Tips and Tricks While Recording Voice Overs
Be sure to sign up for my weekly blog by clicking the sign up button on the top right side of this page.
Brad Dassey Voice Overs
The BEST Voice For Promos and Commercials
http://www.facebook.com/braddassey
June 7, 2012
Hey, it’s Brad Dassey again from Best Promo Voice Overs.com and I’m here to let you in on three little tricks that can help IMPROVE your VO skills and one of them is a DEADLY mistake you MUST avoid while in the voice over industry!
First of all, just RELAX. Take a deep breath, hold it, count to 10 and let it out…. There, I feel better, how bout you? Ok, lets get started!
So, I have a few tips and tricks to give you this week, when recording voice overs. Now, take these to heart, because one of them COULD cost you your voice over career! I mean, just consider yourself LUCKY to even have the voice over jobs you receive, because you KNOW just how MANY people are out in the voice industry! TONS! The job could have very well been awarded to someone else, you know. So if you aren’t already thankful for each and every job you get, BE THANKFUL. Every little bit helps to advance you to the next stage in voiceover!
Ok, lets get right to it, the first tip I have for you is CRITICAL to your voice career and new voice over jobs from here on out! I am guilty of this myself! If you don’t handle your recordings in a very mature and professional manner, chances are, you could end up sending the WRONG files to your clients and then you have let the cat out of the bag and it’s not going to be a very FRIENDLY cat, at that! Now I’m sounding like Dr. Seuss.
Tip 1: NEVER, I mean NEVER mumble things in the background while recording your voice over scripts!!! I don’t care if you are practicing, or taking a straight ONE-SHOT. The worst thing you need is blurting out how you feel about the client, the product, the service or even how HORRIBLE the script is written! Even worse, dropping the ol’ F bomb in the background! Even if you might think to yourself or mumble under your breath, “I can’t believe how HORRIBLE this script is! I mean, my KID could write a better voice over script for gosh sake! Man, these people REALLY need to go back to grammar school.” Don’t do it! Chances are, if you SAVE that RAW, unedited file, you might end up sending it to the client!
Tip 2: If you have a hard time reading small print in the voice over scripts the client sends you, just copy and paste it into Microsoft Word and ENLARGE it. This way it’s so much easier to read. I know it wastes a bit more paper, but I usually save my old scripts and print on the back-side of every paper. This way it saves me money and it’s being eco-friendly! And always, ALWAYS recycle old scripts after you are finished. I usually save my scripts for a good 30 to 60 days, JUST in case the client calls back to make a change or has me RE-voice a certain part or parts. It’s good to have the copy on hand so you can just get it right out and get right to it without having to go into your e-mail, RE-printing it out, wasting valuable TIME and MONEY and INK! We all know how EXPENSIVE ink is these days. Take it from me, I used to be in the ink refill business. It’s quite COSTLY.
Tip 3: Now, it’s so EASY for clients and newbie script writers to have TONS and TONS of run on sentences and grammatical errors in their scripts. This is why I ABSOLUTELY read new scripts over a few times, fixing any grammatical errors, any run on sentences they may have, or if something simply doesn’t sound right, I would just alter the script a little bit, making it EASIER for ME to read and also HELPING the client strengthen their script. First, I would get their permission of course, then, I would send the revisions BACK to them making sure they are OK with the corrections.
Remember, EXCELLENT service is about going ABOVE and BEYOND the call of duty to HELP your clients! This way, not only will they REMEMBER that, but they will most likely RECOMMEND you for your AWESOME service as well! I’m not saying completely write the entire script over, costing you precious time. If you had to completely write a new script, I would totally charge extra for time well spent on writing a killer voice over script.
Lastly while I am talking about script writing, if you ever run into a word that is HARD to pronounce as the way they have it spelt on the script, just break it down and spell it out, or simply spell it the way it SOUNDS rather than it reads. This way when you come across it when reading your voice over scripts, you won’t have any trouble pronouncing it while voicing it. It should just FLOW right out like a river with no problems!
Well, I hope I’ve taught you a valuable lesson while recording voice overs. DON’T mumble in the background, AVOID saying anything that COULD cost you your voice over job! I mean, voice over jobs are hard to come by these days. Take your work AND your client SERIOUSLY and get in the habit of NOT saying anything in the background. This way you won’t have to worry in the long run if you may or may not have said anything in the recording.
Take care.
American Male Voice Over Talent | Brad Dassey 