Barb Lyon
Voice Artist

I was approached by a company last week to record 50,000 words for their text-to-speech (TTS) engine. The stated use? eLearning for kids and young adults. The money wasn’t terrible, especially since I’ve had a down year in the eLearning voice over genre, but a few things immediately made me pause. First, the company name wasn’t visible or offered. Now, I had recorded a TTS engine years ago for my previous employer, before I went full time into VO. The project never fully lau

Auditioning is an adventure to say the very least. Some voice over auditions ask for crazy spec, and when the voice direction is longer than the script itself, I have to wonder what they’re thinking. Maybe it’s a case of “direction by committee.” Sally wants it warm and endearing, but Bob wants it energetic, like a rallying cry. And Jamie, well, he wants something wistful, as though you’re standing on a beach, and like they’re your own thoughts rolling out of your head. By th

I’ve said it before, and I’ll stand by it today - the best thing ever is when a client wants to patch in on a recording session. For newer voice actors, that can sound a little intimidating. But truly, it gives you such a leg up! You don’t have to guess what the client wants — they’ll tell you right there in real time. And that feedback makes you better with every session. From your voice over home studio, there are several great options to make your setup “patchable,” and th

I'm having one of those days right now. I was out doing dog club things late last night, the event was frustrating. I got home late, so my sleep routine that I love was "off", and I woke up this morning thinking, I'd rather contemplate my navel all day than actually record. I even listed to a positive podcast while I showered, punched on my favorite Sirius channel while I finished getting ready (The Struts artist channel) and still my motivation level remains...subterranean.

Linda and I were thrust together because of a casting my former employer did, and just clicked. She is an inspiration and she's a big part of the reason for my voice over career. She's always been sort of a North Star for me. WWLD right? Some of the stories I got her to tell you I've heard before, some are new to me, but Linda's storytelling always bring a smile to my face.

In voiceover, and really, in any creative field, so much of what we do depends on mindset. You can have the training, the skill, the best gear money can buy, but if your head and heart are locked in a tug-of-war, everything tightens up. The read gets stiff. The flow disappears. And suddenly, you’re chasing something that used to come naturally. Doesn’t it seem like when you’re trying, and trying, and trying to do something, the goal gets farther and farther away?

Every voice actor dreams of being that person. The go-to voice. The one clients call again and again without having to be reminded, marketed to, or auditioned for. The relationship where trust has been built, workflows are easy, and communication just clicks. (Full disclosure: I have an actor's crush on Jan. You've known her from Toyota ads since 2012. Jan really is the poster child for rebookability! She’s been showing up for Toyota longer than most of us have kept a car.

Coaching. Everyone says you need it. Why? Is it because many of us grew up playing sports and we’re just used to having a leader to follow? Or is it because gyms have trained us to believe that if we really want to hit our goals, we must have coaching? Why has relying on our own gut instinct become passé? I’ll tell you why: because our gut is locked in time. Probably somewhere in our late teens or early 20’s. That’s when we played team sports, and when we most likely hit the

Does the thought of working outside your comfort zone make you pump the brakes? Why? What’s the worst that could happen? I don’t usually go in for character work as a voice actor. I’ve listened to plenty of talent in voiceover workouts who seem so much more skilled than I am, so I often just take a pass. I remember listening to Ron Perlman’s narration of The Strain (highly recommended!) and being blown away. Now that’s character work.

Is there anything more freeing, more delicious, more, well...just more...than talking like a pirate? It conjures images of romance, conquest, salty sea air, and all that sparkly booty! It’s silly, it’s theatrical, and it’s downright contagious. No wonder we’ve got an entire day devoted to it: Yep! September 19th is Talk Like a Pirate Day. So tomorrow, I say lean in. “Arrr” your way through those Zoom meetings. Call your your friends “scurvy landlubbers.”

I’ll be honest: I don’t love auditioning. In fact, I kind of hate it. Voice over auditions can be really discouraging if you let them. It’s only fun when you’re winning, right? And you certainly don’t win every time. If you spend days submitting auditions with no callbacks or voiceover bookings, it can feel like a weight hanging around your neck. But last week, thanks to a Mel Robbins podcast, I reframed how I look at the whole process of auditioning for voice over work.

A few years ago, I was working with a client on a project, a video I believe, and it was patched. We had just finished up and we were chatting away, and he had a question that surprised me: what challenge did I want to conquer next. That came out of the blue. It’s kind of a weird question to get from a client, no? I surprised myself with what came out of my mouth next.

I just found out that those early recordings, my voice, may be used to train AI voice models. What?! Ten years ago, no one was thinking about artificial intelligence in voiceover. I certainly never signed anything allowing my voice to be used that way. And yet, here we are. My voice is in the can, and apparently fair game for a use I never consented to: AI voice training and possible cloning.

On the surface, AI seems adequate.  It will give you the words in your document. No more. No less. But when you're producing a high-stakes corporate video narration, a K–12 eLearning module, or a regional commercial spot, you need more than “technically adequate.” AI doesn’t understand tone, storytelling, or emotion. It lacks intuition, imagination, and intention.

Welcome to Script Happens, my little attempt at blogging where I invite you to join me in celebrating the wonderful, weird, and often unpredictable world of voice over. I’ve been behind the mic long enough to know one thing for sure: there’s nothing quite like the variety of scripts that land in your inbox. And sometimes? Things don’t go exactly as planned.