Directing your Voiceover Artist

You have researched, listened, listened again, done a deal and finally you are now in a studio or on the other end of a phone with your chosen voiceover actor.

Whether you have a voiceover project that is for Elearning, radio, TV, documentary, explainer video, station imaging or other there are principles that you can apply that will ensure you get the best performance possible.

Having sat in many recording studios as a voiceover in Ireland I have been in sessions that just click into place. Here are my top tips...

1. Pre-recording prep will help everyone relax when it comes to actual recording. Before the session try and have the script finalised - avoid crossing out and rewriting on the fly during the session. If possible share the script with the voiceover before the recording session. As with anything plenty of preparation make things go smoother.

2. Test the script for "speakability". Speakability issues can arise when the script is spoken by a human as opposed to sitting on a word doc on your computer screen. So say it out loud - does it sound right?, does it flow,? is it grammatically correct? A good Especially relevant for TV and Radio commercials where time is of a premium, make sure there is enough time for the VO to get the words out and not have to rush. should be clear the first time around.

3. Watch the Time..

Good voice-overs can always speak quickly and technical guys can often do magic, but no matter what you do a text of 30 seconds just won’t fit into 20. You can avoid problems by dividing the total number of words by 120 (with a switched on voice-artist) or by 150 (with a naturally spoken voice-over). A commercial of 20 seconds is pretty much at max with 50 words.

4. How experienced is your VO?

Many people claim to be a VO and they may have a great demo. But when put into a booth with a client and an engineer they don't deliver the goods or take an hour and a half to get there. a good VO who is experienced has put many hours in and knows exactly how to get the delivery required in a short space of time. Ask for references, clients example adverts or samples.

5. Give your VO the freedom to play

Once you have shown the VO your references for what style, tone, speed let them go at it. Most good VO's have been will nail it quite quickly so you have the required "what you had in your mind takes" in the bank so to speak. Now let them have a go - a few more takes with out direction, you would be amazed at what little gems you can get.

6. Get the engineers opinion

That cranky guy has sit through more sessions than you've had hot dinners - get is opinion, he knows his stuff.

Good luck and have fun!!

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