Self-Accountability in Voice-Over
When you’re your own boss, you make the rules. When, where, and how hard you work are entirely up to you. It’s honestly wonderful! I run my life entirely on my own schedule. But some days, my schedule looks more …
How to Befriend Sibilance
So sassy. Am I right? The nerve of sibilance, drowning out an otherwise perfect read. It can be really frustrating, I know. Been there. Done that. Got the T-shirt, “Sibilance Sucks!” from the local tourist shop. When I first started …
Staff Spotlight: Such A Voice Founder – Dan Alan Levine
Such A Voice: A Journey of Passion As most of you know, I founded Such A Voice more than thirty years ago. Hard to believe! Many of you also know that I am a composer and keyboard artist, with a …
Breathing is Underrated
Years ago, I was in a recording studio in Los Angeles for my very first voice-over booking. It was all so new and overwhelming – rooms with no outside windows…padded walls displaying framed gold records…and a fancy mixing board with …
Tips for Avoiding Clicks & Pops
Clicks, pops, and plosives – a voice actor’s worst nightmare! It doesn’t take too long as a working actor to start hearing these terms all the time. They’re all considered “mouth noises”, and they’re detrimental to our hard work! As …
You Are Not a Robot
What to do with Breaths Ah, the age-old question—at least as old as voice-over—of what to do with breaths in your recording. In the new era of human and AI voices, our breath is one of the main things that …
Voice Acting for Animation
Being animated is an everyday part of my job as a voice acting coach and as a voice actress, depending on the project type. My first professional contract as a singer was with Disney as the singing Little Mermaid in …
How Many Times Should We Put Our Best Foot Forward?
It’s the age old question – how many takes should you do for each audition? Well, the answer’s easy…when they tell you explicitly in the audition notes. If they ask for three takes, give them three takes! Simple enough. But …
How Many Takes Does it Take?
There you are, reading over yet another audition, and you wonder to yourself, “How many takes will this take for me to actually win this job?” The answer is the same one that Paul Schmidt gave in his blog post …
Slating “In Character”
When an audition calls for a slate, it’s not part of the audition to throw away. In fact, it’s often the first thing a producer hears. Make sure it’s something good that will enhance your audition, not get you thrown …
Speak to the BEAT!
Today we’re continuing in the world of script analysis by discussing how you can identify and utilize beats within a voice-over script to enhance your overall performance. First though, what’s a beat? A beat can be defined in three ways: …
Lead-in Lines
What are lead-in lines? If you try to do an internet search for this term, you get nothing! This is definitely VO jargon. A lead-in line is when you improvise or ad lib into the scripted words. You’re giving yourself …