For Voice Over Clients

Eye Health for Voice Over Actors

While voice over work may not be at the top of the list of professions with on-the-job hazards, we still have a few potential risks to think about. Our eye health is one of them.

Like millions of other folks in this digital age, we’re typically staring at the computer screen for extended periods every day. We might start to get headaches, feel pressure behind the eyes, get dry eyes, blurry vision or neck and shoulder pain. All these are symptoms of what is known as digital eye strain. Voice over actors can have a higher risk of eye strain due to dim lighting and proximity to our computer screens. We’re frequently in dark recording booths looking at a bright screen, and we may sit closer than an arm’s length away from the screen to view it properly.

Being aware of what digital eye strain is and how it affects us can help us avoid it. So can developing new habits to maintain good eye health both in and out of the recording booth.

Digital Eye Strain by the Numbers

Voice over actors aren’t the only folks at risk for digital eye strain. The condition can occur to anyone who spends a notable amount of time in front of the TV, computer or other digital device.

A report from The Vision Council noted nearly 60% of American adults experienced one or more symptoms of digital eye strain.

32% reported eye strain
27% reported dry eyes
28% reported headaches
28% reported blurred vision
35% reported neck and shoulder pain

Voice over talent would align with the 80% of adults who say they use digital devices for more than two hours each day, and we may even match up with the 67% who say they use two or more devices at the same time.

Even when we’re not officially at work, we could be checking our phones, watching TV or continuing screen time in other ways. Nearly 80% of adults say they use some type of digital device in the hour before going bed, and 55% percent use them within the first hour they’re awake.

How Voice Over Actors Can Avoid Eye Strain

Keeping our eyes healthy can start by adjusting our work environment and habits to reduce the risk of eye strain. These tips can help immensely.

Give Your Eyes a Break

Eye strain tends to occur when you’re in front of the computer for an extended stretch of two hours or more. You can start to experience what’s known as focusing fatigue, which occurs when eyes tire out from constantly focusing on the screen.

Avoid it by implementing what doctors call the 20-20-20 rule. Every 20 minutes, look away from your screen to focus on something at least 20 feet away for 20 seconds. This gives the focusing muscle a chance to relax.

You can also focus on something in the distance for at least 10 seconds, then focus on something up close for at least 10 seconds. Alternate between the two 10 times. This exercise helps ensure your eyes’ focusing ability doesn’t lock up during extended screen time.

Blink Frequently

We tend to blink much less frequently when we’re reading from a computer screen than we do when we’re reading off a printed page. Blinking keeps our eyes lubricated, helping us avoid irritation and dryness.

Make a habit of blinking 10 times every 20 minutes to keep eyes moistened. If you’re still having dry eye issues, lubricating eye drops may be helpful. Just make sure you pick those designed to lubricate the eyes. Those meant to get the red out only decrease the size of the blood vessels without necessarily easing irritation.

Pay Attention to Lighting

Staring at a bright screen in a dark recording booth can increase the risk of eye strain, due to the contrast between the dimness of the booth and the brightness of the screen. This causes your eyes to put more effort into focusing and more strain on your vision.

You can decrease the risk of eye strain with several tactics:

Reduce the brightness of your monitor, adjusting it to more closely match the level of illumination in the booth.
Increase the contrast, which makes dark text on a light background stand out better for easier focusing.
Increase the font size, which can also make it easier for your eyes to focus.
Add a small light source, such as a mini USB lamp, to even out the lighting.
Eliminate any glare, which you can usually do by turning the screen away from any light source shining directly on it. If you wear glasses, you can get lenses with an anti-reflective coating to protect your eyes even further.

Adjust Your Work Setup

The layout of your voice over workstation has an impact on your eye health. You want your monitor to be at least 20 inches away from your eyes, with the center of the screen angled about 15 degrees below your eyes. This makes reading it more comfortable and ensures you’re not craning your neck.

