one of the biggest questions that many voice-over artists have is “how do I give my character a voice?” or “how do I choose a voice to use for this character?”. This is the most critical stage in the voice acting process and shouldn’t be taken lightly. This article will go over a few considerations that are helpful to be made when choosing a voice for your character. Continuing reading to give your character the perfect voice!
Where to Find Vocal Work
Before we begin looking at how to give your character a voice, you might be curious to know where or how to find work as a voice-over actor in the first place. The good news is that it is surprisingly easy, especially if you look online. For example, you could try a freelancing website such as Voquent.com. Joining a network of voice-over artists would also be a good idea since they can recommend you if they can’t do the work. It’s essential to network.
How Does the Dialogue Read?
Reading through the dialogue is one of the first steps in giving your character a voice. This is one of the most critical steps in the process since the dialogue can provide insight into the character’s vocabulary, which gives information about the character’s background and lifestyle. Once you have established how well-rounded your character’s speech is, you can begin finding a voice fitting to that vocabulary level. Do they use highbrow words or slang? What does this suggest about them? How should this be reflected in the way they sound?
Audiences and Accent
Another factor to consider would be whether or not you are doing this for commercial purposes. When doing voiceover work for an advertisement, you must consider the company’s target audience. Regarding the accent you use, you should remember that it’s not always a good idea to make the accent the defining characteristic of characters; this can quickly become a crutch over more useful vocal characteristics.
Consider the Character’s Name
If you are struggling to give your character a voice even after reading through the dialogue, you might want to consider the actual name of the character. While it is true that this isn’t always the case, the names of people are usually indicative of where they are from. This is a good starting point if your character has an unusual name since you can try to find out where the origin of the name came from and work from there.
What Does the Character Look Like?
One of the most important considerations when creating a voice for your character would be what the character looks like. While this also isn’t always the case, a person’s physical appearance or cartoon character is quite suggestive of what they sound like. For example, if you are voicing a cartoon character and they are large, the voice might naturally be deeper. However, If you want to introduce an element of humor, you could use quite a deep voice for a little character too.