Voice Insights with Voice Over Coach, Tessa Livingston

This transcript was exported on Mar 13, 2024 - view latest version here. (00:00):
I'll whack on my American accent for first thing in the morning. This is going to be good. I might hear something like this. And to me, this still sounds really radio. And I'm like, okay. Right. So, wow, that's so
(00:09): Good.
(00:11):
Thank you. So if I was to do it in my American voice, but with my Kiwi attitude, I might do it like this
and it's still just that little bit more peered back.
(00:20):
Hi everyone, and welcome back to Mission Audition. This is the podcast for all voice actors to join in, listen and learn. We invite one voiceover coach on the podcast every month to give their honest take on voiceover auditions. If you're new here, welcome. My name is Tara, and I am here with my co-host, Vanessa.
(00:37):
Hi everybody. This month we have the amazing Tessa Livingston, who is not only a voice actor, but a
vocal coach, podcaster and speech therapist. Welcome Tessa. Tell the audience a bit about yourself.
(00:50):
Hi, thank you so much for having me here. Well, it's this morning for me. Whatever time of day it is for everybody else. Welcome. So yeah, so I'm Tessa Livingston. I'm all the way from New Zealand. I originally trained as a speech pathologist, but now I work as a vocal coach and voiceover artist. And I'm also the in-house vocal coach and bookings agent at Big Mouth Voices here in New Zealand. So lots of bits and pieces going on at the moment. It's really cool.
(01:17):
Yeah, we're happy to finally have you a part of the coach series, Tessa. Thank you. But before we get started, we just wanted to let the audience know that voices has an exciting contest coming up where we are going to be the ultimate matchmaker between brands and their dream brand voice. So brands can enter the contest for a chance at discovering their voice for free. We actually will select two winners, post a job on their behalf, and then match them with a shortlist of talent who could be a fit to their brand of voice. It's so exciting.
(01:48):
I'm so excited for this contest.
(01:50):
That is incredible. What a fun opportunity to actually pick, because everyone always says that. Make your board of the people that you want to work for and who do you want to be? This is an opportunity. This is awesome.
(02:02):
Totally. It's going to be exciting.
MissionAudition_53_TessaLivingston (Completed 03/13/24) Page 1 of 16 Transcript by Rev.com

This transcript was exported on Mar 13, 2024 - view latest version here. (02:04):
Yeah, it is. It's going to be so exciting and every brand needs a voice. So what better way to give your brand a voice than entering this contest? 100% F and you'll get it for free. Fantastic
(02:13):
For free. And I love it. Just in time for spring fever.
(02:16):
Yes, just in time for spring fever, right around the corner. So stay tuned for more updates on our socials on that contest and how you can enter for your chance to win. So let's get into today's episode. Are you ready, Tessa?
(02:28):
I sure am.
(02:30):
Whoa. Okay, I'm ready as well. Alright. This script is aimed at advertising, peak performance, gear targeting, fitness enthusiasts, gym owners, and individuals seeking high quality fitness equipment for personal use. The tone should be confident, inspiring, and helpful. So as always, we'll start with audition one and then we'll get into some feedback. Are you ready, Tessa?
(02:54):
I sure am. Let's get going.
(02:55):
Let's do it. Audition number one, peak performance
(02:58):
Gear, your source for top tier fitness equipment, expert advice, premium machines, tailored solutions for home and commercial gyms. Visit us today, peak performance gear, elevating fitness experiences, your fitness journey, powered by quality.
(03:16):
Okay, so this audition as an avid gym goer, I did not feel a connection to the product at all. I felt like he was really just reading the script. I thought he had a really good voice, but it wasn't grabbing my attention to then go research or Google the product to then add to cart.
(03:35): Totally,
(03:36):
Totally. Maybe feels a little too happy every start of each, I don't know if it was each word, but each sentence was like this and then went down. But definitely an attention grabber I would say for the first line. But what were your thoughts on this audition?
(03:52):
MissionAudition_53_TessaLivingston (Completed 03/13/24) Page 2 of 16 Transcript by Rev.com

