By: Victoria Stevens
New York City, NY (The Hollywood Times) 06/01/2024 – According to the Digital Agency Network, the demand for voiceover artists has risen and will keep rising. According to a 2022 report by Wyzowl, as many as 86% of businesses use video as a marketing tool. A further 33% of these companies use animated videos. Commercials are a huge part of this statistic. Tony the Tiger and Lucky Charms are mascots that use voiceover artists to make them memorable and remind us that they are GREAT. Audiobooks are on the rise as well and will hit $19.4 billion in 2027. According to a recent report on Statista, US audiobook sales were $1.3 billion in 2020, and 138 million audiobooks were borrowed from schools and libraries all over the world between 2017 and 2021. Podcasts are also rising in popularity and there are currently over 1.75 million active podcasts in over 100 languages. According to Insider Intelligence, the podcast industry will reach $94.88 billion by 2028.
With all these possible opportunities for actors, what are the steps needed to break into this part of the entertainment industry, and what equipment is needed? Alan Shires is a British Voiceover artist who now resides in Georgia. He has been doing voiceovers for over 10 years now and has been the voice of many commercials, video games, and cartoons that you might recognize. Some examples are Ben the Rabbit, Ford Explainer, and Krispy Kreme Donuts.
“It took me 10 years to figure out how to make this career work. I did an actor’s convention in London and learned a lot from it. Then I had the opportunity to come out to the US in 2016 and attend a voiceover panel and they said to me that my skills as an actor are transferable, I could be my own boss, I could have a studio in my house, I could live anywhere in the world, and everything that was shared with me that day was completely true. After that day I committed to learning as much as I could about the industry. I can explain this better in scales. On the left-hand side weighing down was my day job, which used up all my time but brought in all my money. On the right-hand side not putting on much weight at all was my acting career where it brought in a little bit of money but didn’t take much of my time. Then as the months went on those scales balanced out till, they began tipping the other way. The Voiceover jobs were now providing me with an income I could finally live from and there was no need for another side job after that,” explained Shires.
Actors do have an advantage in the voiceover world because they already know how to bring a character to life, however breaking into the voiceover world is a bit different than the on-camera world.
“Acting is the hard nut that you need to crack first, once you get training on how to bring a character to life then you need a degree of business understanding. So, in the acting world you would look at what makes a good headshot, what is my casting range, what pieces should I put in my reel, what websites do I subscribe to, how do I get an agent, and things like that. It is much the same in the voiceover world. There are a lot of similarities and differences. Some of the similarities are you still need to look for a voiceover agent, and you still need to make a demo. However, a voiceover demo is more genre specific over a completion of past work that you would have for film/tv. You would have demos for different genres. For instance, you would have a commercial demo, then you would have an animation demo, then a video game demo. They would not be edited together into one. They would all stay separate,” said Shires.
After you have studied your craft and have figured out your demo packages, next you will need to get your equipment together to prepare for the auditions. The equipment is going to be a bit different than what is needed for on-camera work.
“Ultimately your audition needs to show evidence of how you would do the job and reflect what you could produce if you booked the job. Main two things you need is a microphone and an audio interface. Audio interface takes the sound that the microphone picks up from your voice and converts it into something that the computer software can understand and playback. You could turn up your gain or turn it down during a session so if you’re spiking or coming in a bit quiet you can fix that. So, you have a lot of control by using that piece of equipment. For the microphone, in 90% of cases the industry standard is user live condenser microphone, and it would also be good to have headphones so you can play back you’re recording. Pop filters are also very important to have because the power of p’s and these plosives can wreck a piece of audio and you cannot edit them out,” expressed Shires.
Doing a voiceover audition is way different than doing a self-tape. There are different techniques that you must learn to land the job and understand what the job is before you audition.
“To be honest it’s a lot about your target audience and knowing what the current trends are,” explained Shires. “So, if we think back to 20 years ago commercials were really in your face and pushing a discount or some sale. It was very announcer like, but now commercials have moved away from that. The current ones are now more of a conversation read and it is genuine and casual. The purpose behind this change is it is now about building trust with the viewer. The announcer read does still exist, but it is seen more in ad pop ups than anything else. However, that element of being truthful resonates throughout all the genres. Now with cartoons and animation they have some similarities but a lot of differences as well. Now if you put a cartoon in front of a child, they are the ultimate detectors of if it is good or not. So, as a voice actor you must give it the heart, soul, and energy of these characters and they need to be truthful. Video games require a great deal of breath control and a great deal of stamina because one minute you could be speaking to a comrade and the next minute fighting. This genre is so in depth and very diverse.”
When you first come into the industry the expectation is that you at least get a commercial demo because agents will more than likely use that demo to submit you for everything. However, once you want to expand into the other genres then it’s best to get a sample of each genre, you’re interested in working in. In this industry, there will be times when you go into a studio to record the voiceover and other times when you will record them at home.
“I am always happy to go into the studio and pre-pandemic I was going in way more than now. It was like 1 in every 10 jobs I would be called in. I still do get called into the studio now, but it’s not in the same volume as before. I know DreamWorks and Pixar still have people going in. I feel like at the highest levels you will still go into the studio but not for the smaller jobs,” explained Shines.
With so many different Voiceover schools to choose from, often it’s hard to figure out which ones to attend. Alan Shires is part of a team of Voiceover artists that created The Voice Actor College which helps actors break into the voiceover industry and helps them create a good voiceover demo that can get them started. They also bring the industry to you where you get to meet casting directors every month and be able to hear more about their career and what they are looking for. It is a monthly program where you can go at your own pace when completing the modules. For more information check out their website: https://www.thevoiceactorcollege.com/
Photo Credit: Alan Shires
For more Information: Alan Shires | Experienced & Versatile Voice Over Artist UK
