As a voiceover actor, I’ve found many uses for royalty-free music. From incorporating them into files for clients who need my voice plus music for telephone answering services, to eLearning module intros and extros, to bumpers, stingers and intro/extros for podcasts I’m hired to voice.  For these uses and to fill out the soundscape of narrated videos I produce for myself and in voiceover demos I produce for others, I’m an avid user of royalty-free music. If you’d like to use some for your projects, here’s what you need to know.

What is Royalty-Free vs Public Domain/Creative Commons Music?

So let’s start with some definitions. What exactly is royalty-free music and how does it differ from Public Domain and Creative Commons works?

First, royalty-free music can be confusing at first read, but it doesn’t mean that the music is free. What it does mean is that you won’t pay royalties each time you use it. You’ll pay a one-time licensing fee for access to the music and then you can use it, however (with some limitations) and whenever you want to, forever. Some licensing agreements have limitations (i.e. paid advertising), so you need to know your use.  

Different from royalty-free music, public domain, and creative commons works are free, with some nuance between the two. Using public domain music doesn’t require permission from the creator of the work, while creative commons often involve permission or attribution (more on this in a moment). You’ll want to be sure to pay attention to these permission requirements to avoid any legal issues.

Public Domain/Creative Commons Sources of Music

Let’s explore a couple of great public domain and creative commons sources for music you can use in your projects.

First, the biggest collection of videos, YouTube, is also the second largest search engine in general. So it’s a great place to start your search for public domain and creative commons music. There are many curated playlists that you can scroll through to look for free music for your project.

The Free Music Archive is also a source of public domain, creative commons (and royalty-free) music. When an artist decides to share their music on FMA, they do it with provisions. Creative commons licenses are designed to “fit on top of” traditional copyrights. Meaning the creator doesn’t give up their copyright when they allow you to use their music for free. So when you download music from FMA, you need to pay attention to the designations which tell you how you can use the music. And again, ALL of them require you give credit to (attribute) the creator.  

For example, let’s say the music has a CC BY-ND: Attribution-NoDerivatives license. This license allows for redistribution, commercial and non-commercial, as long as it is passed along unchanged and in whole, and creators must be credited. This means you cannot put this song in a video or other derivative work. If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you may not distribute, publish, share, or post the modified material. Syncing a track to video/moving images constitutes a derivative work, which is prohibited by this license. More permissions must be obtained directly from the artist. And you must give them credit when you redistribute their music (which is all you’re allowed to do with this license). 

See how important it can be to pay attention to the license? Because even posting on your personal social media “for fun” breaks the license described if you’ve changed the music in any way (or added your voice or visuals on top of it). Helpfully, FMA provides a license guide that briefly explains the different licensing models.

A couple of other good sources of free music are Musopen which focuses on classical music and 

Free Sound which is just what it sounds like, a collection of tens of thousands of sounds that users have uploaded that have been downloaded millions of times. In every case, you need to pay close attention to the licensing agreements.

Royalty Free Sources of Music

Just like with creative commons, royalty-free doesn’t mean copyright free. And in this case, it also doesn’t mean free to access. Often you need a paid subscription and are regularly restricted to non-commercial use only.  Royalty-free means a licensing agreement has been reached between composers and the market housing the music and offering it to subscribers for a fee. 

It reminds me of when I was the music director of (two) radio station(s) and twice annually, we had to track the music we played in two to four week periods. Alongside the name and composer of each song, we filled in copyright info so that data could be sorted regarding how much rights holders would get paid in royalties for usage. ASCAP is the organization that tracks that. Terrestrial stations (and now streaming services and YouTube) buy a licence from them to play and air (musical) content. 

Here are some great sources of royalty-free music to check out:

Bensound is a film score composer in France who’s been creating sound beds for 10+ years. He has both a free license and 3 paid license subscription offerings. In every case, there are limitations to how you can use his music, but he provides a handy chart for you to see what each type of licensing provides.

Premium beat has curated lists of music, some subscription choices and a licensing chart as does Epidemic Sound. And with Audioblocks (now part of Storyblocks), you can search by music genre, instrument, temp, duration, moods) and find about 80,000 tracks for $100/year for an individual. 

Audio jungle is part of the Envato marketplace, one of the earlier sources (established 2006) and offers unlimited downloads with a subscription that starts at around $17/month. MixKit is also available with an Envato Elements subscription and has millions of creative sound assets.

