Tips on Getting the Most Out of Your Voice Talent

These are tips intended primarily for producers, directors, and writers who employ voice-over talent. Most of them have never had any formal training on how to direct talent — they learned on the job as they went along. These tips will help you get better results when you next find yourself in recording studio, looking through the glass at the talent inside — on whose voice and skill the success of your project may depend. These tips may also be useful to talent who are still trying to master their trade….

• Tip One — Casting the right talent
• Tip Two — Preparing for a good read: point of view, back story, paraphrasing
• Tip Three — "Voice-acting" directing tips
• Tip Four — Physicality
• Tip Five — Directing tips on sounding "conversational"
• Tip Six — Script formatting, recording environment

Tip One — Casting the right talent

Working with a reputable agent is the easiest way to find the right talent for you. They earn their commission by screening out talent who may disappoint you in the studio and by recommending talent who are best suited to your needs. The two most common ways to cast a voice talent are either through auditions (best held with assistance of a talent agent or casting director), or, after listening to a selection of demos (or an agency CD) sent by your talent agent.

If you have time to hold an audition, here are a few things to keep in mind: first, please be thorough in your description of the project and what type of read you are looking for. If all you’ve sent to the talent agent for the audition is one paragraph from the script, the best your talent can do is merely infer what the tone should be. (Common sense it seems, but more often than not I have very little to go by when I audition.) You should include specific audition notes regarding the type of read you want (authoritative, friendly, conversational, hard sell, soft sell, etc.). It also really helps talent to know who the audience is. If your project is a TV or radio spot, what is the demographic you’re aiming at? If the project is an industrial (training, educational, fund-raising, etc), is the audience familiar with the subject material, or do they need to be led through it carefully and deliberately? Also, what is the purpose of your project? Is it to sell, to educate, to reassure, etc.?

If possible, have a story-board available, or at least a description of what is happening visually. For example, if I know that your video will include lots of close-ups of kids and puppies, I may want to read more softly-- so as not to appear to be shouting in their faces. A fast-cut MTV-editing style would suggest a more energetic read. Also, please describe the background music (industrial synth vs. pop-rock vs. metal vs. classical, etc.); knowing that will give talent a better idea of what volume, pacing, and tone is appropriate.

If you can, allow two takes per person with the proviso that the second take be different from their first -- the talent’s idea of what might work. Sometimes a talented actor will come up with THE idea that nobody else thought of that’s just perfect for your project.

Rather than hold an audition, you may decide instead to cast a talent directly off of a Talent Agency CD demo. This option can save you time BUT there are pitfalls — truth is, a demo can give a false sense of the experience and poise level of the talent in question. For example, an inexperienced talent may be able to record an impressive-sounding demo tape through the miracle of modern digital editing, but you have no way of knowing how many takes it took them to get a good read. It may have required 20 takes to get that 10 second snippet that you liked on their demo, but do you really want to hire someone who can’t give you a good read without costing you lots of expensive studio time? Before you cast someone right off of a demo sent to you by a talent agent, ask the agent how experienced the talent is and what sort of feedback they’ve gotten from producers the talent has worked with. The agent WANTS to help you pick the right person, and will be happy to help you with their assessments.

Believe me, working with an experienced voice-over talent will save you time, money, and aggravation, and you’ll get a read that puts your project in the best possible light!

[TALENT CORNER INDEX]

Tip Two — preparing for a good read: point of view, back story, paraphrasing

Effective voice-over isn’t just reading in a clear voice, a good part of what makes it effective is communicating with an engaging point of view. Okay, so what does that mean? Well, first of all, let me define "communicating" vs." reading." In this context, reading can be defined as merely "making sounds that are recognizable as words." Communicating, by contrast is reading with the added element of the transfer of ideas and opinions. Ever listen to a boring training video and think, "I’m hearing the words, but it just sounds like gobbledygook — in one ear and out the other -- even though the talent is reading everything clearly? Well, most likely the talent had no idea what he or she was talking about (and especially given the technical nature of many industrial projects, that will happen unless you give them a clue!)

As a talent, I like to paraphrase every script in advance, explaining the ideas in the script in my own words as best I can -- even if I have to make it up. The result is everything I read in the script now has more meaning to me, and that connection with meaning leads to two other consequences: first, I’ve sold myself on the value of the ideas in the script. And secondly, I sound like I know what I’m talking about. The result is a hard-to-define (but you know it when you hear it) quality to the talent’s voice, that gives it true credibility and authority.

