If you asked a professional voice actor to perform a script like a regular person reading out loud from a book, he or she could do it — and you would immediately recognize the poor performance. If you asked for a natural, conversational read, then you would immediately recognize that one as well (and be much, much happier with the result.)
Why is that? Why can we recognize when someone is reading and when someone is truthfully speaking?
In this post, I'd like to put on my "speech therapist" hat and offer up to you the answers. Be prepared, though. The explanation might get a little long-winded...
Pretty much all of the books on becoming a voice-over actor will teach you how to perform a list of two or more items. Basically, each item in the list must sound different than the previously spoken item, with each one sounding better than the last. The most common approach is to assign a different vocal pitch to each item. For example: a low-middle-high or a middle-high-low read for lists of three items. For lists of four or more, alternating your pitch in a low-middle-low-middle fashion is a common practice.
But this approach can often lack the ever-important emotional punch.
In this post, I'd like to share with you a wonderful voice acting technique that will help you to breathe life into the lists that often appear in voice-over scripts.
In the final few pages he includes a quote from Executive Creative Director of K & R Marc Advertising, Jack Badofsky, that paints the perfect picture of what makes a voice actor a great voice actor:
It can be nerve-racking to the beginning voice-over actor: standing there in a small, cramped, sound-proof booth that pokes at the claustrophobic bits of your sub-conscience while your voice-acting coach seemingly bashes your ego time and time again with "That wasn't quite right. Do it again. But this time with more ABC and not so much XYZ." You long to hear the words "Good job!" or "You nailed it!" But those words hardly seem to ever come your way. You feel crushed — a failure. You feel that maybe voice acting just isn't your bag.
But hold on...
Before you throw in the towel, there are a few things you need to know about what direction really is and how to take it without letting your ego, your pride, or even your sanity get hurt. In this post, we'll take a look at those things...
It's not too surprising to me just how many people nowadays are interested in becoming a voice-over actor. I mean, with the allure of being able to work at home and at your own pace coupled with the jaw-dropping amount of money that voice actors appear to make per session, who wouldn't want to hop on the voice actor bandwagon, too? And hey, all you need is a voice, right? And you've got one of those already.
For now, let's put aside the whole "jaw-dropping amount of money" issue for a later post, shall we? It really is a topic that requires a whole series of posts to dispel. And let's put aside the "work at home and at your own pace" topic as well because, as they say: all that glitters is not gold. And the "voice" thingy? Well, if you haven't had it trained professionally, then just having a voice will get you nowhere at a rather rapid clip.
In this post, we'll look at what I believe to be the most important part of becoming a voice actor: truly loving to read.
I'm not sure if these could be classified as tongue twisters or not. They're really not that hard to say from a diction point of view. But they are challenging in a completely different way — and that difference makes them excellent "sort of" tongue twisters to practice your acting.
In a previous post about acting emotions, I gave a list of the most common emotions that any actor worth his or her proverbial salt should be able to produce at the drop of the proverbial hat. But being able to authentically act out emotions is only the tip of a very proverbial iceberg. Yes. There is much, much more. And one of those "mores" is being able to deliver, with believability, the intention behind the words.
Everyone has a desire or a need that is trying to be fulfilled when we speak. The need could be for attention, acknowledgment, acceptance, and many others. So in order to have this need fulfilled, we speak up. But the way we speak up depends directly on what we think is the best way to get this need fulfilled. We consciously, or unconsciously, decide how we will get our desired outcome and speak thusly. And this becomes the intention that drives us as we speak. (Note: I've always wanted to use thusly in a sentence! )
In the previous post I talked a little bit about dealing with the stink of audition rejection. Since then, I've stumbled across (or have been informed of) some other posts on the topic of auditioning for voice overs. Take a gander at these:
There's nothing more exciting than sitting in a room full of anxious actors awaiting the call to come in and audition. No, really. There's nothing more exciting. Well, maybe watching the dust settle into little piles in the room's corners might rank a little higher on my excitement scale (but that's just my opinion.)
Recently for the sake of my craft, I had the "joy" of enduring one such audition. But this acting job was for more than just my voice, it was for a spot in a TV commercial. And if you've never been part of an audition for an on-camera spot, then let me share a little bit of enlightenment with you: auditioning for on-camera spots takes the possible rejection to a whole new level of OUCH!
...unless you've been educated in how to deal with it in the most ego-friendly way possible...
The word was "draperies", and it was part of a simple 15 second spot for a furniture store. As I diligently listened back to my most recent practice session I heard a major fumble. The pacing of the other words was fine. But when I said the word "draperies" I kinda flew through it, just like I normally say it when speaking naturally.
There are times when I'm sounding so natural that I slur certain words too much. And so, in order to improve, I needed to listen carefully to my practice sessions to discover which words I "naturally" fumble or slur so I can clean them up.
All voice acting coaches will tell you to record and listen back to your practice sessions. Take that advice to heart and do it — religiously. Listen not only for believability, but also for clean pronunciation of every single word.
If you asked a professional voice actor to perform a script like a regular person reading out loud from a book, he or she could do it — and you would immediately recognize the poor performance. If you asked for a natural, conversational read, then you would immediately recognize that one as well (and be much, much happier with the result.)
Pretty much all of the 
I just finished reading Harlan Hogan's 
It can be nerve-racking to the beginning voice-over actor: standing there in a small, cramped, sound-proof booth that pokes at the claustrophobic bits of your sub-conscience while your voice-acting coach seemingly bashes your ego time and time again with "That wasn't quite right. Do it again. But this time with more ABC and not so much XYZ." You long to hear the words "Good job!" or "You nailed it!" But those words hardly seem to ever come your way. You feel crushed — a failure. You feel that maybe voice acting just isn't your bag.
It's not too surprising to me just how many people nowadays are interested in becoming a voice-over actor. I mean, with the allure of being able to work at home and at your own pace coupled with the jaw-dropping amount of money that voice actors appear to make per session, who wouldn't want to hop on the voice actor bandwagon, too? And hey, all you need is a voice, right? And you've got one of those already.
I'm not sure if these could be classified as tongue twisters or not. They're really not that hard to say from a diction point of view. But they are challenging in a completely different way — and that difference makes them excellent "sort of" tongue twisters to practice your acting.
In a previous post about 
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There's nothing more exciting than sitting in a room full of anxious actors awaiting the call to come in and audition. No, really. There's nothing more exciting. Well, maybe watching the dust settle into little piles in the room's corners might rank a little higher on my excitement scale (but that's just my opinion.)
The word was "draperies", and it was part of a simple 15 second spot for a furniture store. As I diligently listened back to my most recent practice session I heard a major fumble. The pacing of the other words was fine. But when I said the word "draperies" I kinda flew through it, just like I normally say it when speaking naturally.
