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So what does it take to become a voiceover artist? And can anyone do it?

Being a successful voiceover artist is a skill and a craft, it’s not a ‘quick buck’ career, but if you work hard at it, it can be very rewarding. It takes time, hard work, training and there are many frustrations. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a brilliant job and I absolutely love it, but it’s not the way to make easy money.

The truth is, if you ask any voiceover artist how they got into the industry, they will all tell you different stories of how they got into the business, because there is no one direct route. Most will tell you, in fact, ALL working voiceover artists will tell you that it takes years of hard work, training, a lot of investment of time and money, learning to take rejection, building up a tough skin and persistence. Some of us, like me, have come into the industry through the acting route, some are radio DJ’s, sound engineers or producers. Whatever your background, I’m a firm believer that if you do decide this is the right path for you and you are willing to put in a lot of dedication, focus, hard work, effort and time, you too can start a voiceover career, but like all things, there are of course no guarantees. For those of you wanting to get into the industry for the money, just remember – you can have one incredibly busy month and then months of nothing. So, like most careers and businesses, success takes time and you have to be in it for more than just the money, you need have passion too.

What does it take to be a voiceover artist?

Ultimately becoming a voiceover artist is like starting your own business, so you need to learn as much as you can about the industry before you decide that it’s for you. There is the 20-80 rule, you spend about 20% of your time actually voicing and then the rest of the 80% of your time is working behind the scenes – training, networking, looking for work, invoicing, marketing etc.

You need to know how to use your voice and understand pitch and tone, this is why some of the best voiceover artists I know have some sort of musical background, whether it’s playing an instrument or being a singer. You need to be able to read to time, e.g. you may be given a script and you have to read it within a certain time frame, the director might then say slow down to add in a couple of seconds or speed up to shave off 5 seconds but it needs to sound natural and not rushed. You need excellent sight reading skills, the ability to take direction, be a strong multitasker and be a fast learner, for instance – when you are given lots of different directions to change the read of a script you need to take all the information in quickly, digest it and then deliver. Confidence and knowing your skills, is important too.

There are lots of brilliant sides to being a voiceover artist, like the spontaneity of jobs and getting to be different characters, with different accents and tones, as well the excitement of getting that call that you’ve been booked for a job you really wanted, (as well as never knowing what jobs will be coming in next.) This is also a massive negative as you never know what or if a job is coming in next. A lot of voiceover work is booked last minute so it can be quite an anxious, up and down career. Plus, getting used to the rejection takes time and a lot of resilience – especially in the early days.

If I haven’t frightened you away, and you would still like to know what it takes to be a successful voiceover artist, I have listed some useful articles below. It also goes without saying, that if you ever feel you need some guidance or some advice, you are always welcome to contact us at The VoiceOver Network – we really want to encourage and assist new talent to the industry, as with the right skills and training you will only help to make this industry stronger, more talented and more durable.

*I have written an article ‘Top 10 must do’s to becoming a voiceover artist’ – Click here to access it.

*There is also another useful article called ‘The Voiceover entrance exam’ written by Peter K O’Connell which is here – The Voiceover Entrance Exam

*Recently I was in the press talking about being a voiceover artist and setting up and running The VoiceOver Network. Here’s the article – Meet the voiceover stars – What I hope you take away from this article, is that – although there is a lot of preparation, self investment and time needed to succeed, you don’t need to spend a fortune on your equipment when starting out. You really can start with a simple home studio that won’t cost you an arm and a leg and will be more than enough for you to practice with, get some training and experience behind the mic until you know this is really want you want to do. Then you can invest in your business and upgrade your equipment so that it’s the best it can be. Remember, most importantly to do your research and training first – and if you feel lost and overwhelmed, this really is an industry full of encouraging and supporting people.

Recommended places to go for training
The Showreel
Gary Tezza
The VoiceOver Network

Rachael Naylor

Rachael is the founder of The VoiceOver Network as well as being a voiceover artist and actress. She is also an award winning entrepreneur and loves to help others in the industry, which is how The VoiceOver Network started. She’s been a working voiceover artists for over 13 years and in that time has worked with a huge range of clients.

Too much to do, too little time gets to us all with varying degrees of anxiety, tension and stress which all affects our voice.

All voice over artists understand and practice good vocal warm ups, but these don’t necessarily release the tension and stress within.

One of the best ways to remedy this in regards to our voice is by focussing on our breathing. I am fortunate to have a Mother who is a highly qualified, expertly trained and many years experienced Yoga teacher. So I asked her to teach me a simple exercise I could do to focus and cleanse my mind and to restore some ‘mindfulness’ before facing my microphone.

Yoga offers many breathing practices and the very first and basic one called ‘The Cleansing Ha-Breath’ is excellent for the voice and also for relieving stress and tension.

