Media Music Blog

1. Use trusted and experienced talent from a reputable company

The voice-over market is highly crowded these days; anybody with a microphone and a voice can enter the arena and publicise themselves on the web as a so-called “professional voice-over”.

As with any easily accessible marketplace, a flood of options is not always great for the end user. Quality, getting a professional recording and the voice-overs ability to deliver on time is far more important than having a million options to explore and consider.

As Google acts as a filter for billions of web pages, using a reputable supplier of trusted and accountable voice-overs is essential for homing in on a talented voice artist capable of delivering your project. A supplier or agent who has multiple voice-overs should be able to offer you a variety of options and their experience of the intricacies of voice hiring means that you have a professional and trusted company to be held accountable should anything turn out different than you expected.

2. Avoid Massive Voice-over Directories

Ok, you may find a talented voice-over for your project, however, being able to automatically post your job to thousands of voice talents in one go is not always the best idea. Many of these large sites have thousands of members because they allow anyone and everyone to join and pitch for jobs. Their business model is to let as many voice-overs as possible pay to join the site. In my experience, voice-overs who are established and credible avoid using these sites due to the overwhelming amount of amateur contenders.

3. Don’t look for a cheaper option!

Fact! If you get a quote for a professional job in this industry, you will not have to go far to get a cheaper quote. As I said earlier, the market place is accessible by anyone with a microphone and a voice. Opt for the cheapest contenders and you may well have to start again with one of the higher priced quotes. I have seen this happen so many times! As with most things, you get what you pay for and it is better to go with a respected company.

4. Treat the demo as the starting point!

So, you have found a voice-over and their demo reel sounds great and well produced. That is all you need to know… right? Wrong! There are numerous studios that will record and produce show reels for budding voice-overs. These can be fabricated to sound like previous jobs. This is not necessarily an issue, however, if you want to hire one of these voice talents you have got to bear in mind that the recording they produce without the assistance of a producer may be significantly lower in production quality than their professional demo / show reel.

The way to get round this is to use a reputable supplier of voice-overs. If you are dealing directly with the voice-over, ask them for an example of a recent job that is similar to yours and was recorded in their own studio. For example, if you are expecting them to record an audio book, ask them for an example of a previous recording. Their professionally produced montage of adverts, corporate narrations and on-hold messages may not necessarily demonstrate their ability to narrate your audio book in their own studio.

5. Be Clear and be fair

When requesting the services of a voice-over make sure that you are clear about your project requirements, your budget and your expectations. A good voice-over company should be able to explore the scope of your project and ask the right questions in order to get an accurate quotation from suitable vocal talents. However, it is your responsibility to give a clear overview of your project and its distribution / exposure. If the scope and involvement of the voice-over increases over the project’s duration, it is only fair that they may have to charge more than initially quoted. Ideally have a script or transcript available for the purpose of the quotation or estimate.

6. Allow a realistic time scale

This sounds obvious, however, it is a very common mistake to underestimate the time it takes to prepare a ‘ready to record script’, to listen to different voice-over demos, to record the first draft and to cover any re-records. For instance, it is no good rushing a finished script through at the last minute, 10 days after it was initially due, and then expecting a result the same day. Doing this right takes a pre-determined period of time and requires booking in advance. Any voice-over that is sat there waiting to record your script on a moments notice is obviously not busy. Good voice-overs are always busy and have to manage their recording schedule carefully.

7. Don’t believe the lies…

This is just talking into a microphone, easy money! Not true! A professional voice-over has had years of experience in talking at the right tone, pace and speed. The position of the microphone also has to be given careful consideration to get the tone and professional sound that is required. They make it sound easy, but it isn’t! This is a professional skill that develops over many years, and even the most experienced voice-overs do numerous takes before sending the version(s) they are happy with.

The recording is just part of the process…removing the noticeable breaths, gaps, plosives / pops (caused by b’s & p’s) and saliva noises requires skilled audio editing techniques that require years of practice or can require the skill of an audio engineer. Ten minutes of produced voice-over does not equal ten minutes of talking into a microphone!

