Here’s the latest question from a Magazine of Santa Clarita reader about the voiceover business:
Q: I’ve been thinking about getting into voiceovers, and was wondering what it takes to get into the areas of animation or audiobooks. Do you think someone without any training could break into that part of the industry? —Marlene W., Saugus, CA
A: Marlene, this is a good question, and one I’m asked many times. It takes a tremendous amount of proficiency and skill to break into the areas you’re interested in. Successful voice actors in animation have tremendous improvisational skills and have spent years honing that ability on stage and in front of a camera. They’ve developed an extensive compilation of unique and distinct character voices, each with their own personality and sound. And they’re able to perform any one of these dozens of voices at a moment’s notice, on demand, and within the confines of a script that calls for interacting with many other actors. Successful voice actors in audiobooks, on the other hand, understand the art and skill of long-form narration. If 30-second commercials are the equivalent of a 50-yard dash, and 60-second commercials are like a 100-yard dash, narrating an audiobook is like running a marathon. These people are seasoned, veteran voice actors who understand pacing, have great articulation, can create dozens of indelible characters and can interpret a story credibly and compellingly. Both of these areas take a lot of training and experience, but are achievable if it’s something you have a talent for and really, really want to do. I suggest that you find a good voice-acting course to determine whether you’re suited to this line of work. You’ll need to get a solid grounding in commercials before you can begin to tackle the more specialized areas you’re interested in, but you never know unless you try.
If you have any voiceover questions, please write to me, and I’ll answer them in the coming months.
Marc Cashman creates and produces copy and music advertising for radio and television. Winner of over 150 advertising awards and named by AudioFile Magazine as “Best Voice of the Year,” he instructs voice acting of all levels through his classes, The Cashman Cache of Voice-Acting Techniques in Los Angeles, CA, and does one-on-one coaching via phone and the Internet. He can be contacted at cashcomm@earthlink.net or his website, www.cashmancommercials.com .
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