Senior Voiceover Actor
Has anyone ever said to you, “Wow! You have an amazing voice. Do you work in radio?” If this has happened to you at least once in the past year and you have never been in broadcasting, consider it a sign leading you to something far more interesting and profitable.
The demand continues to grow for new and fresh voices in animation and radio commercials which are where you can fit in and earn a good living on the side during retirement or semi-retirement. You will need two things, besides a great voice, to break into this fun and exciting industry and they are a demo tape and a connection.
The demo tape is like an audio resume which would feature you reading and acting different kinds of ad copy or scripts. If there is a recording studio where you live you may be able to get some advice from them before recording your demo. If you know someone in the radio industry, they may be able to offer some helpful tips and possibly provide you with a cheaper recording alternative in their own in-house production studios. They may even have leads you can follow on where to find voice over work.
You can also establish your own studio without spending a huge amount of money with current technology. You can set up a small room to be a studio and with a computer and the right programs you can start recording in your home. Even with iPads and iPhones there are great audio recording apps that can be downloaded and used to record voice over work.
A way to make connections is to make friends with those already doing voice over work and by attending voice over actor conferences. A search online for “voiceover groups and conferences” should produce some helpful leads. Just like going on a diet or exercising, you need to keep training your voice to reach your goals. Practice daily by recording yourself reading the paper or acting out scenes from television shows to become comfortable with different types of voice over work.
Keep in mind, there are a number of ways voice over actors are used. Audio books require a number of different voices for longer sessions of work than typically used in audio commercial production. As for finding jobs, aside from using your new contacts, there are online freelance sites where there are voice over jobs listed. This includes oDesk.com and eLance.com.
A search online for “voice over employment” should also provide some interesting options. The bottom line is that regardless of your age, there is always work for voice over actors. With certain projects there will be roles and parts specifically for seniors and that will be where you’ll be able to fit in with this unique and interesting job you can even do in your pajamas!