Seven ways to nail the voiceover session
You're in charge. Own it.
As a copywriter, you’ll likely be expected to represent the agency’s creative interests during voiceover recording sessions. If you’re lucky, the client won’t be within a mile of the studio. But there will be times that you have to gird your loins for that, too.
As in any other pursuit, no single approach works every time. Too many variables. And voiceover actors are remarkably resilient. They’ve seen and heard it all and they know how to deliver, even when they’re getting their asses kicked. But …
1. Don’t kick your actor’s ass.
You get farther with honey than with vinegar. Of course, you get even farther with honey and a baseball bat. But that kind of defeats the purpose.
The voice actor has a literal place at the table. Give her the proverbial place, too. Like most successful endeavors under the ad agency roof, the best voiceover work is done as a collaboration. Listen to your actor. She’s part of the team and invested in the project’s success. After all, failure could mean she doesn’t get hired again. Be open to suggestions. She’s not a robot.
I admit, as a former voice artist, I kind of have a soft spot for other voice artists. This is a good thing. I know exactly what they’re going through. And I know the last thing they need to hear is direction from some moron who has no clue what a voiceover should sound like.
But taking direction from morons is part of the job description. And that’s why you’re paying the actor the kind of rates they get. But you’ll get better results if you refrain from abusing the talent. So let somebody else be the moron in the room. Read on.
2. Write a good script
Really an extension of number 1. You can be as nice, direct, clear and polite as you can be. But if you hand your voice artists a crappy script, that’s just another way of kicking their ass. You can’t get blood from a stone. With a crappy script, you could hire Alec Baldwin and Scarlet Johannson and you’d still end up with a crappy take. Don’t believe me? Look at this piece of unadulterated garbage, performed by one of the best voiceover men in the business. (Shudder.)
3. Give the actor a break, already.
Be flexible with your copy. Make changes when problems come up. This is really important.
4. Don’t handle the actor with kid gloves, either.
Good voice artists are pros. They can take direction. They will even take ludicrous direction from idiots. That’s what they get paid for.
Keep one thing in mind. You’re in charge. Even if the client, account manager, window washer, manicurist and every other nitwit in the room thinks they’re in charge, they’re not. I’m not suggesting for a minute that every client, account manager and window washer you’ll be dealing with are nitwits. Not in the least. But the harsh reality stands: some of them are.
At some point in your career, you’ll sit in a voiceover session next to a person so starkly and patently stupid, you’ll wonder how much they pay the guy who ties their shoes in the morning. So you’ve got two big tasks ahead of you. 1) let the nitwits think they’re in charge and 2) protect the voice actor from the nitwits who think they’re in charge.
Easier said than done, right? Not really. You’ve got technology on your side.
5. Do nitwit takes
One caveat: don’t do takes for the sake of doing takes. If there’s one thing that turns a voice actor against you, it’s recording the script multiple times exactly the same way. What’s the point? If you’re working with a reputable production company, the computer files are not going to suddenly vanish. They have backups for that.
That said, sometimes more takes is a good idea. As long as you’re asking for something different than what’s already in the can – don’t be bashful about asking for multiple takes. This is how you appease the nitwits. Let them give their nitwit direction and let the voice artist record the take, for nitwit posterity. As long as you have the good take in the can, you can add shitty ones without damaging the good.
After all, you can always accidentally-on-purpose “lose” the crappy takes later. Technical difficulties. Server crashed. The dog ate them. You’re responsible for the best take, remember? Be creative with your excuses. You’re supposed to be the creative in the room.
6. Go easy on the editing
Computers are damned near magic. A good engineer can cut, paste and otherwise conjure up a good take out of three OK ones in less time it takes to chug a beer. But it’s tricky to recognize the difference between too much and enough. Dissecting down to words and phrases is kind of a waste of time. Better to ask for another take. But substituting a sentence or two from one read to another is sometimes the quickest way to a quality take. Especially when the voice artist is in a bad mood, fighting a cold or hung over, from chugging all that beer. Yeah, it happens.
7. Record it six ways from Sunday
The first time you run a voiceover session for a new client, you’re kind of in the dark. Until you’ve done a few, you really have no firm ground to stand on, as far as client wishes, tastes, idiosyncrasies and nitwit opinions go. You have one defense: record takes like you’re preparing for the zombie apocalypse.
As we’ve already covered, it’s never a good idea to record the same take more than once. But good voice artists bring words on the page to life. They can perform the same script 100 different ways. Let them do that. Well, maybe limit it to a half dozen or so, assuming you want to keep a positive working relationship with the voice artist.
Even after you’ve done a few sessions for a new client or brand – this is always a good strategy to prepare for sudden 180-degree client mood swings after the voice actor and engineers are long gone. Do it happy, energetic, friendly, sultry, funny, whatever. Pick an adjective. In one sense, you’re spit-balling. On the other, you’re preparing for any contingency and heading off the dreaded, expensive re-record.
Because, let’s be realistic. The first thing you’re going to think when you see zombies lumbering down your street is: thank God we got so many takes in that last voiceover session.
=S
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