‘Communication is Key,’ is the greatest way to sum up a successful connection between voice actors and their clients; just as it is in any relationship.
However, if the professionals recruiting voice talent don’t know what has to be expressed, then communication can be challenging!
Attracting top talent is an important element of the hiring process.
Your job form provides a voice actor with all of the information they need to decide whether or not to audition for you and your project.
If your job application isn’t up to par, you’re not going to get any interviews from the best candidates for the job.
Have you ever felt “over your head” while directing voiceover talent in a VO session? Perhaps you were underwhelmed with your chosen talent’s final recording, even though you believed you gave them adequate direction.
Well before your VO artist sits down at the microphone, you must start getting precisely what you need from the voice-over performance.
Here are a few simple steps you can take before the session to assist you and the voice talent in achieving the best possible outcome.
Give a Brief Overview of Your Audience
What is the purpose of the VO? When and where will it be broadcast? Whom are we conversing with? These may seem self-evident to you, but they may not be to the voice-over artist.
Addressing speakers at a toy manufacturers’ conference would feel different from narrating a film for luxury automobile buyers.
These questions are also relevant to pricing, so they should be covered before the sessions and even before the rate of interest is determined.
Provide detailed information about your intended audience so that the performer is aware of whom he or she is talking to.
Determine the Role of the Performer
Is your performer taking on the role of the brash announcer? What about the well-informed educator? Is your best friend a gentle soul? Make them aware of the voice’s function. To get into that part and perform it with conviction, seasoned voice-over actors would build their personal back story.
Define Your Desired Sound
When describing how you desire a script to sound, be as specific as possible.
Warm, friendly, worried, dispassionate, humorous, serious, eccentric, hip, brassy, sassy, and movie-trailer large are all good choices.
Words like lovely, flat, and chatty are poor choices. These are usually far too broad and subject to a wide range of interpretations.
Even while most experienced voice actors will have a solid sense of where to begin, I always warn clients that I’m not a mind-reader and that there are different levels of “friendly” that may or may not match with the concept in your head.
Make Timing Specifications Clear
If the voice track has to be synced to a video or fit into a specified timeframe, make sure you inform the talent ahead of time. Most professionals operate with a stopwatch in place and are well-versed in how to fit copy into the allotted time.
Make sure, however, that the copy fits into the timeframe. When a performer is given a 30-second spot that is way overwritten, it might be frustrating.
Make every effort to produce a script that is timed correctly.
Do You Need Fast Quality Voice-overs
If you need fast, quality voiceovers, you might want to think beyond the traditional voice talents.
You might want to consider Artificial Intelligence Voice Overs. AI voices are also inexpensive, scalable, and simple to use.
Synthetic voices, unlike human voice actors, may modify their script instantaneously, offering up new possibilities for advertising personalization.
Azunivoice.com is one of the trusted providers of AI voice-overs provides for small businesses, NGOs. Reach out to us and we will walk you through the process.
Azuni Voice 