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| HOW TO BECOME A VOICE ARTIST? |
| Neeraj M. Mehra |
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| Have you ever noticed the importance of Audio in our lives. How long can you see a Mute TV going on? Audio plays the most important part in our lives and in entertainment and learning. Audio itself is of prime importance even Video is incomplete without it. |
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| Most of you must have the memories of those days when only limited number of TV and Radio Channels were the only means of electronic entertainment. Limited number of programmes, limited languages. Now the scenario is changed, you find numbers of channels in each language. If we consider the multilingual nature of our country there is a great demand of voice over artistes. As I have already written in number of other articles that since these TV/Radio channels have target audiences in their regional languages, their TRPs have shot up considerably. Many of the film and television production houses nowadays have their own dubbing departments where they produce a single programme in number of languages to cater to whole of the nation and also other countries. All major TV serials or Films which were originally made in local languages now have been dubbed in various regional and foreign languages. All new Hollywood films get to same day release in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu as well. |
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| You are reading this article as you have some desire to be a Voice Over artiste. You feel you have the fluency over the language and want to begin with. See, as a dubbing or voice over artiste you should not be only fluent in the language but also versatile enough to match your inflection, lip sync, tone & pauses to synchronize with the gestures and body language of the character in the original soundtrack or visuals. Clarity of your voice, clarity of your diction, dialogue delivery and emotion in your voice are the key differentiators of a dubbing pro. Another thing you learn with experience is to match your dialogues according to the original time scale, particularly in animation or Muppet dubbings. Command and translation ability in both source and target language helps the dubbing artist considerably as he/she can manipulate the choice of words slightly without harming the sense of the dialogue. |
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| You must be wondering how much a voice artiste is paid. An experienced voice artiste in TV serials gets Rs 5000 or $200 to Rs 8000 or $300 per episode, but depending upon the length of the work, complexity of the character they even charge Rs 15000 or $ 500 per episode. An experienced Voice artiste who gives voice overs in a corporate or documentary films can anywhere gets between Rs.25000 to Rs. 50000 or $ 1000 depending upon the script and his/her popularity. In Films a single character dubbing for a good budget film can get you anywhere between Rs 75000 to Rs. 1.5 lacs or $3000 or more. You can see the suggested rate list too. India's highest paid voice artiste earns approx INR 70K every day |
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| The options do not end here, there are number of video & radio programmesbeing made, sponsored, corporate, private etc, documentaries, presentations, radio/TV jingles, spots, Phone softwares, IVRs, Multimedia, audio books, training and safety videos, tonnes of E-learning Content. Current scenario is that the market has ample voice over work.. Now you must be wondering - How to go about? If you think you have the confidence to deliver, then concentrate on your voice, find out your strong areas in voicing, if you have very good base voice as Inder Mishra or Amitabh Bachchan then a voice over narration suits you, if you have mid base voice and you can make certain variations and modulate at your will then dubbing arena may suit you. Remember only go for those languages in which you have perfect command. Your mother tongue or your native language can be your first language. You should able to read, write and speak and should have good knowledge of syntax and grammar of the language. An appreciation by our family members of friends is not enough. You may need a help from a professional VO Artiste or a Voice Coach. Record your voice on tape or computer, listen to it, then again record & listen, you will find that you can do better. Walls, Mirrors, Monitors do not respond. Recording is the best judge You may need somebody to comment on your Voice Over Recordings. Ask your VO Artiste friend or the Voice Coach to find your shortcomings. |
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| When you feel you are confident, visit a sound studio, make a Demo or your voice, not more than 10 minutes, make sure it contains your best part in different kind of scripts such as corporate narration, documentaries, presentations, commercials/ promos, IVR prompt, e learning, story telling etc. Then distribute these samples to various sound studious and producers, directors personally or by email. Create your online profile on various voice websites as most of the industry people and voice artiste seekers refer these websites to hire Voice Talents. You can get address of Sound Studious from the internet to get your Demo CD ready. Exploit the contacts of your friends & elders. You will surely get a break sooner or later. Do not lose your inspiration. Your dedication and hard work will certainly bring laurels. Remember, your courage, your dedication is the key to success. But still the bottom line is Clarity in Voice, Complete command over the language, should read, speak and comprehend the text quite well. For practical aid in Voice Over Training click here |
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| Read other articles on how to improve your voice and hope your journey in this voicing arena continues for long with success. We are always with the aspiring Voice Talent in every aspect mentioned above. Hope to bring smile on your face, always. |
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| Neeraj M. Mehra |
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| Back to Article on Voicing |
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