Beginners to voice acting might even think similarly — but voice over opportunities abound in more places than you might think! “Where?” you ask? Well, right here…

Let’s take a look at the many career opportunities in the voice over industry, beginning with the two most common and moving out from there:

Radio

There are three kinds of voice work for radio:

Commercials: You know what these are. The sometimes funny, interesting, or annoying breaks in-between songs.

Promos and imaging: A Promo is a little announcement telling the listeners what shows will be coming up in the future. Imaging spots are those catchy, cool, or hip snippets that announce what station you are listening to.

DJ work: Yep. The radio DJ. It is a specialized form of voice over work but not necessarily considered voice acting.

Television

There are three basic kinds of television voice over jobs. These would be done at the TV station itself:

Commercials: You know what these are, too. The sometimes funny, interesting, or annoying breaks in-between the sections of your favorite shows.

Promos and imaging: TV stations, more so than radio stations, need their own promos to keep people tuned in. Imaging is also important but not as “auditorially stimulating” as radio imaging.

Programs / Documentaries: Narration voice overs fall into this category.

Corporate / Industrial

You wouldn’t believe just how many voice over jobs are out there in the corporate/industrial field!

Training: Many major corporations (and even smallish companies) have in-house training videos that need voice over actors to do the read.

Conventions: Company booths at trade shows and conventions often have presentations… complete with a narrated videos!

Sales and marketing: Handing out your company’s business card is okay. Handing out a pamphlet is a little better. But handing out a professionally produced DVD about you company is the cat’s meow! (And many need a professional voice actor to do the narration.)

In-store announcements: “Attention all shoppers. All women’s blouses are now just 50% off!” If you’ve ever heard something like this at a store then you know what I’m talking about. (And often it isn’t done by one of the department store’s employees.)

Telephony: Hey, someone has to voice those “mildly-annoying” on-hold messages and voice prompts.

Animation / Video Games

Both animation and video game voice overs can be challenging. First, it is difficult to break into. And second, it requires some very special and very unique abilities. For example: can you do a dozen or more completely different voices? Can you switch from one voice to the next on the fly? Can you do each voice with a full range of believable emotions? But on the bright side: it is one of the most enjoyable forms of voice acting!

ADR / Looping / Narration

ADR (Automatic Dialog Replacement) or “looping” is when a voice actor adds his or her voice after a program has been completed and there is a need for more dialog or to fix a flubbed line. A good sense of timing and the ability to mimic other voices is necessary.

Narration is, well… narration! Think Discovery Channel, the History Channel, BBC, National Geographic, etc. etc. etc.

Audio Books

Can you read a story well? Can you add just enough emotion into the read to make it interesting without going completely into “actor mode”? Can you sight-read well and do it for long stretches at a time? If so, then welcome to the lucrative world of audio book reads. (This is one of my personal favorites.)

Podcasting / Internet

With the boom of MP3 players (such as Apple’s iPod) podcasting has become a huge field. While most podcasts are free, there are times when a professional voice over is needed for imaging.

Nowadays many websites are becoming exceedingly inter-active. Voice overs are needed for online videos, website navigation, online games, etc.

Toys and games

You daughter, Sally, wants a new talking teddy bear. Guess who really does the talking? Yep. A paid voice actor. Any electronic toy or game that talks needs a voice. One of the nice things about this field is that toy manufacturers must make a mock-up of the toy for final testing and approval for production. They need a voice — and will pay for it — even if the toy never makes it onto store shelves.

“On location” narration

Many museums and tourist spots have narration about each exhibit either at each exhibit’s location (brought about with the push of a button) or through the use of a rental iPod.

Airports, train stations, and the like also need a professional and pleasant voice to announce arrival and departure times.

Final thoughts

As you can see, the voice over field is quite large (and I’m sure that I have probably left something out.) So don’t despair and think that you’ll never be able to get any voice acting work. Voice over opportunities really do abound!

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Everyone has a desire or a need that is trying to be fulfilled when we speak. The need could be for attention, acknowledgment, acceptance, and many others. So in order to have this need fulfilled, we speak up. But the way we speak up depends directly on what we think is the best way to get this need fulfilled. We consciously, or unconsciously, decide how we will get our desired outcome and speak thusly. And this becomes the intention that drives us as we speak. (Note: I’ve always wanted to use thusly in a sentence! )

Anyway… time for another list!

List of intentions

Following is a list of the most common intentions that people have when we speak. For practice, I suggest that you first say “It is my intention to—” and then the word, making sure you add the right vocal nuance to fit the intention. Here we go:

• beckon
• beg
• challenge
• charm
• command
• criticize
• dazzle
• demand
• embarrass
• encourage
• flatter
• intimidate
• manipulate
• motivate
• patronize
• please
• plead
• seduce
• tease
• urge

The intention of the script

Now that you have an idea of the possibilities, it’s time to take a fresh look at the scripts you practice. Each script usually has one main underlying intention. It’s the reason why these words are being said in the first place. Your mission (should you choose to accept it) is to find out what this intention is and read with that intention firmly in mind.