This transcript was exported on Mar 13, 2024 - view latest version here.
Yeah, well I actually, I feel really similar with that because the brief does say confident, but confident in relation to what I feel like I might be going to a theme park or something a little bit brighter. But it's interesting that you say you felt like it sort of started the same way and then moved to a low position. I found throughout this, the first thing that my ears picked up was that he was using pitch and projection to give emphasis as opposed to leaning into words with a sense of feeling. So it was, or it was going into and going quite high because they also noticed that even though yes, very, very good voice in most places, he actually had quite a bit of constriction on certain vowels. Did you guys hear it?
(04:36): Yes.
(04:37):
So when he was saying peak, it was going peak performance something or rather, or then it was expert and it had that extra just sense of tightness on it. And funnily enough, when I hear things like that, people dunno why they don't like it, but they don't feel a sense of trust or connection with it. And it's because people with tight voices, we don't get a lot of vibration from them. So we're like, Ooh, I dunno what that was. And it makes us feel a little bit iffy. So yeah, I was feeling the same about that one.
(05:04):
And I also think because I'm also, I go to the gym five days a week. I'm a gym rat. Okay. She's a
(05:10):
Gym lover. I'm a gym rat. Yes. We love the gym around
(05:13):
Here. I love that term, but I am a gym rat. So again, I do agree with Tara. It just didn't really make me feel like, okay, the equipment sell me on it, which is totally fine. I definitely think it was still a good audition, but yeah, just like my thoughts a little bit more general.
(05:33):
Yeah, maybe some more connection, a little bit more
(05:35): Connection, a
(05:36):
Little bit of who are you talking to? Right? It just felt like it was aimed at the wrong demographic. And I dunno about you guys, but all I feel like I can hear his body feels like it's doing a jack in a box kind of. And to me, a gym rat to use your phraseology there is their feet are grounded, they're strong, they're on the floor. Whereas I felt like I was jumping in and out of something, which is exciting. Definitely theme parky, but not getting to the gym.
(06:05):
Getting too much. Yeah,
(06:07):
MissionAudition_53_TessaLivingston (Completed 03/13/24) Transcript by Rev.com
Page 3 of 16

This transcript was exported on Mar 13, 2024 - view latest version here. Too much pre-workout, hitting that caffeine a little bit hard.
(06:09): Yeah.
(06:10):
Few too many Red Bulls,
(06:12):
Just a couple. Yeah. Even notice some plosives on those words where he is really emphasizing those
beginning words.
(06:21):
Yeah. I think for me, I would encourage this person to breathe a little bit of ear out. Sometimes when we go to start a sentence, we take this big breath in and we go, and now I've got to say this thing and because we've got all this ear pressure built up below our vocal folds, we're like, oh, and all of this air is going to come out. Sometimes just taking a breath in, taking a little bit out and then starting your sentence means that you actually get a little bit more of a balanced projection and airflow going. Because if we start with all of this pressure inside the lungs, we're just like, oh. And then it all comes out on top of the mic and it gets all confused.
(06:51):
Yeah, you're the vocal queen.
(06:53):
So true. Excited.
(06:54):
It's literally cool. I
(06:55): Hear,
(06:56):
I'm excited to hear more about the breath techniques that I'm sure you will bring in.
(07:01):
Totally. Cool, cool, cool. Alright, great feedback for audition number one. Yeah, feedback. Let's spin
audition number two. Cool.
(07:09):
Discover peak performance gear. Your source for top tier fitness equipment, expert advice, premium machines, tailored solutions for home and commercial gyms. Visit us today, peak performance gear, elevating fitness experiences, your fitness journey powered by quality.
(07:31):
MissionAudition_53_TessaLivingston (Completed 03/13/24) Page 4 of 16 Transcript by Rev.com

