Let's Plan a Live-Directed Recording with a Voice Talent

Amanda de Andrade brazilian voice over studio and voice talent in a redish background and a piano
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Fail to plan and you'll be planning to fail. So let's plan to win, right? ...Not right? Don't you like planning?!

It's common for creative professionals to overlook the planning stage. Maybe that's not your case, but even I struggled with planning, making choices and defining limits. I thought it would block my creativity and my flow state. It was me many years ago.

Now feel empowered to balance limitations with unlimited resources and I want to empower you too.

Follow this checklist to avoid mistakes, mess, discomforts, re-dos, and waste of time when directing a remote studio recording session with one or more voice talents.

Spoiler

I'll be giving you the check-list of:

  1. What to do first?
  2. What do before?
  3. What to expect next?

1. What to do first?

Who?

You see, an online, remote, live-directed recording session is meant to connect people involved in the creative process of planning and creating a voice-over, but that doesn't mean you need to put online everyone involved in the creative process to be online, unless:

  • they all have the same goal in mind:
    • same artistic direction,
    • same brief;
  • they have a reason to be there,
    • that is, they have experience in complementary areas to help each other in relation to technical or artistic aspects:
      • a sound engineer and a CMO,
      • a video editor and a copywriter,
      • a project manager and a creative director,
      • or a producer and another voiceover actor to direct the session,
    • and they are stakeholders and have an active voice in making decisions regarding the voice-over;
  • or they are strictly session listeners, and will not intervene during the recording.

In summary: choose 1 to 3 people who are in harmony, have a clear vision of the project, have decision-making power or have something unique to add to the session.

Any other scenario can lead to out-of-budget costs, wasted time, procrastination, opposing opinions during the session and need of re-recordings, pickups and posterior re-dos.

For productivity, half hour lineup (10 people) + half hour session (3 people) may be better than a 1 hour and a half session (6 people).

The chance of a long session being unrecoverable and fruitless, and resulting in a useless voice-over, falling short of expectations, or having to be discarded, is much greater because of disorganization.

When the session is long but involves little feedback and more recording, the situation is different and not necessarily unproductive.

+ Define Artistic Direction

Therefore, first define the artistic direction, brief, and voiceover requirements.

  1. How do we describe the voice (tone, age, emotion) or the persona or character who speaks in the voice over?
  2. Is there a need for synchronization with video or a maximum or minimum duration of the voiceover?
  3. Do we have a reference or example (from the voice-over professional or another voice artist)?
  4. Why did we choose that voice talent? What does he/she have or do that made us choose him/her?

+ Define Set Up

The last 6 steps before the session are as follows:

  1. Confirm with all participants the time, date and location, that is, which app (Zoom, Meets, Teams, Skype...) and which is the meeting link. I like to confirm whether video will be used as well or just sound during the meeting.
  2. Set the language that will be spoken during the session.
  3. Let the actor/actress know if the recording should be done in his/her home studio or if it will be done remotely.
  4. And if it is remote, let him/her know what software will be used (Session Link Pro, Source Connect...).
  5. Whenever possible, before the session, send the voice professional the reference material (script, video, music, subtitles) and instructions.
  6. And ask or answer questions by email or call before the session, to optimize recording time.

Realize that everything starts with the production house, the agency team, or the marketing agency in harmony and in tune with the expected result of the voice-over.

What to do before?

I found a way to engage the VO professional and make sure they are in the best possible condition for the session. This method consists of letting them know the steps of the session.

+ Timeline

You could share a list of what will be done and expected during the meeting. For example:

  • 5 minutes to reaffirm brief and artistic direction: Regardless of the expected tone of voice for the voiceover, mention something like this "since the voiceover needs to sound loose/conversational/articulate/with energy/constant (* you fill in how the voiceover should sound, here*) it's good that the voice is already flexible and warmed up. The only exception is if the voice should sound hoarse or literally unprepared.

  • 5 minutes to clear up any doubts and define whether the recording will be phrase by phrase, segment by segment, or complete.

  • 5 minutes to record the first take according to the brief (_this part is important as it already shows the actor/actress or speaker that he/she needs to have studied and rehearsed the text before the session, and that there will be no time to tests or script study*).

  • 5 minutes for feedback and proposed variation or adjustment.

  • Re-recording of the requested snippets or recording of the second take, and so on (check this article on how to give feedback to the voice talent in your live directed session).

+ Other Scenarios

There are other agenda templates for remote live-directed sessions, and depending on the circumstance, they can be even more effective.

  1. Child or amateur voice talent: If the non-professional voice talent is nervous about the session, the solution is to delay recording the first take and let him/her experiment and loosen up within the first 10-15 minutes of the session.

    This does not replace the work and warm-up he/she must do before the session.

  2. Define voice tone: The first minutes of the session can be the recording of the first phrase, repeatedly, always interspersed with feedback, to define with millimeter precision the vocal qualities, the tone, the charm, the exact style that is expected, and then expand this approved test to the rest of the text.

  3. Define the sound hook: The first few seconds of the voice-over are just as (or more) important as the climax, the turn or the variations and nuances throughout the text.

    So it's worth architecting the beginning well and including elements that enhance the message and tone of voice, to capture attention and then lead it throughout the voiceover and video.

    To do this, just do as in the previous item: do not keep recording the entire text and only then give feedback, but use the first 10 minutes of the session to define the color and intonation of the first words or phrases well and use this reference for the whole script.

  4. Dubbing Recording: A remote dubbing session cannot start without the loops, cues and timecodes of the character(s) being duly marked and planned, and that preferably provided to the voice actor so that he/she also has at least the text file open locally on the booth or recording studio screen.

    For the dubbing session to be effective and efficient, it is mandatory to have the video segmented for the character being recorded, and to offer the dubbing actor and actress the video and subtitles (or script) in perfect synchrony with the scene.

    For this, one or more days before the session, do small tests with the software (VST Connect or Nuendo, for example) to check compatibility, speed and accuracy between studios.

    If necessary, make adjustments to parameters and preferences to ensure the highest speed and accuracy and the lowest latency.

    Dubbing sessions are by nature complex and lengthy. Avoid simple mistakes so as not to compromise a job as delicate as ADR and dubbing.

In summary, prepare the professional by sending as much information and materials in advance and defining what is expected of him/her during the session.

It's not about doing the job for the artist, but already anticipating what you would have to do, to ensure that the artist doesn't take the time of the session to do what he/she could have done before.

After all, 30 minutes of preparation and 30 minutes of recording is more productive than 1 hour and a half (or more) of recording session.

3. What to expect next?

Remote Recording

If it is a remote recording session, the sound engineer will take care of everything, from capturing the sound, separating the takes, editing the voice-over, to checking the synchronization, mixing the clips and mastering it.

Local Recording

If it's a local recording, it's important to have already specified the expected output from the voice-over professional:

  • 1 file of the complete recording of the session, without any cuts or editing: it's helpful if the voice talent leaves metadata markers along the file to facilitate editing, which will be at the customer's expense;
  • 1 file with takes only, without conversation and feedback excerpts and without editing;
  • 1 or more files with one or several edited takes, clean and ready to be used: it is ideal for the end customer who does not have a sound engineer on the team.

Prepare for the next project

Now you have a checklist and several insights to organize your processes, direct a voice actor or voice actress and co-produce a voice-over with objectivity and creativity. If your project requires differentiated quality, casting and planning, send us a message, and we'll take care of the artistic direction during your recording session.

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