Voice Acting Exercises for Beginner Voice-over Talent

We all know that every professional athlete needs to take the time to stretch their muscles to adequately prepare for a big game.

In much the same vein, any experienced singer or voice actor understands that voice acting exercises are necessary to ensure that they can deliver their best performance when they step up to the microphone.

The difference between an impromptu vocal delivery and a script read or musical performance after a sufficient vocal warm up can make a noticeable difference in the finished recording.

voice acting practice have a tremendous amount of benefits.voice acting practice can help loosen your vocal folds, and set you up to nail your next audition or company presentation. Using your voice for an extended period of time is challenging if you’re not prepared.

1.Start with warm-ups

A day in the life of a voice actor should always start with some basic warm-up exercises. This enables them to both take care of their voice and prepare it so they can achieve better results.

When you wake up, your vocal cords are tight which creates the hoarse-y effect that makes your voice sound tired. Vocal warm-up exercises will help you loosen your vocal cords and fully activate them. Try to do it every day.

After your voice acting business has grown enough, more and more requests will be coming in, so the wisest thing to do would be to also do your warm-up exercises before you start recording.

In other words, make warm-ups part of your voice acting training routine to keep your throat healthy and at its best. Also, don’t forget to relax your mouth area with some basic exercises like tongue trills and lip rolls.

2.Expand your vocal range

Generally, the wider the range you cover, the more voices you will be able to do and the more voice qualities you’ll be able to master. Be diverse and touch different pitches, volumes, tones, or even accents. This is what makes a good actor: variety.

And again, making impressions is key here.

Listen to people from different age groups, regions, and cultures and try to imitate them. Perform with their voices in mind, and don’t worry if you don’t make it right away; you’ll get there.

3.Add emphasis and mind your inflection

When starting out your voice acting career, you will sound flat. Then, in an attempt to add some excitement, you will seem like your trying too much. And it makes complete sense.

Adding emphasis is essential when trying to engage listeners. Each sentence serves the story, so you need to make it count. The best way to add emphasis, increase engagement but not make it too cheesy is to mind your inflection.

Inflection is a common term in the voice acting community. Mastering your voice’s inflection means that you can control your pitch perfectly and serve a different purpose at a time. However, inflection also allows you to convey emotions and get your listeners hooked to the story you’re telling.

Think of your normal voice, for example. It sounds different when you’re excited, sad, or angry. This is exactly why you need to develop your inflection skills: to communicate feelings by just changing the way you position your speech.

4.Add emotion

Many believe that acting classes help voice actors amp up their game. And it’s true. And this is why it’s usually part of a structured voice acting training program.

Adding emotion to your voice, even for the simplest project, such as a radio jingle, will instantly make a difference and help you stand out. Because acting unlocks those skills of influence and persuasion.

Play around with your voice and focus on acting out emotions. Start big, and then try to tone it down until you’ve perfectly reached the feeling you want to communicate without being too dramatic.

Successful voice actors don’t stop at their voice. Use your whole body to act if it helps and test different techniques that will help you add the perfect amount of emotion — not too out-there, not too reluctant.

5.Listen to yourself

You’ve probably read this before. And if you’re searching for voice acting techniques and ways to make it into the voice acting industry, it means that you’re reading a lot. And all articles out there say the same thing: you need to listen to yourself.

Listening to how you sound allows you to listen to your real voice and not to the voice that your inner ear catches. Many people (including you, maybe) hate the way they sound on video or a recording. Well, because they don’t really know how they sound.

Record yourself while doing your exercises and change the way your voice sounds on each exercise. Make your voice deeper and then higher. Feel free to horse around with it, and when you get to listen to your track, see which voice you like the most.

You don’t need any fancy equipment. Use your cellphone as a mic and your earphones to listen to yourself. An objective perception of your voice will allow you to become better at what you do.

Thank you for your reading. Good Luck!