Tips for Recording Your First Voicereel

As an actor, one must have a toolkit. Just as a builder has hammers, spanners and nails, an actor has a show reel, head shots and a voice reel. We’ve put together a great guide in the Surviving Actors Manual to recording your first voice reel, full of handy tips and hints for getting the best final result. We spoke to Silver-Tongued Productions, a leading voice reel company, to ask them why actors should consider using a professional voice reel service. They answered:

“You are a product to be marketed- it is important that all the tools you use to market yourself are professional, and working with professional service providers will present you in a professional light.”

So in short, by using a company that specialise in voice reel recordings, you’re more likely to come away with a polished reel that really shows off the best of your voice and your voice skills. A hasty recording on an iPhone voicenote this ain’t! Professional products make you look like you take yourself and your business seriously, which hopefully in turn, will lead to booking more jobs! A worthy investment.

In the Surviving Actors Manual, we’ll take you through the best ways to select material for your voice reel, helping you to put together a range of pieces that will play to your strengths as an actor, and show your voice skills off in the best light possible. Take accents for example. Once upon a time, RP was the only accent ever to be heard on the airwaves. Nowadays, regional accents are trendier than ever! Silver-Tongued Productions said,

“Over the last fifteen years, the voice-over industry has changed considerably and we are now hearing many regional accents and dialects on television and radio, in documentaries, continuity announcements, commercials etc.”

So if you’re wondering whether or not to use an accent in your voice reel, we say go for it, on the condition that it’s an accent you’re skilled at, can use confidently and at the drop of a hat.

For more advice on prepping for your first voice reel, plus hints and tips from all areas of the industry, be sure to grab a copy of the Surviving Actors Manual – available here.

Copy of SurvivingActorsManual

Article by Katie Brennan
www.bloodyhellbrennan.com
@katie_brennan