Just like a football player wouldn’t walk onto the field for a game without warming up, reviewing strategies, and getting motivated, you shouldn’t go right into a voice-over audition without the right preparation.
Coming from a sports background, I like to use the word “pregame”. The pregame is what athletes do prior to the game to get them ready to go. Here are some tips on what to do for your auditioning pregame.
1. Read through the audition notes carefully.
When you’re auditioning for a commercial, narration, or a character project, the audition will usually come with notes on what the client is looking for. It’ll say things like “professional read”, “conversational read”, “friendly”, “warm”, “motherly”, “bold”, etc. Some clients will give you more audition notes than others, but make sure to read through regardless.
2. Warm up your voice.
You want to get your voice warmed up and ready to go before you start the audition. There are a variety of vocal warm-ups you can do to make sure that you get the best sound when you’re reading your audition. You can find various voice-over warm-ups here.
3.Read through the script.
You want to have a good idea of the tone of the script and what the script is looking to get across to the listener.
First, you want to decide who the listener is. Who are the people that will likely be listening to the voice-over?
If it’s a commercial for example, is it appealing to mothers, teenagers, kids, executives, or busy dads? Is it looking to communicate to people with a certain condition or people with a certain interest? Try and determine who the target audience is for the commercial. If it’s a narration or explainer script, who would be on the listening end?
Next, decide who you are in the scenario. Are you a friend talking to another friend about the product? Are you a representative of the company? Are you an expert in the field? Determining who you are in the script will also help you determine the tone and the way you want to read it.
4. Look up any words you are not sure how to pronounce.
If there are any words in the script that you do not know how to pronounce, make sure you look them up. You can search for words online and there will normally be an audible pronunciation of the word that you can listen to. If it’s a company name you’re not sure how to pronounce, many times you can call the company on the phone and hear their pickup recording or hear how they pronounce it when somebody answers the phone.
5. What is the mood or tone of the script?
Is it happy and exciting to get the listener interested in something? Is it solemn to get the listener to care? Try to determine how the script wants the listener to feel.
6. What is important to emphasize in the script?
This is really important to note. If you are new to voice-over, you may even want to highlight or underline the words that are important in the scripts so you know to emphasize them in your audition read. Make sure to emphasize the brand name or the main ideas of the script.
7. Imagine the visuals that might be going on while you’re reading the script.
Whether it’s a commercial or narration, a documentary, a cartoon, or an explainer video, a lot of voice-over is coupled with visuals. As you’re reading through the audition, try to imagine what might be coming up on the screen while the voice-over is playing.
8. Take the listener on a journey.
Once you have a good idea on the mood, tone, and ideas you’re looking to get across, you can then get into the audition and record. You want to lift the words off the page. Having a good basis of the script beforehand will help you accomplish this.
Make sure to take your time to prepare for your auditions. It’s important to have a good basis of the script to really paint the picture with your voice for the listener. It helps to take the listener on the journey with you.
Check out our free PDF with pro-tips from real working voice-over actors here!
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