10 YEAR Anniversary Sale!!
To order, do any of the following:
- Click the ad above to go directly to the sales page and HEAR about the sale. Then click the Order Now button.
- Send an email to voiceovers@013net.net with the Subject line "TenLiTen".
All the best,
Victoria Feinerman
http://vicsvoice.com
Disco balls graphic: Image: Salvatore Vuono / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Shana Tova, Fellow Jobshukkers!
Dear fellow Jobshukkers,
Here’s wishing you and your families a Shana Tova u Metuka!
Yours,
Victoria Feinerman
Visit me at http://vicsvoice.com
You have a project that requires voice over – for example, a promotional video, a telephone system, a website, or a tutorial. So you look up voice talents on the Internet, listen to their online demos, check to see what equipment they use, get price quotes, and choose a voice talent to record for you.
The chosen voice talent then asks you a variety of questions about the project, each of which you answer easily, until they stump you with: “What delivery style do you want?”
“Delivery style? What’s that?” you ask.
Delivery style is the reading style the voice talent uses when recording a voice over, and it includes all of the following:
- Tone: Formal, professional, relaxed, casual, conversational, serious, friendly, instructive, sensual… the options are endless
- Pace: Slow, medium, fast
Note that medium is 120-130 words per minute - Voice Age: Child, teen, middle-aged, elderly
So why is choosing a delivery style so important?
Well, it is important to know what delivery style you want before you choose a voice talent, because not all voice talents offer all delivery styles.
Even more importantly, most voice talents will not re-record your project simply because you failed to specify a delivery style and don’t like the delivery style they used. They also won’t re-record just because you chose a delivery style and then changed your mind about it.
The majority of voice talents will charge you for re-recording the script. Therefore, it is a good idea to settle on a delivery style before the voice talent begins recording.
Here is where demos come to your aid:
- The best way to check whether a voice talent offers the desired delivery style is to listen to the demos on their site.
- The best way to convey to a voice talent what delivery style you want is to choose a demo on the voice talent’s site that reflects the desired delivery style.
- If the voice talent does not have a demo on their site that reflects the desired delivery style, describe the style you want using the descriptive words above, and ask the voice talent to provide you with a custom demo. A custom demo is a free sample recording of a small part of your script in the desired delivery style.
You probably have a good idea of the delivery style you want – you may even hear the voice over in your head. Be sure to convey the desired delivery style to the voice talent, in order to ensure you get the read you need, without any extra fees for re-recording!
For information on my voiceover services, contact me at voiceovers@013net.net, or visit my website at http://vicsvoice.com.
I look forward to working with you!
Happy Passover, Fellow JobShukkers!
Dear fellow JobShukkers,
Here’s wishing you and your family a plague-free Passover!
Yours,
Victoria Feinerman
Visit me at http://vicsvoice.com
For as long as I can remember, I’ve reveled in the pleasure of speech. The sheer joy of reading a book out loud and transforming simple sentences into a performance, the elation that comes with transcending the print on a page and conveying a meaning beyond the literal, through tone, pace, and emphasis. I never thought overly much about the physical fact of speech itself, the ability to open one’s mouth and produce sounds that convey meaning. I took "plain vanilla" speech for granted.
Until six months ago. Concerned that our little son was not speaking, nor even attempting to imitate our words or gestures, we took him to his pediatrician and then to a pediatric neurologist to be evaluated. After a variety of tests and much nervous waiting, the answer came back: our son has autism.
That’s when it hit me – "it" being an entire universe of shock and confusion – "it being a whole new life as the parent of a disabled child – "it" being the loss of the child we thought we had and his subsequent replacement by the label "autistic".
And once I had absorbed those blows at least partially, it then hit me that at least for now, my son is not a "late talker" but a non-talker. For him, speech is not an integral part of life, but rather a very complex process that requires concentration on the various parts of his mouth. I imagine him thinking, "What should I move now? My lips or my tongue or both? Should my mouth be fully or partially open? Where should I place my tongue, and in what position should my lips be? And how do I get those parts of me to move in the right way?" And it seems that he answers himself, "I don’t know, and I’m not sure I care to speak anyway, so I will remain silent for now."