So how can you prepare your talent to give you the best read? One of the most important things you can do is to let the talent know the pertinent background information about the project. Answer questions such as, "what is the goal of this project," "who is the audience," and explain to the talent the basics of the process or product involved. A dramatic shift occurs when the talent "buys into" the project, and has a basic understanding of what they are saying.

In addition to the value of understanding the meaning of the ideas in the script, another aspect of the voice-over performance that will make it more effective is that it needs a strong point of view. By "point of view," I mean the feelings and opinions behind the communication, and the reasons for saying it. For example, I can be PROUD of the history of company X, and I can be IMPRESSED with its new line of products. Or, I can be FASCINATED at the inner workings of the knee joint, or, I can have the OPINION that "the competitor’s product just doesn’t cut it." My reason can be something like, "this information is very important for the workers to understand in order to do their jobs safely," or, "I want to sooth this person who’s worried." A talent who reads with a point of view will always be more interesting to listen to than one without. And after all, if nobody listens, how can your project effectively convey its message?

Finally, it really helps your talent if you can play the music that will accompany the read, as well as giving them a sense of what the visuals will be. For example, if the music behind a health-care TV spot is soft and soothing, the talent will want to get close to the mic and speak softly to bring the appropriate intimacy to the read. By contrast, if this health-care spot instead had more energetic techno-music behind it ("we have the latest high-tech equipment, blah, blah, blah…"), the read will need more energy than in the first example. Similarly, how tightly the visuals are framed will determine how much energy the read needs. An energetic read with close-up visuals will seem like the talent is shouting in your face. So please, show and tell your talent as much as you can about the music and visuals you plan for your TV spot, training video, whatever. Seems like common sense, I know, but in practice I often do not get this information unless I make a point to ask about it!

[TALENT CORNER INDEX]

Tip Three — "voice-acting" directing tips

Let’s talk about the task of directing talent. As a producer, you may have a clear idea in your head of how you want the read for your program to sound, but no idea of how to get that that sound out of your voice-over talent. Well, I’ve got some suggestions that may help you get the results you’re looking for.

Suppose you are recording a fund-raising video or TV spot for a children’s hospital, and you want a "warm and fuzzy" feel to it. There are purely technical things a talent can do to sound warm (e.g., speak in a soft, breathy manner while smiling), and many directors will settle for such an imitation. But what makes a read really special is when a talent actually feels "warm and fuzzy". The real deal always sounds better than the imitation (it’s kinda like that butter vs. margarine thing).

But how, pray tell, can you direct a talent to find that emotional connection with your script? Now, you may have the attitude of "that’s the actor’s job", and you may be right. But I’ve witnessed many talented stage actors forgetting everything they’ve learned about acting when they are constrained by being behind a microphone cooped up in a sound booth. Never fear, I’ve got a few tips for you.

In the above example, where you’re seeking "real, genuine warmth", one approach I would suggest is for the talent to find a visualization that they can connect with emotionally. For one of my voice-over students, that visualization was the image of being held in her husband’s arms. When she focused on that image, her read came totally alive with real warmth and comfort, and it was truly compelling to listen to.

Another way to get a certain emotion from a talent is to ask them to tell you a true story from their life when they actually felt that emotion. I worked with a talent once on a script for a women’s college, whose theme was about "striving to be the person you’ve always dreamed you could be." I instructed the talent to think of the time in her life when she felt most powerful, respected, and inspired. She then proceeded to tell me a true story about successfully putting together a community service project when she was in college, and as she got into it, I could see the pride in her face–which is exactly when I asked her to give the script another try. She then gave a terrific read -- one with exactly the sort of inspiration the script needed -- because she found a real and personal emotional connection to the story in the script.

On another project, I was working with a talent who was narrating a promotional video for resort ranch in Colorado. He just wasn’t romancing the words the way they needed to be, in order to entice listeners to come visit. So I asked him to tell me about the most beautiful place he has ever visited. His eyes lit up when he told me about his mountain-climbing trip to the Alps. I could see his whole face and body change, as he remembered in vivid detail the sights, sounds, and smells of the Alps. That’s when I asked him to read the script again, and this time, he really sold it!

The point is, it’s always better for the talent to actually be feeling the emotion you’re looking for, than it is for them to "imitate" that feeling. Hopefully these anecdotes will give you ideas about how to help your talent find that emotional connection to the script–because it’s that kind of voice "acting" that can make the difference between the everyday and the extraordinary!

[TALENT CORNER INDEX]

Tip Four — Physicality

Here’s a suggestion you can try out in your next session to get your talent to communicate a stronger point of view. Again, I define "point of view" as the opinions and feelings a speaker has about what they are saying, and what their reason is for saying it (e.g., to reassure, to inspire, to humor, to flirt, etc.–you get the idea…). It’s the speaker’s point of view that makes their read interesting, and gets your ideas across in a way that makes people actually want to listen.

