Voice Acting
Read aloud in absurd accents until you find one that's suspiciously yours.
creativeintellectualFree15 mindifficulty 2/5
Voice acting starts with reading the back of a cereal box in the voice of a British villain. It ends, if you keep going, with auditioning for an audiobook. In between, you'll discover your brain contains at least 12 distinct characters, and that 'your real voice' is kind of a myth.
How to start
- 1Pick any text — a book, a menu, the shampoo bottle.
- 2Read it aloud in a neutral voice. Record on your phone.
- 3Read it again as a villain. Then as a nervous teen. Then as yourself, but tired.
- 4Notice which voice felt easiest. That's your starter persona.
- 5Do this for 10 minutes daily for a week. Compare recordings.
What you'll need
- Phone voice memo appEssentialFree
- USB microphone for better recordingsNice to have~$50
- Any book you've been meaning to rereadNice to haveFree
Where to learn more
Plot twists
Ways to spice this up when the basics get boring.
- Record a two-minute 'audiobook' of the instructions on a shampoo bottle. Dramatic.
- Dub over a TV scene on mute — your version of the dialogue.
- Call your voicemail and leave a message as a different character each day.
- Do a bedtime story for a kid (real or imaginary) with five distinct character voices.
ADHD notes
Playful, high-variety, hard to get bored of. Also great for hyperfocus nights — the time disappears once you start cycling voices.
Fun fact
Mel Blanc — the voice of Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, and Porky Pig — could voice over 400 distinct characters, including ones that talked to each other in the same scene.
Similar vibes
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