If you’re reading from both a screen and a printed page, put the printed pages on a stand next to your screen so you can look back and forth with ease. Use a small light on the printed page if needed, ensuring that it doesn’t create a glare on your screen.

Your overall posture plays a role in your eye health, as well. Sit up straight, and keep your chair at a comfortable height that lets your feet rest easily on the floor.

Try Computer Glasses

If you wear glasses, you can look into customized computer glasses that are designed to work at the exact distance you sit from your computer screen. These can be particularly helpful if you have bifocals or progressive lenses that would normally make you tilt your head to get just the right focus through a specific band on your lens. All that head tilting can eventually lead to a sore neck, back or shoulders after extended periods.

Computer glasses instead give you an entire lens that’s adjusted for optimum viewing of your computer screen. You can also get an anti-reflective coating to cut down on glare, along with photochromic lenses that darken to shield your eyes from harsh indoor or outdoor light.

Just put the custom glasses on when you work at your computer, and then switch back to your regular glasses when you’re done. My husband normally wears progressive lenses, and he has a pair of custom computer glasses that he says makes a huge difference in his comfort and ability to see the screen clearly from any angle.

Additional Eye Care Tips for Voice Over Actors

It’s important to pay attention to eye health even when we’re not at work, and a few tips can help. Getting regular eye exams is always a good idea, as is wearing sunglasses to protect our eyes from bright sunlight. Regular exercise and a healthy diet likewise contribute to good eye health.

Even though our voice may be our greatest asset as voice over artists, our eyesight is equally important both on the job and off. Not only are these tips are easy to follow and add to our daily routine, but they can make a big difference in the long run.

Why Work Is Not the Be-All and End-All of Life (Not Even Voice-Over Work)

Don’t get me wrong. I absolutely love my job as a voice-over talent. Being able to make a living doing something I enjoy and am skilled at is a fortunate blessing. Yet I have many other blessings outside my job that also bring me joy and a sense of fulfillment.

That’s where many in today’s society have gone wrong. Instead of having passions outside their jobs, they have been told make their jobs their passion. Many become compelled to only take jobs they feel have meaning, purpose and represent their true calling. They refuse to even consider any type of work unless they think it’s going to bring them fulfillment and contentment.

This alarming shift is outlined in an article in The Atlantic, where writer Derek Thompson explores the phenomenon of “workism.” And it’s wreaking havoc on the nation as a whole.

What is Workism?

Workism is the idea that work is more than just a way to earn money. It is instead viewed as the core of a person’s identity and life’s purpose, a way to find contentment and fulfillment. In other words, it’s pretty much the worship of work.

The roots of workism can be traced back to the long-standing American Dream, the idea that you’ll enjoy material riches and success only if you work hard and give it your all. But workism takes it to the next level, promising not only success on the material level, but on the emotional and spiritual levels as well.

Workism, for many, is taking the place of traditional faith, which is on the decline in the U.S. The workism movement has spread across generations, and particularly hits hard with millennials.

It’s become such an obsession that a full 95 percent of teens responding to a Pew Research study ranked “having a job or career that they enjoy” at the top of the list of “extremely or very important” things to have as an adult. The report, by the way, was examining the epidemic of youth anxiety.

Workism Side Effects

It’s no coincidence the Pew study had been investigating youth anxiety, as anxiety is one of the foremost side effects of worshiping work. Others include mass disappointment, disillusionment and inevitable burnout.

Expecting More than You’ll Get

Work was designed as a way to earn money, not as the be-all and end-all to the meaning of life. One of the dangers with trying to make your work be meaningful is that most work is not meaningful. It’s work, and generally something you probably wouldn’t do unless you’re being paid to do it.

When people devote their entire lives to work, worshipping something from which they can actually be fired, they’re setting themselves up for a painful fall if the market doesn’t behave. And its behavior is out of anyone’s control. The concept of workism is falling flat itself, with Gallup reporting nearly 90 percent of workers are not engaged at their jobs. It’s also creating a culture of misery, perhaps explaining why anxiety and depression have increased significantly over the past 40 years.

