1. Know your audience
2. Use your body
3. Tell the story... beneath the story

Sometimes whether you’re a slick and seasoned voiceover professional or a brand new ‘wet behind- the-ears’ beginner, it’s really important to get back to the basics of the craft of providing a great voiceover and like any practice, there are the fundamentals…and today we’ll focus on three of the most important ones…

So, who do you think you’re talking to??

I can remember my father using this saying when I was young, especially if I’d been a little off the cuff or disrespectful with a snide remark and it was usually followed by a grounding and sometimes a shoe if I didn’t apologize promptly! 

But it illustrates the importance of knowing who your audience is!

Who is your audience?

What do they like to do?

What’s important to them?

What drives them?

What interest do they have in your content?

Imagine going to a Doctor who chose not to ask you questions before prescribing a bottle of pills for your condition? You wouldn’t be feeling very comfortable... right?

For the same reasons, the above question examples are important to ascertain the drivers

Of your audience and why they’d be listening to your script in the first place!

Use these questions when trying to get a better understanding of your audience. 

Let's dive into these 3 professional voice acting tips. 

Use your Body…

Wadda ya mean use your body??

I’m a solitary professional, all alone in my voice booth and I don’t have room to dance!?

Relax Ace… 

No dancing required, however, I do want you to get used to moving as you express the words on the page. Use your hands and facial expressions to help you elicit the feel or emotion required, whether it be love, hate, revenge, enthusiasm, aggression, whatever the case!

We’re actors after all... right? 

So, whilst ‘waving your hands everywhere’ 1. be careful not to hit your mic in the process, 2. Get off your squeaky chair and express and 3. remember not to wear your puffy shirt whilst recording… (flapping noises in the booth won’t be useful on your audio.) 

So, What’s your Story Ace?

No, not that story… the story underneath the story...

This is my most important point in this article because EVERYTHING lies in the story underneath the words you read… If you forget everything else I’ve mentioned so far, please ensure you remember this one thing,

This ‘underneath story’ I’m talking about, can really only be described as the secret sauce!

It’s the key to moving forward to where you want your career to go, it’s also the door to more voiceover work and a successful voiceover career, it will help you find a deeper level of engagement with your listener, and more than that, It’s also the only real way to touch the hearts and heads of your audience. 

As mentioned at the start of this article, It’s one of the basic fundamentals of acting and in your case, a fundamental of the craft of professional voiceover... In fact, everything else is really just ‘reading the script’ and not feeling or conveying the emotion of it.

Without your ‘engagement’ at a deeper level than just the words you are reading on the page,

You’ll never really get to the point where you entice your audience.

To your ongoing voiceover success,

Anthony Pica