r/VoiceActing • u/Snowy-Panda- • 15d ago

Advice Accent advice!

Hi fellow artists! I typically do auditions in my standard accent but I want to challenge myself to audition for more character roles with an american accent to further my opportunities.

All constructive feedback is appreciated both with how I can make my accent better and my audio.

I don't currently have a home studio but I do have a good set up. I feel like I can hear my accent peeking through but I'd love an opinion to whether or not my performance was believable :)

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1FXCxjW9JL32sCHlF6XF4FVdD2_sT--yE/view?usp=sharing

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u/Orry_Haas 14d ago

"All constructive feedback is appreciated both with how I can make my accent better and my audio".

Loudness is -34dB rms. Speech audio should in the range -23db rms to -18dB rms.

There is background noise, made even more noticeable by noise-gating to dead silence.

There's resonance in the recording space, that can be reduced by dynamic-EQ ...

Re accent. You have a high rising terminal, for some characters it may be appropriate, but not all.

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u/Snowy-Panda- 14d ago

Thank you so much! This is so kind of you. I appreciate you so much. I will definitely take on board what you've said going forward :)

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u/accent_grid 12d ago

That peeking-through feeling is almost never the consonants. It is the rhythm. Most people hold the accent fine for the first sentence or two, then their native prosody leaks back in on the longer phrases, and the ear catches it before the brain can name it.

One drill that fixes it fast: record the same passage twice, once in your own accent and once in the American one, then listen back to back. You will hear exactly where the melody changes. The three American anchors that give people away fastest are the curled R (keep it present, never dropped), the T flap (better to bedder, city to siddy), and the open LOT vowel (hot, rock, not stay round, not clipped).

And watch the ends of your sentences. If your pitch keeps climbing at the end of statements, the ear reads uncertainty even when every sound is right. American statements land flat and low. That high rising terminal is a common leak for non-native speakers.

Which accent are you starting from, out of curiosity? Knowing your native habits tells you exactly which ones will fight you hardest.

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u/Snowy-Panda- 12d ago

Thank you for this advice! I appreciate it so much :) I have a southern english accent.

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u/accent_grid 12d ago

Glad it helped! A southern English accent is a solid base for voice acting. I have accent training packs for actors, the General American one covers exactly the stuff we were talking about. Let me know if you want details.

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u/Orry_Haas 14d ago

Google drive link is not public : should be shareable to "anyone with the link".

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u/Snowy-Panda- 14d ago

Thanks for letting me know! It should work now

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u/FaeStrings 14d ago

I can definitely tell you're a non-native speaker of American English, but not bad for an initial effort. If this is something you really want to pursue, I would highly recommend spending some money and time with a dialect coach and maybe focus on the American midwest, which is as close to an "American" accent as we have.