Whether you’re a seasoned pro or beginner voice actor looking to improve your voice acting skills, voice over training is the way to go.
Trained voice actors are proven to be more successful in the voice over industry. Voice actors on Voices who have taken part in voice over training have been shown to:
Make 13% more on a job-per-job basis, compared to a voice actor without any training.
Book 21% more jobs, compared to voice actors with no training.
There are many ways to train, from self-guided study to coach-led voice over classes. Let’s explore each voice acting training method so you can choose the best options for your unique needs and career goals.
Types of Voice Over Training
When it comes to voice over education, the world is your oyster with so many options available to you:
Professionally-Guided Voice Over Training
Networking: Attending Voice Acting Seminars and Meetup Groups
Independent Study: Voice Over Training Materials Available Online
For instance, you may choose to take classes as part of a group, masterclass, or one-on-one. You can also attend live or remote sessions, or even watch pre-recorded materials online. You could opt to have a guide (like a voice acting teacher or coach) or study independently (although we definitely recommend getting an expert’s perspective at some point along your journey).
What you choose may depend on availability, delivery method, budget, and even your location. We’ve outlined the types of voice over training to help you make the best choice for yourself at this early stage.
Professionally Guided Voice Over Training
Here are the various guided voice over training options available to you as a voice actor:
In-Studio Voice Over Training from a Voice Over Coach
In-studio training is highly beneficial for beginner voice actors because it is similar to actual recording sessions, giving you the option to become more comfortable in a professional setting.
When you get one-on-one voice over training from a professional voice over coach, you also receive instant feedback on your performance, allowing you to recognize your areas of weakness.
Professional voice over coaches can help you discover your full potential as a voice actor, because they have experience listening to all kinds of voice talent and know how to properly guide you toward success.
With one-on-one training sessions, don’t hesitate to ask questions or take in all the feedback your voice over coach has to offer. Such voice over training can be costly, so use the time you have with the coach wisely.
Joining Remote Voice Actor Classes
Professional voice acting classes are not bound by studio walls, as they are also available to you remotely through platforms such as Zoom or apps like Skype or FaceTime for video coaching and tele-training. This means that you can receive professional voice over training from any coach around the world from the comfort of your own home.
Here’s more on the different kinds of remote voice actor classes:
1. Live Voice Acting Webinars and Interactive Video Sessions:
What is a webinar? A webinar (short for web seminar) is an hour-or-so long tutorial on a specific topic such as The Acting in Voice Acting and Improving Your Audio Production Workflow or Mastering the Conversational Sound.
A live video voice acting class can be delivered through an informative webinar, with questions and answers following each session. You can learn a lot about voice overs from a webinar, as the amount of information being transferred to you is usually quite specific and loaded with takeaways not found in the common resource.
You also get the opportunity to clear your doubts during the question and answer portion that tends to happen at the end of the session. Voices Premium members are invited to private webinars each month from the top voice actors in the field and continue to use this Q&A time for any remaining areas of apprehension they have about specific voice over situations.
Another type of live video training session available to voice actors includes a class-like session between an instructor and multiple students. While it offers a more structured approach to voice over training than a webinar, it still revolves around input and feedback made by all participants and is often more conversational than a webinar.
2. Tele-training for Voice Actors:
Tele-training takes place via telephone, Skype, Facetime, Google Meet, or Zoom, with one-on-one sessions between the voice actor and the voice over coach. The great benefit of tele-training is that it maintains the focus on the audio, allowing both coach and student to analyze the quality of the voice over practice taking place during the tele-training.
If you are working full-time, or preoccupied with other personal commitments, remote voice actor classes can be a great option simply because you and the coach are booking times according to your schedule—unlike a scheduled webinar or interactive class-like setting.
You can set up the time for each class by communicating with your voice over coach. Such classes are highly convenient and can often be more affordable than in-studio sessions with a professional vocal coach.
Learn more about choosing remote voice over training to see if these options suit your needs.
