How Do I Get Started in Voice Acting?
If you’re curious about voice acting but have no idea where to begin, you’re in good company. Most of our students start with absolutely no experience, and many aren’t even sure if voice acting is for them yet. The good news is that you don’t need any experience to get started.
Here’s what I tell every complete beginner.
Start by Reading a Lot
The first thing I recommend is simple: start reading, and keep reading.
Basic training that gets you reading scripts again and again is the best foundation you can have. Ideally, practise with someone who knows what they’re doing and can give you helpful feedback. That helps you improve quickly, and the beginning is actually the easiest time to make big leaps forward.
You can also practise on your own. Just pick up a book and read it out loud. The more you practise, the better you get.
Explore Different Genres
A lot of people come to voice acting thinking, “I only want to act in video games,” or “I only want to read audiobooks.” Usually they’re right about the genres they’ll enjoy, but as a beginner you don’t really know the industry yet.
When students explore different genres, they often:
Fall in love with a genre they didn’t expect to enjoy
Find their voice is perfect for a different genre
Find a certain genre comes really easily to them
Corporate, audiobooks, commercials... every genre can be a lot of fun when you get to try it in an atmosphere where you can play.
Find a Place Where You Can Make Mistakes
Start somewhere you feel comfortable not being perfect. You’re a beginner, and that’s exactly what you should be allowed to be. A strict or pretentious class won’t help you grow. You want somewhere with very little pressure, where you can make mistakes and enjoy the process.
Common Myths About Getting Started
Myth 1: You Need a Good Voice
There’s no such thing as a good voice or a bad voice. Everyone’s voice is unique, and today’s industry needs all of them, voices that sound like different ages, ethnicities, genders, sexual orientations and neurodiversity.
Video games are a great example. They have loads of different characters, many of them not even human, so they need lots of very different, surprising voices. What matters isn’t what your voice sounds like, it’s what you can do with it and your acting skills.
Myth 2: You Need a CV or Experience
People who hire voice talent almost never ask for your CV or where you trained. They want to hear your voice. All you really need is a voice reel or good voice samples, and the ability to record auditions at a good sound quality.
Myth 3: You Need Connections
Everyone in voice acting started from scratch, with no connections and no idea how the industry works. That’s one reason training matters.
Our teachers don’t only help with your reads, they also share tips about the industry, and the further you go into advanced training, the more you learn about the business side.
How We Teach Voice Acting
Our classes are small, usually capped at 10 students, and everyone is a beginner. Our teachers are professional voice actors, but there’s never any pressure and never anything pretentious about it.
Our students range from people around 20 to retired people choosing to start something creative and exciting. Many feel nervous when they join and worry they’ll be the worst in the group. If that sounds like you, you’re not alone.
Here’s what guides our classes:
Supportive feedback you can use straight away. We meet you where you are and help you take the next one or two steps up.
Fun and chilled atmosphere. When you learn playfully, you remember more, learn faster and also enjoy yourself.
Practical, not theoretical. Classes are never lectures. You read, get feedback, read again and work with other students. Sometimes practice takes up 90% of a session, and there’s homework to keep you reading between classes.
Your First Step Into Voice Acting Training
Most of our students start with our free voice acting class. It’s a chance to read a real voice acting script and get real feedback from a real professional. From there, many move on to our Voice Acting for Beginners course to keep practising and explore different genres.
You don’t need aexperience, spacial equipment or any connections. You just need curiosity, a willingness to practise and a place where you can have fun and make mistakes.
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