The following is from the Such A Voice archive, written by Catherine Marshall.
Preparing for a voice-over job is a funny thing. You have to first network to get the job, utilize your voice-over technique while sounding as natural as possible, and produce a quality edit after you finish recording.
Sometimes no matter how much you prepare for each step, your mouth rebels against you! Dry mouth is a common phenomenon, but new voice-over talents are more likely to experience wet mouth when they step into their home recording studio for their first few jobs.
Wet mouth can ruin a recording because the smacks and “wet” sounds are nearly impossible to edit out later. By understanding why it happens, and keeping a few food items in stock, you can circumvent this problem altogether.
Our voice-over talents here remember getting wet mouth when they first started out in the voice-over industry because they were nervous. Mel Allen says that taking a few deep breaths usually did the trick to calm his nerves. If that didn’t work, he would swish water around his mouth and spit it out.
Here’s our short list of foods to have on hand:
• Cranberry Juice: Although it’s sweet, cranberry juice can dry up a drooling mouth because it’s tart.
• Green Apples: Seem to be a wonder food for voice-over artists! They tend to balance out the moisture in your mouth, whether you’re running too wet or dry.
• Green Tea: The tannins in green tea can help sop up a messy mouth, but make sure not to add cream or sugar.
Remember to keep yourself hydrated throughout the day, and not just the days that you have voice-over work. Get used to drinking a couple liters of water a day. When you’re actually in your home recording studio, remember to just sip, not chug.
