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Gay Hendricks in The Big Leap calls it ‘the upper limit problem.’ In her book You are a Badass, Jen Sincero talks about it as ‘limiting beliefs.’ Whatever you call it, we all have it – a sub-conscious cap on what we think we are capable of. In the voice-over industry this might translate to “oh I could never do character voices!” or “I’d never be able to produce an audiobook,” or even “I can’t make a living as a voice actor.” We may have never even given voice to these beliefs and yet they hold us back.

We have such beliefs in every area of our life. In fact we create a circular wall of them that we tend to live in, and many will live behind this wall their whole life.

I’m not athletically gifted. In elementary school you would not have picked me for your team. I managed to maintain a moderate level of fitness through regular exercise, but I’d never tried to lift any heavy weights because “I’m not strong; I’m not an athlete,” was a deeply ingrained belief of mine.

Like most people, I needed a little push to prove myself wrong. Mine came in the form of an enthusiastic trainer who started me on a powerlifting training program. I can’t tell you how many times I looked at her with an “are you sure?” or a “you’ve got to be kidding me” expression. She was patient but firm, and it was her belief that I could, that kept me going.

I really never thought I could ever lift anything over 100lbs, but all my training culminated in a powerlifting event in which I benched over 100lbs and deadlifted over 200 lbs. (Not bad for a middle-aged non-athlete).

After the event I sat in my car and thought “I just did something I didn’t think I could do – how many other things are out there that I don’t think I can do, but I actually can?”

2021 was my most successful yet as a voice artist because the confidence I found in the gym translated into my professional life. I had smashed a limiting belief in one area of my life, which called into question all the other limiting beliefs that I had.

There was a crack in the limiting wall I had built and it was starting to crumble. 

I became far more willing to leap into new things even without being exactly sure what I was going to find when I landed. I did character voices, produced audiobooks, began marketing through social media, and had my most lucrative year yet.  I’m convinced 2022 will be even better – and it’s all thanks to powerlifting.

I love working with game creators and animation writers. Their passion for their creation is contagious and I can’t help getting swept up in the excitement of bringing their visions alive. I know I’m not alone. Voice over artists who, like me, love bringing video game or animated characters to life, jump on these types of auditions. We can’t wait to dig into the script and start the creative juices flowing.

The question we have at that point is how to find the right ‘voice’ for this character audition. If the character description is well written we can get a good sense of what the voice should be. If it’s not well written (or well thought out), it leaves us a lot of room for interpretation, and for the client, results in lots of submissions that are nowhere near what they are looking for.

So, as the voice seeker, how does one avoid this situation? Obviously if there is no description of the character at all, that needs to be remedied, but the opposite can be a problem too. Some creative types fall in love with their creations and envision them as a paragon. For example, they want a strong, warrior woman who is brave, but can also be timid and sweet, with a raspy voice that sounds very innocent, but also sexy. I think of this as the Total Recall problem (“an athletic brunette who’s both sleazy and demure?”). It’s very hard to hit the mark when it’s moving all over the place. Creators who take some time to really drill down in the character and envision what they want are more likely to get it.

Voice actors look for three main things when creating a character voice: 1. the character’s physicality; 2. the description of the sound of the voice; and 3. the personality traits of the character.

Begin with the physical: what does character look like? What’s their gender, or are they genderless? Big or small? How are they dressed? What kind of gear or weapons do they carry? How do they stand? Next, get specific: What kind of physical features stand out? Do they have a jutting chin? A small mouth? Barrel chest? Fairy wings? All this helps inform what character should sound like.

Next should be a description of the actual sound of their voice. This is where there can be some confusion. I sometimes see that the voice should ‘sound brave’ or ‘sound timid.’ While these are good things to know, they actually fall into the third category, the personality of the character. First describe the sound of the voice itself – not its inflections and emotions; that will come next. For example, is the voice deep or high-pitched, raspy or smooth, guttural or airy, youthful or craggy, have an accent, etc.
Now is the time to describe the character’s personality and attributes. Background information is highly appreciated here. The more we understand the character’s personality and motivations the better. Are they seeking revenge or redemption? Are the brave or cowardly? Brusque or timid? Evil or virtuous? Energetic or languid? Cold or compassionate? And on and on.

Granted, it takes time to create a really thorough character description, but it also takes time to sift through dozens of auditions that aren’t anywhere close to the mark. The more info provided the more likely there will be a crop of auditions that are all almost exactly what the client is looking for. Then it’s time to pick the perfect one!

I was recently challenged to consider what business I’m actually in. My first reaction was that ‘I’m in the voice over business of course,’ which is true, but isn’t complete. From a marketing standpoint I needed to dig a little deeper. Reading marketing guru Terry O’Reilly’s book This I Know was helpful in this regard. For example, he notes that Nike isn’t in the shoe selling business, they are in the motivation business, and Molsen isn’t in the beer business they are in the party-lifestyle business (there are many, many more examples). This is what these companies are actually selling. I had to figure out what I was actually selling.

Working as a genetic counselor (years ago in what seems like another life), and then as a writer, gave me a lot of practice putting myself in others’ shoes. And the more you practice empathy the better you get at it. So I tend to get pretty emotionally invested in my scripts because I can envision how they impact the listener. When I considered this in the context of the role of voice over, my epiphany was that I am in the emotional-connection-between-the-script-and-the-listener business. (I know this isn’t as snappy as ‘Just do it,’ but I’m working on it.)

Why is this important for my clients? Let’s say you have a story or message to get across; a product or service you want to sell. You’ve done the research, put in the hard work, and have reams of data. With absolute certainty you leap into the market knowing you and your product are the best. And you tell everyone. And show them the data, but don’t get very far. O’Reilly says “…straight information is seductive because it seduces the person dispensing the information into thinking that a mere data dump is effective. But the key – the true secret to influencing someone – is to make them feel your message in their gut, not just intellectually understand it. Emotion is the differentiator”

He was writing about the advertising message in general, which of course is critically important, but I would also argue that the delivery of that message is equally important. TV commercials, radio ads, audiobooks, documentaries, e-learning content (and many more) must connect emotionally with the audience to make an impact. The emotional link between script and audience is forged by voice actors. There are exceptions – many TV and internet ads can evoke feelings with images only, but the right words uttered in the right way can be downright immortal. Would anyone still remember ‘where’s the beef’ if the words had only appeared on screen rather than dear Clara Peller uttering them?

Trained, experience voice artists can break down a well written script into its key emotional beats, then navigate those beats to elicit the desired emotional response of the listener. Lots of people are good readers, and lots of people have nice voices, but professional voice actors have the training, experience, and skill to elevate the written word to an emotional level, to connect with the audience, and move the listener to action.