A voice actor is a professional who interprets film characters and brings them to life using their voices. They can bring out the raw emotions intended in a script using their voices. They deal mostly with the narration of documentaries, corporate videos for product use, to joint venture presentations, safety videos, cell phone prompts and TV serial intros, recaps, and radio commercials. Simply put, voice actors or artistes are professionals who convert written scripts into audios able to evoke different emotions while passing information.
Voice actors are commonly found in film production houses while voice artistes are mostly found in different sectors of media, be it television, films, or even radio, for conveying the messages with precision. In 2020 where the media has been growing at a whole-time high speed, the need for voice actors/artistes is also growing and more people are interested in knowing what this career is about and how to get into it. Now we will generally look at what you need to know about being a voice actor/artiste in 2020 which will help you if you are thinking about being one. Before getting into it, you should know that there are no such special qualifications required to become a Voice Actor/Artist. If you have good command over your voice and can convert written word in audio then you are suitable for this profession.
- Voice-over Artist/actor Required Skills: The most important thing you need to know about voice artiste/actors is the skills that make them be the best at what they do and how these skills work best for them.
- As a voice actor/ artiste, your professional description will always involve you using your voice and nothing else but that. You should be able to be in a position where controlling your voice pitch comes as easy as A, B, C. Your tonal variation when reading through different parts of a script, should be very visible and perfectly emulated. You should be able to silently depict the gestures and body language and movements of the characters on the screen using your voice. Another important thing is that you should do voice recordings that will offer proper lip synchronizing.
- They should bring out raw emotions using their voices. In voice acting, you will find scenes on a script where a character is in pain or hysterically crying. In such a situation crying alone is not enough and you should be able to depict that hysterical emotion and make the listeners believe that you are hysterically crying, without having to look at the film visuals. This is why creating perfect synch for your voice and the visuals are very important. If you cannot do this as a voice artist/actor then you should work hard on it by practicing more.
- One should be incredible at voice modulation. I will tell you this for free, having incredible voice modulation skills as a voice artist/actor will take you far in your career. This is how one can manipulate their voices to bring out a certain character, it is also how one is able to bring in tonal variations when need be and so on and so forth. This also helps one be able to deal with their voice range and make it work for particular characters and so on and so forth. Just like other skills, voice modulation doesn’t come easy, but it comes with experience and practice. In my opinion, it is a skill that every voice actor/artist should work towards attaining because it will take them so far in the career.
- As a voice actor/artiste you should be very consistent. Consistency not only keeps you going, but it also helps be a master of your craft. There is no need to be a jack of all trades and not being a master of any. What consistency does, is that it helps one be consistent on a specific voice or character and practice on it religiously in order for them to master it completely. A good example would be when you are doing voice acting for a character in an extensive project you should be consistent in how your voice sounds throughout the project. The most important factors that one should be consistent in are volume, energy, pacing, articulation, and characterization in your eye-brain-mouth coordination.
- Depending on what scripts you will work on, you should be able to gain cold reading skills which will help you when recording for long-forms of narration and E-learning modules in particular. If you are more interested in the voice acting bit, this won’t be necessary because more times than not you will deal with dialogues which are usually not so long per line.
- Other essential skills that I will mention are things like clarity, conversational, coordination, characterization, and convincing. Since your main job is to try to pass information to your target audience or evoke a certain emotion in them, you should be able to be convincing with your voicing. All these are skills that will help you in making sure that you can deliver to the best of your ability.
- How to Become a Voice Actor/Artist? Becoming a voice actor or artist is very easy but staying relevant in that career is what most people could not do. These two steps will help you when starting out as one.
- Unlike in other careers and professions where you must have a certain level of academic qualification to make the cut, voice acting does not require the same. To get into voice acting, you first need to have the talent to use your voice to affect an audience. This means that you should be someone who can develop a strong character through their voice and be able to convey a certain message by interpreting a script using their voice. If you are this person, then voice acting is the career for you. With such talent, the next step is to take up short skill courses which will help you be better and grow your skills. Short-term workshops on the same are also conducted by many media institutions and media organizations.
- After going through these short-term courses and performing incredibly well and getting certified, you can be on your way to being a sort after voice actor or artist. As I mentioned his courses should act as an added advantage for you when applying for jobs because the thing that will get you in the door is your talent. You should have a natural talent of mimicry, producing exact voices of other people and personalities, and even acting.
- Voice-over Artist Career Prospects. As a voice actor/artiste, you have prospects of working in very many professional fields and industries. As long as you have good command over a particular language, voice clarity, and correct diction you can deliver impeccably well in any field.
- You can use your prowess and apply for jobs in a dubbing company where you will do voice acting for dubbed films. A lot of film dubbing companies are coming up and a lot are already in existence and this would be a great opportunity for any film actor who has been wanting to be an actor or actress. If you are a person with good voice modulation can even try out radio jockeying as a career option.
- There are great opportunities in radio to be a radio presenter or a radio jockey. This prospect is usually limiting because there are only so many radio jockeys and presenters that a radio station can hire. As long as you are good at what you, the competition should not scare you have because as long as you are good then the sky is the limit.
- A lot of Netflix documentaries are being produced, and they always need voice artists who have the voice that can command an audience to stop what they are doing and concentrate on it. It is a good opportunity to try out with your impeccable voice over skills. The fact that opportunities are many makes it even better.
- Jobs in recording studios, advertising agencies, TV and cable stations, film/video production houses, and multimedia companies are the ones that commonly known when it comes to voice recording. They are always available if you do your research well and if you have a great voice and incredible voice recording skills, then you will always get an opportunity with them.
- They can carry out this entertainment job from home by arranging for a home studio, with a simple setup comprising a microphone and Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) connection. With this, you can start creating in-house podcasts which are great for creating a passive income for yourself. Your voice recording skills will help you in convincing an audience to listen to your podcast where you should pass quality information which will impact them positively.