‘Meaningful’ Jobs Saturated

The jobs that appear somewhat meaningful, or seem that way to the masses, are becoming saturated with people seeking out their life purpose in their work. This creates a big supply of people interested in that type of work – resulting in a low demand and even lower pay. That tends to make “meaningful” work some of the lowest paying around, unless you happen to be the owner of the business or high enough on the totem pole to command a good salary.

The voice-over industry has experienced a massive influx of job seekers over the past few years, as have other industries that appear to have jobs which people think will bring on good feelings and a sense of wholeness. Now is exactly the wrong time to be pursuing so-called meaningful work, since so many young people are doing exactly that. A more strategic tactic would be to pursue a career in something that pays the bills, and then have a meaningful life outside of work.

Most people are actually happiest when they’re spending time pursuing their hobbies or with family and friends – not jammed behind a desk looking for the meaning of life.

Finding Meaning in Anything You Do

Another important thing to remember is that you bring the meaning to your work; it doesn’t bring the meaning to you. No matter what you do for a job, you can always create the meaning you want. While this might seem like a controversial idea to some, if you really examine it, you’ll find it to be true and accurate. More to come on this idea in the near future.

Depending on a person’s mindset, being a plumber or HVAC technician could have more meaning than being a Broadway producer or star. After all, which changes a person’s life more? Seeing a really great Broadway show or getting their furnace repaired so they can have heat during the winter?

Most folks would agree getting the furnace fixed is a more meaningful thing for them, because it impacts them all winter long. You can make a huge difference in peoples’ lives doing very ordinary things. This is the missing piece in today’s way of thinking about work. Millennials especially are failing to realize that THEY create their own meaning in what they do.

So yes, my voice-over work is very meaningful. I enjoy it, am passionate about it, and am extremely grateful to have it. But it’s not my only source of joy, or the only way I find enlightenment in life. And, like any job, it can sometimes be a source of frustration, stress and discomfort. That is the nature of the reality we live in. Nothing is perfect, every job has its drawbacks and downside. The attitude and perspective you have about those areas especially will make or break how much joy you experience in your work.

Are you looking for an experienced and passionate voice-over talent for an upcoming project? Your search is over… Contact Debbie today.

What AI Can Do For America, and the Voice Over Industry

From voice assistants that can order our groceries to vacuum robots that do a better job cleaning our floor than we do, America is being swept away by the artificial intelligence revolution. The country just so happens to be at the forefront of that revolution, and an initiative launched last month is aimed at keeping us there. The initiative outlines what AI can do for the country, and I took a look at what it can do for the voice over industry.

American AI Initiative in a Nutshell

We Americans may love our AI toys, but we also love our country’s economic and national security. In a move to strongly maintain it, President Donald Trump launched the American AI Initiative.

The initiative pretty much covers all the bases when it comes to ensuring the U.S. remains a leading player in the AI field. In addition to directing federal agencies to put AI investments in development and research at the top of the list, it also increases access to federal computing resources and data for the country’s AI researchers.

It likewise aims to pave a smooth road going forward, touching on:

The job market, by asking federal agencies to help Americans gain skills relevant to AI technology
The industrial and technologies sectors, by directing regulatory agencies to establish guidance for the use and development of AI
The safety and technical standards of AI systems, by calling on the National Institute of Standards and Technology to lead the way
The future of the U.S. as a global AI leader, by supporting American AI industries and research as well as securing our critical AI technology

The belief is that our country’s ability to stay on the forefront of AI is critical to boosting prosperity, enhancing national and economic security, and protecting American values. And if you think that sounds good, just wait until you take a look at how voice over fits into the bigger AI puzzle.

