Dubbing Schools in Mexico: Where to Train in Mexico City and Online

What You Learn in a Mexican Dubbing Program

Dubbing is acting with your voice while you match someone else’s face on screen. That’s why the programs below mix acting with technique, and several save booth work for the second half. The same building blocks show up again and again in their published syllabi.

• Atril work. Reading and performing a script from a stand, often at first sight. TENA has a module on genres, atril and radio, and CCAudiovisual has a course on staged reading (teatro en atril).
• Sync and adaptation. Matching your lines to the character’s lips (sincronía). The MVS online course includes lip-sync practice, and CCAudiovisual’s translation diploma covers ajuste, the adaptation of translated dialogue for lip sync.
• Performing at the mic. Building characters, holding emotion across short takes and taking notes from a director.
• Voice-over and voice care. Breathing, diction, placement and intonation, which most programs teach as the base.

Several syllabi, including the MVS courses, also list español neutro, a neutral Spanish that schools train as a dubbing skill. To prepare between classes, try these vocal warm-ups.

How to Choose Among Dubbing Schools in Mexico

Start with booth time. You can read theory anywhere, but the craft comes from recording, missing the sync and doing the take again. So ask how many practice hours a program includes and whether they happen in a real dubbing room.

Next, check group size, because a booth fits one actor at a time. Also ask whether you leave with a demo. La Cuarta Pared includes one after its three levels, for example, and the AMCI certificate covers building a demo reel. Then look at format and minimum age, which runs from 6 in kids’ programs to 17 in one online diploma.

Language matters too. Every school on this list publishes its pages in Spanish, so expect to train in Spanish. If you are still building acting skills, our guide on how to become a voice actor covers the full path. For English-language options, see our roundup of voice acting classes.

Voice and Dubbing Schools in Mexico City

These three schools focus on the voice: voice-over, dubbing and, in two cases, acting. All three publish their next groups on their websites.

La Cuarta Pared, Instituto de Artes Cinematográficas (Roma Norte)

La Cuarta Pared sits at Mérida 5 in Roma Norte. Its in-person dubbing and voice-over course has three levels covering vocal technique, acting, voice-over and two dubbing subjects. When you finish all three, you record a professional demo. There are optional practice sessions on Fridays, too. Students must be 16 or older and able to read, and the course runs in morning, Saturday or evening groups.

The school also runs a video game dubbing course for ages 15 and up, a dubbing program for kids and teens from 9 to 16, and a Zoom diploma in dubbing and voice-over for ages 17 and up. Before each group starts, it announces a sample class. See the dubbing and voice-over course and the program for kids and teens.

TENA, Talento Escénico Natural y Artístico (San Pedro de los Pinos)

TENA calls itself a school of voice-over, dubbing and acting. It is in the Plaza Metrópoli Patriotismo building, on Avenida Patriotismo. Its regular voice-over and dubbing track has nine quarterly modules, with one three-hour class a week on Fridays or Saturdays. Modules alternate between acting and booth work, from vocal technique and atril to character creation, and end with dubbing, voice-over and acting clinics.

Admission starts with an interview, in person or online, and the full track adds an entrance exam. Minors attend with a parent or guardian. Foreign applicants, meanwhile, need a valid visa or residence card, according to TENA’s enrollment page. Its site also mentions agreements with ANDA, Radio y TV Mexiquense and IMER. Browse TENA’s programs.

Centro de Capacitación MVS (Mexico City and Online)

The MVS training center teaches voice-over and dubbing in Mexico City, in Cuernavaca and online, and its site says it has professional booths. In the capital, it offers a voice-over and dubbing diploma of 32 three-hour sessions for intermediate and advanced students. The syllabus goes from diction and intonation to dubbing history, teamwork between actor, director and translator, and acting technique.

For beginners, an eight-class online course covers neutral Spanish dubbing, an introduction to song dubbing and lip-sync practice. See the voice-over and dubbing diploma and the online course for beginners.

Dubbing Studios That Train Voices

Some studios and voice companies run their own academies. As a result, you train the way a real production works, often in their own rooms.

