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Voice actors often rush into the booth when they get an audition and knock it out as quickly as possible. The thing is, you need to make sure your auditions are the very best they can be. In this video, Anne gives you 6 quick tips to make sure you're getting the most out of every audition.
Hey everyone, going into the booth to record an audition can be a bit nerve-racking. So today I thought I'd give you a couple of quick tips for successful auditions.
Tip number 1 - First thing, take a breath. Make sure to take a breath, center yourself and really get yourself relaxed so that you can perform at your very best for this audition.
Tip number 2 - The second thing that I want you to do is I want you to read the instructions.
Read the instructions
I want you to read the instructions very carefully. This is so important, there are so many times where talent just don't read the instructions properly. Make sure that you know what part you are auditioning for. Your agent maybe put it in the notes. Look at the casting specs and see if they are requiring you to do this in a home studio, if you need source connect, whatever the specs are make sure that you read them and you're familiar with them. I do want you to familiarize yourself with everything that is written down in terms of what role you're auditioning for and what the company or what your talent agent wants from you. OK, and especially remember how they want that file named. I'll come back to that later. When you're done with that audition and you save that file you have to make sure you do that right.
Tip number 3 - Take a moment to go ahead and research all that you can't about this audition. If there's a company name, if there are references in the copy to different products, go ahead and Google it. Google is your friend. Research all you can about the brand, the product, the company, so you can get a better idea of who their audience might be. You want to know who their target audience might be so that you can align yourself to become their voice.
Tip number 4 - OK first time that you read it through just read it through with no intention with no performance, just read it through like a first grader. Because what that's going to do is it's going to get you familiar with the words in the script, the length of the sentences in the script. It'll help you get a sense of context about what that script is all about and then you'll know, "OK maybe I need to breathe here, or maybe I need to figure out how to pronounce that product name. I'm not sure." That will help you long after the first generic read.
Tip number 5 - You're gonna go ahead and do that audition go in your studio. Read it three times. Try not to read it more than three times because I think sometimes we overread it. We go back and we try to listen to what we sound like, and we say maybe I should've been brighter, maybe I should've been, more quiet or thoughtful. So every time that we second-guess ourselves we're putting another audition onto the end. By the time you listen to them all, you don't even know what you're listening to anymore. So try to limit yourself to doing at least three takes at most. Go through those retakes and pick the best one out that best focuses on who you are and what you bring to the party.
Tip number 6 - After you've selected the first read that really brings out the uniqueness of you and brings you to the party, I want you to go back and do a second take. I want that second take to be completely different from the first. I want you to think about a different emotion or think about a different storyline. How about some different subtext that's happening in the story? So that you can react differently to it, you can place yourself in a different scene and that's going to give you a very different read.
Bonus Tip! - Finally at the very end make sure that you save that file, and you save that file with the proper name. This is something that many many many talent agents and casting directors say that it's one of their biggest complaints. Voice talent don't follow the directions and name their file and one of the reasons why that's so important is because they have to handle all of those files and it might not just be one file it's not just your file they're handling, they're handling thousands of files a day. So when they ask you to name it a particular way follow the directions, because that's gonna get you that's going to gain points for you. So make sure you are go back check it twice, check it three times, make sure that filename is correct.
Much love and Keep on rockin' your biz!
XOXO,
Anne
About the Author: Anne Ganguzza is a full-time voice talent and award-winning director and producer who works with students to develop their voice over and business skills - including VO demo training and production. She specializes in Conversational Commercial and Narration styles, including Corporate, E-Learning, Technology, Healthcare - Medical, Telephony, and On-Hold. Located in Orange County, CA, Anne offers private coaching and mentoring services to students in person and via Skype, ipDTL or Zoom.
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