The heart of voiceover is about reading copy and the wondrous aspect of that is in the endless variety that winds up on the stand in front of you. You never really know what’s coming next and the gamut runs from ridiculous to sublime to… ridiculous again.
Developing a skill for reading copy requires, well… reading copy! So you’ll need to have a good source for that at hand. Fortunately, you already do: it’s any document with printed words in existence.
OK, but what about COMMERCIAL copy, you ask? Again, right in front of you. In the ads in newspapers and magazines, on line on websites and apps, on TV, spoken by already established and working VO artists – hello community!
I realize that sounds ever so general in nature, but words are such a fabric of the media and so interwoven in our lives, the choices are everywhere and endless. Here’s how to get started:
So click on a feature site or reach for a magazine (or — gasp — a newspaper!) you like to read and look at the ads inside. They’re a rich source of copy – not necessarily crafted for audio per say, but nonetheless full of readable pitches and explanations. AND, they’re also likely aimed at you and your demographic. Why? Because you’re the kind of person who buys that magazine!
So the paid content inside is likely to touch on your life and therefore make you a candidate to be both a consumer of that product AND someone who might be pitching that product with a voiceover aimed at your compatriots.
Seeing as how your best shot at success in this business is to play to your own demographic, well, here you are.
James