Get A Better Broadcast, Podcast and Voice-Over Voice

2022.11.06 – 0675 – Using Props To Get Into A Character Properly Using props As well as holding yourself in a certain way to get into your character’s voice, some voice actors also hold an appropriate prop. Your voice may sound more authentic if, when playing an elderly person, you not only stoop but also hold a walking stick. A better ‘bossy voice’ may come from you standing on a box in the studi...

2022.11.05 – 0674 – Be A ‘Moody’ Voice Actor So, develop various attitudes in your voice: the tone, volume, speed, and energy. And remember that a character is more than one ‘mood’ and will go through various situations that you need to show in your voice. They may usually be fun, but then on occasion, frustrated, confused, or concerned … confident or shy, determined, silly, serious or self-import...

2022.11.04 – 0673 – Animation Attitudes Animation ‘attitudes’ You should be good at reacting as well as acting, be able to read a situation and know what your character would do in that situation. This is not slow-turnaround theatre, TV or movies with lots of rehearsals and retakes and time to find your motivation. The characters may be drawn already, and you have to not only read the words that t...

2022.11.03 – 0672 – More Non-Verbal Sounds in Voice Acting ·        The performance may also require you to bring more physicality to your voice: your character may be out of breath, or I dunno, calling to someone in a tunnel. Obviously one of those will require more breath, the other more projection, perhaps with a tone of concern, so consider how your char...

2022.11.02 – 0671 – Non-Verbal Sounds in Voice Acting ·        What is the rest of your body doing? The face obviously, but also your back and arms… Physically become your character, how they stand, how they use their hands: hands in pockets, upright, chin out, hunched over, shaky hands… ·        Personality and colour...

2022.11.01 – 0670 – Voice Acting Mannerisms Other voice mannerisms Now consider ‘fleshing out’ your character. Don’t add to the words on the page, but don’t only read the words on the page. ·        What are the voice qualities? More breathy, raspy, growly? ·        Is the pitch higher or lower than your usual voice? (...

2022.10.31 – 0669 – How Visuals Help Your Animation VoiceOver Of course, attributes of animated characters are usually extreme and will have been drawn in conjunction with the story editor. Everything you see is a clue to your character’s voice: ·        a larger person might have a bigger and lower voice. One with a larger, fatter face may sound more ‘jowly...

2022.10.30 – 0668 – Getting An Animation Voice That Fits The Visuals Getting a voice that fits the visuals When auditioning for an animation role you will be sent a ‘vocal reference’, a few lines of the script, as well as a character brief: a description and personality profile of the person or object you are reading for, their role and ‘journey’: “ Barnard is a British steam engine. Played by a m...

2022.10.29 – 0667 – Your Character’s ‘Voicernality’   It’s more than the ‘voice’ Remember that a character’s voice (including your very own!) is partly based on one’s physicality: how they talk is affected by how they walk, how they hold themselves as they speak, how they stand and sit, their physicality, their energy and more. All of these elements help create their ‘voice personality’, what...

2022.10.28 – 0666 – The Value of Creating Character Catchphrases   For example, perhaps you have created a character voice you call ‘Perfect Pat’. Pat is, as their name implies, bright and positive and speaks at pace with a smile in their voice. That ‘attitude’ is helped by imagining their neatly brushed hair, business wear, and wide-open eyes and arms. Imagine a puppy dog in human form, mayb...

2022.10.27 – 0665 – Creating a Character Catalogue Play around with it and practice and then when you think you have the character, give each a name (‘ Smoking Susan ’, ‘ Sharp-suited Shaun ’…) and a bit of a back-story to help you remember them, and then log each one in your ‘voice bank’ of voices that you can use for characterisations in the future. Your ‘catalogue of characters’ may include: ·&...

2022.10.26 – 0664 – How To Steal A Character Voice Concentrate on listening , not just hearing but truly paying attention to voices: ·        their accent ·        their pitch, projection, pace and so on (all the elements we have looked at before and with which you will by now be familiar) ·    &nbs...

2022.10.25 – 0663 – Creating a Cast of Core Character Voices   Creating a cast of core character voices (This section is also of use for the following part on ‘audiobook narration’ when you may be required to speak in the voices of different characters.) When you’re given an audition animation script, is not the time to start creating a voice for the character you’re about to play. That proce...