The good news is, the more you practice the easier it becomes to not only read with the proper intention firmly in your voice, but also to discover the underlying intention in the scripts you read. It’s as easy as the proverbial pie.

PS If you haven’t already, you might want to check out the related post:

List of acting emotions for practice

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How can you do this? How can you gain the almighty “Voice of Believability”? Through practice, of course! (Sorry, no “instant-voice-actor” magic pill.)

In the post titled making the copy your own we discussed one of the best ways to insert your own emotions into the copy. And now, using the following list of acting emotions, you can better organize your practice sessions and make them even more effective. Here’s the list:

List of acting emotions for practice:

• anger
• anticipation
• anxiety
• arrogance
• embarrassment
• boredom
• confidence
• contentment
• depression
• disappointment
• disgust
• ecstasy
• exhaustion
• fear
• frustration
• guilt
• happiness
• hope
• hysteria
• impatience
• jealousy
• loneliness
• love
• lovesick
• lust
• mischievous
• passion
• romance
• shock
• shyness
• suspicion

One way I like to practice is to take a plain-old sentence like “How would you like to go to the mall today?” and run it through the list of acting emotions. If you have the time, write each one on their own small piece of paper and put them in a bag. Then pick one at random and do the read. For more variety, prepare a second bag of practice sentences. Choose one sentence and one emotion at random and act them out.

(By the way…if there are any more emotions you’d like to add to the list, feel free to post them to the comment section below. I’ll then update the list!)

PS Be sure to read the next part called

The intentions behind the words

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Audiobook narration

Audiobook narration

Audiobook narration

Messages

Famous voice actors

Careers in voice over

Videos

Careers in voice over

Careers in voice over

Careers in voice over

The post Voice Actor's Notebook – Page 2 appeared first on Voice Actors Notebook.

It’s the NBC announcer test. The test originated at Radio Central New York (NBC) in the 1940s as a reading test given to prospective radio talent. The prospect would read the script for clarity, enunciation, diction, tonality and expressiveness. It had to be performed perfectly — no stumbles or stammers. Plus, it was to be read with feeling and meaning!

It’s good to start off slowly to get the enunciation down. Later you can read it fast for articulation. And here it is…

One hen Two ducks Three squawking geese Four Limerick oysters Five corpulent porpoises Six pairs of Don Alverzo’s tweezers Seven thousand Macedonians in full battle array Eight brass monkeys from the ancient, sacred crypts of Egypt Nine apathetic, sympathetic, diabetic, old men on roller skates with a marked propensity towards procrastination and sloth

Ten lyrical, spherical, diabolical denizens of the deep who haul stall around the corner of the quo of the quay of the quivery, all at the same time.

Looks easy… but this is how it should be read (hold on to your hats):

One hen

One hen
Two ducks

One hen Two ducks

Three squawking geese

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Over 4,400 free voice over scripts!

The good people at Edge Studio have put together a collection of over 3,500 voice over scripts that are completely free to use as you see fit.

Commercial script categories include:

• Business
• Food and Beverage
• Health and Beauty Aids
• Kid’s Products
• Retail
• Transportation
• Travel and Entertainment
• Character
• Dialogue
• Promos
• Trailers
• Imaging
• Public Service Announcements

Narration script categories include:

• Animation, Cartoon, Video Games, and Toys
• Audiobooks
• Biographies
• Corporate
• Documentaries
• E-learning
• Inspiration, Relaxation, and Meditation
• Medical and Pharmaceutical
• Podcasts
• Promotional
• Self-guided Tours
• Telephony

Getting access to the scripts

To grab up these scripts for yourself, all you have to do is head on over to their website (by clicking on the link that follows) and signing up for their free newsletter. I know that many people are afraid to hand out their e-mail address — and rightly so. But the Edge Studio newsletter is pure information that only comes out about once a week or so. It will never clutter up your inbox and, in fact, give you even more helpful advice for your voice-over journey.

To grab the free voice over scripts, click here.

The post Voice over scripts for free! – Voice Actor's Notebook appeared first on Voice Actors Notebook.

Studio tips

Audiobook narration

Famous voice actors

Videos

Messages

Careers in voice over

Videos

Messages

Careers in voice over

Tips & techniques

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Penelope Cholmondely raised her azure eyes from the crabbed scenario. She meandered among the congeries of her memoirs. There was the Kinetic Algernon, a choleric artificer of icons and triptychs, who wanted to write a trilogy. For years she had stifled her risibilities with dour moods. His asthma caused him to sough like the zephyrs among the tamarack.

(A very special thanks to Gary H. for sending this one to me! )

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• Don’t do a demo until you are ready!
• When it comes to cartoons, every character has a voice but not all voices have character.
• If you physically play the character the voice will follow.
• It’s never slow in the voice over industry if you are a savvy marketer.
• The script is a skeleton. Your job is to give it a body.
• You cannot make a wrong choice. The only that might be wrong about a choice is lack of commitment.
• Never audition to please. The only one to please at an audition is you. You have to take the pressure out of being liked and just love the journey.

A big thank you to Julie Williams for sending this list out in her newsletter!

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