You, A Voice Talent?
Hello Everybody!
As promised, here are 10 startup tips on how to make money as a voice talent:
- If you have a fairly new, decent computer, buy a USB mic, like a Samson C01U
- Learn how to record your voice
- Learn how to use the Sonar LE software that comes with the mic
- Practice reading different types of copy, or print that might be in a commercial, or just a script that wouldn’t be for broadcast (you could just write down and read a commercial you hear on TV or Radio)
- Learn how to put music or sound effects underneath your voice that fits with the script you are reading, which can be done fairly easily in Sonar LE
- If you aren’t ready to do the recording yourself, get a studio or someone you know to do it for you and put together a 3 minute demo showcasing the different styles you can do with your voice. In the end, you will most likely end up specializing in one or two voices that everybody likes. People like to pigeon-hole talent…he’s the announcer voice, he’s the country guy, etc.
- Go to www.voice123 and look around…you can sign up here and record demos for clients looking for your type voice. (a friend of mine makes a living doing just that…once you get a hand full of clients, you should get repeat business if you did a good job and your voice fits for their project.
- It’s easier to get work for training, websites, on-hold messages, and other jobs not for broadcast. Many times broadcast jobs are union, and are much higher budget, although landing a job like that is much more competitive, and probably pays more. These jobs you can get locally by calling on audio and video recording studios, advertising agencies, etc. I know a guy that made a living for years just reading scripts for a really large telephone on-hold company.
- This probably won’t happen over night, so just be patient. Get some feedback on your voice from people that are in the business if possible…if you are good, it wil eventually happen if you are persistant. One this is for sure, if you give up, it won’t happen! If you have any questions, please leave a post.
More ideas later
Good Luck!
Danny Jones
buyprosound.net
creative-digital.net
kwiksounds.com
