how to get experience in voice-over work
Thread poster: Orla Ryan
Orla Ryan
Orla Ryan  Identity Verified
Ireland
Local time: 21:57
Jun 8, 2004

Is voice-over work the kind of work you could do from home, provided you have the equipment and software or is it necessary to go into a studio?

I thought I could use my Magix Audio Cleaning lab for it, but there is always a fuzz in the playback, regardless of the settings I use. (I originally got this software to convert cassettes to mp3s and it is great for that)

I would like to be able to offer this service some day, but I really do not know the first thing about it
... See more
Is voice-over work the kind of work you could do from home, provided you have the equipment and software or is it necessary to go into a studio?

I thought I could use my Magix Audio Cleaning lab for it, but there is always a fuzz in the playback, regardless of the settings I use. (I originally got this software to convert cassettes to mp3s and it is great for that)

I would like to be able to offer this service some day, but I really do not know the first thing about it.

Orla
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Kevin Fulton
Kevin Fulton  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 17:57
German to English
Hard to do from home Jun 8, 2004

I've done a fair amount of voice-over work, and it's always been done in a studio. The narration has to be synchronized to scenes in the film/video, and you just can't do that without the right technical equipment. In many instances the client's representative will want to be present to make sure your delivery is what they want. You will discover that the translated text will frequently have more syllables that the corresponding source text, and in many cases, you will have to read very quickly ... See more
I've done a fair amount of voice-over work, and it's always been done in a studio. The narration has to be synchronized to scenes in the film/video, and you just can't do that without the right technical equipment. In many instances the client's representative will want to be present to make sure your delivery is what they want. You will discover that the translated text will frequently have more syllables that the corresponding source text, and in many cases, you will have to read very quickly to get in all 150 syllables into a clip created with 110 original syllables.

One of the great challenges of voice-over work is sounding sincere and enthusiastic even though you might have to read the same passage over and over again. Reading to my daughter when she was a child was great practice for this.
Kevin
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Stefan Keller
Stefan Keller  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 22:57
English to German
I don't think so Jun 8, 2004

Hi Orla,

I guess you want to act as a voice talent, right?
To my experience, I don't think this can be done from home. I participated in voice-overs both as a voice talent and a linguistic advisor in the past. These were voice-overs for either computer games or eLearning courses, and all the recordings took place in a professional recording studio, with the actor(s), a director, sound engineers and linguistic advisors in the same room at the same time.

I very much
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Hi Orla,

I guess you want to act as a voice talent, right?
To my experience, I don't think this can be done from home. I participated in voice-overs both as a voice talent and a linguistic advisor in the past. These were voice-overs for either computer games or eLearning courses, and all the recordings took place in a professional recording studio, with the actor(s), a director, sound engineers and linguistic advisors in the same room at the same time.

I very much doubt that there are vendors sending their stuff out and expecting localised sound files back, and I evenly doubt that any *single* person could deliver...

Try contacting either huge localisation vendors that have an own recording studio or maybe try to get in touch with direct clients. All the actors I dealt with were freelancers who were booked for a couple of hours and just popped by the studio for the recording sessions.

Good luck,
Stefan
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Orla Ryan
Orla Ryan  Identity Verified
Ireland
Local time: 21:57
TOPIC STARTER
past experience Jun 8, 2004

Thanks guys. What sparked this off was that the fact that I was once asked to record some Irish Gaelic text for a client based in the UK and to read into my tape recorder and convert into a mono .wav file.

Then they said they didnt like the sound quality! (not my reading, accent or voice, I hasten to add!) It turned out that my software did not support mono recording. That's why I was wondering if this kind of thing could be done from home if I had the right program.

... See more
Thanks guys. What sparked this off was that the fact that I was once asked to record some Irish Gaelic text for a client based in the UK and to read into my tape recorder and convert into a mono .wav file.

Then they said they didnt like the sound quality! (not my reading, accent or voice, I hasten to add!) It turned out that my software did not support mono recording. That's why I was wondering if this kind of thing could be done from home if I had the right program.

But I suppose they did not want to go to the expense of flying me out to London and accomodating me as well as paying me to actually do the job!

