age. Smoking and drink will speed up this process so that you lose your "youthful" voice when you're young so that you have a richer "mature" voice. When you actually become old though, you might not have much of a voice at all!
2. Drink a shot of alcohol to calm your nerves. During the hours before you record, you shouldn't be drinking anything other than water for your vocal cords' sake. If you are actually doing a live recording session with the client, it's definitely a bad idea to drink before you meet them. Even if that one drink let's you relax enough to get a couple good takes, it looks (and smells) unprofessional. You might get through the recording session without a hiccup, but the client will likely call another voice talent for future gigs. Forget about the mouthwash -- instead, invest in yoga classes or a stress ball.
3. Surgery on your vocal cords. This just sounds scary! While you can, in theory, change your vocal range by changing the structure of your vocal cords, there is no guarantee that you will end up being satisfied with your voice post-op. Vocal cord surgery is way more expensive that voice over training, and it's simply dangerous. The voice over industry is expanding at such a rate that voice actors will all different qualities and sounds are needed for video games, audio books, commercials and narrations. If you invest in the voice over training, there's no reason you can't develop your niche with your own natural speaking voice.
4. Take your vocal range to the breaking point. Stressing the upper and lower registers of your vocal range is not a good idea, and it won't help you become a better voice over artist in the long run. In the short run, you'll give yourself a sore throat. In the long run, you may diminish your ability to control your natural vocal range. Developing a more dynamic voice involves the diaphragm, not the vocal cords.
Voice over techniques should never be hazardous to your health, and they shouldn't make you feel uncomfortable either. Have trust in your common sense, and know that you'll have to sort through the list of good and bad pieces of advice to find something that works for you. Bottom line: if it sounds too good to be true, like drinking more whiskey sours will help you get more voice jobs, then it's probably not true! There is no short cut in this industry, and there's certainly no substitute for hard work.
While the pros have great pearls of wisdom to bestow on us all, don't forsake your common sense to enhance your voice and your career! Not all advice out there is worth following, and many pieces of advice can actually hurt you.
This is by new means a complete list, but it's a good start!
1. Regularly drink and smoke. You might think this is common sense already, but many DJs were (and still are) told to drink alcohol and smoke on the job to help give their voices more resonance. While regular smoking and drinking will help them gain resonance, it comes at the cost of their range of pitch. What many people don't know is that this is a natural process that comes with age. Smoking and drink will speed up this process so that you lose your "youthful" voice when you're young so that you have a richer "mature" voice. When you actually become old though, you might not have much of a voice at all!
2. Drink a shot of alcohol to calm your nerves. During the hours before you record, you shouldn't be drinking anything other than water for your vocal cords' sake. If you are actually doing a live recording session with the client, it's definitely a bad idea to drink before you meet them. Even if that one drink let's you relax enough to get a couple good takes, it looks (and smells) unprofessional. You might get through the recording session without a hiccup, but the client will likely call another voice talent for future gigs. Forget about the mouthwash -- instead, invest in yoga classes or a stress ball.
3. Surgery on your vocal cords. This just sounds scary! While you can, in theory, change your vocal range by changing the structure of your vocal cords, there is no guarantee that you will end up being satisfied with your voice post-op. Vocal cord surgery is way more expensive that voice over training, and it's simply dangerous. The voice over industry is expanding at such a rate that voice actors will all different qualities and sounds are needed for video games, audio books, commercials and narrations. If you invest in the voice over training, there's no reason you can't develop your niche with your own natural speaking voice.
4. Take your vocal range to the breaking point. Stressing the upper and lower registers of your vocal range is not a good idea, and it won't help you become a better voice over artist in the long run. In the short run, you'll give yourself a sore throat. In the long run, you may diminish your ability to control your natural vocal range. Developing a more dynamic voice involves the diaphragm, not the vocal cords.
Voice over techniques should never be hazardous to your health, and they shouldn't make you feel uncomfortable either. Have trust in your common sense, and know that you'll have to sort through the list of good and bad pieces of advice to find something that works for you. Bottom line: if it sounds too good to be true, like drinking more whiskey sours will help you get more voice jobs, then it's probably not true! There is no short cut in this industry, and there's certainly no substitute for hard work.
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