When you do a basic internet search for training techniques for voice overs, you will find a slew of recommendations to deepen your voice, raise your voice, sustain your voice, or change the character of your voice altogether. If you are new to voice acting, it’s natural to follow the advice of the voiceover sages who have made it big in the industry.
Following the pros and taking their advice to heart is a valuable practice, but don’t make the mistake of following some bad advice in order to further your voice over career! There is definitely a lot of bad advice out there that will actually prevent you from ever becoming a success in the industry.
Although I can’t give you a complete list of advice that’s safe to follow, I can give you some pointers of what not to do:
1. Drink whiskey and smoke. Duh, right? Maybe not. DJs used to be [and probably still are in many places] advised to drink and smoke on the job to give their voices resonance. The effects of smoking and drinking help them gain resonance, but they lose their range of pitch at the same time. What most people don’t know is that this process happens naturally as you get older. Meaning, the person who drinks and smokes frequently loses the “young sound” so that they get the “old sound” when they’re young, and when they are older they have no sound.
2. Take the edge off with a shot. Leading up to a live recording session, you should only be drinking water for the health of your vocal cords and to prevent pops and smacks in your mouth. If you are doing a live recording session, it is normal to get nervous if you are working in front of the client. It is not advised to take a shot of alcohol before you go into a recording session though! While alcohol helps some people relax enough to get a couple good takes, you don’t ever want to risk your professional relationship with your clients. A client may not say something at the time, but they may decide to call a different voice talent in the future if they even think you have been drinking. Instead, try exercise to help calm your nerves.
3. Elective surgery on your vocal cords. This just sounds so dangerous, right? It may have been found experimentally that surgery could change the vocal range and quality of a person’s voice, but this is a radical measure. Surgery on your vocal cords is likely to be expensive, and you are taking a risk with no guaranteed outcome. If you would like a different quality of sound or vocal range, try investing in voice over training classes. A professional coach should be able to work with you (more safely!) to enhance your techniques. With the voiceover industry expanding in all areas, there is a great need for unique voices, as well as “normal” sounding voices. It shouldn’t be hard for you to develop your niche with the voice you were born with.
4. Take your vocal range to the breaking point. Stressing the upper and lower registers of your vocal range is not a good idea, and it won’t help you become a better voice over artist in the long run. In the short run, you’ll give yourself a sore throat. In the long run, you may diminish your ability to control your natural vocal range. Developing a more dynamic voice involves the diaphragm, not the vocal cords.
Basically, if a suggested technique is painful or bad for your body, it probably isn’t doing you any good anyway. Stick to your common sense, and don’t listen to everything you hear. What works for one voice actor might not work for you, but one thing is for sure — drinking vodka tonics or whiskey won’t help you rake in the voice jobs! There is no quick fix when it comes to your vocal technique, and there’s no substitute for hard work.
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