Voiceover is one of the critical elements for the success of a video. It requires a certain amount of planning, management, direction, time, and money for achieving high-end results. Not only do you have to understand who your target audience is, but you also have to find the perfect voiceover talent and guide it through the performance.
Starting a voiceover project without any proper planning may lead to miscommunication between your project and outside workers hired for it. Hence, a creative project brief will allow your voice talent to understand the purpose of voiceover recording as well as the performance style required to meet the end goals.
Below are some tips you can follow to take your voiceover project to the next level.
1. Write the voiceover script
Once you’ve planned out your project, it’s time to prepare your voiceover script. A well-written script can lead to the overall success of the voiceover project. On the other hand, with a poorly-drafted script, you’ll end up with unexpected voiceover results, and wasted time and money.
So, to avoid such problems, follow these guidelines for effective scriptwriting.
• Write the script in a more natural and conversational tone.
• Use short and crisp sentences of varying lengths.
• Include transition words such as ‘therefore, but, meanwhile, and however’ to clarify the message of the script.
• Decide whether you’ll use first, second, or third person.
• Use silence and pauses at appropriate places. It helps the listeners understand the audio content more effectively.
• Write full forms wherever possible instead of abbreviations.
• Read your script out loud to spot any error and misspelled words, as well as to get the hang of timing and pacing.
• Lastly, revise your script before handing it over to the voice artist.
2. Hiring the right voiceover talent
After writing your script, the next big thing is to find the right voiceover talent to help your business reach a wider audience. This depends on a few elements, such as the type of audio content, targeted audience, budget, delivery time, and other particulars of your project. You also need to decide whether you want to work with an individual voice actor or a recording company.
Here are some qualities you must look for in a voice actor –
• A unique and attractive voice
• Ability to express emotions with the voice
• Clear and confident pronunciation
• Strong command over the language
• Excellent dialogue delivery
• Knowledge of various tools and equipment required in this field.
• Ability to modulate his/her voice according to the character’s performance
• Reading fluency
3. Set the recording studio
The studio that you choose for recording has a significant impact on the overall performance of your project. To find the most suitable room, read your script loudly in each room, and listen to the sound carefully. A small room will have a louder echo, whereas a big one will make you sound distant and hard to understand.
Furthermore, outside noises of traffic, airplanes flying, and blowing wind can disrupt the recording process. So, you need to make sure that the room has soundproof wall padding, mats, and curtains to prevent these outside noises from being recorded.
The next crucial thing to consider is the surface and furnishings in the room. A room with hard surfaces can make the voice sound worse. Thus, a studio with soft furnishings is always a better choice.
4. Provide the voice actor with appropriate guidelines
Before you start recording your script, it is essential to decide the guidelines of your project and communicate the same to the voice over talent.
• Provide a pronunciation guide which contains the pronunciations of words and abbreviations.
• Give a sample or an idea of the end product to the voiceover actor so that he can match his voice to the timing and character.
• Discuss the technical requirements of the project such as the file format, the length of the script, and the timing of the voiceover video.
• Provide proper direction to the voice talent regarding how you want them to read your script.
Furnishing such information will not only save your time and money but also result in a fruitful collaboration with the voiceover artist or company.
Look no further. Find the best partner for your all your voiceover and dubbing requirements – DUBnSUB. We are a voiceover company based in Gurgaon, India with branch offices in Berlin, Germany, Paris, France, and Boston, USA. We offer high-quality voiceover services at competitive costs in more than 70 languages through a mix of our own and extensive partner network of 200 recording studios and with our pool of more than 3,200 native voiceover artists.
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