The Life Changing Importance of Voice Development

Voiceover artists, actors and all professionals have many skills to learn. Perhaps one area that is overlooked or doesn’t get enough focus is voice development.

Our Voice is the Engine that carries all of our ideas, thoughts, and  plans to everyone we come in contact with. Voice development benefits not just voiceover artists and actors, but everyone. People with superior speaking skills have an enormous advantage over others who are less polished. All great athletes have workouts and its not because they don’t know what they are doing. It is because in this competitive world communication skills need to be honed to the highest levels. A trained voice is more responsive to a persons intent in a conversation. Having control over ones tone of voice and breathing is not only an asset in voiceover work, but also critical in communications both professional and personal.

- How To Keep Your Voice Fresh When You Talk All Day

This is one of the most asked questions I get emails, phone calls and DM’s about on Twitter. People who have to talk a lot are often tired from that activity by the end of a long day.

The good news is, if your voice is properly produced you should actually feel fresher on the end of the day FROM talking. No I’m not lyingJ

The key is to have proper breath support. When a persons voice doesn’t have correct breath support the voice is weaker and the air is leaking out to some extent and that can be a very exhausting experience.

Here are some tips that will help and some activities that can help you greatly improve your efficiency of vocal production.

When you are waking up in the morning start humming while you are puttering around. One of the best ways to hum is to gently touch your tongue to your upper lip with your mouth closed and hum either on one note or a favorite simple song.

This will create the natural resonance in the ”mask” and establish backpressure in the windpipe. That’s what support is. Technically it is called sub glottal pressure. That is just a fancy phrase for the natural air pressure that builds up in back of any wind driven vibrator, in the case your vocal folds.

Next you can do the “Dog Pant” exercise. If you do Yoga, the various breathing exercises are the same thing and each version is very helpful. This strengthens the diaphragm and helps you take a breath more efficiently without lifting the shoulders for each breath. Lifting the shoulders to inhale instead of just standing up strait so the air can get into your lungs is called clavicular breathing and is a major reason for exhaustion.

Next you can say the five vowels with MH in front of them. Mheeeee, Mhaaaay,

Mhaaaa, Mho, Mhooooo. These should be said like you’re sighing. Repeat five times. That will get all the parts working. You can also say them very fast so you wake up your articulators and get everything coordinated.

Finally, if you like to sing, you can take singing lessons which will greatly improve your speaking voice. If you are a singer, just sing more often and you’ll be amazed at how much better your speaking voice will be.

Remember to practice everything with a natural common sense and don’t push or over exert ever. You can’t fix everything in one day. Think of all the people who finally start working out and strain themselves because they try to get in shape all in one week.

The last point I’d like to make is this: You can learn a lot about your voice if you record and play back. Listen for a natural full tone that isn’t pushed or affected. It should also not be weak (like a limp handshake). We are always trying to achieve ease of production and naturalness. These simple points can help you improve your vocal stamina and voice quality.

Some Thoughts On Reading Inspirational Copy

Aside from all the regular corporate narrations, voiceovers for How To Videos and commercials, there are Inspirational Narratives. We spend a lot of time pitching, talking and explaining everything from healthcare benefits to how not to get your arms ripped off while using certain machinery.
All of those voiceovers serve a necessary function. An even more important human necessity is inspiration.
There is a vast market for reading inspirational copy. The source may be religious, new age, leadership, communication, relationship, or success. The important thrust is always inspiration to live a more spiritual life, a more fulfilling life, a more complete life, a better life and whatever that means to you personally.
When we receive the copy for one of these projects it's important to really think through who the audience will be. How do they view life and their own hopes and dreams. No one likes to be lectured or talked down to, we all want to feel like we are in it together and the ideas are being shared. The tone of voice used in sharing great ideas is never condescending or patronizing. It is always warm, friendly and very personal.
In order for the message to be "heard" we have to be the story teller who is devoid of any affect. Everything must be "idea driven" and sound like it's the most reasonable conclusion.
There is hardly anything more important or a voiceover job that is more satisfying than inspiring or comforting people with uplifting text that contributes to their spirituality and peace  of mind while they navigate their lives.

- Success and the "Power To Persuade" - What You Can Learn From Voiceovers

The human voice is a wonderful musical instrument. We rely on it to transmit the symphony of our ideas and feelings. The ability to persuade determines our financial success. Everything in life is about presentation, we connect with people based on how well we do it Whether we are  teachers, CEO’s, sales people, lawyers, politicians, religious leaders or managers, our voices are the engines that carry our ideas to others. Our voices provide the point of first contact with people.

We all want to be able to communicate effectively with people in our personal and professional lives. We all want to do it better and more successfully. No matter who we are, we all seek the power to persuade.

Non of this is magic. Rapport is composed of certain elements in our delivery. Voiceover artists have refined those elements to enjoy tremendous success with their communication skills.

Becoming aware of them, mastering them, hands us the keys to effective and successful communication which can take our lives to a whole new level of success. Whether you want to be a voiceover artist or just enjoy new levels of success in your profession, study the art of voiceovers.

- Studying Voiceover Skills Improves Success in Any Profession

The ability to persuade determines our financial success. In fact, everything in life is about vocal presentation. We connect with people, get hired, teach, and close deals based on the effective use and clarity of our voice. Whether you’re a teacher, receptionist, lawyer, salesperson, politician, program coordinator, CEO, team leader, doctor, negotiating or interviewing, it is our voice that carries our ideas to people. Success is a voice driven activity and studying voiceover skills can give you the vocal tools to achieve it.