For our son, speech is not a matter of pleasure at spinning a skein of meaning from the raw silk of words, nor is it a chance to revel in the beauty of communication as a concert pianist delights in the feel of his fingers flying across the keys. For our son, speech is a difficult and confusing task, and he will need much guidance and motivation to learn how to complete this task successfully.
How can something that means so much to me be so difficult and unpleasurable for our son? With our other children, I could at least introduce them to the beauty I perceive in language and offer to share this joy with them. I have been able to provide them with opportunities to use their voices artistically. But this child – how can I share with him this thing that is so important to me?
And so I read to him, I sing to him, I talk with him. I make my words a dedicated performance for my very special little audience. And you know what? Although he may not speak in words, he sometimes responds with great big happy grins, peals of laughter, and sign language for "more, more!" And occasionally, I am rewarded with that most eloquent and meaningful response of all: a warm and loving embrace.
Victoria Feinerman is a professional voice talent with a two-year-old autistic son whom she adores. She has learned that there are many types of communication besides speech, and some are far more valuable.
How to Add Audio to Your Website
There are various ways to add audio (voice over and/or music) to your website. Here are three popular options:
- Widget
You can add the desired audio file to your website using a widget. The widget can play the desired audio file when the website visitor clicks the Play button, or automatically when the page loads.
Adding a widget is simple. First, order a voice over or music for your website, and upload the audio file to your web host. Then go to a free widget supplier page such as Widgetbox.com. Search for an MP3 player, type in the audio file’s URL, and configure any other available settings. Finally, copy the widget code and paste it in the desired webpage.
For example, I got the widgets on my website’s Demos page from Widgetbox.com.
- SpokesToon
SpokesToon.com enables you to order a spokestoon to place on your website – an animated character that speaks to your website visitors. The wide variety of available spokestoons allows you to choose a character that reflects your website’s purpose – for example, you can choose a businesswoman for a business website, a party hat for a party website, or even a flower pot for a florist’s site – in order to add personality and interest to your website.
All you need to do is write the script, browse the collection of available spokestoons, and then order the spokestoon you want. A voice talent records your script, and your spokestoon is ready for installation on your website.
At SpokesToon.com, spokestoons are available for a one-time fee, unlike other services that charge a monthly subscription rate.
As you may have guessed by now, I voice a number of spokestoons on SpokesToon.com.
- HTML
Even if you are not technically minded, you can easily add the desired audio to your website by editing your site’s HTML code. First, order a voice over or music for your website, and upload the audio file to your web host. Then do one of the following:
* Add the following code to your webpage’s HTML to make the audio file play once, automatically:
* Or add the following code to your webpage’s HTML to make the audio file play when the visitor clicks the link “Click here to hear the audio file”.
In both cases, replace example.wav with the audio file’s name.There are many more ways of adding audio to your website through the HTML code, but these are the simplest.
For information on "Victoria’s Voice" voice-over services, visit http://vicsvoice.com
Google+
If your project requires a voice over, and you have checked out voice talents’ prices, you have probably discovered that voice overs are not cheap. Here are 10 tips for reducing the cost of your project.
Tip 1: Choose a talent with good recording equipment
At the very least, a voice talent should have a studio-quality microphone (not a cheap computer microphone!) This is mandatory! The quality of the audio is in a large part determined by the quality of the microphone. In the recording world, there is a saying: “Garbage in, garbage out”…
Additional equipment might be: an audio interface, mixer, professional audio software, and acoustic treatments.
In order to gauge the quality of a talent’s recording equipment, ask them whether their demos were recorded in their home studio. If the answer is yes, then listen to the demos to decide whether the quality suits your needs. If the talent recorded their demos elsewhere, then request a sample file recorded at the home studio to determine the sound quality.
