When you see a talking animal or ninja warrior in a video game, or hear an announcement or music over the radio, you’re hearing a voice over. These disembodied voices show up everywhere in media, whether it’s for entertainment or informational purposes; from television commercials to on-hold messages to educational videos to narration in documentary films.
The art of voice over is reading the written word and delivering it in a way that evokes the emotion or message of the project. It also requires a high level of enunciation, clear pronunciation and proper accentuation, and good pacing. The right pace for a commercial will differ from the pace required in a documentary. Experienced voice actors know how to adjust their speed to the type of project they’re recording for, and they can deliver the words on cue without rushing or dragging their speech.
While many voice actors may have a specific genre they prefer to work in, most must be flexible in order to meet the demands of the market and stay employed. It’s also important to build acting experience, so that’s why many voice actors choose to take classes, or work with an acting coach or a voice coach, before trying their hand at professional voicing. Listening to established VO professionals can also be a helpful practice.
Generally, professional voice overs are recorded in studios with the appropriate equipment to ensure the audio quality is as high as possible. This is why it’s often recommended for newbies to get professional voiceover help from a local voice over studio rather than simply using their smartphone to record a demo reel. The microphone on your smartphone doesn’t have the sensitivity or noise reduction abilities needed to produce a quality voice over.
Most people are familiar with VO from TV and film, with the most obvious examples being movie trailers and commercials. It’s also common to use VO for educational videos and training programs, and as public announcements at tourist attractions and transportation systems.
Some of the more specialized uses of VO include animation, video games, and audio books. For example, Jim Dale has narrated the entire Harry Potter series of books. Animation and video games are the most demanding types of VO, as directors need to be present in the recording studio to really bring their vision to life for audiences.
Traditionally, some voice overs were recorded in post-production, but this became less and less common as ADR (automated dialogue replacement) technology was developed for filmmaking. However, VO continues to be used extensively in filmmaking for both foreign language dubbing and sound effect creation.