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Getting started in voice-over work
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I’ve always been curious about voice-over work (ever since I was a kid, and my cousin and I would painstakingly learn the jingles to all the local supermarkets for no discernible reason). For audio makers, it’s an intriguing string to add to your bow, not to mention source of extra income. But the industry seems sort of impenetrable from the outside. Where do you start? Does being a producer give you an edge? How do you practise?!
So for today’s missive I spoke to voice-over artist extraordinaire Becca Kauffman to get the answers to these questions and more. Here Becca gives us a super in-depth guide to getting started in voice-over, the different categories of VO, how the industry is diversifying, plus lots of resources like audition sites and coaches you can check out.
How did you begin working in voice-over?
Voice has always been my main medium for self-expression. From an early age, I was really into “making tapes” — that is, recording my voice on cassette tape in a variety of fictional scenarios. I’ve always had a cheeky appreciation for the schmaltz of advertisements. I loved to perform and read aloud in class. My mother read the entire Boxcar Children and Babysitters Club series to me as part of my childhood bedtime routine, to which I chock up a lot of my appreciation for storytelling and the spoken word.
Delving into theater and singing —two very voice-centric art forms— deepened my understanding of my voice as an instrument and taught me technique. When I moved to New York City from Boston in 2008, I had a vague awareness of voice-over’s existence, but no clear entry point for how to begin. Ultimately, after a slew of random gigs as a busser, a burger flipper, a baker, a housecleaner, and a knock-off Mr. Softee truck driver, I started asking everyone I knew: “What do you know about voice-over?”
Eventually I was connected with a friend-of-a-friend who was a professional VO actor, and she got me started with a list of resources and recommendations— a sort of beginner’s how-to guide. I found a VO coach in the city, Marla Kirban, and started auditioning online through one of the many “pay to play” (subscription-based) audition sites, Voice123.com. Before long, I had booked my first gig: the elevator voice of Calgary City Hall! (voice-over really transports you to the wildest places).
What are the main routes into this work?
First things first: familiarize yourself with the different types of voice-over work that exist, and identify which categories you’re drawn to. It really depends on how you’d like to use your voice and what about VO excites you.
If you’re into the theatrical element and have an expressive range, you might enjoy building a repertoire of character voices for video games and animation work. If you prefer speaking in a more naturalistic, conversational style, the commercial route might suit you better. If you’re interested in long form reading, then narration or e-learning could be worth pursuing.
You don’t have to limit yourself to one category —you can work across genres— but most VO actors eventually zero in on a specific niche or two. Pay attention to what style of voice acting comes to you most naturally. Whatever that is, start there and let that be your entry point. If you begin by auditioning for work that’s in your range, you’ll book faster, and that will encourage you to keep going.
In terms of VO categories, people are generally aware of the primary three: Commercial, Animation, Narration. Commercials are for products and services, and can air on TV, the web (Youtube or Hulu ads, for example), terrestrial (AM/FM) radio, and digital streaming platforms like Spotify and Pandora. Animation can include cartoon shows, toys, children’s apps, website content for channels like Nickelodeon. Narration encompasses audiobooks, documentaries, and news articles (see: apps like Audm and Curio).
There’s also high demand for VO in the video game industry, and additional avenues to VO exist in e-learning (online teaching modules, tutorials, how-to guides, employee training videos), scripted/fictional podcasts (a new genre that is erupting right now), radio imaging (“You’re listening to Hot 97.7”), promo (awards show announcing or ads for specific television programming, i.e. “Teen Mom:Friday night at 10 on MTV”), IVR (Interactive Voice Response) and phone greetings, and Virtual Assistants (like Siri or Alexa).
Pay differs greatly amongst these categories. Platform, scale/scope, and union (SAG-AFTRA)/nonunion status are the central factors that determine the budget for a voice over project. In commercial work, the hierarchy of platform is generally in a descending order as follows: network TV, cable TV, web, radio, non-broadcast. Scale or scope indicates the size of the campaign— how far it’s traveling. Will it be televised to a regional market, like the city of New York or the state of Washington? Will it be broadcast nationwide? Or will it be for a closed group and not broadcast at all, like an internal employee training video?
Recording the voice mail for a local graphics business, for example, (which is very likely to be a nonunion gig) might offer $100 flat, while voicing a national TV commercial that airs for a year across major networks like ABC and CBS (likely a union job) would pay union scale for the recording session itself, plus residuals (like royalties) every quarter to reflect how that recording is being used, where, and how much. That union TV spot could rack up anywhere from a few thousand dollars to, say, $45k and beyond. Commercials— and union commercials especially— are where the money’s at. Those are two extremes, and there’s a lot of midrange work as well. Voicing an employee training video could pay roughly somewhere in the $300-700 range, depending on word count; a nonunion name brand commercial could offer something like a $3,000 buyout + session fee.
Talent agents are generally the gatekeepers to the high end union and nonunion commercial work, but there are hundreds upon hundreds of smaller jobs accessible through online audition platforms like Voices.com and bodalgo.com. Racking up audition experience on one of those platforms will make you a better VO actor and get you closer to landing your first gig.
What do you like about the work?
As a singer, I love finding the musicality in a voice-over script. There’s a certain tonal or attitudinal vernacular you can key into with a commercial or a promo. First you have to hear it, then you have to execute it. Creating a balanced, melodic arc with a spoken phrase is an art and a science all at once, and I find it particularly satisfying.
