The Voice – it’s the one piece of essential equipment that announcers and voice over talent must have to be effective broadcasters. Obvious as that may sound, what should be equally obvious is that you must take care of that one essential instrument as if you were an A380 with just one engine.

There are many tricks that voice over talent use. Here some of Abe’s Audio voice artists share their secrets on how they prepare and record voice sessions.

Anna says:

WARM UP! If you want your voice to last through the day, do a gentle 10 minute warm up. The best one to warm the chords is a high nasally whimpering hum…like a whining dog OR a siren. 

Also, roll your neck around and blow rasberries with your lips to warm all the equipment up!?Steer clear of dairy…clogs the chords! Any extremes…hot or cold…food or beverages.

Don’t chew gum before recording…IT MAKES YOU TUMMY DO FUNNY INTERNAL FART NOISES! (As you chew, your stomach releases acids in readiness to break down the food…and when none comes…it groans like a bellowing old cow!)?Also, any foods that make your mouth dry or too moist…causes noisy mouth ticks.

Tiff says:

I try to imagine someone in my extended family who could possibly own the business I’m selling, then visualise my read being for them, to try and get that ‘love’ in there. ?A technical tip – if there’s a line that’s tricky to say, I’ll stick my tongue hard into the inside of my cheek and try reading it like that a couple of times, (sounding quite special) then you read in normally and it *usually* feels like a breeze 🙂

Walter says:

My quick tip for avoiding wearing out your voice, which is, after all your instrument, is to keep Fishermen’s Friends lozenge’s handy. 

I’ve trialed many types of lozenges over the years, but these are my weapon of choice. Now if I could only get them to sponsor me 🙂

And lastly, Jon says:

Sip from a glass of water that is hot but not boiling; it loosens the vocal chords.?Eat a piece of chocolate before reading (an old newsreader trick that makes your voice deep and rich).?Warm up if you are doing hard sells. You wouldn’t sprint without doing warm ups and stretches first.?The benefits of lip and tongue exercises cannot be underestimated. (Youtube has loads.)?Vocal pitching exercises are also highly beneficial. (Youtube again.)?The human voice – in this context – is a complex and fragile instrument. Look after it like you would a Stradivarius violin and it will look after you.

We’ll bring you more tips from our other voice artists soon.