Voice Acting 101 (Or, how to talk about peanut butter like you mean it)
by Taylor Korobow

Nobody likes to be told what to do. Especially not baby boomers and Gen Xers. We're a most cynical bunch. We are also the most affluent market ever advertised to. But it's not easy getting through to us. As soon as someone tells us what we should buy, should wear, should smell like, what charity we should give to, we shut them off. Physically. Emotionally. Psychologically. Old-fashioned advertising just doesn't get through to us anymore. The only form of advertising that is really effective, after all, is word of mouth. We all know that. So do advertisers. That's why the look and sound of advertising has softened, become more authentic and less abrasive. Voice-over has followed suit. Announcers screaming about what car to buy just doesn't cut it anymore. Perky moms talking about their whites being brighter make us cringe. We want real people talking to us. People with personalities. People with senses of humor. People who sound like they care about us. People we know.

If you, the voice actor, can make the audience like you, relate to you, then they will listen to you, even if they couldn't care less about what you're saying. It's about sharing versus selling. Let the listener into your world and if she likes you, she just might want to be like you. She just might want to use the products and services you use.

Like with any form of acting, the goal is not to let anyone catch you acting. You must sound natural, authentic, honest, credible, like a real person. The hitch: you're doing a commercial, the least natural, authentic, honest, credible thing you can imagine.

Imagine a long line. All the way at one end is a script. A voice-over script. It could be anything: a radio or television spot, a museum tour, a corporate training video, a CD-ROM game, a voicemail greeting. This particular script, however, is a radio script written by a copywriter who works for an advertising agency. Now, if you know anything about copywriting, you know that a copywriter writes very much like she talks, especially when she is writing for broadcast. So, this script reflects this writer: her personality, level of education, phraseology, vocabulary, sense of humor, what is touching or poignant. On the opposite end of the line, as far as you can get from this script, is you. The person. The actor. Clearly, you have your own personality, your own way of communicating, your own level of education, your own vocabulary and phraseology, your own sense of humor.

You have nothing to do with this script. This script has nothing to do with you. Voice-over training, in a nutshell, is about bringing these two entities together. Closing the gap. Making the two one. The goal, simply put, is for the voice actor to sound as though the words of the script are coming from his mind, experiences, thoughts, feelings. As if he wrote them. As if he means them.

This is not easy. Unlike other forms of acting, commercial or otherwise, voice acting relies solely on one instrument. Voice actors cannot employ facial expression or body language. They must make every syllable work toward expressing an attitude, creating a character, playing a scene. There is no forgiveness in voice-over; every utterance counts.

In The Voice Factory's beginning workshop, Exploring Voiceover, we work mainly on believability. The key to making a voice-over script believable is to personalize it. If an actor is able to fit the words, no matter how commercial or hard sell they might sound, into the very fabric of his life, if the actor can actually imagine saying these words to someone he knows, there is a chance they will not come out sounding like (oh, the horror) a commercial.

Here's an exercise to try at home. First, your script: Your life could use something this smooth. New Peter Pan whipped peanut butter.

Let's look at the first line. Imagine someone in your life whose life isn't going that well. Perhaps he's going through a divorce, just lost his job, kids are driving him crazy. (Note: In a moment you are going to make this person feel better with peanut butter, so if they just found out they have some life-threatening illness, that's too heavy, lighten it up.) Now write the person's name next to the first line of copy. That's who you are going to be talking to. Now write a note or two as to why you are talking to him. What's going on in his life to make this appropriate? You just answered two of the most important questions a voice actor asks himself when preparing a script: Who am I talking to? Why? Now, try to imagine how this person is feeling (lost, dejected, unloved, scared). Be sure to name the emotion. Write it on the script. Imagine how you want this person to feel (cared for, protected, loved, comforted). Write this emotion on the script. You've just answered two more important preparation questions: How is the person to whom I'm talking feeling? How do I want them to feel?

Voice actors often get too bogged down worrying about how they want to sound. It's more important to ask yourself how you want the listener to feel.

Back to our peanut butter script. Look at the second line. A product. Yikes. The toughest thing to say without sounding like a bad announcer. Here's a hint: Always say the name of a product like you're answering a question. Now, imagine you go to the store and see this new peanut butter. Knowing that the person to whom you're talking loves peanut butter, you buy it for them. Now you're in your kitchen and they come in. Imagine exactly how you'd present them with the peanut butter (sandwich with jelly, on a cracker, dipped spoon, dipped finger) and imagine giving it to this poor, sad soul whose life isn't going very well. When you give it to him, he asks, What's this? You answer with the second line of copy. Keep it matter of fact, conversational; simply answer the question. Now, say the two lines together. The first should register warmth and caring; the second is an answer to a question, a simple solution. Don't make it more important than it is. Don't overdo it. Keep it intimate. Keep it personal.

The first time you do this script, an odd phenomenon might rear its ugly head. Don't be alarmed. What very well might happen is simply this: All the bad advertising you have ever heard in your life will come flooding into your head. You will say the word

ew like it's the most exciting word anyone has ever heard. The rest of the product line might very well come out like you are holding the jar of peanut butter right up next to your face, and you are smiling...man, are you smiling. This is an example of making it more important than it is. New peanut butter is not going to be overwhelmingly exciting news no matter how good it is.

There are many ways to practice voice-over at home. When boiling water for a cup of tea, read the back of the tea box aloud (for some reason, tea companies always write great little stories about the history of their teas). Imagine who you are talking to and why. Read as though you were having a real conversation right there in your kitchen. Keep your voice soft, intimate. The next time you're taking a shower, read the back of your shampoo bottle. Imagine someone just complimented you on your hair and tell her, ever so matter of factly, what shampoo you use and what it does for your hair. Be natural.

Voice acting is about relaying feelings, not facts. As soon as some big company figures out a way to get computers to relay emotions, we'll all be out of work. But until that day, voice actors need to work on inviting the listener in, gently and carefully. Remember, a good voice actor connects with the listener and talks with her, not at her. A good voice actor sounds like he is someone you know, someone who cares about you--someone who might make you a peanut butter and jelly sandwich just when you need it most.

Taylor Korobow is the founder/director of The Voice Factory, a casting and coaching company devoted exclusively to voice-over.