FAQ
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT VOICE ACTING
WITH ANSWERS FROM GLEN HOLTZER, VOICEOVER COACH, NEW YORK
1. HOW MANY VOICE ACTING LESSONS WILL I NEED BEFORE I CAN MAKE A TAPE?
GLEN: "I always tell people everyone moves at a different pace. Some people don't need a lot of coaching, but you want to make sure that if the tape is great your cold reads are great too. Often an agent will hear a wonderfully produced tape with all the music, sound effects, great editing and spots that are pieced together from many takes in the studio. They will call you to come in for an interview and give you cold reads to see if your audition reads are as good as your tape makes you sound. These days it's amazing what you can do in the studio to make someone sound fantastic. There are a limited number of good voiceover agents so you don't want to burn a bridge by giving a sub par read in their office studio."
2. HOW DO I KNOW IF MY READS ARE GOOD ENOUGH FOR AUDITIONS?
GLEN: "In most auditions, unless you're auditioning from your own home studio, which many people have now, you only get an average of two takes, three if you're lucky and sometimes only one take. After working with my clients and getting to know their talents I will sometimes drill them with all kinds of copy within their range and make sure that their first and second takes are ready for an audition. I want my people to represent their great tapes that we produce in an agent or casting director audition."
3. DO I NEED TO BE AN ACTOR TO DO VOICEOVERS?
GLEN: "The more acting training and experience you have the faster you'll move through the process. I've worked with Tony nominated actors and TV & Film actors, but any performing experience is priceless. I work with Singers, Dancers, Stand-Up comedians, Improv people and Radio Personalities and they usually do very well. There is the occasional person who is just a natural without much performing experience. I'm working with one now as I write this and he's fantastic. I also have worked with producers without performing experience, but they understand the business and it helps. I am always honest with people and will tell them if they need an acting class, speech lessons, etc However I'm very good at teaching the art of acting behind the mic no matter what your experience is."
4. HOW LONG SHOULD MY DEMO BE AND HOW MANY SPOTS SHOULD BE ON IT?
GLEN: "Most commercial demos should be no more than a minute long, although I've heard up to 1:10 to 1:20 on some agent's client reels. As long as the tape is interesting all the way through it's okay to go a bit over a minute. The same goes for Promo & Character demos. The demos should contain approximately five to seven short edited spots fully produced in a studio. Narration demos are usually much longer since the client wants to hear longer sustained reads that narrations demand."
5. WHERE DOES THE MUSIC AND SOUND EFFECTS COME FROM?
GLEN: "The studio and engineer has all the music and sound effects you need. The engineer I work with is excellent at picking the right sounds along with my collaboration."
6. DO YOU PROVIDE COPY FOR YOUR CLIENTS FOR VOICE ACTING LESSONS AND THE DEMO?
GLEN: "I have about four thousand pieces of copy that I've collected over the years from my own auditions and work and from clients that are auditioning and working. As we work we find copy that works for that person as possible pieces for the demo. I will also tell people to look at magazine copy, which I will edit, so that your tape sounds fresh and different. I never use the same piece of copy for more than one demo."