Challenges in a Voice-Acting Career

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Many articles online portray the life of voice acting as if actors are basking in their recording studio. It can be true to some extent—such as when a voice actor’s name is on the map1on the map〈习语〉出名。. And mostly it is false, as no business is dead easy2dead easy〈习语〉易如反掌。.

2Voice over job requires voice actors an ability to deliver a performance using only your vocal cords, a mastery of craft that requires a huge arsenal of talents, and a readiness and willingness to work at the drop of a hat3at the drop of a hat 不假思索地，毫不犹豫地。.

3Reality check4reality check 面对现实；反思现实。, let’s take a look behind the scenes of the amazing voices we hear over the radio.

It’s more than just sitting and speaking

4Let’s admit it, it’s usually the initial picture when we try to imagine how voice actors do their job—sitting in a booth for a couple of hours, effortlessly reciting the script to a microphone.Not to mention the burden of having to trudge off a casting agency just for an audition uncertain to lead into a paid job.

网上有不少文章描绘配音演员的生活，好像他们在录音棚里活得轻松惬意。要是演员已经扬名立万，这种说法可能有一定真实性。不过多数情况下，这纯属无稽之谈，因为没有哪个行业是特别轻松的。

2配音工作要求演员能够仅凭声带完成表演，掌握这门技能需要具备很多才艺，并愿意随时投入工作。

3反观现实，让我们了解一下广播里听到的美妙声音背后的故事。

配音不只是坐着说话

4别不承认，我们想象配音演员工作的场景，脑中最初浮现的画面往往是这样——在录音棚里坐上几个小时，对着麦克风毫不费力地朗诵剧本。我们想不到配音演员的那种压力，为了一场试音搞得疲惫不堪，步履沉重地离开选角机构，连能否通过这场试音获得一份有报酬的工作都不确定。

5Nowadays, to produce a dope5dope 非常好的。voiceover recording still take in countless errands and tools, and yes—some traveling for some cases, added to the process of narrating the script. From mastering the vocal direction, simulating the character,prepping the equipment, editing the recording, and submitting it to the client,to revisions that involve conversing with the client. A voice actor who has worked overnight for a 4000-word script might feel exhausted when it’s time to polish his work.

Voice actors are always on call

6Whether actors are at his home studio or out of town for some beach party,some of them are still contactable by clients. At worst, sometimes clients need an urgent revision so voice actors sometimes allow work during a vacation so they have an on-the-go recording equipment to work a project right off the bat6off the bat 立刻，马上。to help clients chase the deadline.

7When at home, least chances of delay could just be like waiting for the leaf blower guy to leave your street.

Voice actors can be put on standby—No Pay

8There are two scenarios for this.Mostly freelancers, voice actors’ status

5如今，要制作一段绝佳的配音，除了读剧本的程序之外，仍得完成无数杂事，运用大量工具，是的——有时还得出差。配音演员不仅要掌握声音要求、模仿角色、准备设备、编辑录音、提交录音给客户，还要和客户沟通修改录音。为了一份4000 字的剧本通宵达旦，到了要润色作品的时候，配音演员可能已经感到筋疲力尽了。

配音演员要随叫随到

6无论是在家录音还是去城外参加海滩派对，有些配音演员仍要与客户保持联系。最糟糕的情况下，客户可能需要紧急修改录音，所以配音演员有时休假要预留出工作时间。为此，他们配有便携式录音设备，可以随时工作，以便协助客户赶在规定期限内完成项目。

7在家工作时，小概率事件也可能造成延误，比如要等外面街上使用吹叶机清理落叶的环卫工人离开。

配音演员要无薪待命

8这有两种情况。多数情况下，配音演员属于自由职业者，没有工作项目时的状态称为“待命”。当然，待命期间是不带薪的，这和企业员工不一样。

9Another case is when actors agree to reserve a day or two for a recording session. During that time, no one else can book them until they have been released from the project commitment. To add insult to the injury, there are clients who will reserve them like that and just let go of them if they are no longer needed.

Unless you are famous, your income has crutches

10If actors are non-celebrity, voice acting is not an easy profession to make an instant and steady living. An average voice actor takes many years of experience before they can have an annual income of at least $90,000. For starters,the lowest to get is $14,500 per year.

11Considering the expansion of the voice-over the market, competition is sky-high. The easier and more accessible things have become because of internet advent, the more people entered the industry, and the rest is history7the rest is history 后来的事是尽人皆知的。. It is rather more challenging today despite the help of technological advancement to extend your profile exposure.

It’s not true that voice actors’ face is not always shown

12A common misconception not just is called “avail” when they do not have a project to work on at the moment and of course, they are not paid for the avail days unlike corporate employees are.

