Delivering "quality" audio is key for voiceover success, but when it comes down to it, that's a very vague term. How do we best deliver audio that demonstrates our best work? There aren't a lot of guidelines to follow...
There's strength in simplicity. This is the foundation of how we do our creative work. No matter how complex or ornate it might grow to be, a solid base gives our work a chance to be brilliant.
It's easy to focus on the noise in the next room and not realize how echoey and resonant our recording environment is. Reverb is not noise.
A few thoughts which I shared through my weekly email. I'm exceptionally lucky and blessed to be surrounded by such wonderful and creative individuals. Thank you all!
Though we may not solve bigger challenges immediately, stepping back lets us start assembling ideas. These Ideas are the seeds for more strategic change.
While we are always trying to improve our abilities, acknowledging the competence we've gained can remind us of how strong our foundation has become...
What if we avoid the stem to stern refit? Often a few small changes will create a more significant benefit. Efficiencies are found through refinement. After all, we should have a deeper working knowledge of those tasks we repeat. Omitting a needless step which occurs numerous times per day can clear a lot of cruft out of the process. Putting robust and understandable tools together is a powerful place to work.
For the past few years, project specs have begun encouraging us not to "sound like a voice actor..." That request points to another listener perception which has grown over the years. Just as the "announcery" moniker is the generic version of a radio voice, maybe we can think of "sounding like a voice actor" as the generic approach to what we do. The challenge to us, then, is to be more specific....
Three ideas, which for one reason or another have popped up repeatedly in the last month or so while working in my home voiceover studio. Since that's kind of the universe's way of trying to make a point, I thought I'd share them here.
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