Patience and consistency is key. Remembering my very first taste of voice acting behind the mic is a bit of a tale. I had seen there was an introductory workshop for voiceover in my area, and I seized my chance! I jumped in with the kind of passion that one would expect when you discover something new. The kind of blind optimism you have as a newcomer who has high hopes, but very little experience. It’s voiceover. They do funny voices. Can I do funny voices? Yeah boy! Easy bruddah.
Patience – The Green Voice Actor
I was wrong. How wrong? Dead wrong! How dead? Dead dead. I had a blast, it was a magical experience and made me feel – antithetical to my previous statements – very much alive! But it also taught me that there was so much I didn’t know about the industry and that I was green. As green as a cartoon character who’s gone loop-de-loop one too many times on the roller coaster, and is about to violently launch their lunch in vomit-form upon the head of an unsuspecting passer-by below. I was eager to hit the ground running with voiceover, but I
needed to get good. Getting good is a result of cumulative experience. You gather experience over time through repetitive effort. Therefore, I needed patience and consistency.
Patience, Consistency, Habit and Mindset
Patience and consistency. Habits and mindsets that help you grow, but feel so at odds with the current world we live in, a society that values convenience and speed. Think about the speed at which we can order packages and have them conveniently delivered right to our doorstep. Or even the speed with which we can find a service provider with a Google search and a click of the mouse. These boons to society are powerful and helpful, but the instant gratification mindset can also be a double edge-sword. It can condition you to want the view at the top of the mountain, without putting the time and energy that it takes to do the climb. To want the muscles, without doing the exercise. The accolades, without doing the work.
Learning to Become a Voice Actor
I learned through experience that there are no shortcuts to long lasting results. You only get out what you put in. When I first started auditioning, I wasn’t booking at all. Nada. Zip. So I started taking workshops in the various voiceover genres that I wanted to work in such as commercials, video games, animation; basically anything and everything that interested me. I also was steadily improving my recording space, getting familiar with my DAW, getting more in tune with what project producers were looking for within each voiceover genre. I was observing and learning from those much further ahead in their careers than I was, getting a sense for what my natural inclinations were and where I fitted.
Patience and Consistency Wrapped!
Then eventually, I booked my first voiceover job! I was a bit of a slow starter, and it took me my first 8 months, but I did it. That kind of progress wouldn’t have been possible if I had rested on my laurels and resigned myself to thinking that I could just do funny voices and that would be enough. I had a preconception about what voiceover was about. I dug a little deeper and found that I was out of my depth. Then made the conscious decision to continue down the rabbit hole, putting my time and energy towards this thing that I was passionate about and had a hunger for.
Even now, I continue to learn a little bit more about the craft each and every day. I’ve observed that there’s a correlation among my peers that continue to find success with voiceover. Of course nothing is promised, and sometimes you need a little bit of luck and timing. However what I’ve observed is that my peers who continue to book are the ones that are consistent with their efforts over time. Patience and consistency is key.
Patience and Consistency is Key by Nicholas Contreras more articles are available here.