The art of voice acting is the art of performing voice-overs or providing voice work to represent a character or to provide information to an audience or user. Performers are called Voice actors, Voice artists, or Voice talents. Their roles may also involve singing, although a second voice actor is sometimes cast as the character’s singing voice. A human being is classified by four things…How he looks; What he does; What he says; How he says it. The last two are more relevant in Voice Acting.
For a Voice actor, Voice artiste, or Voice talent to be perceived and accepted as excellent, proficient, and professional, certain techniques, skills, and qualities are expected of him or her. These include: Enunciation and articulation, Clarity, Voice modulation, Emotional adlibs through voice, Keep a good microphone distance
Choose a good rendition of rhythm and time consciousness, Be gracious, authoritative, stylish, and warm, Word economy is highly important. To pass a sense across, the fewer the words used, the better (especially as a writer/translator cum voice actor), Be as descriptive and personal as possible (especially as a writer/translator cum voice actor), Accent and dialect mimicry (added advantage).
The Human Sound Studio: A voice actor must avoid habits that could have adverse effects on their organs of speech, jointly called The Human Sound Studio, namely Mouth, Throat, and Nose, all of which are located in the Oral, Pharyngeal, and Nasal Cavities. The Human Sound Studio has several delicate component parts that simultaneously help in the production of human speech sound.
Ad Agencies and Trust deficit: In the marketing communication business in Nigeria, the Association Of Voice Over Artistes (AVOA) is a major stakeholder, nursing a symbiotic relationship with the Advertising agencies, as well as the regulatory body, Advertising Regulatory Council of Nigeria (ARCON). With their talent, AVOA members give life and meaning to Brands and Services managed by the Advertising agencies on behalf of their Advertisers.
However, a few issues exist which threaten this affair, which are as follows:
- Many Advertising agencies parade a huge debt profile, making some AVOA members to blacklist some Advertising agencies. In the same vein, many Advertising agencies suffer a trust deficit in the consciousness of most Nigerian voice actors.
- The age-long advocacy by AVOA for Advertising agencies to pay Royalties or usage fees, instead of one-off Performance fees, has failed to yield any results. Relentless entreaties by AVOA’s successive executive councils, to the Advertising Regulatory Council of Nigeria (ARCON), towards achieving positive results are ongoing.
- A good number of Ad agencies deduct ‘Withholding Tax’ from the artists’ fees, and rightfully so, but fail to provide ‘Tax Receipts’ for such deductions.
- Many voice actors, especially AVOA members ask for pre-payment before the job is executed.
- From the point of view of some Ad agencies and other clients, some voice actors lack time discipline. AVOA has continually instilled this tenet during its periodic voice training sessions.
- Some voice actors ask for their fees even when revision on the job is ongoing, but the voice artists claim that most times the revision takes an eternity.
- AVOA wishes that Nigerian voices were accorded the first option of consideration in employment in the production of Radio/TV adverts and other media jobs.
- Nigerian government’s special recognition and support for the Voice Acting industry will not be out of place, given the increasing number of Nigerian youth who now wish to use their God-given voice talents to make a living.
This was written by Ehi Omokhuale, arpa