How to Get Into Voice Acting

How to Get Into Voice Acting: The Ultimate Guide

2/3/2021

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This guide will show you everything you need to know about how to become a voice actor.

We'll cover three topics:

All About Voice Acting – In this section we'll go through Q&A on becoming a voice actor. You'll learn what kind of experience is needed, the benefits and costs of a career in voice acting, and the kinds of voice acting jobs available.
Technical Skills & Equipment Needed – Having a great voice is only the beginning. Here we'll discuss the best ways to get training and we'll also show you how to set up a home recording studio with minimal investment. After all, the foundational part of working as a voice actor is providing crystal clear recordings!
How to Market Yourself – In this section, we'll talk about how to start getting voice acting work and where to find jobs. We'll even discuss how to start getting people to contact YOU so you can eventually stop auditioning!

All About Voice Acting

Can Anyone Become a Voice Actor?

Let's start off with some of the most commonly asked questions about voice acting:

Can anyone do voice acting? For the most part, yes. Contrary to what most people believe, you don't need a super smooth, deep voice to become a voice actor. In fact, there are plenty of opportunities for people with regular voices (especially in commercials because companies want to be relatable)!
Is it hard to become a voice actor? No... but it does take hard work and a decent amount of time. Follow the guidance throughout this article and you'll be set!
What is a voice actor called? Voice actors are typically called "voice talents" or "voiceover artists."
What qualifications do you need to become a voice actor? None! You should just get some training and invest in the proper equipment, all of which we cover in this article.
Can you make a living as a voice actor? Absolutely. We'll cover annual salaries shortly, but most voice actors earn anywhere from $50-70k per year.
How do I become a voice actor with no experience? Keep reading, because that's exactly what we'll be covering. This article assumes you have no experience and are starting fresh.
How old do you have to be a voice actor? Voice actors are all ages. Believe it or not, a lot of adults play kids' voices in cartoons! Here's a great example of the voice actor who plays Bart in The Simpsons.
Can a kid be a voice actor? Absolutely! But most children voice actors are not hired for television shows because their voice will change too much over the course of time the show airs. That being said, you can absolutely audition for films if you're a child voice actor!
Can you do voice overs at home? Yes! Later in this article we'll show you exactly how to set up a home recording studio for [almost] free.
What are the responsibilities of a voice actor? You're responsible for the entire creation of your audio file, which includes recording, mixing, and editing before sending out. And of course you need to be highly trained and deliver a great performance!

At the end of the day, a successful career in voice acting is built upon a foundation of proper training and networking with the right people. Ready to dive in?

The Benefits of Becoming a Voice Actor

There are tons of reasons to become a voice actor:

Amazing opportunities and fun jobs: Even though your first year might be bit challenging, if you stick with it and follow through, you'll eventually find yourself recording voiceovers for some pretty amazing projects such as NY Times Bestselling books, trailers for feature films, and even national television and radio commercials. It can be amazing to hear your voice in productions that will be listened to by millions of people.
The ability to meet famous people: As you work your way up the industry, you'll be invited to major events and have the opportunity to meet well-known actors and television stars. It might take 5-10 years, but you'll get there if you stick with it!
Work from anywhere, on your own schedule: One of the biggest reasons people choose to go into voice acting work is the ability to do it from home and work on their own schedule. Productions just need the final recording and they don't care how you get there. That means if you love working at 2am, you can do it! If you want to move out of the country and live the 4-Hr Workweek lifestyle (where you live in a country that's super inexpensive while earning money online), it's totally possible!
Set your own rates: If you start getting too busy or just feel like you want to earn more money, you can quote your clients at higher rates if you want. And as you start working with the same people more and more, they'll begin to trust you, which means they'll be willing to pay you more just to not have to deal with finding someone else.
Splitting your eggs into multiple baskets: Eventually as you start to get lots of clients, working freelance actually becomes safer than having a regular job. This is because messing up with one client will only cause that one client to fire you – you'll still have all your other clients paying you!

The Downsides of Becoming a Voice Actor

For a career with so many upsides, the downsides are surprisingly minimal:

It takes time: As with any endeavor worth pursuing, you have to be willing to put in the time. Build a voice acting business is time consuming and can take years before seeing major payoffs. On top of that, your first year will probably be spent training and getting tons of "No's" from people you try to network with, so you need to have thick skin.
It can be somewhat lonely: If you're the type of person who enjoys working from home and interacting with as few people as possible, this can be a benefit. But many people like getting out there and meeting people in real life, and if that sounds like you, a career as a voice actor might be a bit lonely, which can take emotional and psychological tolls over the years.
It costs money to buy equipment: When you're first starting, you can get away with only spending a few hundred dollars. But after your first year or two, you'll probably feel tempted to invest in better gear, which can cost thousands of dollars. That being said, the cost of microphones and isolation rooms is significantly less than what most production companies have to invest – cameras, lighting, props, studio space – these are all things you won't need to worry about.
You have to continuously pay for training: To keep your voice fresh and on point, hiring voice coaches and going to workshops and classes is a part of every voice actor's monthly routine. Be prepared to invest about $150-350 per month on training.

