VO-BB - 19 YEARS OLD!

[Bob Bergen]

David, email me!! Porkysvoice@aol.com
Happy to discuss where to start!

Bob

[Dan-O]

[ConnieTerwilliger]

I'd say take my class at San Diego City College - but I decided to stop teaching it after 18 years.

I know, not an answer.

So, the first thing you do is start listening to everything that is voiceover. Start identifying what is good and what is not as good. You first need to be aware of this. Listen to other people's demos as well. Go to any talent agent website with a voiceover division and start listening. You will hear great, not as great and sometimes even downright bad demos on agency sites. What made them great? The variety in product, pacing, attitude, etc.? The copy? The production values? The acting? All of the above. Some of the above.

And start talking back to the radio, TV, Internet. Listen for good stuff. Transcribe copy and record it on your phone - not need for anything fancy at this stage. Play it back. Compare what you did with what you heard. Does yours sound believable? Not looking for a direct copy but an understanding of what made the copy stand out as good.

Try to identify your vocal age range, quirks, interesting cadence. Start to figure out what you are doing best in these exercises. Commercials, Corporate narration, website marketing, audiobooks? You need to know where you fit.

Then, after some time doing this, book some time with a private coach - an hour - they should give you some homework so that you can hit that hour running. Let them evaluate where you think you are.

That's a start!
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Playing for a living...
www.voiceover-talent.com
YouTube Channel: http://youtube.com/connieterwilliger

[Bish]

Connie speaks the truth!

Far too often we fall into the trap of telling people what not to do... because that's quite easy... you just tell someone to open their eyes and spot the tell-tale signs... like the blood dripping from their barely concealed fangs. But, it's actually far harder to tell someone what they should do, partly because there are a few legitimate courses of action depending on what your objectives are... and the market you want to reach.

Listen to the good... listen to the bad and learn the difference. Practice.... and for that there is no investment cost. Do you have a local acting school (community or otherwise)? ... because it's all about acting, even the driest corporate read! Bob has offered a consult... and Bob is one of the good guys... he'll give you good information.

Before I put myself out there with any serious intent, I worked with Librivox where they use volunteers to record public domain books. Their acceptance of volunteers is solely based on your willingness... not you ability. Working with them, I found some massive differences in both the performance and audio quality submitted (and published)... and it gave me a constant yardstick of how to judge my performance against the other volunteers. As I say, you have to listen to the bad as well.
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Bish a.k.a. Bish
Smoke me a kipper... I'll be back for breakfast.
I will not feed the trolls... I will not feed the trolls... I will not feed the trolls... I will not feed the trolls.