Many long running voice-over jobs can be exhausting for the voice-over; this is because most voice-over narrations are done in an unnatural style. For example, you would not naturally talk with a permanent happy tone or a permanent smile on your face. Often, voice-over jobs require this for extended periods of time. If you don’t believe me, try reading this article into a microphone in a voice-over style and then listen back to your efforts.

8. Re-records don’t take 2 minutes!

Re-records can be very time consuming; it is best to avoid them if possible by triple checking your script before recording starts. If you miss as little as one word this can result in a line, sentence or even a paragraph having to be re-recorded. It can be difficult for a voice-over to recreate the moment and get the flow and tone the same as in the original take. It is near impossible to record one word and drop it in. Also, any new audio has to be blended into the original recording, which requires intricate audio editing.

9. Expect a variety of fees

Voice-overs are like actors, the more well known they are, the more they charge. If they have just got the gig to do a long running series of ads on mainstream TV, it is unlikely that they will still be working for small fees. Furthermore, all voice-overs have different career structures and are able to charge whatever suits their industry position and current timetable. For this reason, it is near impossible to get a ballpark figure that applies to all voice-overs; it is nearly always necessary to get a quote per job based on the specific job details. A good provider of voice-overs should be able to efficiently get the job details and match your budget to the most appropriate voice-over(s).

10. Give Feedback…but be nice!

It is common for clients to be very communicative during the quotation and recording / production stage. However, it is not uncommon for the client to go quiet at the end of a project when they have what they need. This is ok, although the client that the voice-over remembers well into the future is the one that takes the time to pass on their appreciation and thanks. A simple thank you over email is nice and takes no time at all. If you let the voice-over know how pleased you are with their work they will be more likely to go the extra mile when you need their help in the future.

Finally…

If you consider all of the points above, you should be able to manage your or your client’s voice-over requirements very successfully and above all, you should enjoy the creative process of choosing and using a professional voice-over.

Written by

Lee Pritchard

Media Music Now

© Copyright 2008

—

If you need any help or advice regarding using voice-overs in your project, please feel free to contact us directly or through www.mediamusicnow.co.uk/contact/ Advice is free!

Also, if you are considering hiring a voice-over in the future please consider using Media Music Now as your provider. It does not cost you any extra as the fee is arranged between us and the voice-over(s). Our voice-over section is at www.mediamusicnow.co.uk/Media-voices/

We look forward to reading your comments

Like this blog? Subscribe to my RSS feed!

An infomercial is an advert that is longer in length than the usual 30-second advert you see on TV. The length of an infomercial is in minutes rather than seconds and can be the length of a programme.

The point of an infomercial is to educate the viewer whilst having a strong bias on advertising / selling a product or service. A great example can be found on shopping channels such as QVC.

Music and voice-overs can be used to enhance an infomercial.

High quality royalty free music can be suitable for an infomercial, however, if a brand message needs to be communicated or if you require exclusive use of original music, you may wish to hire a composer to write a custom piece.

Voice-over, high quality royalty free music & custom written music is all available on Media Music Now

Like this blog? Subscribe to my RSS feed!

At 20:30, 26^th May 2008 the Composer Directory officially went live and opened its virtual doors.

The Composer directory is a fresh approach to the conventional style of an online directory. You will not find huge lists of composers in alphabetical order. The Composer Directory, hosted on Media Music Now is concise and limited in numbers. Currently we have 42 registered members, 27 already on the site, and I see no reason to over crowd the listing. The directory is a good mix of different types of composers and producers ranging from hip hop to classical to orchestral. We will only source new members if we experience a shortage in a particular genre or skill.

We aim to make our money by adding a modest project management fee to each project. For this, we will add maximum value by helping every step of the way from initial enquiries to creating a brief, through to the production schedule, dealing with payment through our ecommerce system and delivering master recordings with the necessary licensing.

For the client, we will be a secure, professional and reliable way to source top class composers and producers. For the composer, the directory will be quite exclusive due to the limited number of members and intends to provide a steady flow of enquires and commissions.

As an addition to our current business model of high quality royalty free music, voice over and audio editing service, the custom music element to Media Music Now adds an exciting new dimension and endless possibilities for the future.

To view the Composer Directory click here >

Like this blog? Subscribe to my RSS feed!