This transcript was exported on Mar 13, 2024 - view latest version here.
It's just jump on in there. Well, initially when I heard the first syllable I was like, oh, ai. And then I heard the second couple of syllables and I was like, human. That's interesting. So it was like a mixed kind of AI sound because you could hear breathing and you could hear change of resonance happening in the nose and things like that. And that does not happen with an ai. They dunno how to change their resonance. They are a sound so, so to me it sounded like a half cooked AI essentially.
(08:08):
Yeah, a weird cadence.
(08:10):
Yeah, it really weird cadence.
(08:13):
I felt a lot of different emotions. At some points it felt very monotone at some points really, really bland.
And then I thought, could this be ai? There was so much happening in 15 seconds. I
(08:26): Tired.
(08:27):
Yeah. I needed to listen to it numerous times to really gather my thoughts for the feedback.
(08:34):
Yeah, it was interesting because what I noticed about it was going back to breath because that's where I like to live. It was like a static projection. So sometimes when you're moving through things, you can feel your diaphragm, you can feel your belly, you can feel things moving around because you are talking and you're running out of ear. It's like they've taken a breath in, they'd gotten their abdominal wall really, really tight and then just continued talking because when I do my AI voice, I make it really flat. There is no additional muscular movement in my body. And that's what I heard throughout that it's like that person had just bearded down and they're like, I'm not doing anything other than getting these words out and it will sound like this. And you're like, oh, okay.
(09:16):
Yeah, flat's a really good word for that. That's exactly what it sounds like. And it just sounds uncomfortable. There's a point where the auditions, I think it might've been the first few seconds, and it got me thinking like you said, human. And then I was like, Ooh, ai. Right away I was like, Ooh, ai. I feel a little uncomfortable. And this just doesn't sound human-like
(09:36):
Exactly. And if you're looking to do peak performance gear, if you're looking to sell something that's of a high quality and then you hear an AI on top of it, there could be something said for if you're doing peak performance, high tech, high, those sorts of things, and you have a human do an AI version of it, that could be really interesting because it's that elevated. This is the top type of technology that you could get for this kind of gear, but that's not what the script leads itself to. So it felt really mismatched didn't match the brief at all. There was no inspiring notes in it didn't even, sometimes ais can sound really confident. That didn't even sound confident to me.
MissionAudition_53_TessaLivingston (Completed 03/13/24) Page 5 of 16 Transcript by Rev.com

This transcript was exported on Mar 13, 2024 - view latest version here. (10:13):
Yeah,
(10:15):
Yeah, I agree. It didn't feel confident and uncomfortable is a great way, uncomfortable and flat.
(10:19):
This topic is just uncomfortable to be
(10:21):
Honest. Yes. I would say two words to describe this. Audition. Uncomfortable and flat. Flat a lot.
(10:25):
Yeah. Interesting. That it makes you feel uncomfortable. For me, the uncomfortable came from the unpredictability of what was coming out of the voice. I was like, why did you change slightly? And why is this, I like the word uncomfortable for this because it just didn't, there was no confidence instilling in it whatsoever.
(10:47):
No, and it's just you need that first few seconds to just be, feel that uncomfortableness and then just be
like, Nope, next. That's how I felt. I was just like, it just didn't hit it needed to.
(10:59):
If you're going to be a human doing an AI voice, hit it hard and you still have to do the acting work underneath it. You still have to go, what are my key words? What are my key phrases? Who am I selling to? You have to do all of that stuff. Otherwise, AI just sounds dead, so it's good to pick it up. I would love to hear somebody do this with an AI human voice and see what they could do with it. That'd be really interesting. But this just missed the mark on so many places for this particular one.
(11:27):
Okay, we're going to move on to audition number three, but do you have any other feedback for audition
number two? I know there's really not much to
(11:34):
No, no, it just, if you're going to make an acting choice or a vocal choice, make it Yes. Go one way or the
other. The
(11:43):
End. Yeah. Alright, let's do it. Audition number three.
(11:48):
Here's two auditions. The first is produced. The second audition is dry voice only. Discover peak performance gear, your source for top tier fitness equipment, expert advice, premium machines, tailored solutions for home and commercial gyms. Visit us today. Peak performance gear, elevating fitness experiences, your fitness journey, powered by quality. Here's the dry voice audition, discover peak performance gear, your source for top tier fitness equipment, expert advice, premium machines, tailored
MissionAudition_53_TessaLivingston (Completed 03/13/24) Page 6 of 16 Transcript by Rev.com

