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Voiceover Coaching Before/Afters

Need a little guidance? Could you use some help putting together your next demo reel?

Coaching Case #1 - Beginner Voiceover

This is Anna. That's not her real name because she'd like to remain anonymous. She's so graciously allowed me to use her vocals as an example for this site. 

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Here's a little back story. Anna is in her 20's and is really curious about voiceover work. She's experimented with ASMR for her girlfriend, but has never done any commercial reads before. So, naturally, I threw her in the studio and said "Give me your best shot! Let's have some fun with this! Here's a sample script. How would you read it?"

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And this was her first read.

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I can only imagine she must have been nervous in a new environment using new tools with a crazy woman at the computer (me). I would have been! But she did it. Not bad for a first read. It's done, boom, now we have a starting point!

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We spent perhaps 10 minutes working on this piece. Sometimes I'd read the line first and ask her to copy my inflection. Sometimes I'd ask her to imagine herself in the position of the customer (what would make you want to listen?) and the client (what makes you believe in this product so much?), etc. This was the final version.

 

 

 

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Not bad for a first timer! Let's give it up for Anna!

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Here was my advice to her after we recorded 5 different sample scripts:

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"Your voice is really geared for clients looking for natural, conversational sounding, non-commercial reads. I would work on grouping sections of thought together, sentence by sentence, and spend an hour listening to commercials of that type - taking some notes. Check out commercials for outdoor companies, natural health/wellness, local/regional radio commercial spots, etc. Pay attention to inflections, and see if you notice any patterns in terms of whether voiceover artists tend to end on a higher tone vs. ending on lower, more conclusional tones.

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Begginer voiceover BEFORE
Begginer voiceover AFTER

Coaching Case #2 - My kids (OMG)

Let it be known that I love my kids dearly, but working with them is a challenge (mostly for them because I'm not cool and everything I say is embarrassing, obvs). But when a client needed kids' voices for a script where kids annoy their mother, I knew exactly who to hire. I bribed them into the studio with treats and money (#parentinghacks) and after locking them in there and promising they could come out only when they'd given me the lines I needed, they started getting the hang of this VO thing. 

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Here's the before.

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And after several rounds, more chocolate and a promise they'll be played on the local radio in some city I couldn't point to on the map for a hundred dollars, the after.

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Way to go kids! I'm so proud of you!

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Kids voiceover BEFORE
Kids voiceover AFTER

Coaching Case #3 - Could this be you?

Kickstart Your Journey!

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