How to Get Started in Voice Over for Beginners: Complete Guide

June 13, 2024 Paul Schmidt

One of the problems with voice over advice on YouTube and in general is that it often comes from successful people.

“Huh? Well duh, why would we take advice from idiots, Paul?”

Stay with me.

Among the things it takes to be successful is time. So, the people that are successful today started years and often decades ago.

And the problem with that is voice over is a very different business than it was 30, 20, 10, even 5 years ago. And so many of the strategies and paths and techniques that made successful voice actors even in the 20-teens don’t apply today, here, now, in the mid 2020’s and beyond.

If you’re just getting into the business today, that’s a problem.

So today I’m going to tell you exactly what I would do if I were a new voice actor. I’ll give you the timeline and how I would spend my time, money, energy, attention. I’ll tell you what tools I would use, gear I would buy, and just as importantly, mistakes I would not make that rookies today make often.

Ok, if I were a new voice actor today, the first thing I would do is spend the first 3-6 months…doing research.

Step 1: Research

Wow! That’s…that’s so sexy, Paul. I’m all fired up to become a voice actor and you’re telling me to… do what again?

Research. Absolutely. I stand by this 100%. Look, before you spend a dime, before you even know whether voice acting is something you want to get into at any level, hobbyist or pro, you need to know what the hell it is you’re getting into.

So how do you do that? I recommend joining some Facebook groups for newer voice actors. Do that and then spend a few weeks listening, lurking, and lingering. If you have questions, do not ask them first! First, search the group, then if you don’t find the answer, then ask. Don’s ask the question, “What mic should I use” at all. You’re not there yet.

What groups should I join? I’ll put ones I recommend highly in the description and show notes.

Your job for the first 3-6 months is just to get oriented. Start learning who the reputable coaches are and are not. Just because someone has a big YouTube channel doesn’t them reputable. The reputable names will come up repeatedly in the VO groups. As you form relationships in these groups, you will then be able to ask about coaches whose names you see over and over. Research them. Ask around.

It's this process and the energy you put into it that will set you up for…

Step 2: Coaching

I would not jump into the deep end of the pool at first with coaching. While your goal is to find a solid reputable voice over coach with whom you can get your initial baseline training, understand that reputable coaching isn’t cheap and you’re going to spend months training with a coach, so you’ve got to find one who’s not only reputable, but who is a good fit for you.

Start in the shallow end of the pool. Sample around with different coaches and companies. Understand that you’re not limited to your hometown and that most performance coaching today is done online. Take some workshops. Some 1-off classes. Many coaches offer a free consult or will do a first class with you without a commitment.

This is the best way to get exposed to a coach without a huge commitment. You’re vetting for fit here. Does their teaching style work for you? Do you vibe together? Does what they say and how they say it make sense to you?

I would spend 2-3 months just sampling around and looking for a good fit. When you find one, then commit.

What are you committing to? Good question, glad you asked.

First, there are multiple genres of voice over, commercials, video games, audiobooks, animation, corporate narration, medical narration, dubbing, promo, documentary and in-show.

Start with the basics. If you know you want to do audiobooks, train in audiobooks. If you’re not sure what you want to do yet, I’d start with commercials and corporate narration. Commercials will teach you acting and performance which will make everything you do better, and corporate narration work is plentiful and accounts for a lot of work.

It takes several months, not weeks, not a weekend, to get baseline competent as a voice actor. I would train consistently, meaning at the very minimum twice a month, for ideally 8-12 months with a reputable coach. That’s likely to run you $150 - $200 per session. I would budget about $4,000 overall for your initial training. That should get you 20-25 sessions. So if you’re training with your coach twice a month, that’s 10-12 months.

Should you commit to a year’s worth of coaching at once? Not necessarily. Most coaches will let you book session to session, often with a package discount for several sessions which can save you money overall. But don’t feel like you should be made to commit for several months to one coach. That said, if you start working with a coach and find them to be a good fit, stick with them.