2022.10.24 – 0662 – Characters in Cartoons, Animations and Gaming Acting Characters in Cartoons, Animations and Gaming Acting This is when the character you develop a voice for is heard but not seen in, for example: ·        Cartoons ·        Animations ·        Anime · &nbs...

2022.10.23 – 0661 – The Variety of Voiceover Opportunities 2 ·         Gaming – Acting in character for online games ·         Live events (aka ‘Voice of God’) – from large sporting arenas to smaller concerts, theatres, balls and awards events. These may be live or recorded ·       &n...

2022.10.22 – 0660 – The Variety of Voiceover Opportunities 1 Voiceover Categories These could be as wide-ranging as – but not limited to – the following: ·         Animation – which may include character voices in TV cartoon shows and movies such as Tom Hanks playing Woody in “ Toy Story”  or Kristen Bell as Anna in “ Frozen” ·  &nbs...

2022.10.21 – 0659 – Specialised Scriptreading Skills   This chapter is looking at the variety of scripts you may be asked to read as a voice actor and the specialised skills that are called for in those various styles.   They may be commercial or non-commercial and will be written and laid out differently because of the message, duration and intended audience. And what attracts you to, o...

2022.10.20 – 0658 – Re-takes and Re-records   Re-takes and Re-records If at all possible, try to avoid having to re-do lines. Whether in a pro-studio or a home-studio, the re-take may stand out: ·        It’s very difficult to recreate exactly the same setup - Make notes of mic and desk settings from your original studio session, to more easily replicat...

2022.10.19 – 0657 – Avoiding Studio Hiccups Caused By Hiccups Sneezing and hiccups This is another situation which will come sooner or later, and may either be a sneeze you feel approaching or one that suddenly attacks.   There’s not much you can do about the latter unless you are quick enough to turn off your mic or turn your head. Hearing a sneeze on air is rare, and not particularly pleasa...

2022.10.18 – 0656 – On-Mic Panting   Being out of breath This usually happens because you’ve run in the studio late or in the nick of time. You’ve probably not done a sprint, but the tense situation, panic and knowledge of what’s expected add to make a slight breathiness increase dramatically. With a newsreader the problem is much worse than for music presenters: they only have short (or poss...

2022.10.17 – 0655 – Why We Get Studio Giggles These are signs of nervousness and panic. Such laughter is seldom sparked off by genuine humour; it is the psyche’s safety valve blowing to release a build up of tension. Anything incongruous or slightly amusing can trigger it [1] . The audience doesn’t always see the joke, especially when the laughter erupts through a serious or tragic news item. Self...

2022.10.16 – 0654 – Dead Good Advice On Studio Corpsing   Corpsing (that is, laughing uncontrollably)   ‘There’s one hazard that no amount of preparation can avoid: the collapse into inappropriate laughter. The Today programme website still treasures the moment when Charlotte Green kept a cool head while reading a news item about a Mr Twatt. And she would have sailed through it too, if i...

2022.10.15 – 0653 – When your Insert Goes Down In a radio or podcast studio, confusing the audience with technical jargon can compound the problem, like: “ I’m sorry, but that insert seems to have gone down ”. Or, “ We don’t seem to have that package ”.’ A package to most people is what they get from Amazon. Practise what you are going to say when something goes wrong until it becomes almost a ref...

2022.10.14 – 0652 – Classic Voice-Over Cock Ups “ Police are finding it difficult to come up with a solution to the murders … the commissioner says the victims are unwilling to co-operate .” (US Radio) “ Well, the blaze is still fierce in many places, and as a result of this fire, two factories have been gutted and one homily left famless.” (Australian Radio ) “Following the warning by the Basque...

2022.10.13 – 0651 – When To Expect Verbal Trips and Slips Many fluffs occur when you are expecting trouble, like a difficult foreign name, or when you have already fluffed and their mind is side-tracked. The irony is that the difficult name is usually pronounced flawlessly, but actually stumbles over the simple words before and behind it in the sentence.   The art of the accomplished recovery...