What Do Pottery and Voice Over Have In Common?

I’ve met writers - really good ones - who have a fear of the blank page. As a voice artist I have my own version of this.
Voice over is like pottery

Despite voicing for years, I bump up against fear of the blank audio file.
 
I actually have a whole routine I go through, especially for challenging projects. Like an athlete preparing for an event, I warm up my body (sometimes I hang upside down like a bat!), warm up my voice, prepare the script, make tea and enter the sanctuary of my voice studio.
 
Yesterday, I was prepping a technical read for one of my favourite clients (I do have favourites!) I wanted to do a really good job and I noticed some jitters creeping in.

I mentioned to my friend Karen, who is also a voice actor, the absurdity of having fear of the blank audio file at this stage in my voicing career and asked her how she dealt with it. Her response was genius:
 
“I like to think of myself as a potter who throws a lump of clay on the wheel. I do a first pass or two of the script to get the clay ready and then I fine tune it from there.”
 

Meet Susannah

Hi! I’m Susannah. It’s nice to virtually meet you!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *