How to Find the Right Voiceover Coach

Why You Need a Voiceover Coach

• A coach helps you find direction.
• A coach helps you find motivation.
• A coach provides a proven framework for success.
• A coach teaches you about the voiceover industry—everything there is to know about it.
• A coaching gives you accountability.
• A coach guides you where you want to get to and tells you what you need.
  If they're a good coach, if it's not their forte, they will tell you to go to which coach to go to. For example, if I'm not the best at teaching audiobooks, I will send you to the best person that I know.
• A coach is a mentor.
  So from the first step into the field, you want your coach to hold you by the hand and be your mentor—be somebody that is literally guiding you.
  
  Your coach should teach you everything that they know from in the voiceover field—lingo, the equipment, training, how to rehearse, how to read copy, how to take care of your voice, demos, marketing, and beyond marketing—a lot of the psychological stuff that goes on.

Benefits of Voiceover Coaching

A voiceover coach provides you tips and example on what really goes on in the industry. In addition to mentorship, they are there to answer every question that you might have about the industry. If they don't know how to answer it, they will find a way to answer it for you.

A voiceover coach can help you find your strengths and your weaknesses—your blind spots. They can teach you what you don’t know. Of course, you can try to figure out things on your own—but it might take a while for you to figure it out via Youtube or Google. So you want somebody to be able to hand on a silver platter, what is going on out there, and the voiceover world.

Hiring a voiceover coach fast-tracks the process for you. For example, winning voice over auditions is one of the most important parts of a successful. Your coach will help you through the entire process of auditioning to increase your chances of booking the good jobs.

A voiceover coach will guide on when is the best time to make a voiceover demo—to know where you are in your voice-over journey. Everybody is different. People have come to me where they're complete beginners, but they are pretty close to making a demo because they have certain abilities and then there are people who come from the radio world and they have to tune up and have other abilities. So the coach should know where you are specifically. There are no recipes. There is no, in my opinion, way to take somebody from point A to point B in the exact same way because everybody's different. 

Related articles:

Practice Voiceover Scripts: Where to find them and what to do next.

Do I have the right voice for voice over?

5 things to do before you start auditioning for voice over jobs

How to Find a Voiceover Coach

You can find a voiceover coach by talking to people, networking, and searching on Google. But that's not always the best way. The way I would find a coach is to go straight to the top, find out who the best of the best have worked with and go to them. That to me is the ultimate way to find a really great coach.

(See our list of recommended voice over coaches)

How do you know if you have a good coach?
Here’s a tip: Don’t go to large schools. There is a time and a place for group classes. Those are fantastic. But you don't want to stick with group classes forever. And again, I've done several group classes myself. But for that significant change in your career, you need one on one voiceover coaching.

How long do you work with a coach before you make a demo?
It depends—it really just depends. Sometimes you're almost immediately ready. Sometimes you're not, there are no recipes. So a coach would know how long it will take you. For example, I've had people come to me and on the first day that I meet them, and I tell them “you're on the demo track”, but I do teach them everything that I know—all of the tricks, the tips—everything.

I would say on average if you're studying every week it might take you three or four months.

What do you expect from a coaching session?
What you can expect is you can expect to learn a lot. It's going to be an experience that will open you up, not only vocally, but it's going to open you up mentally, emotionally, and psychologically in every way.

Voice acting is not an easy industry to break into. It takes a huge amount of time, energy, practice and talent to make a living as a voice actor. But if it's for you, it can be an amazing, lifelong, rewarding career.

Good luck!

-Alyson