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Debbie Irwin

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VO Tips

Checklist for Finding and Landing Voiceover Opportunities

Blog, VO Tips

It’s the start of a new year, you’ve written a long list of new year’s resolutions, and now the first one is staring at you, demanding to be fulfilled: eat healthier. I can’t help with that one, but I can help with finding and landing voiceover opportunities! 

Are You Building a Voice or a Voiceover Business?

There are a lot of factors that go into building a sustainable, long-term, and professionally fulfilling voiceover career. Voiceover is more than just a voice, a microphone, and drinking lots of water. It’s also about building a sustainable, well-oiled business. You might sound fantastic, you’ve got the coaches, you’ve honed your delivery, but you aren’t easy to work with. And that doesn’t mean you aren’t pleasant and accommodating; it might mean that you aren’t sending out regular emailers to remind people who you are. Your website is difficult to navigate and doesn’t have your latest demos and contact information.

Voiceover is a wonderfully creative endeavor, and sometimes we can forget the business part. Invest in yourself by investing in your business. We all want to get in front of the mic and do our thing. All the other stuff is the foundation we put in to get there. So before you get too down on yourself and your vocal talent, check your business. Ask a friend to look at your website, invest in CRM software, establish a marketing strategy and get down to the business of voiceover. 

Are You Selling to Your Unique Niche?

Before you dive in and race to the middle with every other voiceover talent searching for a role, find what makes you different. That’s where finding your niche comes in. You want to choose the voiceover skill you feel you are good at, that you enjoy and that others are willing to pay you for. You might think you have one skill set when the reality is you are extraordinarily in a whole different area. How does the world see you? The world might not see or, in this case, hear you the way you hear yourself. It’s one of the many places where a good coach is invaluable. They’ll help you find your niche from an outside perspective. 

It can be a tough pill for some to swallow; for others, it can be an incredible realization that they’re better at some things than they thought. Only when you have your niche can you truly start to build your brand and market yourself effectively. Ask friends, clients, agents, and CDs for three adjectives to describe your sound. Do they all line up with each other? Do people perceive your sound the same way you do?

Is Your Signature Sound Established?

The well-known concept of an ‘elevator pitch’ is a quick but persuasive sales pitch. It’s the distillation of a bigger idea into its core components, nippy and effective. An elevator pitch sparks interest in the larger story, and that’s what a voiceover artist needs to be able to do, both verbally and with their signature voice. Importantly, it can’t be the same as everyone else. It’s great to be versatile, but that doesn’t mean generic, bland, or boooring. As Sally Hogshead, a New York Times bestselling author demonstrates in her books, we need to fascinate! Make sure your brand, signature voice, and sound are established and easily recognizable. 

Have You Broadened the Horizons of Your Voiceover Opportunities?

You have your niche; you have your business laid out in all its perfection. Now expand that all into different opportunities. If your character voices are out of this world, don’t just go after video game auditions. Your diction and script reading can’t be beaten, and tongue twisters don’t twist your tongue? Make that the thing people remember you for, and then stick to it. If your brand is the cleanest audio in the business, make sure your audio is clean. 

Sometimes it can be great to be THE voiceover artist for a particular industry genre. The medical voice of voiceover, the political voice actor maven, or the promo specialist can also hinder your opportunities. That’s why it’s even better to be the storyteller, the gender-neutral voice, the Voice of Big Pharma  (that’s me). So, where are the opportunities? Hiding in plain sight. 

