By Nate Myers
If you're looking for voice-over practice material, The Voice Shop has compiled a bunch of different voice over sample clips, speeches, and monologues here for you from various flavors of media. As you're giving them a read, remember these things:
1. Always, always, always record yourself!
2. Consider the brand and the voice the brand wants as a representation. Do your best to represent the brand in an authentic way
3. Vary your pitch, pace, and breathing pattern
4. Repeat the take several times and listen back to identify your best voice over take. Learn how to emulate your best VO takes to improve consistently!
Voice over sample scripts are often used in voice-over training classes like The Voice Shop offers with VO industry experts. Our Voice Coaches have spent countless years honing their craft. In a live or remote setting, they can listen to your take and provide instant feedback to help you improve. This guidance will (no exaggeration) save you hours of time and set you on the right path to continue improving.
Voice over coach Mike George, guiding a voice acting student at The Voice Shop.
Nike: Greatness. It's just something we made up. Somehow, we've come to believe that greatness is a gift. Reserved for only a chosen few. For prodigies and superstars. And the rest of us can only stand by watching. Well, you can forget that. Greatness is not some rare DNA strand. It's not some precious thing. Greatness is no more unique to us than breathing. We're all capable of it. All of us. Greatness is nothing more than a belief system. Do you believe?
Nike: Find Your Greatness - YouTube
QMEXA: Do not use QMEXA if you have certain medical conditions. QMEXA may cause new or worsening urinary retention, problems with controlling your body temperature, and blurred vision. Call your doctor to find out if QMEXA is right for you.
Kay Jewelers: For all the moments. For love. Forever. Find the perfect piece for whoever you've fallen for. Only at KAY.
Planet Fitness: Right now, join Planet Fitness for just $1 down, $10 a month, no commitment. So, you don't have to try and squeeze a gym into your apartment. Planet Fitness. Leave the gym to us!
Bai: 5 calories, antioxidants, and tastes amazing? None of this makes sense.
DirectTV: When your cable company keeps you on hold, you get angry. When you get angry, you go blow off steam. When you go blow off steam, accidents happen. When accidents happen, you get an eye patch. When you get an eye patch, people think you're tough. When people think you're tough, people want to see how tough. And when people want to see how tough you wake up in a roadside ditch. Don't wake up in a roadside ditch. Get rid of cable and upgrade to DirectTV. Call 1-800 DirectTV.
Funny DirecTV Commercial "Get RID of Cable"
AT&T: It's not complicated. Bigger is better. And AT&T has the nation's largest 4G network.
Cars.com: Get the right car without the drama. Cars.com All Drive. No Drama.
Fantasy Script (Demigod): Why would I bargain with a mortal? I don't think you grasp the meaning of immortality. Even in captivity, I will outlive you. I will outlive your children, your children's children, and so on for as many generations as it takes. And if I am not freed, then I will simply wait for the stone of my prison to crumble, the metal of its bars to corrode. Even if it takes one hundred millennia, I will be free. So, by all means, keep me captive for as long as you wish. No amount of time you can fathom compares to the eternity I have and will live.
Carl's Jr: Introducing the all-natural burger. The first ever in fast food. With no antibiotics, no added hormones, and no steroids. Only at Carl's Jr.
The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (Film): Sons of Gondor! Of Rohan! My brothers. I see in your eyes the same fear that would take the heart of me. A day may come when the courage of Men fails when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship, but it is not this day. An hour of wolves and shattered shields when the Age of Men comes crashing down, but it is not this day! This day we fight! By all the you hold dear on this good earth, I bid you stand, Men of the West!
Sons of Gondor, of Rohan, my brothers
The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (Book): "Arise, arise, riders of Rohan! Fell deeds awake, fire and slaughter! Spear shall be shaken, shield be splintered! A sword day, a red day, ere the sun rises! Ride now, ride now, ride to Gondor!"
And because it is our favorite show at the time of publishing (and because the writing is incredible). Here are four incredible monologues from the TV series: Andor:
Andor (Nemik): The Imperial need for control is so desperate because it is so unnatural. Tyranny requires constant effort. It breaks, it leaks. Authority is brittle. Oppression is the mask of fear. Remember that. And know this: the day will come when all these skirmishes and battles, these moments of defiance, will flood the banks of the Empire's authority, and then there will be so many. One single thing will break the siege. Remember this.
Andor (Kino): Right now, the building is ours. You need to run, climb, kill! You need to help each other. You see someone who's confused, someone who is lost, you get them moving, and you keep them moving until we put this place behind us. There are 5,000 of us. If we can fight half as hard as we've been working, we will be home in no time. One way out! One way out! One way out!
Andor (Maarva): But we were sleeping. I've been sleeping. And I've been turning away from the truth I wanted not to face. There is a wound that won't heal at the center of the galaxy. There is darkness reaching like rust into everything around us. We let it grow, and now it's here. It's here, and it's not visiting anymore. It wants to stay. The Empire is a disease that thrives in darkness. it is never more alive than when we sleep. It's easy for the dead to tell you to fight, and maybe it's true, maybe fighting is useless. Perhaps it's too late. But I'll tell you this: if I could do it again, I'd wake up early and be fighting these bastards from the start. Fight the Empire!
Andor (Luthen): Calm. Kindness. Kinship. Love. I've given up all chance at inner peace. I've made my mind a sunless space. I share my dreams with ghosts...What is my sacrifice? I'm condemned to use the tools of the enemy to defeat them. I burn my decency for someone else's future. I burn my life to make a sunrise that I'll never see. And the ego that started this fight will never have a mirror of an audience or the light of gratitude. So, what do I sacrifice? Everything!
Hopefully, these voice over sample scripts gets you off to a great start. You could practice voice over in dozens of categories. The most important criteria are that they stretch your abilities and inspire you to practice and improve your craft. Monologues and speeches are great practice if you struggle to "get out of yourself" and put on the skin of another personality. This skill will suit you well in a voice over career in narration, animation, or other genres where character-building depends entirely on that ability!
So, give it a go! If you have other voice-over scripts you'd like to include here, feel free to send them to us at info@voiceshopcoaching.com, and we can add them to the library!
