Voice Acting

What Are The Best Vocal Warm Ups for Voice Actors?

Tara Parachuk | March 14, 2024

Woman practicing vocal warm ups

Just as a professional athlete meticulously stretches before a match, so does a seasoned performer or voice actor before stepping up to the microphone. The preparation may be less visible but is no less crucial for delivering a stellar performance.

Much like an athlete’s pre-game rituals, vocal warm ups and vocal exercises play an indispensable role in the world of voice acting. They serve as the vital conditioning every performer needs to take their craft to the next level while avoiding damaging your voice and causing vocal fry.

In this article

  1. The Importance of Vocal Warm Ups 
  2. The 7 Best Vocal Warm Ups for Voice Actors and Performers
  3. Vocal Warm Up Exercise 1: Stretch Your Body
  4. Vocal Warm Up Exercise 2: Breathing Exercises
  5. Vocal Warm Up Exercise 3: Humming and Lip Trills
  6. Vocal Warm Up Exercise 4: Descending on Nasal Consonants
  7. Vocal Warm Up Exercise 5: Fricatives
  8. Vocal Warm Up Exercise 6: Tongue Twisters
  9. Vocal Warm Up Exercise 7: Yawn
  10. Bonus Vocal Warm Up Tips
  11. Stretching Exercises for Your Mouth, Tongue and Lips
  12. Improving Your Articulation with the Obstruction Drill
  13. Learning to Master Your Plosives

These exercises do more than just warm up your vocal folds — they empower you to seize the spotlight, whether it’s an audition, a corporate presentation or any other vocal endeavor. A well-prepared voice is the key to transforming a good delivery into a truly unforgettable performance, especially when your voice serves as your instrument.

Let’s embark on a journey together to uncover the best vocal warm ups to try before your next performance. Ignite your passion for performance, elevate your craft and prepare to captivate your audience!

The Importance of Vocal Warm Ups 

Do you have a favorite word or string of words that you use to warm up your voice and get ready for the day?

Any particular words that can “articulate” that “resonate” well with you (pardon the puns!)? There are hundreds of different vocal warm ups and it is always interesting (and entertaining) to add more to the old repertory.

The more you tone your vocal cords and folds, the more versatile your singing or voice acting capabilities will be. All the while, diligently running through a series of vocal warm up exercises every time before you’re planning on an extended vocal session reduces your chances of injury.

Simply put, if you get behind the microphone feeling tense or stressed, you are undoubtedly going to sound tense and stressed. But, if you get into the booth feeling relaxed, limber and physically ready to tackle singing that song or script read, your vocal performances are going to reflect that state too.

Tip: The sillier you sound and the better a vocal warm up exercise makes you feel, the more elastic, agile and comfortable your voice will become. Don’t be shy. Have fun with it!

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The 7 Best Vocal Warm Ups for Voice Actors and Performers

Let’s take a look at some of the best vocal warm up exercises including stretches, breathing, the lip trill, tongue twisters and more.

Vocal Warm Up Exercise 1: Stretch Your Body

“Side stretches are great for expanding your rib cage and making your lungs feel like they are full of air,” says voice actor and coach Heather Costa about warm ups.

“Simply take a deep breath and raise your arms up to the sky. Exhale and slightly lean to the left, lengthening in your side body. Hold it there for just a couple of seconds before you inhale to center, and then exhale over to the right.”

“Next, stand with your feet hip-width apart. Inhale your arms up to the sky, then slowly bend at your waist on the exhale and take your hands toward the ground. It doesn’t matter how far you can go, the action of bending over is enough to give you a nice, warm stretch! Stay there for a couple of breaths, and then on an inhale slowly come back up to a standing position.”

For a visual demonstration of the perfect body stretch routines to undertake before an acting session, check out this video of Jeannette Nelson, head of voice at the National Theater, leading some young actors through a variety of useful pre-rehearsal techniques:

Vocal Warm Up Exercise 2: Breathing Exercises

After you complete your body stretches, the next step of your warm up exercises should involve some breathing exercises. Breathing exercises are an ideal way to relax your vocal folds before a big recording, and they’re bound to help expand your vocal range. 

Here are a few great breathing exercises that you’d benefit from adding to your warm up routine:

The Straw Trick

Practice humming, or simply inhaling and exhaling, slowly with a straw in your mouth. When your lips are closed around a straw, you’ll automatically focus all of your attention on your breathing, while keeping your face and body still.

