How to Prepare for a Voiceover Audition: One Script, Step by Step

The email lands at four in the afternoon: a short radio spot for a bakery, a few lines of direction, a file name to use, and a deadline of tonight. There is no room to walk into, no casting director to read the energy of, and no camera. Just you, a microphone, and a few sentences of copy.

That’s what makes a first voiceover audition strange. The listener gets only sound, and the first thing they hear is whether you’re talking to someone or reading off a page.

The short version: read the instructions before you read the copy, because file names, slates, and take counts are set by the person casting, and ignoring them can sink a good read. Work out what the copy is selling and who it’s talking to. Mark the script for thoughts, stress, and breaths. Record somewhere soft and quiet, slate only the way you’re asked, and send the number of takes they ask for, in the format they ask for.

Read the specs before you read the copy

A voiceover audition usually arrives as two things: the copy, and the instructions around it. Read the second one first. A casting director writing for Backstage, in an article on getting your audition heard, asks actors to follow the recording directions to the letter: the file-naming template, the number of takes, the slate, and the format. If they ask for MP3, send MP3, not a WAV or a video file.

The same writer lists the lapses that keep turning up, and none of them is about talent. Several takes on a request for one. No slate when a slate was asked for. The wrong format. A file name that ignores the template. It’s easy to see why they matter: if you miss the brief in an audition, you might miss it in a paid session too.

A casting director’s tips for voiceover home reads, also in Backstage, give a feel for how specific these get: say your name with no agent, give two takes and call the second one “take two.” The tips also warn that with so many strong voice actors in the pool, an audition that skips the directions can simply be dropped.

So before you open your mouth, write the specs on a sticky note: the file name, the format, the slate wording, how many takes, the length, and the deadline. If the spot is timed, note that too. The same Backstage article notes that commercial copy is written in 15, 30, 45, or 60 second increments.

Find what the copy is selling, and to whom

Now read the copy, out loud, at least twice. The first time, just hear it. The second time, look for clues about tone. Backstage’s guide to analyzing voiceover copy points to three places to look: the visuals or written scene descriptions, the product category, and cue words in the script itself.

Product category tells you more than you’d expect. The same guide says a financial company calls for a read that sounds trustworthy and reassuring, while fast food wants something more upbeat. Cue words such as “trust,” “safe,” or “limited time” are the writer telling you how the line should land. Underline them.

Then answer one question in a sentence: what does this spot want the listener to do? Every choice on the read should serve that one action.

Pick one listener

This is the fix for copy that sounds read. Voices.com’s guide to the conversational read ties its popularity to audiences wanting to be talked with, not at. You can’t talk with a crowd. You can talk with one person.

So choose that person, specifically. Not “people who like bread” but your neighbor who stops at the bakery every Saturday and always says she isn’t buying the cinnamon roll. Picture where she is when she hears the ad: in the car, half listening. You’re not announcing to her. You’re telling her something.

It’s the same move you make in a scene. Our guide to finding your objective in a scene applies almost word for word: what do you want from her by the last line?

Mark the copy before you record

Marking the script makes your choices visible, so you can repeat them on every take or change one on purpose. Here is a short sample spot, written for this guide:

You know that smell. Warm bread, still crackling. At Hillside Bakery, we start at four every morning, so you don’t have to. Sourdough, rye, and those cinnamon rolls you swear you’re not getting. Hillside Bakery. Come in hungry.

(Sample copy written for this article)

And here is one way to mark it, a mark at a time:

• Draw a slash after “You know that smell.” It’s a thought on its own, so let it land before the next one.
• Underline “Warm” and “crackling.” Those are the sensory words that sell bread, and they want a little time.
• Underline “four,” the one surprising fact in the spot, and the reason the listener should care.
• Put a small breath mark after “don’t have to.” The list that follows needs fresh air.
• Write “smile” in the margin over the cinnamon rolls line. It’s a tease aimed at your one listener, so let it sound like one.
• Box the first “Hillside Bakery” lightly and the second one more firmly. Keep the brand name clear and unhurried, and the last mention is the one people should remember.
• Give “Come in hungry” only a slash before it. It’s a button, so say it simply and stop.

Don’t mark every word. A page full of underlines gives you nothing to stress, and the read turns sing-song. Our guide to operative words covers how to pick the one or two words a sentence turns on, which is exactly the skill copy needs.

Then read the marked copy aloud and time it. If the spot is a 30 and you’re at 36 seconds, cut pauses, not words; the writer and the client chose those words. The monologue timer works for short copy too: paste it in for an estimate, then time a real read.

Make a quiet corner sound like a booth

You don’t need a studio to audition from home, but you need a dead, quiet space. Voices.com’s page on audition audio quality says clients expect auditions to be free of room and background noise. Hard surfaces such as tile and hardwood bounce sound back into the mic; soft ones soak it up.

