Voiceover Artists Have To Know The Difference Between Screaming and Yelling - To Survive

There has been a lot of discussion about voice actors standing up for themselves when doing extreme voices for video games and other media. All those points are well taken.
Having said that, It is my opinion there should also be much more discussion about how to develop a well produced voice that just doesn't rely on "making hamburger" out of ones self to create a theatrical vocal effect.
A persons voice is the engine that does all the work. Developing it and fine tuning technique is very important. I have actually had some agents tell me that they don't want their actors learning voice development because it will make them loose their"naturalness" Well of course it does if you do it incorrectly and don't understand vocal production. They are reacting to some classes where actors do "voice exercises" that involve screaming until they're hoarse to "build up the muscle".
Yes there's a lot of stupid out there, it just takes some common sense to avoid it.
Voice development and breathing exercises give the voice greater range, sustainability, nuance and yes improved naturalness and believability.  The more control a person has over their voice, the more creative freedom they have because they aren't fighting vocal exhaustion. A voice is a powerful instrument that deserves to be developed and the best of care.

- Your Voice Is A Wind Instrument - Cardio Will Improve it Dramatically

People ask me quite often what one of the single most important things is that they can do for their voice. The answer is "Get some regular exercise, cardio" (Always check with your Doctor before starting any exercise program).

There are about 126 muscles in the cricoid thyroid structure ( voice box) that are directly involved in phonation. That doesn't include all the muscles in the chest that are involved in breathing. When you are getting some kind of regular cardio exercise you are not only strengthening the whole support structure you are perfecting the coordination between the bellows of the lungs and how you speak. When you combine exercise with your voice and breathing exercises you will be amazed at how your voice will bloom into it's full beauty giving you more presence more authenticity and greater confidence.

- 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.

- Make Your Voice As Good As Your Sales Call - Really

Make your voice as good as your sales call by  learning voiceover breathing, voice exercises and phrasing.

Our voice is the engine that carries our thoughts to people. Our voice and presentation is the point of first contact.

 None of it is magic. It’s common sense that if you develop your voice and perfect your delivery, you can increase the effectiveness of your presentation and have the power to persuade that will give you the edge you need for greater success. Make sure YOUR voice is as good as your presentation with this 4 hour course. Click on this link to learn more and watch our video.

http://masteringvoiceover.com/wp/voiceover2

- We Have a New Video Testimonials Page on Our Website

Many thanks to our students/clients that have contributed some very kind and amazingly creative, funny and outrageous testimonials for mastering voiceover classes.
 Enjoy

and follow us on Twitter @masteringVO

Video Testimonials

- Advanced Cold Reading Techniques

Just how do people read long projects with so few flubs? How can they say the words and have it all make sooo much sense when they are cold reading? Are they just more talented? Are you either born with it or you’re not?

They have an ability to process copy visually as if it was their own ideas and relate it verbally as though they were giving a talk that they had memorized. It can be very inspiring to hear some one read like this and a little maddening as well.

The good news is it’s a skill you can learn, too. Of course some people have a more natural gift for cold reading, but as you learn and practice these techniques you will become much better at it. 

Often actors will say to me that they read really well, they just need time to go over the script. Well that works if you HAVE time to go over the script and if it’s not a really long project like an audio book or other long narrative. On a large project you never really remember what's coming up even if you’ve read it 20 times.

And… If you don’t have time, which happens often, you need to be able to cold read. Let's review the basic cold reading technique and build on that.

Let's say you have a 50 page project to read for a voiceover project. And there hasn’t been much time to study it. You read the entire first sentence before you start the read. Then you start speaking. On the end of the first sentence, as you take a catch breath, you dart your eyes to the right as you start inhaling to scan what you are about to say so you have the next idea in your head, not just the next word. 

You then keep your eyes 2 or three words ahead of where you are speaking. You never want to being saying the word with your mouth that you’re reading with your eyes. That always turns out poorly because you won’t know what the idea is.

