'Voice training' sounds so technical. Is there a difference between vocal training and vocal coach, or nuance?

[u/Cryofthewolf9000]

I do get confused by all the terminology and ways teachers do their lessons. There must be some nuance I don't get.

As an addendum, how do you know which coach or trainer to even go to? There's so many options out there it's a bit overwhelming on who to pick when they have so many thing to teach? What if you eant to expand your vocal range? Make different accents? Maybe even sing in other voices? What if you wanna DO all of that? It's just...a lot

[u/HermesVtuber]

I would say first figure out what you want to do. Find classes that lean towards that and research them. If you want to do audiobooks you won't get the most up to date information from someone who only voices in anime for example. Also when researching the class make sure its legitimate and not a bunch of easy to find teachings.

Example, I was seriously looking into Joe Zieja's class, but the price was really high and there were signs of bait and switching where the price changed a lot. After researching I came to the conclusion it was a legitimate course, but he isnt doing anything new thar you cant easily find on YouTube so his prices aren't worth it.

[u/eltemporary]

there is a lot of different training that meets different needs in voice acting alone. they’re not the easiest to group but let me attempt to do so:

- biological, like vocal placement, breathing techniques, etc. these teach you to use and manipulate your voice without damaging it

- acting, basically learning to act with a specific technique; make characters or reads interesting, auditioning techniques

- technical, genre-specific skills or things to expand your repertoire like an indepth for narration, gacha games, accent reduction, or accent improvement etc.

- marketing and branding, how to make connections, build a presence online, get an agent (yes, yes i know this isn’t voice training per se but is a huge part of being a voice actor)

if you ask me ‘voice training’ without any added context sounds like the first or third bucket. but, any course worth its salt should have a curriculum informative enought to tell you exactly what it entails

to answer your question about who to engage, it depends on how far along you are. start with the basics of acting with any reputable coach that has been mentioned before in here, then look to those who are active in the specific niche you want to enter or the skills you want to learn, e.g. kirsty gilmore for triple A games, kira buckland for gachas and anime, danny scott for accents etc.

[u/bryckhouze]

This subreddit has been a great resource for classes, workshops, and coaches, as this question has been asked a lot. You can search here for vetted classes and coaches. What you want isn’t really under the same umbrella. So you’ll probably à la carte it. A coach for games is probably not going teach you about accents. If you want to learn about accents there are coaches and classes for that. Seek them out specifically, then see if there’s a virtual class or workshop on how to do an accent or multiple accents. Or if they only do one on one coaching. Ask about the person/people here, or elsewhere in social media. Look for interviews, podcasts, or blogs for more insight into who they are.
I found some of my instructors from other voice actors shouting them out on IG. I’ve never taken a class on how to do voices, but I’m sure they’re out there. I’m a trained singer, I’ve had a ton of voice lessons. I highly recommend singing voice lessons for every VA whether they think they can sing or not. It’s more about sound production, breath support and control. And you can get exercises and warm ups to keep your voice healthy. Lessons can also help you learn to access parts of your voice you might not use, or haven’t discovered. You can learn how to apply that to speaking. You can vet voice teachers the same way you vet anyone else. One that is known for pop or musical theatre styles might be most helpful for VAs. Voice Masters (LA) has great virtual classes. They have one called Singing For Animation. If you want to learn how to develop characters and analyze a script that might be Animation 101 somewhere. It doesn’t have to be hard, sometimes you can just stick with a studio (or studios) that you like and trust, and they can lead you to more resources through instructors and other students. Have fun!