Career in voice-over and dubbing

If you possess a good voice, pronounce words with clarity, and are good at modulating your voice, you can pursue a career in voice acting or as a dubbing artist.

A voice artist entertains, emotes and engages the audience with his or her voice and aims to make the audio experience meaningful and powerful.

Necessary skills

The skills needed to enter this field are clarity of speech, proper pronunciation and enunciation of words. “Also, one should have basic knowledge of languages — the way a language is spoken, its nuances and the tonality, be it English, Hindi, or any regional language.

As a voice artist, the more languages you know, the better. A voice artist must be able to train her tongue to speak any language and speak correctly with conscious effort. An artist needs to understand one’s voice range, how high or low can it go, what are the mid-levels, and how to hit the high pitch.

Be aware of your vocal range and how it sounds while reading and also can use it to its best potential. Knowing your limitations is as important as knowing your strengths,” says Trupti Chiwukula who has 15 years of experience as a voice artist and has lent her vocals for many movies, OTT shows, and cartoon series too.

Unlike other performing arts where several other visual factors can enhance the delivery, a voice artist must express a particular thought or feel only with voice.

Now that is surely more challenging than what is usually perceived. So a voice artist has to know how to emphasise, which words and expressions to stress. Also, when doing mimicry, be aware of the nuances of one’s voice and mannerisms, pause at a perfect time, and make it sound as real as possible.

Voice modulation and expression are important skills. To achieve expertise, first, acquire the foundation skills for the right technique. A voice artist must understand the script and modulate the voice accordingly without getting lost in the beauty of his own voice.

In dubbing, matching the expression and the body language of the actor or even enhancing it is the goal, which of course comes with experience.

Voice-over is a behind-the-scenes and faceless job, a voice artist has to go the extra mile to get recognised. Like any performing art form, only learning is not enough. You must know the art of application and execution. It needs to be nurtured each day, with every project.

You will become a better professional if you take up a voice-over/ dubbing course. But just acquiring theoretical knowledge through these courses won’t make you an artist.

“Gain practical knowledge by working as an intern in a studio in different roles like creative direction, supervision, script writing, and managing a project. In this process, you get exposure to a lot of new work and established artists and a chance to observe and learn from them. To make a career in this field one needs dedication, consistent work, and continuous learning and improvement. As a voice artist you must keep networking and developing new skills”, adds Trupti Chiwukula.

Career scope

Today there is ample scope for a voice artist, especially in the digital era of education and entertainment. One can dub or do a voice-over for movies and shows in over the top platforms (OTTs)like Netflix, Disney Hotstar, Prime, Amazon Video, animation, cartoons, commercials, radio shows, documentaries, corporate presentations, television, gaming apps, audiobooks besides mimicry for various actors’ voices for advertisements.