Voiceover: Improving Your Odds

By Author: Priscilla Groves
Total Articles: 93
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Out of all the tough ways of making money these days - let's face it, commercial voiceover work is not one of them. You rock up at the studio, have a cappuccino, do the gig and bam, half an hour later, you're cooked.

And for that "mammoth" effort you get a few hundred to a few thousand bucks, depending on the job.

There are a number of things for you to do to increase your chances of success in this game. Here is a list of general things that the successful voiceover artist knows. To give yourself the best chance of success, try to follow as many of these points as possible. Actually - scrap that. Try to follow ALL of these points.

1. Is your demo good enough?

You can promote yourself as much as you like - but at the end of the day, it comes down to your demo. You're competing with some very talented people out there. An "ok" demo is not good enough. See page 10 for how to cut a great demo.

2. Call back immediately.

If you get a message that someone is trying to book you for a gig, don't wait a minute. Ad agencies are usually up against very tight deadlines, and if you take ...
... too long getting back to them, they'll simply book someone who is answering their phone.

3. It takes time.

It can take a while to break into this business. If you're new, you're not just going to get booked on day 1. It'll only be after you've done a few gigs (successfully) that people will start booking you again and again. So don't go beating yourself up if the phone's not hopping.

4. Get some training.

If you are inexperienced, try to go on a training course. It's a small investment in comparison to the amount of money you can make doing voiceovers.

5. Pick someone's brain.

If you are inexperienced, go for coffee with a more experienced VO and pick their brain. Ask them everything about what to expect when you do a gig - from the minute you walk in to the minute you leave. Sometimes just knowing what to expect will calm the nerves when you're doing your first gig. You can also take a few scripts along to this coffee and ask them to crit you doing a read. See page 10 for more info on getting material together.

6. Listen to the radio.

Spend half an hour a day listening to existing radio ads, and giving them a bash yourself (out loud, and preferably to a guinea pig). This is imperative and the absolute least you can do to get a bit of practice.

7. Get a Dictaphone.

Buy yourself a Dictaphone and recite and record scripts for practice. (Some mobile phones also have voice recorders.) Sometimes it's amazing how great something sounds in your own head, but only once you hear it out loud can you really figure out which bits need improving.

This is fantastic exercise - schedule ten minutes a day to practice.