The Art And Business Of Voice Actor Training With Jude Vaus-Walsh

I’d love to start with how you got into acting in the first place, and how that eventually led to your voice acting, coaching and training work.

I trained at Salford University in Media and Performance. I always wanted to work in acting and be a performer, so when I left university, that’s what I did.

I worked in the West End for a while, did some TV and some film work. I worked consistently as an actor but had a period where I was resting more than I would have liked. I realised I needed something alongside acting while waiting for jobs to come through.

I replied to a job advert for traffic and travel presenters for various radio stations, just reading travel bulletins. I got the job, worked my way up, and moved into presenting. I worked on a number of stations,  some national, mainly in the North West, including Century, Real Radio, Smooth Radio and Key 103. Many of those have since changed names.

As a presenter, you work across a group of stations. I did evening shows, lunchtime shows, and eventually breakfast. Breakfast radio meant getting up at three in the morning, which you can only sustain for so long.

Fifteen years ago, I got pregnant with my daughter. I knew I didn’t want to keep getting up at 3am. I still wanted to act, still wanted to use my voice, but I also wanted flexibility, creativity, good income, and to work for myself. Voiceover work ticked every box.

When you transitioned into voiceover, were the skills similar to stage and TV acting, or very different?

They were really different techniques, actually. I was a little bit naïve. The acting background carried me through, obviously, and I was used to being in front of a microphone because of radio. But the skills were very different.

As a radio presenter, you might talk in a chatty way or be super conversational. But when you are performing a voiceover script, it’s a very different set of skills. I had to learn the nuances of how to deal with clients and producers and what they might want in terms of direction.

It all fed into it and it was all helpful, but it was a very different set of skills that I had to learn quickly within those first couple of months. When I listen back to myself as a voiceover on those first couple of jobs, I wasn’t that great. I definitely had to learn how to become a voiceover artist, with those different skills.

How did you transition into voice acting training and what do your courses involve?

I started training and became a coach about eight years ago because so many people were approaching me,  and Simon, my brother, who I run the studio with in Manchester and asking us “We want to do this. How do we get into it?”

I’d give advice and tips, but it was happening so often that I thought we needed to formalise it and make more of it.

I love doing voiceover work and still do it every day, but I really enjoy training and coaching. It’s a real passion to take people to where I was and get them to a point where they can have a voiceover career too. In terms of that, I know exactly what that path looks like because it’s the one I walked. I’m able to fast-track people and help them build those skills and that business in a few weeks, as opposed to it taking months like it did for me.

Could you expand on that business side? Creatives often struggle with branding and marketing themselves.

That’s so important. Everybody comes to voiceover because they want to do voices whether it’s characters commercials or audiobooks. Then they think, “Okay, I’ll get the training.” And after that it’s, “Now what?”

You become a brand. You are setting up your own business. That side is important to navigate. You can be the best voiceover artist in the world, but if you don’t know how to market yourself and put yourself in front of people, you’ll be sitting at home waiting for the phone to ring or emails to come through.

For me, it’s important that people learn about voiceover as a holistic business. It’s about training the voice and building skills and techniques. But it’s also about working out where you fit into the industry and the kind of work you’ll be suitable for  because you might not be suitable for everything.

You might not be right for audiobooks, but you might be great for corporate and commercial work. It’s about putting a plan together, learning about the industry, the dos and don’ts, marketing, building a website, setting up a studio, and developing a thick skin  because you will get rejection.

All of that is a huge part of the voiceover business that some people don’t initially realise.

What are the differences between areas like audiobooks, commercials and corporate work?

Each area has a different discipline. With audiobooks, for example, a lot of people work exclusively in audiobooks and as audiobook narrators because that work is long-form. Those projects can last a long time. You might pick up a book that’s thousands of pages long. Some people love that. They love reading and seeing a project through from start to finish. They like knowing it’s taken two or three months of their life and then moving on to the next one.

Other people prefer quicker jobs. You get a script, record it in ten minutes, move on to the next one. It’s a much quicker way of working.

Audiobooks generally take weeks to finish. Commercial work is much quicker. Character work for gaming or animation can take longer than commercials, but not as long as audiobooks. Corporate work is often more flexible. A client might say, “Here’s a script, get it back to me in two or three days.”

