Voice Over Talent Industry News

Do We All Train or Even Warm Our Voices up Before Hitting the Record Button?

Yes! Of course we do….honest! Okay, I don’t, not all the time when I know I should and I can guarantee I don’t get the job if it’s for an audition and if it is for a job, many more takes are required than if I had warmed up! We all know the basic principles of what we should do, breathe in through your nose and push out through your mouth, opening up your airways and diaphragm, relax, lift your arms up remember to breathe and roll your head around (not too much!) and generally feel yourself relaxing ready for a day of talking.

‘Talking?’ Asks Geordie Jess, ‘you warm up to talk? But you talk all the time, actually, you never shut up!’ Yes, I do warm up….when I remember!! (She’s right though, I never shut up!!) But how important is it to warm up? Well, I think it’s very important, you try going straight into your studio and hit the record button without having a good vocal warm up and play it back, then do your warm up exercises and re-record the same script and you will definitely hear a difference.

What sort of exercises are we all doing out there? Are there any that people are willing to share? What is your go to exercise if you’ve maybe woken up feeling a little rough, if Heaven forbid that you’ve had heavy night the night before? I know the actor Benedict Cumberbatch has such a great name that many other actors use his name in a sentence to warm up their voices, or, quite simply just use his name, watch James Cordon via YouTube doing a car pool karaoke to get the idea, or just have a watch for a good laugh, nothing cleanses the soul like a good laugh.

Which brings me neatly to my next point, you’ve wafted downstairs to your beautifully prepared breakfast, oh sorry, we know that’s not quite true, you’ve tripped over the dog, shouted at a child for being too dilatory, everything’s gone wrong and you’re now faced with a script and you have to smile!!?? Smile? Are you kidding? No, I’m not, try and do the exercises, stretch you mouth, move it around and generally make yourself look and sound silly remembering to blow some raspberries while you’re at it! Then, and only then can you smile away whilst you talk and record and it absolutely does work.

And why wouldn’t you warm up? Anything else you do in life or for work you have to warn up, it’s the figuratively speaking sharpening a pencil! So you get in your studio (or hang around outside it if it’s teeny) and take in those deep cleansing breaths that you just know will make you feel and sound better, they make you sit up straighter which can only be a good thing and for goodness sake, remember to smile!