Voice Over Studio

Thursday, September 20, 2012

A Voice Over, Narration, or Comm Record are one and the same; recording a script in front of a microphone.

They can be for any number of projects; Ads, Corporate videos, TV shows, Film, Audio Books, Radio spots, Foreign language tuition... the list is almost endless. Here at Trident, we've been specialising as a voice over studio since the day we started trading back in 1993, and regularly undertake all of the above recording styles as jobs for our clients.

As for how long a particular script will take to record relies on several factors, but very little can be done in less than 30 minutes no matter how short the script is. The voice over has to arrive, meet the client (producer/director/writer), get comfy in the studio, read several takes of the script, then we have to play back any takes to check everything is ok for the client, then perhaps edit down the final chosen take to hand over back to the client. All this takes time and shouldn't be rushed, so the rule of thumb is to allow a minimum of 3 x the length of the script to record, and add at least 10 minutes either side to get going and also wrap up. So a good voice should be able to cover a well written, easily readable 10min script in a 1 hour session no problem. Having said that, if it's a really good voice over artist and there aren't too many client interjections, then a 20 - 25 minute script can be achievable in that time as well.

In reality it comes down to several factors that are out of our control as the voice over studio, and these include:

• Quality of script and its printout (has it been written as if to be read out loud? And is it printed in a large, easy read typeface?)
• Ability of voice over artist (perfomance & technical - can they deliver the style of read the client wants, and can they read ahead i.e. can they read the script as they speak and not trip on words all the time - it's not easy!)
• The amount of direction from the client (sometimes too much!)