Long list incoming, but the length of the list highlights my point; opportunities abound, don’t paint yourself into a genre corner:

  • ADR & Looping (Automatic Dialogue Replacement) 
  • Audio Description 
  • AI 
  • Animation 
  • Announcements 
  • Audiobooks 
  • Audio Tours 
  • Biographies 
  • Compliance 
  • Covid content
  • Documentaries
  • Education (CEUs, ESL, etc.) 
  • eLearning 
  • Explainers 
  • Health & Wellness 
  • Human Resources 
  • Government 
  • GPS & Virtual Assistants 
  • Infomercials 
  • In-Show Narration 
  • ISI (Important Safety Information) 
  • Marketing 
  • MOAs & MODs (Mechanism of Action & Disease) 
  • Museum Tours 
  • Non-Profit 
  • Orientation Videos
  • Podcasts 
  • PSAs 
  • Real Estate Videos 
  • Sales Presentations 
  • Self-Help 
  • Senior Living 
  • Telephony 
  • Text to Speech (TTS) 
  • Training 
  • Transportation 
  • Travel Guides 
  • Video Games 
  • Web Videos 

Finding Voiceover Opportunities

It’s the big question, where do you find voiceover work? There are all the online platforms, Voice123, Bodalgo, and VOplanet. But signing up, sitting back, and waiting for the auditions to roll in isn’t as effective as being proactive. Reach out to potential employees, audition, audition, audition. And get ready for a lot of rejection; it’s part of the process.

A huge part of voice acting is auditioning and finding work. If you are new to the industry, it’s essential to prepare yourself for this reality. It’s a balancing act, you need to be auditioning, but you also need to be in a position to land those auditions by auditioning for the right jobs. Finding your niche and setting up your business is a massive step in the right direction.

Voiceover Checklist for Success:

  • Make sure your online presence is pertinent and up to date, including any demos. 
  • Can a potential client contact you easily, and can they quickly assess what kind of sound you bring to the table?
  • Have you emailed any previous clients you worked with to let them know you are available?
  • Are you networking with other voiceover artists? Do you keep up to date with others’ skill sets and recommend others when you aren’t suitable for a job?
  • Make sure your style of delivery is still viable in the current market.
  • Apply your skillset and niche to other areas of the industry.

Making Sense of Voiceover Lingo

Blog, VO Tips

https://debbieirwin.com/2022/01/17/8-myths-about-narration-voice-over/There is nothing quite like being casually tossed acronyms or other voiceover terms you’ve never heard of before. The logical advice is to speak the truth simply, say you don’t know what the acronym means, and ask for an explanation. The more painful reality is that not knowing your terminology can be seen as unprofessional. There are untold lists of acting and voiceover lingo online, but let’s do more of a deep dive. Where do some of these seemingly unrelated terms come from? As strange and random as they seem often, they make a whole lot of sense when you know where they come from. So, instead of keeping a long VO lingo list handy for every conversation with a voiceover veteran, let’s see if context can make it more straightforward.

AD LIB or Improvise

If you’re a word junkie, you’ll enjoy this. The word ‘ad lib’ comes from the Latin ‘ad libitum’ or ‘at one’s pleasure’ or, more colloquially, ‘as much as you like.’ Adlib also sounds a little bit like ‘at liberty’ or ‘at your liberty.’ 

‘Improvise ad lib’ sounds like it’s saying the same thing twice, but it would initially have meant ‘improvise as much as you like.’ At some point, we started simply saying ‘ad lib’ to mean riff. Adlib a few lines. And the words became synonyms for each other. A director might ask you to improv (short for improvisation) a few lines, but improv is an entirely unplanned performance. English is interesting. 

COLD READ: When You Have Little or No Time to Rehearse a Script

Cold reading, sometimes called ‘sight-reading,’ is when you perform a script that you have had little or no time to rehearse. Sight-reading is a term that is usually used by musicians and comes from the Italian “prima vista,” meaning “at first sight.” Cold reading is not specific to voiceover artists. Actors, magicians, and psychics all use a form of cold reading. 

