Voice Over Work from Home: The Ultimate Home Business Opportunity
If you’re considering voice acting, you’ve likely heard people say that you have a great voice.
You may have spent your school days mimicking teachers or creating voices for use at the dinner table. It could even be that you’ve done some public speaking and are looking for a way to earn more money using your voice. Or maybe you’re in the middle of a career transition, wondering what’s next. You want to do the things that make you happy, but a 9-5 day at the office isn’t doing it for you. Does any of this sound familiar? We hear it often—many voice actors on Voices have shared that situations like these were the impetus behind pursuing a voice acting career. You’ve come to the right place for voice acting tips.
Whether you’re already exploring voice acting or this is your first step on the journey, we’re here to help. Keep reading to see what life as a working voice actor is like, including what your daily routine could look like and some best practices for how to be successful working from home.
Your Step-by-Step Guide to Getting Started in Voice Acting
Reading this guide will provide you with instructions on how to set-up a home studio, record and produce voice over work, as well as how to promote your services and, over time, create a thriving business. This guide features information about:
- Recording your own demo, which is a short audio clip that will showcase the range of voices you specialize in.
- Finding your signature voice.
- Interpreting scripts, getting into character, directing yourself, and delivering compelling performances.
- Using vocal warm ups to prepare for a recording session, capturing or minimizing ambient noise, and seeking peer feedback on your recordings.
- Acquiring the necessities to launch your business from home, as well as etiquette for when you’re invited into a professional recording studio.
Adding these beginner’s tips to your routine will help you improve your voice acting skills and make a dramatic difference in how you perform a script and market yourself in the industry.
Voice Over Jobs Exist for Beginner Voice Actors and Seasoned Pros
Voice acting is a skill. That said, everyone starts somewhere, and even the best voice actors continuously work to improve their craft. Many improve their skills by seeking out voice acting tips, just like the ones you’ll find in this guide.
Voice actors can live and work from anywhere in the world. For voice actors of all levels, marketplaces like Voices give voice actors the opportunity to set up a personal profile, audition for high quality jobs, and give them a means to land life-changing voice over work.
Like any career, establishing yourself as a voice actor takes dedication, consistent work, and ongoing learning. It requires you to put in the time and effort to figure out your voice’s unique capabilities and how best to use them to deliver a service. Mastering the craft of voice over has less to do with your natural vocal talent than it does with how you use your voice. Excelling in today’s voice over industry calls for a lot more than simply speaking into a microphone.
3 Core Voice Acting Skills
Whether you’re planning on working as a freelancer, signing with an agent, or both, there are a series of complementary skills that will send you on your way to landing your first voice over job.
Remember that it isn’t necessary for you to have an acting background or to have done voice over before, and that the market can be learned as you go forward in your career.
1. Acting Abilities
Having acting ability means being a competent actor with the ability to become a character and an understanding of dramatic techniques.
What this really comes down to is being believable. This is one of the best voice acting tips – sound believable.
While some aspiring voice actors have a natural talent for getting into character, it’s still a good idea to sharpen your general acting skills through training.
You might consider working with a voice over coach. A voice over coach will help you train your voice and develop performance skills for any category of voice that comes to mind: from animated characters in film, TV, and video games, to podcasts, dubbed foreign language films, and more.
Even if you already have on-camera or theatrical experience, ongoing training with a voice over coach will work to your advantage. Acting in a recording booth is an entirely different experience than acting for the camera. When you’re at work in the booth, your voice is center stage. To put it bluntly, no one sees you! As a voice actor, you can no longer rely on physical movements or facial expressions to visually enhance your performance. It’s all about the voice and how you use it.
2. Technical Skills:
Being well-versed in the latest technology is essential for voice actors today. While you don’t necessarily need to be a tech guru, it is crucial to know how your equipment works and to be comfortable using it. From developing a basic understanding of your recording gear including a microphone, audio interface, headphones, and your computer, to working with digital audio files and navigating online marketplaces (like Voices), there are a few basic skills that every voice actor should have when running a home recording studio.
Learning how to record, mix, and master your audio will not only prove useful to run your business from home, but will also set you apart from others who have yet to master their audio engineering skills. Since the majority of your interactions and transactions with clients will take place online, by email, by chat, or via instant messaging platforms, you will need to learn to work fast. The more equipped you are to operate the technology in your home studio, the faster you can complete projects and make revisions if need be—there is often an expectation to provide 24-48 hour turnaround times.
3. Business Know-How:
Voice actors need to have the know-how to run their own business. Yes, voice actors are entrepreneurs.
Your voice is the product you’re selling. As the owner of your own business, you are the sales, marketing, customer service, and accounting teams all in one. Like with any business, you will spend most of your time and effort promoting your voice and growing your client base.
For prospective clients to know that you exist in the first place, you have to let them know you’re available to do voice over work. Succeeding in today’s voice over market means developing a strong online presence that shows the world what you can do. Most voice actors do this by creating a profile on a Voices, and if they want to, may also build their own website.