ZapSplat, which is a source for sounds (as you might guess from the name) and music and has free and paid subscription offerings with attribution requirements that can be lifted at higher subscription levels.

And Pond5 allows you to pay per track for music, and provides some level of indemnification for each of their Licensing offerings.

Of course, the other route you can go is to work with musicians directly. Every sound engineer friends and colleagues of mine are also composers. Depending on the project and its use, you can work with them directly to prepare a song or jingle for a product or project. I am putting the finishing touches on a project in which I hired a sound engineer buddy to create a song and related intros and extros as part of a children’s eLearning production package. I sang lead vocals, he provided the backup and the clients loved the finished product. 

As a voiceover artist, I supply audio narrations for videos every day for multiple companies. Whether the project format is explainers, ads, corporate or training videos, creating the audio component for videos gives me a unique perspective. Vital to that perspective is the understanding that the job I’m tasked with is that of being the conduit between people who have a strong desire or need to get their message heard and those who have a strong desire/need to hear it. Great voice over artists don’t see scripted narrations as just a job, but more of a sacred trust between message maker and message receiver.

If you’ve been thinking about adding video to your marketing strategy, but have been hesitating, I’d like to offer some perspectives, as a B2B myself who helps other businesses gain success through video marketing, perhaps to help nudge you over to the non-hesitating camp.

Social vs Digital. Advertising vs. Marketing.

First let’s define the playing field: social vs digital and advertising vs marketing.  Social media marketing is limited to online social platforms. While this reach is extensive, it has borders that are controlled not by you, but by the platforms themselves.  While digital marketing uses both online and offline digital means to reach out to the target audience. Your digital media marketing campaign may use a variety of channels such as mobile advertisements, TV, online advertising, SMS, etc.

Advertising and marketing, for purposes of this discussion are more symbiotic. Marketing is more of what you do to create your brand’s presence and get your products ready for market. Marketing involves market and consumer behavior research and data mining about how to best align the idea of a product or service with the target audience. Advertising then involves creative endeavors like design and multimedia production to spread the word about your product or service.

What do you intend to use it for? 

Part of deciding whether or not to use video campaigns in your marketing is to decide what benefits you’d like to focus on. In other words, what do you intend to use videos for? There are lots of benefits that video marketing brings.

First, you can use video content to improve your rank on the search engine results pages. SEO for videos needs some extra work for the search engines to pay attention to them, but by using keywords in the video title, descriptions and tags, you can give them the SEO boost you desire. And since Google owns YouTube, having an organized presence there can provide some quality backlinks to the videos you embed in your website. (Sidebar: search engines LOVE new content no matter what format. Each bit of something new results in an uptick on your engine rankings. So, why not get a double whammy of new content for the search engine and video for the click through and engagement boost).

You can also use video to show off your brand, products, services, and company personality. I’ll touch on this differently in a moment, but think of your video as a path to humanize your brand and connect with your website visitors. Use that to build trust. People buy from people or businesses they trust and a video can help with that introduction.

Also, a great video campaign can help you to stand out from your competition. Not every business is using video for marketing yet, but they’re catching on quick. You don’t want to be lagging behind your competitors by not leveraging video for your business. A video provides supplemental material to the static content on your website and that helps to provide a compelling website experience for the consumer and build long-lasting relationships.

Is Video Worth it? The ROI

So is video marketing worth it? Consumers and marketers both like video because it’s easy to digest, entertaining and engaging, and (for the marketers) can give a potentially huge return on investment (ROI). All a user needs is the internet, and your content is within reach. By using Explainer videos, interviews, vlogs, Lives on Facebook or Instagram (or other platforms) and other videos, you can create content that finds your audience where they live. 

Check out these compelling statistics:

According to the Digital Marketing Institute, 81% of businesses are now using video to market. And by the end of 2021, 80% of all traffic will be driven by video. 

Video has absolutely dominated social. HubSpot Research shows that four of the top six channels on which global consumers watch video are social channels.

Ramona Sukhraj, Associate Director of Content at Impact+ and some of her colleagues put together a detailed infographic that highlights some statistics that impact ROI by leveraging video’s reach (and she should know – she has her team has increased their website traffic almost 9 fold from her strategies). Here’s some of what they included:

• 75 Million people in the U.S. watch online videos everyday.
• YouTube has over 1 Billion users – that’s nearly a third of all people on the internet.
• Nearly 50% of all video is watched on a mobile device.
• Viewers retain 95% of a message from a video vs. 10% when reading a message.
• Online video is a 600% more effective marketing tool than print and direct mail combined.
• Videos up to 2 minutes long get the most engagement.
• Over 500 millions of hours of videos are watched on YouTube daily.
• Social video generates 1200% more engagement in shares and comments than text.
• Video drives a 157% increase in organic traffic.
• Merely mentioning the word ‘video’ in an email subject line, the click-through rate increased by 13%.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t need to hear ROI stats like that twice to know that video is absolutely the way to go if traffic, leads and sales are what you want for your business.

Now More than Ever

Video is more important for brands now than ever before. If the global pandemic has increased anything, it’s the amount of time we spend online. From meetings, to ordering food, to shopping, to entertainment, to visiting family and friends, online became a lifeline for many of us. Some estimate our use increased by 70%. Streaming went up by 12% and social media use also went up by 20-30%. 

Numerous brick and mortar businesses that couldn’t bring products and services online were shuttered. Those that were already online, were in a good position to thrive and those that made the shift have survived and quickly learned that engaging clients and buyers take more than a one page website. Regularly producing video content that can be repurposed in whole or in parts on your website and social platforms is the wave of the future in marketing and SEO. Video is key to creating that engagement with robust marketing in the current climate and beyond.

The Audio Component of Videos

Just as important as a story for your message and great visuals is the soundscape for your video. As a voiceover artist, this is and has been my arena of work for over twenty years. And because organic, authentic engagement with your customers will drive traffic and sales, you’ll want to choose a voice to represent your brand that knows how to be a storyteller with a track record of successfully giving brands that extra element of personality for their video. Many companies like to think of audio branding and will choose one voice over artist consistently for a series of explainer videos or for their podcasts. Or they may hire one voice for an ad campaign or a series of internal training or elearning modules. That brand or series voice will reflect the intent the company has for that set of messages. For onboarding, it may be welcoming and warm. For how-to’s it may be down-to-earth or matter of fact. For an ad campaign it may be gritty or edgy or sassy or playful. A good voice over artist will reflect the company brand, match the tone of your series of messages. They’ll know when to lean into the story part of your message and when to lean on the back foot and let the images do the heavy lifting. 

Hand in hand with the voiceover narration, sound effects and music also are elements to consider in an impactful audio element to your video. Making sure that the mood you intend for your messaging is set with just the right soundtrack coupled with a narrator that can match the music with the right emotional build or humorous “wink”, etc. can be the difference between a good video and a great one.

So you’ve decided to become a voice actor. Maybe you’ve always been in love with reading, or are a huge fan of animation or gaming, or truly have imagined yourself being the voice of your favorite brand in commercials on the radio and TV.  Now what? With an industry as diverse and expansive as voice over, how do you move forward with purpose and not get caught floundering in the ocean of overwhelm? Voice acting is much more than just reading words into a microphone, so here’s what you need to know before you dive in.

Start With A Voice Over Genre You Love

You’re going to spend a long time building your craft, so start with a vo genre you love. Then make sure you respect and “get” the importance of the genre you choose to explore. If you go off in a direction because you’ve heard that’s where the money is or some well meaning individual told you that your voice would be great for elearning when all you’ve ever dreamed about is animation, you may spend a lot of time moving down the wrong path for your career.   And since you want to be doing it for a long time to come, you will lose heart if you don’t follow your passion.

Cover your Basics

With the rare exception of a Mozart or a Baryshnikov, great artists are made, not born.  Sure, natural talent can come into play, but you wouldn’t attempt to be a visual artist or a musician without studying the basics first. The same is true of voice over. Incidentally, only 5-10% of being a good voice actor is based on your instrument – the rest is what you do with it. Learn how the vocal mechanism works and how to support speech from your diaphragm.  Work to keep tension out of your throat so that you can sustain talking/performing for 8 hours a day.  Learn some daily technical exercises to warm up your voice and improve your breath control. Stay hydrated.

In addition, work to get your diction and pronunciation precise – you can always soften it later. An inaccurate and casual elocution should be a tool in your toolbelt for those “conversational read” moments, not your only delivery style. To improve your diction, tongue twisters are great (Rodney Saulsberry has a great book of them). So is reciting Shakespeare (O, it

offends me to the soul to hear a robustious periwig-pated fellow tear a passion to tatters).

