December 11th, 2009
A great voice over warm up!
While checking out the Voice-Overs Forum I came across a very cool warm up idea posted by one of the members (I won't say who because I'm not sure about privacy issues — better safe than sorry.)
It's the NBC announcer test. The test originated at Radio Central New York (NBC) in the 1940s as a reading test given to prospective radio talent. The prospect would read the script for clarity, enunciation, diction, tonality and expressiveness. It had to be performed perfectly — no stumbles or stammers. Plus, it was to be read with feeling and meaning!
It's good to start off slowly to get the enunciation down. Later you can read it fast for articulation. And here it is...
One hen
Two ducks
Three squawking geese
Four Limerick oysters
Five corpulent porpoises
Six pairs of Don Alverzo's tweezers
Seven thousand Macedonians in full battle array
Eight brass monkeys from the ancient, sacred crypts of Egypt
Nine apathetic, sympathetic, diabetic, old men on roller skates with a marked propensity towards procrastination and sloth
Ten lyrical, spherical, diabolical denizens of the deep who haul stall around the corner of the quo of the quay of the quivery, all at the same time.
Looks easy... but this is how it should be read (hold on to your hats):
One hen
One hen
Two ducks
One hen
Two ducks
Three squawking geese
One hen
Two ducks
Three squawking geese
Four limerick oysters
One hen
Two ducks
Three squawking geese
Four limerick oysters
Five corpulent porpoises
One hen
Two ducks
Three squawking geese
Four limerick oysters
Five corpulent porpoises
Six pairs of Don Alvarso's tweezers
One hen
Two ducks
Three squawking geese
Four limerick oysters
Five corpulent porpoises
Six pairs of Don Alvarso's tweezers
Seven thousand Macedonians in full battle array
One hen
Two ducks
Three squawking geese
Four limerick oysters
Five corpulent porpoises
Six pairs of Don Alvarso's tweezers
Seven thousand Macedonians in full battle array
Eight brass monkeys from the ancient sacred crypts of Egypt
One hen
Two ducks
Three squawking geese
Four limerick oysters
Five corpulent porpoises
Six pairs of Don Alvarso's tweezers
Seven thousand Macedonians in full battle array
Eight brass monkeys from the ancient sacred crypts of Egypt
Nine apathetic sympathetic diabetic old men on roller skates with a marked propensity toward procrastination and sloth
One hen
Two ducks
Three squawking geese
Four limerick oysters
Five corpulent porpoises
Six pairs of Don Alvarso's tweezers
Seven thousand Macedonians in full battle array
Eight brass monkeys from the ancient sacred crypts of Egypt
Nine apathetic sympathetic diabetic old men on roller skates with a marked propensity toward procrastination and sloth
Ten lyrical, spherical, diabolical denizens of the deep who haul stall around the corner of the quo of the quay of the quivery, all at the same time!
And for an added challenge, can you read from "One hen" to "Ten lyrical...time" all in one breath? 
Dec 11, 2009 at 5:15 pm
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Peter O'Connell, Anne Ganguzza. Anne Ganguzza said: This is a great warmup! RT @audioconnell: Great old school #voiceover #voicetalent warm-up http://ping.fm/aSuRb [...]
Dec 13, 2009 at 11:49 pm
Peter and Anne,
Thanks for “tweeting” about this!
PS:
Guess I need to work on increasing my lung capacity 
. Has anyone been able to get through the whole thing in one breath AND still have it be clear and understandable?
I finally could get through the whole thing in one breath. I have no idea if anyone can understand what I said, though!
-David
Jan 20, 2010 at 8:37 pm
Hey there,
I was just checking out your webpage, and I think it’s really great. Would you like to be a guest blogger for us sometime?
Please check out our blog: suchavoice.blogspot.com
And our company, of course, is Such A Voice. In case you haven’t heard of us, we are a voice-over training and demo production company. We are trying to give more free information on our blog for all those involved in voice-overs.
Looking forward to hearing back from you!
Best wishes,
Catherine Marshall
PR and Social Media Marketing Director
Such A Voice
Jan 20, 2010 at 10:59 pm
Catherine Marshall,
Thank you for the invite!
I’d be honored to write for Such A Voice (I already subscribe to your RSS feed). I’ll send you an e-mail directly so we can talk about it more.
Again, thank you very much!
-David
Jan 29, 2010 at 3:47 am
I have my first Voice over Audition next week. Small job, but I am very excited.. after 5 tries.. I did the reading above in ONE breath! ALMOST DIED!!!!!!!!!! but I (understandably) did it! lol!
Feb 12, 2010 at 11:35 pm
Teisha,
Sorry for the late reply!
I finally could read through it in one breath as well… although I doubt my pronunciation was even close to being clear.
How’d the audition go?
Best wishes,
-David