The opposite, hot reading, is a technique primarily used by stage magicians and psychics. They gather background information on a subject or person, then use that information to inform their performance. For a voiceover artist, a cold read typically means we haven’t had time to review or rehearse the script. It can be stressful for a performer (particularly one who is new to the industry), or fun– if you like a challenge! Mastering cold reads is a skill that every voice-over artist should develop

CANS, PHONES or Headphones in Voiceover Lingo

‘Phones’ is obvious; they are headPHONES, after all, cans less so. Canford headphones didn’t exist before the term “cans” took hold, though it would have been a simple explanation. It may have something to do with the two cans and string communication method, or maybe it’s their shape. Earlier headphones were made of metal and were more than a little can-shaped.

Long story short, I have no idea why ‘cans’ means headphones, but it does. If anyone knows the origin of this term, please let me know

COPY,  the Script

The word ‘script’ comes from the Latin scrībĕre, which means ‘to write.’ The term ‘copy’ was initially used by newspapers, journalists, and textbooks. Words designed to be reproduced and copied (but not in the plagiarism sense) became copy and from there, we got copywriting. ‘Copy” is traditionally used in advertising, ‘text’ is used for marketing and advertising. You are less likely to be given ‘copy’ for tv shows or audiobooks. The copy has become a synonym for script in the commercial sphere.

Sides

What are audition sides? A selected portion of a script that’s provided to an actor for an audition. This excerpt could be an entire scene, or just part of one. Depending on the project (theater, film, TV, and commercials), sides can also include more than one section of the script for an actor to learn. 

SPOT or Commercial

A ‘spot’ refers to a commercial or something taking up a ‘spot’ in a program lineup. It can also refer to something that isn’t technically a commercial, such as a public service announcement (PSA). It’s a jargony term that you are unlikely to encounter outside the advertising realm, but it does make sense. The time slot or spot of a commercial is essential. A 30 second Super Bowl commercial can cost millions of dollars, which often makes the price of airing the ad higher than making it.

EFX, SFX, or Sound Effects

EFX (sometimes called FX) is shorthand for effects. It sounds similar phonetically e-f-ex, or ef-ex, much like l8ter. SFX used to stand for Special Effects but had evolved to also mean Sound Effects and would generally refer to sounds outside of speech or music. 

Voiceover Lingo DRY AUDIO or No music or SFX

‘Dry audio’ is raw and unprocessed; it won’t have any music or SFX. ‘Wet audio’ has been processed and mixed. A wet and dry knob lets you mix the dry and wet audio when working with effects. The more effects you add to the dry audio, the ‘wetter.’

SLATE or Say Your Name

A slate, or the act of slating, is a voiceover artist’s introduction at the beginning of an audition. It’s usually a brief intro without a lot of rambling or niceties. On-screen actors often include their height and other physical details that might not be apparent in their demo video. There are pros and cons to slating; mostly, it’s a judgment call, if you haven’t been given a clear directive. I’ve seen castings where the inclusion of a slate got an audition deleted (if it wasn’t asked for), and others where it was explicitly requested. In my own experience with casting, less is more. Your name should be in the audition file, so I don’t need you to repeat it.

The term slate most likely comes from clappers. Those black and white chalkboards you often see snapping together at the beginning of a scene. Originally made of smooth slate, they differentiated takes and helped with synchronization. Saying ‘go ahead and slate’ is like saying ‘add the title card,’ all the information that once would have been represented in chalk.

Understanding Voiceover Lingo 

That’s eight VO terms and where they come from to the best of my researching abilities. A massive voiceover myth is that it’s all about having a good voice, and that’s a tiny part of a big story. It’s about knowing the terminology, understanding the technical requirements, and bringing your acting chops to the mic (there’s another term– ‘chops’! Having a good command of the language unique to this industry will help you as you market yourself and work with your clients.

New slang, jargon, and acronyms can be overwhelming, but if you are new to the industry, learning in bitesize chunks keeps it interesting and makes the process more fun and less arduous. A lot of this is learned by doing, but the more you know, the quicker you’ll develop into a VO pro. And as every voiceover talent knows, a good story helps with information retention.