Don’t let impediments hold you back 

There are ways around sibilance, a stutter, dyslexia and other issues that keep people from reaching their voice over goals. This may involve speech therapy, vocal exercises, practice, and concentration. Don’t let an early diagnosis of an impediment hold you back. I was told I was too sibilant early in my career, so I went to a speech therapist and learned to hold back a little on my breath while saying “s”. That’s also where I learned about consistent air/energy throughout a performance. My daughter Lisa was diagnosed dyslexic at a young age. She powered through, developed great concentration and has nurtured a very successful voice over career.

Acting, Acting, Acting

All voice work is acting, no matter the genre. So find a coach, (or multiple coaches) take classes, workshops, and get training to acquire or enhance your skills. Become part of the voice acting community and lurk in Facebook pages and other forums. Go to conferences, and attend masterclasses. Watch coaches work with other actors. Soak it up – listen and read and learn and after you’ve absorbed a good amount, then interact and ask questions. The best way to improve is to immerse yourself in learning.

Learn how to analyze script. 80% of the time when an actor doesn’t book a job it’s because they either haven’t connected with the person they’re talking to or they haven’t connected with the words/message in the script. Don’t just skim through a script and step in front of the mic and hit record. Read the specifications sent and every word in the script (even the words not intended for you to say aloud like stage directions). Look for the general meaning, the deeper meaning, dig for subtext and emotional cues.

Learn how to talk to someone who isn’t there with you. In other forms of acting we have the advantage of being in the same space at the same time as the actor we’re in the scene with. Not so in voice acting. If there are other actors in the scene they likely aren’t recording at the same time as you. In other genres of VO there doesn’t seem to be another actor – but there is – it’s the listener. And even though you are not together in the same space at the same time, you are speaking to them and so must do the imaginative work to make sure you connect with them. 

Demos and Home Studio

Skills first, demo second. A voice over demo (or two, or three or ten) is a necessary investment in your voice over business. It is a direct representation of who you are as an actor and your ability to perform in a specific genre. Do not record a demo until you can perform well and consistently without a coach honing your every read. You want your demo to be a representation of what working with you will be like in a real booking, so you need to be able to deliver the same performacne quality as on your demo (or better).

If 2020 has shown us nothing else, it is that to be competitive in voice over, you need a solid home studio set up where you can record and listen back. Be sure to practice in your studio. I have an exercise I call “2 Hats” where the first hat you wear is “performer” and you give yourself full licence to create – no critic allowed. Then LATER as you listen back, switch hats, detach from your performance and listen with a (kind but) critical ear and evaluate your performance. A solid home studio let’s you hear what a buyer is looking for in performance and recording quality.

This is not a quick profession to get into. No overnight sensations abound. It often takes years to build the skills and invest in the tools (craft, studio, demo, website, marketing) before you see an ROI and then again before you can become full time. Even then, the average voiceover artist in the US makes about $30-$35K a year. But for those who can’t imagine anything else, it’s a delightful way to make a living.

Spotlight on Running your Voice Over Business – Professional Tips

Occasionally a voice actor will have a knack for business, or a business background or be uber organized and love to tick boxes as much as they love to explore character and performing stories. But more often than not, voice over actors fall short in the running-my-own-business category. If this is the weakest link in your biz chain, this post is for you. 

Full disclosure: I suck at paperwork. It’s something I push myself to do. There’s often an amount of inner conflict, kicking, and teeth gnashing, but hey, as my kids used to say when faced with unpleasant chores, “ya gotta do what ya gotta do.” So, I did what I had to do. My own quarterly and annual taxes. My own marketing (which was my fav part of the business end of the business as I always saw it as an outlet for creativity). My own payments to suppliers, subcontractors and agents. Until a few years ago, when my rate of incoming work exceeded my available hours in a week (it was getting up to 80 – which is unsustainable) and my husband quit his job and stepped in to run my voiceover business with me. Happy day! A former small business owner (19 employees) with a BCom himself, he came with all the bells and whistles I did not. Here are professional tips I’ve learned from him on how to best run your voice over business.