How Much Do Voice Actors Make?

How much do voice actors make per hour? Most voice actors earn $200-300/hr.
How much does a voice actor make a year? About $10-20k, so don't quit your day job just yet. It makes sense to slowly transition to full-time, and will probably take at least a year or two. In your second year the typical voice acting salary is about $50-60k, and at that point, you'll be able to start raising your rates and push your income higher and higher!
How much do voice actors make a month? Well, doing the math, it winds up being about $4-6k per month.
How many hours do voice actors work? It depends, but most jobs can take anywhere from 1-5 hours, and at $200/hr, that's $200-1000 per gig.
How do you charge for voiceover work? Many voice talents charge hourly, and some charge per project. It's really up to you and what you feel most comfortable with.
Is voice acting a full time job? It depends on what you're doing. Like most acting gigs, voice acting is temporary and often part-time, unless you get a huge recurring role in a television show.

Eventually, if you keep working at it and start landing major roles to get residual income from airing productions, you can earn millions of dollars as a well-known voice actor. You have to love what you do and keep at it for many years to reach this level, but it's absolutely possible and has been done by many actors.

Different Types of Voice Acting Work

The great thing about this work is how many different voice acting jobs there are. You can start by trying all of them and then pick your favorite as your primary area of focus:

Films – This includes movie voiceovers, d ubbed foreign language films, animated (anime) films and documentary voiceovers. Documentaries typically call for a simple, easy to understand, cinematic voice, whereas animated and narrative films require fun, expressive voices.
Television Programs – This includes TV show voiceovers, promos, commercials, and documentary voiceovers. For television and film work, you'll be able to watch a screen where you see the film as you record to ensure your voice is aligned properly with the images.
Radio – This includes radio commercials, promos and even the occasional audio drama.
Video Games – Most video games have characters that speak, and you can play the voices of those characters (or the announcements that set the stage for the scene or video game level).
Audiobooks & Podcasts – Thousands of books are written every year, and many independent writers need voice actors to record the audio version of their book for websites like www.audible.com. Some bloggers opt to turn their blog posts into recorded podcasts and hire voice actors to do it.
Phone Systems & Announcements – Although computer generated voices are becoming more common, they can still be difficult to understand, so companies use voice actors to greet their customers ("For sales, please press 1," etc.) and subway stations and other public spaces use voice actors for their important announcements.
Live Events & Learning – Announcers are needed for theaters to ask the audience to silence their cell phones, and other announcers are needed for industrials (in-house training videos at companies) to explain to employees what they are seeing in their training videos.

"What is the difference between voice over and voice acting?" Voiceover generally refers to something not seen on the screen, whereas voice acting is playing the voice of a character acting on the screen. Think of a documentary or a scene in a movie where someone is thinking about something and you don't see their lips moving, but you hear speech – that's voiceover. When you actually see a character speaking while hearing their voice, such as in a cartoon, that's voice acting.

Technical Skills & Equipment Needed

In this section, we'll discuss the technical side of being a voice actor. We'll cover training and tips to perform better plus go into detail on how to set up a simple recording studio at home to capture high-quality, professional audio.

Training

"How can I become a good voice actor?" There's a lot more that goes into being a voice actor than simply reading lines. It's important to get the proper voice acting training by taking classes and working with coaches. The more versatile you are, the more opportunities you'll get and the more satisfied your clients will be (leading to referrals and repeat business).

"How can I practice voice acting at home?" To improve your abilities as a voice actor, you should:

Continuously practice. Find scripts online and practice reading them out loud. Record yourself with your smartphone and listen to the playback, asking yourself how it could be improved. Do you sound flat with no emotion? Do you sound like you're trying too hard and over-enunciating words? To get as much practice as possible, join a theater group, take improv or acting classes, or even read books out loud to your child and/or their friends.
Hire a voice coach. Most coaches work online using Zoom and can help you with a wide range of voice-related challenges, including accent training or reduction, character voices, singing, and some can even teach you how to use your studio setup to record better-quality sound.

"Is voice acting harder than acting?" Not necessarily. There are some elements that make it very challenging, but at the end of the day it's easier than acting because you don't have to worry about memorization and you can do it from home, meaning you don't have a director breathing down your neck. Also, you don't need to worry about costuming, makeup, or blocking.

"Is there a degree for voice acting?" Nope, no official degree needed to audition! You just need to do a good job.

