People ask me all the time, “How do I get started in voice overs?” Great question! Great person to ask too as I’ve been actively involved in this industry for over 20 years as a voice talent, producer, and after significant experience, as a coach. So they ask this question with eager anticipation, awaiting the answer they want to hear! I am not a Magic 8 Ball! I am a voice over professional, so I give them the honest answer, the real answer, and am mystified by their response. I tell them to make the decision to do it and to get proper voice over training and professionally produced demos, which are essential to their success as a voice over talent.
At that point a litany of excuses pour out about how they want to make money now, they’ve been told they have a great voice and should do voice overs (mind you these comments come from people outside of the voice over industry!), they cannot afford or are unwilling to pay so much money for training, etc., …basically, they want to hear that, “I’ve never heard such an incredible voice in all my life and, of course, I will help them get started for free, and make them an overnight sensation!”
Reality check! Ask a doctor how to become a doctor and inevitably the answer will include going to medical school; ask a pilot how to get started as a pilot and inevitably the answer will include flight school; ask any professional how to get started in the field in which they are working and training will be part of the answer. The voice over industry is no exception! Here’s the bottom line, as stated by best-selling author of The Fred Factor: How Passion in Your Work and Life Can Turn the Ordinary into the Extraordinary, Mark Sanborn, “Amateurs wing it; professionals prepare.”And in the field of voice overs, winging it simply doesn’t fly!