While its roots go back to the early days of radio (early 1900s), voice over has only been a main-stream profession since the 1980s, and it's only been a common household name since approximately the year 2000.

During its short life, there have been many transitions. And not everyone who speaks about voice over is up-to-date. Therefore many people speak about the voice over industry "the way it was" as opposed to "the way it really is."

Which makes it important to verify that any coach/voice over school who helps you is up-to-date. If they are not, any coaching, advice, and resources they offer, such as marketing questions and voice delivery techniques, may not be beneficial. If trained by them, you may obtain less work and eventually require seeking additional guidance and training from someone who is up-to-date.

As with anything, feel comfortable with who you look to for advice. Confirm they are immersed in the industry, understand current trends, styles, and resources, and can offer useful guidance.

Here are some major changes:
VOCAL STYLE: has gone from dominantly announcer style to natural style.
details: In the early days of voice over, microphones were not as sophisticated as they are today, and did not pick up high frequencies, such as low volumes and female voices. Therefore male voices - especially deep, strong ones - were preferred.

This strong announcer style delivery was also appropriate because groups of people would gather around a single radio to listen to a radio program together. Therefore, from the voice over artist's perspective, a stronger tone was appropriate since he was projecting to a large group of people.

Then between the 1960s and 1980s, three things changed that caused the voice over producer to typically request a conversational vocal delivery. First, as technology advanced, microphones were developed that could pick up natural voices. Second, more people listened to radio and television programs by themselves, making a natural, more intimate delivery preferred. In other words, the public generally prefers to be 'spoken to', as opposed to 'announced at'. Third, narration work became more and more popular, and since this was not "selling," a natural style vocal delivery was used.

TYPE OF WORK: has gone from dominantly commercial work to narration work.
details: Originally, radio commercials were the brunt of the work. Then came along television commercials. Then came along a new type of voice over: narration. This style included educational and informational narrations. While the number of voice over commercials continue to increase every year, narrations now total approximately 92% of the industry.

RECORDING MEDIUM: has gone from analog recording to digital recording.
details: Practically every engineering function has changed with the advent of digital technology. Productions are now completed significantly faster while simultaneously significantly more precise. With digital editing, voice talent can simply re-record a sentence, phrase, or even single word when they make a mistake, and the engineer can digitally 'edit' it into the recording in place of the mistake. (This eliminates the necessity to re-record an entire passage.) Clients can request that engineers give them options, as engineers can easily offer multiple versions of a production, each with different music, sound effects, and/or mix. Recording studios are now inexpensive, portable, and higher in quality. Yet by far, most engineers will confirm that the greatest benefit of digital technology is the 'undo' button.

GENDER: has gone from dominantly male work to almost half female work.
details: As mentioned above, since early microphones did not pick up high frequencies, female voices were not used much. Plus since the feminist movement had not occurred in the early days of voice over, female voices were not used much.

As microphone technology advanced, and as women began doing more professions that were considered "male work," women began narrating more voice over work.

Today, women perform almost half of the voice-over work. Female voices are considered to be more believable than male voices. Male voices are considered more authoritative than female voices.