So you want to do silly voices for money… When you get down to it that’s what being a voiceover artist is all about. We get paid to talk. Obviously there’s more to it than that and there’s more than just having ‘a nice voice’ to make it in this business. But let’s say you’re at the start of your journey and you’re thinking about getting into this life. Voice acting goals! Where do you start? Well, the internet, where else? But there’s so much out there.
To use a gaming example; it’s comparable to completing the training mission in a huge RPG and then you leave the cave full of weak enemies and conveniently placed swords and armour. You find yourself at the top right corner of a huge map that just keeps sprawling and sparawling. No! too much sprawl!
Voice Acting – That’s the Goal
It’s ok I got you. We’re going to stick with the RPG (Role Playing Game) metaphor a bit longer because I’m a nerd and it helps me present ideas to others in genre specific examples. Say your number one mission in your game journal reads “Become a professional voiceover artist.” That’s great you’ve identified a goal. But it might seem a bit insurmountable, akin to ‘Overthrow the Evil Demon Lord Kaltarak and save the land’ in our RPG. How do we make this more manageable?
Side Quests!
Yes the meat and poh-tay-toes of any RPG. Smaller tasks and missions designed to help you learn the ropes and gain the experience points necessary to ‘do the big scary thing’. Here’s some examples of side quests you could do as a shiny neophyte VA and nab some tasty XP (Experience Points).
- Follow 20 working voice actors on the social media of your choice.
- Research voice acting classes in your area, if there are none nearby look for online classes.
- Research acting classes in your area, and once again if there are none nearby look for online classes.
- Investigate your home for potential recording spaces. Do you have a spare cupboard or closet, is there a small room no one uses because of ‘the smell’? Can you construct a temporary blanket fort in your bedroom.
- Begin saving some money, there will be a financial outlay. This is true for almost any career path. Go on, think about it. Can you name one career you can get into for free? Ok, maybe Gym Teacher but that’s a special case
- Commit to your voice acting goals (Do all the above!)
Voice Acting Levelled Up
Once you’ve completed these first few simple but relatively painless side quests you should feel a bit more empowered, you might want to take things to the… next level. By now you will have absorbed some of the musings of those wonderful VO’s online (if you learn anything you will learn that most VO’s are lovely people who want to help you Overthrow the game bad guys) and you can then start working on your craft.
Here’s some side quests to boost your Performance Stats.
- Practice your sight reading. Pick anything and read it out loud. Anything, cereal packets, TV Guide, the Bill of Rights, doesn’t matter.
- Watch TV and talk along with the commercials. TV isn’t you’re bag? then try the radio, Youtube, or literally anything.
- If accents are your thing then work on those, make sure you can speak for at least one minute solidly in a chosen accent, this is where acting and voice coaching comes in really handy.
- If you can, get some on the mic practice. This doesn’t need to be expensive. Record yourself on your phone and listen back. Train you ear to hear you.
- Watch examples of voice artists online, trust me we’re out there just talking away. Have a listen and try it yourself.
Voice Acting Goals Complete!
By now you’ve added points into your performance stats and your confidence should be running high. But if not, if it’s still daunting and somehow you’ve found you’re comparing yourself to all those voice actors online and how on earth are you supposed to do all those accents and why don’t I have a shiny LED lit up booth like that? Than, just Breathe. It’s not going to happen overnight. It’s a marathon not a sprint. Once you take a step on this journey I guarantee there will be people there to help you and those people will have been where you are right now. Reach out and help will be there.
Remember just keep side questing, and soon you’ll be yeeting the big bosses into the Lake of Acid from whence they came in no time! Thanks for reading.
Voice Acting Goals by Trev Fleming more articles are available here.