The classic home booth is a closet. A Backstage guide to recording voice acting at home passes on voiceover technician George Whittam’s view that a closet full of clothes makes a very dead space with no echo, and that the room shapes your sound more than the microphone does. Voices.com adds a caution: a small space such as a walk-in closet can sound boxy unless it has enough dense material, such as clothes or moving blankets.

Three checks before you record:

• Clap once in the space and listen. A ring or flutter tells you where to hang a blanket. Voices.com suggests the same clap test to find reflective surfaces.
• Record ten seconds of silence and play it back on headphones. Fridges, fans, and traffic you stopped noticing years ago will be right there.
• Keep the same distance from the mic for every take, so your level doesn’t swing. A common approach is to mark the spot for your mouth with a strip of tape on the stand.

Monitor on over-ear headphones, which Voices.com also recommends for catching mouth clicks and noise. Then leave the audio clean. The Voices.com audition etiquette guide says not to add music or sound effects, because the audition should show your voice only.

Slate, takes, and the file

The slate

When the instructions ask for a slate, say what they list and nothing more. Even on an animation read, casting director Jen Rudin, in her guide to voiceover slates, wants the slate in your normal speaking voice, not a character voice. The slate is you; the read is the role.

When there’s no slate instruction, it depends on where the audition came from. Voices.com’s position on slating is not to slate unless the client asks. Its one exception: if you send more than one take, say “two takes” at the start. Our guide to slating for a self-tape has word-for-word examples for on-camera slates.

How many takes

Send what the brief asks for. One take means one take. If the brief asks for two, make them clearly different: a second take that sounds like the first wastes the listener’s time.

When the brief says nothing, a common approach is two contrasting reads: one exactly as directed, and one that tries a different, defensible choice. Voices.com’s conversational-read guide suggests something similar when “conversational” is vague: one conversational take and one more direct. Many actors put the take they like best first.

Record more than you send, listen back, and keep the takes that sound most like talking to your one person.

The file

Name it with the exact template you were given, including capitals, spaces, and hyphens. Export in the format asked for. If the brief asks for one file, edit your takes together into that one file.

Trim the long silence at the head and tail, remove warm-up noise and false starts, and leave your breaths alone unless they’re loud.

One exception to the slate rule, for open online jobs only. Voice123’s guide on how to audition for voice acting suggests reading only part of a short script when you can. If you must read all of it, it suggests a watermark, such as slating your name or adding a beep, so it’s harder to use without hiring you.

Character copy: rehearse the other voices too

Animation, games, and some radio spots come as dialogue: your character, plus lines from others you react to. That copy sounds read for a different reason: no one is asking the question you answer.

For that kind of audition, upload the sides to Offbook and pick your role. Realistic voices read every other character, and Offbook listens through your microphone and plays the next cue when you finish your line, so you rehearse answering someone instead of reciting. Keep your lines on the screen as you go: you’ll still read from the copy when you record, but you’ll be reacting to a voice you’ve heard, not to a blank space.

A run sheet for one audition

Here is the whole process for one script, in order.

1. Read the instructions and write down the file name, format, slate wording, take count, length, and deadline.
2. Read the copy aloud twice. Note the product, the cue words, and the one thing the spot wants the listener to do.
3. Choose your one listener and where they are when they hear it.
4. Mark the copy: slashes between thoughts, one or two stressed words per sentence, breath marks, a box around the brand name, and a margin note for any shift in tone.
5. Time a read and adjust pauses until it fits.
6. Warm up your voice and face. Our warm-up routine has a short version.
7. Set up in your quietest, softest space. Clap, record ten seconds of silence, and listen on headphones.
8. Record several passes. Send exactly the number of takes the brief asks for; if it says nothing, two contrasting takes.
9. Slate only as asked (a “two takes” tag or a name watermark on open online jobs is the exception), edit out noise and false starts, and export one file in the requested format.
10. Name the file exactly to the template, check it plays, and send it.

Then log it in the audition tracker and let it go.

Questions actors ask

Do I need to memorize voiceover copy?

Usually not. Voiceover is almost always read from the copy. What you need is to know the copy well enough that your eyes are ahead of your voice, so the words come out as thoughts. Dialogue-heavy character auditions benefit from rehearsing the exchange until the rhythm is familiar.

What equipment do I need for my first voiceover audition?

A quiet, soft room, a decent microphone, headphones, and free recording software. Engineers such as George Whittam say the room affects your sound more than the mic, so treat the space before you upgrade the gear.

Should I add music to make my audition stand out?

No. Voices.com’s etiquette guide says auditions should not include music or sound effects. They want to hear your voice on its own.

How is a voiceover audition different from a commercial audition on camera?

On camera, casting watches your face, your type, and your reactions. In voiceover, everything has to live in the sound. The copy analysis is similar, though, and our guide to preparing for a commercial audition covers reading a spot for type and tone.