Lay on the Floor

Have you ever tried breathing or singing a vocal piece while lying with your back on the ground? It may feel strange at first, but if you rest your hands on your stomach and concentrate, you’ll be able to feel your diaphragm move. This technique is an easy way to zero in on your breathing.

The Hissing Exhale

As part of your vocal warm up routine, try out this next breathing exercise. Start by inhaling for an amount of time you feel comfortable with, and then when you exhale, produce an “sss” hissing sound. Each time you do the hissing exhale, switch up the amount of time that you’re inhaling and hissing, aiming to go longer with each hiss until you find yourself beginning to run out of breath.

Vocal Warm Up Exercise 3: Humming and Lip Trills

Performing a loose and gentle modulating hum is a nice way to ease in your facial muscles, as well as create space for resonant sound. Humming and lip trills get your resonators going, which in turn helps restore your vocal tone quality after sleeping for several hours. These are ideal to carry out as you start your day.

Lip trills and flutters will also help loosen facial muscles and get your vocal folds warmed up. They’re even more effective if you try them in the shower!

For some guidance on how to do lip trills, this YouTuber provides some great step-by-step instructions for taking control of your breathing:

One of our voice actors chimed in:

“Your equipment is turned on, your mic is in front of you, headphones perched on your ears and your recording software is just waiting for you to start a new file. What words or phrase do you say out loud to warm up the voice and center your focus for your recording?

For whatever reason, I say, ‘boogiedaboogiedaboogiehellohellohello.’”

– Dave Justus

While not exactly a lip trill, voice actors seem to have a routine to get the voice ready for recording.

Vocal Warm Up Exercise 4: Descending on Nasal Consonants

Another useful trick that any singer or voice actor should have in their toolbox is the ability to open up passages to descend on a nasal consonant sound. If you happen to be a fan or student of IPA (the International Phonetic Alphabet), you already know that there are several methods you can tap into to warm up your sinuses and nasal passages.

Take, for example, the English word ‘onion.’ It’s quite nasal — particularly its second syllable, which makes the ‘gn’ sound. Take that ‘gn’ sound and lovingly stretch it, slide it and descend glissando style.

Go from the fifth, down to the root of a scale on that with an ‘ah’ sound.

Another favorite vocal warm up for many voice actors involves reciting any word or phrase that ends in a Z, for example, ‘buzz’ or ‘fuzz.’ Linger on the Z to get resonating.

“The best warm up words for me are to practice singing — softly — softly — the chromatic scale. Whichever octave you are comfy with. Just sing from the lowest to the highest and back… until the job is done and warm!”

– Maurice Smith

If you’re still a bit unsure about what it takes to warm up your voice by descending on nasal consonants, this singer explains how you can use your nostrils to perform one of many vocal exercises:

Vocal Warm Up Exercise 5: Fricatives

Fricatives are consonants that are formed by impeding the flow of air so that a friction sound is produced. Some of the most common consonants include Fs, Ths, and Vs. You can learn more about producing fricatives from vocal coaches.

This animated video from Glossika demonstrates how fricatives are produced:

Vocal Warm Up Exercise 6: Tongue Twisters

Articulate, repeatarticulate, articulate. In the voice over business, being able to distinctly enunciate your speech is by far one of the most important aspects of your performance.

If you don’t articulate or enunciate clearly, no one is going to understand a word of what you are saying.

Learn how to articulate your various vocal muscles together by tagging along with the speakers in this video: 

5 classic tongue twisters:

  1. Unique New York, unique New York, unique New York.
  2. A big black bug bit a big black bear.
  3. She sells seashells by the seashore.
  4. Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.
  5. How much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?

There are several troublesome consonants that you’ll want to master your pronunciation before you step up to the microphone. Speaking each of these tongue twisters out loud serves as a fantastic pre-recording warm up: 

Popular Tongue Twisters

What time does the wristwatch strap shop shut?

A skunk sat on a stump and thunk the stump stunk, but the stump thunk the skunk stunk.

No need to light a nightlight on a light night like tonight.

My cutlery cuts keenly and cleanly.

Four furious friends fought for the phone.

Reading and writing are richly rewarding.

Any noise annoys an oyster, but a noisy noise annoys an oyster most.

I saw a kitten eating chicken in the kitchen.

He threw three free throws.

Three free thugs set three thugs free.

If you stick a stock of liquor in your locker
It is slick to stick a lock upon your stock
Or some joker who is slicker
Is going to trick you of your liquor
If you fail to lock your liquor with a lock.

