~11 min read by Erikka J
Many home studio voice over equipment lists cover the same things: a good mic, interface, pop filter, and some acoustic treatment. Those things are absolutely essential, but they don’t help you get out of your head and into your body so that your mind is free enough to deliver a stellar read.
The tools that actually elevate a performance – the ones that can help you sound human instead of robotic or announcery – aren’t in any gear guide because, well…they aren’t audio gear at all.
They’re the weird, wonderful, sometimes eyebrow-raising things I keep within arm’s reach every single session. Some of them help me physically. Some of them help me emotionally. One of them is…let’s just say it raised some questions on a recent video call.
If you’re a fellow voice actor, or a creative on the buying side that wants to help support the voice talent you work with, check out this list of the secret weapons in my booth – and why I keep them handy.
1. A Stress Ball
When I reach for it: High-energy commercial reads that need tension and urgency.
Voiceover is a full-body sport and voice actors are vocal athletes. When a script calls for intensity, I can’t just sit there and pretend to be fired up. I need to literally fire up my muscles.
Squeezing a stress ball while I read creates real physical tension in my body, and that tension comes through in the voice. It adds grit, edge, and conviction without me having to force it. Sometimes I squeeze it during the build and release it right at the payoff line. The shift in my body changes the shift in my voice. I’ve also used it to give my body something to do when I want my brain to just fly, like during a fast political disclaimer read, so I can stop thinking and just GO.
The stress balls I use come in a pack of three or six, are tear-resistant, and the squish factor is muah – chef’s kiss. Firm enough to create real engagement, soft enough that they’re silent. (You’d be surprised how many stress balls are noisy, a non-starter while recording VO.)
Flip side: I also use them to release tension and anxiety between takes or when a script calls for a calm, more relaxed read. They also help fight frustration when I flub lines and the fidgety feelings I get as a voice actor with ADHD. A few hard squeezes coupled with a slow inhale/exhale resets my whole instrument.
2. A Hand Grip Strengthener
When I reach for it: Anthemic, athletic, high-energy reads.
Same principle as the stress ball, but amplified. When I’m narrating an anthemic corporate brand film, infused with determination and meant to empower the listener, I need my body to feel powerful and grounded. Squeezing a hand grip strengthener creates a full-arm engagement that translates into a stronger, more authoritative delivery. The soft foam grip is silent in the booth, and the resistance is real enough that my forearm actually engages.
You’d be surprised how much your voice changes when your body is actually working. Try reading a line while flexing your grip versus reading it with limp hands. It’s a completely different voice.
3. A Stuffed Animal
When I reach for it: Soft, warm, nurturing reads.
Yes I keep a stuffed animal in my booth. It’s a baby rottie if you must know.
When I need to deliver a softer read – a children’s brand, a healthcare ad, a bedtime story app – I hold it. Snuggle with it. Rub it against my cheek. Something about the physical softness against my body translates directly into softness in my delivery. My pitch and volume drop, my pace slows naturally, and the warmth just…shows up. I’ve used a fleece blanket or my big cozy robe for this same effect too.
It sounds ridiculous until you try it. Then it sounds like the most obvious thing in the world.
4. Pictures of My Family
When I reach for it: Emotional storytelling, testimonial-style reads, anything that needs genuine connection. Which is, well…always.
Every script is a conversation with someone. The problem is, there’s nobody in the booth with me. Whomp whomp.
So I put real faces in front of me. Pictures of my kids and my husband – people that I love and regularly talk to. When an explainer script says “imagine telling your best friend about this product,” I’m not imagining who I’m talking to – I’m literally looking at the face of someone I’d tell. When a director recently asked me “Who is your best friend?” during a live session, I answered, “I know it’s corny, but it’s literally my husband” (insert awwwwwws and heart eye emojis here), then looked directly at his picture while doing the next take. When a line needs to land with sincerity, I find the right face and I talk to them.
This is the difference between reading a script and serving a script. The microphone can hear whether or not you’re actually connecting to someone. Every client I work with gets a voice that sounds like it’s talking to a real person because in my booth, it is.
5. A Salt Rock Table Lamp
When I reach for it: Intimate, introspective, or moody reads.
Lighting changes everything. When I need to voice something contemplative – a meditation app, a luxury brand, a healthcare ad calling for quiet strength and gravitas to support and empower someone just diagnosed with cancer – harsh overhead fluorescents are not it.
