Caffeine is not your best friend. In as much as you want to be a successful voiceover artist, you must watch what you take eat, or drink. They either have a positive or negative impact on your voice.
Yes! In Africa, we might not totally have control over what we eat or drink, but someone training to be a successful voice-over artist has to be very mindful because some food can take a negative toll on your Voice.
So let’s look at Caffeine. The question is: should a voice over artist take a substance containing caffeine?
Caffeine is a Natural Stimulant that is commonly found in tea, coffee, and Cacao plants. Some researchers believe that caffeine helps in stimulating your brain’s Central Nervous System, while also helping you stay alert and prevent constant tiredness. Caffeine is also present in some soft drinks and energy drinks which make you stay alive especially when you are tired and want to press onwards.
Caffeine will most likely work for a student who has exams and wants to stay up all night to read, or a freelancer working tirelessly to meet a deadline, but it wouldn’t help a voice actor.
Caffeine might have its good but as a person training to be a voice-over artist or someone who is already in the Voiceover field, I’m sorry to break your heart, you might need to stay away from anything containing caffeine.
Caffeine could be the reason you are not getting on the top of that field. You might need to stop to give you that desired Goal.
Caffeine is said to tighten and restrict your muscles, your pitch or dynamic range may be affected. The voice actor’s tool is his VOICE. And once the muscles to your voice are tightened you might not produce the appropriate sound needed for each activity, you might find it difficult which will be a bad market for anyone employing such Voiceover Artist.
Also, Caffeine tends to create anxiety, dehydration and changes in your voice quality. You might be performing below expectations due to high intake of caffeine as it can affect the stability of your voice.
As a voice actor, there is a need to abstain from Caffeine. The effect of caffeine is usually not felt instantly because the voice quality doesn’t drop in one day, it’s a gradual process. So if as a voice actor you are facing Voice Quality issues, I advise you to check your caffeine intake.
Caffeine dehydrates the body, especially your vocal cords. With little moisture on the cords, this creates tension between them which shortens your vocal range and limits capabilities. This is how much Caffeine can be detrimental to your voice as a voiceover artist.
Caffeine can cause You can have frequent vocal injuries and temporary vocal breaks that can either make you lose your voice or leave you unable to do as much as you used to. Caffeine also increases your heart rate which can make breath control more difficult for you.
As a Voice Artist or an intending one, it is imperative to keep these in check. If you are a lover of tea, coffee or a substance containing caffeine, I will advise you to begin to slow down on it as this may cause serious damage in the nearest future. Damage is not caused in a day, it’s a gradual process.
I will however advise that you make water your best friend because that’s the thirst quencher and very much more satisfying and edifying. In case you need something so different I will advise you to drink lemon water which refreshes and energizes you or you take Green Tea which has less caffeine.
I know it won’t be that easy, especially if you are addicted, you could start a STOP CAFFEINE plan if you feel like you are. Start by reducing it gradually, till you are no longer addicted as failure to stop could be threatening.
Follow us on Twitter and Instagram to stay updated when we post new articles. You can also bookmark our blog to get notified when we update.