Where Voice Over Fits with AI

The advancement of artificial intelligence is creating fresh opportunities across the country and beyond, and this certainly applies to the voice over industry. While some may immediately bring up the fact that AI applications are powered by synthetic or computer-generated voices, you have to remember that those voices had to originate somewhere. That somewhere is usually from a voice over actor.

More often than not, synthetic and computerized voices need a human voice to establish the foundation of the vocal database. Voice assistants are a prime example, and their popularity and reach continue to explode. As noted in a past blog about voice assistants, the three big ones are Google’s Voice Assistant, Amazon’s Alexis and Apple’s Siri – but there are many, many more.

Going Beyond the Voice Assistant

Smart speaker sales have also exploded, as more people embrace AI technology in the home. The movement is predicted to get even bigger, with smart home and “internet of things” devices expected to increase exponentially over the next several years. Any devices or apps that feature a voice response option are likely to have had a human voice as a starting point.

The same holds true for the virtual assistants and voice apps used across a variety of industries. Whether it’s an AI-powered chat bot that answers your online questions, or a virtual travel assistant that provides hotel and flight suggestions, those that use voices are apt to have originally recorded them from VO actors.

Even some AI apps that don’t currently use voice responses are expecting to add them in the future. Google Maps, for instance, is planning to implement its voice assistant into its Map application so it can both show and tell you where to go.

Rather than looking at the AI explosion with disdain or fear, we can look at it as a chance to embrace new opportunities. Besides, no matter how advanced artificial intelligence may become, AI is still a long way away from producing a voice that is as natural and welcoming as a real human’s. That means robots won’t be taking our VO jobs, at least not any time soon.

How Your Mindset Can Shape Your VO Career

Many factors come into play for building a successful voice over career, and one of the most important is your mindset. And your mindset goes much deeper than, say, having a positive or negative attitude.

I’m talking about the attitudes and beliefs outlined by Stanford University psychologist Carol Dweck, who has done extensive research related to two main types of mindsets: the fixed mindset and the growth mindset. Each mindset comes with its own set of beliefs that shape the way individuals approach their VO careers – and their overall lives.

The Fixed Mindset vs. The Growth Mindset

Folks who have a fixed mindset believe they were born with a certain amount of intelligence, talent and skills, and those traits are fixed in place. No matter what they do or how hard they try, there’s no way to increase those traits.

On the opposite side of the fence is the growth mindset. This mindset assumes the intelligence, character traits and creative abilities we harbor at birth are just a starting point, and they can all be strengthened and enhanced throughout our lives.

More on the Fixed Mindset

Because people with fixed mindsets think the hand they were dealt is as good as it gets, their mission in life becomes proving they were dealt an amazing hand. Every success confirms they have the winning hand, while every failure is a blatant sign of deficiencies.

The Fixed Mindset:

Views success as validation of their inherent traits
Views failures as proof of deficiencies
Avoids challenges as they may result in failure
Gives up easily in the face of obstacles
Sees effort as useless since they’re already born with what they need
Ignores constructive criticism
Feels threatened by the success of others

More on the Growth Mindset

Those with a growth mindset believe hard work and targeted efforts can bring about significant changes in our level of intelligence, talent and skills – or even in our personality traits. Failures are not seen as proof of deficiencies but rather as valuable lessons that help stretch existing abilities to even higher heights.

The Growth Mindset:

Views success as the reward for their hard work and efforts
Views failure as valuable lessons
Thrives on challenges and pushing self to higher heights
Persists in the face of obstacles
Sees effort as the path to mastery
Learns from constructive criticism
Feels inspired by and learns lessons from the success of others

How a Fixed Mindset Might Approach a VO Career

Someone with a fixed mindset may go into a career as a voice over artist with high hopes of proving their innate talents and skills in the area. Since they were born with all the talent they need, they may not be interested in advanced training or putting intense effort into sharpening their skills.

