Voiceovers/Announcements

Not all shows need annoucements, but it's sometimes nice to tell your visitors about your show. You likely have neighbors, too, and perhaps you don't want visitors to honk their horns, drive on lawns, and so forth so you want to post some 'rules of the road,' so to speak. Or maybe your show is supporting a favorite cause and you want to make sure your visitors have the opportunity to donate to that cause.

There's no magic to a good voiceover. Some obvious and easy requirements are:

• VOCAL CLARITY. If the listener can't understand what you're saying, the voiceover won't be successful.

• APPROPRIATE VOLUME. If speaking over a music track, be sure to lower the background music enough so the listener's ear doesn't have to fight between the music and your message. Laying a voiceover on top of another track containing speech or lyrics is generally not a good idea.

• LENGTH. Shorter is always better. Your audience didn't come to hear you. You know how annoying it is to see multiple commercials on television, right?

• PACE. People listen at different speeds, just as people talk at different speeds. Try to keep a consistent speaking pace. If you have a lot to say, consider breaking it into something shorter or simpler. If you do indeed have a lot to say, ask yourself if everything truly is important, because believe it or not, in all likelihood it won't be.

• TONE. You're having a quiet, personal conversation with the listener, just as if you were sitting across a kitchen table from him or her. This kind of tone would likely be better understood and appreciated than one that sounds militaristic and harsh. Remember who your audience is. They're not the enemy.

• PRACTICE. While the listener is not your enemy, UNPREPAREDNESS IS! Don't expect to make a perfect recording on the first take. Or the second or third. Practice reading your text -- get your pace down. If there are words that are tricky to pronounce, look for different, simpler words. Remember that diction and clarity is vitally important to a successful voiceover or announcement.

• EVALUATE. When you can comfortably read through your text (or memorize it?), record it and play it back. Listen critically or, better yet, have someone else listen to it. Do they understand it? Is it too long? Is any of it unnecessary? Is your tone comfortable and inviting or is it militaristic and threatening? Is the volume level consistent throughout? Are the words pronounced correctly and clearly? Re-record it several more times. Listen to all of them -- perhaps one is better than the others, or smoother, or calmer, or more comfortable.

When you're satisfied, experiment with the background track (if there is one). You might start with a few seconds of music, then overlay your voiceover and later, finish with a few more seconds of music. Try different volume levels. Practice fading the volume down/up so that the change is gradual and not abrupt. You decide how quickly those fades go and whether you like the end result.

EQUIPMENT

MICROPHONE. You'll need a microphone to record your voice. It doesn't have to be an expensive one, and it's even possible that the microphone on your smartphone may work adequately. It's worth a try!

HEADPHONES/EARBUDS. This can be handy or perhaps essential while you need to listen to a musical track while recording your vocal track.

RECORDING GEAR. Again, your smartphone may be just fine -- there are plenty of audio recording apps available to download and use. Or consider purchasing an inexpensive ($40-$150) digital recorder such as those made by Tascam, Sony, Zoom or Olympus; some are better for music than others. You can even try the built-in microphone in a laptop or plug an external mic into a desktop computer. But be careful about fan noise or other ambient noise which can also be picked up by the microphone!

SOFTWARE. Production software doesn't have to be expensive. A terrific solution is the free Audacity software, which can also serve as your mixing platform as you merge your voiceover on top of background music. Audacity allows adding single or multiple stereo tracks at any time you want. It also makes multiple takes easy and you can view them all right on the screen. If you work it right, you can make yourself sound like a crowd or even a choir. It's quite a powerful piece of software.

PROBLEMS

POPS and ESSES. When you speak, air is emitted out over your lips. If a puff of air happens to hit the microphone, it can create a "pop" of sound. Same with words that have an "s" in them -- these can sometimes create a hissing sound in the recording. To minimize these two problems, position the microphone away from your mouth and slightly off to the side so that you're not speaking directly into it. Another good location is several inches away and about equal to the level of your forehead. You can also fashion a wind screen by cutting a hole in a piece of foam in the shape of your microphone and mounting it onto the mic so that puffs of air can't directly strike the mic. Alternately, a better solution is to purchase a wind screen that uses a screw-mount for your microphone stand; such a screen is positioned between the mic and your mouth and serves to eliminate the puffs of air completely. These are also fairly inexpensive and available on Amazon.