The Key Players on Your Voice Business Team

Though it may feel like you are doing everything alone as a solopreneur, there are some key players that you can add to Team-YOU early to help move your business forward, and some that you’ll add later as you bring in more work to voice and have less time to devote to other aspects of your business. Here are some to consider:

Agents:

Keep in mind that your agent is a business partner – they are in business to make money with you – if you earn, they earn.  So this relationship needs to be symbiotic, or at the very least a B2B equal partnership. Communication with your agent or agents is a key ingredient in that relationship. The better they understand your business – where you’re booking, what genres are your jam, who you’re training with, what workshops you’re attending – the better equipped they are to sell your services to buyers who are looking for voice talent. Let them know about your latest achievements and new goals. 

Cash Flow Note: Often the client is billed by the agent, who will then collect the money, assess their commission and then pay the remainder out to you, the talent.  This can mean your expected payment schedule may have additional time added to it for that processing.  Be aware of that time-table when accounting for when that money will actually get to you.  Also, if your arrangement is to collect from the client and then pay your agent, be cognizant of their cash flow expectations and be transparent about your collections and payments to them.

Subcontractors:

According to Investopedia, “Subcontracting is the practice of assigning, or outsourcing, part of the obligations and tasks under a contract to another party known as a subcontractor. Subcontracting is especially prevalent in areas where complex projects are the norm, such as construction and information technology.”

In the voice over industry, this would include people you hire out for audio editing, video editing, translation, website hosting services or any ancillary services you offer. Sometimes this includes other voice over talent – if you offer casting services or have lists you provide clients of talent for jobs in languages you do not speak. 

CashFlow Note: Keep in mind, many of us expect to be paid right away. I can’t argue, it’s best. But the rest of the world operates on “net” – which can be 15 days net, 30 or occasionally 60. Union payment schedule is net 30 days and then late fees.  The key here is to be transparent and clear about payment terms and when they can expect to be paid.

Suppliers: 

A pure business to business (B2B) relationship, a supplier is an entity that supplies goods and services to another organization. In voice over, this can include Pay to plays, marketplace memberships (including Union dues), subscriptions like Dropbox, We Transfer, Source Connect, Adobe.

CashFlow Note: Make sure you’re paying attention to your usage, especially with tools and services you subscribe to, but perhaps aren’t utilizing. This can be a large outflow with no benefit to your business. For example, I had a LinkedIn Pro account that I wasn’t using but was paying for to the tune of $60 a month! Buh-bye.

Cash Flow (Money In, Money Out)

Ok, so I’ve mentioned a couple of “CashFlow Notes” and you may be wondering what that means.  Cash Flow is all money that comes in and out of your business. In order for your business to be profitable, you have to make sure more money comes in than goes out. Because of the nature of the voice over business, you may have some income on a regular, trackable schedule and other income from new or one-off projects that you’ll need to stay on top of and plan for when that money will hit your account.  More often out-flows are more regular (monthly subscriptions, weekly coaching sessions, etc.) so planning for income to cover those expenses is paramount.

Invoicing and Getting Paid

It is important to invoice as soon as possible after the job is done.  Remember that you are likely one of many vendors billing them and waiting to send invoices until some time after the job can lead to confusion and disorganization.  Do everything you can to be professional and help your client stay on top of their account payables.  Be sure to include the job description, date, PO numbers or any invoicing specifics the client has requested. If provided one, use the client’s format for invoicing and make sure you have the correct person to address the invoice to (the person who hired you may not be the person responsible for paying you). Ed keeps a running template of repeat customers and companies that have specific needs for invoicing – as your business grows, you need to be organized and keep systems to streamline your time.

Speaking of systems, when money comes in, have a system for noting the invoice and the client who paid you.  It is a smart business practice to have some way (accounting software, spreadsheet, a CRM – I happen to use VoiceOverView, etc) to know what you’ve invoiced and what you’ve been paid for every job from every client.

Keep in mind that your clients will have varying payment terms (try to establish this upfront when quoting the job) – some will pay right away, some will stretch it out 30/60/90 days. If the client has missed the agreed upon payment due date, don’t cut them out as customers.  In this very freelance business, you have to be flexible and adapt. Communication is key here. 

