As a voice actor, warming up is essential to ensuring your voice is prepped and ready to go before you even enter the sound booth. There is no set routine or system that all voice actors follow, so warming up is often up to your personal preferences. But, with that being said, I’d love to share my ideal 5-step warm-up routine here.
This warm-up routine is the one I aspire to do every day– but some days, life gets in the way, and it doesn’t always happen. That’s okay! Do the warm-ups you have time for and focus on delivering the best sound you can in the booth.
- Exercise –Your voice is an instrument, but it’s also a part of your body. That means that you need to exercise your full body for your voice to perform at the highest level. My favorite exercise methods are yoga, barre, and Peleton’s virtual spin class. Each of these exercises helps restore the connection between my mind and body to improve my vocal health. No matter what form of exercise you choose, it’s important to do something, because exercise improves vocal function, builds endurance, and maximizes breath control.
- Nebulizing Saline– I first heard about the benefits of nebulizing saline from Marc Scott’s podcast, Everyday VOpreneur, on the episode with Nic Redman about the basics of vocal care. Now, it’s an essential part of my ideal vocal warm-up routine. Nebulizing saline has been proven to reduce inflammation in the lungs and open the airways (just what voice actors need). A ten to fifteen-minute VocalMist treatment is enough to eliminate dry throat, alleviate allergies, and help your voice sound its best in the booth.
- Meditation– I can’t overstate how important it is to get in the right headspace before beginning work– especially when you work as a voice actor. To meditate, I like to find a comfortable spot to sit (usually on my bed but the floor works too), and follow any relaxing guided meditation on the Insight Timer Meditation app (it’s free and fantastic). Meditation has been proven to ease anxiety, and it calms my mind and puts me into a positive headspace. Check below to find my latest guided meditation for kids!
- Vocal/Breathing Exercises– Right before a session, you can find me doing vocal and breathing exercises. Five to ten minutes is all you need for this part of the warm-up, and I love using Elaine Clark’s Activate Your Voice app to do it. The app exercises help me enunciate and articulate, enhance my breath support, and allow me to read more confidently and clearly.
- Good Mood Movement– This last step is absolutely non-negotiable for me. Before I hop in the booth, I need to put on my headphones and jam out to my favorite song. Singing and dancing are the two easiest ways for me to find my happy place and elevate my mood ahead of a session. Give this trick a try, you won’t regret it!
Speaking of Meditation
Check out my latest guided meditation for kids! Need your little ones to sit down and find their calm? Give this a try!