Tip 2: Choose a talent with training and/or experience
Voice over is a craft. If a voice talent is good at their work, they make it look easy. That does not mean that it is easy. A professional voice talent has excellent enunciation, ability to read difficult words and alliterative phrases without stumbling, knowledge of how to speak into a microphone correctly, and more.
A voice talent straight out of voice over training will have acquired all of the skills in the course of their studies. Likewise, a voice talent without training but with extensive experience will have acquired these skills on the job.
In contrast, a person who simply decided that from now on they will call themselves a voice talent will not have the requisite skills. It is therefore important to hire someone who has either training or experience or both. Hiring someone with no credentials will guarantee that your project will need to be rerecorded by a professional, thus costing you extra money and hassle.
Tip 3: Choose a talent whose demos reflect the style you want
Listen to the demos on the talent’s website. Do any of them reflect the style that you want for your project? If not, then how do you know that the talent will be able to deliver the style you need? A talent may excel at hard-sell commercials yet be unable to deliver copy convincing in a conversational style.
By checking whether the voice talent is able to deliver the style you need, you avoid the potential expense of having to hire another talent to rerecord the project.
Tip 4: Check the talent’s recut policy
A recut is when the voice talent re-records part or all of the text. Usually, if a recut is requested due to a mistake made in the reading or recording, the talent will re-cut the relevant part of the script for free.
However, if you need a re-cut due to a change in script or direction, the talent will usually charge you for the re-cut at a discounted rate. The talent usually limits the number of times they are willing provide re-cuts at a discounted price.
If your script is significantly shorter than the script length covered by the talent’s minimum fee, (for example if the talent’s minimum fee is for 2 – 2.5 minute script, and your script is :30 sec), it is worth asking the talent if they can include a free recut in the price.
Tip 5: Make sure your script is final
As mentioned, if you need a re-cut due to a change in script, the talent will usually charge you for the re-cut, albeit at a discounted rate.
You can easily avoid this extra expense by finalizing your script before sending it to the talent.
Tip 6: Make sure your direction is final
As metioned, if you need a re-cut due to a change in direction, the talent will usually charge you for the re-cut, albeit at a discounted rate. It is therefore a good idea to make sure you know what style and pace you want, and to convey your direction requests to the talent, before recording commences.
When you write the script, include instructions to the voice talent. Put words that should be emphasized in bold or italics, and if you need longer pauses write that in the script, too. Here are some sample scripts.
To help explain the talent what style of reading you need, listen to the demos on the talent’s website and choose one that demonstrates the style you are looking for. Ask the talent to use the same tone of voice as in that demo. This is the best way to get the exact style you want, as it leaves no room for misunderstanding.
Tip 7: Cut out the third-party studio
Many voice talents have their own home studio, but not all are set up for clients to sit in on recording sessions. If you feel you must be present for a recording, you will usually have to meet the voice talent at a local studio (unless the talent has a phone patch or ISDN). This means that you have to pay for both the voice talent and the studio.
To avoid the additional cost of a third-party studio, provide the talent with sufficient direction that they can record at their home studio without you present. If you are concerned that the talent will not follow direction well, ask them if they are willing to record a custom demo of a small part of the script, so that you can approve the tone and pace before they start recording. Some talents will record a short custom demo for free. Finally, you can weigh the cost of a potential recut versus the third-party studio’s cost.
Tip 8: Pay by word, page, or unit, but not by hour
Voice talents charge in a variety of ways, including by hour. When recording at a third-party studio, this is the accepted method.
However, when the talent records at their home studio, it is preferable to pay by a unit other than time. This is because voice talents’ primary skill is recording: They record scripts skillfully and efficiently. However, recording at their home studio usually means that they must also edit the audio, a task which they may perform skillfully, but perhaps not efficiently.
To ensure that a voice talent’s possibly slow editing skills don’t bulk up your bill, try to find a talent who chanrges by a unit that is not dependent on the talent’s editing speed, for example per page, per word, or per commercial. Such payment schemes also enable you to calculate the project’s cost up front.
