How do you become a voice actor?
When I was a voice actor starting out, all I have ever done was watching professional voice actors putting work in the studio. I would sit down with the director and just watch them. Thus, I had a chance to observe many great voice actors in the early stages of my voice acting journey. With an unquenchable curiosity, I remember asking them question after question of how can someone improve their voice acting skills. Our voice carries our emotions and is therefore the most important means of communication. It is not easy to use it effectively. But that's the job of the voice actor as they practice for a long time and constantly train themselves.
Being a voice actor is exciting and enjoyable, but there is also a downside. The market is hotly contested and the so-called “good” jobs are mostly picked up by well-known voices. But don’t worry there is always a gig for every kind of voice out there. Let’s not forget though, if you want to make a name for yourself, you need a lot of discipline, ambition, and passion. In order to make it easier for you to get started in the industry, there are a few tips that I would like to share with you in this article.
Read everything you see out loud!
As I mentioned in the first paragraph, the first skill that you should have is to have the desire and curiosity. I remember asking each and every voice actor asking questions of how with wide-eyed wonder and the response was often the same. In one case, after a long session I remember asking a voice actor of 30 years the question of “How can I improve my vo skills ? ‘’ and his response was that he used to always read the entire newspaper out loud. I was really surprised at the fact that it could be that simple and wanted to say; ‘’Get outta here, it can’t be that simple”. ( I didn’t say that to him of course). As simple as it sounds, one of the best ways to practice your voice acting skills is to read everything out loud. It might not sound as enjoyable for many but it is the most simple but yet effective way to improve your skills. Just read whatever you see out loud, that simple. It’s safe to say that this technique worked for me so well at the beginning stages of my career and is something that still does.
Learn how to act
It is safe to say that one of the greatest ways to improve your voice acting skills is by going to an acting school or joining a theater company. It gives you an opportunity to stand on the stage in the theater and get your first dubbing experiences. There you can also learn how to be articulate, how to breathe correctly, and, of course, and how to speak in front of an audience. Voice acting is not just about pronouncing words correctly or having a great voice but also about expressing emotions with the help of acting talent and passing them on to the audience. Since you are in a dark room behind a microphone with no physical audience, it might come off as weird as your gestures or facial expressions will naturally disappear behind the microphone. Therefore you should learn how to use your voice as an impressive instrument by learning how to transmit different emotions such as joy, grief, or anger only with the help of your voice.
There you have it, these were the two elements to start out your voice acting journey. I am very happy to be able to share this simple yet effective advice that I have got from professional voice actors after asking them millions of questions. As they always say, there is a gig for every voice.