They’ll instead sit at a microphone, send out audition after audition, knowing they’ll eventually be hailed as the highly talented and amazing voice over artist they feel they are. They may land a job or two, but then notice the majority of auditions they send get no response whatsoever.

Rather than trying to figure out why some auditions get no response, they look at the ones that do – then go for jobs that are similar to those they’re already landing. They may discover they have a strong, inherent talent for political voice overs, for instance, but notice they get no response when they send out auditions for commercials or e-books.

So they focus solely on political voice-overs, responding to calls for auditions and also contacting companies directly to offer their services, whether the company called for an audition or not.

While they may have failed to land voice over jobs outside a specific niche, that’s perfectly fine with them. They’ll stick with a category in which know they excel and it’s easy to prove it again and again.

What a Growth Mindset Might Do

A person with a growth mindset may enter a career as a voice over artist with the same aim of success, but they’re likely to prepare with voice training, learning the necessary software skills and taking a few marketing classes to help spread the word about their new adventure.

When the auditions they send out get no response, they may seek advice from voice over pros or additional training to improve weaknesses in their performance. While it may take some time to land a single gig, they’re learning a lot along the way.

The first audition they sent out is drastically different than the much-improved 36th audition they sent out, and their work keeps getting more refined and on-target with consistent effort and hard work.

Over time, their career may be filled with ups and downs, but each down is a chance to look at how far they’ve come and where they want to go next with the development of their VO career. They learn new technology and techniques as the needs arise, keeping their skills aligned with current trends.

When they see others succeed in the same field, they get inspired and are eager to learn more about how the person is making it work. It reinforces that they, too, can enjoy success if they put in enough effort and work.

Mindset, of course, is just one of the factors playing a role in the outcome of a voice over career. Other factors are totally outside our control, and they can be working for or against an individual at any given time.

Someone with a fixed mindset may be more prone to giving up if they keep hitting a brick wall, then moving on to try something new. Someone with a growth mindset may keep pushing their limits to overcome the challenges that appear to block their path.

Tips for Cultivating a Growth Mindset

While the fixed or growth mindset can both lead to positive outcomes in different ways, the growth mindset can be an asset in certain situations to help increase the likelihood of success. Our mindsets are formed at an early age, but it’s never too late to change them.

Developing a growth mindset is possible for anyone, and a few tips from InformED may help:

Trade the word “failing” for the word “learning”: Everything is a learning experience, no matter how it turns out.
Admit, and even embrace, your imperfections: Acknowledging weaknesses can lead to overcoming them.
Focus on growth over speed, keeping in mind it can take some time to learn or master a new trait.
Focus on learning over approval: If your main goal is to get approval, you diminish your potential for growth.
Make a new goal every time you accomplish an existing one: Those with a growth mindset tend to constantly set goals to keep themselves active and growing.
Become friends with the word “yet”: Instead of simply saying you haven’t mastered something, tell yourself you just haven’t mastered it – yet.

Just like any other goal you set out to achieve, cultivating a growth mindset is going to take time, effort and practice. Yet the small changes in thinking can result in larger changes in your attitudes and behaviors that notably improve your likelihood for success, whether it’s with a voice over career or any other path you choose.

Looking for success with your next voice over project? Contact Debbie today.

Exploring the Voices of Voice Assistants

Whether you’ve asked Alexa to play your favorite song or questioned Siri about tomorrow’s weather, chances are high you’ve used a voice assistant at least once in your life. In fact, statistics from Mindshare say an estimated 600 million people worldwide use voice assistants at least once a week.

Voice assistants are personal helpers that reside in smartphones, computers and other internet-connected devices, ready to help you find information or complete a variety of tasks. Just wake up the assistant with the mention of a keyword, and the assistants use a natural language processor to decipher what you said and then jump into action.

Tasks can include finding all types of information on the internet, playing music from an accessible music library, setting appointments and reminders on your calendar, and controlling smart home appliances. All of this can be accomplished using voice controls.

