When a client is enquiring or booking me for VO jobs, especially when it’s a short script it can sometimes be presumptuous to think it’s a quick in/out the booth session. An hourly Voice Over studio fee isn’t just about the recording time. Sure, the recording time is the main part of it but there’s also a fair bit of pre-recording preparation plus studio hire to keep in mind when agreeing the rate and booking a VO.
Below I’ve listed my VO pre-recording session preparation. There’s a fair bit going on before we hit the record button!
~ Water, water, water! Hydrate at least 2 hours before.
~ Eat a small snack before a session to keep tummy rumbles at bay. They can get picked up on the audio! Obviously, even a day before recording think about the foods and drink consumed which could affect your vocal performance. So avoid spicy foods, dairy, chocolate, fizzy and acidic drinks. Acid reflux is incredibly unpleasant at anytime and especially during a recording session!
~ Lip salve or Vaseline in the booth to maintain lip moisture throughout recording session.
~ Oralieve Moisturising Dry Mouth Relief Spray:- this is really effective. I keep this in my booth as a back up if my mouth/tongue becomes dry and those pesky mouth clicks return. It helped me through a live directed 5 hour recording session a while back.
~ Vocal booth – recording gear checks that everything is turned on and in good working order. Make sure it’s not overly warm and free of smells that can affect your throat ie. Perfume.
~ Script prep – highlighting specific words for pitch/pace/tonality changes, adding in a pauses, highlighting expressive words, accentuating words etc. plus a couple of read throughs after mark ups. Longer scripts will require longer prep time.
~ Vocal warm ups – intercostal diaphragmatic breathing techniques. mouth, jaw and neck exercises, lip buzzing, tongue trills, yawning, humming, finishing off with those all important tongue twisters for practicing diction…… Phew!
Plus, sipping on a warming herbal tea and room temperature water placed in the booth for the duration of recording session.
So, the recording preparation applies for the shorter VO jobs as much as the lengthier ones to provide a professional vocal performance.
These master sections have sub sections and from there I create my daily/weekly action with timescales plan factoring in the whole day from when I awake and have coffee onwards. Coffee being of great importance to the start of any day!
Working from home as many Voice Overs, freelancers and other small business owners do can often be a lonely place. This isn’t a blog necessarily on the pros and cons but about the considerations of both and the self care that we should bear in mind that may help when working alone from home. Having been a Pro Voice Over working from home for 13 years I’ve felt the positives and negatives during this time but working from home is still my preferred option as it’s always suited my lifestyle. Experiencing my own difficult times, I discovered (from the anxiety/stress management course I did) that awareness of how we feel when we’re not coping and what we can do about it can really make a difference. Therefore Self Care in how we can look after ourselves mentally and emotionally is important. This is something I’ve always kept in mind when feeling a little isolated or just having a bad working day that knowing the coping mechanisms and tools are there should I need them. Being trained to provide emotional support for listening to people struggling to cope in life and explore any options to help has given