Raise Your Voice Acting

Take Action #25: Radio Follow-Along

March 15th, 2011

Turn on the radio or TV and try to mimic not only the words, but the accent, the inflection of the speaker and see how close you can get to sounding like them.

This is another great (and inexpensive) way to practice is to mimic things you hear. Listen to your favorite radio station and simply mimic the DJ’s, the commercial announcers, even the newscasters. Not only will this clue you in to the types of voices that are booking work, but you’ll often come up with new and exciting voices just by trying to mimic someone else’s.

Tags: exercise, mimic, mimicry, radio, Tara Platt, Tips, vo tip, Vocal Exercises, vocal health, vocal practice, voice acting, voice over exercises, voiceover, Yuri Lowenthal
Posted in Tips, Vocal Exercises | No Comments » |

Take Action # 24 Audition Time

March 7th, 2011

1. This exercise is to help simulate an audition experience for you. Remember to look for all the information on the page to give you clues to your performance.
2. Do a trial run with each of the specs and record yourself. Play it back and listen to hear if what you planned in your head was apparent in your recording.

Try out the following Commercial and Animation Audition Copy using the following specs. See how each unique spec changes your performance.

Commercial –

Specs:
1. young, cheerful, spunky 2. wants to be everyone’s friend
3. eternally optimistic 4.intelligent, honest, down-to-earth

1. In the summer heat, 2 bucks can go a long way.
Now, at The Burger Joint, grab a large drink, large fries
and your choice of hamburger or cheeseburger for only $1.99.
Come in and fill up for less than 2 bucks.

2. Why choose one of those other companies that might loose your package or handle it with less-than-optimal care?
Let BoxYouUp come by your office or home and package,
mail and deliver your important items at your convenience.
Visit BoxYouUp.com for pricing.

Animation –

Specs:
1. energetic, sporty, hot shot 2. is always having a good time
3. goofy, crazy, wild 4.nervous and easily excited

1. Hey little monkey, I don’t know what you are doing in there, but you need to come out right now. You hear me?I don’t wanna have to yell. C’mon now. Get out. Get. OUT. Monkeeeeeeeeee! OUT. Now see, that wasn’t so bad, now was it. Ha! Silly monkey.

2. You mean there is more out there than this? Robots even? Wicked!
Because I’ve been waiting my whole life for that.I just know I can take them on.
Let’s go.
What are you waiting for? Let’s do this thing.
Woah. Did you see that? I’m awesome.

Fantastic. Hopefully getting the experience of listening to your performance has given you a deeper understanding of the variety of things you will want to consider when working on audition material or even going to an audition. Of course, this exercise can’t exactly duplicate an audition experience, but the more prepared you feel before you go into an audition situation, the more confident and relaxed you will be, and the higher your chances of you doing your best work, and with any luck, booking the job!

Tags: audition, auditioning, exercise, mimic, mimicry, radio, Tara Platt, Tips, vo tip, Vocal Exercises, vocal health, vocal practice, voice acting, voice over exercises, voiceover, Yuri Lowenthal
Posted in Tips, Vocal Exercises | No Comments » |

Take Action #21: Trills

January 31st, 2011

Roll your tongue on the roof of your mouth (in a “Spanish ‘R’ ” sound) while going up and down the scale

Doing trills combines warming up your vocal cords with waking up your tongue. Since your vocal apparatus is like a machine, you want all of its parts warmed up, well-oiled and working together to create your best, strongest, most versatile voice.

Great articulation, and rapid tongue movement is what a ventriloquist uses when throwing their voice.

Tags: acting, actor, articulation, great articulation, Tara Platt, Tips, trills, vo tip, Vocal Exercises, vocal health, vocal practice, voice acting, voice actor, voice-over, voiceover, warm up, warmed up
Posted in Tips, Vocal Exercises | 1 Comment » |

Take Action #20: Articulation

January 19th, 2011

1. P-T-K-T (puh-tuh-kuh-tuh)
Repeat the sounds P-T-K-T over and over (p-t-k-t-p-t-k-t…)
2. B-D-G-D (buh-duh-guh-duh)
Repeat the sounds B-D-G-D over and over (b-d-g-d-b-d-g-d…)
3. P-T-K-T-B-D-G-D (puh-tuh-kuk-tuh-buh-duh-guh-duh)
Repeat the sounds P-T-K-T-B-D-G-D over and over (p-t-k-t-b-d-g-d-p-t-k-t-p-t-g-d…)
4. Vary up the pattern a bit to make it harder for yourself. Try also going up and down the scale while doing this articulation exercise
5. After doing this exercise for a bit, try one of your favorite tongue twisters and see if it’s easier.

