So You Want To Be A Voice Over Artist

Voice over’s read everything from radio commercials to movie trailers to video game soundtracks to corporate training videos. The amount of work available is enormous and many people make a full time career out of it. If you just listen to the radio every ad break contains a variety of different voices persuading us to buy, to see or to go look at products, events and more.

Start by listening to the radio or television and take a note of how voice over’s change their voice, tone, style and speed as they are reading the script. Think about your own voice and the characteristics it has. Most people will be suited to one particular style but that’s not to say that you don’t have the ability to mimic other styles and accents. Determine where your vocal strengths lie and build on them.

Do a search on the internet for some sample commercial scripts and use them to practice with. Practice using your voice in different styles to make the advert sound different.

Who Can Be A Voice Over ?

The best thing about being a voice over is that almost anybody can be one regardless of your voice type. Companies are after all sorts of styles from the butch movie trailer guy to the little old grannie to the young kid buying his first bike. Decide which style your voice falls into as certain areas will match your style more naturally and these are the ones that you can concentrate on.

Have your own home studio as most voice over's work from home and connect to radio stations and production studios using ISDN telephone lines. Here's an interesting article about recording voice over's at home

You will need all the usual things like fax machines, email so you can fax or email agencies or radio stations your availability so they know when to get hold of you. Create a blog and a website to showcase your talents and upload your demos so agencies can here your work.

There are various voice over web sites on the web you can join that list voice over people. Here's just a few to have a look at I'm sure you can find more on the web....

https://www.voicebooking.com/

https://voice123.com//

https://www.voiceovers.co.uk//

https://www.excellenttalent.com/

https://qvoice.co.uk/

How To Find Voice Over Work

Jason McCoy has written a vey indepth guide on .... 17 Ways to Find Voice Over Work Today That Will Generate Income Tomorrow ....It's full of hints and tips to get you going.

You can also check out Jasons website for more detalis about Jason and his voice over work.

Make A Demo Reel / CD

You will need to be able to produce your work on CD, MD, MP3, WAV, and possibly DAT and reel to reel format.

To get into the industry make a demonstration CD with various examples of your work and what you're capable of doing. Then send it out to as many commercial radio stations and production companies as you can. www.mediauk.com has a good list of address's for you to use. Also try joining the various voice over web sites on the net to get your name out there.

The industry charges a standard fee depending on how big the area is that the commercial is playing to or by how many stations the commercial will be aired on.

Then sit back and wait for the work to come in. It could take months but once a company has used you they will remember you for the next time.

Where To Get VO Help

Here's the website for Gary Terzza. Gary is an announcer on Channel 4, E4, Five and many more. Check out his site where you can take a free lesson online, check out the latest voiceover jobs, learn how to make a professionally produced voice demo and practice your delivery with broadcast-quality training scripts.

http://www.garyterzza.com/

Voice over master class

Here's a few of my favourite Voice Over Artists.....

https://gregmarston.net/

http://www.marcsilk.com/

https://emmaclarke.com/

https://www.seancaldwell.com/

http://www.nickcoady.com/

If you're a professional voice over artist and would like to add to this article or be listed on this page please feel free to drop me an email.