More than a great voice
Have you often been told you have a fabulous voice? Or you have a knack for characters, accents and dialects and have always fancied yourself as a voice actor?
Well it might be time to come along to one of our free VO Taster Sessions to find out a bit more about the craft of VO. It’s about so much more than having a great sounding voice - it requires commitment, tenacity, talent and a whole bunch of business skills.
As well as our upcoming free Taster Session, we’ve also written this post, which may answer a few initial questions you might have about getting started:
1. Ask yourself why?
Work out why now is the time for you to start training. For example, did you start your career in a creative role, but got lost somewhere along the way? Have you always dreamed of adding VO to your skillset? Has someone told you consistently you have a nice voice? We get a lot of this, but trust us, it’s not enough. Once you know your key drivers and motivations, you can start your research on who might be the right person or organisation to help you realise those goals.
2. Find a good coach
There are so many ways to access VO training across the globe, but our students here at BRAVA all tell us one thing: that they want the 1-1 personal guidance of a knowledgeable coach.
Having an experienced practitioner that knows their VO onions can save you a lot of time and cost. A professional VO coach can help you avoid working your way through a stack of online resources, dealing with online casting sites that may or may not work for you and keep you abreast of the latest industry news. Choose carefully and trust your gut. It needs to feel right. If you feel pressured in any way, proceed with caution. Coaches are here to guide you and offer their opinion, and it’s important to develop a sense of trust between you.
3. Set realistic goals and budgets
There are many levels of working as a VO. Some work part-time, supplementing another income stream. Others are successful enough to go full time, and this takes focus, perseverance and like any other long term endeavour, a lot of dedication. In either case, if you’re serious about VO, you’ll need to put in the work and decide on your available budget to get started. Set yourself some goals, and don’t rush the process.
4. Listen
Start listening and taking note of the world around you. Take an interest in the advertising industry as a whole and keep abreast of trends. You’ll need to know what’s hot right now in order to connect with your clients and believably lift those scripts off the page.
5. Enjoy the ride
Take the time to dig deep and have fun with the time you’ve set aside for learning. You need to deeply embed theory and practise so that it becomes second nature in the booth. Invest in yourself, and you will reap the rewards.
If you’d like to find out more about what it takes to get started in VO, sign up to our FREE 1 Hr VO Taster Session, with BRAVA founder, Melissa Thom on Monday 31st January, 6-7pm.