This transcript was exported on Mar 13, 2024 - view latest version here.
solutions for home and commercial gyms. Visit us today, peak performance gear, elevating fitness
experiences, your fitness journey, powered by quality.
(12:34):
I really liked this voice. I thought it was a really good audition, but it was the s's, and I'm just hearing
such an emphasis on the s's.
(12:45):
So SS are fricatives in terms of their lettering classification, but often we can get two types of things on there. We can get syllabus, which is like, it's a little bit mucky and messy, which I don't think he was doing. But I think what was happening is that he was just overemphasizing and using too much air pressure because you have to have ear pressure or flow to make an S sound. You can't do it without it. So I think might've just been using a little bit too much potentially and just hitting them just a little bit hard. It's a really easy way to pull that back. If anybody's ever in their booth and they're thinking that their Ss are sounding too strong or even their poses are sounding too strong, like pizz, bizz, those sorts of sounds. You take your finger and place it across your lips. You're telling someone to shush and you just do your P like that and you don't want to feel much airflow. So you can practice your what's like an Susie sells seashells. If you went Susie sells seashells, you'd get a lot of warm and you'd get a lot of airflow on the back of your finger. Whereas if you try to reduce that, Susie sells seashells,
(13:52):
It means that you are reducing that airflow and that air production really, really helpful. So if you've ever, I've seen people do it in booth, they'll be going through the thing and they know that they've got a particular phrase that they're like, oh, this has got lots of explosives. And as they're doing it, they just whip their finger just gently in front of their mouth and then they keep talking. You can't hear that on mic as long as you're not whacking into your mic, which I have done before. I tried to do it and I was like, smashed my mic with my hand and I was like, that did not work. There's lots of things like that you can practice. You can also just turn your head slightly off of your mic when you've got lots of airflow happening because that way it's not going to pick up as much. Yeah, that's a great
(14:29):
Vocal tip. That is. That's such a great tip. I just tried it too, and I can tell you right away, it works.
(14:34):
It's awesome, right? It's awesome. And it's such a simple thing to practice so that when you're doing your tongue twists of stuff, if that's what you're using as a warmup, just wake your finger in front and it'll also help you think about how much projection you're using as well and what's appropriate for the read that you're going to be moving into.
(14:50):
Interesting. So for this audition in general, other than the little breath stuff, I like how he provided the full raw edit afterwards. Great. I mean the sound effects, the music is great and all kind of did actually get me into the mood. And I really like this audition. I really, really did. Me, I feel like it fit. I'm like, I want to go to the gym now. I'm motivated to go to the gym. And yeah, I really liked that raw cut. It kind of gave me that visual of what it sounded like. I guess without the music, I didn't really think it was needed, but it just kind of added a little bit of sprinkle sprinkle on there. Yeah, a little
(15:30):
MissionAudition_53_TessaLivingston (Completed 03/13/24) Page 7 of 16 Transcript by Rev.com

This transcript was exported on Mar 13, 2024 - view latest version here. Sprinkle sprinkle, a little
(15:31):
Sprinkle sprinkle. Well ladies, I'm going to throw a spanner in the works. I was not a big fan of this because I didn't feel it fit the brief. Now this could be my kiwi ears, because to me I felt that that almost sounded news casty or radio for me, it was a little bit big and I felt that it was with that produced portion first. Personally, I think I would've preferred to hear the raw first, and that's just my preference. I dunno about other people, but I prefer to hear a raw first because as soon as I heard the music that had been selected alongside that type of voice, I went, that should be on the news. That was my first instinct for it. To me, it didn't sound like your classic ESPN or which I would more associate with this type of brief than what I got on that one. So again, but beautifully balanced voice really well articulated apart from those couple of stronger s. Apart from that, I really, really enjoyed it. If it was as a radio brief or a newscaster brief,
(16:39):
I could agree with that. Definitely not a news.
(16:41):
I could definitely see the newscast announcer voice.
(16:45):
Yeah, it just had that extra bit of cadence that, and when I hear that, I go straight to, oh, that sounds radio commercial. As opposed to promoting something else. I would've loved if he'd kept the same energy, but just pulled back his projection just a little bit and maybe snuggled into the mic just a smidge, like peak performance gear when he got to, because I think I wrote it down somewhere. Did I? Who knows. I don't have my glasses on, which was a silly, I can sort of read my notes, but not really. There was a point that he got to, oh, peak performance gear. When he set it in his raw one right at the very end, that's where I would've liked him to have started the entire read because it sort of got down to this lovely sort of confident, inspiring, without being too punchy at the end. I was like, oh, I would've liked that the whole way through.
(17:40):
All the way through. And for those who may not know, could you just describe what, because you said you had kiwi ears, so maybe some people don't know what that, maybe just describe just a little bit about what
(17:52):
That is. Yeah, cool. Absolutely. So kiwi is we tend to things a little bit more understated and we like things to be a little bit more reserved. So working for big mouth voices here in New Zealand, we are global, so we have American demos and people from all over the place. And when I hear their commercial demos at the moment, what's trending in the market is conversational reads, peered back reads nice. And they're talking in your ear, you're talking to your best friend. We are really moving away from that radio, big Sally kind of style. And so what I mean by that is that the amount that Americans have pulled down to conversational still sounds radio in my ears because we've pulled it back even further. So for example, I'll whack on my American accent for first thing in the morning. This is going to be good. I might hear something like this. And to me, this still sounds really radio. And I'm like, okay. Right. Wow,
MissionAudition_53_TessaLivingston (Completed 03/13/24) Page 8 of 16 Transcript by Rev.com

