Sit back boys and girls, since it’s been a long time since I’ve posted, I’ve accumulated a lot of thoughts. I’m only going to share a couple of them today but I’ve had plenty of time to ponder them.
I’ve got a 665 day Duolingo run going (the pic was from Sunday). With a few minutes a day, I’ve slowly worked my way out of the beginning phase and into the intermediate phase. Now instead of single words or simple sentences. I get to listen to AI read passages that I have to replay multiple times so I can answer the reading comprehension question. I’ve found it to be especially difficult because you get no subtext through tone or pacing to convey meaning… heck, you don’t even get to figure out where one sentence ends and the next one begins.
Learning another language really demonstrates how important tone and pacing really are for comprehension. You don’t necessarily have to have it to understand but you have to have the time, focus, and energy to apply the extra brain power necessary to make up for the deficit. Whether or not you invest that power, depends on how much you want to hear the message.
For listeners this is a fine line but for sellers this can be a huge barrier. This just goes to show how important voice over talent can be. Trained voice over talent (or those few rare geniuses who have a knack for communication) can convey the subtext of a script to make not just listening but comprehension easier.
Having the ability to convey the message (sometimes hidden) beneath the words require mastery of tone, tempo, and volume. These are part of the tools in a professional VO’s toolbox and like all tools, require the proper application to draw out the meaning of any script.
“I’m hungry.” Could actually mean a person is hungry for food. Or it could mean they want to change the subject. Or it could mean they’re flirting with their partner. Knowing the why something is said will change how it’s said. Getting to the why automatically corrects the tone and pacing (for the most part). Same with telling your friend sitting next to you or your friend in the next room.
Saying it spontaneously to your friend next to you is easy. Saying it from a script in a spontaneous way is harder. Saying a longer script in words you would never say spontaneously is harder still. That’s where training and continuous practice comes in.
Professional VO artists (and those training to be professional) spend thousands of dollars a year on training and coaching alone, not to mention the studio, equipment, software, etc. We focus on nothing but our craft. Not just saying the words nicely but conveying the meaning so people not just hear but understand. So if you’re struggling to improve your voice over, get coaching from a top name in whatever field you want to specialize in. Every VO industry has a guru who can help you break past your barriers or re-kindle your passion for VO.
Think of lectures given out by burnt out professors versus that given by a professor who share their passion in their lecture. They might both have the same curriculum and the same amount of knowledge in their lectures but students will gain more from the passionate teacher than the checked out one. Have you ever listened to someone only to realize you didn’t hear a word they said? You probably found yourself listening to the tone and not the words while your mind wandered and pondered something said earlier.
Ever had a voice crush? I have! It’s a happier version of the same distraction. When the person spoke I heard a vision of sun shining through tree leaves. Lush grass, a winding dirt path, and a meadow (I believe he had an Irish accent like none I had heard before.) Couldn’t tell you a word he said, just the vision that I saw when he spoke. It was a happier distraction but a distraction nonetheless and required more focus to hear what he had to say (in my case I was trying to get a home inspection, lol).
So fantastic voices can actually be a detriment to the message. I say this so if you’re thinking about going into VO, you focus more on content than on how you sound. (This is a lesson you’ll find yourself learning over and over again.) You do need to be articulate and have clarity but not necessarily a fantastic voice.
And if you’re looking to hiring a voice over talent, consider more than about who is cheaper. Because cheaper might not get your message across even if you have the words recorded.
I probably mentioned a time or two that I’ve been absorbing a lot of self-development media. And one of the exercises that consistently pops up is to find your why in every goal you create. And my Why for becoming a voice over artist is to help people. Whether that means to help them escape their problems briefly by reading a good book or by explaining the importance of saving for retirement, or by promoting wellness. However I can help reach a listener to receive an important message, that’s my calling. That’s my purpose. I’ve still got a lot to learn and a lot more practice to keep breaking barriers within myself but I’ve found my reason for continuing to learn and develop within my chosen profession.
My ‘why’ means that I want to communicate the subtext of the script. Each word was carefully crafted by someone for a purpose. I want the listener to hear that purpose and not just the words meant to hold it. The words can be full of meaning or just sounds that makeup the background noise. Like my business card says, “I’m a voice, not an echo.”