Another thing to watch out for when performing characters and accents in your voiceover work is CONSISTENCY. Your character’s voice, accent (if any) and speech mannerisms need to be consistent to be convincing. Take a look at the video below, in which Tina Fey and Jack McBrayer of 30 Rock demonstrate the dangers of an inconsistent accent…

An inconsistent read is usually a sign of an underdeveloped character. If your voices and accents are weaving all over the road, you’ll just need to put some more practice time in to nail down your character. The more you really know, understand – and most importantly, FEEL – your characters, the more consistent they’ll be.

Keep in mind, though, that in the early stages of developing a character voice, it’s normal and necessary to do a lot of exploring with the voice. I find that new characters usually meander around for some time before finally settling into something stable. And it’s ultimately the personality that locks the voice down.

And by the way, this concept applies equally to “straight” commercial voiceover reads – your performance will be inconsistent unless you’re clear about your attitude and motivations for the spot.