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ALL ABOUT
VOICE OVER AND VOICE OVER TALENT
From
American Male Voice Actor, Dan Wachs
VOICE OVER CATEGORIES
Let's start by taking a look at the many
voice over categories, the kinds of voice
over jobs that are available to every voice
over talent. There are so many voice
over jobs that it's no wonder that around
the world hundreds of jobs, maybe even
thousands, are recorded every day. If
you're a voice over talent, you're bound to
be good at several categories but really
great in others. That would be the sweet
spot. If I were a client looking to hire a
voice over talent for announcements at a
Fortune 500 company annual event, I'd
certainly look for someone who has that
"sweet spot" in his or her arsenal.
How do you, the client, determine this?
Two ways. Have the voice artist
audition for the job and also listen to
other examples of the candidate's actual
work. Your ears will tell you if this
voice over talent has a feel for your
product, service, or event.
Corporate Image and Business Voice Over:
This is an enormous category as it contains
so many sub-categories, i.e. radio and
television voiceovers that tout a company's
mission or highlight its image, live
corporate events in which the voice over
talent records messages to play at the
event, live corporate events such as a sales
conference in which the voice artist
performs live, promotional videos on
Websites or email in which the company
advertises its products or services, and
more.
Website voice over: Voice over
narration designed to put forward a company
or organization image or message out on the
World Wide Web. Usually a voice over
that accompanies a video.
Radio commercial voice over:
Straight voiceovers or fully-produced voice
over including music bed and sound effects (SFX).
Television commercial and promo voice over:
Work with professional video production
company. Provide straight voice over
track only.
Sports voice over: Traditional sports
announcer, color commentator, promo and game
wrap work for professional sport teams.
Political and Issue voice over: Voice
talent records political ads for candidates
or issue oriented ad for special interest
group.
eLearning and educational voice over:
How-to voice over for training purposes.
"Insert peg A into slot B" and the like!
Instructional or how-to voice over: Same as
above.
Medical
animation and medical narration voice over:
Highly-specialized voice over for narrow
audience. Includes technical words in
which correct pronunciation is critical.
Documentary voice over: Television
and film documentary voice over is a
long-form project. Voice over style dictated
by content. Coordinated by a
professional video production studio
Movie Trailer voice over: Big, deep
and dramatic "Voice of God" for films and
television films. And, of course the legend,
Mr. Don Lafontaine "the Movie Guy" has to be
mentioned here.
Live Event voice over:
Pre-recorded or live announcements to be
played during a live event such as a
sporting event, sales
conference or awards ceremony.
Audio Book voice over:
Long-form voice over project often 100,000
words or more.
Narration voice over: Voiceover
project usually at least two minutes in
length. Can be any topic or style.
Animation voice over: Think
Disney-Pixar, EA Sports, X-Box and all the
others. Besides this mammoth
entertainment company, there are hundreds of
smaller production companies who produce
animations and video games that may not be
household names, but still have a market
share. All of those games have
characters and voice actors or international
celebrities play the roles.
IVR phone systems: "Thank you for
calling. For sales, press one."
Every company has one because no one wants
to lose a prospective customer.
Hardware voice over: When your GPS
system tells you to make a right turn in 100
feet, that's someone's voice over work.
Same with Siri on the iPhone and so many
other voices you hear in today's personal
gear.
Voice Over Talent Basics: Custom
voice over projects delivered in 24 hours or
less. Radio and TV commercials,
corporate presentations, narration,
movie trailers, corporate presentations,
audio books, animation, video games, message
on hold, or any kind of audio or voice
project.
WHERE DOES THE VOICE OVER MAGIC HAPPEN?
The home voice over studio: 99% or
more of the voice over projects today are
recorded from the home studios of voice
actors around the world. These
home studios range from a simple microphone
plugged into a computer via USB cable, a
pair of headphones, and maybe some Auralex
sound-absorption material scattered around a
few walls - OR - maybe that home studio has
the world's most exotic equipment,
comparable to what you'd find in a highly
sought-after professional recording studio
in NY or Los Angeles. No matter how
elaborate the setup, you can be assured that
if you're looking to hire a voice talent for
your project, that person will be recording
from his or her home studio, And
think about how convenient this is for both
parties! You, the client, don't have
to hire an expensive recording studio.
The voice talent doesn't have to travel
anywhere to get to a job. Unless, the
talent considers walking a few feet to a
room converted into a studio a long trip!
Everybody saves time and money!
Another benefit is that by cutting down on
travel time, you are also cutting down on
the time it takes to record a voice over
job, so you gain speed! This is great
for all the wonderful clients who want to
"get it done yesterday." And for those
of you who fall into that category - PLEASE
CONTACT ME. I'll get it done in no
time!