As a performer, I’m very big on using my physicality to help me communicate my point of view. My face stretches and contorts like Jim Carrey when I’m behind the microphone. Many of these facial expressions directly change the sound of my voice. For example, when I frown, you can hear my "concern." When I crinkle up my nose, it sounds like I’m disgusted. And when I smile, of course you can hear that, too. These expressions do make subtle physical changes in the sound chamber of the head and mouth.

When you raise your eyebrows (an expression of surprise, amazement, or sincerity), the muscles that move your eyebrows are also attached to muscles that raise the roof of your mouth slightly. This has a noticeable effect on the sound that comes out (try sounding "amazed" without raising your eyebrows–it’s very difficult!). Raised eyebrows are a good way to get a "friendly" tone, without pasting an insincere-sounding smile on the whole read.

A more technical comment is that posture can also have an important effect on how the talent sounds. If they are standing rigidly in front of the microphone, feet close together, knees locked and spine stiffened, then their read will also sound stiff. A slight relaxation of the knees and realignment of the feet will loosen up the whole body, resulting in a more relaxed sound. If you ever find yourself in the oh-so-much-fun job of having to record non-professionals, helping them relax in this way when they’re behind the mic can make that task much easier.

However, there are also elements of how a talent uses their body that do not have a direct impact on the mouth-head sound chamber. For example -- and maybe it’s because I’m half-Italian -- but I always talk with my hands when I’m performing. I find that it allows me to bring much more animation and energy to my read. Perhaps it has something to do with the way those so-called "chakra" energy fields work, maybe it’s just that I can breathe more fully when my arms are not rested against the sides of my chest, or there could be some other explanation–all I know is, it WORKS.

I once was directing a student in a voice-over class I was teaching at a studio, and she was struggling to get some "attitude" in her read. Once I observed that she was standing stiffly behind the mic, my suggestion was simply that she talk with her hands more. Then, when she got to the part of the script that really needed some bite to it, she wagged her finger. It was a response that came out naturally, and it somehow unleashed the "attitude" in her. Now obviously, wagging a finger doesn’t directly affect the mouth-head echo chamber that determines the sound that comes out, but suddenly her read worked.

When he was running for re-election, papa George W. Bush received coaching to talk with his hands more in order to appear more forceful. Remember, he had this "wimp-factor" image he needed to overcome. Sometimes he overdid it a bit -- which gave Dana Carvey lots of material for his famous impression of the ex-president-- but it did help him speak with more conviction. When I need to sound authoritative in a recording session, I find myself making gestures like pointing with my entire hand (rather than just my finger), or with a clenched fist — and it works!

If you have a performer in the recording booth reading a script with an expressionless face, stiffer than a wax-museum subject, you can be sure that their read will bore you to tears, too. Use these tips on physicality to help your talent communicate their opinions and feelings in the script more persuasively–and your ideas more effectively!

[TALENT CORNER INDEX]

Tip Five — Directing tips on sounding "conversational"

What exactly does sounding "conversational" mean? I’ve found that it may mean distinctly different things to different people. But I define the "conversational read" for our purposes as "sounding natural, as if we are hearing an actual conversation between real people," rather than the talent sounding like they are reading someone else’s words off of a script.

Some of the important elements of the "conversational" sound are: projection, diction, non-verbal cues, and a varied pace. By raising your awareness of how these elements work, I hope you will be better able to direct your talent in order to get that elusive "conversational read."

• Projection: the talent should sound like they are having a conversation with just one person (rather than a room full of people, as an announcer often speaks). This intimacy in delivery also serves to draw listeners in–due to a voyeuristic tendency we all have to want to eavesdrop on conversations. Speaking fairly softly while close to the mic will do the trick.
• Diction: we tend to be much less formal with our diction when we are actually speaking to a real person than we typically are when reading. For example, the word "you" might be pronounced more like "yuh". Awkward letter transitions, such as in the phrase "compact disc", will become less precise (i.e., you wouldn’t pronounce the "t" sound on the word "compact").
• Non-verbal cues are extremely important in developing a "natural" read. We use non-verbal sounds to express ourselves all the time in normal conversation without noticing that we are doing so. For example, an audible breath can communicate certain emotions simply by the way it sounds: a sigh can demonstrate relief, a shallow inhalation can signify stress, and a quick inhalation can show surprise. Most talent are simply not aware of these non-verbal habits, and stop doing them as soon as they begin reading scripted words.
• When we are engaged in a conversation, we tend to not want to leave blank air because the person we are speaking with may interrupt us. So what we do is, we fill in that blank space. For example, if we are searching for the right adjective to use, we might stretch out the word before the adjective in question ("it’s sort oooooof… ), to give our brains time to decide which word to use and still not lose our turn in the conversation. If we fail to fill-in that space, our partner may finish our sentence for us, and we may lose our place in the conversation. Or, we may finish one sentence and then immediately say just the first word of the next sentence, simply in order to hold our ground, buying time while we decide just which words to use.
• Pacing: when one is reading the written word, we tend to speak at a constant, regular pace. But when we’re having an actual conversation with another human being, the truth is that our pacing can be more erratic. We tend to slow down when we are communicating complex ideas or discussing emotionally uncomfortable situations. We tend to speed up through the less important points, or when we get enthused about what we are talking about. A conversational read will therefore usually have an uneven pace, whereas a read with steady pacing will sound like someone is reading a script.