I keep a natural Himalayan salt rock lamp in the booth – it fills the space with this warm, amber glow that completely shifts my energy, and you can change its colors as needed to suit the mood. It’s subtle but powerful, and the salt rocks help me feel more connected to Earth since I obviously can’t record outside. My breathing slows, my shoulders drop, and my voice moves into that deeper, more reflective register almost involuntarily.
I actually keep it on at all times and just turn off the bright fluorescent when a read calls for a darker space. Don’t underestimate how much your environment shapes your performance. Set the scene for yourself, almost as if the job is on camera, and your voice will follow.
6. Rosewater Facial Spray
When I reach for it: When I need a quick energy reset between takes or sessions.
During long recording sessions (or later in the afternoon when coffee has long worn off), your energy dips. Welcome to being a human. However, I can’t afford to sound flat on take 47 when the client is listening live on Source-Connect.
A quick spritz of rosewater on my face is an instant wake-up and energy booster. It’s cooling, refreshing, and snaps me back to energized and fully present in a split second. Plus it smells nice without being overpowering. No dyes, no alcohol, just pure damask rose. Cheaper and less dehydrating than a coffee break, and a much faster fix.
7. Vegetable Glycerin
When I reach for it: When the mouth gets all clicky clicky on me.
If you’ve never recorded voice over, you might not know about mouth clicks – those tiny, wet, sticky sounds your mouth makes between words. They’re invisible in conversation but devastating in a recording. They show up in the waveform, can distract from the message, have to be removed or repaired by editors, and can turn a clean session into a nightmare.
A quick sip of food grade vegetable glycerin coats the inside of your mouth and eliminates clicks almost instantly. It’s food grade, vegan, tasteless, and odorless – and it’s the fastest fix for clicks in the booth. A swish of room temperature water helps but the thicker consistency works wonders. I recommend keeping a bottle within reach, especially if you’re on medication that causes dry mouth.
Pro tip: Pair this with consistent hydration – clicks are caused by dry mouth. Staying on top of your vocal health is the long game.
8. A Vibrator
When I reach for it: If my throat muscles are physically tight and I need to loosen them fast.
Okay. Stop giggling.
Yes, I keep a WOO More Play vibrator in my booth and before you raise an eyebrow, hear me out – it’s a legitimate vocal tool. The shape of this particular brand is discreet and has a nice case that stands on its own on my booth desk. Held against the outside of the throat, the vibrations physically loosen the muscles around the larynx. It’s like a quick deep tissue massage for your voice box. I’ve had a full laryngeal massage from Amy Chapman in LA, which was a life changing post COVID recovery experience, but this is a practical version of that therapy that I can do on my own as often as needed.
When I’ve been recording for hours, I wake up with a tight throat, or I need to shift from a high-energy read to something silky and relaxed, a minute or so of vibration against the throat resets everything. The tension melts, my range opens up, and I can access registers that were locked up before.
Is it unconventional? Obviously. Does it work? Every single time.
I’d just recommend using it between sessions rather than while on camera.
9. A Tally Counter
When I reach for it: Every session, every take.
This one serves double duty. First, it keeps me honest on take numbers. When you’re on take 32 it’s easy to lose count, and your editor and creative director need accurate numbering.
Second – and this is the real trick – the click itself creates a visible spike in the audio waveform. That spike becomes a visual marker that tells the editor exactly where each new take begins. It saves them time, it makes the files cleaner, and it shows that you’re a professional who respects other people’s workflows.
The handheld tally counter I use goes up to 4-digits, is all metal, and has a satisfying click that’s loud enough to spike the waveform before I start the take. Some use a dog clicker for this, I’d learned to just make the sound with my mouth to spike the audio, but when I’m tracking take numbers the tally counter takes care of two jobs with a single, simple click of a button.
Small tool. Massive impact on the post-production process, while also keeping the actor’s mind free from the left brain activity of tracking take numbers – allowing your focus to be in the creative right brain and on delivering a brilliant performance.
10. The Voice Straw & Cup Combo
When I reach for it: Vocal recovery between takes, warm-ups, and cool-downs.
Straw phonation is one of the most evidence-backed vocal exercises out there – over 20 years of science behind it. You vocalize through a straw (with or without water for resistance), and it gently stretches and resets your vocal folds without straining them.
