In this video I'm gonna walk you through how to do a
perfect voice over even while working from home
hi I'm Andy from Techsmith where we help
you show what you know
and right now I'm here at the studio
but sometimes I'm working from home
now I know you probably aren't set up with
a recording studio in your house
and that can create a few challenges when you try to record your audio
so today I'm going to go over exactly what you
need to do to get a great sounding voice over
no matter where you're at. Let's get started
not all videos need a ton of preparation
quick one off screen casts or a fast
demo can be done mostly on the fly.
But for videos where you want more polish
a little bit of preparation goes a long way.
First, find a quiet place to work
professional voice over artists typically have a room somewhere with
walls covered in sound absorbing material
a fancy microphone set up with a pop filter and a
computer workstation that looks like it could be straight out of
NASA's mission control. Luckily you don't have to
go that far get great results.
What you really need is a space free of distracting noises
and where you're not gonna be interrupted.
As crazy as it sounds a closet can be a perfect
spot to record your audio at home
The small space with all of those hanging clothes are gonna
reduce a lot of noise
Next you need a decent microphone if at all possible try not to
record your voice over using your laptop microphone
While built in mics are fine for zoom meetings
you will get much better results with even a low
cost external microphone even your
smartphones earbuds will give you a better sound
than just your computer's built in mic
you don't need to spend hundreds of dollars either you can get a very nice
USB microphone for between sixty to a hundred dollars
If you're gonna be doing a lot of voice over work its
well worth that investment if you plan to use an
external mic I also recommend investing in a
pop filter, they're cheap and they help minimize the
distracting sounds known as "plosives"
yes that's a real word
Now you'll want to write a script
this is probably the single most
important thing you can do to ensure your voice over
sounds professional. Nothing slows down a
recording more than trying to remember what you wanted to say next.
Your script should include word for word
everything you intend to say but even a
bullet list is better than trying to do it all from memory
Next you should get a dedicated voice
recording tool. There's no shortage of audio
recording software on the market and most of them do
relatively the same things
But no joke my favorite voice over tool is Techsmith Audiate
Audiate lets you edit your voice over
just like you would edit text in a document
It transcribes your voice in real time
as you're recording
so rather than starring at a wave form and trying to hunt down
exactly what you said and where it is
you can see the written words right on your
screen, and edit the audio from those
it saves so much time
Audiate even automatically flags all of your
"um's" and "uh's"
and other hesitations
so you can easily find them, and delete them
you can even delete them all at once. This can take
an okay voice over to
professional quality in just a few seconds
When you're done save the audio
file and import it into your video editor to
finish up your editing. You can even export the
edited text as a transcript or as
an SRT file for captions
Now as for recording your audio
first make sure your microphone is placed in a good spot
Ideally place the microphone
six to eight inches from your mouth and slightly
below your chin. Then do a quick test
recording so you can hear how everything sounds
you don't want to get through your entire recording
just to realize your mic was too loud or
not even on at all.
Not that I've ever done that before
Once you're satisfied with your voice over test your ready
to record for real. Here are a few things to keep in mind
speak slowly and clearly
enunciate each work but don't concentrate on it
so much that you end up sounding like a robot
consider your tone as well you want some
pleasant but not overjoyed or overly excited
the simple tip I tell everyone is
just a smile as you read it. It sounds silly
and may even feel a little silly but it can actually help
you sound more upbeat in your recording
Next don't stop if you mess up you can always
fix it when you edit your audio just go back a sentence or
two in your script to start again this is where Audiate
makes it super easy to go in afterwards and
delete the sentence or two where you screwed up
and finally if you make a lot of mistakes or it just gets too hard to keep going
pause your recording take a break
a frustrated or tired sounding voice rarely
makes for good audio in the end and there you have it
recording voice overs like a pro isn't that
difficult when you know how to do it. It's funny because the
actual recording plays a pretty small part when you compare
it to the preparation are you recording your own voice over
what have you found that works well for you?
Let us know in the comments. If you enjoyed this video
give it a like, and if you don't already have Techsmith Audiate
there's a link in the description below for a free trial
Thanks for watching