We love nothing more than tackling a voiceover script bringing the words to life. Some days are long and after narrating thousands of words, it can be like a marathon. And that takes time, dedication and patience to get to that level.
Voiceovers are athletes, vocal athletes and like all athletes they take care of themselves holistically ensuring their physical and emotional well being are in tip top condition. Many voiceover jobs are long and even the short ones can become long if take after take is required. To meet the highest standards of narration all of our voices ensure several areas are covered.
Drink water – plenty of water, speaking is very drying to the vocal folds, voice box and mouth in general. By drinking at least two litres of water a day ensures the mouth is lubricated and avoids dry and sticky mouth sounds. When its hot as it has been recently then drink more and keep cool.
Learn to breathe – In and out, in and out and I bet you didn’t even notice that you are doing that all day, everyday. But voiceover talent know how important it is to actually breathe for the sentence, phrase or paragraph they need to record. Learning to breathe will ensure the voice will pause appropriately making a cleaner and also easier to edit read.
Articulation exercises – practise these daily, in the warm steamy shower first thing. The exercises will ensure that your tongue, vocal cords and mouth are stress free and ready to wrap themselves around word shapes easily without straining or stressing you. Releasing the tension in your tongue ensures a more fluid read.
Look out for your eyes – ensure you go to regular eye appointments. Reading long form narration in studios in dark or even bright light can make them tired and sore. Takes eye breaks and get some sleep to ensure they rest fully.
Check your ears – yes they are also connected to your breathing and vocal elements so keep them clean and watch out for them as well. If you can’t hear direction properly the director won’t be pleased.
When you need professional voiceovers, do get in touch.
