GETTING VOICEOVER COACHING: WHY BOTHER?

NATURAL TALENT V/S TRAINED VOICES

Never underestimate the power of desire with a solid action plan. The more patient you are with your progress the quicker you will move. It’s about learning how to create the right read. To understand what makes a read brilliant and effective for the client to choose you. This comes from solid training.

RADIO PERSONALITIES/NEWSCASTERS TRANSITION INTO VOICEOVERS

I coach a number of radio personalities as well as newscasters. The topic that comes up is correct delivery. Outside of voiceover, the focus generally is on the vocal manipulation to suggest a mood or emotion. In voiceover specifically, the focus needs to be on creating a mood or emotion and letting this “created emotional reality” shape the vocal delivery. These are the basic ways that vocal characters are created. In coaching, I help the client in shifting to a focus on the internal mood and how that colors /shapes the voice.

GOALS AND DREAMS AND REALITIES

What are the goals of voiceover coaching? They could vary from wanting to hone in on a specific area of performance, to marketing strategy, to agent relations to packaging of the demo. Since a total career includes a vast amount of concerns, I usually ask a client, ”What are your thoughts on what you think you need? What are your goals and concerns?  There might be a scenario where the talent just wants to continue growing, sharpening and honing their skills. In this voiceover business, the saying, ”if it  ain’t broke , don’t fix it” simply won’t do. Instead, the voiceover industry has replaced this motto with, ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t pay it”. I think this phrase needs to be replaced with, “Find out what’s working, then give it steroids”. Since the voiceover industry is on the cutting edge of using culture, the need for the talent to be able to keep up with what’s current is essential. More importantly, to understand how certain current events apply to specific demographics (another word for audiences) is the real key. Why? Because this will influence the overall interpretation of reality and since you’re ‘the voice” of whatever the product is you’ll need to have that understanding, ideally. I say ideally because some  talent seems to just waltz into the studio and expect to be “coached” into the performance.

BUILDING A BUSINESS VOICEOVER BRAND

This area is last however by no means least in terms of importance. It has been shrouded with mystery. I’ve spoken with several agents regarding the topic of a voiceover talent needing to ‘brand” the voice. Thru coaching they need to focus on how their vocal type, interest areas, signature sound, range of moods relate to how they choose to describe themselves to the voiceover industry. This description then is expressed thru a specific choice(s) of web design, image, graphics visuals and general industry persona. There is a wide disparity on this.  In terms of creating an online presence, this becomes important as many voiceovers are booked/done online. In terms of demo production, this becomes unnecessary as voice talent should exhibit as much range within their voice and acting ability limits. If this article has been helpful to you, please leave your comments below and hit the like button, share this article with your social media groups and friends. The goal is to get more performers talking about how voiceover coaching and branding has affected their careers.  Contact us by filling out the contact me form to set up a one on one “Voice Potential assessment” session.