And what’s most challenging?
What’s most challenging about the work is getting the work! Being a voice-over artist is like being a working actor: you audition, audition, audition and cross your fingers that you get the gig. The more you audition, the more likely you are to get hired, so: keep going.
Are there particular strengths or skills that audio producers already have when it comes to voice-over work?
If you’re an audio producer or podcaster, chances are you have some familiarity with the recording process— maybe you’ve been in a studio, or know your way around some recording equipment. You might already be versed in audio recording and editing software, like Logic Pro X, Adobe Audition, or Garageband. You’ve probably used a microphone, laid eyes on a pop filter, and might even have some mic technique!
These are invaluable skills to have, especially because VO is increasingly becoming a remote medium, which is to say, the majority of auditions, and many actual VO gigs, are now recorded from home by the VO actors themselves. The industry has been steadily heading in this direction for the past few years, and the pandemic cemented it as a universally adopted practice. If you want to work in VO, you’ve gotta know how to record yourself. You’re also going to need a little home studio set up. (Don’t panic, it can be totally makeshift. Remember that picture of Ira Glass recording This American Life in his closet?)
Being a podcaster or producer, I’m also going to guess you listen to a lot of other podcasts, radio, and audio-based mediums— which means your ear is likely attuned to different tones and styles of vocal delivery, whether you realize it or not. And guess what? Listening is a vital part of voice-over study.
Active listening helps you dial in even further, developing your ear to be able to identify nuances (Is that vocal fry? Is that reporter pitching up at the end of every sentence?). Take note next time you’re listening to a podcast, for example, of how the host’s voice shifts when they go from reading a personal interest story to a sponsorship segment.
What do you think the future holds for commercial voice-over work; what kind of opportunities do you foresee?
The advertising industry is slowly and finally catching up to the importance of diverse representation in voice casting— probably due in large part to cultural pressure rather than an authentic moral response, but… nevertheless, it is happening in small fits and spurts.
In the past year or so, casting specs have expanded from requesting “male” or “female” to include non-binary. What the industry thinks a non-binary voice sounds like, exactly, we have yet to know (I am hoping that it resists standardisation), but the inclusion and acknowledgment of gender fluidity creates an opening for VO artists who have felt limited by the hetero and cis-dominant culture of the commercial world, and also stands to expand mainstream notions of what an “authority” can sound like (a commercial voice is typically understood to be the authority on a product).
Along similar lines, there has been a recent reckoning in the animation scene around colour-blind casting and the white-washed nature of the voice-over world. Characters of colour on shows like The Simpsons, Big Mouth, and Bojack Horseman, originally voiced by white voice actors, have been conscientiously re-cast with actors who accurately represent the racial identity of the role. I’m hoping that this progressive momentum continues, because it not only means more immediate opportunities for marginalized VO artists, but a larger paradigm shift for the culture.
Do you have any other tips for getting started in voice-over?
Find a coach, take a class, or sign up for private lessons. Here are some recommendations to get you started:
Shut Up & Talk
Marla Kirban Voice-Over
The VO Dojo
Don’t mute the commercials! Watch and listen to every advertisement that comes your way. Visit ispot.tv to access a database of television commercials on demand. Mimic the vocal style, transcribe the spots and record yourself reading them. And on that note, start reading aloud— books, articles, essays. Get into the habit of voicing the words you see on the page.
Do a good google search. There are tons of blogs and YouTube channels about VO out there.
How would you recommend that podcasters who are new to voice-over develop their experience?
When I was starting out, the best way I found to build experience and get access to scripts was through online voice-over audition sites like Voices.com and Voice123.com. These sites involve an annual subscription fee of around $400 or more, so it is a bit of an investment. You’ll want to have taken some classes or lessons, recorded some voice samples, and constructed a basic recording set up before you make the commitment. You can, however, create a profile free of charge, and that should at least allow you to survey a selection of the auditions that get posted. You can use that as your practice material.
There’s a comprehensive list of VO audition sites here.
I love working with people getting started in voice-over. I teach workshops and private lessons for VO beginners. You can contact me if you’d like to dive in, or visit my website to hear some of my voice-over work.
📌 How to get voice acting — from Voices123
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What I’m listening to
🪀 Learned so much from How Sound’s (250th!) episode, Schwartz is a Verb. Thrilled that Rob has done a deep-dive into this interviewing technique, which involves asking interviewees to lie down in the dark and tell their story with their eyes closed. The idea is that they then speak from a much more emotional space, bringing memories to vivid life. I’m about to start work on a new audio project that could really benefit from a Schwartz approach — let me know if you’ve tried it!
🪀 Enjoying Telling Stories from producers Phoebe McIndoe and Redzi Bernard, which delves into the processes and ideas of different storytellers; so far they’ve featured James T. Green, Axel Kacoutié, Ariana Martinez and more. Each episode also has an audio challenge to try.
🪀 And The Cut is on my rotation again this week. We’re All Failing At Being Women is ostensibly about Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters, which is considered the first book by a trans author to be released by a major publishing house. But like so many episodes of this show, it starts out being about one thing, and then surprises you by going in a different, revelatory direction. Really moving and clever.
Thanks for reading, audio storytellers! If you enjoyed the newsletter, I’d so appreciate you sharing with a friend or co-worker; word of mouth’s how I get this resource out there. As always, hit me up on Twitter or email with what you’re making or listening to.