Should payment become extremely delayed, remember that collection is persistence.  Some VO artists feel very uncomfortable getting demanding after payments are overdue.  But this is a business, so when invoices are overdue by more than 90 days, how do you collect? Ed sends weekly emails, then daily emails, then threatens to put them on voiceover red flags. If you booked the work on a P2P, while they won’t actively collect on your behalf, they may block them from posting future jobs until yours is resolved. I confess I suck at this. Before my husband got involved, I had $40K in over-90-days-collectibles. Now, it’s maybe $400, if that.

Marketing Your Voice Over Business

Marketing your voice over business is a never-ending activity.  So to be effective, know your wheelhouse reads and focus your energy there first. Focus on where you have the best chance of booking work to get the most return on your marketing efforts.  Pay attention to niche voice markets and make sure that the marketing strategy you select serves your niche. If the majority of your target clients live on LinkedIn, why spend marketing energy on Instagram? Also be aware that just because a market segment is hot (i.e. political in 2020 or elearning in the Covid-19 environment) doesn’t mean you should spend a lot of energy there. Do they share any space in the Venn diagram of the market segments in your wheelhouse? If not, your time is better spent marketing elsewhere.

Some excellent marketing advisors in the voice over world are David Tyler, Marc Scott, Jonathan Tilley, Tracy Lindlay, Anne Ganguzza and Sophia Cruz, to name a few. (Forgive me any VO marketing friends I overlooked here – these are the ones that are currently top of my mind)

Though finding ways to introduce yourself to the ever growing market of buyers (through agents, P2Ps, direct marketing, etc.) is a primary building block of your business, once you begin to book work, the care and nurturing of your existing clients is your top marketing priority. Provide excellent customer service with honest communications, professional interactions and a “how can I be of service” mindset.  This can lead to real relationships with clients, once you’ve worked together and taken interest in each other’s lives, but be selective. I have become friends with a few clients over the years. Ones where our common interests and take on as aspects of our shared industry led to interaction outside of our professional relationship – but that’s rare. Authenticity is key in building trust with a client, but focus on always being professional.

Know Your Value When Quoting Prices

I cannot say this enough – know the market prices for your voice over services. There are some great rate guides out there so use the tools created. Know your value. Are you always giving discounts when requested? Remember you’re not running a charity, you’re running a business designed to put food on your table. And when customers are accustomed to getting discounts because you’re willing to drop your rates too quickly it will be very difficult to move them back up to your standard rates and you’ll always be working for them for less money. It is best to understand what the market rates are and know why you charge what you charge – factor in your experience, the cost of your setup and gear, the overhead of running your business including healthcare and taxes. Devaluing your services just creates a race to the bottom. It is impossible to stay in business this way. 

Communications

A couple notes about how you communicate with clients.  First, I will say again, you are a BUSINESS, so having a weird business email or PayPal name sends a message that you don’t take your business seriously. You’re dealing with business people, so unless you’re in animation or unicorns (Helo Jenn) are your brand, then sparklesunderfidostail@hotmail.co may bring you a chuckle, but will make it confusing to the person who is trying to pay you.

Second, some people send thank you notes or promo items after jobs. I never have. I feel a little uncomfortable doing that. You’ve given them a service sending a thank you gift makes it seem like perhaps you overcharged,  or like a bribe for them to hire you again. To my mind, it sends a message that is not professional. If it’s part of your brand – that’s your choice, but I question whether it is seen as businesslike. Gifts at Christmas or Thanksgiving are different – many businesses send a holiday greeting as a customer appreciation gesture. And a branded promotional item in a promotion, again, is different. But a gift after doing a job? Personally, I wouldn’t.

Recently in a presentation I was asked to put together for copywriters and creatives, we discussed best practices in how to direct and deal with voice actors. Usually, I approach this from a different angle: coaching voice actors on how to best approach performance, so this looking at it from a different lens was fun for me. Actors use exercises and concepts to analyze a script, connect to content and create honest and engaging performances. Many are surprised to learn that much of the “before you begin” process is similar whether the actor prepares for a theatre role, a part in a movie or a voiceover job. Whether you’re a voice actor or a creative who works with them and is tasked with helping them create better performances to lift your words off the page, this post dives into some of those concepts and demystifies secrets of how to talk the language of actors.

Finding Common A Language Between Actors and Directors

As in any field, actors employ jargon that is used to communicate effectively and reduce uncertainty. Understanding and using acting terms creates a common language that can guide a voice actor’s performance and bring you faster results with less frustration.  So whenever you are working with actors, it is important to have insight into how the performance is reached.  This applies to every field where you are trying to direct or guide performers. How many orchestra conductors can’t read music? How many great basketball coaches have never bounced a ball or played the game? None.

