So, there are thousands of voice actors in the United States alone. And you, oh great voice, are one of them. Two decades ago, if we can remember that far back (!), there were a few hundred people who did all the “big work.” Please, don’t compare your voice talent to others’ voice talent.
Now, the landscape is very different. Just as script styles have changed, and continue to change quickly, depending on the latest trend, so, too have preferred voice styles. It’s so easy to look at many of the “top” voice talents and think, “He/She sounds so (fill in the blank with a complimentary adjective.)”
Hey, maybe you do, too.
Diversity in Voice Talent Is ‘In’
But remember that “natural” and “conversational” continue to appear in script specs, and all kinds of voices are ultimately reading those lines and making bank. (Mostly) gone are the days of the BIG announcer, shouting voice. Casting directors and marketing pros want voices that reflect the broad brush strokes of America. Even regional accents and dialects book voice jobs, because those people live here, too. And people with accents and dialects buy things.
Voices with texture and character, the ability to be soft and yet powerful, non-salesy and yet convincing, get plenty of work. When someone tells someone else that “You have a great voice,” that can be interpreted in a myriad of ways in today’s uber-competitive voice over environment.
What are “they” looking for? Often, whether it’s casting for acting or voice over, “they” don’t know it until they see it or hear it. It’s totally subjective. That’s why, when we enter the booth, we can stress and strain over “What do they want?” to no avail. We deliver the best, most on-target voice over performance we can, and either they like it for their purposes, or not. So there.
We Are All Different Voices
We live in a world where, no matter what we do or how we do it, there are people who do it better than us or worse than us, but rarely do two people very do anything at exactly the same level, whether it’s sports, educational attainment, or…voice over.
Feeling inferior, lesser than, or jealous? It’s so easy to compare ourselves to X voice talent or Y voice talent, and come away feeling bad, but that’s unhealthy and not beneficial. As psychologist Michael Alcee, Ph.D. writes in Psychology Today, “A violin makes different music than a trumpet; a viola has even subtler differences of sound. This isn’t a fault, but rather what makes the orchestra so beautiful, and what makes each instrument truly special.”
Risks of Comparing Your Voice to Others’
So what does comparing your voice to someone else’s do, if you’re not careful?
It tanks your confidence level: If you need one thing in addition to your voice talent and skillset, it’s confidence.
It creates unhealthy social comparisons: Those can make you depressed and unhappy, and may even prompt you to think, “Oh, what the heck. I wasn’t going to get this anyway.”
It causes you to lose your sense of self: We are all individuals, with an individual sound, much to the delight of those who cast us in commercials or for narration. If we try to mimic the sound of someone else, there goes “us.” If you’ve ever been accused of being a “nonconformist,” it’s OK to do that with your own voice! That’s better than doing a read a certain way because “I think I should,” or “X voice talent does it this way and they’re booking way more than I am.”
It can make you a bit selfish: Don’t you feel good when you compliment someone? It feels like you’re giving freely of yourself, taking joy in celebrating their achievements. Think about X voice talent, “Wow. I
It takes the shine off of your own journey: Very few people hit the mark entirely the first time, coming out of the gate to book the majority of their auditions right off the bat. Achieving success in increments has a good “feel” of accomplishment to it, especially when we’ve worked hard to attain specific goals, some of which may have been rife with challenges.
It prompts you to say “I should”: That can lead to discontent, never being satisfied. Our value as a person, and as a talent, becomes diminished. The breadth of our voice over ability, even if we’re still honing the fine points, is much bigger than a few sentences about what we should or should not do.
‘Comparison (in Voice Talent) Is The Thief of Joy’
We weren’t around when he was, but America’s 16th president, Theodore Roosevelt, said “Comparison is the thief of joy.” Even in the mid-1800s, he knew what he was talking about.
So:
Be nice to yourself in the booth or out. Continue to practice your craft, and yes, DO listen to other voice over artists, and do read other blogs about how to maneuver in this crowded voice over business. Do listen back to your reads with “fresh ears,” and ask yourself how you might do them better if you ever have another chance. When you hear a voice you like, think how you might emulate certain aspects of the read and still sound like YOU.
Because, at the end of the day, YOU are just fine in the voice talent sphere. Even better. So please don’t compare your voice talent to others’.