Voice Acting

How to Speed Talk for Voice Acting

Tara Parachuk | January 7, 2022

man making a silly face | Voices.com Blog - Where clients and voice actors can find valuable information on pre-production, technology, animation, video and audio production, home recording studios, business growth, voice acting and auditions, celebrity voice actors, voiceover industry news and more!

Have you ever wondered what it takes to record copy in a voice-over script really quickly?

If you’ve ever a disclaimer read at lightning speed to squeeze in more words during a commercial, you’ve witnessed speed talking in action.

In this article

  1. The Fast and the Articulate
  2. Start Slow, Then Go Fast
  3. Speed Talking Tips
  4. The Fastest Talkers in the World
  5. Is All Speed Talking Natural?
  6. Voice Samples From Speed Talkers
  7. Tips on Speed Talking From Voice-over Pros
  8. How Fast Can You Talk?

What most people don’t know about speed talking though is that the skill can be learned and can be mighty useful as a voice over talent to possess.

Are you a candidate for speed talking?

Jump To:

The Fast and the Articulate

Start Slow, Then Go Fast

Speed Talking Tips

The Fastest Talkers in the World

Is All Speed Talking Natural?

Voice Samples From Speed Talkers

Tips on Speed Talking From Voice-over Pros

The Fast and the Articulate

If you can think it, you can voice it.

Trying your hand at speed talking can be both challenging and rewarding. The best way to go about speed talking is naturally to start slow and then speed up. Think of playing an instrument.

When first picking up a new piece of music, a musician hammers out the notes slowly and methodically to ensure that they have a firm grasp of what’s on the page. Once their performance is ironed out and accurate, the musician gently increases their tempo, expressing the notes as they are written on the page but at a faster speed.

Maybe you’ve experienced something similar when learning how to type.

Talking is no different.

Start Slow, Then Go Fast

The first thing is to start with the basics. Most of us learn how to speak by pronouncing each word distinctly and slowly. This is a good place to start when speed talking because you want to make sure you are still understandable.

Start off by pronouncing each word distinctly and slowly. Once you feel comfortable with the rhythm, increase your speed but still be conscious of maintaining accuracy.

Like anything else, practice makes perfect so don’t be discouraged if you don’t nail it the first time around. With a little bit of perseverance, you’ll be speed talking like a pro or an auctioneer in no time!

Speed Talking Tips

If developing speed talking skills is on your to do list, these tips will be of great use to you:

  • Start with tongue twisters
  • Enunciate well
  • Breathe deeply
  • Control the breath
  • Breathe less during the course of your read to leave more room for words
  • Find a rhythm to it
  • Phrase carefully
  • Being cautious with multisyllabic words

The Fastest Talkers in the World

Steve Woodmore of Great Britain was at one point the fastest talking person in the world. He out-talked his predecessor, “Motormouth” John Moschitta, Jr., an American whose record was 586 words per minute (WPM). You could say that these gents are versed in Tachylalia, a term for extremely rapid speech. Woodmore first held the world record for speed talking in 1990.

At one point, he was out-voiced by a woman, Fran Capo of the United States. Capo has broken the record twice, the first time when appearing on Larry King Live in 1986. Woodmore regained the title from Capo shortly after his defeat. The current record holder, Sean Shannon, was clocked at a rate of 655 WPM by the Guinness Book of World Records™ on 30 August 1995.

In his prime, Steve Woodmore could speak 637 WPM, speaking almost 6 times faster than a normal person.

How did he manage?

In the following video interview, Steve Woodmore shared, “I mainly rehearse the package I’m going to break the world record with over and over again. The trick is to get the breathing right. If you can breathe as little as possible then you’re faster so the less breaths I take in, the faster I become.”

Is All Speed Talking Natural?

While most of what you hear is natural, some speed talking recordings are cleaned up in post-production. A little bit of splice and dice if you will. The voice can also be marginally sped up.

Take comfort that not all speed talking recordings are done in one take and most voice artists practice the copy many times before they get it right at the required pace. I’m sure you can agree with voice artist Richard Yeomans who enjoys “knowing it isn’t always done in one take.”

That said, what can people do to attain super sonic speech? Is this a very special talent or are there little things along the way that each of us can do to speed up our speech? Fran Capo was on Discovery Channel at one point. The video takes a look at Fran’s capabilities from a medical perspective and why she has the ability to speak faster than most humans.

Voice Samples From Speed Talkers

Here’s a chance to listen to Fran Capo, the world’s fastest talking female, in action.

If you enjoyed hearing Steve Woodmore and Fran Capo, you’ll particularly enjoy listening to the Disclaimer demo performed by Todd Osborne at Voices.

Remember Motormouth John Moschitta, Jr.? He was in a Federal Express ad showing off his speed talking skills.

Tips on Speed Talking From Voice-over Pros

Todd Osborne Headshot | Voices Blog - Where clients and voice actors can find valuable information on pre-production, technology, animation, video and audio production, home recording studios, business growth, voice acting and auditions, celebrity voice actors, voiceover industry news and more!
Markham Andreson | Voices Blog - Where clients and voice actors can find valuable information on pre-production, technology, animation, video and audio production, home recording studios, business growth, voice acting and auditions, celebrity voice actors, voiceover industry news and more!

“PREP! Deep breaths, nuances in phrasing, carefully edited spacing (be aware of your breaths in between lines when you’re going through the takes), and for myself-a slight speed enhancer patch in the software (not TOO much, otherwise it sounds awful). I admit it.” –Todd Osborne
“A long breath, clear your mind, read the copy BEFOREHAND thoroughly, enunciate clearly and do not force the delivery.”
Markham Anderson

Remember when we talked about speaking slowly and building up to a faster read?

Patrick M Seymour | Voices Blog - Where clients and voice actors can find valuable information on pre-production, technology, animation, video and audio production, home recording studios, business growth, voice acting and auditions, celebrity voice actors, voiceover industry news and more!
Mikaleen McClure
Curtis Prebble
Janet Walters headshot | Voices Blog - Where clients and voice actors can find valuable information on pre-production, technology, animation, video and audio production, home recording studios, business growth, voice acting and auditions, celebrity voice actors, voiceover industry news and more!

“When first practicing this I would do the disclaimer at a normal pace make sure it had clear pronunciation, the gradually speed it up until it was at the right time needed and with no garbled words.”
-Patrick M. Seymour

“Enunciate, starting volume louder, then end of sentence volume, so they know when a new thought/ line is starting, as it goes by FAST! Being a singer first, It’s a rhythm thing for me, with enough changes in volume and inflection, you find a ‘Flow!’ then just GO!! The rest can be done in post!” -Mikaleen McClure

“I find working with tongue twisters to work on enunciation helps a lot. If you can rhyme off tongue twisters rather quick, then those disclaimers are a bit easier. Still find it odd how sometimes, the potential side effects are worse than the condition the medicine is made to treat.” –Curtis Prebble

“A large lung capacity (deep breath and go!) and the ability to pronounce big medical words properly.”
Janet Walters

All good tips!

How Fast Can You Talk?

Are you a super fast talker? I’d love to hear from you and how you use your gift!
Be sure to comment on anything you found interesting as well.

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Comments

  • Avatar for Rich Kelly
    Rich Kelly
    January 11, 2014, 11:53 am

    Hi Stephanie,
    I really enjoyed this post – thank you! I find tongue twisters and other articulation exercises helpful along with plenty of cardio at the gym and Chi Gung exercises. I like the analogy of learning a musical piece by starting slowly at first and gradually increasing the tempo. I do that with my lead guitar playing and voicing disclaimers.
    All the Best,
    Rich

    Reply