Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been making headlines across various industries, and voice-over is no exception. As someone who’s been in the voice-over game for over 20 years, I’ve seen a lot of changes. But AI—now that’s a whole new ballgame. Should we, as professional voice-over artists, be worried? Or should we just sit back, sip our coffee, and keep doing what we do best? Let’s dive in.

Being a voice-over actor keeps me surprisingly informed about the zeitgeist. A decade ago, droves of authors began writing novels about those elusive, magical sea creatures known as sirens – did you know that?  I certainly did, because I narrated tons of books about them. Then just as suddenly, sirens became passé, and I was narrating books about vampires instead.  Because vampires never get old (groan).

A similar pattern has emerged in corporate communications. Not too long ago, 99% of my scripts contained the words “Big Data.” Everyone was so pumped about Big Data! It was Big!  It was Data!  I mean, what’s not to love?  Around the same time, a lot of people were really, really excited about “The Cloud.”  Companies were offering access to The Cloud, shifting your business to The Cloud, and showering adulation upon The Cloud.  Nowadays, that stuff is old news.  We’re on to bigger and better things.  Artificial Intelligence! Quantum computing! Digital twins!

So you’ve got a story to tell, a product to sell, an exciting new enterprise that you want everyone to know about. That’s great!  But how do you engage your audience in a fresh and unique way?  Well I’m not a script writer so I don’t know.  I mean, I just used the hackneyed phrase “fresh and unique” so I’m obviously not going to help much.  Sorry bye.  Oh...but wait!  I DO know what everyone else says. So maybe that can help? In four easy steps, here’s what NOT to say if you want to stand out from the competition:

If I had a dollar for every time I have recorded those exact words in that exact sequence, I could retire tomorrow on my own private island. It is both important and impressive that your product is cloud-based and mobile-compatible. But as soon as you tell people they can access it anytime, anywhere, on any device, I can almost guarantee that their eyes will glaze over.

Companies care about money. A new product launch is designed to make money. You are composing a script to a video because you want people to see it...and give you money. So don’t insult my intelligence by trying to convince me that you’re all about your “People.” The CEO might be the loveliest person on the planet. Your benefits packages might be replete with perks. You might genuinely care about every member of your team. But if you try to tell me that “The People” are your motivation for marketing to me, I simply won’t believe you.  Also, 7,000 other videos already told me that.  NEXT!

This is one of the phrases I hear most often, and it always feels jarringly fallacious. Deoxyribonucleic acid is the hereditary material in humans and almost all other organisms (yes of course I Googled that). DNA is not present in a company, corporation, or startup.  You can’t say “Trust is in our DNA” or “Success. It’s in our DNA,” because it’s simply not true. It’s like saying “if I hear [adjective] is in our DNA one more time my head will literally explode.”  It won’t. That’s not real. So please don’t say things that don’t make sense. Your viewers will thank you for it.

As I said at the onset, I’m no scriptwriter. My expertise is bringing life to the words on the page. Imbuing them with meaning and passion. Richly layering emotional subtext beneath even the shortest phrases. So if I’m not a scriptwriter, then why (you may ask) am I telling you how to write your corporate video?
Well I’m not, really.  
Or am I?

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​I have recorded over 250 audiobooks so far in my career.  And whether this fact is revealed during casual conversation at a party, or whether I’m reading an email from one of my fans (yes! I have some fans!  It’s the most amazing feeling ever!), I tend to be asked a lot of the same questions. Because let’s face it: audiobook narration is completely fascinating.  So for this month’s blog entry, I thought I’d field some of the more frequently asked questions about audiobooks.  Let’s get to it!

​Yup! That’s exactly what happens! Although it’s certainly not just “reading out loud.” It’s acting, non-stop, for hours on end. A marathon performance lasting multiple days. Most voice-over actors who record audiobooks will work six-hour recording shifts. Usually 10am to 4pm. And a lot of actors do this every day until the book is finished. Now I personally cannot do that; I don’t have the stamina. I find that I have to record alternate days (every other day) so that my voice doesn’t become exhausted. And even with that schedule, audiobooks can be pretty taxing. I record with a recording engineer. The engineer is in charge of stopping the recording when I make a mistake, and restarting where we left off. This is called a “punch” recording. Many audiobook narrators don’t work with a recording engineer. They record themselves, and when they make a mistake, they erase it themselves and re-record from that spot, all the way through the book. Amazing, right?

