Getting over the fear of acting for the mic

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SexBomb
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Getting over the fear of acting for the mic

#1 Post by SexBomb »

To start, a little background: I am a professional artist interested in extending my range of skills to voice acting. I have always been a long-time fan of performing, and was an accomplished actor back in my high school days (even played Link in Hairspray, believe it or not). While attending college, I took a few acting classes just to keep up with it, but eventually life took hold and it had to be set on the backburner. I've never lost interest, but I have been out of the saddle for quite some time.

I recently bought a blue yeti mic, and I absolutely love it. I try to justify it by saying it will be be great for my skyped-in D&D sessions, but the truth is I bought it for a completely different purpose. I adore the idea of voice acting, and I would absolutely love to lend my voice to some projects. The trouble is I have no idea where to start... every time I set up the mic and sit in front of it, I am scared to even speak. I end up whispering. I am afraid of my own voice.

I've done a few simple tests and I love the quality of the sound, but I am extremely apprehensive about going any further--stretching my voice, playing with accents and fluctuation, even speaking at normal volume. I have struggled for a long time with my voice, and have only recently started accepting it as it is... but actually recording and listening to it at its best quality is extremely intimidating. How do I get over this? CAN I get over this? When I think about acting on-stage, I am not afraid. I can use my body to project where my voice cannot. But this is very different, and very frightening.

TL;DR: hate my voice, but love voice acting. Help!

Tips, tricks, and personal stories are encouraged. Thanks for reading.

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D.ray
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Re: Getting over the fear of acting for the mic

#2 Post by D.ray »

Just do it.

I know it's simple advice, but in my opinion it's the best advice. If you don't do it, it'll never happen, or you'll never get anywhere. This is something everyone goes through, not just creative people. The self doubt and fear of them being inadequate to accomplish what they want or put out something at a certain standard.

Let's be honest, everyone sucks to a certain degree when they first start out at something. That's why being persistent is important. You practice over and over and with time you'll start to see improvement and gain confidence. After that point moving forward is a lot easier without the fear holding you back.

As far as your voice acting is concerned, I'd suggest getting to know your own voice first. Just practice talking smoothly and making sure your pronunciation is correct. Maybe record yourself reading lines from a book or reciting any type of text. This serves 2 functions; it makes you get used to your own voice and secondly, it'll help you work out the basics of voice acting. IMO, there's no sense in trying crazy accents or voices, if your fundamentals, like pronunciation, are incorrect. It doesn't mean you can't try different voices and seeing what you can do, I just wouldn't focus or concentrate on that area first.

From there you can move on to where you like. Do some research and see how voice actors go about getting different voices and how they deal with the technical aspect of their performances.

Some other tips for getting over that lack of confidence.
- Try to make believe you are the character you are voice acting, or adopt a character while acting
- Don't dwell on any fear or doubt you may have, it won't do you any good
- Practice, as often as you can and more importantly, as consistently as you can.
- Realize everyone has started out where you are, even the best of the best
Get your Voice Over for games to sound the best.

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Re: Getting over the fear of acting for the mic

#3 Post by Scribbles »

I was just going to say to do it a lot until you get used to your own voice. it's weird to hear a recorded version of our voice as opposed to straight from your mouth lol

don't be afraid to make mistakes! good luck :)
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Re: Getting over the fear of acting for the mic

#4 Post by sake-bento »

If I recall correctly, Chuck Jones is known to have said "Every artist has thousands of bad drawings in them and the only way to get rid of them is to draw them out." The same is true of any endeavor. You could say every actor has thousands of bad performances in them. In other words, it's okay to be lousy at something. You get better at things as you do them more often. Everything is scary the first time, and that's totally okay.

You play D&D remotely? Record yourself during those sessions. It'll get you used to having the recording on, and the gameplay will distract you enough that you'll probably get a good idea of what your normal voice sounds like. D&D might even be a good place to try new things with your voice if you prefer to roleplay your character.

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Re: Getting over the fear of acting for the mic

#5 Post by SexBomb »

Thanks to y'all for the advice. A lot of it seemed pretty simple (i.e. "you just have to do it"), but it has definitely helped me gain some confidence. A big thanks to D.ray for the book passage suggestion... I hadn't thought of that, which is funny because I love audiobooks! It seems like a great way to practice and experiment with voices and tone (and just getting comfortable in general) without the stress of manually coming up with or picking lines to practice.

And as an artist, I am definitely familiar with Chuck Jone's famous quote... I wonder why it hadn't occurred to me to apply it to everything else! Sake-bento's suggestion of recording my D&D sessions lead to yes another "duh" moment, as it will allow me to be active and engaging without forcing a performance, and I can come to feel comfortable with the mic in due time.

I am definitely starting to warm up to the idea!

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Re: Getting over the fear of acting for the mic

#6 Post by Catlip Candy »

Hi! Maybe you're not really 'scared' of voice acting. Maybe you're just scared because you're starting from the very beginning, level 0, and you don't know what to do! And since you're starting without clue on what to do, it's like you're in the dark. You're just maybe confused and you're lacking of confidence, or maybe you're afraid of failure because voice acting is new to you. It's something where you've never set foot into in the past.

I hope you overcome this problem. Truth is, I am also really interested in voice acting. I just want to know, how much did that blue yeti mic cost? XD Sorry, but as soon as I read the post, I wanted to ask the price, not to encourage, but I wanna encourage you \(>///<)/

Also, how are you able to record the sound? Do you record it with a 'Recording App' in your laptop? Does the mic have a USB connection which you need to insert to the USB plug on your computer for the mic to work? Are you recording in a quiet room? Do you even hear some static noises even if it's a quiet room? Do you have a pop filter? LOOOOL I have way too many questions, I'm sorry!!!

Anyways, since we don't know the first thing to do (I'm into voice acting too, just like you, and you said you don't know how to start, too), I'm just gonna share my ideas or plans once I get a decent mic and once I know how to record voices. I would want to voice one of my characters in my visual novel.

You said you wanted to lend your voice to others, right? Why not signing up for auditioning in other teams who are looking for voice actors?

Another plan of mine is to use the mic with my brother who can play the guitar. He wants him and me to have some cover in which we can upload in Youtube or Facebook. You can also sing with that mic. Anything you would want to do! Or you can just maybe silly and say whatever nonsense and make whatever voice in front of that mic! Talk to it, just have fun! Don't be too stressed out. If you're having fun with it, it'd be a lot better than being anxious :)

P.S. I hope you'd see my message and get encouraged... And I hope you can answer my questions about the mic... If you have the time (>////>)
All I ask from the readers is to give feedback on what they think I should improve more.
Even the harshest comments are welcomed and greatly appreciated, as long as it is your truthful opinion!
Please help me become a better visual novel creator!

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~~~~~~ Catlip Candy ~~~~~~~



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