There are a lot of people who know how to do what we do, but there are not a lot of people who know how to communicate to others how to do what we do. One of our pet peeves is when we hear someone utter the tiresome phrase, “those who can’t do, teach.”
Our team of world-class coaches encompasses some of the most successful people in the voiceover world, and together we’ve put together coaching methods to get the very most out of your voice and give you the best chance to succeed in the industry.
One hallmark of our work with students is that we don’t have a one-size-fits-all approach. We’re not lecturers or professors. We’re coaches. Good baseball coaches don’t coach each player on their team the same way. They take a look at the athletes they have and work with them to maximize their strengths and correct and minimize their weaknesses. That’s what we do as well.
So much has to do with what area(s) of the industry you’re interested in pursuing, as well as what aspects you’re best-suited for. So our early sessions will always center around answering a few fundamental questions.
What do I want to do?
What am I qualified to do?
What could I do if I work hard at it?
This comprises almost half of all the VO projects in the business, and it calls for various delivery styles. Most commercials include a “salesy” attitude, but not necessarily all do. There are occasions when “acting chops” are part of the commercial, and the “announcing” is done by another VO artist. The better you are at all aspects of what a director or producer could want, the more likely you will be to book work in this area.
This style of delivery is more in line with the role of a “storyteller.” Some of the best narrators are well-known actors like David Attenborough, Morgan Freeman, and Brenda Strong. Their acting talents give them an interpretative edge, but not all producers can afford their fees, so there’s still plenty of work out there to be had by unknown or lesser-known narrators with the right skill set.
Surprisingly, Hollywood actors do very little voice acting, because this part of the industry is dominated by cartoons, video game characters and audiobooks, and most producers cannot pay for big-name stars. The Internet makes it possible for more affordable talents to do this work worldwide. There’s a higher volume of animated, audiobook, and new media content being produced today than ever before, and the amount just keeps growing year over year. Many opportunities exist for skillful voice actors!
Like the idea of being on radio or TV hosting your own show? This requires a completely different skill set than much of the above. Being a newscaster or a morning drive host or a sports journalist all require more improvisational abilities, but can be rewarding and lucrative for those who do it well.
Most people think of “The Movie Trailer Guy” Don LaFontaine (“In a world…”), when this style of delivery arises, and movie trailers are a big part of it. However, voice imaging can also be as simple as a segment introduction for a radio show, or a promotional voice for a local TV station’s newscast. With the advent of remote production tools like SourceConnect (which we have at my studio) or ISDN lines, as well as the rise of high-quality home studio setups, most of this imaging work can be done from anywhere in the world, meaning location is no barrier to booking high volume work in this arena.
All lessons are conducted one-on-one over Skype. That means location is not a roadblock. All you need is your phone or computer and access to emailed scripts. Your coach will call you on Skype (you do not need Skype capability – our coaches use Skype software to record lessons and send them to you in mp3 form afterward). You will read the script, and your coach will tell you what you’re doing right and wrong, how to do it better, etc. You will delve into things like tonality, microphone technique, inflection, diction, phrasing, pacing, timing, interpretation of material, character development and more.
We suggest that whatever package you prefer, you schedule no more than one lesson per week, but then you must practice – at least forty-five minutes to an hour every day! This is where the light bulb will come on for you. Your coach will teach you techniques and give you insight, but only when you practice these things will you begin to understand how to use them effectively.
We are so honored that you’re here at our site, considering doing something about all the times you’ve heard “Hey, Great Voice” over the years. There is no doubt this is a difficult industry, but it’s also incredibly rewarding, filled with some of the kindest, warmest, funniest, smartest, and most interesting people you’ll ever meet.
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