1. Stand well, evenly on both feet, head light on your neck. Swallow to relax your throat.
2. Breathe in through your nose, as deeply as you can and as you do so raise both arms above your head.
3. Pause with lungs full – then as you fold over forwards from the hips, release your breath with a long and explosive haaaa through a wide open mouth – also bringing your arms down quite forcefully with the body. (If you have a bad back don’t fold over, just keep upright but exhale as you bring your arms down)
4. Breathe back in through nostrils as you roll back up your spine to be upright.
5. Do this at least 3 times then to gentle neck roll exercises afterwards.

The emphasis is on an explosive ‘H’ sound to make your diaphragm work and then a long ‘aaaaa’ to open the throat, clear lungs of stale air.

We can all get too busy and in our work we focus on the tone of our voice or the character style or the word count in the time frame, the list goes on. To bring it all back to the moment mindfully breathing and releasing our tension before we proceed is the best beginning for a brilliant vocal session.

By Rachael Beresford

Rachael Beresford is a British Voice Over Artist and Actress with over 15 years experience. Engaging, passionate and enthusiastic with a love of Tudor History, chocolate and books. She can be heard narrating audiobooks for Audible and Amazon. Visit www.rachaelberesford.com to find out more or follow on Twitter at @rachiehanm

I’ve been a voice artist (voice talent to us Yanks) for quite a while now and I have a confession to make – over the years I’ve become a bit lazy.

What ever happened to that young woman with a fire in her belly – that feisty, determined wannabe who was hell-bent on breaking into the VO biz and was willing to scale mountains to make it happen? I’ll tell you what happened to her – she boarded the Apathy Train, with stops in Got an Agent City, I’m Established Parkway and Regular Clients Junction. I didn’t decide to stop nurturing my voiceover career, I just stopped stoking the furnace, and that’s simply not good enough. Yeah, I could produce a dozen excuses for why I haven’t been spending as much time on marketing as I used to – family commitments, pursuing other interests, lawn needs mowing, blah blah blah. But the truth is, being a voice artist/talent is the coolest job on the planet (not to mention a privilege) so making sure I get to keep doing it has got to be a priority.

For me, self-promotion as a working VO is a tricky business. My thinking has often been ‘If I’m already established, how I approach potential clients without sounding pathetic and desperate?’ So I asked a deeper, more important question: ‘What is my roadblock here?’ The answer – my thoughts.

First, I had to let go of the self-limiting belief that approaching new clients would make me appear needy and weak. I then had to embrace the idea that marketing my business is proactive, professional and absolutely essential!

New VOs are entering the business every day. If they all have the same drive that I did all those years ago, whilst I’m here doing the bare minimum to stay in the game, it doesn’t take a genius to work out where those tracks lead – last stop Obscurityville.

So! It’s time to fling myself off the caboose (for you Brits, that’s the last car of a train and also your arse) and do a parachute roll into the great unknown. After all, just because I’m already on the mountain, doesn’t mean I should stop climbing.

by Dian Perry

Dian Perry is a US Voice Artist and voice coach based in London. She teaches character voice at City Lit in Covent Garden and runs character voice workshops at drama schools in Cambridge and London. Visit www.dianperry.com for more information.

I know, I know. You had your head buried in paperwork December & January trying to work out what costs you can put against your taxable income as a voiceover artist legitimately ! If only somebody could tell you what you could offset; and if only you put everything away in a nice folder that you could find; and if only you started doing this sooner.

Well, in order to help with the first one of these, here is a little taster as to what you may be able to claim as a cost to your business as a Voiceover artist. This is only the tip of the iceberg.

Computer software, Microsoft Office, security

Always on the assumption that the computer is used for business, then any business based software can be treated as a tax deduction. This would include products such as Microsoft Office, internet security, Sibelius, notation software, publishing tools, accounting software etc. However, if the computer is for personal & business use, the costs of the software used would have to be apportioned between business and personal unless the software is entirely business specific. Details should be kept on usage and the proportion allocated each year. If personal use is incidental, it is likely that the whole cost can be taken as an allowable expense.

Ink, stationery, mailing costs

These generally are all allowable as a deduction for tax purposes if for business use. No, the birthday card & postage to Auntie Flo would not count, however thank you cards to your agent and such like would be allowable. Royal mail online do a prepaid postage account. The cost to put money in that account would not be a tax deduction, but each time you dipped into it to mail anything related to business would be acceptable, so print the confirmation email of the evidence of spend.

Membership subscriptions to a trade/industry related organisation

This could be Equity, Variety Club, spotlight, and even your membership to The VoiceOver Network. It needs to be akin to your business so by becoming a member, you not only get to network with your fellow Voiceovers, but you get to meet people that can help you in your industry such as Agents, Scouts, product suppliers and support people that have specialist skills and advice. Unlike some organisations, a rolling monthly payment means you won’t forget to claim for the cost, and all the bills are in the same place – no scratching around trying to find receipts.

