Part 6: Voice Over - Finding Your Wheelhouse   Recently, I opened the New York Post app to find a picture of Sharon Stone the actress saying, “it’s a big fat stupid lie, if anyone says looks don’t matter.” The funny thing is I remember her as an actress but not her voice. We all know looks matter but take a glimpse at the casting for Spiderman in Captain America: Civil War; several attractive, young male candidates auditioned. One was British born Tom Holland. Robert Downey Jr. said after meeting Tom that there was something special about the kid (didn’t mention looks). He went on to say that Tom’s New York, Queen’s borough accent was so good, people forgot he was British! In essence, his voice helped secure that role. How many times have you found someone interesting online only to lose interest once you heard them speak. It’s very rare where a voice pares with your perception of that person.  Sure you can dress up in different clothes to express your personality, but your voice is what let’s personality shine through. Just as a person’s personal appearance can be improved, so can your voice. My previous blog suggested you try a British accent. How did that go? Not so easy is it. I tried for weeks to nail that accent with a vocal coach but it always sounded Scottish. We also practiced Russian and Japanese accents for video games. It was finally determined that my voice is best suited for commercials (narration) doing a middle-aged male voice, New York Jewish accent, old Southern man accent, and a splattering of cartoon character voices. Write down your vocal strengths and weaknesses. Build on your strengths and keep improving on your weaker voices. Remember, commercials pay the most money. Once you start making some bank doing commercials you can start reinvesting in yourself and branch into voices for animated films, video games, etc. In the meantime, keep practicing different voices to find your comfort zone. Through time, you too will discover what voices fit into your wheelhouse.     Related Articles Part 1: Voice Over – Introduction Part 2: Voice Over - Vocal Projecting Part 3: Voice Over - Vocal Pronunciation Part 4: Voice Over - The 3 P’s (Projection, Pronunciation and Pace) Part 5: Voice Over - Dialect and Accent Part 7: Voice Over - Expanding Your Narrative  

TALENT21 Oct 2020

Part 6: Voice Over - Finding Your Wheelhouse

Recently, I opened the New York Post app to find a picture of Sharon Stone the actress saying, “it’s a big fat stupid lie, if anyone says looks don’t matter.” The funny thing is I remember her as an actress but not
her voice.

We all know looks matter but take a glimpse at the casting for Spiderman in Captain America: Civil War; several attractive, young male candidates auditioned. One was British born Tom Holland. Robert Downey
Jr. said after meeting Tom that there was something special about the kid (didn’t mention looks). He went on to say that Tom’s New York, Queen’s borough accent was so good, people forgot he was British! In essence, his voice helped secure that role.

How many times have you found someone interesting online only to lose interest once you heard them speak. It’s very rare where a voice pares with your perception of that person.

Sure you can dress up in different clothes to express your personality, but your voice is what let’s personality shine through. Just as a person’s personal appearance can be improved, so can your voice.

My previous blog suggested you try a British accent. How did that go? Not so easy is it. I tried for weeks to nail that accent with a vocal coach but it always sounded Scottish. We also practiced Russian and Japanese accents for video games. It was finally determined that my voice is best suited for commercials (narration) doing a middle-aged male voice, New York Jewish accent, old Southern man accent, and a splattering of cartoon character voices.

Write down your vocal strengths and weaknesses. Build on your strengths and keep improving on your weaker voices. Remember, commercials pay the most money. Once you start making some bank doing
commercials you can start reinvesting in yourself and branch into voices for animated films, video games, etc. In the meantime, keep practicing different voices to find your comfort zone. Through time, you too will discover what voices fit into your wheelhouse.

Related Articles

Part 1: Voice Over – Introduction

Part 2: Voice Over - Vocal Projecting

Part 3: Voice Over - Vocal Pronunciation

Part 4: Voice Over - The 3 P’s (Projection, Pronunciation and Pace)

Part 5: Voice Over - Dialect and Accent

Part 7: Voice Over - Expanding Your Narrative