Marley - So you want to do vo getting started in the voiceover business

So You Want To DoVO?

Rob Marley

Copyright 2015 by RobMarley

Published by Tayman InternationalVentures LLC

SmashwordsEdition

Forward

My name is Rob Marley (no, not the Reggaelegend, but we do share the same birthday). Im a voice artist,voice talent, voice actor, announcer, voiceover, voiceoverist, VOArtist, or just VO. Theres a lot of ways it can be described.That guy who talks into a microphone works just as well.

I got interested in recording when my parentsbrought home a new cassette tape recorder when I was a kid. My Dadand I would read Mad Magazine out loud, recording the differentcharacters as we went. I wish I still had those old tapes. Now Isit in a converted closet talking into a computer for a living.

I've been a member of the Reddit communities /r/recordthis and /r/voiceacting for a littlewhile. It seems like every couple of days there is someone thatposts the question, "How do I get into doing voiceover?" So insteadof saying the same thing over and over, I figured I would puteverything together in one place that new and aspiring voiceartists can use as a resource.

Originally I was going to just have this be asimple cheat sheet new VO could follow, but as I went along, Irealized it would take a bit more splainin to do this right.

Think of this as an all-encompassing,one-stop-shop tutorial of how to get started doing voiceover. Eachchapter builds on the experience of the previous chapter, so itsbest to read them in order.

But before we start, let me just say thatthere are many ways to get into this business, and what I suggestmay or may not be the easiest, best, or most profitable way. Thisis simply the way that I did it and, right or wrong, it's workedpretty well for me so far.
I hope you find that my advice is useful to beginning your careerin voiceover.
Best of luck!

-Rob

Chapter 1: The Top ThreeTired Tropes of the VO Business

You may have a lot of reasons why you want todo VO. But just to be on the safe side, let's dispel some mythsright out of the gate. Here are three of the most overused reasonspeople use to get into this business.

It's so easy! You just stand in front of a microphone andread the script and money magically spits out of your computer likeyour own personal ATM, right?

Well, not exactly.

People that think this way usually don'tunderstand that it requires a lot of skill to make a script soundnatural. Sure, there may be some people that can just jump right inand start making money doing voiceover without any training, butyou have to think of these people as freaks of nature, exceptionsto the norm. The majority of people working in VO got there throughgood old "sweat equity." It takes a lot of hard work and acquiredskills to make scripts sound natural. And chances are the peoplethat started making money right off the bat will soon find out thatthey don't know everything there is to know about the VO Industry,and start having trouble finding work after their initial success.The truth is that their lack of skills will hold them back.

This is not a get-rich-quick business. Tomake any real money takes real work - that means training andpractice.

"People always tell me I have a great voice!"

That's nice. Do these people know whatthey're talking about? Unless these people are casting directors orvoice artists making a substantial living in the industry, thepeople that tell you that you have a great voice are going to fallinto one of two categories:

1. They don't know the first thing about the VObusiness.

2. Theyre trying to squeeze money out ofyou.

Friends who tell you that you have a greatvoice and that you should be announcing movies or commercialssimply don't possess the qualifications to be able to make thatassessment. They don't understand that it requires more than just agood voice. It takes talent, skill and a lot of hard work involvingmarketing and self-promotion. The actual voice part of voice-overwork is really just a tiny fraction of the work that goes intodoing this as a career.

The other group that tells you that you havea great voice are trying to sell you something. They may sell you abook on how to get into the business. Or maybe it's an internetseminar, or a series of videos proclaiming to reveal the secrets ofthe business (for only $29.95). Or maybe it's a "demo mill." Thereare people that prey on newbies. These people don't give a damnabout you or your career. All they want is your money. And oncethey sell you the dream, they move on to the next sucker.

I do a great Peter Griffin impression. Here, let me showyou!

Save your breath.

Are you interested in working in voice acting- that part of the industry involved with the voicing of charactersfor animation: cartoons, anime, etc.? Cool! It's a fun industry andthe people that work in it absolutely love it.

But here's some advice: I can say with a fairamount of certainty that no casting director is ever going to askyou to do a Peter Griffin impression. Ever.

To paraphrase a casting director, "If Iwanted Seth MacFarlane, I'd get Seth MacFarlane."

If you want to work inthis niche, you need to develop your own characters. Not someoneelse's. You can take elements of thosevoices if you want, but then make up something new.

For example:

• What would the love child of Peter Griffinand Christopher Walken sound like? Come up with that voice.

• Now do that voice while reciting the topstory at a news website.

• Now do that voice slightly higher pitched orslightly lower pitched.

• Now make it sound older.

• Now do it faster.

If you can create a character voice likethat, and be able to do that voice for at least four hours withoutstopping or slipping out of character at all, then you might havewhat it takes to work in this part of the business.

Being able to do a great character impressionmay be good for you at a party, but it means next to nothing to acasting director.

And even more important: impersonating acharacter or celebrity may bring with it a whole dump truck full oflegal issues if you use that voice in a commercial or in a videowith the idea of making money off of it.

You may have a lot of reasons for wanting toget into the business, but if you are using one or all of thesetired tropes as your justification, you may be in for a bigsurprise.

In the next chapter we'll talk about two ofthe things that every voice talent should do if they want to besuccessful.

Chapter 2: A SolidFoundation

This second chapter is aimed at folks thatwant to get into a career in voice over. We get into the details ofwhat you need to do to be successful in the business.

A Solid Foundation

When building a house, the foundation thatthe house is built on will determine how strong the structure is.If the foundation is shoddy, the ability for the house to remainstanding will be weakened. Before long, cracks start appearing andif not taken care of, the entire house can completely fallapart.

The voiceover business is highly competitive.RIDICULOUSLY competitive! Part of the reason for this is because ofthe three tired tropes I mentioned before. ("Its easy!" "Peoplealways tell me what a great voice I have!" "I do a great (randomcelebrity) impression.") Because of this, every starving studentwith a laptop and a USB mic thinks they can be a voice over artist.And they will work for slave wages to do the job that should be/used-to-be paid handsomely for.

But not to fear! This industry continues togrow and the demand for voice talent still far outweighs thesupply. In other words, there's enough work for everyone.

But if you want to be successful, not justget work, here are the two things you should do that will help forma solid foundation for your entire voiceover career.