How To Become A Voice Artiste
By Neeraj Mehra
Most of you must have the memories of those days when only DD was the only means of visual electronic
entertainment. One channel, limited number of programmes, only Hindi or English. Now the scenario is changed,
you find numbers of channels in each language. If we consider the multilingual nature of our country, there is a
great demand of voice over artistes. As I have already written in number of other articles that since these
TV channels have target audiences in their regional languages, their TRPs have shot up considerably.
Some of the larger film and television production houses nowadays have their own dubbing departments where
they produce a single programme in number of languages to cater to whole of the nation and also other countries.
All major TV serials or Films which were originally made in Hindi now have been dubbed in various regional languages.
Even you see South Indian Films being dubbed in Hindi. All new Hollywood films get to same day release in Hindi as well.
You are reading this article as you have some desire in any corner of heart to be a voice dubbing artiste.
You feel you have the command over the language and want to begin with. See, as a dubbing or voice over artiste
you should not be only fluent in the language but also versatile enough to match your inflection, lip sync, tone
and pauses to synchronize with the gestures and body language of the character in the original soundtrack or visuals.
Clarity of your voice, clarity of your diction, dialogue delivery and emotion in your voice are the key
differentiators of a dubbing pro. Another thing you learn with experience is to match your dialogues according
to the original time scale, particularly in animation or Muppet dubbings. Command and translation ability in
both source and target language helps the dubbing artist considerably as he/she can manipulate the choice of
words slightly without harming the sense of the dialogue.
You must be wondering how much a voice artiste is paid. An experience voice artiste in TV serials gets Rs 1500 to Rs 2500
per episode, but depending upon the length of the work, complexity of the character they even charge Rs 10000 per episode.
An experience Voice artiste who gives voice overs in a corporate or documentary films can anywhere gets between Rs.15000
to Rs. 50000 depending upon the script and his/her popularity. In Films a single character dubbing for a good budget film
can get you anywhere between Rs 75000 to Rs. 1.5 lacs.
The options do not end here, there are number of video & radio programmes, documentaries, presentations, radio/TV jingles,
spots, Phone softwares, Multimedia. Now you must be wondering - How to go about? If you think you have the confidence to
deliver, then concentrate on your voice, find out your strong areas in voicing, if you have very good base voice as
Inder Mishra or Amitabh Bachchan then a voice over narration suits you, if you have medium voice and you can make
certain variations and modulate at your will then dubbing arena may suit you. An appreciation by our family members
of friends is not enough. Record your voice on tape or computer, listen to it, then again record & listen, you will
find that you can do better. Recording is the best judge. When you feel you are confident, visit a sound studio, make
a demo CD or your voice, not more than 10 minutes, make sure it contains your best part. Then distribute it to various
sound studious and producers, directors. Exploit the contacts of your friends & elders. You will surely get a break
sooner or later. Do not lose your inspiration. Your dedication and hard work will certainly bring laurels.
Read my other articles on how to improve your voice and I hope my and your journey in this voicing arena continues
for long.