The Composer Directory already contains some amazing talent; however, when the directory goes live, we plan to create a promotional audio demo in the style of a film trailer. I will be personally doing the editing & production on this and hope to create a fast-paced demo encompassing as many of the great demo tracks that we have on our composer directory profiles.

There will be a film trailer style narration throughout the demo from a professional voice-over and the trailer demo will be published on the main directory page to demonstrate the skills and talent of the composers. It will also serve as a great promotional demo for sending to companies and potential clients. I will try to incorporate a snippet of each composer’s work into the demo. It is going to be freakin’ cool!

I am going to wait until the composer directory is launched before doing this as by then, everybody will be onboard and all the demo tracks will be in. Yes, that is right… no more registrations after launch day! Once the directory is live, it will be rare that new composers are added; the only time this will be considered is if we have a shortage in a particular genre. If you are on the fence, thinking you will wait until it is launched to see what it is like or you may join if it is good, then the unfortunate news is… come launch date, 26th May 2008, only a week from this Monday, it’s too late! You need to join the Composer Directory before the launch date, otherwise you will miss out.

The range of talent that we have onboard so far is excellent, from hip-hop to orchestral and loads in between. I am looking forward to the directory going live so that we can get started on the demo! Yippeee!

P.S. There are still places, click here to register.

P.P.S. Don’t forget…from the 26th May 2008, there will be no registrations and no more places.

Here are links to all composer directory information to date.

http://www.mediamusicnow.co.uk/blog/2008/03/27/information-about-joining-the-composer-directory/

http://www.mediamusicnow.co.uk/blog/2008/03/28/the-composer-directory-is-in-development-let-me-show-you/

http://www.mediamusicnow.co.uk/blog/2008/05/03/this-is-an-update-for-you-about-the-composer-directory/

http://www.mediamusicnow.co.uk/blog/2008/05/13/bbc-media-city-inspire-new-composer-music-producer-directory/

Like this blog? Subscribe to my RSS feed!

Running a royalty free music business, I have become somewhat of an authority on the subject of music licensing. Although, having said that, this post is not directly about music licensing, it is an observation on the illegal / inconsiderate use of copyrighted material on the web and how you, as an independent composer / producer, band or artist need to protect your assets and your ability to sell your music.

In brief, I strongly believe that you should use an audio watermark on any of your music that you publish to the web. If you don’t, it could well be used without your consent or knowledge, and you could be losing out on valuable licensing fees, which I am sure would contribute to your continued creativity.

There are numerous ways that people can steal your music on the web and once they have it, they are very likely to spread it on peer-to-peer or social network sites as free to use music. These people may not even understand that you spent many hours composing and producing this music and that you earn an income from it. Other people may understand but have no respect for it. I have experienced this first hand too many times!

An un-watermarked track is easy bait to a thief so protect yourself against it. Not only are there a number ways of recording music from a web browser, there are many scraper sites out there that find mp3s on other people’s websites and use it on their own.

To negate the possibility of this, you can take the very simple measure of getting a voice-over to record a professional sound file as a watermark that you can mix into your music track.

All you need is a couple of lines… something like “This audio is copyright… for more information please contact www.MyWebsite.com”. You can include your own name, band name, company name, telephone number, whatever you like really.

Once you have this sound file, simply use your audio editing software to create a protection track. This is just a silent track with your voiceover sound file repeated every 10 seconds or so. You can then mix it into your music track(s) that you are planning to publish to the web and create a watermarked version. People can now download and share this as much as they like, it will be clear that the track is copyright and the cherished property of a talented artist / producer.

If they really want to use your music without the watermark, they won’t mind contacting you and paying an appropriate fee. And if they use it with the watermark, just see it as free advertising.

You may be thinking that you can’t afford a voice-over and editing software. Well, there is an open source editing software that is free, called Audacity, for mixing your protection track and music and as for a voiceover, my colleague, Anthony Richardson, a talented UK voice-over, can record you a simple two-line sound file for just £12GBP+vat when you mention this blog post or my name, Lee Pritchard.

“A very small price to pay for peace of mind.”

Anthony’s site is www.overvoice.co.uk

Get Audacity Here >

Click here to see a previous post about Audacity

Like this blog? Subscribe to my RSS feed!