Speaking "at" someone, rather than "to" them, may be a bad way to capture and maintain the attention of your audience. Pronouncing words in a manner that is overly formal (even if it is "correct") can prevent the audience from trusting the communicator of your message. Leaving out non-verbal sounds can make a read sound sterile. If a narrator gives every sentence equal weight, and speaks at a constant pace, the read will not sound natural and the listener will want to tune out. Sounding conversational is a real skill that few voice-talent have mastered. Using these tips will help you get a more "natural" read from your talent when your project requires it.

[TALENT CORNER INDEX]

Tip Six — Script formatting, recording environment

Here are some very mundane pointers to help your next session go smoothly. Let’s talk about the way scripts appear visually. First off, do NOT use all capital letters — it’s very hard on the eyes. Second, please give us a clean copy — many times I have to make do with a blurry fax of a fax. Third, on multi-page scripts, make sure that the bottom of each page ends with a complete sentence — better yet, that it ends at the end of a paragraph. This will minimize time wasted due to shuffling of paper noises — a little thing, I know, but over a long script, it may make the difference so you have to pay the talent AND studio for that extra half-hour. Fourth, please have a font size of 12 or 14 for a Times New Roman sort of font. (By the way, fonts such as Times New Romanwith serifs -- those frilly endings on letters that clean fonts like Arial lack — are supposedly easier to read.) Finally, the margins on each side should not be so narrow that the eye has trouble going from the end of one line down to the beginning of the next line below. In practice, this means you might want to tighten up the margins about 10-15% over what you normally use. Oh, one more thing — don’t have the copy go to low on the bottom of the page! This is because it forces us to lower our head to read it, which may take us off mic (adversely affecting the quality of the sound), and making it harder to read.

If you are trying to get an accurate time on a script while you are still developing it, make sure you read it with a full sound; if you read it under your breath while timing yourself, you won’t take into account breathing time and tongue twisters — which will fool you into thinking you can comfortably fit in more words than you really can.

One last complaint, this one about the longer industrial scripts — please use commas!! Many writers for industrial scripts (training, safety, technical instructions, etc.) do not understand that writing for someone to have to read out loud is different from writing for someone to read to themselves. The vast majority of narration scripts I’ve come across are drastically under-punctuated. Long run-on sentences will trip up the most experienced talent, making your session last longer than it needs to, making your bill from the engineer and talent higher than it needs to be (though I’m not complaining too loudly about that….)

Now, a few comments about the environment. Please have a copy stand that is adjustable! Many cheap ones don= t adjust high enough, so that talent (especially tall ones) are looking down, are off mike, and can= t breathe as well. This drastically affects their ability to give you a good read. And while I’m at it, standing is MUCH preferable to sitting while reading copy. This is because it’s much easier to control our breathing and get fuller breaths while standing, than it is while sitting. It’s also much easier to use our physicality (see Tip Four above) when standing.

Please have adequate lighting. Again, common sense, but my experience has been that sometimes this is an issue. If it’s too bright, however, you may make the sound booth uncomfortably hot over lengthy scripts. You don’t need to light up the entire room, really — just the script!

A few helpful things to have on hand: warm or hot water (cold water solidifies the gunk in our throats, making a clean read harder); and have an apple on hand. Why? Because eating an apple can get rid of a talent’s cotton mouth. See, if a talent’s mouth is too dry (oftentimes a sign of a nervous talent), the mouth will make pops and clicks that you wouldn’t normally notice in conversation, but that the mic will pick up audibly. The simple act of eating an apple (it’s important that they eat the skin) can save a session that otherwise might be unusable due to excessive mouth noises.

[TALENT CORNER INDEX]