The Voice Straw & Cup Combo Kit is my favorite because it is specifically engineered for vocal training, including multiple straw diameters so you can adjust resistance based on how your voice is feeling that day. The Voice Cups were the biggest game changer for me, literally. I’ve used them to rehab my voice on the fly during intense video game recording sessions that required choking, screaming and dying for two hours.
It’s rehab, warm-up, and maintenance all in one.
11. AfterShokz Titanium Bone Conduction Headphones
When I reach for it: Directed phone sessions or when I want mood-setting music while I record.
Listen, I ADORE my Audio Technica ATH-M50x headphones. I have five pairs, including three limited edition colors (color me obsessed). But the mic picks up sound leaking from them, especially since I record with one ear out to keep from drowning in my own voice. That means that when I want to play music to set the tone for a read, my beautiful little babies aren’t an option.
My AfterShokz Titanium Wireless Headphones (in Canyon Red, because why not) use bone conduction technology – they sit on your cheekbones and send sound directly through the bone, bypassing your ear canal entirely. That means the mic picks up absolutely nothing, but I can hear everything. They’re wireless, lightweight, and I forget I’m wearing them.
I use them for live-directed sessions done by phone so I can hear client feedback in real time without compromising the recording. I also use them to play music that matches the mood of the message – something ambient for a meditation read or upbeat for a commercial. It puts me in the emotional space of the story before I say a single word.
12. A CO2 Detector
When I reach for it: Never. But I continually look at it every time I’m in the booth.
This is probably the nerdiest thing in my booth (other than me), and possibly the most important one that few folks talk about.
A voice over booth is a small, sealed, sound-treated box. That’s great for acoustics, terrible for air quality. I record in a StudioBricks One Plus VO Edition booth – isolates sound beautifully, but is also essentially an airtight chamber. There’s a small ventilator built in but I can only run it on the lowest setting to keep noise out of the recording, and even then I still sometimes hear it creep in ever so slightly. So most of the time, the vent is off and I’m in there breathing my own air.
When you’re sitting in an enclosed space like that for hours, CO2 levels climb fast. And here’s what the research shows: once CO2 hits 1,000 ppm, cognitive function drops by about 15%. At 1,400 ppm, it drops by 50%.
Think about that. You’re in your booth trying to nail an emotional read, make creative choices, take direction…and your brain is operating at half capacity because the air is stale. You won’t feel “dumb.” You’ll just feel foggy, sluggish, slightly off and you’ll blame it on fatigue or a bad day.
My air quality monitor sits on my desk and tells me exactly when I need to crack the booth door, step out, or turn on ventilation. It tracks CO2, temperature, and humidity on an e-ink display. No charging required, just AA batteries that last up to two years. I don’t have to wonder about when it’s gone past a safe threshold, this device tells me so I can just focus on performing. When the reading goes too far into the red, I take a break. When it’s green, I know my brain is fully online.
It’s the invisible performance killer nobody in voiceover is talking about. And now you know.
13. Water. Always Water.
When I reach for it: Constantly.
This one isn’t sexy or surprising, but it’s the most important thing in the booth. Besides me and my voice I guess.
Dehydration is the number one enemy of clean voice over recordings. Dry vocal folds produce more friction and strain. Dry mouth causes more mouth clicks. The best remedy is none other than plain ole, boring, clean water. I keep a bottle of room-temperature water in the booth at all times – not cold, as it tightens the throat and is better for digestion overall. Which can keep other undesired bodily sounds out of the booth.
And yes, I’m particular about the water itself. As a self proclaimed water snob, I’ve started courses and attended conferences to become a water sommelier – more on that some other time.
I run an RKIN Flash Undersink Reverse Osmosis System at home – it removes up to 99% of contaminants and the water just tastes better. When you’re drinking water all day every day as part of your job, quality matters.
If you take nothing else from this list: drink water. Before the session, during the session, after the session. Your health, your voice – and your engineers – will thank you.
The Raw, Real Deal Takeaway
Every one of these tools exists for the same reason: to help me get out of my head and into the performance.
Voice over isn’t about having a nice voice. It’s about making someone feel something – and you can’t do that if you’re tense, tired, disconnected, or fighting your own instrument.
These thirteen things (get most of them here) help me show up to every script fully present, physically ready, and emotionally available. That’s what separates a read that just sounds good, from a connected read that tells a story and makes people stop scrolling.
If your brand has a story that deserves to be felt, not just heard, let’s talk about making that happen.
