5 myths about voiceover work

I have just read an article about how easy it is for a video producer to record their own voiceover and have it sound amazing. It was very interesting, although so way off the mark it made me raise my eyebrows a few times.

Not perhaps for the reason you think. I am all for anyone doing what I do and would encourage anyone to be a voiceover. What surprised me was that the author was just giving bad advice to the reader. So I thought I would share the guy’s information in this article.

1. You can do voiceovers anywhere

Yes, you can do voiceovers anywhere if you want them to sound like an echo chamber, or next to a main road. Have you noticed the difference in sound between your bathroom and your bedroom? If you are desperate to record something then at least use a duvet to deaden the sound around you.

2. Use your smartphone’s earbuds for recording

You know, the ones with a built in microphone. Well it does pick up sound I suppose, and it’s great if you want to sound like you were recording over the ‘phone. Before writing this, be assured I have actually tried it, and yes there was a massive difference between my mic and the mic in my earbuds!

3. You can get a professional microphone for under £20

Yes you can get a microphone for less than £20. In fact my eight year old daughter has a pink one with her karaoke set. Just don’t do it, please. Good mics are pretty inexpensive, but they start around £100 and keep going up into the £1000s.

4. No training is needed to do a voiceover. You just read a script.

There is a learning curve to get anything to work just right. To get the sound to be acceptable by the listener, there is a bit more to it than just speaking into a microphone (or set of ear buds). That’s why people have written books about how to do it. I know seasoned voiceovers have the expertise to read a script, interpret the emotions which need to be portrayed, and make a connection with the listener.

5. Voiceover voices are just super snazzy radio voices

Well mine isn’t, and I cannot think of any of my colleagues who are either. Unfortunately I am not the weekend DJ called ‘dave double-decks’ either. Voiceover artists come in many different forms from the gravelly movie guy to the squeaky cartoon character. Most voiceovers are, to a degree, vocal chameleons.

To get a great sound and a great performance takes more than just a small amount of cash. It takes a substantial investment of both time and money. It’s the same as any profession. If you were a video producer, you wouldn’t necessarily be asking someone without any experience or training to film your next project on an iphone. Well, unless you wanted that kind of ‘raw’ effect I suppose!