This transcript was exported on Mar 13, 2024 - view latest version here. (18:53):
That's so good.
(18:55): Love,
(18:56):
Thank you. So if I was to do it in my American voice, but with my kiwi attitude, I might do it like this. And it's still just that little bit more peered back. So it feels more like that. We've changed our projection rate, we've changed how our resonance, our resonance isn't quite as bright and isn't as forward. So to me, I hear this read and my ears go radio to Sally, but to an American ear or to Canadian, whoever is hearing this more frequently, they might go, oh yeah, that's really nice and soft, whereas my ears hear it slightly differently.
(19:27):
Perfect. Thank you for explaining that. Hopefully that helps for those who don't know who it or what it is.
Good question.
(19:33):
Very good question.
(19:34):
So it's actually really good because it's something that Vos need to look into if you're looking to work internationally. The things that Kiwis get told all the time, not so much Australians. Australians do this better than Kiwis. Kiwis and Brits are similar. Australians and Americans are similar. They're a little bit more high energy. But whenever we auditioned for American content, they're like, oh, can you just pick it up just a little bit more, a little bit more energy? But if they do ask for an understated read, a kiwi will nail it over an American, I feel, because we just have those in our natural kind of ways of being.
(20:08):
Totally. Yeah. That's awesome. That is. Okay. Well we're getting up to the last audition, so let's just get
right into it.
(20:16): Yeah. Cool.
(20:17):
Discover peak performance gear, your source for top tier fitness equipment, expert advice, premium machines, tailored solutions for home and commercial gyms. Visit us today, peak performance gear, elevating fitness experiences, your fitness journey, powered by quality.
(20:34):
So I thought her inflections were really good on this audition. I definitely felt like she connected to the brand. I felt that she probably does work out so knows the gym. She knows the difference between a good piece of equipment and a not so good piece of equipment and the difference that can make in your own workout. So I thought it was really good. What did you think, Tessa?
MissionAudition_53_TessaLivingston (Completed 03/13/24) Page 9 of 16 Transcript by Rev.com

