Today on its Facebook page, Voices.com re-published voice over instructor and actor Marc Cashman‘s April 2010 podcast about the 12 skills you should hone as a voiceover talent, specifically detailing what he believes is necessary for the survival of VO’s fittest:
- Clarity
- Cleanliness
- Consistency
- Connected
- Conversational
- Cold Reading
- Chop-chop
- Coordination
- Characterization
- Convincing
- Control
- Confidence
Give Cashman’s detailed podcast a listen or read the transcript; his 12 C’s are an insightful reminder about fundamentals. (Even better, his narration embodied every detail described within it!)
Of course, this Voices.com podcast made me consider where I have room for improvement. And it also reminded me of the cheat sheet I put together not too long ago. As a new voice over talent, my cheat sheet is a regular part of my voice-over routine; and its purpose is two-fold: 1) it reminds me that I always get to save the day, and 2) it reminds me of basic things to look for and acknowledge when analyzing a script.
What basic skills do you think are necessary for approaching a read?
The podcast referenced in this post is from Voices.com’s Voice Over Experts, “the industry’s most downloaded educational podcast featuring renowned voice over coaches from US, Canada and abroad.” Subscribe to the podcast here.
can i ask – what else is a regular part of YOUR voice over routine? you never did mention in your post about the subject. also… i am dying to know what is on your cheat sheet!? that would make an awesome blog post, i bet. thanks for republishing their post. keep up the great work!
I like Cashman’s list. It’s a goodie (make sure to listen to the podcast, which is very concise). Aside from breaking down the script’s structure, looking for key words–and identifying challenging ones–and linguistic cues, I’m trying to concentrate on figuring out who my character is and what her ultimate intention is. Needless to say, it’s a process that’s open to suggestion!
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