Voice Confidence?

Many of us have felt the same way as you before we found our feet.
My suggestion is to just learn to love yourself. Post some clips here for fun and build up your confidence.

I was worried my accent would be mocked or somehow I'd not be accepted. After I posted some clips here and got some positive feedback it really boosted my confidence.
Now this is my favourite hobby, and I'm a lot more confident in myself.

Record yourself introducing yourself to VAC and see how you feel.

If you mean, just listening to yourself talk *while* you're recording (rather than on playback), then group acting, singing, or public speaking lessons could help you get used to talking aloud in front of people. Same thing with a debate team/group or even just poetry night at a local coffee shop (does NOT have to be your own poetry, at least not at all of those groups).

If your voice sounds strange to you on playback, after it's been recorded, it likely just takes some getting used to! Almost everyone thinks they sound weird when they listen to a recording of themselves, since your voice isn't rattling around inside you as well as getting to your ears through the air. Recording a lot, and listening to it play back a lot, and time, is the cure for that one.

If you don't sound weird to *yourself*, but you're concerned other people will think you have a "funny voice", then frankly, you're probably sitting on a gold mine. People are forever looking for new and unique voices in this hobby or industry, so if your voice really IS unusual, that's a good thing, and not bad!

Why wouldn't singing have to do with voice confidence? You use your voice to sing, and it takes confidence to do it at a volume above a whisper, or even to do it at all.

Maybe it would help if you could be more specific about what your exact goal is. 'Voice confidence' could be pretty broadly defined, I guess.

I was not expecting to get so much advice, was thinking one person would give advice then that would be it. Thanks for all the advice! I sometimes sing to myself when i'm driving alone. my voice has been in a few videos that my friend recorded of us playing online games together. i get a bit nervous if i know im being recorded, not being confident in my voice and such.

I think it took at least a couple years of amateur VO work before I started to actually "like" the sound of my own voice in a recording. To me, this is like a rite of passage for voice actors. I'm sure at least some people give up before they even reach this point, so you should consider getting there a major milestone! I'm sure some rare people can reach this stage very fast but definitely not me!

As those above me said, you have to get used to recording and playing back your own voice. That part is essential because that's much closer to your real voice than the "distorted" version you hear all the time as it conducts through your own skull. Like with anything, just keep doing it! Auditions on a site like this one are how I accomplished it because it was constant motivation to keep recording myself and then listening back and deciding if I wanted to try again or maybe in some cases, not submit at all. At that stage, what you do with the recording is not nearly as important as simply making it, listening to it, and trying to improve on the things that you don't feel are quite right. I'd say projection in particular is major element in all this. Not to say it's as simple as "more projection is better" but a common symptom of low confidence will be very little projection. So push yourself to speak clearly with an open mouth and an open diaphragm (googling any basic singing exercises should cover the technicalities of this) and you'll start to believe more and more "I could hear my voice in cartoons/games/commercials/narration/etc...".

When you do believe that, congrats! Mark your calendar. Celebrate the anniversary of that day when you started taking yourself seriously as a voice actor!

Now, when it comes to actual acting and the more advanced stuff, getting outside feedback from others is a MUST. When it comes to building up the confidence in yourself, though, just take your time and keep recording and keep listening back and keep considering your projection and you will eventually find satisfaction! That satisfaction may not seem at first to live up to the cheap thrill that is external validation, but it'll carry you a hell of a lot further in the long run!

Just do it man. Take a leap of faith.

If voice acting is something that you really love to do, then don't be afraid to do what you love.