Voice Over

Entry posted by Kawika January 9, 2020

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People often ask me about being a voice-over actor... it's basically vocals or narrating off camera. Being successful is like every other aspect of the entertainment industry--- auditioning excellently, consistently and sometimes creatively. What I love about it besides the money is I don't have to be part of the office 9-5 lifestyle and I can wear sweats and tennis shoes to work if I feel like it... and no one ever says... "Can you do something with your hair?"... the drawbacks are that you don't get a weekly paycheck like when you work in an office and certain times of the year are busier than others and you have to have a thick skin for rejection and negative feedback like every other part of show business or life in general sometimes. I'm not sure but I think more time of my life has been spent in a recording studio than almost everything else... except maybe inside of an aircraft at 30,000 feet..Take a guess who did all the cabin announcements when I worked for Pan Am?

In terms of your voice you have to be able to control your breathing patterns as well as timing, pace and the tone of your voice but probably most importantly you have to have a voice with no noticeable regional accents... but you have to have the flexibility and ability to deliver in several accents and dialects. I have taken voice and diction and dialect classes for several years and can read lines and deliver a dialect of...

Japan

Brooklyn

American Southern

Standard English

Cockney

Irish

Scottish

Australian

French

Italian

German

Russian
... and another that is sort of Swedish-Finnish and Danish-ish!

Some of these come easier for me than others... but if know I have an audition or an actual job there are several things I do from word and sentence drills to reading... but it takes practice, practice and more practice to do this well. One of the most important things I learned very early is not to sound like someone who is trying to sound like they have a Russian accent but try to sound like a Russian who is trying to speak english... my edge is I can sing too... you have no idea how much that has helped but knowing how to color a word or phrase has really given me an edge especially when dubbing or looping sound to film footage.

Some of the things that have helped me is traveling, reading and listening to and mimicking other people. I love listening to other peoples accents... I find them interesting and sometimes exotic and romantic and occasionally uplifting and sometimes amusing... but what I don't understand is making fun of someone or mocking anyone with an accent... I've seen and overheard people who act like others are somehow less intelligent or perhaps marginal or less of person because of an accent or dialect. There is such an attitude by many these days that unless something is not said or done in the same way as they are used to saying or hearing something it's somehow wrong and they seem to feel more superior by pointing it out. What I usually try to convey to these people as nicely as possible is... How well would they fare living in another country with a new or second language? I wish people would learn to appreciate the differences people bring to life instead of trying to change everyone to fit to their comfort zone.... oh and one more thing...please don't don't insult or patronize someone who mispronounces a word... they learned it by reading... just politely correct them; ideally not in front of anyone else.

I think that sometimes we can understand ourselves a little better by looking at the people we know or encounter regularly... I have known people named Betty, Bob, Bill,Brian and Barb as well as Jolene, Pipa, Morgana, Costa,Vlad and Fabiola and almost everything in-between... each person brought a new ingredient or accent of flavor to my life.