It started when I was a teenager. People would comment on what a great voice I had. My involvement in theater during high school seemed to spur a lot of the compliments. Teachers, friends, family and complete strangers would make a point of telling me, “wow, you really have a great voice”. I even got compliments when I answered the phone at home. After a while I began to think that I should probably do something with my “great voice”.

With such a remarkable voice surely I could become The Donald Trump of the voiceover world. In my mind’s eye I could see myself sitting in the back of my personalized limo, sipping champagne cocktails while being shuttled to voiceover sessions.

OK, back to reality.

Being a farm kid from South Dakota means I didn’t have a clue how to break into the voiceover field but I was confident it would be pretty easy because, as you know, I had a great voice.

It was a surprise that my attempts of impressing ad agencies with my great voice on the phone didn’t seem to work. They wanted a demo. And before I could say another word the phone would click and they were gone. I wondered why they couldn’t hear the greatness of my voice like my friends and family did?

What I learned was this: a great voice without a voice demo is a voice who doesn’t get work. So, I had a voice demo produced. I was now on the road to making the big bucks as a full-fledged voice talent!

Or, so I thought. I quickly learned that success in voiceovers has absolutely nothing to do with having a great voice.

Let me elaborate on that. My first professional voiceover job was at an ad agency in Omaha, Nebraska and I was feeling confident that I would nail the read in one take and I’d be out of there in 10 minutes flat. Remember, I knew that I had a great voice.

In actuality it took 2 hours and 15 minutes. And on top of it, the director was mad at me because I cost him an extra hour’s studio time because I didn’t know how to take direction. “Pick up the pace, smile after the pause and punch the tag line, bring my pitch down, end that sentence on a downbeat” were requested by the director and NOT delivered by me. I heard what he was saying, but I couldn’t get my great voice to deliver the goods.

To add insult to injury I started sweating. My mouth went dry and I felt like I was sinking in quicksand. Try reading  when you’ve got Sahara Desert sand up to your neck.

The worst part was when, after an hour and a half of maddeningly little progress (all my fault), the director asked me if I was OK? Of course, I WASN’T OK, but I was not going to tell him that. But, my quivering voice gave me away when I tried to say that everything was just peachy and then that shuddering breath-thing happened.

It started with a single tear and before I could stop them Hoover Dam broke.

A root canal without anesthesia would have been less painful than what I went through behind the mic that day.

Thankfully that happened a long time ago, though it is still somewhat painful to think back at how over-confident I was when I first got into this business. Still, even after that humbling experience I was determined to learn and grow and become a “great voice”. And, after 25+ years I’m still work at it!

Here’s what I believe makes a voice talent a great voice talent:

1. First and foremost it’s having a voice that has been trained in delivery styles and proper breathing.

2. A voice that knows how to take direction. You should be able to deliver exactly what the director wants.

3. You can accept criticism with professionalism and learn from it.

 4. You realize that becoming a “great voice” is a lifetime journey and that you’ll always be learning and growing.

Interested in getting started in voiceovers? Check out the March workshops held in my downtown Sacramento offices in My Blog.

In my next blog: true stories from the trenches of the voiceover world........