This will be a follow up post to one I wrote on March 13th. That title was Take It Slow.
The title of this post is Let it Go (obviously enough). So just exactly what does that mean? About a bazillion things actually.
In my last post (sorry it was SO LONG AGO, I’ve been very busy), I talked about what to do when your voice isn’t working. This time around, I will talk about what to do when your voice is perfectly find, if your mind would just cooperate!
Let’s just say it: sometimes one is just TIRED. It happens to everyone for various reasons. I would venture to say that fatigue is the main reason for an uncooperative mind. Believe it or not, the best antidote for tiredness is physical activity. It’s hard to initiate, but once you start moving around and being active, your heartbeat increases and your juices start flowing, and soon thereafter your mind is back in gear. Physical activity can be as simple as stretching. You don’t have to run a mile, just move around. It really does help.
Deep breathing also helps, not only with the tired voice, but the tired mind. An oxygen increase in the brain helps with the sharpening of the mind.
Something else that not only helps with the voice as well as the mind is lots of water.. Research has shown that drinking lots of water not only helps decrease fatigue, it also has lots of other health benefits as well. I recommend taking a sip of water or two every other paragraph or so (as long as you’re doing the editing on your own and not on the clock, otherwise, look for angry editors or clients).
If all else fails, take a power nap. I find naps of 15 minutes or so to be most refreshing. If you can, nap for one sleep cycle (1.5 hours) this way you are the most refreshed. Just don’t forget to set an alarm! You might miss a deadline! (Thank goodness this isn’t coming from personal experience!)
What do you do when you get behind the mic and what comes out of your mouth doesn’t sound the way you want?
Believe me, if you do enough voice work, this WILL happen. For example, earlier today, I was working on an audio book for a client, I got behind the mic and ALL of my energy disappeared. All of the sudden, I wanted to lay down and take a nap. So, I got up from my stool, stopped the recording and did something else for a little bit.
Often, getting your mind off the task at hand is the best way to get things done faster. I know that sounds counterintuitive, but honestly, if your mind is not focused upon what you have to do, and you still go through with it, you’re making a BIG mistake.
A couple of chapters earlier in the book, I woke up an hour earlier, just so I could get an early start on the book. Big mistake! NEVER use your voice heavily in the morning! You’re setting yourself up for failure later in the day. After lying dormant all evening, your vocal cords are not prepared for constant vibration right away. Give your voice some time to warm up. Drink a warm fluid like coffee or tea. Hum some tunes. Take a shower and breathe in the hot steam from the water. All of these things can and should be done BEFORE a proper warm up. Your voice is just like an instrument, it’s not going to be in tune if you just start playing it. Warm up first!! Always! Not warming up is often one of the reasons my voice “doesn’t happen” later in the day.
If you do all of these things and your voice STILL doesn’t want to cooperate, there are still things that can be done. Find ways of clearing your throat without clearing your throat. Yet again, counterintuitive, but totally necessary. Clearing your throat helps nothing, it only agitates your vocal cords and makes things worse. The remedy that helps me more than anything is deep breathing through the nose and LOTS of water. Swallowing harder than normal has often helped me as well. This is often best accomplished with some water at room temperature. Avoid grease, dairy, and heavy sugar. All of these will dry you out or create a mucus issue.
If your voice still doesn’t work, just stop. Sometimes the best thing for your voice is complete and total rest. Continuing to work through voice trouble only causes more trouble. Sometimes there is no other option. Clients will understand in most cases, but make sure you notify them! As long as there is not a swiftly approaching deadline or a hint of client dissatisfaction, you should be in the green.
Next time: tips on what to do when your VOICE is working but your brain isn’t! It happens to EVERYONE. My tips for success when your brain becomes a failure.
I often find myself reading things WAY too quickly! Take your time! Slow it down! Slowing down what you read allows you to read further ahead and better prepare for what you are about to say. Not all reads should be like an auctioneer or a canned voice (the voice at the end of car ads that somehow reads faster than one can think). Remember, what you are reading is only read by you, it is heard by everyone else. Give it some time to soak in. A little silence between words won’t kill anyone… that is unless you have to cram the copy in. That happens too. Silences can be edited out a lot easier than sound. If you’re reading ahead (like you always should be) and the words get jumbled up in your head: STOP!! It takes a lot of practice, but it can save you or your editor a LOT of time.
The best way to find success in the world of voiceover is to get by with a little help from our friends. That is the entire reason I started this blog. I want to take the information that I have and share it with the world. I don’t claim to be the world’s greatest voice, I am definitely not, but I feel that I have a way with relating information to people (especially the driven dreamers like myself) that can really help them out a lot.
Getting by with a little (or maybe a whole lot of help) from our friends involves reading blogs like this one and talking to other VO people about what they do and how they do it. The best way to do that is by posting to VO bulletin boards like these:
If you want to call yourself a true voice over artist, you’ll need to have a home studio. It’s as simple as that.
Unfortunately, it’s also as complicated as that.
The nice thing about being a VO person is that we do not have to record many, many tracks with really fancy equipment and software. All you need to get started is a good microphone, some moderate sound proofing, and a computer with audio editing software. That’s all!
Before I begin, let me say that I am going for value in this setup, I want to make having a home studio affordable for everyone. You have to start small, get small gigs, make some money to put back into nicer equipment. It’s a vicious cycle, but it is well worth it. There is nothing like having a home studio.
Let’s get started:
This afternoon I had the pleasure of e-meeting Bettye Zoller, one of the great female voices in the world of voiceover. She has granted me permission to use her article “What Is A Voiceover” on my blog. Without further ado: Bettye Zoller’s “What Is A Voiceover?”:
What Is A Voiceover and How Do You Do It?
By Bettye Zoller
Click to continue reading “Bettye Zoller’s “What Is A Voiceover?””
If your answer to this question is no, you are in deeeeeep trouble.
15 years ago, no one knew what the internet was. Now, if you don’t have a website and you want to do VO, you’d better get one. Your best investment for your VO career is practice/preparation. Your second best investment is good equipment. Your third best investment is a killer website.
Like we talked about last post, don’t ASPIRE to be a pro, BE a pro. To be a pro these days you MUST have a website and it must be excellent. It has to look clean, easy to navigate, content rich, and has to leave its mark on the viewer.
So how does one go about obtaining an awesome sight? I am blessed enough to be able to run 3 of my own websites (not including blogs or social stuff). What if you don’t know HTML, CSS, Flash, or Java or any of that fancy stuff? You have two options: do it yourself or have someone do it for you. I have suggestions for both.
Add me!!
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