What kind of exorcising do you do before you record?
I like to burn some sage and draw the curtains back during daylight. (Sorry Anon -- I know autocorrect is a cruel mistress, but I just couldn’t resist).
Nah, but as for vocal techniques that are helpful to use before recording, hmmm... there are quite a few out there (I remember being made to do some painfully absurd stuff backstage before plays, during high school), but the tactics I’ve found more useful have been ones that I actually learned during a ‘Voice and Movement’ course I took a while back that was actually very physical in nature~!!!
Like, one of my fave vocal warmups is to grab a sample paragraph of what I’m about to voice, voice it normally (just in my room, standing neutrally upright). Then, I go to a wall and push my hands flat against that wall with all my strength, as though I’m trying to move the wall forward (I do this for about 60 seconds, making sure that I’m not subconsciously holding my breath) I recite the paragraph while pushing, then I release, and read the exact same paragraph again while standing relaxed. My voice usually sounds much better after doing the Wall Push. ; P
Another vocal exercise I learned (in the same course) that I still find helpful (but that I really only do when I can actually convince a friend/family member to humour me with it), is one where, with that same sample paragraph (or a paragraph from anything you find easy enough to somewhat memorize), I ask someone to chase me around the room while I try to recite the paragraph. It sounds ridiculous, and trust me, it totally looks ridiculous too, but the, like, inherent fear of being chased around the room and avoiding someone around obstacles really helps take you out of your own head when it comes to voice acting, and acting in general. It can be fun, too, which eases some of the associated anxiety with recording, and gets you to kind of experiment with the way you speak.
For example, in this class, I had to memorize a Shakespeare sonnet, and my teacher set up a little obstacle course, then chased each student, in turn, around the room (in front of the rest of the class). And I will say that it helped my recitation of the sonnet MASSIVELY. Instead of trying to sound all proper “Shakespearian,” I’d end up shouting the line at random intervals (when the teacher got close to catching me), ended up genuinely laughing through other lines, and just kinda learned how to break out of this rigid idea of what I thought I “should” sound like. This sort of thing applies to all acting, imo, and I have asked family members to chase me around the house before a recording, ahahaha~!
Now, if you’ve got limited mobility, like say you’re disabled, or ill, and you can’t be darting around rooms or pushing walls with all your strength -- there are some excellent breathing exercises that I’ve used before recording as well~!!! And I use these more often, actually, as they’re easier to do in a pinch.
I’ll go into one of those here, and then just mention a couple lasting tips below that:
So, ‘Paced Breathing’ is always a good go-to warmup prior to recording. It’s a therapy technique that helps lessen anxiety for many people, by engaging the parasympathetic nervous system (inducing a natural calming effect). And it helps a person to connect to their diaphragm and stomach. The goal is always to breathe through your stomach and diaphragm, not your throat or chest. I mean, your chest will probably always move a little bit when you breathe, but place a gentle hand on your stomach, and when you breathe in, try to feel as through you’re filling your stomach with air so the hand gets pushed outward.
The paced part of ‘Paced Breathing’ is just timing related, and is the more calming aspect of the exercise. With one hand on your stomach (and breathing from the stomach), breathe in to the count of 4; breathe out to the count of 5. Then breathe in to the count of 4, and out to the count of 6. In through the count of 4; out through the count of 7... and so on, until you get to about 9 or 10 seconds on your out-breath. The breath in is always about the same number (4 is p standard). You don’t want to cause hyperventilation~!!! It’s also good to keep track of what your shoulders are doing during this exercise. Try to keep them down and relaxed, as opposed to hunched up and tense.
A few tips/good things to remember just prior to recording:
- Avoid milk/creamy foods and beverages before recording, as they can coat the mouth and throat and make enunciation more difficult~! Have plenty of plain water nearby, though~!!! : D Careful not to keep it so close that you accidentally spill it on your equipment, of course!
- Try to keep the back of your throat relaxed when you voice act. If your throat starts to hurt at ANY point in time, stop immediately, rest, and srsly consider not doing that particular voice... it might just be outta your range, and as you act, you’ll pick up more and more skills, and someday it might not be out of range anymore, and you can pick it up again then. But in the meantime, you don’t want to risk permanently damaging your vocal chords.
- If you’re about to voice act a character, try to connect with the character personally. Carefully pay attention to the emotions they’re feeling in the scene, and relate it to times you’ve felt similar. Treat characters like people, not like caricatures.
- Personally, when I have the space to do so, I’ll let my body and face do whatever they want to while I’m doing an initial (non-recorded) read-through~! Body language can help translate into believable vocals really well, in my experience (but you gotta be mindful of your body, or the microphone might pick up movement sounds, and/or, if you’re me, the mic might even get kicked halfway across the recording space. Even hobbyist mics like mine are too expensive to risk that. :’)
I hope some of this was helpful, Anon~!!!!!! xoxoxo
