VOICE OVERS SUCCESS
As a voiceover artist (or voice over artist), whenever I speak at a voice over class about having a voice over career sooner or later someone asks me, “What’s been the most surprising thing about having a career in voice overs?”
There are many technical aspects of voice work — things like microphone placement, learning how to bring the copy off the page…and all the technical stuff you need to do to be successful behind the mic.
But one of the biggest things is something I learned from a mentor of mine. She folded her arms and said, “You know, you have got to take care of yourself. Taking care of your body is vital. You don’t realize how fast-paced this industry is.”
You could be running around in the car all day, going from session to session. That’s great; you want to be busy. But when your career gets that busy, you need to take care of yourself. That shocks people who react, “Well, wait. It’s just standing behind a microphone.”
Well, there is a pace you need to keep up. There’s a physical pace, a mental pace. And if you are like me and like to stand the whole time, you are standing four to six hours a day.
You’d better have an outlet. You’d better take care of yourself. I’m talking about working out or going to the gym or doing SOMETHING active. Doing voice overs full time requires a lot of energy.
You may think I’m overemphasizing this, but think about it: If you are doing live taping or a lot of shows, your heart rate will just be zooming! And if you are in a situation where you need to do a live announce, or you are called upon to do some sort of voice over work, you are nervous. Your heart is beating wildly.
And you are burning calories. Your body is experiencing stress. Multiple TV stations expecting you to do their work right away. You’re pumping it out. You’ve got to move.
You are hopping into your car, your session is over in Santa Monica, and you’ve got to drive 30 miles to go someplace. Your heart rate is elevated and your body needs you to be able to take that pounding.
That is a day in, day out thing. So it is important you eat well and to take care of yourself, to look after your body. That contributes greatly to your ability to survive long days. It is one of the surprising things that people don’t think about. But it’s really important for a voice acting actor.
Tags: voice over career, voice over class, voice overs, voiceover artist
