Voiceovers by Janet Wilcox

Author:Janet Wilcox
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Allworth
Published: 2014-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Technical High Hurdles

Once you are actually out there getting auditions (and booking jobs), you will have to deal with a number of different technical issues, as well as different procedures and expectations, depending upon what kind of a job you are up for, and what kind of a business is producing the job (Ad agency? Network? Animation studio?). Remember that you will perform in a booth behind glass. Don’t let the isolation distract you on your first job. When the engineer asks for a sound check read with the same volume you will perform the script. Also, be courteous to the engineer because he can make you sound better or worse.

VOICE TO PICTURE

One of the techniques that you will have to master is a voice-to-picture recording. This technique may be used in a number of genres. For example, you may have to read a promo script to a temporary audio guide track and match it to the visuals of spot. Or, you may have to do ADR (automated dialogue replacement) for a character in an animation job. That is when you have to read your part and match it to the character’s mouth movements on the screen. Veteran actor Bob Bergen describes how you do this in the booth.

Bob Bergen: “When doing ADR, you record one line of dialogue at a time. You watch the scene while wearing headphones. You will hear three consecutive beeps in your headphones. You begin recording on the fourth imaginary beep. This is for timing purposes. It gets you into the scene at the proper moment. So it’s ‘beep, beep, beep,’ act!! And it’s OK to need a couple of takes to get it right. No one is expected to be perfect in one take.”

This is an advanced technique and I’ll give you some fun exercises to play around with in the personal workout section. Basically, you have to look at a script very quickly when you receive it and then get a sense of rhythm for the visuals and the guide track and mimic that flow, all with little prep time. For example, the one-hour E! show I narrated, Hollywood & Divine, was a voice-to-picture job. I received the script right before I walked into the booth. Therefore, there was little time to rehearse and the client also gave last minute changes. The show had a rough temporary (scratch) track of the narration and sound bites of interviews in the show. I would use the scratch track and pictures to guide my pacing, and then start reading after a sound bite concluded.

This is precisely why you do a strong home workout. If you have some advance notice for this kind of work, you can record other shows from your client and transcribe them. Then do your home version of a voice-to-picture read so you’ll get comfortable with the process. You’ll have to practice splitting your focus between the picture and your script. Glance at the picture for rhythm, and then learn to read smoothly without losing your place.

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