Why good voiceover is about more than 'just' the voice...

This might sound weird, but as a voice actor the sound of my voice is kind of the last thing I think about.

In fact I would go so far as to say that focussing on the specifics of how your voice actually sounds is the quickest way to kill a vibe in the studio.

These are a few of the things I *do* spend time thinking about, that I think make a recording really good.

💫 Real reactions. Because believability is everything. What just happened? How does it feel? Why am I speaking? If it’s not real to me, it’s not real to anybody.

🫁 Breath. The breath speaks. The breath has opinions! The breath says what the words don’t/ can’t/ shouldn’t. The breath is the life.

👣 My body. I feel my characters in my legs, hands, the jut of a chin, the height of a gaze. Feel first, speak second.

🎭 Actions. Sometimes when we annotate scripts we give each line or phrase an action. I encourage. I charm. I persuade. Because in real life, people say everything for a reason.

🧐 Knowing who I’m talking to. My mum. My daughter. The friend who kind of let me down. A disengaged teenager. I pick someone from my life who makes sense for that piece, and speak to them.

🫙I see these as the pebbles in the jar, and the voice as the sand that flows between them.