This transcript was exported on Mar 13, 2024 - view latest version here. (20:58):
Yeah, actually I really agree on this one. So this, to me, it sounded like a person who actually goes, it wasn't a person who was trying to encourage you to go to the gym. It was a classic person who was actually at the gym and understands what each of those things feel like. So in terms of the acting performance of the script, yeah, really, really enjoyed that component of it I thought. Yeah, she hit the brief on that one.
(21:24):
Yeah, she sounds directable as well, a faster audition. So I think she's aware of the time restraint essentially. I really like this audition. I listened to it twice and the first time I was like, no. And then we were like, let's listen to it one more time. And the second time I was like, you know what? I actually really like this one. And it did make me feel like she knows she works out. Sounds like she works out. She knows what she's talking about. She goes to the gym in the morning, she goes in the afternoon. She's friendly to everyone. She just knows she built the community in the gym. She knows exactly what the equipment is and how it works and she can train you essentially. That's how I felt. And I'm like, I actually really liked it, but it took me a second listen to feel
(22:12):
That it took you a second to grab it. And I agree on that as well. If we compare to the previous audition, which felt like I'm being sold to, this one felt like I was being spoken to, but I think I hear what you're talking about when you're like, it took me a little second to grab it. And for me, there were a couple of things vocally that made me feel that way. Now this could again be my ear hearing something a little bit different, but to me her rs were extremely hard. So they were really pulled back in the throat, which for me pings my ears because then I hear vocal constriction and I just heard some inconsistencies in the way that her voice was presented across the entire thing. There were some interesting moments, and I can't remember the phrase, where she dropped out to, she'd be talking like this and then all of a sudden she'd come into this.
(23:06):
I wasn't quite sure why that happened. So for me it was the vocal inconsistencies that took me a little sec to grip into why she was saying what she was saying. Because often when we do that, we'll be talking about, I keep trying to, I'm splitting between American and kiwi now. My mouth is getting confused. We'll be talking about something and then we've got a little secret, so we'll see it like this. But there was no secrets in there. I was like, why am I being told a secret about this piece of equipment? I don't understand. Yeah, what's the secretive about it? What's the secretive about this? Is it special? I dunno. So there were just some vocal inconsistencies that I felt might led you to going, no, I'm going to listen to that again. Because those inconsistencies, what they do is they take you out of performance.
(23:53):
And so you heard the performance and you agreed with the performance, but your ear gets thrown in and out. And that's what is so important when it comes to voice actors getting to that point where they're going to really start lifting their game. So many voice actors focus on acting and not enough of them focus on voice, which is fine. The acting component is really, really important. And if you don't have acting, there's no point in having a good voice because you dunno what to do with it. But it does need to have. So for me, if I was directing her on that, I would've gone, Hey, look cool, keep everything the same. Just don't do those dropouts on your voice. See if you can find just a little bit more freedom in your throat. Because at the moment I'm hearing those really hard crunchy rs and it's just meaning that we're getting constricted in someplace.
(24:30):
MissionAudition_53_TessaLivingston (Completed 03/13/24) Page 10 of 16 Transcript by Rev.com

This transcript was exported on Mar 13, 2024 - view latest version here.
Because what might've happened is that as that R got constricted for me, what I heard, because captain nerd over here is base of tongue tension. So the tongue is pulling back really far into the back of the throat. And what happens is that does that, is that we lose freedom on some of our vows because of the way that the tongue is compressing the voice box as well as the space that's inside your throat. So it could have been components of that as well. But yeah, I totally agree. Love the performance. But those couple of little vocal inconsistencies meant that I had to listen to it a couple of times again as well and be like, what threw me out of that? What was the little moment that meant that if someone didn't have those meant that they might've booked it over this particular person?
(25:16):
And often when a brand is listening to a audition, they're not going to give it the attention we've given to
it.
(25:24):
Yeah, absolutely.
(25:25):
Your feedback is critical for this person to edit and revamp or do better for their next audition because not
every casting director is going to listen to one audition three times over when they have 60 to go through.
(25:40):
Yeah, exactly. Exactly. And it's something that a friend of mine refers to, and I have adopted the phrase, I think it's really fun, vocal jazz hands. Oh, I love it. It's like, Hey, look at me. I can make an interesting sound. When really we didn't need to do that. We just needed to keep it nice and straight and we needed to focus on the feeling and let the voice do what it should do based on those things. So it could have been vocal, jazz hands. She could have been making a choice going, I want to put something a bit of sparkle in here where sparkle might not have been needed, or it could have been a physiological thing where she didn't know why it was happening and she needed to make those choices because that's where the voice led her.
(26:17):
And you said she had a restraint in her throat. So what tip would you give this talent to fix that, to help
that? Is there maybe some warmups that you could give her?
(26:28):
Absolutely. Absolutely.
(26:29):
Techniques, the queen of vocal chord,
(26:31):
Warmups, everything.
(26:33):
Get us up with some techniques.
MissionAudition_53_TessaLivingston (Completed 03/13/24) Transcript by Rev.com
Page 11 of 16

