Melbourne Voice Over Course

Melbourne is one of Australia’s main hubs for voice over. This vibrant, and well-loved city is a fantastic place to pursue a career. With a myriad of studios, production companies, and some of the leading voice over talent in the country, it’s an exciting place to find work and collaborate. As Melbourne is a key player in the Australian industry it is certainly a competitive place, but it also means that opportunities abound. The exciting thing in the modern VO industry is that there are opportunities at all levels. It will not be easy to instantly sign with a top voice over agent and start working professionally, but with persistence, and some great training behind you, anything is possible.

Melbourne offers voice over work in all areas of the industry including audiobooks, commercial work, TV/Film/Radio promo, ADR, corporate and e-learning and all other major areas of the industry. As Melbourne is also such a creative centre, they also produce some of the most exciting and innovative voice over in the country. This is definitely a great place to be, if you are looking to make this a career or side-hustle.

Why Do Voice Over Training?

Many people falsely believe that being a voice over artist is just about having a good voice. They think if you’re voice sounds good, all you have to do is get in front of the microphone and voila! This couldn’t be further from the truth. Of course your voice is a factor, but the main skill is how you use your voice. Can you play with pitch, pace, and volume? Can you connect with the emotion of the script? Can you make our mouths water with the way you describe a new pizza topping, or new coffee brand? Can you read for many hours making limited mistakes? Can you find vocal clarity, confidence and subtly… all in one read?

The skill of VO is all about interpreting and bringing to life scripts, and this work can takes a lot of training. There is a reason some top voice over actors are being paid over $500,000 – what they do is nothing short of extraordinary. There is no other career at this elite level, where you would expect to just walk into an agency or studio have begin earning top dollar. So yes, voice over is a serious skill set and definitely requires training. This will be different for every individual. For instance, if you are an experienced actor, you may find the process of moving into voice over easier as you already have many of the cross over skills. If you are not a performer, you may require more in-depth training, and even specialised voice coaching.

The positive thing is that there are lots of awesome options available from courses to private coaching that can help you refine your skills wherever you are starting from.

What to Look for in a Voice Over Course?

These days there are quite a few voice over courses in all major Australian cities. However, there are a few key things to look out for:

1. Practical course. You become a better VO by working on the microphone. Make sure any training you are considering is taking place in a professional studio and is actually about voice over. Yes it can be helpful to learn voice exercises and do some work in a class room, but at the end of the day a voice artist is made in the booth!
2. Small class size. Most major VO courses in Australia take way too many students. Some take up to 16 in a single weekend workshop. There is simply no way that you can get an in-depth experience with this amount of students. So be on the hunt for small classes that limit student intake.
3. Great teachers. Look out for amazing teachers and ideally teachers with plenty of VO experience. Many VO teachers are voice teachers. This is fine, but ideally see if you can work with professional voice over artists that have practical experience in the studio.
4. Watch out for promises. Any course offering instant success, or an amazing voice reel is usually one to be avoided. You want a course that focuses on the teaching, not on the outcome. How can any course make a promise without knowing you? For most aspiring students a single weekend course is just the start, not a golden ticket to an instant career.

Voice Over Training in Melbourne

The best voice over course in Melbourne is hosted by our founder Andrew Hearle. Since 2015 Andrew has taught voice over all over Australia with his company Collective Sound. Though Collective Sound mainly operates out of Sydney, they host a very special 2 day workshop a few times a year in Melbourne. This course only takes a small number of students and is one of the most respected voice over courses in the country.

The course limits students, so you get a huge amount of practical experience in the studio (on the mic). The entire course takes place in a professional studio and Andrew teaches alongside some of the top voice over artists and producers in the country.

What to do After Finishing a Voice Over Course?

Some voice over courses will leave you with a few recordings, maybe even a basic reel. Unfortunately, voice reels that are created in a class room are seldom good enough to be used professionally.

I know it is a little frustrating after spending a lot of money already on training, but once you do feel like your skills are there, the main priority is producing a great voice reel. A reel is basically your business card in the industry.

This reel will help you move forward in the industry and hopefully open doors. That said, don’t expect that you can produce a reel and instantly have a career. Like any creative pursuit it will take time to develop relationships and establish clients. You may have to look at online platforms, and other more approachable opportunities to begin, but over time, you will begin to make inroads.

As I mentioned at the start, opportunities abound in the voice over industry. It will take time to refine your skills and then find your niche and get established in the industry, but it’s a worthwhile pursuit. VO is incredibly fun, challenging, and can be extremely lucrative. If you love using your voice, telling stories, and being creative, this can make an incredible career, or side-hustle. I highly recommend exploring the incredible word of voice over further.

If you are based locally, we highly recommend you check out: Melbourne Voice Over Course.