5 Tips for Better Auditions

Here are 5 tips from me to you on how to start submitting better auditions.

Tip # 1 — Auditioning is your Job

I’ve said it a couple of times now in different places, but that’s just because this bit’s important. As a VoiceOver artist/talent/actor/performer, whatever we want to call ourselves…our JOB is auditioning. If you book something, that’s just the cherry on top.

This was really helpful for me in a couple of ways. Firstly it helped to relieve almost all of the anxiety and/or pressure I was putting on myself or feeling to actually book jobs—to get some tangible professional traction—whatever. Ultimately, whether or not someone decides to cast you comes down to so many factors that are just completely out of your control, and if that ends up being a point of focus for you? well that’s just a recipe for disaster (trust me on that.)

However, what IS in your control is how many auditions you submit, how much time you’re willing to put in behind the microphone and learning different techniques; treating EACH and EVERY time you sit down to record an audition as your JOB, as an opportunity for you to improve, to practice your craft, to learn something new—in my experience this mindset not only leads to having more fun and actually enjoying auditioning, but it also led to me producing better work and actually booking more jobs.

Auditioning is your job.

Tip # 2 — Quality AND Quantity.

At the end of the day, Voiceover is a numbers game. The more auditions you submit, the more people hear your voice, the more opportunities you have to book something.

However, if you focus solely on submitting as many auditions as you can, and you’re more or less shoveling garbage out the window at a herculean rate….well somebody miiiiight buy your garbage. But if you are throwing gold nuggets out the window? Well, folks tend to be more interested in gold nuggets than trash.

So it’s a balancing act that really comes pretty easily with time, but I think it almost always yields better results when you take each audition one at a time and prioritize quality over quantity. After a short while, you’ll get used to sending out gold nuggets and you’ll get much faster at it too!

Tip # 3 — Who are you?

And who are you talking to?

Perhaps the most helpful thing in auditioning for me is taking a second to decide WHO I AM. Looking over the script and adopting a point of view to speak from. Equally as important is deciding who the person is you are talking to, and why you’re speaking these words to them

For example, say I’m reading an advertisement for some coffee beans….maybe I’m a customer who’s just tried this wonderful coffee? and I’m telling my…best friend about how lovely they are and why they should try them too. Or maybe I’m telling, my grandmother, or my sister, or parent, or partner? Any of those people may produce a different performance from you, and it can be fun to try different people just to see what happens! (This instance would be a “testimonial” style of read, in case that’s helpful.)

Other times, I may adopt the POV of the company themselves, or a spokesperson for the company. In these cases, I find I’m usually adopting the perspective of an expert, letting the listener know how and why this thing I’m talking about solves a very specific problem in a really impressive or elegant or beautiful or cost effective (etc.) way. With this POV, I still think it’s really helpful to pick a specific person you’re talking to like a grandparent/sibling/partner/etc. In my experience this just leads to a slightly more personal and nuanced performance, which is on trend as of writing this.

Tip # 4 — Stay Positive!

This may be a bit of a no brainer, but it’s easier for someone to listen to you and to get excited about what you’re saying if you’re positive about it. That doesn’t mean you have to be a bubbly beacon of happiness and joy, it just means that having a generally positive, upbeat, and joyful outlook on the things your saying is more often than not a good choice. (Of course if the script is asking you to be sad/angry/etc. well then do that).

Ways I help myself with this is to literally smile as I’m reading the copy. It may feel silly at first, but it really does make an audible difference. Not to mention sometimes ‘forcing’ myself to smile through something often leads to me adopting a somewhat happy mood in sincerity. No joke. Fake it till you make it I suppose.

I’ll also just try to adopt a positive perspective on everything I’m saying. Personally I tend to be neutral and melancholy in my daily life, so for me hedging on the overly happy often lands me in a good spot.

Tip # 5 — Breaths or Not?

Listen. You, me, anyone listening to our recordings…are all human beings. And they all breathe. A lot of starting voice artists get hung up on audible breaths in their recordings (I’m guilty of it myself). HOWEVER, in an audio only medium the only tools we have at our disposal are the words we speak, the silences in between them, and OUR BREATH. Cutting out a third of our creative arsenal is a BIG decision.

Especially when you’re reading for animation, video games, and audio books, breath is an important part of the story you’re telling. Consider film and TV. Often the moments when you can really empathize with a character are the bits where the are thinking and just breathing. Or if you watch animated shows—anime is particularly famous for this—they have characters reacting with breaths quite frequently. Your breath is an opportunity for you to convey emotion, let the audience hear you thinking somewhat, and to bring the read to life! All really important when auditioning.

For Audiobooks, breath gives the listener a moment to absorb what you’ve just said, to catch up with the thoughts, AND to breathe themselves. The more human and confessional you can be with an audiobook performance, the better experience the listener has—and breaths are a big part of that equation.

HOWEVER, in both instances manufacturing breaths or if you’re gulping down air….not a good idea. Really just don’t shy away from breathing when you need to breathe! If your breathing is interrupting the…(breath)...flow of a…(breath)...thought, just try it again breathing where it feels natural. This too will improve your performance and the listener’s experience.

BONUS TIP — Check your work

After you’ve recorded a couple of takes, go back and listen critically. Sure look out for technical issues (audio quality, plosives, etc.), but the MOST IMPORTANT THING IS THIS—okay here’s what I do.

I pretend I’m just a person…walking in a grocery store…when this recording comes over the loudspeaker. If within the first 4-5 seconds of pressing play I find myself, while looking over imaginary cereal boxes, listening in and with my interest piqued—as if this voice is talking directly to me personally—if that happens then I’m on the right track.

However, if I find myself tuning out, zoning out, drifting off—time to try again.

It’s absolutely essential that you feel that natural pull in the first 4-5 seconds, because that’s really all you’ll have to grab the casting person’s ear.

Now this doesn’t mean that you need to be aggressive or in their face to get their attention—quite the opposite—go back to tip #3 and just talk to a person sitting across from you about something you’re passionate about, and they’ll listen.

A little trick I was taught that helps me to be grounded in this regard is to say a quick “Hey!…” or “You know what?…” or “Listen…” before I launch into the actual script. This puts me into a natural and conversational tone almost always and more often than not gives me that 4-5 second hook to catch the listener’s ear.

That’s it for these 5 tips! If you have any questions about these or anything else, drop me a line and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can. Until next time!