1. Choose Wisely - Who you choose to deliver your message is the first and possibly most critical decision you’ll make. The voice talent should personify the attitude and style of your company, product or character and should relate to your target demographic. Keep in mind that the talent should be able to communicate your message quickly and efficiently. Choose a voice talent who can deliver your copy with few mistakes or pickups. Just because audio editing is easier and faster than ever, doesn’t mean extensive editing should be required to get the result you want.

2. Check Your Script – Before your session, read your script out loud and use a stopwatch to time it. This process will help ensure that you’ve fixed any mistakes, grammatical errors and any other stumbling blocks that the voice over talent may encounter. Using a stopwatch while reading aloud will prepare you for the possibility that you may need to cut or add copy to fit your message within the time limits required for radio and TV commercials.

3. Formatting – The way your script is formatted plays a big role in the ease in which it can be read. Double spacing allows room to make copy edits when necessary. Use of punctuation is a must. Also be aware that WRITING IN ALL CAPS IS MORE DIFFICULT TO READ. Only use ALL CAPS, bold type, italics or underlines to indicate emphasis.

4. Numbers - Using actual numbers (1,2,3) rather than writing numbers (one, two, three) is helpful. However, in the case of a monetary value that is complicated to say or that can be said multiple ways, writing the number the way you would like it said is best.

5. Communicate - Communication is what this is all about… right? Let your voice talent know right from the beginning what your ideas are for your script and the approach you had in mind. Most of the time, the copy itself will indicate what approach the voice talent will need to take. Other times several approaches could be considered viable options. This brings us to…

6. Be Flexible - While you were getting ready for the session to begin, the voice talent was also preparing. Professional voice over talent will look over the script, read it to themselves, then read it aloud and anticipate what delivery will be best based on the script, the client, and any written direction that may have been provided. Oftentimes the talent’s approach will be very close to what you were thinking. However, the talent may also deliver something slightly different or even completely unexpected. These differences could lead to results that are better then what you had imagined. Be open to what the talent brings to the table. It’s one of the reasons you chose him or her.

7. Ask For Help - The audio engineers, producers and the voice talent are all there to help you get the most out of your production. Everyone involved wants the production to be a success. If while in a recording session you are not quite sure about direction, script construction, copy edits, or have questions or concerns about the audio itself, then allow the talents and experience of these professionals to help you achieve your goals.

8. Be Specific – Vague terminology is confusing and not very helpful since it often requires further explanation anyway. “Make it blue” is not a clear direction and can be interpreted in several ways. “Bigger smile” and “descend on that word” are examples of very precise directions that the voice over talent can easily understand.

9. Keep it Positive – Everyone appreciates positive feedback. If the talent is communicating your message effectively, let them know it.

10. Make It Fun – The best and most memorable recording sessions are the fun sessions. They usually involve fun, creative scripts and people who love listening as their productions come to life. Even if the script is informational and straightforward, there is no reason the session can’t be fun while the work gets done. Sometimes, it can be so much fun… it seems strange to call it work. How’s that for getting the most out of a session?

A radio or television commercial is more than just words. The space between the lines helps to determine pace and establish mood. Space allows the mix engineer to create an environment in which the voice over exists and where music and/or sound effects can be placed to help tell the story and communicate the message. This space and these elements are often key to the production.

Scripts often indicate that sound effects and music will play a key role at certain points within a radio or TV production. These notes are great for the producer or engineer who mixes the spot. They give the mix engineer a clear idea of what the intentions of the client are and what the client is expecting to hear when the spot is finished.

However, what happens all to often is that the script is over written, leaving little or no time available for these elements to develop. They simply can’t have the impact they were intended to have. If a script, read out loud, is taking all of the time available, then what time is left for the music and sound effects to perform their role? Worse yet, the voice talent may feel forced to alter their speed or delivery to accommodate these elements. This may prevent the voice talent from communicating the message in the most effective way possible.

While there is little doubt that the message (the actual spoken words) should be the focus of most commercial audio productions, writing less copy provides space for music and sound effects to help communicate that message. In fact, these elements combined with the delivery of the voice talent, can often do more to communicate the overall message than including additional words in a script.