The Five C's Scoring Card:

The most efficient way to get better is to get in your recording booth and record as often as you can. Each time you do so, listen back and grade yourself on the five C's:

Clarity: You MUST be clear and easy to understand. Do not mumble! Be sure to practice extremely emotional scenes, because speaking clearly can be more difficult with those.
Cleanliness: Our mouths make weird squishing sounds as they open and close, and as gross as it sounds here, it's even grosser when you actually hear it. Because the microphone is so close to your mouth, you have to practice opening and closing quietly so we don't hear those distracting sounds in the recording.
Consistency: Directors often need just one or two lines changed out of entire paragraphs. You need to be able to deliver your lines almost identically in each take, while only varying up what the director asks to be changed.
Connection: You must connect with the story and the character to avoid coming off as flat. Make sure you're deeply connected to the emotional core of the text and really FEEL the emotions. The more you feel, the more engaging your voice will be!
Control: The more control you have over your voice, the better. Whether that takes the shape of being able to control your breathing to deliver long, emotional passages, or it takes the form of being able to control your accent or do character voices, the more control of your voice you have, the further you'll go as a voice actor.

Use each of the five C's above as a grading rubric for your recordings. Score yourself 1-5 on each of them for every recording you do, with 1 being terrible and 5 being outstanding.

Then slowly work to improve the areas that need the most attention and pretty soon you'll be hitting 4's and 5's in each category, every time!

How to Set Up a Recording Studio at Home

You MUST produce crystal clear, professional recordings every time. No client will take you seriously if your audio has background noise or is echoey.

That being said, you absolutely don't need to spend thousands of dollars to build a professional recording studio. In fact, all you need is a decent microphone and a closet.

Here's how to set up a professional recording booth for extremely cheap:

A small, quiet space – the space MUST be absolutely free of background sounds like traffic, air conditioners, clocks, appliances, people, dogs, etc. The best places are bedroom closets because you can close the bedroom door AND closet door, giving you a double barrier of sound protection. Additionally, you can leave your clothes hanging inside because they will deaden the sound. If you're not using a closet, make sure to hang blankets or sheets everywhere (if possible on the floor and ceiling too) so there is no echo.
A decent studio condenser microphone with a pop filter – A studio condenser microphone works best, and a pop filter is critical for clean audio. A pop filter goes in front of the microphone so when you say words beginning with the letter "p" the microphone doesn't pick up the gust of wind from your mouth. You should position the microphone so you can stand while recording (sitting can cause you to not speak as clearly). A decent studio microphone plus pop filter and microphone stand will probably set you back about $100-200.
A computer with recording software – Your computer will need enough hard driven space to store all your audio files, and you'll need some basic software to edit your audio before sending out. When setting up, don't put your computer base in the same room as your microphone because it will pick up the fan noises of your computer. Here are some audio recording programs you can pick from:
- Adobe Audition
- Audacity (Free)
- Pro Tools
- Sound Forge
- GarageBand (included for free on Macs)
A computer screen with a log wire – Your computer screen must be in the recording room so you can see and control it during recording sessions, so you'll need a long enough wire to reach the computer outside the recording booth. A wireless keyboard and mouse will remove the need for tons of long cables.
Microphone connection to the computer – Most microphones use XLR cables and some use USB cables. If you buy a microphone with an XLR cable, you'll likely need a simple audio interface to connect the microphone to the computer, otherwise a USB microphone can connect directly. Make sure to get long-enough cables to reach under the door to wherever the computer is set.
Closed-back headphones – You'll often need to listen to music or certain sounds to ensure your performance is timed properly, so it's critical that you invest in a good pair of closed-back headphones that block out all sound (so the microphone doesn't pick up what you're listening to).

The closet studio setup is just a starting point, but will get you high-quality, professional audio. As you begin working more and more, you can look into spending money to upgrade your equipment.

Remember however, that the amount of work you get will be based more on who you network with and how much you market yourself than it will ever be on the equipment you buy.

How to Market Yourself

Marketing yourself is critical! In this section, we'll discuss a few key strategies you can use to start getting voice acting jobs. As you meet more and more people, you'll be able to start raising your day rate to grow your business.

Your Voice Demo: An Absolute MUST

A voice demo is critical to marketing yourself. Just like an actor needs a demo reel so casting directors can get a sense of their acting ability, a voice actor needs a demo so people can know what they sound like.

You MUST have a solid voice reel before you can expect to book even your first job. But the good thing is you can do this for free at home using your new recording booth!

