2022.11.01 – 0670 – Voice Acting Mannerisms Other voice mannerisms Now consider ‘fleshing out’ your character. Don’t add to the words on the page, but don’t only read the words on the page. · What are the voice qualities? More breathy, raspy, growly? · Is the pitch higher or lower than your usual voice? (a lot of boys’ voices are done by women as it avoids the problems of puberty when the actor outgrows the sound of his character). · What is the accent? Your accent and voice accent will have an ...
Nov 01, 2022•9 min•Season 2Ep. 670
2022.10.31 – 0669 – How Visuals Help Your Animation VoiceOver Of course, attributes of animated characters are usually extreme and will have been drawn in conjunction with the story editor. Everything you see is a clue to your character’s voice: · a larger person might have a bigger and lower voice. One with a larger, fatter face may sound more ‘jowly’ · a tall and thin person might have a thinner and higher voice · or, go against type and create an ‘opposite’ voice (with the director’s permissi...
Oct 31, 2022•8 min•Season 2Ep. 669
2022.10.30 – 0668 – Getting An Animation Voice That Fits The Visuals Getting a voice that fits the visuals When auditioning for an animation role you will be sent a ‘vocal reference’, a few lines of the script, as well as a character brief: a description and personality profile of the person or object you are reading for, their role and ‘journey’: “ Barnard is a British steam engine. Played by a man in his 40s/50s, Bernard likes routine and safety, is dull, grumpy and easily annoyed. In this epi...
Oct 29, 2022•4 min•Season 2Ep. 668
2022.10.29 – 0667 – Your Character’s ‘Voicernality’ It’s more than the ‘voice’ Remember that a character’s voice (including your very own!) is partly based on one’s physicality: how they talk is affected by how they walk, how they hold themselves as they speak, how they stand and sit, their physicality, their energy and more. All of these elements help create their ‘voice personality’, what voice actor Katie Leigh calls ‘ voicernalities ’. Some of these factors affect the voice indirectly (someo...
Oct 28, 2022•4 min•Season 2Ep. 667
2022.10.28 – 0666 – The Value of Creating Character Catchphrases For example, perhaps you have created a character voice you call ‘Perfect Pat’. Pat is, as their name implies, bright and positive and speaks at pace with a smile in their voice. That ‘attitude’ is helped by imagining their neatly brushed hair, business wear, and wide-open eyes and arms. Imagine a puppy dog in human form, maybe an eager and positive religious minister, whose ‘character catchphrase’ that you say aloud to ‘find them’...
Oct 27, 2022•5 min•Season 2Ep. 666
2022.10.27 – 0665 – Creating a Character Catalogue Play around with it and practice and then when you think you have the character, give each a name (‘ Smoking Susan ’, ‘ Sharp-suited Shaun ’…) and a bit of a back-story to help you remember them, and then log each one in your ‘voice bank’ of voices that you can use for characterisations in the future. Your ‘catalogue of characters’ may include: · their vocal and physical attributes · a key catchphrase of theirs that, when you say it, instantly g...
Oct 26, 2022•8 min•Season 2Ep. 665
2022.10.26 – 0664 – How To Steal A Character Voice Concentrate on listening , not just hearing but truly paying attention to voices: · their accent · their pitch, projection, pace and so on (all the elements we have looked at before and with which you will by now be familiar) · where they speak from – their chest, their nose and so on · how they convey emotion in their voice. How do they (or might they) speak when they are frustrated, sneaky or passive-aggressive, inspired or indecisive? · their...
Oct 25, 2022•2 min•Season 2Ep. 664
2022.10.25 – 0663 – Creating a Cast of Core Character Voices Creating a cast of core character voices (This section is also of use for the following part on ‘audiobook narration’ when you may be required to speak in the voices of different characters.) When you’re given an audition animation script, is not the time to start creating a voice for the character you’re about to play. That process has to start way earlier with you developing your very own ‘cast of characters’ which you ‘know and own’...
Oct 24, 2022•3 min•Season 2Ep. 663
2022.10.24 – 0662 – Characters in Cartoons, Animations and Gaming Acting Characters in Cartoons, Animations and Gaming Acting This is when the character you develop a voice for is heard but not seen in, for example: · Cartoons · Animations · Anime · Feature films · Games · Toys · Robotics · Puppetry · Websites · eLearning … In this section, we won’t be looking at actors in drama (such as BBC radio’s ‘continuing drama’ “ The Archers ” – the world’s longest-running soap [1] ) or the increasing num...
Oct 23, 2022•5 min•Season 2Ep. 662
2022.10.23 – 0661 – The Variety of Voiceover Opportunities 2 · Gaming – Acting in character for online games · Live events (aka ‘Voice of God’) – from large sporting arenas to smaller concerts, theatres, balls and awards events. These may be live or recorded · Narration – Not necessarily audiobooks, but TV, radio or movie documentaries, and news articles. It may also include the voice-over in a film or TV show to move the storyline along, explain a backstory or add depth to the character as you ...