Training, workshops and classes

It’s vital that any Voiceover artist continues with training and upkeep of their skills. The cost of attending regular workshops, classes or vocal coaching, should be deductible. It is all about update and enhancing skills to keep you employable and noticed. However, it is not about acquiring new skills that are unrelated to your current business for example training to be a plumber. Workshops that are being run by The VoiceOver Network are included here. One of the perks of the membership is being able to book onto a course with fellow members that you get to know and as The VoiceOver Network will have the buying power of serval people on one course, it is likely to be cheaper than being an individual on a booking.

Agent & Booking fees

Should you use an agent to get bookings, then they will charge a commission/fee and most likely VAT. These costs are allowable as a tax deduction. There is no standard rate that an agent charges as it is normally up to the individual and the agent to agree in advance. VAT can be reclaimed depending on your VAT status or treated as a cost in full if you are not VAT registered. (This is covered in a separate document.)

I hope that has given you a little taster on some expenses that can be put against your business for tax but always seek professional advice from an accountant before taking action as circumstances & applicability for one may be different for another.

Louise Herrington BA(Hons), FCA

Performance Accountancy

performanceaccountancy.co.uk/actors
Tel: 01344 669084 | info@performanceaccountancy.co.uk | Fax: 01344 449727

Audiobook Narration can be compared with Marmite. You are either going to love it or hate it. Just because you are an established Voiceover Artist, and have all the bits and pieces that make up an awesome home studio, does not mean that Audiobooks will be for you. Just because you are a trained actor with oodles of stage experience, or a semi-famous face from off the telly, does not mean they will be for you either. Nor does it follow that because you love reading your kids bedtime stories, that this will be the route for you to go in your voice career. Although every single one of those paths of experience can bring a depth and richness to your Audiobook Narration work, they are not the deciding factors in whether this long-form work will be your favourite thing in the world to do, or indeed, indicators that you will actually be any good at it.

If you are a lover of Audiobook work, you will see, as I do, that the hours spent behind the microphone, locked in a booth on your tod, is a creative blessing. The actor in me revels at the chance to play all the parts, to direct the tone of each chapter (or scene), to be the omnipresent narrator and the individual protagonists all at once. I paint every picture, I bring the landscape of the authors words to life. I get to be the old crone, the young male love interest, the baddies, the goodies, the flawed and the ugly. In short, it allows me to create. When I work with a publisher, and have a voice director or producer working with me, even better – I have someone to help me tell the author’s story in the very best way, and point out opportunities to enhance the text with my voice.

I relish that Audiobooks allow me so much more artistic accomplishment than in my commercial and corporate VO bread and butter projects. It works as a fantastic companion to my IVR telephone work, or the eLearning staple of a Voiceover Artist. It has brought a new levels of awareness to my everyday recording habits, and my speech intonation patterns. I have become much ‘cleaner’ in my speech, as a result of teaching myself how to edit and record long-form, and this pays off in dividends when I work on short, snappy corporate jobs, which always seem so much more straight forward, and a nice interlude to a 9 hour long novel. When working from home, I look forward to stopping narrating to do a cheerful radio commercial, as the work is so very different.

If Audiobook work intrigues you, consider applying to volunteer for the RNIB to be a Talking Book Narrator, or even Calibre, or other audio charities. That way, your first experience will be with an editor in a studio where all you have to think about are the words and lifting them off the page.

If you are already pretty efficient at editing, or know enough to competently outsource the production, have a look at Audible’s ACX (Audiobook Creation Exchange). Their platform opened in the UK in April 2014, and allows Narrators to audition directly for the Authors (or Rights Holders) on Titles. Try your hand at some short projects under an hour or so, and see how you go.

I’m often at events hosted by The VoiceOver Network, so if you need any pointers, come say hello, and ask me. You’ll probably find me over by the nibbles, especially if there are Twiglets. Once a Marmite lover, always hooked.

Anna Parker-Naples

Anna Parker-Naples has worked as a Voiceover Artist since 2001, and has recorded from her ISDN studio in Bedfordshire since 2009. A trained, professional actress, and an experienced Audiobook Narrator, Anna is the first Audible Approved female Producer in the UK. She has recorded over 30 titles since she began narrating in 2013. Her commercial and corporate clients include Coca-Cola, Mothercare, Superdrug, Virgin Active, FC Barcelona, Next, La Senza, Aardman Animation and the BBC. She is a member of the International group of VO’s the Voxy Ladies, and is represented in the US and the UK. Anna writes a popular voice blog Shout About Voice! , which was recognised by Audible’s ACX as the top Voice Acting blog for 2013, and was listed in the Top 30 blogs for the VO industry by ‘The Voice For your Business’ Bloglist in 2013 and 2014. You can learn more about her work at www.AnnaParkerNaples.com.