When starting out as a voice actor or voice-over artist, it can get daunting for individuals because of the many auditions they have to attend in order for them to secure a job. If you are not in a position where you have knowledge of how to approach auditions, you will end up going to so many auditions getting no callback. This will eventually lead you into either quitting the entire career or going back to the drawing board and getting a new approach that will work better for you.
Now getting a new approach seems like the best thing to do, but if you don’t come up with the best approach, you will end up at the same point where approach number one left you. It will eventually seem more like a rat race for you than a growing opportunity. In this article, we will look at an approach that will help you secure a job or two from your auditions. It is an approach that has been tried and tested by a lot of voice artists. This is how you make your voice acting audition worthwhile: –
1. Do Your Homework First
This is an important step and not only is it important for voice acting auditions, but it is important for anyone who is trying to do anything new to them. Have you ever noticed how easy it is to approach a new opportunity when you already have prior information about it? This is why people constantly say that knowledge is power. Having prior knowledge about the audition you’re doing is very important. It gets you in the know, and when you are knowledgeable, then you can research further and prepare yourself well for it. In a voice acting audition scenario, you should be able to do your homework and know which character you are auditioning for, go further and learn what the voice of the character sounds like and practice on it. If you have to get a voice coach to help you get the feel of the voice you are auditioning for, then do it but overall be sure to practice. If you are going to use a professional sound studio for your recording, know how much it will cost you to get the recording done but if you want to do the recording at home, then you should gather all the home studio equipment to help you do that. Be sure to research and know everything you need for your recording before starting the process.
2. Don’t Read the Whole Script
Auditions are just a way for the clients or the project director to get a feel of what you offer and how your voice sounds when recorded. When doing your voice over auditions, be sure to avoid recording the whole script. I will tell you straight up that the client/project director will not listen to the whole recording that you send in. More times than not they only listen to the first 5 to 10 minutes of your auditions and that is enough to tell them if you are good enough or not. It is advisable to record from 20 to 30 seconds so that at least the client can have more to listen to if at all you interest them further that the 5th or 10th second.
Not reading the whole script enables you to get a specific extract from your script that you feel like your voice will sound good with, practicing on it and making sure that you record it in the perfect way possible and then send it to your client. This saves you a lot of time that you could use recording a 10-minute script that won’t be listened to in full and also helps you use the rest of the time in practicing and perfecting your voice and tonal range for that small extract that you want to record. Always know that when a client sends you a script, they don’t expect you to record the whole script for an audition.
3. Do Let the Copy Be Your Guide
When doing a voice audition, you will always have a script copy sent to you and a synopsis telling you what the character is about and what their personality traits are like. This will give you an idea of how you should tackle the character and bring it to life. It is always important to let that copy guide you when practicing for the audition. A lot of voice actors end up imagining how the character would be like and do an audition with their imaginations in a play that ends up taking their voice out of context and concept. Your work as a voice actor is to interpret the character in the best way you can. Let your imaginations and what you think the character should be like guide you into coming up with an audition piece.
Imaginations are a great part of voice acting but the client might want something different from what you are imagining, and they will tell you. You should let that be your guide in coming up with a recording piece for your audition. Practice several times, trying out different techniques for bringing out the character, including the subtleties of where you include pauses, which words receive upward or downward inflections, and more.
5. Don’t Slate Your Audition
It is very normal to want to introduce yourself, talk about what you do, how many years of experience you have, and so on and so forth. This is exactly what employers usually want to know during auditions and it is very normal and okay but for a voice acting audition, it is unnecessary. The only thing the client or project manager is interested in is listening to your recording a piece of the script. If they get your recording and the first 5 seconds you introducing yourself, they might end up pushing your recording to the side.
For a voice acting audition, you want your voice and the character you are auditioning for to stand out, therefore, starting out with a punch and going straight into it would be the best thing to do. Do not waste the client’s time slating at the beginning of the audition. If you really have to slate your audition and you just can’t help yourself, be sure to do it at the end of your audition where it won’t interfere with the most important part of your audition which is the beginning. Also, slating is not that important because your name is usually beside the play button for clients to see.
6. Do Bring Your Authentic Self
In voice acting, there is a lot of voice manipulation and imitations and it is very easy to sound unnatural and not authentic. Your voice audition piece should be as authentic as it might be. You don’t want your voice to sound like it is made up or unnatural because if you get a job with a voice that has a lot of manipulation, you should be able to bring that same voice for the project and if it is a voice that you can’t keep up with for a long time, it will be a challenge for the production team and your clients. You want to make sure that you are cast for a voice that you can use for an extensive project and still be able to deliver it to perfection. Your audition should always bring out your qualities as a person and your voice. It should be natural and authentic. Also, the sound of your voice should be unique to you and it should be something that comes easy for you during recording. There should be plenty of room for creativity in your voice even within the constraints. Always know that creativity happens best within guidelines, not without them.
7. Don’t Let Your Spirits Drop
Just like when interviewing for jobs, you will get callbacks from some and you won’t get callbacks from others. It is very normal, and you should not let your spirits drop because of not getting a callback. The voice acting career is very competitive, and it is easy for someone to give up and try another career. Do your auditions to the best of your ability and as soon as you send it to your client, be sure to do another one and another one until you get one that will get you a callback. If you want to survive in this industry, be someone who will stick it out because it is difficult, but it gets better with time.
8. Do Spend Less Time Auditioning
As you continue doing auditions and practicing, you want to get to a point where you spend less time recording your auditions. This doesn’t just come with the first, second, or third try, it will take you a long time to master this but work towards mastering this. This means you have mastered how to manipulate your voice and make it work with different characters. It will make you audition for different and more jobs efficiently which grows your chances of getting callbacks from the different auditions you do.
This approach when doing your voice acting auditions will eventually help you in getting callbacks and jobs for voice acting. You just need to stick it through and you will benefit from it.
