REBECCA HAUGH Female Voice Actor

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Rebecca@lovethatrebecca.com

310-584-7379

ASAP Voiceover Quote

Storytelling – Three, Two, One

business, creative professionals, small business, VO tech, voiceover

storytelling with numbers 3, 2, 1

Storytelling is a vital…

You probably already knew that storytelling is vital in your creative projects, for sure.

I still voice a lot of scripts that don’t do storytelling. I assume that’s because clients don’t believe it’s worth the effort? You tell me.

A vital piece of your creative content.

With a riveting story, you can lead your audience anywhere, and they’ll follow.

Here are some simple ways to see your content with stories:

number oneCharacter Appeal

Get your audience on your characters’ side–whether it be a fictional person or a real life customer–and make sure their goals are clear and bold. They need to be appealing enough for audiences to root for them to achieve their goals.

 

number 2Obstacle Tension

The obstacles in your characters’ paths inform the stakes and tension of the story. The quality of the challenges will dictate how much audiences are engaged in your characters because they get to show how resourceful and layered they are.

 

number 3Bold Conclusion

Start strong, and end even stronger to leave a lasting impression. Even if the ending’s a foregone conclusion you can still make it affecting, moving, and even surprising with a captivating finale.

 

 

Let me know if you have any comments, as I’m always happy to hear from you.

 

 

Filed Under: business, creative professionals, small business, VO tech, voiceover Tagged With: audio, business, creative, elearning, focus, instructional design, online learning, sonic branding, storytelling, technology, tips for hiring voice actor, voice actor, voice talent, voiceover

Pro Voiceover: ROI in eLearning Courses

business, creative professionals, instructional design, small business, VO tech, voiceover

What Is ROI?

ROI is an acronym for ‘return on investment’. For example, hiring instructional designers is investing money into a business endeavor, an e-learning course. Calculating ROI helps everyone understand the value your course creates. Within e-Learning courses, are you asking about ROI for hiring a professional voice actor?

Let’s put this in the hands of the experts – the Instructional Designer. You are ready to develop your virtual reality, game-based, micro-learning or video-based eLearning course. You’re drafting design elements, and pondering…

Will you hire professional voice talent (VO)?

Using a pro voice actor has positive effects for your learners within an excellent instructional design. VOs work as hired actors, narrators, and characters of varying ages in mock scenarios.

But what’s your ROI with hiring a pro VO?  Are these challenging questions popping up:

  • The budget is set… So leave out the VO and save on that budget line item?
  • Some colleagues pull aside an in-house person to save funds.
  • Others say it adds time to hire a professional VO.

What’s your ROI if you do or don’t hire a VO? Are there hidden costs? Apply top-level considerations to your unique project.

Pros and Cons of In-house Recordings

Is your project a short course with limited audience, limited use, and the audio recording quality is not an issue? Then it probably makes sense to keep it in-house.  Whoever does the in-house recordings will do their best with the experience, time and focus they can offer.

On the flip side, there are a few typical issues that can cost more time or produce sub-standard audio quality:

  • Usually non-pros require more recording time, and fixing errors time, compared to pros. The average unskilled person needs about 4-5 hours of work to create 1 finished hour of audio. A pro can get it done in 2-3 hours.
  • Will they edit for you, or is that your chore? More demands on your time?
  • Using in-house doesn’t mean ‘free’. Their regular work is being delayed. Whose budget does that hit?
  • Audio can be distorted with office background noise, or from non-professional equipment, or both. Will you receive clean undistorted audio?
  • Vocal expression may not fit the course. For example, monotonous tone, or inability to engage the text vocally, or not sounding authentic or conversational. Will the spoken word recording be vibrant and appropriate?

Audio should enhance the instructional experience. The spoken word recordings should enhance the script you’ve developed. Audio should never detract from the course nor distract the participant. Still, a non-pro may be your only option. For some projects, if you can live with these results, then stick with in-house audio.

Professional Voice Talent Recordings

Is your course for a larger audience, with broader use, and high audio quality a requirement? You probably already know it’s time to consider using professional voice talent. A course like this is representing the brand of the company it’s created for.

Here are typical benefits of hiring a pro voice talent:

Spoken Word Experience
A professional voice talent offers many years of experience with all different types of e-learning projects. She understands what you expect.

Audio Expertise
Professional voice talent have pro studio equipment and deliver high-quality audio recordings of your script. She stays up with trends in her industry, from varying styles of vocal performance, to the latest technologies for recording. If you need audio edits after the initial recordings, your VO talent should provide new audio that seamlessly blends into the project.

Trained Actor
Pro VOs are experts delivering a performance in front of a microphone (as compared to on stage or in front of a camera), and speaking to the intended audience when recording, to generate and maintain audience interest. Additionally, gaming and scenario-based courses often incorporate re-enactments or dramatizations that require acting skills.

Professional Commitment
Pro VOs are a business people that will aim to quickly turn around your projects and readily accommodate your deadlines.

Your Brand
Consider the impact that a professional production will have on your brand identity. It’s a business investment signaling to participants of the course that you value quality. Professional audio can convey a brand’s message in mere seconds.

What’s the ROI?

The most common ROI formula is net return divided by the total cost. Return on Investment formula

The simplest way to think about the ROI formula is to add up the value of benefits (return) and dividing it by the cost.

If you say something has a good or bad ROI,  then explain how you measure it. Each ROI case will be specific to the course you’re creating.

In conclusion, the choice of VO for e-learning projects is one of many crucial elements within the design process. The ROI will depend your budget, your experience with either in-house or pro VOs, and what the overall experience should be for your course participants.

Let me know if you think I’ve missed anything, as I’m always happy to hear from you.

 

 

Filed Under: business, creative professionals, instructional design, small business, VO tech, voiceover Tagged With: audio, business, elearning, focus, instructional design, online learning, sonic branding, technology, tips for hiring voice actor, voice actor, voice talent, voiceover

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

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