How to Break Monotonous Reads
One of the fastest ways to lose a listener in voice-over is to sound like you’re simply reading words from a page.The best script in the world can fall flat when every sentence has the same pitch, pace, volume, and …
Marketing Funnels for Beginners: A Simple Step-by-Step Guide
Dear Paul, I get that I should be marketing, but I don’t know how. I hear about funnels, and I have no idea what that means. I find the whole thing complicated, and I have no clue where to start. …
The Phantom Menaces: Eliminating Hums and Hisses in Your Recordings
Low-frequency hums and high-frequency hisses can ruin an otherwise perfect take. A clean and quiet background is essential for voice-over tracks, and clients will expect pristine audio. This guide seeks to improve the quality of your recordings with the following …
What Happens After You Get Your Voice-Over Demo
You’ve trained. You’ve practiced. You’ve recorded your demo. Then the demo arrives in your inbox and you think, “Okay…now what?” I remember when I got my first demo, I was sure my career would magically take off. At that time …
Creating Strategy and Momentum in Voice-Over
Creating Strategy and Momentum in Voice-Over Success in voice-over rarely comes from random bursts of inspiration. It comes from strategy, consistency, and momentum. Sometimes voice actors can wait for motivation before taking action, but momentum is actually created through action. …
Why Rest is a Game Changer
I know, I know: you didn’t start voice-over so someone could tell you to take a nap. You started because you love acting, storytelling, characters, commercials, games, animation, narration, or maybe making money from a padded room in pajama pants. …
A Day in the Life of a Working Voice Actor
When people imagine the life of a working voice actor, they usually picture someone stepping into a booth, reading a few lines into a microphone, and cashing a check. Yes, recording is part of it – but it’s not the …
Frequency Check! How Sound Actually Works
Sound is at the core of our careers. It informs nearly every decision we make, from the subtle inflection in a winning audition to the placement of an acoustic panel in our home studio. Yet, many voice actors don’t really …
Turning Setbacks into Strategy When You Lose a Client or Job
There’s a moment in every voice actor’s career when the silence hits a little differently. It might be the client who’s worked with you regularly, then suddenly isn’t. Or the audition you felt you nailed but fell on deaf ears. …
How to Get Rich…Just Not So Quick
People often think that doing voice-over is a simple way to make a lot of money without much effort: that all you need to do is buy a microphone, read from a script, and then just wait for the money …
Adding Nuance to Your Voice-Over Performance
In voice-over, the difference between a good read and a great one often comes down to nuance. A lot of people can read a script clearly, but bringing it to life requires subtle choices, including shifts in tone, pacing, intention, …
The Myth Of Loud Intensity
“Speak up!” “Make your voice heard!” “The squeaky wheel gets the oil!” “Say it louder for those in the back!” Our world is full of cliches that make the loudest person the winner. Loudness in these cliches is a stand-in …