This transcript was exported on Mar 13, 2024 - view latest version here. (26:34):
I do. I've got a couple that are always my favorite. So it doesn't always work well on a podcast because you can't see it, but it's called an SVT, so a semi occluded vocal tract exercise. And what that essentially means is that we're just narrowing the space where ear comes out. So your mouth, so we're taking it. So if you make an R sound, your mouth is nice and wide. If you make an ooo sound, ooh, your lips are rounding. So that's the occlusion that we're talking about. We're closing off that space and we tend to hum through a straw so that it helps massage the vocal folds and takes away a little bit of tension. But the other one that you can do, which is awesome, and it works better on a podcast, you can do it with me rather than being like, where are the straws in my house? They're nowhere unless you live with me. And I have bags of them all over the place. So it's called a yawn. Si. So we are taking essentially a yawn, and as you can feel, if everybody takes their four fingers, everybody who's listening and place them on the front of your throat gently and then start to yawn,
(27:34):
You should feel that your voice box goes and it drops really low down. So what we're essentially doing is we're creating space down there, and then from that space we've created, we sigh on top of it to give the vocal chords some contact in a non constricted manner. So it sounds like this. So we take a yawn in
(27:57):
All the way down that Now I'm actually yawning though. Yeah,
(27:59):
You'll be, I'm so sorry. You'll be yawning on day now. Interesting. So what happens is, is that once we start developing those spaces, if you've got an eval that's sounding really tight and you go to say something like peak and it's going and it's oh, peak, peak, peak, and you just try and keep that position without things constricting down. My top tip for this exercise is that if you are doing it, it's not breathy. It's nice and controlled. So rather than because the vocal folds have blown apart, we've got a really breathy sound all the way down like that. And it should help spread out lots of the musculature and all of the bits and pieces that are living inside your throat to give you some more space.
(28:40):
Yeah, very interesting. I mean, I feel like you could always do a vocal warmup, vocal tip or a vocal, not a
vocal tip. I think it's always good to have a vocal tip. Yes. Oh my gosh, I can't talk
(28:52): Today. That's
(28:53):
All good. I know what you mean. I love it. I love, even for us doing the podcast, we're not voice actors, but when you're speaking on a podcast for so long, it can strain your throat. So anytime, even if you're going, let's say you're going to a family function or well, a wedding could be a family function and you're going to be speaking a lot. That's a really great tip for anyone who may not even be a voice actor. You're just going to an event and you're going to speak a lot if you're speaking on stage.
(29:16):
Yeah. Even me, I have a dry throat when I am recording this, so it's just like maybe I should do some.
(29:22):
MissionAudition_53_TessaLivingston (Completed 03/13/24) Page 12 of 16 Transcript by Rev.com

This transcript was exported on Mar 13, 2024 - view latest version here. You got to get your Stanley out.
(29:23):
Absolutely. And there's some really good ways to deal with that sort of stuff. I'm going to give you one more because based off of what you've said, I would actually give you a different directive. Directive. Is that a word?
(29:34):
I feel like that's word. We're going to make it a word today. Yeah.
(29:37):
I should have said direction, but I said directive. I'm like, cool.
(29:40):
We make our own words on this podcast.
(29:42):
We sure do. I'm going to give you a new directive. So what I'm hearing and that, so you're saying that you're starting to get tight. That probably means that we are balancing the voice in a way that isn't optimal for the type of speaking that you're doing. So what I would encourage doing rather than trying Yes, widening through the throat is going to be really helpful once the tightening starts happening. But what we want to do is avoid the tightening happening altogether. So we use kind of like a kazoo sound. Do you guys know kazoos? The little things that you breathe through and they go,
(30:15):
Oh, amazing. Those things. Oh, I didn't know it was called that.
(30:18):
I think it's called a kazoo. That
(30:20):
Could be. It probably is. That could
(30:21):
Be an thing. I don't know. I need a visual. I don't have one either. You get to make one with your face.
How excited my
(30:27):
Feel. Use this audio. Yeah, our audio producer, Jeff, is pulling it up on Google right now. Oh, so can
(30:33): You see
(30:33):
It? You can see it, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Okay. Interesting. So this is
MissionAudition_53_TessaLivingston (Completed 03/13/24) Transcript by Rev.com
Page 13 of 16