You will see so-called coaches who advertise crap like “You can become a successful voice actor in 90 days with no experience necessary!” “Want to learn voice acting in under 30 days?” RUN, DO NOT WALK, AWAY! This is complete, unadulterated bullshit.

Do not, repeat, do not, think about or worry about a demo yet. Until you’re at least baseline competent and competitive, a demo does you as much good as a bicycle. Your mission for that whole first year is to get as good as you possibly can at voice acting. Training with your coach. Taking acting classes, improv classes – many of which are free or low cost at community colleges and such.

For a complete guide to training for new voice actors, click this video here. If you’re listening to the audio podcast, I’ll link it in the show notes.

At the same time, you’ll need to learn how to record yourself and edit. You’ll need a mic, some software, and a computer. Assuming you already have a computer, go and download an app called Audacity. It’s free and it’s fantastic. Next, search “audacity tutorials for beginners” on YouTube and start with this video from Mike Russell.

Finally, get yourself a Blue Yeti mic on Amazon. It’s $99 and the link is in the description. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases, but you can get one just about anywhere.

This is not a pro-level mic, but I recommend dropping the $99 cheapy because you need to record, and you have no idea yet whether you’re even going to like voice over yet. The Yet will get you started. You can always upgrade if and when you need to.

Practice recording, editing, and listening back to yourself every damn day.

Finally you’ll need a space in your home to record that doesn’t sound like a bathroom on the turnpike. Ideally if you have a walk-in closet, use that and leave the hanging clothes in there. They will dampen the echo. If you have a very small room, you can use moving blankets and foam mattress toppers to treat the walls and ceiling. A cheap rug for the floor.

Step 3: Your First Demos

If you still love voice over and it’s something you think you want to do professionally, toward the end of your initial training, it’s then time to start thinking about demos.

DO NOT produce your own demos. For the myriad of reasons why not, watch this video.

This is when you’ll start to research demo producers, just like you did coaches. I highly recommend you watch or listen to the VO Demo Producer Series at VO Booth Besties. This is the best research tool I know of to start learning who some of the reputable producers are, how they work, and about the demo production process overall.

Expect to spend $1000 - $2500 on a good professional demo. If you trained in commercial and corporate, you’ll ideally do a demo for each. So you’re looking at $3-5 grand.

Once your demos are done you’re going to be close to starting to find paid work. So beforeyou do your demos, it’s is also a good time to start thinking about upgrading to a basic pro-level XLR mic and audio interface. There are dozens of choices here and there is no general recommendation because everyone’s voice and recording space are different.

Generally, if you recording space isn’t ideal, I recommend a shotgun mic like the Synco D2 to help mitigate ambient noise. It’s the mic I use for my videos because my office is an untreated space, and the one I use when I’m on the road and it sounds pretty good. It’s $200 and the link is in the description.

Lastly, you’ll need an audio interface that plugs into your computer, pushes 48 volts of phantom power to your mic, and routes the audio to your computer. I recommend the basic Steinberg UR 22 at $200.

The Steinberg UR-22 audio interface.

So far, I’ve recommended about $500 worth if audio gear thus far, plus moving blanket and mattress toppers, so figure $600 or so for gear, $4,000 for training, $3-5k for demos.

Step 4: Marketing

When your demos are done and you have your recording space settled and have learned to record and edit well, you’ll need to start finding work.

First, you’ll need a competent professional website. Why? You just made a nig investment in your demos. You’ll need to showcase those to potential buyers. Your website will be the hub of all your marketing.

If you can do this on your own, great. Most people can’t. Trust me, I see so many awful, dreadful VO sites that look like someone’s drunk 7-year old slapped them together on a dare.

I recommend working with a pro like Voice Actor Websites or Center Stage Design. Links in the description and show notes. I would recommend a budget of $1-5k for your website design, photography, and branding, depending on your means.

Once that’s in place, you’re ready to go to market. That means, to start looking for paid work from clients at pro rates.

So... how do you do that?

