by The Voice-Over Roadmap
If you’re interested in pursuing a career as a VO Talent, it can be tempting to be a perfectionist and want to have everything just right before you get yourself out there and start looking for work. It can also be daunting and confusing to even know where to begin.
When I first started entertaining the idea of pursuing VO work, I did some research and came across tons of other talent who had impressive VO training backgrounds, years and years of experience, and huge lists of credits. It was super intimidating and made me question how I could ever compete for work against these people when I had literally zero VO experience or coaching.
I decided to take a shot anyways and despite my limited experience, self-produced demo reel, less than stellar performance skills, and empty credit list, I was actually able to land a gig after a few weeks of auditioning, and another a couple weeks later, and then things snowballed from there. All of that led me to where I am now, with years of experience, several demo reels showcasing actual work I’ve done, vastly improved performance skills, and a long credit list of my own.
The point I am trying to make is that I started. Sure there are a few things that you should get ready before you launch (which I’ll cover in this post) but it’s important to not fall into traps of perfectionism and over-analysis. You don’t need to be world-class when you get started, you just need to get started where you are, and take comfort in the fact that it’s ok to learn and grow as you go.
This post has also been formatted as a free e-book which you can download as part of the Resource Package by clicking the button at the bottom of the post!
THE BARE ESSENTIALS
While the overall theme of this post is to get started where you are and not fall victim to perfectionism or over-analysis, there are still a few things you will need to get squared away before putting yourself out there, both tangible and intangible. First let’s look at the tangible items you will need to have.
Equipment
In the current state of the VO industry, it’s pretty much mandatory to have a home recording set-up. You’ll want to make sure you have a:
- Microphone (Ideally not a USB mic, but a more professional Condenser or Dynamic)
- Mic Stand (Unless you plan to hold your mic in front of your face at all times and have crazy arm strength, you’ll probably want one of these)
- Pop Filter (This will reduce plosives in your recording, professional VO recordings don’t have audible plosives, so you’ll want one of these)
- XLR Cable (To plug your Mic into your interface)
- Recording Interface (A piece of hardware that takes the signal from your Mic and gets it into your computer)
- Computer (You’ll need some sort of computer, be it a desktop, laptop, or tablet to run your audio recording software)
- Recording Software (The software that will run on your computer and allow you to capture and edit audio)
- Recording Space (A treated space where you can record in that will provide an acoustically “dead” sound)
Starting where you are with Equipment
While the above list may look a little daunting if you have no prior experience with audio or recording, the good news is that you likely have some of those items already or can put them together yourself. For the ones you will likely need to purchase, you can start out with lower end equipment when your are starting out. I’ll give you some typical price ranges to expect. Let’s take a look at each one and see how to get started with the least expense: