Voicing a scratch track for the Army video this morning. Amazing the lingering effects of having eaten pizza for dinner last night -- all that cheese. Sounds like I have a mouthful of bubble gum. Still need to talk to the Sergeant Major about his edits to the narration. One section appears to be right out of the Army training manual: five clauses separated by semicolons. (groan) Will track him down this afternoon and see if we can’t fix this.

I’ve been voicing industrials and TV credits and roll-ins for about eight years. My “breathing from the diaphragm” is getting better and really is the key to achieving more volume and richness. But my narrative voice for documentaries still needs work. There’s a rhythm to reading a long storyline and I haven’t quite got the hang of it yet.

Tried taking a voiceover class, but found myself getting frustrated at the lack of feedback – which is, after all, why I signed up. Am I doing this right or not? What do I need to do to sound better?

I’d sit in class listening to students with obvious pacing and pronunciation issues and the person leading the class would be saying, “gee, that’s just great!” Felt like I was in Lake Woebegone where all the children are above average.

Every class should impart some tangible skill. Every instructor should say, this is what you’re doing well; this is what you need to work on.

Not sure my voice will be right for this video, even when it recovers from the dairy issue. Bah.