Good directors know what makes a great performance because they understand its components.  Once you understand what makes up a good performance, you can work backward and fix what’s wrong or add what’s missing. For example, knowing that a good acting foundation is to be emotionally connected to the circumstances of the character.

Standard “Actor Speak” Terminology

So what, then, is some common “actor speak” terminology that facilitates a great working session between actor and director?  Here are some key terms and definitions.

Content 

The sum total of every item in a script, from the characters to the scenery to the stage directions, descriptions, and sound effects, is the content of the script.  Good actors use a healthy bit of script analysis to unpack that content and come up with details that help bring a performance to life.  In voice over, this could include animation character pictures and descriptions, storyboards for commercials, product images as well as specifications about tone, timber, pitch, accent, perspectives, attitudes, previous ad samples, examples of voice type in addition to the words the voice actor will be speaking into a microphone.  The content IS the story.

Objective 

What the characters want or need within the given moment is that character’s objective.  The actor needs to know this because visceral, emotional energy needs to be directed toward achieving that goal.  Statements beginning with “I want” or “I need” help define objectives.  And all characters in a scene have them, even just the one-liners.  Associated with objective is the Super Objective, which is the overall objective a character has through the play, or film or animated short or commercial (yes, even commercial).  Let’s consider a set of commercial spots for a political campaign.  The super objective of the voice over is to win votes on election day.  The objective within each spot may vary from alarming the electorate about the opponent, to inspiring voter confidence in the candidate.  And sometimes multiple objectives are incorporated within the script to reach the super objective.

Intention 

Intention is a bit different from a super objective, but it is related. The super objective is a very general desire that cannot be acted. The super objective is what you want, the intention is how you go about getting it .The intention is the specific action (or actions) you want to do in the moment, moment-to-moment (even line to line) to achieve your super-objective. Sometimes the voice over is taking those actions, and sometimes the actor is describing those actions.  Let’s say the super objective is to find relief from headaches. The script may describe a progression of specific intentions to find relief from “I want to end my headaches, so I want to talk to my doctor” to “I want to get a prescription for this new drug” to “I want to start this regime to reduce or eliminate my headaches.” These are intentions. The key to remember here is that intentions can be acted, objectives cannot.

Subtext

Subtext is what the character is thinking while saying a particular line. Saying “I love you” and thinking “come here, you big lug” will sound different from saying “I love you” while thinking “I really hate you and want you out of my life” as much as “I love you” while thinking “you are the best thing that’s ever happened to me” will sound different again. This difference comes from the subtext, which the actor chooses based on the content of the script and the context of the character they are playing and the choices they’ve made about their attitudes, perspectives and personality.  

Context

Context is discovered by analyzing what is happening in the scene and what has led up to the moment the character is in.  Working in conjunction with objective, intention and subtext, context gives the other elements the environment for them to draw from.  For example, if the script says “I love spinach” and the context is that the character has eaten nothing but spinach, has a kitchen filled with only spinach and is Popeye, then objective, intention and subtext will mean something different that if the character is a little kid who is trying to make his mom feel good about only being able to serve him spinach (when he’d really like a happy meal).

Back story

This is everything that happened to a character BEFORE they appear in the moment being portrayed.  Let’s take for example a Calgon commercial (remember “Calgon, take me away?”) – a woman has just come to the end of a very harried day, and wants to escape into a luxurious bubble bath.  Her back story might be, the day started with the kids refusing to wake up and get ready for school on time, causing everyone to be late, which caused Mom to rush and spill her morning coffee into her lap in the car.  With no time to go home and change, she had to rush to work where she had back to back meetings all day, which ran late and didn’t give her time to get home and make a good dinner. So she stops at a fast food restaurant, gets taken out for the 3rd night this week, picks up the kids from their respective sports practices, and arrives home to find the dog has barfed all over the couch.  She just wants a break – “Calgon, take me away!” So as you can see, this involves world-building and imagination and commitment to what is motivating everything that happens in the current scene (even if it is one line).  