On the end of every sentence there is a half second catch breath and you repeat the process of darting your eyes to the right to read ahead while you’re inhaling.

After every third or fourth sentence there is naturally a one to two second break because that is how everyone groups their ideas. You use that break to read way ahead.

All right, that’s the review of the basic technique. Now let's mix it up.

You are going to get a piece of copy and print it out in 14 point copy. And you're going to put one sentence each line. You then cover the first sentence with paper and reveal it just for a second and cover the sentence back up. Now try and say the whole sentence without looking. This will help you store ideas in your head a sentence at a time. It will train you to read a sentence as an idea instead of reading individual words. Do this through the entire page.

Practice this several times with the same page. Yes, you will start to remember what the content is, and that is exactly what helps build up your short term memory. But the other thing that happens is it teaches you to recognize a whole sentence as an idea instead of the usual reaction of reading individual words and then assembling the idea as you say the words. 

This technique of scanning a sentence and forming the idea will lead to great cold reading skills.

Now start at the top of the same page and don’t cover any of the sentences. Glance at the sentence and start talking... then keep your eyes two to three words ahead of the words you are saying. These are your training wheels to build up your ability to read ahead.

Now combine this technique with taking deeper catch breaths so you have more time to scan ahead. It is very easy to edit out dead space and it takes far less time than editing out flubs. When you practice, take a few seconds to scan a section before reading through a paragraph in this fashion. You can do amazing reads if you will practice this really slowly like you would a golf swing and take the time to make this your natural response.

As you get better at managing sections of copy, you will find that you can shorten the length of your catch breaths and still get the idea of each sentence into your head.

Remember when you are speaking your own ideas, this works very naturally. Huge blocks of ideas and information are organized and delivered without difficulty.

The training of your eyes is very important for you to be able to scan sentences and indeed paragraphs and start recognizing the ideas in groups so that you start speaking the text of the project as if they were your own thoughts. This is the gateway and the technique that will enable you to start reading copy as if you were speaking your own ideas.

The implications of this advanced cold reading technique go far beyond being able to read with fewer flubs... it has a profound effect on ones ability to personalize reads… to sound authentic and believable at an entirely new level. The sense of spontaneity will be much improved and people will comment on how natural and believable the read sounds.

It is important to emphasize that everyone has different learning styles and preferences about how they acquire new skills. These techniques I’m illustrating are really just a point of departure. You should always experiment with different versions that you invent that adapt these techniques to your own style of learning. 

This is an indispensable part of learning. No technique in and of itself works perfectly with every individual. Once you have practiced these techniques, start playing with the order and methods and try and find ways to personalize how these techniques work for you.

For example, have you ever gone to a golf lesson and played worse???? Well, I have, until I remembered to not try and perform a bunch of rules... but to let the instruction come with me without forcing it. We have to absorb new techniques, not be imprisoned by them. When ever we get too clinical about developing new techniques we run the risk of loosing the freedom required to benefit from improved technique. 

So, after you’ve practiced these techniques, then try them with almost reckless abandon… many times this helps a person manage a task with the intuitive, subconscious part of the brain which is always free and courageous and more efficient than the self conscious part of our minds that is often tentative because it is afraid of doing things wrong.

And finally don’t worry if you feel like you’ve never been able to read very well. These things are just learned skills. Some people develop these skills in school at a young age… and some, of course, learn later in life. 

The important thing is to just practice these techniques until it all becomes natural to you. This very important skill requires sustained effort to make it a natural skill and you’ll find that it is well worth the time it takes to develop it.

- The Importance of Voice Exercises

Everyones voice is much more responsive when it has a regular workout routine. We are much more able to illustrate with nuance when our voice receives regular workouts. Tone painting and using different cadences to get our point across is much more natural when the voice is put through it's version of Yoga. Communication skills are improved by respecting and taking care of our voice just as we do for our bodies in general.