DAN WACHS VOICE OVER TALENT SERVICE
Voice Over Talent Basics: Custom
voice over projects delivered in 24 hours or
less. Radio and TV commercials,
corporate presentations, narration,
movie trailers, corporate presentations,
audio books, animation, video games, message
on hold, or any kind of audio or voice
project. HOW DO HELP YOUR
VOICE OVER TALENT GIVE YOU THE BEST VOICE
OVER AUDITION POSSIBLE?
Prepping your talent the right way:
The better your voice over talent
understands the job, the better the audition
quality will be. So give them
everything they need to truly understand
what they're doing when they open up that
microphone. Describe the product or
service, giving just enough details to cue
the VO talent into what you're all about.
What is the general demographic of the voice
talent? What is the demo range of
customers or clients who will use this
product of service. Who is the Voice
Artist portraying? A father?
Mother? Next door neighbor?
Executive? Cop? And if there's
an emotional tone or an on-line video
including someone whose VO work you, that
could prove extremely helpful, too!
Since all of us human beings absorb
information differently, try to be as
specific as possible in terms of explaining
what you want. This is essential
towards creating a successful campaign!
MALE VOICE OVER TALENT OR FEMALE VOICE
OVER TALENT?
OK, you're ready to launch your project.
Now how do you choose the talent?
In a perfect world, I'd like to make this
easy. Choose me! But if you'd
like a different male voice, then I can help
you. As a private voice over coach and
a fellow who networks a lot in the business,
I have close contacts with all sizes,
shapes, and flavors of male voice over
talent. Contact me and I'll help you find
the right voice. If you're looking for
a female voice, the same thing applies.
I have close affiliations with female actors
and voice actors all over the USA and the
world. So if you're planning a voice
over project for either a male or female
voice, contact me today!
WHAT IF I HIRE A VOICE OVER TALENT AND I
WANT TO MAKE CHANGES AFTER THE RECORDING IS
COMPLETED?
If it's a matter of style then it's
perfectly reasonable to ask for an
adjustment, especially if not too much time
has gone by since the read was delivered.
There should be no charge for style changes
as its the voice artist's job to satisfy the
client. However, after a couple of
weeks, that request becomes more difficult
as it could have been made earlier.
Changes due to copy changes are considered a
new job, although many voice talents will
only charge a percentage of the job based
upon the amount of changes, difficulty, etc.
It's always good to iron out the details
ahead of time, if at all possible. Voice Over Talent Philosophy: What
makes an excellent voice over? Your
voice over talent puts the client first and
understands that job #1 is the make the
client succeed. For your voice over
project to ring, it's a combination of great
voice over talent, excellent communication
between the voice over talent and client,
and it's all supported by top notch
professional recording gear.
VOICE OVER CLIENT TESTIMONIALS
"For our
Television Special, we chose Daniel Wachs
for his friendly conversational style
narration. His voice quality exudes a warmth
and neighbor-next-door quality and we were
very pleased with his professionalism and
turn-around time for the work. Daniel will
be at the top of the list for our next
Television and DVD Project."
- Robert Cording, Cast Theater Production
Company
"If you're
looking for a hassle free professional, look
no further. Daniel Wachs is the real deal. A
true pro. I went into this arrangement
thinking I would certainly need to provide
direction for Daniel with the reading. I was
wrong. He nailed it the first take. Made the
whole process painless, easy and fun. I
can't recommend him enough."
- Patrick Alexander, PGA Films
"Dan was
quite frankly, excellent. First time we used
him, but the marketing department has
already decided to use him for the follow-up
campaigns. He was professional, easy to work
with, and delivered the finished product two
days earlier than the deadline. We highly
recommend him."
- Robert Dodenhoff, American Drug Testing
"Excellent
quality! Superb professionalism!
- Tom Patterson, USI Insurance
"Thanks
Daniel. Great to work with you. Super
fast response and great communication.
We'll be sure to work with you again."
- Benjamin McElroy, McElroy Films
"Consummate
professional. Rapid turnaround even
considering a holiday weekend. Would
definitely recommend Dan Wachs to others."
- Michael Feigel, Award winning audio book
author
"Daniel did a
great job. He was very responsive and made
all of the changes we'd asked for. We would
definitely look to use him again."
- Kolby Kappes, Video Game Producer
What makes
a great voice over? YOUR SATISFACTION.
I always believed in the saying, "If you
want to succeed, make your boss succeed."
This served me well my entire 32-year radio
career, and it still works today.
As your voice, my only goal
is to make you succeed. With a
complete professional home recording studio
and the ability to deliver results fast, I
think that will happen every time.
What can I
do for you? |
