REBECCA HAUGH Female Voice Actor

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Rebecca@lovethatrebecca.com

310-584-7379

ASAP Voiceover Quote

Guide your Voice Actor with this Simple and Powerful Method

instructional design, production, voiceover

Before Recording Educational Voiceover, Guide your Voice Actor with this method.

To my friends in Instructional Design and to the CD’s and EP’s at Media Production companies, your educational course or study is powerful, with well-considered and thought-out design at its core. The spoken audio ‘heard’ by a course participant can support or strengthen course modules, as well as help retention. Longer form audio that is scripted into online courses is a very viable medium for a voice actor to bring their acting ‘chops’ to the collaboration, aside from their stamina and microphone technique.

In this article, I’m focusing on a simple and powerful method for the Instructional Designer or Media Company to prep the voice actor (VO) for the recording session. I call it the ‘VO Logline’.

As a voice actor, my role is to make the words I read sound real, authentic and conversational. During my collaborations with Instructional Designers and course study Writers, I’ve adapted my acting technique to breathe life into learning – educational courses. I just renamed this method as the VO Logline. With a simple and powerful VO Logline for your project, a VO can grab ahold of that ‘essence’ while they record for you.

What is a logline anyway? Usually that’s a term used for TV, defined as a one-sentence summary of your TV story. A logline answers the question: What is your story about? It’s the kind of thing that TV Guide writes up about a program. So, a VO Logline for any kind of learning course informs the VO who they are speaking as, to whom they are speaking, and the context of that dialog. In essence, the ‘learning story’.

Now, all those of you who are familiar with a TV logline might immediately think ‘ah ha’! Nice idea. Those of you who aren’t, let me explain. You’ll use the simple steps below to create elements of the VO Logline – the single sentence providing insight to the VO before they record for you. It’s a simple way to guide your voice actor using what you already know.

Create a VO Logline using these 3 steps before the script is recorded. Then share the VO Logline with the person recording your script. This dials them into the vocal attitude and tone to match your objectives, like a shortcut.

1. Define “Who” Is Speaking.

Think of the written words to be recorded.

  • ‘Who’ would say this to the course participant? What is their job title, role in the organization, and level of experience?
  • What is their role with the course participant?

You’ve just defined who the VO is speaking as. Nice!

2. Define the course participant.

  • What is their job title, role in the organization, level of experience?
  • Who are they hearing from: a peer, a higher-up, a Subject Matter Expert (SME)?

You’ve just defined the person that the voice actor is speaking to. Great.

3. Write your VO Logline as a simple sentence about the participant, speaker and course value.

Here are real-world samples from courses I have personally recorded:

  • An experienced senior foster care social worker is teaching new social workers the State rules they’ll need to follow for their job.
  • An expert sales manager motivating and demonstrating to the veteran sales team how to use and maximize a new CRM.
  • A retail clothes buyer teaching a new company-wide inventory and sales system to her peers, so they all run it effectively.

What is your VO Logline? Write me and share it.

Now it feels like a story about the people who are touchpoints within your learning course.

VO Loglines create dramatic context for an actor.

‘Dramatic’ in the sense of how an actor can approach your script. Many course designers already know these definitions or can figure it out because it’s inherent to the course design process. Providing this single sentence, the VO Logline, to your voice actor or narrator will create a tangible context for them. This is a wonderful tool to provide your voice actor.

Did you already know all this? Or was this something new for your consideration? Let me know.

As a trained actor, I create narrative ‘worlds’ to contribute to successful educational projects. Thank you for taking the time to review these ideas, and please reply back with your inspired thoughts and advice.

Filed Under: instructional design, production, voiceover Tagged With: audio, content writer, elearning, learning, online learning, production, VO Logline, voice actor, voice talent, voiceover, writer

Celebrating Client Gems of Wisdom

business, celebrate, creative professionals, production, small business, voiceover

 

10 Years!

I’m celebrating my tenth year working from home as a female-owned small business. I have wonderful clients whom I’ve learned a lot from. They hold a variety of positions, from producers at digital production companies to ad agency creative directors to eLearning instructional designers. I have a wonderful time collaborating on their projects and keeping in touch over the months and years. These long-term business relationships bring insights and gems of knowledge. This blog post celebrates the gems of wisdom that I’ve learned from my dearest clients.

Ask for Auditions

All clients on most continents can ask for a free audition prior to finalizing which voice actor is hired. Listen to your shortlist of voice actors with a few lines of your script. Like me, most voice actors appreciate the audition opportunity – it’s my way to show you how I fit your brand! Fun fact: Before the internet, auditions were actually paid for, and managed via talent agents.

