{"id":9279,"date":"2016-02-29T05:30:00","date_gmt":"2016-02-29T05:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.voicebooking.com\/blog\/2016\/02\/29\/8-practical-tips-for-directing-a-voiceover\/"},"modified":"2023-05-25T11:34:46","modified_gmt":"2023-05-25T09:34:46","slug":"eight-tips-for-directing-a-voice-over","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.voicebooking.com\/en\/blog\/eight-tips-for-directing-a-voice-over","title":{"rendered":"Top 8 tips for directing a voice over"},"content":{"rendered":"

Directing a voice over or a voice actor can be a breeze. That is, until the voice artist in question performs something in a way you hadn\u2019t imagined. In this blog a couple of handy hints to make a real party of any studio session or home studio listen-along.<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Before the recordings begin<\/h2>\n

Good prep is half the work. Let\u2019s take it for granted that you are taking a definitive<\/em> script into the studio session with you. How can you make sure that during the recording you\u2019re not going to be crossing out and rewriting?<\/p>\n

Test the script for speakability<\/h2>\n

Make sure all the vocabulary is clearly understandable. Very often you come across structure that simply doesn\u2019t flow. On paper it may work just fine but when you say it out loud you\u2019re soon tripping over your tongue. Those are generally the lines which are still very much written language, or where the timing doesn\u2019t fit. A good line should be clear first time around. Not the case? Very often that\u2019s because there is information at the beginning of the sentence that logically follows from something else you don\u2019t hear about until the end of the line. Read more about writing a script in spoken language<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Keep an eye on the time<\/h2>\n

It\u2019s handy to check in advance if the text fits against the allotted time. Good voice overs can always speak quickly and techies can often do magic, but no matter what you do a text of 30 seconds just won\u2019t fit into 20. You can prevent 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.<\/p>\n

How experienced is your voice artist?<\/h2>\n

Of the 1000 people that have the word voice over on their LinkedIn Profile, only around 100 of them are experienced. No matter how good a demo sounds, you don\u2019t know how long it took the other 900 to record it. With a good voice over you\u2019ll be on your way out of the studio whistling a happy tune within 10 minutes, with another it could take you an hour and half (and even then it may only be a 6 out of 10). In these cases stay patient and make sure the talkback mic is only on when you have something positive to say ;). Check out our professional voice actors<\/a>.<\/p>\n