Voiceovers Recording Room Preparation Tips

You’ve found your voiceover talent and are ready to start producing your script, and the next step will be to create a professional recording for advertising. It is possible that you have a videographer or production team helping you create a voiceover script, but did you realize that there are computer software programs and tools that can create the entire project for you from beginning to the end?

The environment in which you will record your Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE voiceover has to be prepared properly to assure the creation of a quality advertising and promotion piece. Here are some essential tips when preparing the room for your voice over recording:

1. Equipment check. Booking the voiceover talent for the project and then wasting several hours testing equipment will cost you. ”Producing Great Sound for Digital Video” author, Jay Rose, expertly suggests that you should get the right kind of equipment and test it the day before production schedule. If you can’t test the equipment the day before production, then conduct the test a few hours before production time to reduce the chance of any unforseen delays.

2. Make sure the room does not create echoes. The only way you’ll know if the room is creating an ‘echoing’ effect is when you turn on the microphone and shut all the doors and windows. Conduct some test recordings with all of the equipment so that the echo effect can effectively be reduced.

3. Consider using background music. In a professional voiceovers, there should not be any noise between the narrator and the listener. You want to create an audio space that sounds as if the narrator is having a face-to-face conversation with the audience. If you have a lot of ‘white noise’, consider adding background music.

4. Find the best position in the room for the recording. There are no rules about where to position the microphone, so feel free to move the mic setup into different areas of the room to get the right sound. You don’t want to record when the sounds seem hollow or filtered in any way. Move around to find the best fit.

5. Don’t worry about outside traffic or small rumbles. Even simple things like fluorescent lighting or distant traffic outside the window can effect the sound quality of your voiceover recording. However, most mics do not pick up these sounds. If you do feel like the script is being affected by these outside sounds, consider adding a high-pass filter to the microphone for a crisper recording.

6. Reduce noise from vents, air conditioners and computer fans. Noise from computers, air conditioners and other similar equipment may be picked up by the mic especially when you are recording in small area. Sounds from these machines can cause some turbulence for your recording, so it’s a good idea to turn them off for as long as possible during each recording segment.

Use a pair of headphones to monitor the voiceover recording throughout the production cycle. Take advantage of playback functions in a different room to make sure that everything is going smoothly; this will reduce the need to do another ‘take’ and can also help you address any problems with the audio quality of your voiceover recording right away.

Voice Overs Command Authority For Your Business

Think about it logically, you know how important it is for your commercial or presentation to have the correct voice behind it. After all, voices are a great tool. Even though they often take a backseat in our minds to the way a person looks, without the right voice, looks ain’t nothin’. And if the voice is all a person has to go on – for instance, in a radio commercial – then the voice becomes the most important thing in the world.

A person who comprehends just how to use their voice can control another person just by speaking. This is a startling concept the first time you consider it, but when you consider some of the most famous voice over talent in the world, you will understand how true that is. Consider, for example, the actor Michael Wincott.

He’s a good-looking guy, but of course in the world of acting that doesn’t mean a whole lot. It’s just too common. But this guy gets role after role after role based on the power of his voice. He has a voice that can keep you looking over your shoulder, long after the movie is over, because you’re just a little worried that the latest Michael Wincott character may just be waiting to pounce. Remember the movie, The Count of Monte Cristo? He was the warden with the whip and the gravelly voice. Fans of the movie weren’t quite sure which was more frightening, the whip – or that voice. That voice is what gets him contracts.

Consider, also, Clint Eastwood. Of course, that unflinching, squinty stare of his is something to write home about. But what do people do when they’re attempting their best Eastwood impression? They give some love to the stare, but mostly they love the way he said, “Come on punk. Make my day.” Like Wincott, Eastwood has a gravelly characteristic in his voice. But once upon a time, he knew where all the pauses were supposed to be, and that made him something worth watching. He was worth watching because he was worth listening to.

Another actor who knew what to do with his voice was Marlon Brando. Now this guy had a nasally cotton-mouth voice that, untrained, would have grated on the ear. But he became an actor. He learned how to speak. He took something that stood out and made it a trademark. The rest, my friend, was timing. When he said, “I made him an offer he couldn’t refuse,” as the Godfather, he didn’t just say a cleverly written line – he said it with emphasis. With weight. What we are responding to isn’t something these guys do because of who they are. They’ve had training. Therefore, when they delivered those lines, the audience never knew what hit them. But they knew that it was important.

Unfortunately, Michael Wincott, Clint Eastwood and Marlon Brando won’t be available for your project, but they make great models to study when you are studying about how voices affect potential customers. You want to use some of the same principals in selecting your voice actor, or in deciding whether to use one. You are not the only business-person with a message for the public. There are thousands of other messages out there as well. You will have to seduce listeners, and that means getting and holding on to their attention. A powerful voice can do that.