Let’s Share All Details

There are simple but important details associated with hiring voiceover services to ensure everything runs smoothly. Ask for a brief overview when either considering me or having selected me from an audition. Things like audio specs, usage, copyright, timing and invoicing are important. I have a checklist so we can review and finalize all expectations and parameters in writing with full transparency.  Most importantly, no surprises!

Pay How You Want to Pay

I’ve learned it’s important to accept payments from you in a variety of ways, and not frustrate you with mysterious online systems that feel cumbersome. I’ve had to jump through some hoops and get around obstacles, and I’m able to handle most every request. Paypal, Checks, Direct Deposit, Wire Transfer, etc. A client from my old home town, Doug, asked me to share this with VOs:

“Please accept my payment with a plain old check or credit card. I don’t need to sign up for ACH or any esoteric invoice processing system du jour.”

Discuss Relevant Script Background

As appropriate, I’ll ask lots of questions to help qualify what you’re hoping the outcome will be and take suggestions. Many times you can benefit from the broad range of experience that I have, which might improve the piece. Two wonderful clients told me:

“Writers love to talk about their work, and there will be takeaways about the character or scenario that you might not have otherwise got from just the script.” – Anthony

“Every brand, company, etc. has its own ‘voice’. Sometimes, they don’t even know it. But I think a great VO actor will learn what the voice is and be better able to adapt their delivery to match that voice.” – Matt

Communicate When Stuff Goes Wrong

There are moments no one, you or VO actor, can control… weather, technology, personnel changes, and so on. Mother nature can sometimes wreak havoc on a local level, either for the VO or your location. It can also feel like havoc when technology fails us, either through the internet or within local electronics. Layoffs or management turnover can mean my ‘person’ is no longer working for your company. In any of these situations, patience and professionalism are the best recovery systems from small changes to large disasters. This includes everyone doing the best to communicate directly, appropriately, and earnestly.

Some Clients Only Work with a Voice Actor Once

For certain clients, every project is so unique that a new voice is found for each one. It’s a bit dismaying to voice actors like me, who want to cultivate an ongoing relationship and develop recurring work with you. Regardless if the project was super fun, creative and energizing, it doesn’t always mean more work. So, I’ve learned to enjoy the experience within the journey.

“As a small production company, we make an effort to use a variety of voice talent so our website/work doesn’t get repetitive. As much as we would like to find one person to work with and stick with them, it just doesn’t make sense. The unfortunate reality is that every project is unique and we almost never reuse a voice talent unless it’s an ongoing series.” – Scott

No Client-VO Relationship is Forever

Many of my clients have worked with me for many years. And there are client relationships that last only a few years or are based on a finite advertising campaign or branding strategy. I accept the transitory and subjective nature of the work that I receive. I’m also confident and work on my craft, knowing there are new clients on the horizon.

Some Clients Work with a VO Actor Consistently

Let’s end this list on a high note for me! My returning clients are fun because of the personal relationships that develop, and the success of creating voiceover recordings that consistently meet or often exceed my client’s expectations. As we work together, I learn a lot about your needs and deliver accordingly. It’s a professional, mutually collaborative and creative partnership, enjoyable personally and professionally. This is what I strive for.

 

Recently I had a fun conversation with a partner company’s new employee. I shared insights about the VO industry and what it’s like to run a VO Actor business. My history in video production, advertising, cable tv operations sales and marketing all prepared me to run an owner-operated business in voice acting. I’ve learned, stretched, grown on all counts, from audio engineering or VO acting skills, to marketing and all the administration. I started with a dream and continue with lots of support from loved ones, mentors, virtual teams and wonderful clients. Thank you!

Filed Under: business, celebrate, creative professionals, production, small business, voiceover Tagged With: business building, Celebrating10yrs, golden nuggets from 10yrs, producer, production, tips for hiring voice actor, voice actor, voice talent, voiceover

Directed Voiceover Sessions – Zoom Caution and Alternates

online vo sessions, post-production, production, VO tech, voiceover

video meeting

Zoom Caution – Use a password

I confess – I was a huge fan of Zoom and now I’ve tempered that but still use it, particularly since I use the audio-only option for voiceover. If you didn’t know, due to the huge migration of people from office to remote working due to COVID19, Zoom usage surged, and their security and privacy flaws quickly became ‘talk of the town’. Most circumstances I’ve heard about were large group Zoom events, some open to the public. This is different from a voiceover session with as few as 2 to a likely maximum of 10 participants. Keep that in mind. However, security and privacy issues still exist, so use with caution.