This exercise will allow your mouth to get warmed up while working on both plosive and non-plosive sounds. Also be aware of your breathing throughout the articulation exercises, so that it also helps you practice breath control.

Tags: articulate, articulation, breathing, vo tip, vocal health, vocal practice, voice, voice acting, voice actor, voice-over, voiceover
Posted in Tips, Vocal Exercises | No Comments » |

Take Action #16: Your Breath

December 10th, 2010

1. Begin by lying flat on the ground and placing your hand on your abdomen just below your ribs.
2. Feel the natural rise and fall as you breathe.
3. Notice the natural ‘pause’ between inhale and exhale.

This is how your body breathes without you trying to do anything to control it. As you breathe, there should be four sections to each breath: 1. an inhale, 2. a pause, 3. an exhale, 4. a pause. We usually don’t feel the pauses because they’re short and they happen naturally, but they’re there, all right.
This next exercise focuses on lengthening, or expanding, your breath. Begin by inhaling for a three-count, holding for a three-count, exhaling for a three-count and holding for a three-count. Do this until it’s comfortable and then start to increase your count, four-count, five-count, etc. If you start to feel light-headed or dizzy, stop immediately and take a break. See if you can comfortably work up to 5, 6, 7 or even 8, 9, 10.

(Tara once had a voice teacher who could breathe in and out on a thirty-count, which comes with a lot of practice. Being able to hold your breath and control your breathing allows you to play with your voice more, giving you more range and stamina, which could come in handy for things such as recording long passages for audiobooks or characters who really ramble on.)

Tags: audiobooks, breath, breath control. vocal control, breathing, inhaling, Tara Platt, Tips, vo tip, vocal practice, voice, voice acting, voice actor, voice-over, Yuri Lowenthal
Posted in Tips, Vocal Exercises | No Comments » |

Take Action #10 – Can You Step Out of Your Natural Voice?

October 6th, 2010

Stepping outside of your natural voice can be a lot of fun! Once you understand what your natural vocal qualities and “sound” are, you can begin to play outside the box and expand the range of characters and qualities you can offer.

This exercise helps you play with a range of emotions. As you read the following phrases, you’ll notice that we have removed all punctuation, which can often be a clue to a phrase’s tone. But in order to expand your range, let’s play around with the many different ways the same phrase can be said. First, see what your natural inclination is when you read the phrase. Copy and paste this blog to a Word Doc, and after each one, write down the adjective that you feel most fits the phrase/sentence. For example, a sentence such as “stop,” might be angry. As you read the phrases, see how you naturally interpret the emotion associated with saying the words.

Exercise: Phrases

Over here
I need that
Let go
What are you talking about
Don’t do that
I don’t think that’s a good idea
Give me the new one
No
Try it again
Listen to me
Alright
Stop right there
Wow that’s huge

Now, review your phrase list and see how you naturally ‘heard’ the specific words. Perhaps your “no,” was “frustrated,” because you assumed that if you are telling someone “no,” it’s because you’re frustrated about something.

Becoming familiar with your instincts can be very helpful because it’ll allow you to make a choice outside of your natural inclination, which can yield very interesting results.

Come say hello on Facebook: Voice Over Voice Actor

Tags: acting, actor, exercises, Tara Platt, vocal practice, voice acting, voice actor, voice-over, voiceover, Yuri Lowenthal
Posted in Tips, Vocal Exercises | No Comments » |

Take Action #2: Parrot the Actors in Commercials!

September 15th, 2009

(Exercises re-published with permission from VoiceOverVoiceActor.com)

Flip channels on your television or radio for 5 minutes to listen to commercials. Each time you find a commercial, try parroting the voice actor who is speaking. Try to repeat not only the words, but the musicality, the nuances, the tone, and the inflections.

Then turn off the radio or TV and pick up a random piece of text (it can be an advertisement in a magazine, a book, a piece of mail, etc). Try to use the same vocal patterns, tonality and style you were just mimicking as you read this new material.

Practicing this will begin to train your ear, attune you to what is currently “hot” in the advertising world, and get you reading and speaking aloud, which is important in and of itself.

Tags: acting, exercise, radio, reading, tv, vocal practice, voice-over, voiceover
Posted in Vocal Exercises | 2 Comments » |