What's your vocal warmup routine?

A proper warmup is important in voice work the same way it's important in singing or exercising.  I don't want to shred my voice by going from zero to a hundred with screaming or other loud, guttural, and/or stressful sounds coming out of my mouth hole without being ready.  Gotta make sure I'm nice and limber first, and also to build up to the most intense stuff so I don't blow out my voice before all the calmer, more normal stuff has been recorded.  So, what are some example warm ups for voice acting?

Really, the answer is whatever works for you.  Sometimes if I know I'll be recording as soon as I'm out, I'll sing in the car.  Not death metal or anything, obviously, but something more relaxed just to get the air flowing is okay for me.

Since voice acting is something that I have learned works best when I stand up and employ my whole body, some basic stretching and moving of my arms, neck, and torso are a great way for me to get loose.  You can try neck rolls, spaghetti arms, and other things white people do when they dance. 

It's also important to get the lips and tongue warmed up and ready for action, as weirdly phrased as that may have been just now.  Buzzing or blowing through your lips like a horse, WIDELY EXAGGERATED vowel sounds - A, E, I, O, U - and tongue twisters to get ready for whatever the script has to throw at you.  Say them three times fast, then three times fast again and try to get it as close to perfectly coherent as you can. 

There are a ton of tongue twisters online, but here are just a few I use:

• Unique New York
• Red Leather Yellow Leather 
• Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket Powered Battle Cars
• I Wish to Wash my Irish Wristwatch
• Susie Sells Seashells by the Seashore
• Rubber Baby Buggy Bumpers

You can also take a deep breath and go from your lowest to highest register, then back to low so that you sound like a siren going off.  Whatever stretches your vocal chords, your mouth, your neck, your jaw, etc. without hurting you.  

I'll say this because it seems obvious, but common sense isn't always common.  If it hurts, don't do it.  That's the opposite of what you want out of a warmup, and pretty much a standard golden rule for taking care of your voice at all times.

In the comments, I'd love it if any other voiceover folks that happen to come by this blog sound off with what you all do to warm up.  Any tips?  Tricks?  Stuff to avoid?  It'd be great hear from you!

Back On My Bullshit

So, little hiatus over!

I've had some ups and downs for the last few months, and things got pretty crazy, and unfortunately the weekly blog posts slid a bit.  I apologize for that, but I'm learning from all of it and moving past it.

Back in December I recorded for an audio-drama that will hopefully be coming out soon.  Once they make an announcement, I'll make an announcement about my part in it.  Great experience, great director, great bunch of actors.  I can't wait to hear the final result.

After the holidays, things went a little south.  I got in a bit of a car accident on the way to my day job one morning and there were a harrowing few weeks involved where we didn't know if the insurance would cover it and anxiety basically overwhelmed my brain.  Add in that my dog, who I love despite this, knocked over my good microphone and broke it.  Finally salt all that with some good old back pain and some day job/coworker shenanigans and hoboy...it was real fun stuff.  BUT, there seems to be light at the end of the tunnel.

I've come here to say that I'm officially back on my bullshit.  I've signed up for a free improv class on 3/25 just to get myself started back up again, I've been back on schedule with voice practice, and it looks like I might be able to get myself a new audio rig pretty soon.  In the meantime, I've been playing around with short, little ads or movie quotes in the voices of characters from my Dungeons & Dragons game and sharing them with my players for fun.

Here's Sir Theophilus Nightingale, an over-the-hill, quixotic knight with his horse, Reginald, doing a parody of an Old Spice commercial.

In other news, have you seen the Critical Role Kickstarter???  Originally fully funded in just under an hour, they're almost up to $7.5 MILLION DOLLARS at the time of this post.  It's important not just for Critical Role or D&D fans, but for fans of adult-targeted animation and voice acting.  It shows that there is a real interest in animated productions that aren't primarily kids' shows or comedies, and that the animation medium can be so much more than just those two (admittedly great) genres.  Consider throwing them a few dollars if you have them to spare and help them meet those stretch goals!

Hope you're all having a wonderful new year, not letting the crazy world get you down, and creating new things.  See you next time.