Rapport with people isn’t magic, it is composed of certain elements in a person’s presentation. Are you ever frustrated because the training you’ve had doesn’t give you the results you want? Whether the training works or not depends entirely on delivery. The secrets for achieving your ambitions are contained in your own voice. All of success in business and personal relationships depends on your tone of voice and your vocal presentation. 

- No One is Going To Tell You To Be a Voiceover Artist

I knew a famous singer when I was a guest artist at San Francisco Opera that I conducted Master Classes with. Singers would ask her if they should continue on and try and have a career as an opera singer. She would always say NO! I asked her over dinner why she always told everyone NO. She responded that a real singer would go ahead and sing no matter what. Any one who needed approval to have a career didn't belong in the business anyway. Have a happy New Year and follow your dreams, whatever they are:)

- Don't Blow Out Your Voice To Do Character Voices

Here is a short video clip to illustrate that you can't just bring on your voice to do character voices.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5p-lgKsGn8

- Voiceover Skills Improve our Communication Skills in Any Language

Our ability to persuade people and communicate clearly is very important for all of us personally and professionally. Our success in life depends on our ability to communicate well with others.
We have entered a great new age where communication is dependent upon our ability to connect, and our ability to connect depends on what we decide to say and our manner of delivery. This is the result of the intensity of the information age. We cannot rely solely on the fact that we have the authority or the answer. We must have the ability to organize and personalize thoughts in order to be heard and understood. This has become of paramount importance in, corporations, hospitals, organizations and all of the service industries. How we communicate with our voices and how we organize ideas has never been as important as it is today. Our voice is the engine that carries our thoughts to people. Our voice and presentation is the point of first contact.

- The Most Important Thing You'll Ever Do is Talk

Everything about ourselves is carried to everyone else by our voices. The manner in which we speak, whether doing voiceovers, teaching, negotiating, or explaining, determines the success of our communication. There are many studies that show that much of what we communicate has nothing to do with the words we speak. How important then to work on our presentation to make sure that our voice carries the sound of what we truly mean and not the aggravation we may feel.

Everyone has made someone laugh, cry, provided comfort and solace. We all have these powerful abilities to communicate clearly for the benefit of others and ourselves.
Our voices are the engines that carry ever ideas, every hope and dream to everyone we interact with.
Developing our skills of expression with our voices can benefit ourselves, our voiceover careers and all aspects of our lives.

- The Very First Read in a Session...

It's important that VO artists practice at home so you can start with a good read and not use studio time with people standing around to get "warmed up". Remember to practice your reads thoroughly before getting there and warm up your voice on the way to the recording studio. I've recently seen people in a studio wondering what was up with the VO artist who just didn't seem "ready to go" when the person showed up. Be respectful of peoples time by being completely prepared when you show up. it's the best way to be invited back

- Personalizing Voiceover Copy

There are many people who can read copy well. The most important skill however is to be able to personalize copy. Making the copy sound like it's a collection your own ideas that you are relating to a friend is key to getting cast. This requires an ability to make subtle change-ups in tone of voice and cadence that sound like your "Day Voice" and not like an announcer reading copy. The ability to persuade comes from staying in the tonal  bandwidth of natural conversation between friends.

- Learning To Work The Mic

It's important to stay 8" to 10" from the microphone (depending on what you're recording of course). When your recording something that gets loud it's important to back off a bit or turn a little to the side.
Aside from that common sense, there is a great opportunity to have greater "saturation" when you're saying something that is more thoughtful by moving in much closer and speaking more softly.
This gives an intimacy to the sound of a persons voice and is a very persuasive sound. Learning to "Work the Mic" can bring a much richer harmonic landscape to your recordings that is much more personal that just reading well at a good recording level.

Speed Drills To Improve Articulation

We have been working in class at speed reading for the mouse print. Whether you can speak quickly or not, trying to go as fast as you can helps you improve the clarity and efficiency of your speech. When you return to normal reading speeds the phrases are more spontaneous and idea driven. It's also a great way to feel how the ideas ought to be grouped. The energy in consonants and vowels is always even in your "Day Voice". When you try and speak quickly it helps even out the energy distribution so you will sound more natural when you return to a normal pace.

- Partial Thoughts On Getting a Voiceover Agent

This is a chicken and the egg business. You need an agent to get the big union jobs and you generally need to have gotten some big jobs before an agent will be interested in representing you. There are many exceptions to this, but it will do as a gross generalization. If you start by getting corporate narratives you can land some extensive work. There are no gates to getting this kind of work. All the HR department cares about is, do you have a good natural delivery and can you deliver on time and on budget. When an agent likes your vo demo and says "What have you done", you can refer to your corporate narratives. No one likes to go first. Agents generally aren't interested in talent development per se, they are interested in how much money they think they can make from you booking jobs. They will be more interested in you if you can show that other people have hired you.

- Optimizing Your Speech So it's Clear and Natural

We worked in class last night on how to make our reads sound natural, fluid, and persuasive. One of the main technical issues to be aware of in vocal production is the energy distribution.
Simply put, the energy in vowels and consonants is exactly the same in natural daily speech. Your "Day Voice" equally distributes the effort between consents and vowels. There is often a tendency when in front of a mic to over articulate the consonants. this results in a kind of violent diction that makes the copy sound read instead of idea driven and natural. Remember to speak to the end of the phrase and breath.