This article was in my email today. It’s from the peeps at edge studio in New York. I often get distance coaching from the team, plus I pick up many useful tips from their newsletters. There’s always something new to study as a professional voice artist. I believe that one can never know it all!
Here’s the article. You can find a linkbto Edge Studio in my blogroll.
18 Reasons Why You Lose Voice Over Auditions
Don’t be discouraged if you’re not winning auditions that your agent sends you on. Rather ask your agent how many voice actors they send to each audition. If your agency sends 20 talent to each audition, and you’ve only been on 5 auditions, then odds have it that you will have not won a job yet.
Of course, if you’ve been on more than 20 auditions, then read on, as there are a number of issues that could be at play:
1. You’re nervous and making it painfully obvious to everyone! Some jitters are natural, but don’t let it show. Do take deep breaths in through the nose, out through the mouth (be discreet about it) and remember to relax and have fun! This is fun, not the end of the world! **For a stress reliever and to help your voice – do breathing exercises: Breathe in through your nose – exhale through your mouth. Practice deep breaths.
2. The agency is testing you. They’re sending you on as many auditions as possible (even if they know your voice is not the correct type for the script) to build up your confidence, experience, and / or contacts. If this is the case, consider yourself fortunate, as it means that the agency believes in you (and your voice)!
3. You can not perform as well as your demo sounds (a common problem). In other words, you are misrepresenting yourself. If this is the case, you’ll spend your life auditioning…for nothing. This could happen for many reasons: Perhaps you are rusty. Or perhaps you don’t “cold read” well. Maybe you are nervous at auditions (this produces a high-pitched, contrived, and un-relaxed voice quality), or lack confidence in your delivery. We can help you with any of these.
4. Maybe you do not read with enough variety. For example, every time you read the script, it sounds the same. Think about making different applications for the script. Be open-minded to doing it different ways. When possible do 2 or 3 takes but say upfront regarding the versions.
5. Don’t assume you know the style or tone the script should be read in. There can be many ways any one script can be interpreted. Do ask before you begin “What type of delivery would you like?”
6. Perhaps you do not follow direction well. For example, when the casting professional says, “Do XYZ.”, you do not. In fact, we hold a LOT of casting calls – and at least a third of talent who submit auditions have NOT followed our directions. For example, we ask for a slate, but the voice talent does not slate their audition. Or we ask for two takes, but get only one. Sometimes we request a specific file name, but the file we receive is not named the way we requested. Come across looking smart – ask smart questions.
7. Maybe your agency is sending you out on the wrong types of auditions. This could be to fill up the roster. For example, if the agency’s client wants to have 10 voice-over artists audition, but the agency only has 8 voice-over artists who match the desired voice-type, they may send some incorrect voices to the audition.
8. Could you just be unlucky?
9. Do you ask too many questions? Act unprofessionally? Show up late? This will certainly not help win the job. Don’t be late. Do be courteous and punctual, perhaps arriving a few minutes early to relax and look over the script. Be sure to thank everyone.
10. Don’t be a show-off! Bragging about past work you’ve done, commenting on the studio equipment, rattling off all your accomplishments or ways that you could read a script are all signs of an insecure beginner. Just keep quiet and let your read speak for itself. Say thanks before and after: “thank you so much for this opportunity”
11. Don’t tap the microphone, say “testing 1-2-3″, fiddle with the equipment. Let the engineers do what they do best.
12. When the producer cues you to start, don’t say “now?” or “anytime?”, just focus yourself and begin.
13. Don’t ask for feedback – don’t ask how you performed.
14. Don’t get flustered and apologize profusely if you made a mistake and don’t make excuses like, “I’m really tired today” or “I have a cold”. Do stay calm, keep a sense of humor and try again.
15. You are so worried about capturing the style that your client wants, that you don’t infuse your own style. The irony is that clients hire voice-actors because they like their style, and often welcome the voice actor’s help in shaping the script and other suggestions.
16. Don’t assume you’ve lost the job just because they dismiss you right away or cut your read short. It may mean just the opposite! Producers know what they’re looking for and can usually tell very quickly if you’re right or not.
17. Perhaps it just takes you too long to “get it.” This industry moves fast, and if you require an hour of hand-holding and producing to read the script correctly, you will not get the job. If you have a question, such as how to pronounce a certain word, ask it up-front rather than midway through the read.
18. Don’t be upset if you don’t get the job. It’s not necessarily a reflection on your talent but may simply be that your voice wasn’t quite right for the material. Do stay positive and keep auditioning!
Thanks gang, for reading the blog. Hope it’s useful. Do you have any tips to add to Edge Studio’s list? Feel free to share!
Sent from Samsung Mobile
to be quite an interesting piece of work. It makes a good refresher study, and I’m picking up some new ideas as well. The CD that comes with the book is handy to, because I can hear examples of what the book is covering and I’ve put a few bits on my iPod as well. 
is a valuable resource as well.
