One of the unsung beauties of this wonderful industry is the ability of its artists to perform voice over from home. 

This ability is so often the goal of many working professionals that don’t want the absolute hassle of waking up early, getting ready, and commuting all the way to the office for their job. This regularly applies to even those professionals who love their job as so many of us adore the prospect of hopping out of bed, grabbing some breakfast, and getting right to work in our pajamas from the comfort of our living room couch or private home office. 

And as it just so happens, the voice over industry is one in which voice artists can work entirely from home if they so choose. In the modern day of voice work, more and more jobs are open to those that don’t want to make that daily commute or especially pick up their lives and move to Los Angeles or New York City. Instead, with the proper space, equipment, and steps, you can get started working in voice over from home. 

So what is this proper space? This proper equipment? These proper steps? Allow us to show you. 

Space

Perhaps the most important aspect of voice over from home is the space in which you record. If you don’t want to make that commute into a professionally-made studio, you can always find a suitable location in your own house or apartment. 

An important piece of criteria when it comes to picking this space is its placement within the house/apartment. This space needs to be as free of outside noise as possible; no employer or audience member wants to hear your neighbor’s dog barking or your husband mowing the lawn in the midst of your oscar-winning performance. So make sure – to the best of your ability – that this space isn’t on the edge of the house; the closer to the house’s heart, the better. 

Now onto what space to actually pick for recording in. Can you record in your living room? Your bedroom? Bathroom? Interior hot tub? Generally, yes. As long as that space can be effectively sound-treated, it should work just fine.

Commonly used spaces might be closets or garages, somewhere where your family or roommates are less likely to disturb you by walking in and out constantly. Closets, in this case, are a common and solid choice; your closet probably has lots of clothes or spare blankets and pillows in. These items will work great for sound treating the space. 

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Equipment

So now that we’ve discussed where you’re recording, you’re probably wondering what it is that you’ll be recording with. 

First off, there’s no reason to break your bank, especially when you’re first getting started in voice over. Once you’ve inevitably reached the point in your career where you can afford to buy a microphone worth hundreds of dollars, by all means go for it. From the beginning, however, there are plenty of cheaper alternatives that will grant you a fantastic start to your career in voice over from home. 

That does not mean, however, that you should go with the bargain bin options for every piece of equipment. If you buy that fifty cent pack of soundproofing foam, you’re predictably going to want to replace it within the next few months. So how do you go about deciding which starting equipment to spend the money on? 

Myself, I can wholeheartedly recommend starting out with this FIFINE USB mic. 

This option is a very easy hook-up, plug-and-play mic that delivers a very clean sound with little fiddling. (OOA: need to add links and stuff)

With the microphone taken care of, another common piece of voice equipment includes the sound-treatment materials and like with the mic, you’ll want to use something that you won’t want to immediately replace. A fantastic option for this equipment is actually make your own!

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Constructing your own sound panels to fit your specific space can be a very effective and efficient use of your budget in the early days of pursuing voice over from home. If you’d like a step-by-step process of make your own, click here. (OOA: insert link to article on making panels)  

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Steps

While voice over from home might be fun, creative, and profitable, no one is just going to hand you money for nothing. Like any profession, you’ll have to put in the work to achieve the success we all dream of. And the first major step towards achieving that success is going to be finding the work!

There are many routes towards finding work in the modern state of voice over. The biggest distinction in these avenues is going to be the question of whether or not you are working with an agent. 

Agents are fantastic at keeping viable jobs rolling in for talented clients and a good agent will work with their client in order to find which jobs work best for each individual voice artist. (OOA: could put in some brief red flags for agents) (OOA: could include brief ways to secure a good agent; could write an article on and link to it?) 

Now that we’ve discussed the practical uses of agents, let’s assume you don’t have one. Perhaps you don’t want to divide your profits for the time being or maybe you’re simply pursuing voice work as a side hustle. Whatever the reason, there are plenty of platforms on which you can find work for yourself. 

One of the beautiful things about pursuing voice over from home is the vast array of venues that allow you to find work without the need of an agent. Some of these venues include better-known sites such as Fiverr and Upwork. These sites can make for a great addition to your income, however it should be recognized that the larger the sites, the more competition you’ll face. Considering this, it would certainly be in your best interest to create accounts on other websites in addition to the biggest ones. These other sites can include voices.com, voice123.com, voicejockeys.com, and others! These more voice-over-focused websites often have a better understanding of what clients and artists are looking for and can create lasting professional relationships with large-scale employers just waiting to hear your voice. 

Additionally, some ways to secure jobs would be to simply look around your local area. Are there any businesses that you could reach out to? Anyone that needs a voice over for their store, service, political campaign? Lucky for them, you just might be the person for the job. So find a way to get and touch and let them know that!  

Throughout this article, you’ve heard our advice on how to start your own voice over career from the comfort and security of your own humble abode.  

Now that you have the space chosen, the equipment prepared, and the steps taken, you should be well on your way to making a strong start towards a career in voice over from home.