0632 – Giving Yourself Voice Direction

2022.09.24 - 0632 – Giving Yourself Voice Direction

Self-directing

If you are a voice actor working from home, an ‘amateur’ podcaster[1], or broadcaster without an active producer or manager, then you will need to direct yourself and be able to notice what you need to do to improve.

The problem you may have to overcome is that, if you don’t have a director, part of you is critically listening to yourself and your performance all of the time, and so you’re not fully immersing yourself in your role: you are always partly ‘the voice-actor’.

Therefore, it may be down to you alone to decide elements of what the recording needs: the style and tone, what the message really is, the pace and projection, the purpose, the key message, the intonation… and all the other factors that we have looked at in depth already. At the very least, ask yourself those questions, look at the product’s website and see the style and personality of the brand and then get back to the producer of the item and clarify what they want. Try not to second-guess too much.

It will be additional time if you have mis-interpreted a line and the agency asks for a ‘pick-up’, a line or two recorded in isolation that they will edit in. A day or more later it will be difficult for you to have exactly the same room and voice sound, or to have that single line or paragraph read with the same personality as you used before.

So even if you are recording at home, it’s often easier, as I have done, to have a director listening in live to your session. This is easily done via Zoom-type calls or professional down-the-line services such as Riverside https://riverside.fm/ or Source Connect (https://www.source-elements.com/products/source-connect/) – or even just down the phone. Then they can clarify and confirm that what you’re doing is what they had in mind. And ear.

Having said that, some clients will want no part of the process, possibly because they don’t really understand it. They have sent you a script, they want you to record it and send it back “how difficult can that be?!”

Well, as we know, it can be very difficult!

[1] ‘Amateur’ podcaster: I am not using this word offensively. It is a fact that most podcasters are experts and enthusiasts producing brilliantly professional content from home in their own time. Therefore, they are unlikely to have the advantage of ‘another pair of ears’ or direction from a producer, to give them anything from coaching or a gentle reminder in some techniques in, as far as this podcast/book is concerned, voice.

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