Well, if you don’t know how, and chances are you haven’t the foggiest, you’ll have to learn to market, just like you had to learn to act, record, and edit. Learning to do the work is not the same as learning to find the work and if you don’t learn to find the work, you won’t have any work to do.

Once you have your demos and website, or as you’re getting those done, I highly recommend, with obvious bias, The VO Freedom Master Plan, which will teach you how to find clients and work. Or you could spend a few years learning to do that on your own.

Step 5: Auditioning

As you get out into the world, you will need to source auditions. You won’t have an agent. It will take several months for your marketing to start generating auditions and jobs.

In the meantime, this is one of the few times I’ll recommend spending $00 or $500 on a basic paid membership to 1 of the 2 large online casting sites: Voices.com and Voice123.com, with this huge caveat: DO NOT think that you will sit on these sites, do nothing more that audition here, and you will be a successful voice actor.

These sites are both oversaturated with talent, Voices business practices have traditionally been “questionable” and that’s being kind, and 123’s algorithm is… I’m gonna reuse “questionable” here.

You are not joining a pay-to-play site in the first year of your career to get work. You are paying for a source of auditions, to get good at auditioning, to get your audition process tuned and finely-tuned.

If you’re descent as a first-year voice actor, you may book about 1 job out of every 100 auditions. You’re not there primarily to get work. You’re there to learn how to audition. You’re there to learn what kinds of jobs you’re right for. To start to figure out your strengths and weaknesses. I recommend doing as many auditions as you possibly can every day for several months.

Get your process down. Get your recording and editing process dialed in. Get really good. Let your marketing ramp up and start collecting clients. Then get off the pay-to play when that year is up. Keep marketing, keep building your body of work.

So. let’s add up all the time and money we’ve laid out here:

I’ve recommended about $500 worth if audio gear, plus moving blankets and mattress toppers, so figure $650 or so for gear.

$4,000 and a year for training. $3000 - $5000 and let’s say 2-3 months for demos. $1000 - $5000 and 2-3 months for a website. All told, figure $10,000 - $15,000 in startup costs and a year and a half to two years to go to market and start looking for work.

Sound like a lot? Well, this is a business, and businesses have startup costs. If you think $10 grand and 2 years is a lot to start a business, try starting a dentist’s office, an Arby’s franchise, or becoming a plumber. The average initial franchise fee is $25,000 to $50,000 and that’s just to us the brand name, business model, and intellectual property (IP) for a set period of time.

These are my best recommendations on getting started in voice over today. Now. Not 5 or 10 or 30 years ago. Likely they will change in another 5 years or even sooner.

Is this the only way to get started? Nope.

There are infinite ways to do this. Even with this starter path, you’ll find your own. Some, maybe all of my recommendations won’t work for you.

But if you keep at it, you’ll find your own path and your own success.

Go to VOPro.pro to get my Move Touch Inspire Newsletter for Voice Actors every Thursday, for more information on the VOPro community, and the VO Freedom Master Plan.

If you found value from this video then help us spread the word to other voice actors by subscribing to the channel and sharing this video.

Thanks for the conversations we have here on YouTube, on the blog, in the VO Pro community and the VO community at large. The more we talk, the more we listen, the more we exchange ideas and information, the better, stronger voiceover industry we can have.

We’ll see ya again here soon. Thanks for watching.

Recommended Beginner VO Facebook Groups:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/vofreedom

https://www.facebook.com/groups/756101365897795

https://www.facebook.com/groups/533192523873076

https://www.facebook.com/groups/voiceovercamp

https://www.facebook.com/groups/globalvoiceovertalent

https://www.facebook.com/groups/themicrophoneinsider

Training Guide for Beginners: https://youtu.be/dKocFpjubt0?si=m2nVo5Jzcnn1XEi5

Download Audacity: https://www.audacityteam.org/download/

Audacity Tutorials: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=audacity+tutorials+for+beginners+

Mike Russell Audacity Tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlzOb4OLj94