More About How Tongue Twisters Help With Voice Acting

Best Practices, VO Tips

Why do we love them so much? Or do we hate them? They can be fun and frustrating, but more than silly ways to pass the time, tongue twisters help people young and old, of all nationalities and personalities. Whether you’re a voice actor or a newscaster, a child learning to speak or a politician learning to be clearer. In fact, tongue twisters have been proven to clarify the pronunciation of words, your diction, or your articulation. They’ll help you quit mumbling or ‘swallowing’ parts of words.

  • Quit mumbling or “swallowing” parts of words!
  • Tongue twisters also aid in curing speech impediments. Doctors recommend them for treating hiccups too!

First, let’s get our definitions straight. According to Miriam-Webster:

  • Pronunciation is the way the word sounds based on our region, upbringing, and cultural phenomena.
  • Articulation is the physical act of using your tongue, jaw, teeth, lips, and palate (roof of your mouth), and breath to create the sounds.
  • Enunciation is how clearly a person says the word and how clearly each sound is made. 

But don’t feel bad if you can’t keep the difference straight— a brief online search will generate definitions of tongue twisters as hard to pronounce or articulate! 

Tongue Twisters Help Because They:

  1. Are a sequence of words or sounds that are usually alliterative (meaning the first consonant is repeated) and are difficult to pronounce quickly and correctly. 
  2. Can be a word, phrase, or sentence difficult to articulate due to a succession of similar consonantal sounds

Think about this! You can pronounce words without articulation or enunciation. However, you cannot articulate or enunciate without correct pronunciation.

There is something pleasing to the ear when you hear alliteration, and feel the rhythm of word clusters that make up a tongue twister. When you get it right there’s a deep sense of satisfaction that’s almost visceral. It’s about getting the mouth, tongue, eyes, and brain in synchrony. We stretch and strengthen the muscles we use to speak and the brain’s speech processes when we practice them. They can also help us identify certain words and sounds we might have difficulty pronouncing. 

The first reference to the term tongue twister was in 1895 with “She sells seashells by the sea-shore. The shells she sells are sea shells, I’m sure.” One strategy to conquer the words is to focus on the first sound of each word, try it, it works for me!

How Tongue Twisters Help With Challenging Words

Now, because medical narration is my bread and butter, here’s a link to some particularly challenging words to say. For an even steeper challenge, try tongue twisters in another language! Try these foreign language tongue twisters on for size!

Zulu: Zaka zulu buka baju nampak bulu.

Yoruba: Opo lopo opolo lo ni opolo lopo lopo.

Rwanda or Kinyarwanda: Ta izo njyo uze urye izi nzuzi.

Friendly and Easy-to-Memorize Tongue Twisters Help Kids! 

I thought a thought,
But the thought I thought wasn’t the thought I thought I thought.
If the thought I thought I thought had been the thought I thought,
I wouldn’t have thought so much.

I saw Susie sitting in a shoe shine shop,
Where she shines, she sits, and where she sits, she shines.

A big black bug bit a big black dog on his big black nose.

Six slippery snails slid slowly seaward.

Whether the weather is warm,
Whether the weather is hot,
We have to put up with the weather,
Whether we like it or not.

The bottom of the butter bucket is the buttered bucket bottom.

A sailor went to sea to see what he could see. And all he could see was sea, sea, sea.

If a dog chews shoes, whose shoes does he choose?

Five frantic frogs fled from fifty fierce fishes.

Fuzzy Wuzzy was a bear,
Fuzzy Wuzzy had no hair,
Wuzzy wasn’t very fuzzy, was he?

If practice makes perfect and perfect needs practice, I’m perfectly practiced and practically perfect.

Betty and Bob brought back blue balloons from the big bazaar.

I saw a saw that could saw out any other saw I ever saw.

Nine nice night nurses nursing nicely.

I slit the sheet, the sheet I slit, and on the slitted sheet I sit.

A skunk sat on a stump and thunk the stump stunk, but the stump thunk the skunk stunk.