Someone said something simple
A simple something said to me
Simply simple someone said
A simple something said to me.

How about a tongue twister in German?

Try: Der Potsdamer Postkutscher putzt den Potsdamer Postkutschkasten und der Kottbuser Postkutscher putzt den Kottbuser Postkutschkasten.

Vocal Warm Up Exercise 7: Yawn

Now that you’ve warmed up your resonators and articulators, let’s address range.

Yawning naturally relaxes, drops your jaw and regulates oxygen while extending your soft palate.

In this interview with Time Magazine, Morgan Freeman reveals that yawning is part of the secret behind his very successful voice.

“If you’re looking to improve the sound of your voice, yawn a lot,” Freeman suggests. “It relaxes your throat muscles. It relaxes your vocal cords. And as soon as they relax, the tone drops. The lower your voice is, the better you sound.”

Bonus tip: With more oxygen flowing straight up to your brain, you’ll also find that you are more alert.

How to Do a Yawn-Sigh

Learning how to properly do a yawn-sigh can be a wonderful trick to add to your vocal warm up toolbox.

  • Step 1: Open your mouth as if to yawn.
  • Step 2: Slide all the way down from the top of your vocal range to the lowest grumble you can muster.
  • Step 3: You’ll know when you bottom out.

However, you should only do this exercise a few times as a part of each warm up. You should never start with this one, and it’s often best to leave it until the end when you have already exercised your voice.

Bonus Vocal Warm Up Tips

Some other tips to consider to ensure that you get the most from your vocal warm ups or vocal exercises even if you need voice warm ups for speaking. These voice warm ups for regular everyday speaking include:

Get a good night’s sleep

It may go without saying, but you can never underestimate the power of getting a good sleep the night before a recording (the suggested amount is eight hours if you can swing it). 

In addition to being well-rested, a well-conditioned, lubricated voice is the best preparation for warming up at the crack of dawn. This means staying sufficiently hydrated, even well before you’ll be called on to perform. Room-temperature water is a voice actor’s best friend! At the same time, alcohol and caffeine will detract from your hydration levels and impact your vocal performance, so be sure to steer clear of consuming liquids containing either of these ahead of a recording.

Do your vocal warm ups in the shower

If you’re a multitasker, you can probably fit your warm ups into your morning shower routine. The acoustics will be great and warm water is a plus. The humidity will also help since the moisture will coat and help protect your throat, vocal folds and more.

Get even more tips and tricks on vocal warm ups and techniques that will properly prepare you for your next performance, and make your next recording session as productive as can be in this interview with vocal coach Susan Berkley

Do the 5 Minute Vocal Warm Up

As with any other part of your body, your voice is supported by muscles. Not just your facial muscles but your tongue and diaphragm too. Keeping those muscles limber and toned is important for voice actors and anyone who uses their voices professionally.

As the saying goes, “Use it, or you’ll lose it.” But speaking isn’t enough to maintain the fitness of all those supporting systems. To improve and maintain the quality of your voice and perfect your articulation you need to work those muscles every day.

Tommy Griffiths — a voice-over artist, voice coach, demo producer and actor — recently sent us an easy 5-minute workout for an episode of our Voice Over Experts Podcast that will have you seeing results almost immediately. It’s fast, easy and effective.

For about 1 minute:

  • Grin as hard as you can and hold it for a few seconds, then quickly purse your lips, and hold. Do this back and forth a few times then quickly stick your tongue out. Stretch it as far as it will go. Then touch the back of your upper teeth with the tip of your tongue. Hold for 5 seconds.
  • Say the word “wow.” Notice the positions of your mouth when you say the word. Your lips start pursed and the word ends with your mouth open. Exaggerate the positions and repeat over and over as though you’re saying the word “wow.” By this point, you should feel the facial muscles in and around your mouth.

Stretching Exercises for Your Mouth, Tongue and Lips

For about 1 minute:

  • Grin as hard as you can and hold it for a few seconds, then quickly purse your lips, and hold. Do this back and forth a few times then quickly stick your tongue out. Stretch it as far as it will go. Then touch the back of your upper teeth with the tip of your tongue. Hold for 5 seconds.
  • Say the word “wow.” Notice the positions of your mouth when you say the word. Your lips start pursed and the word ends with your mouth open. Exaggerate the positions and repeat over and over as though you’re saying the word “wow.” By this point, you should feel the facial muscles in and around your mouth.

