Terrific questions continue to come in every month from the Magazine of Santa Clarita readers asking about the voiceover business. Here’s a letter I got from a radio deejay:
Q: I’ve been an on-air deejay for a number of years, and recently I’ve been trying to get a voice-over agent, but people in the industry say I have a “radio voice.” How do I get rid of it? — Terry M. of Los Angeles, CA
A: As a voice acting instructor and coach, I encounter a lot of people, mostly men, occasionally women, who’ve been in radio for some time and want to transition into full-time voice acting. And they seem to have one thing in common — the dreaded “radio voice,” which, when agents hear their V-O demos, run screaming out of their office.
What accounts for this aural phenomenon? Many radio deejays, announcers or personalities wear headphones while they’re on the air, and have basically fallen in love with the purring, resonant sounds of their own voice. Most have been inculcated by their program director to deliver station-written and produced copy in the same style that they talk on the air, because that’s what the advertiser wants and is paying for. And many radio people have listened to their predecessors for years, and have consciously or unconsciously emulated them.
What can a radio person do to not sound like a radio person? The main reason some radio people have a challenging time transitioning into voice acting is because they haven’t been trained or taught how to act. So first, take voice-acting classes. Learn how to speak conversationally, talking to just one person, not the multitudes. Second, don’t audition with your headphones on. And third, concentrate on delivering copy in the same way you talk to people (or pets) you love — your siblings, your kids, your spouse or girlfriend/boyfriend, your parents —just not the way you talk to your audience because believability comes in talking to just one person. As long as you’re truly sincere and invested in what you’re talking about, chances are you’ll eventually lose the dreaded “radio voice.”
I’ll share more voiceover questions and answers in the coming months. If you have any questions, please write to me and I’ll get back to you.
Marc Cashman creates and produces copy and music advertising for radio and television, and was a keynote speaker at VOICE 2008, the international convention of the voice acting industry, in August. Winner of over 150 advertising awards, he also instructs voice acting of all levels through his classes, The Cashman Cache of Voice-Acting Techniques in Los Angeles, CA, as well as One-on-One V-O Coaching.
He can be contacted at cashcomm@earthlink.net or his website, www.cashmancommercials.com . Cashman Commercials © 2008