Voiceover Future: The New Landscape – Thoughts about the VO biz

In our studios, we often struggle to fix the little things. Interfaces stop working or microphones sound “funny”. Since we’re our own IT department, we often respond to current issues rather than aiming at a North Star goal. Taking a step back to find our focus remains essential to our long term success.

While the past couple of years have been challenging, we’re beginning to see a lessening of pandemic restrictions in the US, which means that the quantity of potential projects may be increasing. People are returning to activities that have been dormant.

For the working voiceover artist, forced isolation jumped things forward in terms of technology and expectations. It’s difficult to picture everything going back to the way it was. Voice actors have demonstrated that they can operate remotely, solve challenges of quality and accessibility, and continue delivering high quality audio. Many of us have honed our equipment, refined our working environments, and found creative solutions to the challenges of working under these conditions. 

Commitment to a ongoing refinement remains a worthy goal. It’s why I jot down notes at end of every session. What went well? What could be improved? Hopefully, it makes the next interaction a bit better, or perhaps teases out a pinch point in the process which I may not have seen. It helps me notice larger trends and not get stuck in the minutiae. 

Balancing the Technical and Creative parts of Voiceover

It’s easy to devolve into focusing on the tiny technical details while losing sight of the big picture. While important to operations, our workflow all goes on behind the curtain. In all the years of dealing with voiceover clients, I don’t think anyone ultimately cared about what specific steps I took to deliver quality audio by the project deadline. 

Viewing things through the eyes of your client is key to maintaining that balanced perspective. What is the customer experience you provide? What problems can you “effortlessly” solve? What precisely do you do better than everyone else? 

Make your services important to your client

The more positive we make the process for our clients, the more they come to rely upon us. We become the part of the project they don’t need to worry about. That gives us more flexibility as our business grows. At a certain point, it will likely make sense to niche down into those core tasks in which we excel, while we outsource many of the simpler steps which dilute focus. 

Not everyone enjoys editing audio or working to set up effect settings which bring out a bit more clarity or nuance. That’s one of the reasons I’m happy to either provide those engineering services or help you set them up in your workflow. Whichever you choose, it lets you put your focus on being the problem solver for your clients.

The landscape will continue to change while our skills continue to grow and adapt.

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