Welcome To Voicing While Black

 

The Black voice holds power, memory, energy. Typically we lean into this superpower though the conduit of music. Survival tactic, spiritual practice, multi-billion dollar industry, cultural juggernaut—Black music is all of the above.

Blackness and voice art enjoy a special bond. So much of our story as a people is rooted in the oral tradition, stretching back to the griots of antiquity, echoing from the Motherland of Africa to the Caribbean and the Americas. Poetry and spoken word gave way to Rap music, putting rhyme to reason, giving our people ways to process pain, reclaim ourselves, and heal our souls.

The Black Spoken Voice

But what about the Black spoken voice, unassisted by music? When wielded, the power of the Black human voice shifts both consciousness and narratives about what Black is—just by the myriad ways Black voices sound when spoken. The journey of the professional Black voiceover artist is one not often explored. This series will highlight voice actors from distinct areas of the industry and provide a window into what it’s like to be Voicing While Black.

Do Black voices have a place in their worlds? Can Black actors be Black and not “sound” Black? Can Blackness make the story more authentic and more enjoyable?

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To provide an overview of what this world offers, and what its challenges are, I will share my origin story as an actor. My goal with this series is to illuminate what a few of us experience, and to inform those interested in the field—or just fascinated with media and creativity—by getting answers to questions seldom asked of Black voice actors. Additionally, it’s time more “respeck” was put on the voice actor’s name.

The Job

Voiceover: What Is It?

Voiceover, or “VO” (spoken as an acronym, V-O) is an art, a science, and a discipline. Voicing requires a specific skill set. AI will tell you it’s someone merely speaking off camera over visuals or in an aural broadcast of sorts, like radio or audiobooks—but that’s only partially accurate. Voiceover and broadcasting have overlap, but they are not the same skill set. To be a voiceover artist, you must ALSO be an actor. To use one’s voice in broadcasting, you only need personality and training for the format of using your voice daily to reach and retain an audience. Depending on who you ask, personality is optional!

It is the rare recording artist who can also master voiceover, without sounding like their celebrity selves performing a script. Not every veteran on-camera actor can step into the VO booth and generate a compelling performance. Conversely, voice actors who use their bodies in ways we never see in order to generate great performances have to train differently to act on-camera. When I am in the booth, I stretch to elicit a specific sound, I do jumping jacks or run in place to infuse energy into a take, I sit or stand to change how I breathe and how much voice to push or pull from my diaphragm, chest and throat. I can’t do all that if the on-camera performance doesn’t call for it—but in the booth, I do whatever it takes to get the words in the can as directed.

Now: by “as directed”, it is important to understand how much is going on for a voice actor while performing. Unlike theater or film and TV actors, we don’t get to “live” with a script; we may get it a couple days beforehand at most, and it’s certain to change between then and the recording of performance time (in the case of live announcing or what is called the “Voice Of God” or “VOG” role). So our acting skills have to be fine tuned to drop into a role we don’t get to live with or form an attachment with, while needed to make a deep and lasting connection with the listener. No pressure.

I get the script, and I’m in the booth. Each line of script has to be delivered within a time frame, which can be fractions of a second. Sometimes I get to see the picture my voice will accompany, but most times I have to go on what I am told about the spot. My script isn’t always storyboarded or given visuals alongside each of my lines. Commercials are created out of sequence, so my performance may be what informs an edit—or it may come last, in which case I get to see picture as I record.

Regardless of how much I am given to do my job, I still have to: listen for and interpret direction from the talent director or producer, I have to regulate my breath and vocal tone for each take, pivoting as I receive feedback—or repeating it exactly as done previously for “safety”. I have to deliver my lines within the time allotted losing no power, emotion or quality of voice. I may also have to do this while watching video in real time, or watching a timer to bring my line in under a set number of seconds (sometimes that’s 1.7 seconds!). To top it off, I may only have 30 minutes in a particular session to get this script read, however long it is, based on how all the people in the studio outside the booth or on the phone listening to me want it done.

The Grind

Oh. I forgot to mention that before I even booked this job, I had to secure an audition, get a callback, and get selected—likely based on my agent pitching me and my VO reels being heard. A lot takes place before the job to get the job. And in the world of voice acting, identity is directly tied to relatedness and talent. We get breakdowns that call for “types” by background, age, and gender, but in audiobook narration and animation, we have men playing women and women playing boys, people of any gender can play any creature imaginable in film, video games or cartoons.

 

Sounds like a world without limits, right? Well that depends on who the world builders are. Do Black voices have a place in their worlds? Can Black actors be Black and not “sound” Black? Can Blackness make the story more authentic and more enjoyable? Are there Black voices in the future, in fantasy lands, in horror, romance or dark comedies? Where does bias taint the reality of a Black character—and does that same inability to envision a Black character in uncharted spaces impede the progress of the Black voice actor? The short answer to all of the above is “yes”. Black actors can perform in any genre, and deserve the opportunity to bring their excellence to every kind of voiceover project. As more Black actors take up space in the industry, the possibilities become clear for producers, casting directors and agents.

Through interviews in this series, you’ll get a window into what the journey looks, feels and sounds like for actors who are Voicing While Black:

Keyon Williams, one of my VO mentees who went from DJing parties as a teenager to radio imaging and eventually, promo and animation.

Andia Winslow, athlete and sports coach turned narrator and live announcer for The Olympics and The SAG Awards. She is also a seasoned actor in mobile and gaming, but that sector of the industry is on strike, so she declined to discuss that work in solidarity with striking professionals.

Rodd Houston, arguably the most accomplished Black actor in the sports voiceover arena, as the voice for The NBA Finals, The NFL, and The Golf Channel. He also had the unique distinction of taking the voice of CNN mantle from the late great James Earl Jones, and was a longtime voice for Verizon. I have also been a mentee of Rodd’s, because every solid actor needs mentors and coaches. His tutelage propelled me to voice in sports for the WNBA, New York Liberty, and Women of Team USA for the Tokyo Olympics.

Welcome to Voicing While Black.

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Thembisa S. Mshaka is an award-winning creative, screenwriter, and author of forthcoming second edition of Put Your Dreams First: Handle Your [entertainment] Business (Red Sky). Founder of Mshaka Media, she is presenting a voiceover intensive at this month’s VO Atlanta conference.