Oct 22, 2022•9 min•Season 2Ep. 661
2022.10.22 – 0660 – The Variety of Voiceover Opportunities 1 Voiceover Categories These could be as wide-ranging as – but not limited to – the following: · Animation – which may include character voices in TV cartoon shows and movies such as Tom Hanks playing Woody in “ Toy Story” or Kristen Bell as Anna in “ Frozen” · Announcements – recorded messages in places such as elevators, doctors’ waiting rooms, large stores and airports · Audiobooks - a narrator reading word for word from a novel (incl...
Oct 21, 2022•6 min•Season 2Ep. 660
2022.10.21 – 0659 – Specialised Scriptreading Skills This chapter is looking at the variety of scripts you may be asked to read as a voice actor and the specialised skills that are called for in those various styles. They may be commercial or non-commercial and will be written and laid out differently because of the message, duration and intended audience. And what attracts you to, or will help you be good at one style or another, maybe the sound and quality of your voice and how you like to use...
Oct 20, 2022•3 min•Season 2Ep. 659
2022.10.20 – 0658 – Re-takes and Re-records Re-takes and Re-records If at all possible, try to avoid having to re-do lines. Whether in a pro-studio or a home-studio, the re-take may stand out: · It’s very difficult to recreate exactly the same setup - Make notes of mic and desk settings from your original studio session, to more easily replicate the original setup if you have to re-do lines later … or use pre-sets on the recording software so that as far as tech goes you are doing your best to s...
Oct 19, 2022•3 min•Season 2Ep. 658
2022.10.19 – 0657 – Avoiding Studio Hiccups Caused By Hiccups Sneezing and hiccups This is another situation which will come sooner or later, and may either be a sneeze you feel approaching or one that suddenly attacks. There’s not much you can do about the latter unless you are quick enough to turn off your mic or turn your head. Hearing a sneeze on air is rare, and not particularly pleasant. If you feel a sneeze on the way, and if you can’t go to another item or stop recording, try and head it...
Oct 18, 2022•4 min•Season 2Ep. 657
2022.10.18 – 0656 – On-Mic Panting Being out of breath This usually happens because you’ve run in the studio late or in the nick of time. You’ve probably not done a sprint, but the tense situation, panic and knowledge of what’s expected add to make a slight breathiness increase dramatically. With a newsreader the problem is much worse than for music presenters: they only have short (or possibly no) audio to play during which they can catch their breath, and a tone of formality is expected of the...
Oct 17, 2022•4 min•Season 2Ep. 656
2022.10.17 – 0655 – Why We Get Studio Giggles These are signs of nervousness and panic. Such laughter is seldom sparked off by genuine humour; it is the psyche’s safety valve blowing to release a build up of tension. Anything incongruous or slightly amusing can trigger it [1] . The audience doesn’t always see the joke, especially when the laughter erupts through a serious or tragic news item. Self-inflicted pain is a reasonable second line defence. Some presenters bring their mirth under control...
Oct 16, 2022•2 min•Season 2Ep. 655
2022.10.16 – 0654 – Dead Good Advice On Studio Corpsing Corpsing (that is, laughing uncontrollably) ‘There’s one hazard that no amount of preparation can avoid: the collapse into inappropriate laughter. The Today programme website still treasures the moment when Charlotte Green kept a cool head while reading a news item about a Mr Twatt. And she would have sailed through it too, if it wasn’t for the next story — about a plucky sperm whale’ [1] The smallest reference to something odd may start yo...
Oct 15, 2022•2 min•Season 2Ep. 654
2022.10.15 – 0653 – When your Insert Goes Down In a radio or podcast studio, confusing the audience with technical jargon can compound the problem, like: “ I’m sorry, but that insert seems to have gone down ”. Or, “ We don’t seem to have that package ”.’ A package to most people is what they get from Amazon. Practise what you are going to say when something goes wrong until it becomes almost a reflex action. [1] When that report does eventually arrive, the audience will have forgotten what it is...
Oct 14, 2022•5 min•Season 2Ep. 653
2022.10.14 – 0652 – Classic Voice-Over Cock Ups “ Police are finding it difficult to come up with a solution to the murders … the commissioner says the victims are unwilling to co-operate .” (US Radio) “ Well, the blaze is still fierce in many places, and as a result of this fire, two factories have been gutted and one homily left famless.” (Australian Radio ) “Following the warning by the Basque Separatist organisation ETA that it’s preparing a bombing campaign in Spanish holiday resorts, Briti...
Oct 13, 2022•2 min•Season 2Ep. 652
2022.10.13 – 0651 – When To Expect Verbal Trips and Slips Many fluffs occur when you are expecting trouble, like a difficult foreign name, or when you have already fluffed and their mind is side-tracked. The irony is that the difficult name is usually pronounced flawlessly, but actually stumbles over the simple words before and behind it in the sentence. The art of the accomplished recovery is to prepare for every contingency. The worst mistake any presenter can make is to swear on air – don’t e...