While many of us turn to voice assistants without a second thought (unless they mess up our request), I’m prone to be curious about the way human voices are used in any project. This especially holds true as voice assistants become more natural sounding and advanced, prompting folks to speak to machines the same way they would speak to another human being.

Voice Assistant Options

Three of the most popular voice assistants are those from Google, Amazon and Apple. All three can be used on mobile devices or on a stationary device in your home.

Google: Google Assistant is the straightforward name of Google’s voice assistant, available on Android phones, Android Wear wearable devices, and in homes as part of the Google Home smart speaker system. It responds to your voice as well as typed-in commands.

Amazon: Alexa is the name of Amazon’s voice assistant, and you can interact with her through an Android app on smartphones and tablets as well as with Amazon Echo and Amazon Echo Dot devices. Amazon Echo combines the main control unit with a cylindrical speaker, while Amazon Echo Dot is just the main unit without the speaker. Each can work independently of one another.

Apple: Apple’s voice assistant is named Siri, and she’s available on iPhones and the HomePod speaker system for household use.

The Voices They Use

The default voice for voice assistants has long been female, although the choices have since increased to both male and female options.

Google Assistant lets you choose from a total of eight different male and female voices, with the voice of singer John Legend planned to be added to the mix down the line.

Alexa has her default female voice, and Amazon recently introduced eight different male and female voices developers can use to change the default. If you’re a developer or savvy enough with technology to change the voice, the total here is nine.

Siri got a revamped default female voice in September 2017, and you can also choose from a number of male and female options with American, British or Australian accents.

How They Choose the Voices

Using a female voice as the default voice for voice assistants may irk some who feel it stereotypes women as “mere assistants,” but the truth is that people generally tend to trust female voices over male voices.

As I discussed in a previous blog, there are several reasons why. The higher pitch of a female voice instills more confidence in listeners than the lower-pitched male voice. Female voices are also perceived as more soothing and comforting, as well as helpful rather than commanding.

It’s also been shown that the human brain is developed to like female voices, and perhaps even prefer them over the male voice. Studies suggest this preference can be traced back to the womb, with unborn babies reacting to the sound of their mother’s voice.

Of course, the perfect-sounding voice for one person may not be equally as pleasant for another, which is probably why companies have expanded the selection of voices to include a wider variety of different-sounding male and female voices.

Additional criteria that come into play for Apple when choosing voices for Siri include the ensuring the voice is “perceived as being compatible with the Siri personality.” The Nordic edition of BusinessInsider notes the Siri personality is known to be neutral, professional and somewhat restrained (even when delivering the occasional joke if you provide the right prompt).

Google’s use of John Legend’s voice appears to show celebrity status is likely to play a role in the voices it uses for its assistant.

How an Actor’s Voice becomes a Machine’s Voice

Once an actor is chosen to provide the voice of the assistant, recording the actor’s voice comes next. This process that can last anywhere from 10 to 20 hours to get a solid sample of the actor’s voice. The recorded materials can include any number of different voice over scripts, including things like navigation instructions, short question responses, audio books and yes, even a joke or two.

While 20 hours or recording provides a good sample of a voice, it’s certainly not enough to create every single possible the virtual assistant may need to make. That’s where technology comes in. After the speech is chopped up into blocks of components, technology, such as Wavenet, can arrange those blocks into new words and phrases as needed.

The key is ensuring those new words and phrases sound more human than they do synthetic, or as if you’re speaking to another person instead of a robot. Artificial intelligence techniques can help, which is what Apple uses to make Siri sound more human.

As human as voice assistants may sound, they’re still machines.While they can help with many mundane tasks, or even deliver an occasional joke, they can’t take the place of real human connections. And since they rely on human voice recordings to develop their own voices, they evidently can’t take the place of real human voice over actors, either.

Looking for voice over work from a real human? Contact Debbie today.

