10 Common Mistakes Beginner Voice-Over Artists Should Avoid

The voiceover industry is booming like never before, motivating new voice actors to join the industry and make their careers promising. However, it is seen that most beginners make some common mistakes that eventually shake the dream of being a professional and prevalent voiceover artist. 

To keep the dream of new voice actors alive, we have compiled the top 10 common mistakes beginner voice-over artists should avoid. Try to read through the lines and implement suggestions to make your voice more polished and professional.

A] Exploring The Top Mistakes Beginner Voice Actors Should Avoid

1. Poor Recording Environment

When beginners don’t pay attention to where they are recording, it simply turns out to be inaudible. And, it only occurs due to a poor recording environment. Poor recording environment refers to a particular environment that has issues like excessive noise, voice reflections, and reverberation. These issues severely hamper the final voice outcome and make it more distorted, unclear, and unappealing. So, what can you do about that? You can shift your recording station to a soundproof place. In addition, you can use a treated space or portable booths that are designed to eliminate external reverberations and voice reflections.

2. Poor Recording Setup

Most beginner voice actors don’t realise at the beginning that a quality recording setup helps massively in elevating the results. When a beginner uses a poor recording setup, such as a basic or built-in microphone, low-quality equipment, and a space with no acoustic treatment, the resulting audio often lacks clarity, depth, and professionalism. When voice-over artists make these kinds of common mistakes, the quality of the final product suffers. So, how can you get over it? Use a professional mic, high-quality equipment, a pop filter to minimise plosives and breathing sounds, and avoid recording in large, empty, or spacious rooms as these kinds of spaces make voices more echoey. 

3. Ignoring Breath Control

Audible breaths or gasps make their way into voiceovers when a beginner ignores breathing control practices, which ultimately leads to strained vocal cords. Practising breathing control exercises strengthen your vocal projections and enhance overall voice quality. It includes practising diaphragmatic breathing, pursed-lip breathing, humming, abdominal breathing, and square breathing. So, ensure you always train your breath with suitable breathing exercises to make your voice appealing and captivating, regardless of your level.

4. Overacting or Underacting

Beginners often fall into traps where they either become too expressive (overactive) or underactive, which makes their voice too robotic or theatrical. Also, being too overactive or underactive makes their voice monotonic and unengaging, which further hampers audience engagement. Therefore, newbie voiceover actors should always focus on being natural. However, being natural requires rigorous practice and going through their recordings recurrently to find out any pitfalls that cause their recordings to be monotonic, robotic, and unengaging. 

5. Not Warming Up the Voice

The most common beginner voice-over mistake is jumping into sessions cold, which means starting voice-over dubbing without any prior vocal preparation or warm-up. When dubbing is done without proper vocal warm-ups, the voice may sound strained, lack clarity, and fail to deliver the necessary range and articulation. Therefore, the vital voiceover tip for beginners is to always do vocal warm-ups before proceeding with the final recording. Doing so improves their vocal clarity and endurance.

6. Ignoring Script Marking or Prep

Ignoring script marking and preparation is a crucial voiceover recording mistake that beginner voice actors often make. They habitually read cold or without understanding the context, which leads to flat or misinterpreted delivery. Script preparation allows actors to understand the subtle nuances of the script. So, voiceover actors always indulge in script marking and preparation, which includes reading the script ahead, marking pauses, highlighting important keywords, and recognising underlying inflections and emotions.

7. Inconsistent Audio Levels

Inconsistent audio levels can make the final voice-over unprofessional and distracting, leading to lower engagement and a higher bounce rate. It affects the clarity and poses difficulties while editing or mixing, making the audio level inconsistent, a top mistake beginner voice actors should avoid. So, what can they do? They can be mindful of their peaks, dips, and uneven volume throughout the recording. Also, they can use proper gain staging and basic compression to make their recording effective and powerful.

8. Skipping Post-Processing

Though skipping audio post-processing may be rare, it is worth reminding you of the importance of post-processing work. It is a crucial step that must not be forgotten to ensure the final voice outcome is free from mistakes. It should include noise reduction, volume adjustments, and adding sound effects to make the final product more polished and professional. Also, learning basic editing skills or using a DAW like Audacity or Adobe Audition is incredibly helpful for seamless post-processing.

9. Not Taking Feedback Well

Feedback is a gem for a beginner’s career growth, as it helps polish their skills and thus provides more opportunities and growth. Getting defensive and ignoring client input are some of the not-to-do voice-over career mistakes that a beginner should always refrain from.  

Also, collaboration and adaptability are key to a successful voice-over career.

10. Treating It as a Hobby, Not a Business

Inconsistent marketing, no branding, or pricing too low are the signs of treating a voiceover career as a hobby, not a business. It progressively takes a voiceover actor’s career towards its downfall. So, ensure you are not doing it as a hobby by building a portfolio, setting up a website, and treating it professionally.

Conclusion

A voiceover acting career can be promising for beginners if they avoid making the above-discussed mistakes. Being aware of these mistakes, particularly for beginners, ultimately helps them polish their skills and make them a stellar voice-over artist. 

If you are looking for an expert voice-over artist in India, look no further than Peter Abraham. I have provided voiceover services to industry leaders like Amazon, Airtel, BBC, TATA, and Lenovo, among others. Contact me today for cost-effective and captivating audio production.

Peter Abraham

Peter Abraham is a versatile voice-over artist based in Mumbai working in the voiceover industry since 2009. With a passion for storytelling and meticulous attention to detail in every project, he brings scripts to life with his captivating voice and professional delivery, exceeding client expectations. Whether it's a commercial or an audiobook, Peter specializes in a wide range of voice-over work, ensuring the highest quality.