If you’re looking for ways to break into the acting world or act in ways you aren’t seen, then you should think about how to get into voice acting. Voice acting is much more than reading words. Voice actors must also create sounds with their voices. From character voices to commercial voice-overs, there is a lot more that goes into being a truly good voice actor than just reading lines.
InnoVision Talent Agency’s mission is to challenge the traditional types of casting and talent agencies by welcoming a more inclusive roster, giving opportunities to underrepresented groups and people of all diversities and backgrounds. We never require fees or costs from anyone on our roster and offer the industry’s most competitive and fair talent agreements to support your career growth.
Below, we have seven tips for how to get into voice acting and succeed at it:
1. Train Your Voice
When it comes to all kinds of acting, the voice can be your number one tool. Acting with your voice can also be physically demanding, so taking the time to prepare and strengthen it is very important. If you wonder how to get into voice acting, then take simple day-to-day actions that will help you get better all the time.
First of all, always warm up. Before your rehearsal, audition, or performance, take the time to relax, stretch, drink water, breathe consciously, and move purposefully.
How you approach each vowel and consonant can create minute differences in meaning for every word in a sentence. Strengthening your tongue helps. Do exercises that start with breathing and relaxing your jaw. Let your jaw drop open and point your tongue, touch it to the bottom and top lip, top and bottom teeth, top and bottom gum ridge behind your top teeth, hard palate, and the floor of your mouth. Repeat that sequence at least five times, breathing and relaxing your jaw intentionally along the way.
2. Gain Experience
Technical knowledge, confidence, self-marketing, and persistence are important tools to build your experience as you develop connections in the voice-acting world. Everyone has to start at the “how to get into voice acting” stage, and there are always opportunities available for those starting. Keep working at it, and you’ll start landing major roles in productions where you can become a well-known voice actor.
Loving what you do is also important, and gives you the stamina to keep at it for many years. It seems like a lot to reach the expert professional level, but it’s possible.
3. Boost Your Acting Skills
Voice acting involves more than your voice. Moving your body along with your voice is an important part of good voice acting. With voice acting, you don’t need to worry about blocking or stage direction, but body movement can make a big impact on how things sound when recorded.
You also don’t have to memorize lines as an actor does, but running through the lines when you get them is important. By running the lines prior to recording, you can work on accents, enunciation, clarity, delivery, and more. This will help grow your voice-acting skills.
4. Record Demos
A lot of voice acting can come with a lot of responsibility since you will often be the one responsible for recording, editing, and sending out finished work. The more people you can get your work in front of, the higher the chances of getting quality parts and more control of your own time.
That doesn’t mean it has to be a long, difficult process, though. Many voice demos are short audio clips that can showcase your abilities. You can re-use some of these materials you record, and they can act as a business card and headshot resume in one.
5. Invest in the Right Equipment
There are also some technical skills often required to be able to record quality products effectively. Your voice-acting skills can take you far, but the equipment used to record can make all the difference in getting a job.
You will need some basics to get yourself started. Find a small, quiet space, a studio condenser microphone with a pop filter, a computer with recording software, a computer screen with a long enough log wire to reach a computer base outside of your recording room, a microphone that connects to the computer, and closed-back headphones to block out external noises.
6. Audition
Once you’ve bought the right equipment and recorded your demos, it’s time to send them out. The audition process for voice actors often doesn’t have to involve any face-to-face contact. Applicants can send in their voice demo or, if required, record specific lines and send those in.
Continually applying for new parts with new directors can create opportunities for voice actors in all sorts of areas. This is why applying is so important. Even if you don’t get the part, the director has heard your work and may think of you later when working on a new project. Even better, everyone who knows your talent could recommend you to other employers who might be looking for your style.
7. Never Stop Learning
It can sound daunting to hear that, when it comes to this field of work, you are never done learning. That is certainly the case in voice-acting, but it isn’t a bad thing. Joining professional networks can be a simple and easy way to be involved in the advancement of standards, and it usually ends up offering more opportunities for education.
A daily routine that includes practice reading, vocal work, and improv can and will make a difference for you and your work many years after that first time you first looked up “how to get into voice acting?”
InnoVision Talent Agency is here to highlight a broad spectrum of diverse voices, artists from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, and people with disabilities. Whether you are an established or emerging talent or someone completely new to the industry—we would love to hear from you.