Millennial Speech Patterns Voice Over Artists Should Avoid

One of the keys to success for voice over artists is keeping up with the current trends, whether it’s with the latest voice over recording technology or new video styles. But just because a trend may be widespread or hugely popular, it may not be something we choose to embrace. A major case in point is a trio of millennial speech patterns VO artists would be wise to avoid.

Vocal Fry

When you hear a voice that’s creaky, choppy, breathy and delivered in its lowest register, you’re listening to vocal fry. This millennial speech pattern is often found in women, like the Kardashian clan and Katy Perry, although men can engage in it, too.

When voice is normally produced, the vocal cords naturally close to create vibrations. With vocal fry, the vocal cords remain relaxed with minimal air passing through them, resulting in a low, creaky sound. Johns Hopkins says vocal fry is not damaging to the health of your voice or vocal cords, although it can be rather painful on the ears.

Some folks find vocal fry grating, while others perceive it as a mark of being bored, lacking intelligence, or less educated, less competent and less trustworthy than those who speak without it. Unless your audience is made up entirely of a millennial audience that would eagerly relate to a voice over artist using vocal fry, you are probably better off avoiding this creaky pattern of speech.

Vocal Fry Examples:

Upspeak (Uptalk)

When you’re making a statement, traditional speech patterns automatically lower inflection at the end of a sentence. When you’re asking a question, the inflection rises at the end. That’s not the case with upspeak. Also known as uptalk, this speech pattern uses a rising inflection no matter what’s being said. While upspeak has been around for years, it has really taken off with the millennial set.

Britney Spears has been pegged as a famous uptalker, but she’s not the only one who has hopped on the bandwagon. In fact, a Forbes article notes that upspeak has become so prevalent that people under 40 may not even notice when it’s happening. Yet those over 40 most certainly will.

Those that notice the speech pattern of rising inflection often perceive it as coming from someone who is hesitant, timid or unsure of themselves. In severe cases, the speaker may be perceived as being less than serious – or even less than intelligent.

Again, if an audience is largely or exclusively millennials – or made up of people you know aren’t turned off by uptalk – you may be able to get away with it with your voice overs. Otherwise, it’s a good idea to end a declarative sentences with a period, instead of a vocal question mark, to portray confidence and smarts.

Upspeak / Uptalk Examples:

Shotgun Speech

When you fire a shotgun, the pellets come out fast, furious and in a torrid burst. You get the same thing with pattern known as shotgun speech. Shotgun speech occurs when someone speaks suddenly, quickly and in a rapid outburst of words. While this millennial speech pattern may be common on college campuses and TV shows like the “Gilmore Girls,” it’s not typically something you want from your voice over artist.

Speaking too fast makes the audience work too hard, and, as Inc. points out, audience members are intrinsically lazy. Make them work too hard to keep up and understand what you’re saying, and they’re likely to tune out altogether. Shotgun speech can likewise be perceived as signs of nervousness and lack of self-confidence. It’s also a symptom of anxiety.

Fast talking cannot only weaken your voice since you’re not taking in enough air to support it, but it can muddle your diction and a make what you’re saying nearly impossible to understand. Unless you’re recording a voice over for a cattle auction or other fast-paced event, fast talk is not the right talk to draw in a crowd.

Shotgun Speech Example:

I had a real challenge finding good examples for this last category. So, I’ll keep on the lookout for clips that would be good to use. I included that last Fed Ex video because it’s a bit of a classic, and a fun one to watch again after all these years. Not actually shotgun speech, I’d probably call his style “machine gun speech.”

Although vocal fry, upspeak and shotgun speech may be speech patterns you hear all the time, there’s no guarantee they’re something your listeners want to hear on your voice over projects. Unless those patterns align with your brand and please your audience, they may be trends you’d be much better off avoiding.

For more on a related topic, be sure to read my post, “The Most Annoying Speech Patterns You Hear All the Time Now”

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