Hey Kyle, You've received some very good advice in this forum. I'm probably the last person to give advice. I worked with a few outstanding voice over guys, but never became a great voice over guy myself.
This being said, I can her a good voice guy/woman in the first five seconds of a demo, a commercial or industrial. In this capacity, my ears are better than my voice. There were a few years when I hired dozens of voice over people to do politicals, station imaging and presentations. Now, I'm back playing the hits and giving others the opportunity to play the role of "media maven" and "executive producer."
I like the advice about "be who you are." There's a lot to be said for that.
Make sure you have good diction and articulation. Learn how to breathe. Don't worry about being "Joey Ballsvoice" or "Ron Radio." Like the Wild West, where there was always a faster gun, there's always gonna be a guy who has a deeper voice. Besides, unless you're doing Hollywood trailers (there are about five guys who have that market locked), it's more important to be a "stylist." Like the man said, sometimes you're doing a commercial for the guy who wears khakis, sometimes it's for the guy buyin' his first Harley. That was a good analogy.
A good voice guy is a lot like being a good musician, you have to know and practice your scales. Breathing, diction, control and articulation are the scales of voice over people.
If you have good articulation, you can work in "voice actor mode" as much as "announcer mode." You can do "man on the street" in one spot and the "savings bank sell" in the next. If you don't have a sense of diction, pacing, breathing and articulation, you won't be able to do any of those roles well.
Listen to voice over men and women and study their traits. There are some very good local and regional VO men and women who may not be national, but they're damn good at their craft. It's like watching good actors work in the movies and on stage.
In radio and the voice over game, there are "novices," "journeymen/women," "craftsmen/women," and "master craftsmen/women."
Practice your skills. Read out loud. Go from being Robin Williams to Orson Welles. Do your vowel sounds, excersice your tongue and lips. Practice alliteration. Laugh. Breathe deeply. Inhale through the nose, exhale slowly through the mouth. Rehearse. Out loud.
Half of being a good voice guy is having a good set of ears. Mine, by the way, are shot. Occupational hazard. Tinitus, 8kH left ear and 3.2kHz in the other. But I can still talk up a post and hear lousy compression and bad processing when it's there.
Take care of your voice. No booze, no soda/pop, no cigarettes. Seriously. You don't have to be a monk, but at least practice moderation. Learn and know what affects your throat. Have a beer occasionally, one a day isn't gonna hurt for sure, but don't mainline Johnny Walker Red or Stolly.
Good luck to you. And when people tell you "you can't," let that motivate you to show them you can. Oh, and it ain't necessarily the electronic equipment in your studio, it's your the natural equipment and how you use it.
Oh, one another thing. I wish I'd found out about this stuff about ten years earlier in my career. I know first hand that givin' advice is a lot easier than takin' it. Be well!