Check out the example below:

Here are some tips for a great voice reel:

It should be no more than two minutes and show range. Keep it short and to the point, with about 4-6 segments showing you in a wide range of performance styles (radio announcer voice, narrator voice, animated children's show character voice, etc.). You should also show your language and accent ability, and be sure to include different emotions such as sadness, anger, etc.
Choose great scripts. Make sure to choose scripts you enjoy and feel comfortable performing. Clients don't care about the content of the script so much as they care about how you say the words, so be sure to use scripts you find easy to perform.
Do not slate or include an intro. Just go straight into the voice work and put your best read first.
Make sure your recording levels are properly set! If the sound is over-modulated or way too low, your demo will instantly be tossed.
Consistently ask clients if you can use samples from the work you did for them. You can set a weekly reminder for yourself so you never forget to reach out. It's way better to use REAL productions in your demo if possible, and after your first year you should have plenty of those!
Eventually as you get more and more content, you can create separate demos. Each demo will be 1-2 minutes and highlight a different ability. You'll submit whichever one you feel is most relevant to the job you're applying for.

When promoting your demo, avoid telling people you sound like certain celebrities because it can be confusing to clients. Remember: in the voice acting world, you're often not auditioning for casting directors who have a good sense of all the famous actors – in many cases you're speaking with marketing managers of companies and they might have no clue who you're talking about!

Instead of making celebrity references, it's better to look up descriptive words online and give your voice a description such as, "I have a warm, soothing, and smooth voice." Or "I have a strong, direct, and brash voice." And remember – you can slightly customize these words with every cover letter you send out, based on what you think they're looking for (as long as you can actually do the voice you're describing).

How to become a voice actor in Australia

Start with Outbound Marketing

To find work, you'll need to start with outbound marketing, which essentially means going out and finding opportunities by submitting yourself. Eventually, you'll get people reaching out to you (inbound marketing), but that only happens after your first few years.

"How do you get hired for voiceovers?" You should start by doing some pro bono voice acting jobs to get a sense of how the industry works. This is the fastest way to begin building your resume, which is extremely important.

As weird as it sounds, you'll also need a good actor headshot that makes you look competent and trustworthy. Even though casting directors don't technically need to know what you look like, they still want to put a face to the name so they feel comfortable talking to you. Most voice actors have a much harder time getting auditions without a professional headshot.

To find paid work, create profiles on websites like www.voices.com, www.actorsaccess.com, and www.backstage.com. There you can submit yourself to voice acting auditions and start building a name for yourself.

As you submit through casting sites, you also need to build your own network. Plenty of voice acting work comes from companies that have no idea how to find voice actors, and if you network with them directly, you'll easily be able to get the jobs they're looking for (plus they'll refer you to other companies needing a voice actor).

Eventually Move to Inbound Marketing

After you've worked a few years with an outbound marketing strategy (reaching out directly by responding to casting calls or cold emailing companies), you'll be able to transition to inbound marketing, where people start contacting you for job opportunities. It's amazing to be cold-emailed by someone saying they found you online and need a voice actor!

Here are some techniques you can use to improve your inbound marketing:

Find an agent. An agent is critical to get major job opportunities. They can submit you for bigger projects and have the ability to fight to get you higher pay rates. Although you still need to hustle when you have an agent, life becomes easier because you'll suddenly start getting calls or texts each week from your agent with new opportunities to audition. The best way to find an agent is to just use Google to search for voice acting agencies and then submit your materials to them (following their submissions process).
Establish a connection with production companies. Production companies work with tons of places around the world for video and audio production, and if you establish yourself as a voice actor for them, they'll refer all their voice acting and voiceover work to you when they need someone with your voice. Making connections with multiple production companies can quickly create tons of work opportunities for you!
Create a website listing your services. You can list your voice acting rates, contact information, and other info about yourself on your site, and then use online marketing strategies such as SEO to drive traffic to start getting inquiries.

Eventually, you can offer more than just voice acting. By offering other services, you'll increase the number of opportunities for work, and specialty skills like audio mixing and mastering can command even higher rates ($300-600/hr).

Raising Your Rates

At first you'll probably find yourself doing 3-5 projects for free just to build your portfolio and resume. Then you'll probably find yourself charging $30-50/hr for a few months, and eventually you'll be making $200-300/hr.

Keep in mind that this pay rate is only for hours worked, meaning you're not getting paid for all the time you spend marketing yourself, emailing, and auditioning.

Undercutting yourself will only serve to hurt you in the long run because people are less likely to refer someone who charges cheaper rates. Why? Because they'll worry you'll increase your rates on them if they send you too much business.

Keep slowly raising your rates over time and pretty soon you'll find yourself making plenty of money from the comfort of your own home!

In Summary

It's critical to keep a positive mindset if you decide to get into voice acting. You're in for a long, difficult road for the first 1-2 years, so you need to believe it's possible and keep working to get better and better, making sure to deliver a fantastic product for your clients every time.

Most people give up before they break through, so don't let that be you. Don't let the rejection get you down! It's all part of the process of becoming a successful voice actor.