Voice acting jobs can vary widely, from voicing animated characters in movies and on TV to reading audiobooks to narrating documentaries. If you’ve got your eye fixed on a voiceover career, here are a few strategies you can use to hone your skills at home.
Read aloud every day. You want to get familiar with every part of your voice and its capabilities, so start reading practice scripts, monologues, novels, articles, and even social media posts out loud. Get used to trying to bring text to life using only your voice, so that when it’s time to do it professionally, it’s already a familiar skill.
“So much of what we do is getting that script, seeing it for the first time, having to make decisions really quickly, and pulling words off the page to make them sound natural and like we’ve been practicing them,” says voice actor Yuri Lowenthal, who landed the role of Peter Parker in the video games “Spider-Man” (2018) and “Spider-Man 2” (2023) from Insomniac Games and Sony Interactive. “So read aloud,” he adds. “It doesn’t have to be ‘The Lord of the Rings,’ but I certainly recommend it.”
Record yourself. We all sound different in our heads than we do to others, so it’s important for you to know what your voice sounds like when you perform. Make notes of any inconsistencies or aspects of speech that trip you up often.
Discover your strengths. Finding your type is just as important for voiceover artists as it is for on-camera performers. Not every voice is suited for all voice acting roles. Your voice may sound younger or older than you are, or contain qualities that suggest certain types of characters.
Exercises for voice actors
Practice singing warmups. Even though your voice acting work may not involve singing, singing warmups can be very helpful to keep your voice in tip-top shape. After all, when your voice is your job, you want to take good care of it. This can include sharp exhales, vocal slides, and lip flutters.
Reduce your popping P’s. Pop filters are great, but it’s better if you can control how forcefully your P’s are coming across yourself. Try holding a small piece of paper in front of your mouth and repeating “Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers” until you can do so without making the paper move much.
Master your breath control. The ability to breathe through your diaphragm is key to being a voice actor. After all, even the best prepared line deliveries will lose their power if there’s nothing behind them. Take the time to learn how to feel for your diaphragm, and try these breath control exercises to boost your lung power.
Bite a pencil. While holding a pencil between your teeth as far back as you can, read a portion of text or a script, trying to speak clearly around the pencil. Do this a few times, then remove the pencil and listen for the improvement in your voice clarity.
Use a straw. Practicing your voice acting through a straw creates a “semi-occluded vocal tract,” which voice coach Andrew Byrne helpfully explains is a “fancy way of saying that the tube of your throat is partially/mostly narrowed and lengthened.”
“In addition to making the sound quieter, this technique helps your vocal cords meet more efficiently,” Byrne continues. “Regularly practicing your songs, or monologues, through a straw can reduce vocal fatigue, and improve clarity and lower pressure.”
Try tongue twisters. Voice actors can’t be stumbling over their words, so practice repeating tongue twisters until you can deliver them clearly.
- She sells seashells by the seashore.
- We surely shall see the sunshine soon.
- Can you can a can as a canner can can a can?
Vary your pitch. Consciously raise and lower the pitch of your voice when you read through a scene, letting the emotions be your guide. Learn to inject fluctuating pitch into every performance so that you don’t wind up reading in a monotone.
Imagine your audience young. Deliver your lines as if you’re speaking to a 5-year-old, a teenager, a peer, a mentor. Record each one, then play them back and listen to the differences in your delivery. Chances are, the younger you imagine your audience, the more animated and engaged you will sound.
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- Always warm up. Even if you’re just rehearsing at home, a five-minute warmup can go a long way in keeping your voice healthy.
- Hydrate. Staying properly hydrated is important for everyone, but especially for voice actors. Make sure to drink at least two liters of water throughout the day as part of your regular routine, and drink even more water leading up to a rehearsal or recording session.
- Use a humidifier. Just as individual hydration is crucial to a healthy voice, so is having moisture in your environment. If you don’t live in a humid climate, use a hot water vaporizer when you go to bed to prevent your vocal cords from drying out.
- Be careful of decongestants. If you’re feeling stuffy, clearing up your sinuses with a decongestant can be tempting, but it may also dry you out. Instead, try a saline spray to loosen things up and keep your sinuses moisturized.
How to Enunciate Better- Exercise. While it may seem as though voice acting leaves the door open to lounge on your couch all the time, regular cardiovascular exercise is vital for developing the breath control that voice acting requires.
- Rest. No one’s voice or body is meant to go nonstop all the time, and prioritizing rest is invaluable to good health, including vocal health. In addition to getting good sleep at night, catnapping throughout the day when you’re using your voice a lot can also help reduce vocal strain.
- Avoid smoking. Anything that you inhale into your lungs can be damaging to your vocal cords and lung capacity. If you want to have longevity as a voice actor, it’s best to avoid smoking entirely.
- Limit alcohol and spicy foods. Both alcohol and spicy or high-acid foods can damage your throat, so it’s best to consume these things in moderation—and always, of course, followed by a good amount of water.
- Don’t perform when you’re sick. Powering through health problems is a great way to make them worse, while also not delivering your best performance. Additionally, if you show up sick to an audition or performance, you risk infecting others, which is not only unkind, but can also hurt your reputation in the industry. As much as you may feel tempted to brush health problems aside, especially if you’re excited about a role, the best thing to do is head to the doctor, get healthy, and wait for the next opportunity to come along.
