In 1995, I walked into a radio station in Sterling, Illinois, and accidentally started getting started in voice over without knowing that’s what it was. A production director named Jay was building a commercial by himself after hours. Music beds. Cart machines. Sound effects off a board. Nobody asked him to stay. He just did.
I watched him do it. I still can’t tell you exactly when that session became a career for me. It took years to sort out.
Here’s what I know now: most people who want to get started in voice over are sitting on more than they think, spending time in the wrong places, and waiting for a clarity that’s never going to arrive on its own.
I’ve been recording since 1995. Commercial reads, corporate narration, e-learning, IVR. I built my studio in my basement in rural Illinois, piece by piece, mostly from Craigslist finds. I drove a U-Haul back from Nashville with a vocal isolation booth in the back. I’ve taken a long break. I’ve come back from it.
I don’t do coaching. What I have is a set of posts I’ve written about what this career actually looks like from inside it. No pitch at the end. No email list to join to get the good stuff. Just what I know, written as plainly as I can.
If you’re thinking about voice over, or you’re somewhere in the early stages, this page is organized to help you find what you actually need.
Is Voice Over Right For You?
Start here before you spend money on gear or training.
Most people skip this question. They get excited about the idea, buy a microphone, take a weekend workshop, and then spend years wondering why it isn’t clicking. The answer usually lives in this section, not the next one.
Is Voice Over a Good Career? Honest Answer.
Not a cheerleader post and not a warning-you-off post. The honest answer is that it depends on things that have nothing to do with how your voice sounds. This one is worth reading before anything else.
What Is a Voice Over Artist?
A better starting point than it sounds. Most people who want to do voice over have a fuzzy picture of what the job actually is. I did, for years. This clears that up.
What Makes a Good Voice Over Artist? Not What You Think.
The answer is not what most people assume, and it’s not what most coaches lead with. Worth reading before you build any assumptions about what you need to develop.
The $50 Session That Changed Everything (And Why I Ignored It for 10 Years)
My actual origin story. I had every signal I needed at 19. A salesman named Dave booked me into a real studio. A producer gave me direction. I thought it was the coolest thing I’d ever done. Then I did nothing with it for a decade. This is that story.
Getting Started in Voice Over: Building Your Home Studio
You don’t need a lot of money to build a real home studio. I know because I didn’t spend a lot of money. What you need is patience and a willingness to look in the right places.
The two posts in this section cover the same basic story from two angles. The first is about how I got the booth. The second is what I know after recording in it almost every day for years.
How I Built My Voice Over Studio for $1,000 (Craigslist, Nashville, and a U-Haul)
I found a Whisper Room vocal isolation booth on Craigslist near Nashville listed for $1,000. A new one costs $5,000 to $7,000 or more. I drove down with my buddy Matt. We loaded it into a U-Haul. We drove it back to Illinois. Still recording in it today. This is that story, with the details that actually matter if you’re trying to do something similar.
My Whisper Room Review: What Nobody Tells You After Years of Actually Using One
This is not a sponsored post. It’s not a first-week impression. It’s what I know after recording in one almost every day since the Obama administration. The things that work, the things that don’t, and the things nobody mentions in the reviews you’ll find online.
Making a Voice Over Career Work
Getting into voice over is one thing. Building it into something sustainable is a different problem. These are posts about the second part.
What Nobody Tells You About the Radio to Voice Over Transition
If you’re coming from radio, you have specific advantages and specific habits that will work against you. Most advice you’ll find gets this backwards. This one doesn’t.
The VO Life They Sold Me (And the Color-Coded Calendar I Built Instead)
What a voice over artist’s daily routine actually looks like, versus what the first workshop I ever attended implied it would look like. There’s a gap. This is what’s in it.
Voice Over Career After a Break: What I Wish Someone Had Told Me
I went dark for two years. Grief does that. Coming back was harder than starting, in ways I didn’t expect and couldn’t find written down anywhere. This is what I learned.
A Note
I’m not a coach. I’m not selling a course. There’s no email opt-in at the bottom of this page.
I’ve been doing this since 1995. I built my studio in my basement on 6 acres in rural Illinois with used gear and a Craigslist score. I’ve had years where the work was steady and years where it wasn’t. I’ve made every mistake that seemed worth making at the time.
For rate guidance, the GVAA Rate Guide is the most honest, regularly updated resource I know of for understanding what fair compensation looks like across VO categories.
If something on this page is useful, I’m glad. If you’ve got questions, the contact page is there.
How do I get started in voice over?
Start with the honest question of whether the career fits how you work. You need a quiet recording space, a decent microphone, and a voice people actually want to listen to. The first two are learnable and buildable. Focus there first before spending money on coaching or gear you don’t understand yet.
Do I need professional training to do voice over?
Training can help, but it’s not the first thing you need. What most people need first is a clear picture of what the job actually is and an honest read on whether they have the discipline for it. The booth is quiet. Nobody is telling you to stay. You need to generate your own structure.
How much does it cost to build a home voice over studio?
Less than most people think. I built mine for $1,000 by finding a used Whisper Room vocal isolation booth on Craigslist. A new booth can run $5,000 to $7,000 or more. Used gear, patience, and knowing where to look will get you most of the way there for a fraction of that.
What microphone should I use for voice over?
The microphone matters less than the room you’re recording in. A great mic in a bad acoustic space will sound worse than a decent mic in a treated room. Fix the space first. Then talk about the microphone.