Ever wonder about those annoying voices on radio and TV commercials? Want to know how we do what we do? Ask away!
~September
How do they characterize voice over actors? Is the call I want an authoritative voice or motherly or how do they describe it?
And are the actors known for being able to do certain of those types?
What sort of qualifications must one have to be a voice over actor? What types of commercials do you do?
Do you have a home recording studio, or do you head into the “office” to lay down tracks?
The most common direction today? “Not announcer-y”. 
It’s a big reason why some of the people who have been in the industry for years can’t find work any more. They were taught to be aanouncers and now, that just ain’t selling.
Auditions will usually say: “Female, early 20’s. Smart, fun, wry humor.” Or, “Male, 40s, natural flow with a bit of rasp, homey”. Now, that’s the GOOD directions.
There are, however, others…like this one that I personally received from a client a month or so ago: “make it sound like a fem 14 yr old… but a professional actor… but not really male or female… but more female”
Most actors have their “money voice”, what they do best. In the industry, I’m best known for sexy, sultry reads and also hip teenager reads. A soccer mom, I am not 
How did you get started? Any recommendations for someone wanting to explore getting started?
Well, these days you need to have a way to record auditions and a way to receive auditions and that’s about it. Of course, if you’re no good, you won’t get work. Mostly, you need to listen. Actively listening for a few weeks before you make a first move is crucial. Listening to demos of people who are successful, listening to the national commercials on TV in contrast to the local radio spots in your area. There is no “degree” or test you can take to become a voice over talent. The proof is in the pudding. If you’re booking big jobs and often, you’re a member of the club.
I do commercials for TV, radio, Internet, and phone. But voice over isn’t just commercials. It’s the on hold message you get stuck listening to when you call the doctor’s office, the pleasant woman on the phone asking for your account number and irritating you all to hell because you just want to speak to a human, dammit!, movie trailers, video games. The list goes on forever.
Home studio. You have to have one with the way the industry is. Most everything I record, I do in my closet next to the dirty laundry. Once in awhile, a client will want to be at the session and will buy studio time at a big recording facility. Or with something live, like the MTV Video Music Awards, I need to actually be there in case something goes wrong. But about 90% of my work is done in my closet.
Do you have any work online that we could listen to?
Every industry has its fashions and its taboos. What kinds of voices - good sounding voices, voices people like - don’t get work, and why?
Do you consider your “stage voice” to be your normal speaking voice, or do you actively try to manipulate it to sound “better” somehow?
“There’s Money Where Your Mouth Is” and “The Voice Actor’s Guide to Home Recording” are my Bibles. They will teach you basic technique and how to set up your home studio. I bought both of them, read them, put together a demo, registered at what we call a “pay to play” site (you pay a subscription fee and receive auditions), and I was off! I was full time in about 6 months and landed my first really big gig after a year.
If you want to take classes, make sure your teacher is a WORKING voice talent. Research them. And don’t make a demo until you have spent some serious time practicing and listening to great demos. You can do that over at videovoicebank.net . Also, check out the message boards where VO talent hang out and read about what we do. Ask questions! Most of us are pretty darn friendly 
Sure
Most recently, I’ve voiced Skynet for Warner Brothers over at SkynetResearch.com and you can hear my teen voice over on Amazon.com by going here: http://www.amazon.com/Fujifilm-FinePix-Digital-Optical-Pink/dp/B001QEPR5M/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1245029349&sr=8-2 and clicking on the “watch” button below the picture of the camera.
I would say accents kill the dream for a lot of folks. Some accents work great sometimes. Like the “Beef. It’s What’s For Dinner” Guy. That line should be said with a Texan accent, but if he can’t drop it for a Toyota Camry read, he’s kind of pigeon-holed.
Today, commercials seem geared more towards more youthful voices. Early to late 20s. That wasn’t the case a few years ago, and it will cycle again in the future. Also, African-American voices are becoming more in demand. I imagine it might have to do with our current President So, it’s beneficial if you can do multiple voices and accents, but it’s most important that you have no accent at all.
My normal speaking voice is used rarely because, while it isn’t unpleasant, it doesn’t have a fullness to it that I can make happen when I need to. It’s like getting dressed up to go out. Sure, I can look okay in jeans, but I look better in a little black dress. But that’s just vocal technique. There are some tricks in post production that you can use, but you’ve got to be careful when you do it. If you can’t re-create what you submit in an audition, you’re going to piss off a client. I don’t heavily tweak my audio. I use a parametric EQ, a little compression, and normalize it to -3dB and that’s it. If you go to the SkynetResearch.com page, you’ll notice they heavily compressed, pitched, and polished the voice to make it sound more computer-like, less human. But that’s on their end, not mine
You sound awesome.
Have you noticed a trend in the way female voices are used for commercials? I’ve noticed that they are used when advertisers want their product to seem simple to use (like the mozy commercial) and whenever a product is strictly for females. Otherwise the default is a man’s voice. Is this done on purpose? Are there other reasons to have a female narrate a commercial?
Is there anyone like that? I’m great with dialects and characters and such, but I couldn’t not have some kind of an accent no matter how hard I tried.
Is it a matter of learning a standardized speech no one really uses naturally? Should you sound as much as possible like anonymous VOs in tv/radio commercials?
Very cool thread Septemberday!
What is a bad day at the office like for you?
Thanks:)
The biggest trend I’ve seen lately? They want you to sound natural and easy. Women seem to have more trusting voices, too. Also, for the most part, women are most leery of buying new technology, so they use other women to sell their products. Kind of like saying “I can use it, so you can too!”. The industry is about 70-75% male and they used to have a lot more projects to audition for than females. That’s really changing now though.
This is the first “Ask the…” thread that interested me enough to click on it
I have a problem with slurring my words together when I speak - a leftover bad habit from talking too quickly as a child. As a result, certain combinations of syllables will cause me to trip over them, embarrassingly!
So, barring some intense diction lessons, I’m out of the business before I even get started, aren’t I.