A reader of The Magazine of Santa Clarita wrote in last month with this question about breaking into voiceover and I promised to lay out over the next few months the skill sets that most people in each of these areas possess, and show how they do and don’t apply to voice acting.
Q: I’ve been a public speaker for a number of years now, and have always wondered if I have a shot at being successful in the field of voiceovers. I speak in front of large and small audiences, I’m behind a microphone and I do a good job entertaining and delivering my subject matter. In a related area, my wife is a stage actress who wonders the same thing: whether she might be a good candidate for voiceover work. Have any ideas on the chances of our relative success? — Jack W., Valencia, CA
A: Stage actors: Stage actors have lots of advantages. The ability to glance at their lines and deliver them without looking at the page, good articulation, because their words have to be understood by a live audience and stage actors are very physical and are talented at improvisation; they’re spontaneous with their emotions, and can quickly tap into them. These abilities are very helpful for voice actors in commercials and animation, as it prepares them for producers who’ll tell them what emotion(s) they want exhibited in a script, and encourage them to improvise beyond just the words.
But voice acting is based upon using your normal voice. Stage actors are taught to project so that their voice can be heard in the back of the theater, without the need of a microphone. A voice actor uses a microphone as if they’re talking into someone’s ear, never to an audience. Once stage actors understand the difference in dynamics between live theater and a recording booth, they can make the transition into voice acting, particularly in commercial and animation V-O work.
Cashman Commercials © 2009
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 .