There are lots of factors as to what’s right for you. Some people have full-time jobs and can’t commit to audiobooks. Some are very creative vocally and want to do gaming and animation. That will dictate the type of voiceover work you pursue.

You’ve done e-learning voice work. How important is voice in learning and development?

E-learning comes under corporate work. It’s a huge area of voiceover and always was, but when COVID hit and so much learning went online, those courses exploded.

I still do a lot of that work and really enjoy it. You get to learn something new every day, whether it’s about HMRC, GDPR, or the Church of England. You can do projects on anything, and you end up learning about them yourself.

A lot of the material can be dry or dull. It’s important as a voiceover artist to think about the listener and keep them engaged. You want to keep them interested in a subject that might not be particularly exciting.

You almost become the entertainment throughout the project. It’s important to deliver something the listener wants to hear, rather than reading 15,000 words in a flat way so they switch off and start thinking about their shopping.

You need to connect with the script so the person listening can learn what they need to learn.

You also coach teens. Is there growing demand among younger people?

There’s a huge demand. It’s usually the parents who get in touch, especially if their children are under 16 or 17. Parents often mention too much screen time and want their children to develop confidence and creativity.

Often the teens are gamers who are already doing voices and being creative but don’t know how to channel it. It’s lovely hearing from parents afterwards about how much their confidence has grown. They’re joining drama clubs and feeling more confident speaking to others.

With teens, it’s about fun, expression and building confidence. With adults, it’s usually more focused on how to turn it into a business and make money.

Have you seen mental health benefits from this work?

Definitely. With teens, some have experienced bullying or felt socially excluded. Parents want something that builds confidence and belief in themselves. I work with neurodiverse children as well. They might prefer being online but still need social connection and a creative outlet. There are lots of reasons teens come to me, and lots of benefits.

With adults, many have gone into academic or corporate careers and miss having a creative outlet. Doing something fun, light and fresh can really boost personal wellbeing.

I also work with women on maternity leave who are at a crossroads and thinking, “I don’t want to go back to nine to five.” Voiceover can offer flexibility and income. It can provide a completely different path after having a baby.

Has your voice acting career influenced your role as a parent?

My daughter has definitely grown up in a creative house. Bedtime stories are probably more fun when read by a professional voiceover artist.

She’s actually been a professional voiceover artist since she was four because she grew up with a studio in the house. She’s seen me doing different characters and expressing myself through voice. It’s helped her confidence and allowed her to earn some money through professional work.

She’s in her teens now, so I’m probably a bit cringe to her, but she’s grown up knowing the importance of creativity and expression.

What do you believe makes good training design?

Transparency is so important. Some coaching can feel opaque with unclear pricing, timelines or outcomes. When someone comes to me, I explain exactly what they’ll be doing, how long it will take, and what they’ll be able to do by the end. I’ll also be there for support when they go off and start working independently.

Homework is important too. When someone takes me on as a coach, I’m interviewing them as a student. I want to know they’re committed and agree with the plan.

If they trust the plan, they get brilliant results. It’s lovely when they come back saying, “I’ve booked this job.” I like being involved in the whole process, including after they’ve launched.

How do you and your brother complement each other in the business?

We’re very different. He’s an excellent voiceover artist but not an actor. He’s more reserved and prefers the solitude of working in the studio. He’s an amazing audio producer and has won awards for audio production. He has an incredible ear for it. I know a little about production, but it’s not my specialism.

My specialism is taking someone and turning them into a voiceover artist through encouraging them and building their skills. Simon makes everything sound amazing at the end.

What are some projects that you have felt especially rewarding for you?

I don’t do many audiobooks now because they take a long time, but I think every voiceover should do at least one. It’s an amazing learning curve. You learn editing very quickly. It’s a labour of love.

When the finished title appears on Amazon or Audible, it’s such a wonderful sense of achievement. I also still love hearing myself unexpectedly in a supermarket, on the radio, on TV. Hearing how a simple script turns into something fully produced with music and sound design is still such a cool feeling.

As a trainer, how do you continue evolving?

I think it makes a difference when a trainer actively does what they teach.I was a voiceover artist first and moved into training. Because I still work daily as a voiceover, I stay current with trends and industry rates so I’m always looking at a holistic experience and using that to create better training experiences for my students.