The journey of a female voice over artist
Inga is one of the most talented female voice over artists at voices.com.au. Her path to the business is a bit different and makes a good story. We got her to put finger to keyboard and open up about her time in the industry and this is what she said.
I have been doing voice overs for over 15 years now – boy how times flies! I have to admit that I kind of ‘fell’ into the industry. I wanted to be an actress but anyone who has ever had that dream will know that it’s a seriously tough gig with lots of knock backs and long stints without any paid work. So, I became a ‘professional’ waitress, which was fine, but apart from the tips, the pay was pretty lousy.
One day I was waitressing on a boat cruise and I got chatting to one of the customers. It turned out he was a producer at a key radio station in Melbourne. He asked if I’d ever thought about doing voice overs. I had to admit the idea had crossed my mind, but I had no clue where to begin! He very kindly offered to make me a demo.
I’ll never forget the thrill of standing in the sound booth at the radio station for the first time. I miss the days when the majority of voice overs were recorded onsite!
Radio made it easy for a while
It’s funny, because voice overs actually gave me the idea to pursue a job in radio. I was fortunate to score a job at a station in Wangaratta, after a year, I moved to a bigger station in Shepparton. I spent six great years working as a copywriter, announcer, journalist and eventually a breakfast announcer. At the time, home studios were still virtually unheard of, so doing voice overs was really easy because I had full access to the studio!
I almost gave it up altogether
After I left radio for a much higher paid job in Communications, I decided I didn’t want to give up my voice over work, so I set up my very first, rather dodgy, studio at home. I had also returned to Melbourne and was fortunate to be invited to come back to the radio stations I had previously worked for, to do in-house recordings.
Fast forward to the beginning of this year and I admit my voice over work had sadly, almost completely dried up. Fulltime work had got in the way and I had stopped actively marketing myself. I’d also lost a bit of confidence and thought perhaps it was time to give it all away…..until some unfortunate events pushed me back into the world of voice overs. I bought myself a new mic, improved the sound proofing in my studio, cut a new demo and re-visited all my old contacts and found many news one – and I’m sooo glad to be back!!
I guess the moral of my story is to keep pushing, keep working on your craft and don’t give up – all the hard work really is worth it! Would you like me to voice for you?