Here I must take a moment to tip my hat to an amazingly talented actor, Jim Dale, who is well known for creating hundreds of unique character voices for the Harry Potter series. He is an icon of the audiobook world in that regard. How do I do it? Well, I take my cues from the text. The author most often describes each character’s personality and physical appearance, which gives me a lot of clues as to how they might speak. Sometimes the author provides really clear direction. I recently had a character whose voice was described as a “gravelly midsouthern baritone.” So that was a nice easy one. Once I know all about the character, I read their lines aloud in a voice that I think might work for them. If it feels right, I stick with it. And if not, I play around with variations until it feels right.

There are voice over actors working on fiverr.com who you can hire for a few bucks.  And there are seasoned actors who work exclusively through talent agents, only accept union work, and will cost you the moon. But despite this variance, there is an "average" rate that will apply to most voice over projects. The best place to find current non-union rates is the Global Voice Acting Academy (GVAA) Rate Guide.  This fantastic resource has a breakdown of recommended fees per project length and usage, which will give you an idea of where to set your budget. And speaking of project length and usage...

Generally speaking, all a voice talent needs in order to provide you with a cost proposal are two pieces of information: project length and usage.  Length can be in minutes or in words. For most projects, 135 words of script = about one minute of recorded audio. Usage means where the project will be heard. Online?  On TV?  On your company's voicemail?  With those two nuggets of information, a professional voice talent can quickly send you a quote.

Well, that depends on the voice actor. If the recording sounds nothing like what you had in mind, let your actor know, and see what they say.  Generally, a professional voice talent will get it "right" the first time. If there are a few lines or words that strike you as not quite right, the actor will probably be happy to send you another version of those sentences, as long as you give good direction (i.e. "I was hoping that the words Marketing Performance could sound more exciting in the final sentence, would you mind giving me an alternative take?"). If you change parts or all of the script after the recording has been performed and delivered, there will be an additional cost for that.  Because it is new material.

People often ask me: “How do I get into voice-over?”  Voice-over is a competitive field. You can’t assume immediate success because Quinn from accounting once said you have a nice voice.  On the other hand, even the most successful voice-over actors had to start somewhere, right?  So how do you get started?  For what it’s worth, here is my (professional but certainly opinionated) opinion about how to jump-start your own voice-over career:

To continue the “hair” analogy: you wouldn’t cut hair with your kitchen scissors (although that is how I trim my son’s fringe); you would buy some nice shears. And you can't record decent voice-overs without purchasing some basic audio equipment.  To start, you need some low-cost but not-too-cheap equipment.  Get in touch with a place like Sweetwater sound (www.sweetwater.com) and tell them you’re just starting out as a voice-over artist. They should recommend a starter microphone that will run you around $250 (I'd go with a shotgun mic like a RODE NT2 to cut down on ambient noise, but I'm no mic expert).  You also need an audio interface which basically gets the mic signal into your computer. And then get some soundproofing, like a low-cost free-standing booth. You can't record without it - your room will echo and the sound will be crappy. And finally, buy or download some audio editing software so that you can edit your recordings.  The industry gold standard is Pro Tools, and sometimes Reaper for audiobooks, but I've always used (and love) Sony Vegas Pro, and it's fine when you're just beginning to start out with something free or low cost like Audacity.

Repeat 1, 2, and 3 at more and more advanced levels ad nauseam.  Seriously.  I just upgraded my studio equipment this year.  I hire voice-over coaches as-needed to brush up on my skills (animation and commercial are what I’m working on this month). And I audition for zillions of jobs a month.  Zillions!  As a voice-over professional, that's actually where a lot of your time goes.

If you think you’ve got what it takes, you should give it a try.  And these pointers are just my honest opinion on how to begin. I hope it’s helpful. Now go get ‘em!

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