People always tell me I have a great sound and should do voice overs. It sounds like fun. How do I know if I have any talent? I do not want to embarrass myself or waste my time. One of the worst misconceptions about voiceover acting is what we like to call the myth of the Golden voice. As a matter of fact, you do not.
But first before I give the step-by-step guide to a vocation in sound over, remember one thing: in the commercial world all kinds of voices are needed: low voices, whiny voices, gravelly voices, flat voices and even average voices. So, even if you do not have a classic ?good voice? you can enter the field if you have determination.
phonation artists are also used to record the individual sample fragments played back by a computer in an automated announcement system. At its simplest, this is just a short phrase which is played back as necessary, e.g. the Mind the gap announcement introduced by London Underground in 1969. In a more complicated system such as a speaking clock, the phonation artist usually doesn’t actually record 1440 different announcements, one for each minute of the day, or even 60 (one for each minute of the hour), instead the announcement is re-assembled from fragments such as “minutes past” “eighteen” and “pm”. For example, the word “twelve” can be used for both “Twelve O’Clock” and “Six Twelve”.
voice Over work is an exciting vocation for sound-over talent but you need training to develop professional sound-over skills to participate effectively in this industry. You often have just a few moments to analyze and interpret copy in a voice-over audition or a voice-over job. One of the particular challenges of this line of ours is that there is indeed a very highly paid and highly visible tip of the iceberg in almost every branch of the profession. Consider apprenticing under an established sound actor or volunteering your talents for charities, not-for-profits, or student projects. As you are building your phonation over portfolio, it is important to make the distinction between volunteer work and “giving your phonation away for free” — your future colleagues will thank you.
