Working from home, recording equipment, editing software, creating Demos, building a resume, getting hired. Do you want to learn how to become a voice actor from the comfort of your own home?
The dazzling world of filmmaking has spread far beyond Hollywood, and in 2021, you can even make movies and high-quality videos from home.
Acting on stage is only the first part of the long process, and sometimes someone needs to give a voice to these cartoon and movie characters. This is where the voiceover work starts.
Being a voice actor is a very interesting profession, and what’s best about it is that you can do it even from your own home, a thousand miles away from Hollywood! If you want to become part of the voice-over industry, read on to learn what this profession is all about, how you can take your first steps in this career, and what you will need for your home studio.
Let’s get started!
Being an at-home voice actor is a new-age profession
In recent years the video-making industry turned upside down, and what was once achievable only with a big crew and thousands of dollars can now be shot in the living room of a suburban house.
When Covid-19 hit the world and remote work became a mundane thing, many filmmaking industry specialists stayed at home and continued creating. These specialists can now work from home by editing, recording voice-overs, and adding special effects from their home studio.
The job of the voice actor changed too. Nowadays, these professionals narrate audiobooks, give their voices to cartoon characters, and read scripts for YouTube videos or commercials as work from home voice actors. It’s impossible to find an industry that can’t use this craft because every business needs commercials and voice-overs in them.
This job has numerous advantages: you’re your own boss, you can freelance, you can choose your schedule, and you choose your projects. But on the other hand, it is an unsteady career in a competitive field that requires many hours of learning and expensive equipment to work with.
Learn How to Be a Voice Actor
Being a professional work from home voice actor requires some level of training. It’s not just about reading voice-over scripts in a deep and beautiful voice: it is a craft.
So, to become the best in this industry and learn how to read a script like a god, you should try these steps:
1. Take professional acting classes to learn how to show your emotions with only your voice. Remember that you need to make people believe that you are in pain, in love, or hungry just with your tone of voice.
2. Hire a specialist to train you. We mean a professional voice-over coach who will prepare you to start this career. A professional will tell you the industry’s secrets, how to work with your voice, and how you can start a career as a work from home voice actor.
3. Learn how to be a voice actor online. YouTube and websites like SkillShare and MasterClass have tons of amazing lessons for potential voice actors. You can take a course and learn how to conquer voice-overs even just using these platforms.
4. Listen to how others do it. It’s simple: just watch how already established professionals do it and try to copy them. After all, imitation is the best form of flattery.
What Equipment Do You Need in Your Home Studio?
To create your own voice-over auditions and improve your skills at home, you need to create a great home studio. You actually only need a few things, but they can be quite expensive:
● A good computer to edit audio.
● High-quality headphones that will allow you to hear the smallest imperfections in your tracks.
● The best microphone you can get for a clean and high-quality sound.
● Professional recording and editing software to create the finished product. For beginners, we recommend Reaper because it has a 60-day free trial and is very easy to use.
● Other professional hardware for voice actors like a prompter (we recommend a phone app like EasyPrompter or something simple).
Looking for a Job: How to Make a Resume
Now, it’s time to look for voice-over jobs, and the first thing you will need to do is to create a smashing video resume to show your craft to potential clients.
Despite the fact that you are a voice actor, making a video resume with visual components that will show how your working process flows and present you from different angles will be a pretty powerful statement.
In addition, a video with various examples of your work will look so much better than just one audio file. Use free video joiners to compile a couple of examples of your work to make one incredible video resume and use its power to your advantage.
Tips for Aspiring Voice Actors
The successful formula of a powerful audition and getting hired consists of many elements. We cannot prepare you for every single thing that will happen at your auditions, but let us give you some tips:
1. Do research. Be prepared for the part you’re auditioning for, learn about the company or person, and learn everything you can about the script you will be reading.
2. Don’t forget about warming up before the audition. Your voice should be impeccable, so doing voice exercises is an absolute must.
3. Get into character and understand what emotions you need to show during the reading. If you’re auditioning for a voice-over for YouTube videos or educational stuff, learn more about the style the previous videos were narrated in. Try to imitate this style while giving it some fresh notes of your own.
4. Do not be upset if you get rejected. Not everyone should like your voice, and not every actor fits every character. Just keep on looking, and the right gigs will eventually find you.
Are you now interested in this fantastic occupation? Being a work from home voice actor is hard work, but it is a very exciting industry to work in.
If you love reading and narrating, have good acting skills, and are sure that you will handle talking for eight hours straight, then start working on your resume, and welcome to the voice-over family!
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