Orla
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Kevin Fulton
Kevin Fulton  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 17:57
German to English
Now I understand Jun 9, 2004

You can create a .wav file directly without going through a tape recorder, and the sound quality will be higher. Your computer sound card probably has a recording utility. Windows XP (and possible earlier releases), for example, has a sound recorder found under Accessories/Entertainment/sound recorder (sorry, I don't know what these might be in the Gaeltacht version of Windows). You may have to experiment with the settings to get a small enough file. Possibly using a relatively good microphone m... See more
You can create a .wav file directly without going through a tape recorder, and the sound quality will be higher. Your computer sound card probably has a recording utility. Windows XP (and possible earlier releases), for example, has a sound recorder found under Accessories/Entertainment/sound recorder (sorry, I don't know what these might be in the Gaeltacht version of Windows). You may have to experiment with the settings to get a small enough file. Possibly using a relatively good microphone might improve the sound quality.

Kevin
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Brandis (X)
Brandis (X)
Local time: 22:57
English to German
+ ...
equipment you can use at home Jun 13, 2004

Orla Ryan wrote:

Thanks guys. What sparked this off was that the fact that I was once asked to record some Irish Gaelic text for a client based in the UK and to read into my tape recorder and convert into a mono .wav file.

Then they said they didnt like the sound quality! (not my reading, accent or voice, I hasten to add!) It turned out that my software did not support mono recording. That's why I was wondering if this kind of thing could be done from home if I had the right program.

But I suppose they did not want to go to the expense of flying me out to London and accomodating me as well as paying me to actually do the job!

Orla
Hi! you can use a digital headset with integrated micro, there are various good types these days on the market price range around €40,- €120, and you can use windows recorder, which is ideal for recording files with short time span. There are some prof. tools where you can do at 15 min cut for a few hours. If you are serious, you should try this solution, finally the outsourcer ( who has a studio) has to convert the file and clean or clean and convert adjust to studio quality. Once you have your voice sample, could you send me this 2-3 min is fine, a dialogue text of your choice.
good luck
brandis


 
Orla Ryan
Orla Ryan  Identity Verified
Ireland
Local time: 21:57
TOPIC STARTER
Rates? Jul 8, 2004

Thanks Brandis!

Your post couldnt have come at a better time as I was asked this week about Irish Gaelic voice work again, so I think it is now time for me to tap into this market and get a suitable microphone. I like the idea of a headset.

AFAIK, there are no other female translators who do irish gaelic voice work, so why not get in there.

I looked up rates for voice work but the sites i found were mainly for professional actors.

Generally
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Thanks Brandis!

Your post couldnt have come at a better time as I was asked this week about Irish Gaelic voice work again, so I think it is now time for me to tap into this market and get a suitable microphone. I like the idea of a headset.

AFAIK, there are no other female translators who do irish gaelic voice work, so why not get in there.

I looked up rates for voice work but the sites i found were mainly for professional actors.

Generally speaking, how long would it take to read 10,000 words for a project. What is the average hourly rate for this kind of work?

Go raibh maith agaibh!

Orla
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Kevin Fulton
Kevin Fulton  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 17:57
German to English
Time can vary Jul 9, 2004

**Generally speaking, how long would it take to read 10,000 words for a project. **

Years ago when I was an academician, general conference guidelines indicated that a 10-page paper would take roughly a half hour (this assumes ± 250 words/page).

For voice-overs, you might consider 100 words/minute a guideline, but there are several factors involved. If you deliver a lecture, coughing or sneezing is allowed. You can clear your throat and can can stop and take a drink of
... See more
**Generally speaking, how long would it take to read 10,000 words for a project. **

Years ago when I was an academician, general conference guidelines indicated that a 10-page paper would take roughly a half hour (this assumes ± 250 words/page).

For voice-overs, you might consider 100 words/minute a guideline, but there are several factors involved. If you deliver a lecture, coughing or sneezing is allowed. You can clear your throat and can can stop and take a drink of water, and no one will mind.

You can't do this on voice-overs.

When doing voice-over work, especially when reading longer texts, there is a likelihood of pronouncing a word indistinctly, so you will have to repeat not the word, but the entire sentence.

In my experience, a voice-over session might go like this:

"Orla, could you get a little closer to the microphone?"

"Wait, we could hear you turn the page on that one."

"Could you put a little more emphasis on ..."

There are gifted people who can do everything in one take. That's why they insist upon being paid for a minimum number of hours.
Kevin
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how to get experience in voice-over work







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