Being the voice behind the screen

If you love the mike, speak with correct pronunciation, diction, and have the ability to modulate the voice to communicate impressively then you can be a voice-over or dubbing artist.

The dubbing and voice-over industry provides interesting opportunities today due to digital development. Dubbed content is on the rise with streaming services like Prime Amazon and Netflix, which has led to the demand for dubbing and voice-over artists.

A Voice-over artist reads the scripts for movie trailers, does narration for videos, radio dramas, documentaries, audio-books, medical videos etc. tutorials and so on. A voice-over artist can also work as a dubbing artist. Dubbing involves language substitution of the dialogue of a movie TV series, commercials and cartoon series from one language to another.

The dubbing artist also mimics the expressions and lip-sync of actors on screen.

Dubbing is an added skill in the voice-over industry. From talking squirrels and cats to strange alien voices, a dubbing artist can give life into a variety of animated characters. Many celebrities who model for commercials do not have time for dubbin. It is usually a voice artist who impersonates the voice in the same style for a character. Also many leading heroes and heroines need dubbing artists when acting in movies of different languages.

Opportunities

Voice-Over-Artists are in demand to lend their voice for animated films, documentaries, corporate videos, e-books, TV shows and films. Companies prefer voice-over artists to improve their customer relations and also for their services and product promotions. How-to-do-it videos are also widely used now, with the demand of virtual support for mobile applications, guides for smartphones, laptops etc. which has led to demand for voice-over artists.

Skills needed

While you don't need a special degree to become a voice artist, merely having a good voice is not enough.

A good voice-over artist must be able to modulate and adapt the voice, emote, pick up the accent and have flair for languages. An aspirant must be able to step into the character when lending vocal chords for actors, animals, birds and others. Also versatility matters and one must be adept at switching from young to old, human to alien, sad or cheerful in the flex of a vocal cord. Knowledge of the recording equipment — that is, a microphone, audio interface, headphones and the computer — and ease of working with digital audio files is also an bonus.

To acquire skills, you can opt for short-term specialised programs in voice modulation offered by various institutions.

A newbie must record their voice samples with various pitches for different purposes like commercial advertisements, cartoon characters, and documentary narrators.

Initially, one has to go for auditions and make connections, as it is a competitive field. A voice artiste must be outgoing and network in order to get work.

One can work full-time or part-time and more experienced and talented voice-over artists will be able to make and demand good remuneration. Usually, voice-over artists are paid per job, which varies according to the length, popularity of the program, or budget of the film or series.

Career scope

As the world embraces digital technology there has been an increase in demand for voice talent. A voice-over artist can do dubbing for films, animations, TV programs, documentaries, commercials, radio and audio series. Also one can do voice-over for video games, podcasts, educational videos ( with online learning on the rise ) phone software, E books, announcements at metros, GPS, games etc. Moreover, technological progress has led to text to speech features in various apps, besides Amazon Alexa, Apple Siri, Google Assistant and other virtual personal assistants also require dubbing.

Anyone who has a good voice, a passion for mimicry, enjoys verbal communication, can be successful in this dynamic and exciting field.