9另一种情况是配音演员同意预留一两天时间录音。其间，其他任何人就不能再约该演员，直到当前项目任务完成后演员才能抽身。更糟糕的是，有些客户以这种方式预约配音演员，但说不用就不用了。

演不出名钱袋不稳

10对籍籍无名的演员来说，配音并不是一份轻松、稳定、来钱快的职业。普通配音演员要积累数年工作经验，年收入才能达到9 万美元以上。新人的最低年收入只有14500 美元。

11由于配音市场扩张，这个行业竞争极为激烈。互联网的出现降低了行业门槛，越来越多的人员涌入，后来的事就不用赘述了。而今，虽然技术进步有助于扩大个人曝光度，但想要出圈难上加难。

配音并非总不露脸

12

不仅是圈外人，连配音演员自己都常会有一种错误观念，认为配音只用得上声带。其实，配音演员的面部表情对自身和客户都很有价值。

13For them to actually be able to hit a stellar voiceover performance, the engagement of the facial expressions and body language are 2 main ingredients.

14To clients whose voiceover genre is animation or video games, believe it or not, some of them install a kind of performer surveillance camera in recording studios to capture movement they can use as a reference to animate their characters. Voice actor’s natural gestures as they bring the characters into life play an important role in the visual aspect of the product.

Just like the clients, they stick around

15Voice actors also experience being put in hang, affecting their productivity,working pace, turnaround rate. Some clients send out private auditions in an online casting site to multiple talents of their pick and come back after a week or a couple of weeks. Voice actors then submit their audition and do nothing but wait for the client’s go signal to work on the official project.

16Clients also have their busy schedule and it creates a barrier to their realtime communication with the talent.Often when they get late feedback from their people, they chase the same talent to work on revisions. On the actor’s part, they have no choice but to extend their service to their client even if it’s out of their schedule.

13演员若想呈现精彩的配音表演，必须加入面部表情和肢体语言这两大要素。

14信不信由你，有些动画和游戏配音客户会在录音棚里安装一种类似监控摄像头的东西，捕捉演员的动作，在创作动画角色时用作参考。配音演员演绎角色时自然的肢体动作在作品的视觉呈现中发挥重要作用。

演员围着客户转

15配音演员还会体验被晾着的感觉，这会影响生产率、工作节奏和周转率。一些客户在选角网站上挑中数位配音演员，向其发出私人试音邀请，一周或几周后才回来查看。配音演员提交试音，然后只能干等着客户通知其加入正式项目。

16客户的日程安排也很繁忙，这阻碍了他们与配音演员实时交流。往往是工作人员反馈晚了，还要找同一个配音演员来修改录音。就演员而言，他们别无选择，只能对客户延长服务，即使这并不在他们的日程安排之内。

Some actors are hired just for breathing

17Sean Kenin, who pops up onFamilyGuyas the cackling, hyper “Tiny Tom Cruise,” is known in the business as a mimic. He can approximate well-known performers right down to how they sound when they’re gasping for air.

18Kenin is a living proof that some voice actors can be possibly hired just for breathing, grunting, different shades of dog barks, wind breezes, laughing,and more.

19This is not a problem at all, but it can be a liability8liability 麻烦，累赘。to expanding an actor’s skill set and getting more opportunities and can damage voices.

Vocal fatigue strike amidst a big project

20Vocal or voice over fatigue is a little acceptable but not during an ongoing big voice over a project. It’s a total mess if the actor’s voice becomes hoarse when you’re halfway on finishing a long script.

21They are likely torn to throwing in the towel9throw in the towel〈习语〉源于拳击比赛，拳击手扔毛巾即表示认输。and informing the client about the trouble, or fighting tooth and nail10fight tooth and nail 竭尽全力。to do the impossible.

有些演员受雇仅因擅仿呼吸声

17肖恩·凯宁以善于模仿在业界闻名，曾在《恶搞之家》中给精力旺盛、咯咯笑的“小汤姆·克鲁斯”配音。他能惟妙惟肖地模仿知名演员的声音，精细到喘气声。

18凯宁是一个活生生的例子，说明一些配音演员可能仅凭能模仿呼吸声、呼噜声、不同的狗吠声、风声、笑声等获得工作机会。

19这本来不是问题，但却可能成为配音演员的负担，使他们难以扩展技能以争取更多机会，而且这类模仿可能会损坏嗓音。

大项目期间嗓音疲劳

20演员在疲惫的状态下配音勉强可以接受，但大型配音项目进行期间不能出现这种情况。如果一个长剧本配音过半，演员突然嗓子哑了，那情况将是一团糟。

21演员可能会纠结，是彻底认输、向客户说明情况，还是咬牙坚持、明知不可为而为之。

Replacing an injured microphone

22Having a damaged recording equipment is equally burdensome to losing an actor’s voice. Unless the actor is really planning ahead to upgrade their equipment, it’s costly and frustrating to invest in a new one because of an unwanted mishap11mishap 厄运；不幸事故。.

更换故障麦克风

22录音设备损坏和演员失声一样麻烦。除非配音演员真的原本就打算升级录音设备，否则由于意外故障购买新设备既费钱又令人懊丧。