Improving Your Articulation with the Obstruction Drill

For about 2 minutes:

  • First, find some piece of copy and an obstruction for your mouth. Ideally, something about the size of a wine cork. Sit up straight or stand with your feet shoulder-width apart.
  • Place the obstruction between your front teeth and read the copy out loud as clearly as possible. The obstruction will force your muscles to overcompensate for the difficulty in articulating the words. Keep reading for about two minutes.
  • Then take the obstruction out of your mouth and read the same piece of copy. You’ll notice that you now effortlessly pronounce the words.

Learning to Master Your Plosives

For about 2 minutes:

  • Hold the palm of your hand a few inches away from your mouth, about where you would typically place your mic. Then say, “Pam’s preppy pal Peter.” You’ll likely feel a rush of air with the Ps. That rush of air is what creates the popping sound through your mic.
  • With full vocalization, practice saying “Pam’s preppy pal Peter” until you no longer feel the rush of air. Practice this every day for about two minutes and soon it will become second nature to speak in a way that will have you plosive-free, even in your regular day-to-day conversations.

Did you like these vocal warm ups? What vocal warm ups work for you? Or perhaps you avoided a mistake because you took the time to warm up your voice properly.

Let us know your tips, tricks, techniques, tongue twisters and other warm ups in the comments!

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Comments

  • Avatar for Mesha
    Mesha
    June 20, 2007, 1:30 pm

    Yes… I believe that all of these tips and suggestions have been good.
    I have been singing since I was 6 years old and I am now 17. It has really hard for me because I have a really beautiful voice but sometimes under pressure it’s hard to let out and I have been suffering from this for years and I really need help!
    THE INFORMATION THAT WAS GIVEN TO ME WAS REALLY HELPFUL.

    Reply
  • Avatar for Maura
    Maura
    October 9, 2007, 4:08 pm

    It’s better to do your warm up exercises lying on the ground and bending your knees.
    If you hold your hand on your lower stomach you will be able to see if you are singing from the correct place.

    Reply
  • Avatar for Gabe
    Gabe
    April 18, 2009, 7:04 pm

    I’m 14 and recently discovered my passion for music and singing. I just started taking singing lessons and my next one is next week. I don’t have that great of a voice and I want to make singing my career I want to go to Juilliard for college but I need to improve. I will improve but I wanted to know if you guys had any tips for me. Thank you I would greatly appreciate your comments and advice.

    Reply
    • Avatar for Ana
      Ana
      October 11, 2020, 2:39 pm

      hey so its been like…11 years… how did it go? did you end up pursuing music? did you go to Juilliard? i gotta

      Reply
  • Avatar for zayne
    zayne
    June 4, 2010, 8:05 pm

    i go to a performing art school in Santa Ana called OCHSA and we’ve learned all these tips in singing class. They are especially helpful when i have to do a song in my first class.

    Reply
  • Avatar for Lisa Rice
    Lisa Rice
    December 17, 2010, 10:08 am

    Great tips, Stephanie!
    Any athlete knows that stretches and warm-ups are essential to peak performance. Voice over might not be considered a sport but it definitely gives everything above the waist a workout. We have to warm up if we want to deliver our best.

    Reply
  • Avatar for Aaron Goodly
    Aaron Goodly
    November 23, 2011, 9:00 pm

    Awesome information Stephanie. I also want to add that when your mouth is starting to feel dry, an apple usually helps me out and corrects the issue pretty quickly.
    All the best,
    Aaron

    Reply
  • Avatar for Vinnie Vinson
    Vinnie Vinson
    December 1, 2011, 2:29 pm

    Coffee and a decongestant.

    Reply
  • Avatar for Martin ONeill
    Martin ONeill
    December 1, 2011, 2:29 pm

    Cup of tea

    Reply
  • Avatar for Danny Danielson
    Danny Danielson
    December 1, 2011, 2:30 pm

    Pudda Dugga Gudda! X10

    Reply
  • Avatar for Zeke Elizondo
    Zeke Elizondo
    December 1, 2011, 2:30 pm

    I’m having this problem right now. Got to get into the studio and I sound like a frog!

    Reply
  • Avatar for Justine
    Justine
    July 24, 2012, 12:53 pm

    This is good. I’ve been doing research and this is the most thorough response to the question. Thanks Steph

    Reply
  • Avatar for Ryan
    Ryan
    September 2, 2012, 10:09 am

    Before doing any or all of these wonderful exercises you should actually do a physical warm up first. A little cardio followed by light stretching (especially of the neck) will prepare and loosen both the abdominal support muscles and the neck/laryngeal structure.

