If you're a voice actor, singer, or public speaker, you know how important it is to keep your voice healthy. 

Just like stretching your muscles between workouts, your vocal cords need love and attention to stay limber. One of the best ways to do this is through vocal exercises — from humming and lip trills to "the siren," these practices exercise your voice, ease tension, and help you get ready to perform. 

Learn how to voice act for audio erotica and more with these simple vocal warm-ups and exercises. 

Why do you need vocal warm-up exercises? 

Vocal warm-ups get your voice ready for action before you record, but they’re also essential for maintaining and enhancing your talent. They keep your vocal cords flexible and healthy in the long term, minimizing the risk of straining your voice — which is particularly important when your voice is your job. 

Warm-ups are also an excellent way to hone your craft. They refine your voice and breath control, helping you deliver lines with the right emotion and intensity. Certain exercises also help expand your vocal range, which allows you to explore a broad range of characters and emotions. If you create audio erotica — and love to make passionate, emotive vocal expressions — these exercises will help you deliver more immersive (and sexy) performances. 

How to warm up your voice  

Getting into a voice warm-up routine isn't just about hitting the right notes — it's also about setting yourself up for long-term vocal health. To do your best work, try these tips:  

• Be consistent: Dedicate at least 10 minutes daily to warming your voice, even if you aren’t recording. This helps keep your vocal cords in prime condition and gradually improve your range and control. 

• Prepare beforehand: Make it a ritual to engage in vocal warm-ups before any performance, even if it's just recording in your home studio. This preps your voice to perform at its best, reducing the risk of vocal strain. 

• Ease into it: Begin with gentle, low-effort exercises and slowly build the intensity of your vocal warm-ups to avoid hurting yourself. Think of it as gently waking up your vocal cords instead of blaring an alarm. 

8 best voice exercises for actors 

Voice training and acting is an art, and your voice is your tool. To use it with even more skill, emotion, and impact, try the following vocal exercises and warm-ups: 

1. Humming 

Humming is simple, soothing, and surprisingly effective for exercising your voice. Part your lips slightly and hum at different pitches — you'll feel the vibrations as you gently warm your vocal cords. This vocal exercise activates your resonators, which helps with vocal tone quality, and you can practice by humming along to a five-step scale. 

2. Lip trills 

Lip trills, also called lip buzz, are like a mini massage for your vocal cords. Gently blow air through your lips to create a trilling sound, keeping your lips loose. This exercise is great for breath control and relaxing lip muscles, which help both your articulation and your vocal tone. As you progress, incorporate different pitches to work on your range and challenge your vocal skills. 

3. The siren 

Channel your inner emergency vehicle with the low-impact siren vocal exercise. To warm up your range without overstretching your muscles, start from a low note, glide up to your highest note, and then back down, imitating a siren. This exercise improves flexibility, allowing you to easily hit those high and low notes.

4. Yawn technique 

Yawning isn't just for when you're tired — it's a great vocal exercise because your throat opens up, releasing tension and allowing for a fuller sound. It's beneficial for relaxing your voice before a session and achieving depth and resonance. To try the yawn technique, yawn a few times and exhale with an "ah" at the end of each one. 

5. Dropping your jaw

A dropped jaw produces a more resonant sound when you sing and voice act. It creates more space in your mouth — essential for clear voice projection — and helps you express words and emotions more clearly. Aim to drop your jaw below the curved space between your jaw and ear. You can use your hand to guide it down and keep it there while you practice.

6. Fricatives

Fricatives are sounds like “f,” “v,” and “th,” and they’re great voice exercises for speaking clearly. Making these sounds requires precise mouth, tongue, and breath control, which is key for impactful and effective speech. Practice these sounds regularly to improve your diction and make your voice acting more understandable.  

7. Tongue twisters 

Tongue twisters are fun challenges that help you laugh and exercise your voice simultaneously. They force you to focus on clarity and precision in your speech, helping you improve your articulation and diction. To use tongue twisters as a vocal exercise, start slow, emphasizing each word, and gradually increase your speed as you repeat it over and over. 

Here are some fun tongue twisters to try:

• Red leather, yellow leather 

• Toy boat

• He threw three free throws

• Unique New York

• Top chopstick shops stock top chopsticks

8. Vowel shapes 

Experiment with making different vowel shapes — like “oo” and “ee” — to discover the unique sound each one creates. Consider how each vowel feels in your mouth and throat, aiming for clear, resonant sounds, to help you improve your voice's tone and clarity. Working on these sounds can help you create more captivating work as a voice actor. 

3 extra tips for vocal warm-ups   

Whether you record audio erotica for Quinn or sing in a band, these voice tips will help you make the most of your warm-up vocal exercises:

1. Cool down

You know that warming your voice is essential, but what about cooling it down? After your recording or performance, cool down your voice by sighing on a descending note, yawning to release tension, and doing some descending lip rolls. Do this for five minutes to help your voice settle. 

2. Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate

Water and herbal tea are the best drinks for your voice because they’re so soothing. Drink large amounts of water throughout the day, and always keep some handy while warming up, recording, and cooling down. Your vocal folds need lubrication to work correctly, and the best way to do this is to stay hydrated. 

3. Use a humidifier

While you can't directly moisturize your vocal cords, breathing humidified air is another way to boost them. Overly dry air is hard on your breathing and voice, so run a humidifier wherever you are. You could also turn your shower on high and sit in the steam for a few minutes to breathe it all in.

Join Quinn as a creator

If you're passionate about voice acting, become a Quinn creator. Quinn is an audio erotica app created by women for the world, and it's home to a wide range of ethical erotic content across diverse categories.

To post your audio erotica or browse thousands of narrated sex stories, playlists, and guided masturbation sessions, download the Quinn app for iOS or Android.