Start with a warm-up
Before you read, loosen up. Roll your shoulders, breathe low and slow, hum gently and say a few easy phrases at a relaxed pace. Keep it relaxed.
Read aloud every day
Pick a page and read it out loud, standing up. Aim to sound like someone telling it to a friend, not reading it. This one habit does more than any trick.
Drill one thing at a time
- Pace: read the same paragraph slowly, then at a natural speed, then briskly. Notice where it breaks.
- Tone: read it warm, then serious, then light.
- Energy: read it as if the listener is across a table, then across a room.
- Emphasis: underline the one word in each sentence that carries the meaning, and say it clearly.
Record and listen back
Record on your phone, wait until the next day, and listen once without stopping. Write down one thing to keep and one thing to change.
Listening back is where the learning is. It also shows you when a recording is ready to be part of a demo reel.
A simple weekly routine
- Monday: warm-up and one page of narration.
- Tuesday: pace drill on a short commercial-style script.
- Wednesday: tone drill, three moods on the same text.
- Thursday: read something you have never seen, one take.
- Friday: listen back to the week and pick one thing to fix.
- Weekend: listen to a favourite narrator or ad and note one thing they do.
Find texts in our guide to voice acting scripts. If you want someone to hear what you cannot, read about choosing a voice acting coach.