Blog Voice Acting Skills You Learn from Improv
We assure you, there’s nothing to be afraid of here! There’s a lot to love about improv, much of which involves the opportunity to explore the limits of your own imagination.
In fact, the skills you build up in improv training apply directly to your other performing arts practices as well. Voiceover is no exception! We urge aspiring and established voice actors alike to sign up for an improv class or two because the lessons you learn throw multiple tools into your toolbox. Or, at minimum, sharpen the ones you already have. Trust us. What you get out of improv can’t be limited to a few blurbs on a blog. But darn it, we’re gonna try!
Character Consistency
Improv lives and dies on being able to create a character whole cloth, on the spot, and maintain said character. If the character doesn’t walk, talk, and move the same throughout the scene, it confuses the audience and throws off the rhythms you craft with your scene partners. The same goes with voiceover. Casting directors want to know that you understand your characters inside and out. You can maintain the nuances and not-so-nuances that make them… well… them for an entire session. And another entire session. And another entire session…
Internal Logic
As with character consistency, a voice actor also needs to know how to keep up with the consistency of the surrounding environment. In improv, the rules outlining the scene’s world get established early. Keeping within the scene facilitates a creative, compelling story—random for randomness’ sake only works if the world is explicitly like that, otherwise you end up with not-so-fun chaos.
Voice actors need to keep the internal logic of the world in mind when giving life to the characters living in it. After all, the world shapes so much of their characters. Reactions, accents, emotions, physical carriage… all of these factors and more determine how you interpret your roles, making them feel three-dimensional and real.
For example, in the reality we currently inhabit, potato mashers are simply kitchen implements. An improv scene where everyone has a potato for a head? Well, a masher is right out of Steven King! If that’s true, then what else is true, following the world’s internal logic?
Timing
People tend to assume all improv is comedic. That’s not true, so the timing you hone while training benefits more than your comedy performances! Improv teaches you the role pacing plays in crafting a scene, be it the breakneck back-and-forth of slapstick or longer pauses building tension in the thriller and horror genres. Once you’ve mastered timing, you can play around with it to creative ends, stretching and squashing your delivery for unique characterization.
(Improv will also make sure you know the right moments to play with timing vs. staying within convention! It’s a complex art like that.)
Multiple Takes
When you step into the booth for an audition or a final recording after you’ve been cast, you’re likely to encounter a director asking you to provide multiple takes. And they don’t mean they want you to repeat the same line the same way a few times in a row. Directors more than anyone know that time is money. They’re not going to wait a few minutes while you hem and haw over how you might interpret the lines before you.
During your improv training, you come to learn the character types best suited for your acting style. Stick with improv long enough and you may even master some character types you never knew you could play! Use these lessons to your advantage when doing voiceover. When you’re asked to show your stuff with multiple takes, you’ll be able to spout off rapid fire interpretations with different characterizations. Add accents, vary up the volume, slow it down, speed it up, experiment with pitch and emotion. Now’s a chance to display both your range and your ability to conjure up ideas in seconds.
Interplay with Other Actors
These days, most voice actors record their lines separately from one another, though sometimes exceptions happen. It can be a challenge to make yourself sound like you’re having a multi-sided conversation with other people in these situations, especially if you’re self-directing. That’s where improv comes in, not to mention any other acting training you may have received. Observe the way your senses differ between when you’re alone vs. when you’re around others. Internalize how your characters interact with your fellow performers.
You’ll need this sensory information for the moments when you’re recording solo. Doing so adds dimensionality to your performance, ensuring you sound like you’re working with your fellow actors instead of simply reading lines off a page.
Come Improvise with Us!
Closing Credits offers improv alongside our suite of voice acting courses because we believe so strongly in how training in one field only enhances your training in the other. The performing arts are interdisciplinary—everything you learn in one field carries relevancy in another! And if you’re looking for other improvisers to play with outside of class, look no further than our Discord server. Many of your fellow students and improv alumni would love to join in on a practice session. Who knows… maybe this team-up could lead to an official team down the line?
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Voice Acting
Voice Acting 101
As with any profession or trade, it takes time for people to master their craft; voice acting included. A weekend seminar at a famous studio or a week long boot camp ...
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Voice Acting
Voice Acting 201
Over the next 12 classes we will take you on the ride of a lifetime as we put you in the front seat of your emotional rollercoaster. You will work on techniques ...
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Voice Acting
Voice Acting 301
Now that you’ve discovered how to use your instrument properly and how to bring emotional context into your words, it’s time to learn how to put it all together and learn how to act.
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Voice Acting
Narration
There are many forms of narration from corporate, e-learning, tutorials, Documentary, Podcasting, In-Show (Series VO) and more. This course was designed to advance your skills in this lucrative genre.
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Voice Acting
Authentic Commmerical Voiceover
In this course, you will learn how to approach any Commercial script and, by answering a few simple questions, find a voice that is authentic, conversational, friendly, & confident – without having to do any research on power saws.
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Voice Acting
Becoming a VO Solopreneur
Core training of how to's of becoming a solo-preneur in the voice over industry and learn the tools, tricks and techniques of building a solid foundation as a DBA/LLC business in the first year. ...
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Voice Acting
Mastering Characters
Build a recreatable catalog of characters with the ability to perform and sustain them. Gain specialized insights in the animation genre of voiceover along with strategies and tactics to advance your craft ...
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Voice Acting
Business for Voice Actors
The side of voice acting that is seldom taught but is just as important is the business. What price should you charge? What are the advantages you can promote locally, online, and in foreign markets?
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Voice Acting
Audiobook Voice Acting
One of (if not) the fastest growing market segments for voice acting is audio books. It requires you to take on the role both of actor (a full cast!) as well as director, and oftentimes sound editor and proofer!
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Voice Acting
Applied ADR
ADR/Dubbing is a post-production process used in filmmaking and video production in which additional or supplementary recordings are synced and mixed with original production sound to create a finished product.
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Audio Engineering
Demo Engineering
This course is designed to assist you through technical production of your own voice over spots that showcase your brand and talents. This voice-specific audio engineering course takes you behind the scenes to lay out step ...
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Audio Engineering
Audio Engineering for Voice Actors
You will be given audio examples and practical projects that relate closely to real-world professional practice. This is a hands on course designed to guide you, step-by-step, along the path to possessing a strong
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Audio Engineering
Advanced Audio Engineering
Post Processing for Voice Actors. Train your ears and improve your mixes. Every voice actor’s home studio has a different acoustic profile, they all use different microphones and interfaces, and ...
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Acting
Improv!
Improvisation is life, literally. You will learn about the fundamentals of short-form improvisation. Through this curriculum, you will gain an abundance of self-confidence, empathy and kindness for ...
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Acting
Improv for Actors
Train your instincts! Improvising is a learnable skill, not just something you’re born with. We will explore beats and instincts and develop skills for listening and being active and reactive ...
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Video Editing
Video Editing For Voice Actors
Do you see video editing as a technical puzzle, form of art, or work of magic? From recording a vlog in your bedroom to the latest Marvel flick, modern storytelling lives and breathes through the audiovisual ...
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Writing
Intro to Writing Professionally
The course is designed to guide participants into creating a productive writing space and habit, develop strong characters, build a cohesive plot, and enter the publishing world with some ...
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Illustration
Creating Manga and Webcomics
Creating Manga and Webcomics will fine tune your art skills and knowledge in preparation for the creation of high quality manga and webcomics. We will go through the steps of understanding themes, building up a ...
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Music Composition
Music Composition 101
This course prepares the student to realize, express and create music for new media including Video Games and Film with a focus on real world skills. Students will prepare a wide variety of compositions in ...