This transcript was exported on Mar 13, 2024 - view latest version here. (30:40):
A kazoo, and what this does is because to make that sound, you have to put a little bit of effort into your abdominal wall and your breathing muscles because it's really hard to make that sound without a bit of back pressure. But also what it does, because producing it on the lips is that it lifts the resonance of the voice and pulls us forward a little bit. So rather than if I was to drop down onto where my voice wants to sit this morning, it would sound like this. It's morning and that's what my voice wants to do. But if I was going to an event and I wanted to pull it forward a little bit, I make that so it's like it's a sound and then keep my voice where it wants to sit and it moves forward onto that space. It's really interesting because all we're doing is just doing a quick little thing just to shift where the balance of your energy, the balance of your voice is coming from to pull it forward off of the throat. What will lead you to constriction. Your one size are great once you have constriction or as warmups and stretching. But to prevent constriction, we want to be doing vocal placement exercises in the kazoo is a great one.
(31:42):
Oh my gosh, this is amazing.
(31:43):
Vanessa has so many tips now. It's amazing. Love this. She's much more social than I am. I love this.
(31:51):
Okay, well thank you so much, Tessa, for the amazing feedback and vocal tips. Any thoughts before we
pick a winner? We let you pick a winner.
(31:59): I
(31:59):
Get to pick a winner.
(32:00):
Yes. Yes, you do.
(32:02):
Oh, I feel so for
(32:02): Those
(32:03):
Of you that don't know, we get the coach to pick a winner every episode. Well, we did say this in the intro, but it's okay. I'll say it again. We get the coach to pick a winner and then the winner books a job and we pay them out.
(32:16):
MissionAudition_53_TessaLivingston (Completed 03/13/24) Page 14 of 16 Transcript by Rev.com

This transcript was exported on Mar 13, 2024 - view latest version here.
Yeah, they get paid. It's the case. Yes. We're going to live pick. So the voice actor who wins, they won't rerecord. They just, their audition is the winner. Like this is amazing. They don't do any extra work. It's just, thank you for auditioning. You get to pick, here's your paycheck.
(32:35):
That is so exciting. I thought it was kind of like ceremonial picking, like you get to choose a winner, but I
actually get to choose a winner. You actually
(32:44):
Get to choose a winner. Yeah. I
(32:45):
Actually get to choose.
(32:47):
This is so much fun, so amazing. I'm going to hire them tomorrow. Cute.
(32:51):
That is so great. Well, based on the feedback that I feel all three of us have presented and the feelings that
we got from different scripts or different performers, I'm going to choose
(33:08): Performer
(33:09): Number four.
(33:11): Yay. I
(33:11):
Would've, would you have chosen four as well, Vanessa? Me too. I definitely would've chosen four.
(33:15):
A good choice. Wonderful. We love this
(33:16): Audition. It
(33:17):
Was such a good audition. So congratulations to that talent. You will be hired tomorrow by myself. Congratulations. And that's a wrap for this episode. Thank you all so much for tuning into Mission Audition. We hope this episode has really helped you learn a lot of valuable, not only voiceover tips, but also breathwork tips from Tessa. Love it. Tessa, before we sign off, how can talent get in touch with you?
MissionAudition_53_TessaLivingston (Completed 03/13/24) Page 15 of 16 Transcript by Rev.com

This transcript was exported on Mar 13, 2024 - view latest version here. (33:40):
Yeah, of course. You can get in touch with me via my website. So I'm tessa livingston voice.com, and I'm also Tessa Livingston, voice on TikTok and Instagram, so you can find me there. On my TikTok, I have lots of fun vocal tips and mimicking tricks and things like that. So if you want to have a look at that, jump on over. It's lots of fun.
(34:01):
That's amazing. It sounds so entertaining. Voice actors. If you're looking to start taking your voiceover career more seriously and you would like a script, we offer a wide range of them for you to practice, including today's [email protected] slash blog. If you need any more resources from Tessa, please feel free to connect with her.
(34:18):
Thank you so much for tuning in, voice actors and happy, happy auditioning. Wow, there. That was
literally all we needed. I went on this whole tangent. It was so good. Love it. Great. Love it.