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In our two previous articles about getting the most out of Spanish voiceovers and script translation, we focused on the importance of using fully bilingual, native speakers throughout the process, and the practice of using a neutral Spanish dialect versus regional dialects.
In this third installment, we will focus on different ways that timings affect Spanish voice over sessions. read more about producing Spanish voice overs >>
Over the holidays, we lost a member of the ProComm voice over family with the passing of Rich Bartholomew. Rich was a fine voice talent who could be heard regularly on the Biography Channel, but he was an even better person who will be missed by many. Services for Rich are being held in Los Angeles on February 3 and memorial donations can be made to one of two charities.
For those of you who knew and worked with Rich, please say a prayer for his family in this difficult time.
We’ve all been touched by the devastating news that continues to come from Haiti. Many lives were lost in the initial earthquake, but many more stand to be lost if the world doesn’t come to Haiti’s aid.
In an effort to speed the process of soliciting donations for this tragedy, a large group of ProComm’s voice talent roster has agreed to lend their voices free of charge for clients who are producing PSAs tied directly to Haitian relief. In addition, ProComm will also donate studio time. If you are a broadcast producer or agency currently working on such a project, or know of anyone who is, please contact ProComm at 866-438-6423 for voice overs.
If you’re interested in donating directly to the cause, several of our clients have relief projects already under way. Just follow the links below.
Providing voice overs for eLearning presentations is nothing new for us here at ProComm. Recently though, we had the chance to work with a client on a series of eLearning projects that not only presented a number of unique challenges, they also gave us the opportunity to provide a service that has great social value as well. Read more about eLearning voice overs >>
The ability to use proper microphone technique to bring out the best in your voice is indicative of a true voice over professional. Learning and utilizing proper microphone technique is incredibly helpful when it comes to editing, mixing and producing great voice overs. For a voice talent, knowing how to: avoid plosives, adjust for dynamics, and “work” the microphone so that it will enhance the emotion of the delivery are essential skills. Expertly applying these skills helps a recorded voice track fit into a mix almost effortlessly. Read more about proper microphone technique >>>
Every now and then a commercial comes along that hits the air and captures everyone’s attention. Right now, it seems like everyone wants to know who provides the southern voice behind that charming-but-a-little-ditzy pothole in the latest GEICO commercial. It turns out it’s Dayci Brookshire, a SAG/AFTRA actress who hails from North Carolina but currently resides in New York.
….love that voice – nicely done. Now, the only question is whether she’ll get an extended 15 minutes of fame like the GEICO Cavemen?
A client came to ProComm the other day with a project that’s becoming more and more commonplace. Fred Baier of Delta T Engineering had created a video in Camtasia to demonstrate his software, which provides temperature monitoring for electrical systems in commercial buildings. The video was a basic screen capture walk-through of the software, which Fred narrated himself to demonstrate the features of the product.
The audio was very low resolution and Fred was interested in having a professional voice over replace his narration to take the piece to the next level and give it a bit more polish. However, the voice still needed to sound conversational and the listener still needed to feel like he was being shown the software by someone with intimate knowledge of how the product worked – in other words, it needed to be Fred… just not Fred. read more about replacing voice overs in a web video ->
Congrats to ProComm voice talent Lynn Llewelyn on the launch of her new company, 6 Pence Productions. She’s taking her years of theater, film and voice acting experience and applying them to producing children’s theatre “for kids, by kids”. She’s produced her first CD, ‘The Fairytale Collection‘, which you can purchase online and at some select retailers. It will soon be available on Amazon and iTunes as well.
Lynn frequently brings a class of young voice actors from the Flatrock Playhouse in to the ProComm voice over studios. Her inspiration came after recording a script for the end of one of her class sessions with Jim Knuth. Lynn popped the audio in her car for her 3 year old twins to listen to. When she heard “play it again Mommy” for about the 6th time … Lynn realized there’s got to be more to this, and so the lightbulb flickered on!! Audio Children’s Theatre, for kids, but more importantly – BY KIDS!!
The concept is pretty simple… I realized through my own children that kids love to listen to other kids, and wouldn’t it be great to make children’s theatre an auditory experience?
-Lynn L.
The classic children’s tales were produced at ProComm, where Lynn worked extensively with ProComm Producer Dan Friedman who engineered, mixed, directed and co-produced. You’ll hear many of ProComm’s teen and child voice talent on the tracks as well, including Heath Wines, Eleanor Palmer, Molly Penny, Cori Patrick, Chandler Smith, and Ben Hunter.
Check out a sample here —-> 6 Pence Players – Cinderella
The internet is a wonderful thing. (Stating the obvious is a strength of mine, btw.)
But seriously, we take for granted the fact that any question or random curiosity that pops into your head at any given time can probably be answered with a couple keystrokes. This comes in handy for just about any business and the business of recording and producing voice overs is no exception.
The other day, I was thinking about some of the sites that I use on a regular basis for voice over sessions and thought it would be useful to share, and perhaps find out what sites others rely on. I also took an informal survey from some of the other engineers here at ProComm to see what sites they use in the voice over studio. read more about voice over reference websites
In our previous article about getting the best out of Spanish voice over and translation, we discussed the importance of using native speakers, and the use of Neutral Spanish as the generally accepted dialect for most projects in the Western Hemisphere.
In this installment, we will delve further into the importance of using fully bilingual, native speakers for translation and voice talent, as well as the importance of using a native-tongue director to get the best out of a Spanish-language voiceover session. read more about producing Spanish voice overs >>
