Any video project needs to look professional. The vast majority of videos and films have the potential to impress audiences —what producers and directors need to do is match the moving images with some amazing audio to add the finishing touch. Any video needs both elements, audio, and good quality moving images, to work properly. If either is lacking, then the project is going to come across as an amateur.

Having said that, here are 8 tips for capturing and recording incredible video voice overs:

It’s All About The Location

And by location we mean: always strive to find the right spot. If you’re just getting started and you can’t afford a professional studio, then you will need to find the best spot in your home to record. Read your lines aloud in each room and listen carefully to find out which room seems to be more suitable. Listen out for any issues that can be easily fixed, such as reverb or dead sound.

The Popcorn And Seashell Test

Try to stay away from plosive and sibilance —these are fancy words for the traditional popping and hissing noises that you frequently hear during recordings with words that begin with either ‘S’ or ‘P’ in them. It’s, therefore, a good idea to invest in a pop filter. A pop filter is a shield that sits between the speaker and your mic, and you can find a broad range of them with prices between $10 - $25.

However, if you’re still considering whether you really need a pop filter, then try the popcorn and seashell test. Try listening to a recording of yourself saying words that begin with the aforementioned letters to see if you can hear any hissing or popping.

Get A Stand

Regardless of whether you’re close or far away from your script (physically, of course), it’s likely that you will be required to turn the page whilst recording your voiceover, damaging your recording with the noise of the paper rustling.

Invest in a book stand to rest your scrip and hold it still. Also, consider the number of breaks in your script, print it off in a way so you can display each section without having to either touch the paper or turn the page.

Listen Carefully

Recording your lines ‘deaf’ and hoping to correct and fix any possible issues during the editing stage is certainly a bulletproof recipe for disaster. A good pair of headphones or monitors are just as pivotal as a high-quality microphone. You’ll pick every detail that might have missed if you had proceeded the other way around. You will be able to monitor the quality much more closely, and it’s likely going to be much easier to retake the recording than to edit the imperfections at a later stage.

Don’t Force It

Although your script may read beautifully on the pages you’ve written, it could be a totally different thing once you read it aloud. Strive to keep it concise and easy to pronounce. Then, make sure that you practice reading it aloud a few times before giving it to the performers. That way you can certainly spare yourself a more troublesome audio post-production phase.

The Power Of Apples

It’s been said that in order to get the best vocals from either you or your speaker, you will need to have your mouth slightly wet. However, if you are constantly taking short sips of water, then you will probably spend more time in the bathroom than in front of the microphone. A great way to counteract this is to keep a tart apple at hand. A bite will definitely clear the decks and the vocals will sound much clearer and neater.

Don’t Quite Just Like That

Have you ever heard the song Don’t Stop Believing by Journey? Simply because your voiceover performer is not delivering the performance you expected and has turned themselves into a fit of giggles, or simply because the mic is not getting the audio you envisioned, that doesn’t mean that the whole project is bound to fail. Simply take a break, analyze the good things you’ve done and try to establish whether or not you were following a different methodology to get those good results and apply it back to the tricky parts. Nobody said it would be easy.

And Don’t Forget To Save

The worst thing that could happen in this particular industry and those alike, once you’ve worked so hard on your project, creating the nuances, recording different lines, etc., would be to have to start everything again from scratch… simply because you didn’t save your progress. Always make sure hit the save button as you progress. In fact, analyze whether the size of your project requires an external hard drive so you don’t run out of space in the middle of your work.

*The images used on this post are taken from Pexels.com