Who Are You?

Okay, Mr. Voice Over Guy, who are you? Are you a Jack of All Trades? Really? Then how come all of the top VO talents aren't. They're specialists, or should I say they have cultivated a "money read" (or hopefully a handful of them) which is (are) very true to their personality. This read should thrive in the successful genres for that talent. Sure, they are still very talented voice actors capable of great range despite the specialization...but that's not what they book for work, because that's not who they are. In many cases, the "money read" will in fact say quite a lot about who a VO is in real life. That's a good thing, I should think - fakery and artifice shouldn't be unduly rewarded as a craft.

If you're a voice over talent, try this exercise (don't worry, you won't pull anything out of whack by doing it): go to Voicebank.net and pick ten agencies at random. Then listen to all the talents of your gender and pick five from each agency that sound the most like you.

Then study them inside and out, all the while asking the question "Who Are You?" More importantly, ask yourself "How can I be uniquely myself with something special and differentiating to offer and compete with these fifty people to be the best voice over artist I can be?"