Tip 9: Consider editing your own audio
When editing a voice over, the talent must:
- Remove errors, breaths, and random sounds
- Adjusting the volume as needed
- Cut the audio into individual files
- Convert the files to the desired format
- Saving the files with the desired file names
All this is very time-consuming, and some voice talents will be willing to charge you a lower rate if they do not have to perform these tasks.
Ask the talent if they can offer you a lower rate for raw audio and/or audio in a single file. Raw audio means that you would receive the audio with all errors, breaths, noise, etc. You would need to edit it yourself. A single file means that you would have to cut the audio into multiple files (if your project requires this) and name them yourself.
To edit audio, all you need is suitable audio editing software, such as Audacity, which is available as a free download. Cutting an audio file into multiple files is extremely simple. Editing is also simple, but requires some practice. Regardless, it is a good idea to try your hand at editing before you try this cost-reduction tip.
Tip 10: Choose the talent by quality, not only by price
There are a multitude of people on the Internet who advertise themselves as voice talents, but who in fact have:
-
No training
-
No experience
-
No quality equipment
-
No talent
These people mistakenly think that anyone can do voice over, and all you need is a microphone. They are wrong. Voice over takes skill, ability, and training, as well as decent equipment on which you can produce clean sound.
In order to entice you to hire them despite their lack of qualification for the job, these people will offer very low, non-standard prices. In order to make sure that the buck they earn is a fast buck, they will spend a minimal amount of time recording your project and send you unprofessional, low-quality work.
In other words, you get what you pay for.
In your quest to reduce costs on your voice over project, consider the following: If you hire a hack and end up with a low-quality recording, you may very well have to hire a professional voice talent to record the project from scratch, in which case you will have paid twice.
For information on "Victoria’s Voice" voice-over services, visit http://vicsvoice.com
Image Is Everything
Your company’s image is very important to you:
- You agonize over the perfect name for your company.
- You hire a graphic artist to design the company logo.
- You hire a publicist to write press releases that present your company in the best possible light.
- You hire a marketing writer to write your slogan, as well as marketing material about your products.
- You ensure that your website is appealing and snazzy.
- You buy attractive furniture and lighting fixtures for the lobby.
In fact, you do everything in your power to ensure that customers and potential customers perceive your company as professional, competent, top-of-the-line, successful, and capable of providing them with the best.
However, there is one thing you may have forgotten, the Achilles’ heel of your success.
A Potential Customer’s Perspective
Joe Smith saw your company advertised, and, impressed with your professional image, decided to inquire about your products. Like many people, Joe is a busy fellow who does not have time to stop by your company or wait for a reply to an email, so he decides to call your company.
The telephone system kicks in, and Joe hears Bob from your Accounting department reading the company’s welcome message and slogan.
Bob has a nice voice, but he’s not a professional voice over talent. He does not know how to enunciate properly, breathe correctly, or deliver a script with confidence and flair:
- When Bob says “For Peter Potter, dial 1”, a loud poofing sound (called a “plosion”) is heard with each “P”, irritating Joe’s ear.
- While Bob tried to sound friendly and happy, Joe is not convinced.
- Joe can hear Bob’s loud, gasping breaths, and is distracted.
- Bob has a local accent that is a little hard for Joe to understand.
- Joe can hear static in the background, slight echoes from the room Bob sat in to record the message, and even people walking or phones ringing in the background.
- When Bob reads the company’s all-important slogan, his delivery does not hold Joe’s attention.
Therefore, Joe’s first direct encounter with your company is marred by amateurism and sloppiness. So what happens to your company’s professional, competent, top-of-the-line, successful, and capable image?
By the end of the message, Joe has decided that you company is not very professional after all and perhaps he’ll take his business elsewhere.
While this example relates to the company’s telephone system, it is just as relevant to website audio, voice for corporate videos, and voice for business presentations.
