Help me look like a pro voice actor!

June 5, 2006 6:15 AM

I'll be doing some voice-over recording later this week. Can any experienced voice actors give me some tips for once I'm in the studio?

So one of my life's dreams has come true, and I landed a paying gig to do some voice work for animation. I'm immensely excited, but also nervous since I've never been in a professional recording studio before. I've done a fair amount of on-camera acting, and plenty of stage. What should I expect, and what can I do so I don't look (or worse, sound) like a total n00b once I'm behind the microphone?

posted by Faint of Butt to media & arts (9 comments total)

Congratulations! If it has a cartoon feel, don't be nervous, anything goes, especially if you have other actors in the studio with you, it's just like rehearsal or a reading.

Start off positioning the mic at your chin. They'll tell you if you are too close or to far, and they may or may not tell you to back off your SSSS sounds or your PPP sounds.

Seriously, relax, the engineers will tell you what to do. Have fun.
posted by rainbaby at 6:41 AM on June 5, 2006

Seriously, relax, the engineers will tell you what to do. Have fun.

Yeah, that's what I was going to say.
posted by ludwig_van at 6:42 AM on June 5, 2006

As someone who has recorded hundreds of hours of voiceover, including my own... it's bloody hard!

I can't help you with the acting side but I can help you with some of the technical stuff.

-- make sure the playback in the phones is exactly right
-- drink lots of water through the session
-- watch your posture. How you sit and breathe makes a HUGE difference
-- you need to be aware of microphone technique. If you speak quietly, and close to the mic, it will sound very intiimate. If you speak loudly, further away from the mic, it will sound much less so. Imagine the microphone is the audience's ear and you will not go far wrong.
-- directors will really appreciate someone who can vary their readings in terms of both pace and dynamics
-- don't read too quickly. One of the biggest problems with amateur v/o is that it is hurried. Good v/o can often sound very slow to the reader.
-- if you have any technical questions or problems, just ask the recordist. They are very helpful.
-- rely on the director to be your critic, not your own ear. An actor who continually stops and starts the session to correct what they see as their own mistakes will drive everyone nuts.
-- it will take a while for you to warm up, and so the middle of your session will be better than the beginning. As you get tired (and you WILL get tired) your performance will fall off. Therefore DO NOT use yourself up completely before you reach the end, and at the end ask if you can go back and record another version of the beginning. It will almost certainly be better than the original. Any good director or recordist will suggest this, but many don't.
-- be aware that in any decent non-linear recording suite they can record hundreds of takes and keep them all to select the best later.
posted by unSane at 6:45 AM on June 5, 2006

Well, watch your inhalation before you speak, try to make it as inaudible as possible. Be aware of plosive "p's" , "t's" and the dreaded sibilant "s". Of course, character voices may render some of these suggestions moot. Keep breathing and take some water into the booth with you. The mike is really sensitive, so every chair movement, paper rustle or miscellaneous noise will be audible. Relax and enjoy!
posted by Ohdemah at 6:59 AM on June 5, 2006

Caveat: I don't have voiceover experience. I do, however, have a lot of live theater experience, particularly with Shakespeare, and I have a number of friends who've done voiceover. So, my $0.02, both from my own knowledge and that I've received:

Trust your director and the engineers. They know what sounds good. They are utterly disinterested in your ego, and entirely interested in the end product, so you can basically trust them to tell you if something works or not. Don't be self-conscious.

Warm up before you get into the studio, so you can come in with your voice at its full range and dynamic power: you don't want to use the studio time to "get warm".

Strive to nail your takes: in your warmup, make sure you can do machinegun delivery without flubbing syllables. That way, you can give several different dynamic deliveries without anyone worrying that 'e' sounded like 'a' in the session.

Before doing the session, figure out which voices you'd like to bring, and practice them. For example, if you're planning to bring an accent, make sure you have the accent dialed, and can do it on a sustained basis.

unSane said this, but it bears repeating: make sure you can pace yourself well and not rush unless it's deliberate.

Basically, treat this like a musical gig: your voice is your instrument. Make sure it's in top condition and that you are utterly familiar with its vagaries before you get there.

As an aside, I cannot recommend Voice and the Actor by Cicely Berry highly enough for voice training: it made an enormous difference in my ability to deliver Shakespeare.
posted by scrump at 7:04 AM on June 5, 2006

This is an interesting thread. I've created a nascent sound studio in my house for podcasts, etc. Some of the advice given here is great for my situation. But what if, like me, you are the voice AND the engineer?

Any additional tips for how to do v/o in this situation?
posted by Taken Outtacontext at 9:59 AM on June 5, 2006

Use a pop-filter on the mic and a compressor and a noise gate. EQ to taste.
posted by ludwig_van at 12:14 PM on June 5, 2006

Ditto on the pop filter, compressor and noise gate. I record my own voice over like this. Use a decent mic (at least $100). I use an SM58 personally, which is very warm.

Another hint is to SPEAK UP! It is tempting when recording your own VO to be rather quiet, and not project, because you are so close to the mic. But if you imagine you are talking to someone across a table you will get better dynamics.

Finally, if you are your own engineer you may get much better results by throwing away your script and ad libbing. You can record hundreds of takes and pick the best from each. What I often do is write a script, record it, then do it again but ad libbing with the original voice track as a guide and no script. It feels WAY more natural if you do this.
posted by unSane at 6:05 PM on June 5, 2006

You already did the hardest thing: getting the job. Think about it -- you're already doing something very right as far as the casting director is concerned, so go ahead and ask the person who selected you what they liked about you. Then calmly try to keep doing it.

All of the technical tips above are accurate and quite helpful, but can be overwhelming for a newby -- that is probably what killed my budding vo career. So the first advice here is my advice too -- relax righ back into whatever you did when you auditioned -- they hired you for that. To be the right person for lots of different jobs is where the technical training and experience pays off. (That plus all the other kismet of required to suceed in the performing arts). Make this one step a fun step and enjoy it!

/my 2¢

If you want professinal guidance, Voice One in SF is a great place for training. Elaine Clark is my absolute voice acting hero, a total pro, and a very nice person. I'd just call her and tell her what you've got going and see what she suggests. And tell her Buzz says hi.
posted by buzzv at 8:18 AM on June 6, 2006