Bill Pryce Voice Over Blog » voiceover training

Voice Over Tips – Marc Cashman Part 2

Bill — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 21:07:40 +0000

Voice-over teacher Marc Cashman talks about copy, demos and agents in part two of his interview with Back Stage Magazine. Scroll down for part one.

Voiceover – The Importance of Training

Bill — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 17:12:06 +0000

I was fortunate enough to take the advanced voice over workshop that Marc Cashman presented in my neck of the woods a couple of weekends ago. It’s been my experience that you always come away with a nugget or two from every class that you can add to your quiver of tricks in voice-over. Marc is no exception.

He emailed this morning with links to a couple of videos he did for Back Stage magazine. If you are a newbie to the voice acting business, Marc has some good pointers for you.

The Marice Tobias Fall Workshop Schedule

Bill — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 13:05:21 +0000

Stacey Stahl emailed yesterday the dates and cities of the remaining Marice Tobias workshops for voice over pros this year. See them here.

Marice has a magical way of spotting things that are getting in the way of your most authentic performance as a voice actor. I highly recommend her workshops.

Tweety Bird to Land in Dallas

Bill — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 14:27:16 +0000

Voice over actor and teacher Bob Bergen plans an advanced animation techniques workshop in Dallas February 28-March 1st 2009. Bob is a gifted voice actor and the current voice of Porky Pig and Tweety Bird for Looney Toons. He also appears regularly in animated films such as Cars, Shrek, Toy Story and Wall-E. So, yeah, he’s big-time.

The workshop will be at Cake Mix Recording Visit Bob’s website for sign-up information. That is all.

Physical Movement in Voice Acting-Just do What Works

Bill — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 19:01:06 +0000

During my time in the voiceover business I’ve been witness to many different styles of acting before the microphone. I’ve seen actors silently but not so subtley move their entire bodies while doing the read. And I’ve seen the flat dry monotone read done while the actor stands stiff as a statue with hands crammed in pockets.

Looking at session videos on YouTube or Voiceover Universe you also see a variety of hand placements and gestures. Some actors bring energy into the read by waving hands or wagging fingers. Others will clinch a fist against their noggin to help get tension into the material. Ed Grover was famous for clasping his hands on top of his head to help him open up that “sweeping” read he would do for Visa.

If I’m doing a training narration I tend to gesture a lot, talking with my hands in order to help emphasize and draw certain phrases or word groups out of copy that is by it’s nature pretty dry stuff.

While voicing retail copy I try to get a little more energy into the read by rapidly wagging a wrist around behind the mic. I do most of the fast legal reads for Nationwide Insurance radio and for those I stand like a statue with arms up and out and pour the energy into cramming all those words into the shortest space possible.

On the other hand there are voice actors who prefer not to use overly physical techniques and still bring wonderful life to their scripts through emotional connection to the words.

If you are just starting out, practice and experiment. Get training. Use a coach. Find the techniques that work best for you.