What Makes Voice Talent So Special?

You've heard him - That Guy with That Voice. The TV promo voice. He does announcements, commercials, advertising jingles. He sells Ginsu knives for Only $19.95 and warns you that the furniture special downtown is for Only One Day. Of course, it's isn't just one guy, but you know the type of voice I'm talking about. You may have even bought one or more of the products that you heard this type voice announce. You probably didn't make fun of him, or at least you didn't do it often, because you didn't think about the voice. You thought about the product.

The first time you really gave that type of voice serious thought was when you discovered a need to make your own voiceover project. Maybe you have something to sell for Only $19.95. Maybe, you think, you should hire a guy like that to sell your product or make your announcement. Then you consider what he probably charges and wonder why you can't make the announcement yourself. After all, it's just talking, right? What's so special about That Guy? After all, it sounds pretty easy. Anyone could do it, right?

A lot of people start thinking like that when money is involved. It's difficult sometimes to spend money to make things just right. They don't understand that skimping on the wrong things in the beginning can cause them to lose money in the end.

The first thing you have to consider when you are dangerously close to stumbling down that road is, it's a professional's job to make it look easy. That means they're good at it. The problem is, if you don't know a lot about voice acting, you're probably not sure what it is, exactly, they're good at. You probably haven't given a lot of thought to the value of enunciating, timing and stage presence.

Enunciating is simply speaking clearly, pronouncing the words so that they can be understood, making each word distinct and not running things together. That's harder than it sounds, because most people don't enunciate. We don't notice it on a day-to-day basis because we're used to it. We know what all the jumbled-up sounds are, and when we aren't sure, we can use facial cues or body language. It's more difficult to do than it looks, and it is especially difficult to do quickly, which you may be faced with if you have a lot to say in a very limited amount of air time. An audience listening to a commercial can't ask what you said if you aren't speaking clearly.

Put that together with the fact that the voice actor has to remember his lines and deal with timing issues, and make it all sound natural while doing it, and you've got an incredibly complex skill at work here. Speaking is one thing, but speaking for profit should be left to the professionals.