For a voiceover session, use Zoom by incorporating a password and ask people to sign in (vs a simple link). I’ve used Zoom for several years now and haven’t any security breaches, but again my sessions are a handful of people only. If you are using Zoom for other purposes or larger gatherings, I suggest looking at your alternatives.

Alternatives – Rebecca’s top two choices:

Webex

It’s the same idea as Zoom: video and audio conferencing. The audio on this is as high quality as Zoom, and I use it as easily as Zoom. There’s a free basic level just like Zoom. I’ve used it for several clients and it was flawless.

Skype

It’s the same idea as Zoom: video and audio conferencing. I’ve used it many times in audio sessions. There is a free basic level. However, I do not prefer because it can create conflicts when connected to my audio recording software. Since that’s the whole point with a voiceover session, I actually try to avoid Skype.

I hope this helps you give proper consideration to Zoom. There are many more options here, where I got portions of my information:

  • https://www.theverge.com/2020/4/1/21202945/zoom-alternative-conference-video-free-app-skype-slack-hangouts-jitsi
  • https://9to5mac.com/2020/04/01/10-zoom-alternatives-more-secure-video-calls/
  • https://mashable.com/article/private-zoom-video-chat-alternatives/?europe=true

Filed Under: online vo sessions, post-production, production, VO tech, voiceover Tagged With: post production, production, voiceover

Directed Voiceover Sessions With What Online Platform?

online vo sessions, post-production, production, VO tech, voiceover

Friendly platforms for online directed voiceover sessions

An online directed voiceover session means having a high-quality audio connection over the internet to let a client direct a voice actor as if they were in the same place. An online directed voiceover session connects the voiceover talent with an engineering studio and clients. It’s multiple locations online at the same time, to direct and record a script for a creative project.

Online directed sessions are used for all types of audio and video production and post-production. From public-facing projects like films, advertising and corporate videos to internally facing projects like corporate training or sales presentations. And more.

It’s a relatively simple concept. A client directs the voice actor. The voice actor performs the script. Recording is either remotely done by the audio engineer or locally by the voice actor. There can be more or less people and responsibilities, but this is the basic idea.

Below are great options for sessions online.


Platforms for online sessions with remote recording by an audio engineer:

My ‘go to’ platform is Source-Stream, from Source-Connect.

I use Source-Stream almost weekly. Why is it my ‘go to’ platform? Clients use it! At least that’s why I started with it. Source-Connect is a very easy to use app. It’s relatively low-latency, which can vary based on internet providers. They offer a bridge to ISDN if needed. Finally, they have terrific support and it’s affordable.

Per Source-Elements the parent company, “Automatic Network Configuration is … Source-Stream, a new feature that allows for global, low-latency firewall traversal for your connections.” Source-Elements has been in business since 2005. My experience with clients worldwide is that most audio producers use Source-Connect, while some still use ISDN.

 

I highly recommended the lesser known SessionLinkPRO.

I have only used this a few times, but it was even easier to use than Source-Connect. It is used through your browser. I experimented with it both as a VO actor and as an audio producer. Pretty straight-forward and I didn’t feel any latency. I got the sense that for someone not expert at audio, this might be a viable option for a remote or online directed session. My wish is that more pros start checking out this little darling of a platform.

 

Additional platforms allowing online directed voiceover sessions (as of 2020)

I have found out about but not yet used Connection Open. Recommended by others, I’m looking forward to testing it out and trialing it with any willing producers.

 

I have trialed and have an account with ipDTL. Also recommended by others, I haven’t used ipDTL professionally yet because no clients have asked for it.

 


Platforms for directed sessions with local recording done by me, the voice actor:

Many clients prefer me to handle the recording locally. This again is a simple arrangement. The clients and the voice actor are not in the same location, so you want an online solution.

Primarily I prefer web-conferencing services like Zoom, and then WebEx. I’ve used both with much success and little to zero latency nor interference with my local audio interfaces. Multiple people log into the session from multiple locations.

My last choice but still functional options are a VOIP like Skype, or a Telephone ‘patch’. This is a phone call into my studio. My client won’t hear the same audio fidelity as all of the other services above, but it gets the job done.This is my last choice because I sometimes run into issues or interference with my audio interfaces. Skype specifically doesn’t like connections longer than an hour!


These findings are based on several years of experience in the trenches, and I’m happy to share with you.

Please feel free to reach out to me directly if you have questions.

Filed Under: online vo sessions, post-production, production, VO tech, voiceover Tagged With: directed session, online, post production, production, voice actor, voice talent, voiceover

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