Radio and TV spots must fit into a specific time frame, usually :30 (:29.5 for TV) or :60 seconds. While these times are important, taking the time that will be needed for music and sound effects into consideration while writing and preparing a script can also be critical to your bottom line. The time saved in the studio by having a carefully written and timed script before recording begins, is time and therefore money saved.

Clients may insist on getting all of their critical information into a spot. But ultimately, clients want people to act (or buy something). Creative, “ear catching” commercials are often more memorable and influential then a long string of words being forced upon a listener. The space between the lines allows creativity to flourish.

Even if additional elements are not part of your radio or TV commercial, proper spacing and pacing will allow the listener to think about and hopefully act on what is being communicated to them.

Congratulations to Rodney Saulsberry for his recent nomination in the “Outstanding Actor in a Daytime Drama Series” category of The 42nd NAACP Image Awards for his role as a “Homeless Golden Voice” singer on the Bold and the Beautiful.  The awards program will air live March 4th, 2011 on Fox.

Rodney has been a successful voice over talent with ProComm Voices for several years, with campaigns including Zatarain’s, Instant Tax Services, and many more.

Check out this Zatarain’s commercial featuring Rodney as the announcer:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovcJSWsdr3g

Happy New Year from ProComm Voices!  Without question, the first viral video to hit the web in 2011 is voice over related.  Ted Williams, a homeless man in Columbus, Ohio, holds a sign on the side of Interstate 71 that says he has a “God-given gift of voice.”  In a deep announcer voice, he recites a few lines on the spot for the cameraman.  He has the “golden” radio voice!  The video racked up over 4 million views in the first 24 hours.

Mr. Williams has become an instant celebrity:  with an appearance on The Early Show and voice over job offers from the Cleveland Cavaliers, NFL, MTV, Kraft and more.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7K_UnDkpY8

A client came to ProComm the other day with a project that’s becoming more and more commonplace. Fred Baier of Delta T Engineering had created a video in Camtasia to demonstrate his software, which provides temperature monitoring for electrical systems in commercial buildings. The video was a basic screen capture walk-through of the software, which Fred narrated himself to demonstrate the features of the product.

The audio was very low resolution and Fred was interested in having a professional voice over replace his narration to take the piece to the next level and give it a bit more polish.  However, the voice still needed to sound conversational and the listener still needed to feel like he was being shown the software by someone with intimate knowledge of how the product worked – in other words, it needed to be Fred… just not Fred.

The other technical challenge was that the new voice over needed to match Fred’s pace so that the mouse movements and scene changes matched the copy.

Fred browsed through the ProComm voice talent demos on ProComm’s website until he found the voice and style he liked and cast Ron Whittemore to replace his voice over narration. Ron has a very unassuming style and is good at bringing a conversational tone to his reads, so it made for an excellent choice.

After receiving the quicktime version of the Delta T video with Fred’s narration, I spent a little time in pre-production timing out the sections of the video, so we could break it down in to smaller chunks. Ron also spent a little time in preparation viewing the video and going over the script to get a feel for the pace and tone of the narration.

One approach for a project like this is to shadow the scratch track. The voice talent will listen to the original read in his headphones while reading the copy to make sure he stays on pace with the original. This method is great when you have a longer narration that needs to match for time, but the drawback is the voice talent has less focus on the tone of the read.

After reviewing the video, Ron and I decided it might be better to just time sections and let Ron try to match those timings. Fred’s voice over had a pretty even pace and there were some open areas that we knew we could move things around a little, so there was some flexibility.

In the session, I played each section prior to Ron’s read so he could get a feel for where Fred paused or made certain inflections to match the video. Ron then gave his interpretation and after a take or two, we generally had the voice over we needed. A little nudging of the lines in post and we had a perfect match.

Check out the before and after snippet’s of the Delta T video below…

Ron’s voice over definitely gives the video a more professional feel. Fred was pleased as well…

Everything worked out great.  I just want to say “THANK YOU” to all who helped with this voice over.  It sounds great and matches the video perfectly.
Regards,
Fred Baier
Delta T Engineering