Career opportunitties as a dubbing artiste

I want to pursue a career in dubbing after my graduation. What are the basic qualities required, can you guide me on how to go about it. What are the career avenues, challenges and the growth opportunities available? Can this be chosen as a sole career or should I opt for it as a part time? -Mahesh Rathod, AS Rao Nagar

With the steep growth in the entertainment industry the demand for a dubbing artiste has also risen. The dubbing industry is branched off into two, one being the voiceover and the other dubbing.

Voicing comprises of the voice we hear on different radio stations or when you see an advertisement or any news wherein the voice over artiste does not have to sync the character as the characters are not seen and it’s just the voice we hear.

He/she just has to lend their voice to compliment the visuals being telecast on the screen, like giving a commentary to an accompanying still visual or video.

A voice over artiste requires sight reading and comprehensive skills and while reading he/she needs to create ‘transparent voice’.

A career in voicing is fairly vast and includes:

Live events commentary

Sports commentary

Documentaries and websites

Ad films

Narrative scripts and corporate CD’s and DVD’s

Educational and learning material

Audio books

E learning CD’s

Animated serials

FM Radio

Dubbing is lending the voice for films, tele-films, corporate films, short films, feature films, series and television ads, and involves technicality.

The artiste here needs to sync the characters i.e. his voice has to go according to the on-screen performance of the actors of different ages or even an animal character if it is an animated film.

A dubbing artiste needs to have the below qualities:

Language proficiency (English, Hindi or any other language) Good voice quality (the grainy (heavy) voices for male and sleek voices for female), husky voice is also given importance both for male and females

Voice modulation

Good diction and accurate pronunciation

A skill to develop strong character through the voice

Good dialogue delivery

An ability to mimic

Emotion reflecting in the voice

Proper lip syncing

Rhythm and tone syncing with the gestures and body language of the character An ability to read, speak and comprehend the text appropriately

There are no formal courses in dubbing field but due to the boom in this field a few training institutes have come up with a few specialised certificate courses and workshops in dubbing and voice over.

The procedures and theoretical skills of getting the right diction, voice modulation, correcting nasal twang, etc are learnt from these programmes which last about one to three months.

Building strength in voice is significant and therefore one must do different voice exercises on a daily basis. Constant enhancement of communication skills is needed.

Keep building your confidence by learning to understand about studios, microphone technique and script analysis. Getting into this field is through auditions; therefore you can begin with submitting your CV in the recording studios of the city, so that they can contact you whenever there is an audition.

If possible you can also go and give a short demo of your voice in recording studios. You can even submit your voice clippings in various voice websites.

Before all this you have to become confident of your voice delivery and hence record your voice and try to understand your shortcomings, you can even take the opinion of your family, friends or even a professional voice over artiste.

Your recordings should contain your best part in different kind of scripts such as corporate narration, documentaries, presentations, commercials/promos, IVR prompt, e-learning, storytelling, etc.

When it comes to opportunities for a dubbing artiste, there are a plethora of opportunities. Voice/dubbing artiste are highly in demand in AIR, Doordarshan, various TV channels, animation world, audio book dubbing, etc.

There is no dearth of opportunities for a dubbing artiste. Voice over artistes are in high demand in All India Radio, Doordarshan, different TV channels, production houses, FM radio stations, TV advertisements, documentary films, animation world and online education (audio book dubbing).

Name, fame and money are a part of this profession. It does involve a bit of struggle to start with but as your voice gets established, salary also multiplies.

Regarding choosing this as a sole career depends on you, if you can stay focused on pursuing this along with any other job you do then it would be fine. Ultimately one achieves height in any particular field if he puts his heart into it and stays committed.

As the quote says, ‘Success depends on backbone, not wishbone’. Therefore put your wishes into hard work and action and you will reap the benefits for sure and with money will come name and fame too.

The job profile is mainly freelancing; however radio stations employ RJ’s, announcers or newscasters either on contractual basis or on a permanent basis.

The career usually starts with no payments but then if you are ready to work hard and stay committed and have the passion, will power, a burning desire to excel, then this industry can give you positive returns in a very short time.

Once your voice gets established then there is no looking back. If you remain successful for 10 years in this industry and make a good market value then you can even get around 25k to 30k per day.

If you can mimic and dub celebrities then it can turn out very lucrative. Like Sudesh Bhosle who dubs Amitabh Bacchan’s voice and gets paid around 20K per word or Priya Adivarekar, an established dubbing artiste who has lent her voice for Hindi films and famous stars Demi Lovato and Mike Stalwart.

Her first dubbing assignment was when she was only 8 years and now she has become a multifaceted personality with a graduation in journalism, an avid blogger, a radio jockey and a dance choreographer.

Refer the site: http://www.voiceartistes.com /RateCard. html, which also has information regarding rates applicable for Voice Artistes based in India.

People who have good financial resources or can network effectively can go for entrepreneurship in this career. The options would be, a dubbing coordinator, vendor or a program producer - who produces dubbed programs for infotainment channels and for all of this your market value is important. You also have the option of pursuing a course in radio jockeying as it is very similar to this field. All the best!

By:Shehre Banu Kagalwala