    Reply
    • Avatar for Courtney Hull
      Courtney Hull
      January 16, 2020, 4:38 pm

      Your mean like the first one on the list? Seriously, dude. ?

      Reply
  • Avatar for LionBlood
    LionBlood
    May 11, 2013, 2:58 pm

    The best exercise I know of, which revolutionized my voice is called the “Lip Roll” or “Lip Trill”.
    All you do is basically act like a baby and go “bbbbvvvvv” with enough air power to make your lips vibrate.
    What this does is firstly relaxed your larynx(swallowing muscle) and teaches your voice to use the right technique while singing. The lyranx muscle is like just under your chin connected to your neck.
    A new thing I starting doing is actually to massage my larynx, ’cause when you sing you should be so relaxed as if you just had a professional massage(STAY AWAKE OFCOURSE!!!)

    Reply
  • Avatar for Andy
    Andy
    December 4, 2018, 6:59 am

    that’s great need to learn more ,i need to be the best

    Reply
  • Avatar for Pranayeshwar Vashisth
    Pranayeshwar Vashisth
    February 19, 2019, 7:33 am

    The information provided here is very useful for a person like me ,who is a fresher in this field.
    There is no reason if I follow these guidelines and don’t succeed.

    Reply
  • Avatar for Lawrence Bruce
    Lawrence Bruce
    March 8, 2019, 11:19 pm

    The Whispered “Ah” as taught by Alexander Technique teachers is the best I know for releasing and placing the voice – especially if done while in the Position of Constructive Rest. (There are YouTube demos for these). And for the warm-up supreme, for years I have followed Kristin Linklater’s recommendation of Shakespeare’s Sonnets.

    Reply
  • Avatar for Nikhilsunuwar
    Nikhilsunuwar
    June 10, 2019, 7:39 am

    yes i belive this is so so super duper helping exercise thank you

    Reply
  • Avatar for Jacob
    Jacob
    July 5, 2019, 5:04 pm

    My high school choir teacher had us do tongue-twisters to warm up before practice. And one of the was:

    “One big bug bled blue blood, while the other big bug bled black”

    This helps me when I warm up, if it can help anyone else, I’d by glad.

    Reply
  • Avatar for Mark Shafrath
    Mark Shafrath
    October 6, 2019, 10:30 am

    Great tips and ideas Stephanie. I’ll surely use them. A singing voice can always be improved and is always the case, the more a person knows about a subject, the more insightful he/she becomes.

    Reply
  • Avatar for Owen Baker-Flynn
    Owen Baker-Flynn
    October 22, 2019, 12:15 am

    I take about 12-18 inches of dental floss and put one end on my tongue. Then I slowly and using my tongue and lips roll it into a ball. This doesn’t really do anything for the voice, but does work all those muscles.

    Reply
    • Avatar for oompa loompa
      oompa loompa
      February 11, 2020, 4:08 pm

      ok….

      Reply
  • Avatar for Jay Cofffman
    Jay Cofffman
    February 21, 2020, 9:01 am

    Another one I do is “in an imaginable”. I find this to be a tough transition to make between the words. I practice this with my daily warmups, saying it over and over, attempting to say it quicker each time.

    Reply
  • Avatar for Kristi Gaddy
    Kristi Gaddy
    June 5, 2020, 12:23 am

    This was great!!

    Reply
  • Avatar for Sandra
    Sandra
    November 6, 2020, 12:52 pm

    My voice is alto can i change to soprano

    Reply
  • Avatar for Kalee
    Kalee
    December 12, 2020, 12:21 am

    Here’s a couple of tongue twisters I learned in my high school choir;

    Chester cheetah chewed a chunk of cheap cheddar cheese

    The teeny tiny ticket taker took the tiny ticket

    This is a great article! I’m an aspiring voice actor and these tips are great to use when warming up!

    Reply
  • Avatar for Rickmansworthjr256
    Rickmansworthjr256
    December 17, 2020, 1:38 pm

    its really been helpful. seems was even about to loose my voice…
    but the warm ups are to do some great work on me. really appreciate
    thank You

    Reply
  • Avatar for Thea Menezes
    Thea Menezes
    November 16, 2022, 3:42 am

    If two witches were watching two watches, which witch would watch which watch

    Reply