It’s one thing to rehearse but another to deliver a great vocal performance! To captivate the audience through engaging tone is the dream of every voice actor. While some voice actors have the innate quality and natural articulacy to become a professional, one can achieve the ‘perfect voice’ through dedication, hard work and lots of preparation. Whether you are a conversational voice overs actor for Hindi or any other language, you must remember that your voice is your livelihood and healthy vocal cords will help you to enhance your vocal range to deliver energetic recordings.
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Hydrate your voice
Keeping your voice hydrated is the golden rule to achieve good recordings at all times. Always keep hold of a water bottle while making your way to a recording studio. Believe it or not, studio sessions can play havoc on your voice and hydration can help you overcome that hoarse voice. Just like good things do not happen overnight, regularly hydrating your body is vital. Drink lots of water and carry a big bottle at room temperature to help you deliver a great recording performance.
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Watch what you eat
To nail any vocal performance, it is essential to understand the type of food you intake. Switching towards fruits that are rich in water content, such as cucumbers, salads, fresh fruits and grapes can help you achieve a clear voice. Also, refrain from consuming alcohol, cigarettes, caffeine and processed sugar. Certain foods such as dairy products and chocolates can trigger acid reflux and spicy meals can give you a heart burn. A powerful performance requires energy and having a good meal will ensure that you deliver well.
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Caring is the key
The movements and contractions of your diaphragm and voice box help to produce the sound for any recording. To deliver a stellar performance, taking proper care of your vocal chords is important. You must avoid straining your voice by not overstraining or yelling. Constant whispers also agitate irritation to vocal chords. Relaxing your throat and neck muscles will let you achieve optimum level during studio sessions. Maintain a sound environment for your voice by humidifying your studio and recording environment.
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Take vocal naps
Just like rest days are important while working out, taking short vocal naps can be a boon to tired and worn out voices. You are more prone to vocal damage when your voice is drained and continuously recording without taking a break at voice over recording can flare out those injuries. That means no talking and definitely no recording, which can be worse for your bruised vocal cords. Regeneration is required for any tired voice to heal and a good rest will help you in achieving that.
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Good sleep is essential
Your body is your instrument that will ensure that you have a healthy voice. Ensure that you get plenty of good night sleep so that your body can recharge. Sometimes, voice actors prefer caffeine at night to recharge themselves at night but caffeine dehydrates and disturbs the sleep cycle and should be avoided as much as possible.
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Warm up before your session
Vigorous warmups are quite necessary for a great performance. With a variety and range of exercises suiting different ages, you should do lip or tongue trills in the morning to facilitate better use of airflow and breath. Allowing your voice to wander up and down and switching between humming and high notes can help you to reduce muscular tension in the neck, shoulders and jaw. Also, do remember to cool your voice down by talking and humming on a descending note. Keeping 8-10 minutes solely for cool down will help you to settle back in your normal speaking routine.
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Humidify your home
Proper humidification can work wonders for your voice. Breathing in a proper humidified environment can help you to not overburden your vocal cords and breathing pace. If you are involved in a long term project such as Elearning narration or Audiobook voice over, you must consider humidifying your home to support your respiratory health and to prevent dry vocal cords.
You must practice warming up every day but should also be careful not to exhaust your voice. Arriving on time for your sessions can also help to lower the stress. While a healthy, resonant voice is important, it is also essential to pay attention to the following details while preparing for any script or character voice-over:
- Stay aware of the terminologies of the content and know the context to have a complete idea about what and how to deliver.
- Poor quality or unclear voices create confusion. Speak with confidence and clarity so that each word is audible throughout the script.
- Pronunciation: Clear pronunciation and enunciation of words help the audience to grasp the content easily and process it better.
- Use the tone that evokes the appropriate emotion and feel in the listener to take a quick call-to-action.
- Have a strong control of your voice and use the right pitch, volume, and inflection to sound natural and conversational while recording.
Enlivening a script is arduous work but following a vocal regime rigorously can help one to achieve it. Professional Advertisement and Commercial Voice Over artists can deliver any content with utmost quality and can be hired through premium voice over agencies such as Voyzapp that hosts thousands of voice over talents who have expertise in different languages, genres, categories, and accents.
Looking to achieve outstanding voice-over performance? Remember to keep your vocal cords sound and healthy to deliver an influential voice over recording.