Oct 12, 2022•4 min•Season 2Ep. 651
2022.10.12 – 0650 – Verbal Trips and Slips Trips and slips ‘Things’ happen. Verbal and technical slips and trips. Mouths and machines can stop working. The wrong bit of audio can come out of either of them! [1] At the same time, it is also the case that given how well equipped and familiar news people are with the demands of the job, there really should not be flaws in most news programmes. A high level of professionalism is really the expectation of everyone no matter if they are in front of th...
Oct 11, 2022•5 min•Season 2Ep. 650
2022.10.11 – 0649 – Practicing Talking To Time Practice Talking To Time As we saw in episode 427 Take some copy which has a required duration indicated on it, and read it aloud like you might in a demo, and with a stopwatch to hand. How many words did you read in 30 seconds? Or how many seconds were you over? Keep practicing until you can sensibly get the copy in the seconds required, several times in a row. Then take another script and repeat the exercise before return to the first script and s...
Oct 10, 2022•4 min•Season 2Ep. 649
2022.10.10 – 0648 – Talking To Time Talking to time Developing a sense of time is hugely important for most people speaking ‘on mic’. As a voice artist you may need to record a script to the half-second accuracy. For example, a director may ask you to record a three-word tag-line “ just very slightly faster ”, or dub an actor’s voice or deliver a commentary over pictures in just the time the corresponding video sequence has available. Music presenters often need to have a sense of time to get to...
Oct 09, 2022•2 min•Season 2Ep. 648
2022.10.09 – 0647 – Why We Hit Script-Reading Speed Bumps Why We Hit Speed Bumps · Not being prepped-up, to rev-up – if your engine of articulation is not properly warmed up then it could seize up! On TV dance shows, neither the pros or the celebs go straight onto the floor and perform. Athletes don’t just put on shorts and sprint. You have to gear your speaking gear, into gear. See our section on exercises to go through, various humms and glides and your equivalent of a practice lap. Oh, and di...
Oct 08, 2022•3 min•Season 2Ep. 647
2022.10.08 – 0646 – Speed-Reading Speed reading With commercial reads especially, you have to be able to talk to time, and that may mean talking faster than you may usually do. But this can often lead to getting tongue-tied, and the almost inevitable slips and trips, and the subsequent loss of confidence … and increased time in the studio as you record take after take. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Oct 07, 2022•3 min•Season 2Ep. 646
2022.10.07 – 0645 – Rehearsing Cold Reading Rehearsing Cold Reading It is easy to practice this at home or at work – sight-read stories from the newspaper, or print off the national summary and make yourself sight read it, changing the tone for each story as appropriate. Read loads of material aloud, sight unseen so you can get into the habit of adapting your vocal will build up your vocabulary, not just the meaning of the words, but also their pronunciation and also the context in which they ar...
Oct 06, 2022•4 min•Season 2Ep. 645
2022.10.06 – 0644 – Script-Reading and Peripheral Vision Peripheral vision It also helps to be able to read in your head more than a few words ahead of what you are actually saying out loud. If a story has just flashed on your screen and there is no opportunity to read it through fully off-air before you go to it on air (perhaps there is no audio left to play), then you can allow yourself a second’s pause to scan the script for key words to give yourself a sense of what is to come. Then as you r...
Oct 05, 2022•3 min•Season 2Ep. 644
2022.10.05– 0643 – Warming Up To Cold Reads Warming up to cold reads Sight-reading is what many rolling news presenters have to do: pick up a news script and read it straight off, with the correct pacing and intonation so it makes sense to the listener. One trick is to be able to sense from the first few words of the story what tone you should deliver it in. This can sometimes be tricky: a story which starts “ a police officer who saved a woman from a burning house …” could continue, “… has been...
Oct 04, 2022•2 min•Season 2Ep. 643
2022.10.04– 0642 – Sight-Reading Scripts Tips Cold-Reading (or ‘sight-reading’ or ‘off-the-page’) This is when you read a script aloud previously sight-unseen. You’ve not had a chance to proof read it, spot any awkward words or phrases and may not even know what it’s about. You won’t have read it aloud before, for example, breaking news, a fast-turn around commercial session or if you are a ‘Voice of God’ at an event. If you are reading an audio-book, you’ll have to read pretty cold too: it simp...
Oct 03, 2022•3 min•Season 2Ep. 642
2022.10.03– 0641 – Extracting Distracting Fillers 2 · Increase your confidence and reduce your nerves – again, we have looked at this topic together in the past, but this will include factors such as knowing the material, the audience, the studio, the kit, the colleagues; vocal and muscular exercises; vocal health and so on · Slow down – It may be that your mouth is working faster than your brain and you are running out of words to say and so filling in the gaps with meaningless ones. Slowing do...
Oct 02, 2022•3 min•Season 2Ep. 641