Find the Best Voice Over Coach for You
The right voice over coach can play an instrumental role in your success by helping you to truly recognize your voice acting strengths and weaknesses, and subsequently improving on them from the perspective of someone with deep industry knowledge.
While that is true, finding the best voice over coach can be a difficult task and that’s why it’s best to take advantage of introductory phone calls or other opportunities to get to know the voice over coach (like our webinar series and podcasts, and other networking events that give you a chance to hear how they speak to an audience that they’re aiming to educate and connect with). Looking up online reviews can also prove to be a helpful way to source out the best voice over coach for yourself.
Learn more about selecting the right voice over coach or find one today by browsing our carefully curated voice actor coach directory.
Networking: Attending Voice Acting Seminars and Meetup Groups
Attending voice over seminars and events is a terrific idea because it allows you to network with other great professionals in the field. By attending these industry events, you gain insight on the different experiences voice actors have, allowing you to learn from each individual’s voice acting journey.
You can also attend Meetup group sessions. Voice acting Meetup groups consist of professional voice talent and newcomers, all coming together to take part in peer feedback sessions and voice over discussions, both virtually or in-person. This kind of feedback will help you recognize your voice acting strengths and weaknesses.
Most importantly, you’ll be able to see other newcomers like yourself and understand the different voice over strategies that they are using to get voice over work.
Tip: use the link above to search for Meetup groups in your area. Try a variety of keywords in the search to see what is available near you. For example, you can try “voice over,” “voice acting,” and “voice talent” to find the Meetup groups specific to your new career path in voice over. But don’t forget, you’re a freelancer, too. Feel free to try keywords around “freelance” to see if you can attend and learn any freelance business practices from other freelancers outside the realm of voice over.
Independent Study: Voice Over Training Materials Online
You can immediately kickstart your voice over training by accessing the vast variety of voice over training materials online.
Listening to Voice Acting Podcasts
Podcasts offer voice over training at a pace completely within your control. Listen whenever is convenient for you (while doing dishes, driving, getting ready for your day job, etc.) Pause, replay, and skip ahead when it suits you, and skim the show notes to see what’s on the docket ahead of time. Listening to voice acting podcasts is a great way to learn voice over tips and tricks from industry insiders such as voice coaches, clients, and professional voice actors.
Beyond the benefits of being free and available whenever you are, voice over training podcasts are highly specific to the field and often cover niche topics experiences in the day to day lives of voice actors. One of Voices’ podcasts, Mission Audition, takes voice actors through the audition process from a client’s perspective.
In each episode, you’ll hear real voice actor auditions, as well as hear critiques from voice over industry experts. Learn the common pitfalls to avoid and get tips to ensure your auditions always impress the client. Listen to “Mission Audition” on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Google Podcasts now.
Many voice over coaches are guests on Mission Audition, so listening to the podcast can also give you a unique perspective on a coach’s personality and coaching style, helping you determine if that coach is a good fit for you as well as prepare you for what to expect when you decide to pursue one-on-one coach training.
Watching Recorded Webinars on YouTube
YouTube is considered the largest e-learning platform out there. In your voice over journey so far, you’ve probably searched for how to do something on YouTube like “how to choose a microphone”, “what is sibilance,” and “what are plosives in your recordings?” Beyond getting quick answers from knowledgeable people in the form of solid advice, you can get deep into these voice over topics by watching recorded webinars (unlike attending the webinar live, as discussed above.)
About a month or so after our Premium member webinars are available to our Premium members, we upload the recordings to YouTube. We have an entire playlist on YouTube with over 40 hours of webinars!
Webinars are popular among voice actors because you get to listen and learn from experts you may not otherwise have access to, who address questions you didn’t know you would have.
Accessing Online Voice Actor Training Materials
As a beginner voice actor, you can immediately start your voice over training on your own by looking up great voice over training material online. This can include online guides (like the one you’re reading now!), voice over forums, and voice acting blogs. Each offers a view into granular topics within the industry and everyday experience of a voice actor. Check out our YouTube and Blog for more online training materials once you’re finished with this guide.