Grande Studios Academy (Polanco)

Grande Studios is a dubbing and audio studio. According to its site, it has 22 recording rooms, seven editing rooms and six mixing rooms. Its academy runs a 96-hour dubbing acting diploma over three months, on Saturdays, at its facilities in Polanco. The program covers acting, vocal technique, script analysis, character work and booth technique.

Kids from 6 to 12 have a shorter diploma with reading, dramatization and booth practice. If the technical side interests you, the academy also lists programs in dubbing production and audio engineering. Dates show as to be confirmed, so check the Grande Studios Academy page.

MilVox Academia (Polanco)

MilVox is a voice-over and dubbing company at Lope de Vega 239 in Polanco. Its academy offers a dubbing actor track as a two-year, in-person diploma for ages 15 and up. The teachers, the site says, are directors and actors who work in dubbing and voice-over today. MilVox argues that you learn dubbing in the booth rather than online, so the whole program is in person. Learn more at MilVox Academia.

Ronin Locutores (Colonia del Valle)

Ronin Locutores is a voice-over agency and studio that also trains talent. Its dubbing workshop is hands-on. You work on scenes from films, anime, video games and series in the booth, and the director gives notes on lip sync, intonation, performance and script adaptation. There is one session of about two hours a week, in person in Mexico City or over Zoom, for ages 15 and up. See the Ronin dubbing workshop.

Outside Mexico City: Guadalajara and Cuernavaca

Beyond the capital, dubbing schools in Mexico with an active official site are few. These are the two we could confirm.

Centro de Estudios Cinematográficos (Guadalajara)

CEC is a film, acting and music school at Tormenta 580 in Jardines del Bosque, with officially recognized degrees in filmmaking, acting and music production. Its diplomas include one in voice dubbing (doblaje de voz), which it describes as a way into interpretive voice work. You request the syllabus, length and schedule from the admissions team through the CEC diplomas page.

Centro de Capacitación MVS (Cuernavaca)

In Cuernavaca, the MVS center teaches an in-person voice dubbing course of 16 Saturday sessions. It covers technique, script marking, studio jargon and neutral Spanish, according to the Cuernavaca course page. For Monterrey and other cities, however, we found no school with an active official site, so the online options below are your best bet.

Online Dubbing Courses You Can Take From Abroad

Several dubbing schools in Mexico also teach remotely, which works well for technique, reading and voice acting. Still, sooner or later you will need hours in a real booth, so plan to combine them with in-person practice. Also check the time zone: AMCI and CCAudiovisual, for example, list their schedules in Mexico City time.

Certificación en Locución y Doblaje, AMCI

The Asociación Mexicana de Cineastas Independientes (AMCI), an association of independent filmmakers, runs this online certificate. Classes are live on Zoom on Sundays, four hours a week for seven months. Modules go from voice conditioning and acting to commercial voice-over and film dubbing. Topics also include image and dialogue sync and putting together a demo reel. Details are on the certificate page.

Centro de Comunicación Audiovisual (CCAudiovisual)

CCAudiovisual offers an online introductory diploma in acting and dubbing. It consists of five courses of eight sessions each: voice production, interpretive reading, staged reading, dubbing technique and dubbing practice. Dubbing directors and actors teach it, according to the school. See the acting for dubbing diploma.

If scripts interest you more than the mic, the center also has an audiovisual translation diploma with a module on translating and adapting dialogue for dubbing. La Cuarta Pared and the MVS center also have online versions, which we covered above.

After Training: Your Demo, Studios and the Union

Dubbing schools in Mexico can’t promise you work, so be wary of any that does. What good training gives you is material to show. Keep your demo short, with clearly different characters and clean audio.

Once your demo is ready, check what studios ask for on their own sites. Grande Studios, for example, has a talent registration form on its home page and says it runs voice tests regularly to bring in new talent. When paid work starts, joining ANDA is the next step. For minors, the union also asks for a signed work authorization letter.

Meanwhile, keep building acting experience. Our guide to auditions in Mexico lists agencies and first steps, and you can browse casting calls in Mexico and in Mexico City. For general tips on landing voice work, read about voice acting jobs. To strengthen your acting base, compare the acting schools in Mexico. And if Spain is also on your map, see the dubbing schools in Madrid and Barcelona.