DERYN OLIVER

British Female Voice Over Artist

 

A Day In The Life of a Voice Over Artist

Jul 22, 2020

I’m often asked what a typical day is like for a home based voiceover artist and I have to say it varies enormously from one day to the next. Some weeks I have a lot of recording to do, especially when I have a big audiobook project on the go, and other weeks there is less time spent behind the mic and more time discussing potential projects or auditioning for suitable roles.

But whatever the day has in store for me it goes something like this:

  • 8am. A swim to wake me up and stretch my muscles.
    Other people may choose to have the newest swanky car and designer clothes but my husband and I prefer to have an old mini, shop in charity shops for clothes and afford a pool. The humidity is great for my voice too and the added TV in the room means I can watch motivational videos to start my day off with a positive attitude.
    I have recently started watching www.jonathantilley.com but Oprah Winfrey often gets a look in and Ted Talks www.tedtalks.com are an excellent source of interesting ideas.
    It’s also a great way to pick up handy tips on voice over techniques and ideas to listen to while I swim.
  • 8.30am. Coffee and breakfast of chopped fruit and cereal while checking emails,
  • 9am. A quick walk for Tilly my dog and then off upstairs to The Quiet Room, aka my home studio.

I try to get any immediate office work like replying to emails or marketing done first and then, as I said before, it depends what I have to do.

At the moment I am on the hunt for an audiobook so I check out ACX which is the website where many authors list their books for narration. I can look for books in a particular genres and then once I’ve found a possible that fits my voice I will download the audition script and record a short section.

  • Lunch at around 1.30pm. Usually something light like soup or a sandwich and more coffee. Coffee can be a bit dehydrating for the voice but the amount of water I drink in my studio makes up for it I reckon. I might read over a script while downstairs or check through social media for half an hour before going back upstairs

  • 2.30pm. Edit a couple of chapters of my current audiobook from the notes my husband has made while he was proofing my raw audio. It was only a few months ago that it dawned on me that he could do this for me and increase my productivity so he spends some of his day in the lounge with headphones on, pen in hand, listening for my mistakes. He says I get better the further I am into a script.
  • By 4pm. I need to escape from my studio and get some light and air downstairs so I head to the conservatory or dining room to read my latest scripts and drink tea.
  • 5.30pm. Time for Tilly’s longer walk so we head off across the fields.
  • 6.30pm. Make sure I’ve completed everything I need to workwise before a nice little glass of something a bit stronger than coffee before Rich cooks my dinner and we Netflix and chill ……….

Do view: A fun little video of my day in a minute

If you think my voice may be able to help you and you’d like a FREE sample read please contact me or email info@derynvoiceover.com.

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Listen Now!

Check out my variety of vocal styles in the demo page or for a quick idea of my voice click on the audio link below.