Any noise annoys an oyster, but a noisy noise annoys an oyster more.

Four furious friends fought for the phone.

Chester Cheetah chews a chunk of cheap cheddar cheese.

Lesser leather never weathered wetter weather better.

We surely shall see the sun shine soon.

Wayne went to Wales to watch walruses.

Fred fed Ted bread, and Ted fed Fred bread.

Betty Botter bought some butter; “But,” said she, “The butter’s bitter.
If I put it in my batter, it will make my batter bitter.”
But a bit of better butter will make my bitter batter better.
So she bought some better butter, better than the bitter butter,
Put it in her bitter batter, made her bitter batter better.

Birdie birdie in the sky,
Laid a turdie in my eye.
If cows could fly,
I’d have a cow pie in my eye.

How much ground would a groundhog hog, if a groundhog could hog ground?
A groundhog would hog all the ground he could hog, if a groundhog could hog ground.

“Surely Sylvia swims!” shrieked Sammy, surprised.
“Someone should show Sylvia some strokes so she shall not sink.”

The thirty-three thieves thought that they thrilled the throne throughout Thursday.

Can you can a canned can into an uncanned can like a canner can can a canned can into an un-canned can?

Red lorry, yellow lorry, red lorry, yellow lorry, red lorry, yellow lorry.

Thin sticks, thick bricks, thin sticks, thick bricks, thin sticks, thick bricks.

Stupid superstition, stupid superstition, stupid superstition.

Two tried and true tridents, two tried and true tridents, two tried and true tridents.

How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood? He would chuck, he would, as much as he could, and chuck as much wood as a woodchuck would if a woodchuck could chuck wood.

Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.
A peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked.
If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers,
Where’s the peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked?

When a doctor doctors a doctor, does the doctor doing the doctoring doctor as the doctor being doctored wants to be doctored, or does the doctor doing the doctoring doctor as he wants to doctor?

If two witches were watching two watches, which witch would watch which watch?

Something in a 30-acre thermal thicket of thorns and thistles thumped and thundered, threatening the 3D thoughts of Matthew — although, theatrically, it was the 13,000 thistles and thorns through the underneath of his thigh that the 30-year-old thought of that morning.

If you must cross a course cross cow across a crowded cow crossing, cross the cross coarse cow across the crowded cow crossing carefully.

To sit in solemn silence in a dull, dark dock,
In a prickly pot with a lifelong lock,
Playing with bees that give you short, sharp shocks.

Six sleek swans swam swiftly southwards.

If you notice this notice, you will notice that this notice is not worth noticing.

Do Tongue Twisters Help You?

If you’ve had experience using tongue twisters to improve speech, or just to have fun, send me some of your favorites in the comments below!

I Love My Job And This Is Why

Blog, VO Tips

I love my job — if you’re fortunate, you do too — and there are lots of reasons why.
My success is in my hands; I’m my own boss, make my own hours, and my dress code is PJs (sometimes!). My clients are global, they hire me repeatedly, recommend me in confidence, and the projects I work on span innumerable industries. But, sometimes, the material I’m working on and the creatives I’m working with are so well aligned that what happens in the recording session is nothing short of magic.

That happened recently with an online lending company that rebranded itself from Paramount Equity Mortgage Co. to LoanPal, an infinitely more friendly name and instantly definable brand. The outcome, this amazing video which demonstrates that I’m at my best when working creatively with others. I respond well to direction, and when the producer has a vision for how the voiceover should sound, together we create the voice they’re looking for.
The creative director was also the writer and the script had a playful tone, so we rolled up our sleeves to play hard in the sandbox. Once I saw the rough cut of the video, which was after we had recorded the script, it was clear that the visuals also had a sense of humor. Our second session to record the revised script was even more inspired because we had confidence in the text, the visuals, each other and in our shared mission.

Hopefully, the joy we felt in creating this comes across when you watch it. What’s the most fun you’ve had on the job lately? Share the love!

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