Your 7-step Guide to Becoming a Professional Voice Over Artist in India | Voices Bazaar
2022-11-29
1 - Read Read Read - In whatever form it may be, fiction or nonfiction, advertisements or books. Reading is essential. And being an aspiring voice artist, make sure to read out loud. Apart from improving your vocabulary in that particular language, reading actually helps you with the underlying skills needed to be an effective voice artist.
Improves your vocal strength - If you’re looking at starting off as a voice artist, one thing you will learn is that, like everywhere else, consistency is key here too. Often, we come onto a script with a certain energy only to sound half as energetic halfway through it and it is this consistency that is needed in order to be a professional voice over artist. But that’s not the only thing, as a voice artist you need to have a great command over the language to ensure you speak sentences correctly and without any unexpected pauses (unless required), expanding your vocabulary is another underlying benefit of reading, which helps you enunciate words effectively making your sentences sound smooth and effective. Know more…
2 - Recording yourself speak - Yes yes, we’ve all heard ourselves and thought “Is that really how I sound?”. Well yes my friend! That’s how you sound and you sound awesome! Become comfortable hearing yourself speak as it is a way of getting comfortable with your voice. But that’s not the real reason for this exercise, the primary reason is to observe and understand your speech, watching out for mistakes and mispronunciations. Go wild! Read angrily, read cheerfully, read with a hint of sadness and listen to yourself and understand if you really bring across those emotions through your speech, and trust us, you’re only going to get better. P.S: You can record yourself on your phone’s recorded app, for the sake of the exercise.
3 - Start looking for Non-commercial Gigs - This is where you need to go all out, letting people around you know you’re an aspiring VO artist. Chances are your friends and family might know someone, who might just get you a gig. Not a complex one, not a professional one, but maybe something to get you started. It could be you voicing a friend’s business promo video or even dubbing your favorite character on your tv show. The idea here is to familiarize yourself with what’s to come. Which brings us to the next point…
4 - Building a sample portfolio - The most crucial and underrated step, but having a great sample portfolio showcasing your vocal strengths is a must-have. Far too often, some great talent is turned down purely due to the lack of relevant samples. However, selecting some of your best work is essential here, while you might have 20 samples put together, ensure to only send relevant ones in case an opportunity arises. E.g: If there’s a requirement for Male VO artists for a narration gig, sending across your character impersonation samples might be irrelevant.
5 - Recording HQ Audio - Remember, you’re selling your vocals as an audio asset, so it better be the best sounding out there and for that, you need to be recording using the right equipment and have certain audio processing know-how. Well, if you’ve been an audiophile all your life and have a knack for these technicalities naturally, go for it and get yourself the needed equipment and software. However, if you’re bootstrapped or just not too well-acquainted with these things the best way forward would be to find the nearest professional recording studio. For a small fee, you can have someone record your takes using professional equipment and even process and edit the audio for you. But don’t be intimidated, all we’re saying is, before you go ahead on a buying spree of all the audio equipment needed to record professional VO, it would be great to have your first few projects pay for the audio equipment.
6 - Finding Relevant Commercial Work - Let’s say we’ve got our samples in place and we’re now looking at finding some great consistent work. Getting your foot in the door can be a daunting experience and this is where most find the most difficulty. Well, honestly it all comes down to networking. The more people know about you, the greater the chances of scoring work. Share your samples with relevant people, approach freelance platforms like Fiverr, sign up with aggregator platforms, send voicebazaar.com your samples and you might just make it here too. The bottom line is, network yourself and accept whatever work comes your way. E-learning and other non-broadcast mediums are a good starting point, often needing little experience.
7 - Set up a home studio - Once you’ve got some projects coming in, you’re probably thinking about efficiency and what better way to do that than to set up a voiceover recording setup at home? Though it might seem intimidating, it isn’t a very complex thing to do and needs some basic know-how and expertise.
Now that we’ve walked you through the basics of becoming a professional voice artist in India, we wish you the very best and hope to see your work shine bright like the diamond you are.
Written by: Dylin Gomes (https://www.voicesbazaar.com)
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