Taking the first step into your career as voice talent is definitely a scary leap, but with dedication and planning it’ll be a smooth journey that will see your voice develop and blossom into the tool you need it to be.
Act it out
Acting classes or lessons may seem like a waste of time, but they’ll serve you greatly as you learn to create different characters and moods with your voice. The more professional training that you receive, the better equipped you’ll be to take on the stresses and obstacles in the industry.
Practice hard
Whilst at home, be sure to emulate and practice along with all forms of media. TV, Radio and the Internet are encountered all the time and you should expose yourself to the variety of different successful voices already on these and practice along with them.
Emulating the intensity and atmosphere of performing in your practice routine is essential to maintaining a high standard for your voice.
Health
To get the most out of your voice and career, you’ll need to be in the best shape possible. To accomplish this:
• Sleep well
• Eat well
• Don’t smoke
• Drink more water
• Drink less milk/coffee/alcohol
Drink less milk as it’ll create phlegm in your throat that’ll block your vocal cords, less caffeine and alcohol as well as these will dry your throat and will impair quality.
Repertoire
Building a repertoire is of the utmost importance, whether it’s to show someone live in person what you’re capable of or you’re putting together a demo to showcase ability to people who can’t hear you in person. Either way, the learning of material will prepare you for work in which someone will tell you what to learn, or need an example to give an impression of what you’re like.
With these factors in mind, choose a variety of different styles so that it projects upon as many bases of compatibility with the client as possible.
Work hard AND play hard
Get out there and perform! Perform and enjoy it, the more you do the more you’ll progress and develop a reputation in the areas you play.
Join groups, talk about yourself and project positivity, it all adds up and helps in the long run. The smallest things that you wouldn’t think made any difference at all tend to do the opposite.
Technology
Embrace social media, it is one of the most powerful tools in your arsenal for advancing yourself. Create relevant accounts that advertise your skills on Facebook, Google Plus, LinkedIn and others, the exposure it’ll give you will be invaluable on your journey.
A personal web site exudes professionalism and allows clients to survey so they can make a decision more easily on you. Be sure the site is easy to navigate and displays examples of your work (perhaps on a social network for audio such as SoundCloud?) so that any voice over agency or clients find hiring you a simple and clutter free process.