Tip: Listen to the demos with your eyes closed, so you can focus purely on the feeling the voice evokes without being distracted by visuals.
Next, draw up a clear briefing
A voice-over artist is a creative professional, but they do need clear guidelines to strike the right tone. Create a briefing in which you explain the context of the video and describe the desired atmosphere. Also provide specific instructions regarding difficult words.
Our director’s practical tip: always spell out abbreviations, numbers and brand names in full, or include a phonetic spelling. For example, if you’re recording a US English project with an experienced voice actress such as Alyson, or a Danish production with Florian, this will help prevent any confusion regarding the pronunciation of local Belgian brand names or technical terms.
Tip: Make a short audio recording on your phone in which you pronounce the difficult words yourself and send it to the voice artist.
Then schedule and follow up on the recording
Once the briefing and script are ready, the actual work in the studio begins. A professional approach ensures swift turnaround. Clients such as Stijn experience this regularly: an order placed on a Friday often results in the finished recordings being delivered as early as Tuesday. Nicolas and Peter also emphasise in their reviews how important smooth follow-up and a user-friendly working method are for an optimal result.
Tip: Always allow an extra day’s buffer in your own schedule for any minor adjustments afterwards.
Finally, reviewing and integrating the recordings
When you receive the audio files, it’s best to listen to them separately from the footage first. Pay attention to the following points:
- The intonation and correct stress on key words.
- The pauses and the overall pace of speech.
- The sound quality, which should be free from distracting background noise.
Only then should you sync the voiceover with the video and add any background music. Ensure that the music never drowns out the voice. The voice must always take centre stage in the audio mix.
Tip: Turn the volume on your speakers down very low to check whether the voice is still clearly audible over the music.