I hear it from voice-over professionals and from folks who are brand new to the industry. “How do I train my voice to sound better?” It’s a refreshing question and one that every voice-over artist should ask themselves. Because hey, let’s face it, some of us were born with a great voice and some of us had to work hard on our craft but regardless of natural talent, you can train your voice to sound better. The most important thing to do is to get a coach who can help you improve on both your strengths and weaknesses, but if you’re looking to level up in your spare time, here are a few ways to do so.
First and foremost, care for your voice. When you step up to the mic, you want your throat, mouth and tongue to be in tip-top shape. For this reason, hydration is one of the most important things that a voice-over artist needs to focus on. A dry mouth will quickly ruin your reads so plan on drinking water throughout the day. Don’t just start chugging water once you hit the studio either, prepare well ahead of time. Needing to take multiple bathroom breaks can ruin your flow and, if you’re working with an engineer, be a serious waste of time and money.
Pictures of training are not as much fun as pictures of kittens. So here is a picture of kittens. Now go train!
Being conscious of the temperature of your beverage is also important. Ice cold beverages should be avoided. Tea and room temperature water work best and some VO artists like to use sprays to make sure their vocal cords are feeling golden. Play around with what works best for you but the bottom line is that you should find something that helps you avoid a dry mouth and clears out your throat.
Next, warm up and stretch out! Personally, I like doing a few tongue twisters before I start recording. I try and do them in my low register, my normal speaking voice and then in a high register. Be sure not to push your voice too hard. If your throat starts to feel any discomfort, back off a bit. You want to stretch out your vocal cords, not stress them out. Also, it’s better to do your voice warm-ups while standing. Sitting down works for some people but I’ve always found that standing up, stretching out your diaphragm and focusing on getting ready to project your voice will help to train it best.
When you’re feeling ready to rock, try reading your script (or scripts if this is just practice) in different styles. It’s good to think about who you are as a reader and what you should sound like, but it’s always helpful to play around with that. Let’s say you have a script for a car commercial. Well, you’re probably going to want to sound happy, friendly and cool. After all, you’re selling a car to the listener. But why not try reading the script in different ways? This is an excellent way to help train your voice. Read the script as though you’re mad. Then do one where you’re really sad. Finish it off with an over-the-top read where the ad is suddenly the funniest thing you’ve ever read. Record all of these different styles and analyze them. Were there certain words or phrases that sounded better in one of these styles? I feel that far too often, we get stuck on a style of read for a given script and miss the chance to learn a few new VO tricks. This job is fun and while you should take it seriously, don’t get too stiff with it!
Once you’ve gone through the script a few times and feel familiar with it, try doing a take without looking at the copy itself. Obviously this only works if you’ve memorized what you’re recording but the easiest way to sound like you’re talking with someone, rather than reading to them, is to stop reading! When I have a script memorized, I like to focus on an object or picture in the studio (often it’s one of my cats, who have ruined some of my best work) and do a take where I’m speaking with my chosen target. This can make a read sound much more “real” and conversational. It’s also an excellent way to train your voice to live outside of the copy. Believability is one of the hardest things to teach and thus, I think it’s one of the most important things for you to practice.
Finally, listen to other voices as much as possible. This goes hand in hand with coaching as we all need as much perspective as possible. If you’ve read any of my previous posts, you know that I’m a firm believer that one of the best ways to train our voices is by listening to those who have found success using theirs. Don’t ignore your competition! Find out what it is that landed them the gigs that you would have liked for yourself. Do they read with more warmth than you? Do they emphasize certain parts of the script that you would have done differently? Listen to their work on youtube, voicebank.net or even voices.com. Professionals don’t practice on their own. They look to their colleagues and coaches to constantly improve and continue training themselves to be better at their job.
How do you train yourself to make your voice better? We’d love to hear from you so comment below!
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