A Professional Voice Over Perfects Your Company’s Image
A professional voice talent has all of the following advantages over Bob from Accounting:
- Vocal skills
A professional voice talent has excellent enunciation, ability to read difficult words and alliterative phrases without stumbling, and knowledge of how to speak into a microphone correctly. - Audio quality
A professional voice talent records your project using high-quality recording equipment, and can produce clear sound without background noise. - Information retention
Research shows that listeners are more likely to retain what they hear, when the message is delivered by a professional voice talent.
The only disadvantage is that the professional voiceover talent is not already on your payroll, and will therefore cost you a little extra.
You hired the publicist, marketing writer, and graphic artist to enhance your image – you even splurged on lobby furniture that Joe Smith will never see. It is time to stop losing potential customers like Joe Smith. It is time to hire a professional voice talent and perfect your company’s image.
For information on my voiceover services, contact me at voiceovers@013net.net, or visit my website at http://vicsvoice.com. I look forward to working with you!
Is Voice Over “Easy Money”?
In the current economic environment, most people are looking for a way to make an easy buck. A lot of people light on the idea that voice over is a great way to do exactly that. In fact, over the past couple of months, I have received several emails from people asking me how they can break into the voice over market.
When considering voice over as the means to an "easy buck", the following question arises:
Can voice over really earn you a lot of money?
Well, voice over can be lucrative or… not. Just like any other job, it depends on the following factors:
- How skilled you are at the profession If you just pick up a microphone and speak, you’re not going to get far. Voice over is not "simple" or "obvious". You have to learn the trade: how to speak into a microphone, avoid creating undesireable audio artifacts, enunciate, interpret copy, act, pace a script correctly, and more. If you record yourself, you have to learn how to edit audio and mix it as needed, record cleanly, manage the acoustics in your studio, etc. If you do not know the profession, it will be audible in your work. Like any other profession, voice over requires training, practice, and a natural aptitude.
- The amount of effort you put into your work Would you go back to a barber who left some of your hair cut to the wrong length? Likewise, in voice over, if you do a sloppy job, you will not get return clients. You have to put in enough time to do a good job. A lot of people think that it takes maximum 5 minutes to prepare 2 minutes of audio. They are wrong. You have to communicate with the client (often several times before starting a job), negotiate with the client (if your prices are negotiable), read the script over, interpret the script, record it (even a few times, so as to have several options to choose from), edit the audio, mix in music (if required), synch the audio’s timing to a video (if required), send the audio to the client for approval, possibly rerecord the audio in part or in whole (if you made mistakes, you do this for free), and communicate with the client some more. In addition, it takes a lot of time and effort to promote your business, plus you may have business leads that take up your time yet go nowhere.
- The amount of work you get
Whether hiring an electrician, a computer technician, or a photographer for a wedding, customers usually prefer to go with the tried and true business, rather than risk going with a newcomer to the field. This puts newcomers at a disadvantage.
You may have an excellent movie trailer voice, but movie trailers are generally dominated by a select few. Or you may do an excellent Sesame Street Elmo voice, but so long as the original voice over talent is still alive and working, you will not get any work doing your Elmo voice. If you’re not getting any work, it does not matter how much the job pays. You’re still earning zero.Statistics show that only a minority of voice talents manage to make a full time salary off their voice work.
In summary, voice over may pay more per hour than some jobs, but that does not mean that it will make you rich. Just like other jobs, you need to get training, put in an effort, and actually get work.
The Bottom Line: A nice buck, but not necessarily an easy one.
Now that we have removed some of the illusions regarding this profession, if you are still interested in the profession, you are welcome to visit my website for information on getting into voice overs. The article How Does One Get Into Voice Overs? is a basic introduction and explains the requirements. If you have additional questions not answered in the above-listed articles, you are welcome to email me. For information on my voiceover services, contact me at voiceovers@013net.net, or visit my website at http://vicsvoice.com. I look forward to working with you!
The article What Are Your Chances of Succeeding as a Voice Talent? debunks some myths, explains exactly what you’ll need to do to get started, and provides some encouragement.
