So you’ve gotten yourself acquainted with a new microphone, created your accounts a number of different websites, and now you’re ready to find a project and start auditioning!
But it can’t be that simple, right?
On the surface it seems rather simple! Taking a look at the lines, recording them, exporting them in the appropriate format and sending them off. But there is so much more to a good audition than just those three steps, and to help you get the most out of your audition here are four different tips I’ve found in my auditioning process that’s helped me massively:
- Read the Instructions Carefully!
It sounds like a no-brainer, but making sure you take the time to digest every piece of direction the director has given you can make or break an audition right from the get-go. As an example, I’ve sent in an audition for a character that I knew was going to have a robotic sounding voice. Knowing how to do some basic filtering, I decided to take the initiative and put one on my audition. It was only after I auditioned did I see that it specifically said not to apply any sort of effect onto the audition. A small oversight lead to wasted time, and failed potential for a role.
- Record to Read then Record to Perform
Sometimes you’ll be recording and no matter how many times you reach a certain line you always flub it up somehow. The best advice to fix this is to not only read the script in your head the first time you see it, but record one small run through just to get used to saying the words. Once you’ve done that a few times then you can go back and give it all the energy you can muster!
- Record in Mono!
Super simple tip but you always want to make sure you record everything in mono. Recording in stereo not only takes up more time, but makes it much more difficult for directors to mess with your audio once they get it. Save you and them some time and effort by recording in mono!
- No Half-Energy, Give it Your All!
The most important tip of the list and one that really separates the good from the great. An audition is your chance to show your skill, don’t throw it away by not giving it every ounce of energy you have! Record a take oozing with energy, then do another and double that until you feel completely satisfied. If you get an opportunity to listen to others and feel you aren’t energetic enough, then that’s a sign you just have to make even more for yourself!
These are four tips that I’ve learned over the course of practicing for a year but these aren’t the only four! There are plenty of other lessons to learn on auditioning but I hope these have given you some insight. Go out there and achieve