Voice over lessons

Is your booking to audition ratio lower than you want it to be? Gary Terzza shares five common mistakes that voice talent make when auditioning for work. From not knowing what you should submit for to poor expectation setting, many of the chief contributors to lack of bookings are found in this helpful lesson. Gary leads you through each mistake and offers concrete advice on how to avoid them.

Why would you want to do voice acting? Camp Vox's Lisa Biggs shares why voice acting is so cool for younger children and how voice-over can make a positive impact on your life. Imagine being the voice of a talking toy! The possibilities to do meaningful work as a voice talent are endless. Parents, listen in as Lisa Biggs shares her unique perspective regarding opportunities for young voices (real kids) to do voice-over work and how voice acting can be part of your child's life.

How do vowels and consonants shape the way you speak? Knowing about placement makes an enormous difference to how your words come across. Lynn Singer covers the importance of proper mouth techniques and placement of the tongue. She explains how these key factors enhance auditions and help with your performance by knowing where the sound originates.

Do you know how to sound older or younger than you are? In this podcast, Cristina Milizia talks about how to increase - and decrease - your vocal resonance using proper vocal technique. This is a valuable tool that voice actors can use to increase their vocal range as well as their opportunities for work. Cristina also teaches you how to use your voice in a healthy way that won't damage your vocal cords.

Whatever dialect you perform, the best acting is universal and truthful. Paula Cavanaugh Carter, Dialect Coach and Linguistic Anthropologist, shares how acting trumps accent. Always.

How's your mic technique? Frank Piazza of APVoices shares Information about the different ways you can benefit from microphone technique. Performance examples by male and female voice talent are included, demonstrating different approaches with regard to mic proximity. This podcast will help to empower and enhance your ability to create first-rate recordings from home.

Are you a member of an actors guild or union? Jim Kennelly of Lotas Productions shares insight for actors who are curious about the use of SAG-AFTRA paymaster services. A paymaster himself, Jim maps out what a union paymaster is, their unique role, how they work and at what stage in the process a paymaster is typically engaged.

In this podcast, Ellie Devers at APVoices in New York City discusses some basic acting techniques applied to voice over. She discusses the importance of creating the WHO, WHAT, WHY and WHERE of commercial and narration copy. In voice over, creating the environment in your mind's eye as you communicate is imperative. The more you connect with the circumstances in the script the better you communicate with your listener. Imagination plays a huge role in the art of voice over..."See it and Say it." In the end, voice over is in large part, voice acting.

Do you know how to make commercial copy conversational? Bruce Kronenberg of Abacus Entertainment shares what it takes to sound natural while communicating effectively to the person hearing your voice-over recording. Over the years, personalization of copy and interpret it with an opinion, you will sound real and conversational, not fake and announcer like.

When is the last time you intentionally watched a commercial while viewing a television program? J. Michael Collins has been keeping tabs on the evolution of commercial voice-over and how consumer behaviour is impacting its overall effectiveness. He cites that for the majority of content users, advertising is an unwelcome intrusion, avoided at almost any cost. What does the future hold for commercial applications of voice-over? Tune in!