Presence 

Some call it charisma, some actors think of it as a tool like a volume control they can turn up or down in a performance, but presence is the special sauce that an actor brings with them when they step onstage or in front of a microphone. It’s not always easy to define, but it exists like a  lead line an actor can tighten to draw an audience (or listener) in and then release to let them sit with what the actor has just revealed.   Presence is borne of confidence and commitment to the business of bringing characters to life, and “owning” that moment of performance when all eyes and ears are trained on the actor and want to be transported.

Ad-lib Improvisation 

Improvisation is an important skill for any actor – to be able to riff off the script – staying in the scene and in the character and coming up with on the spot dialogue that the character might also say.  This can sometimes mean phrases and other times mean non-verbal dialogue – “um”s” “uh’s”, snorts, little laughs or sounds that indicate emotion (derision, pleasure, amusement, etc) They are sometimes kept in voice over performances, sometimes not. Often voice seekers are looking for voice actors to “play” with their script to make it sound unscripted and “real” and being able to ask for improvisation helps the actor know they have permission to deviate from or add to the script in front of them.

Method 

Often when an actor is called a “method actor”, the categorization is a refers to a type of acting technique – usually linked to a major acting teacher like Lee Strasberg, or Stanislavski – where an actor fully embodies a character and in doing so, brings forth truthful, organic and emotionally connected performances.  There are other methods as well, like the Chekhov Method, Meisner, etc.

Technical

When speaking about the technical aspects of acting, the focus is on observations of human movement or sound that can be applied to a performance. In voice acting, this might be a rise in inflection or closing a tag line on a commercial ending on a downward note in your sentence. Technical terms also include tempo (speed), pitch, timber (quality of sound).

Organic 

Organic acting refers to feeling/being the character as a part of you as opposed to “putting it on”. Both Strasburg and Meisner approaches lean toward truthful performance – if you need to cry, tapping into the emotions that bring real tears to your eyes. So that the line between what the character is experiencing and what the actor is experiencing is blurred.

Adjustment

A shift (internal in focus, external in technical aspects) to “adjust” to be able to honestly incorporate a director’s suggestion into your performance. Also referred to when moving from genre to genre, like from theatre to film or award show announcing to explainer narration. 

There are many more concepts and definitions. What are your favorites? Are there any that I missed that should be on here?

You’ve spent weeks developing the perfect concept and crafting it into an impeccable script. Now you are about to hire your voiceover talent. Beyond the content of what you’ve written, how do you convey to the artist the way you want them to tell your story? As a voiceover artist for over 25 years I’ve been party to productions with excellent direction to actors and have also had to contend with very poor direction. I’ve seen clear specs (specifications) for auditions and ambiguous or contradictory guidelines, which leave the talent confused about how to give the director what they want. Here are some giving-direction worst-case scenarios and pitfalls to avoid and suggestions for how to communicate better with actors.

 

Specs That Don’t Convey Anything Meaningful to a Voice Actor

Specs that are vague and don’t convey anything meaningful to your voice actor help no one.  Specs like “something we haven’t heard before” or “we’re looking for something different” is extremely subjective and very hard to “act.” Asking for a unique voice is like asking for a unique look. All voices are unique. Just look at voice recognition software – we’re snowflakes. Everyone is unique, so that specification is not helpful. What you want is a unique performance. Not a unique voice. Something that stands out. Something authentic… 

Sometimes getting specific about vocal qualities such as “medium pitch range, nothing too high” or “a bit of a rasp” help guide an actor’s choices. Definite emotional intentions such as “warm and comforting” or “playful and fun” also give the actor something to work with.

When giving reference examples, be clear on what it is about the reference you are looking for from the voice actor.  For example, when giving specifications for age reference, keep in mind that voice age is plastic and often unrelated to the actor’s actual age – Emma Stone has a deep voice and could pass for 45 even though she’s in her early 30’s. I saw a recent spec with an age reference for 35-45 and an A-lister reference to Holly Hunter, who is 62. There’s a disconnect. More often than not when directors share age references, what they really mean is what demographic they (or the client) are targeting. That bit of info is helpful because there are some differences in delivery from generation to generation. 

 

Do You Know What You Want?

Before setting about writing specifications, ask yourself – do you know what you want? If you have a sound for your voiceover in mind, often the simplest way to convey that is with a sample of a voice you like from something else. Good voice actors are adept at creating sound-alikes and will mimic the sample you offer.  If there is something you like about the sample, point that out, for example, “lighthearted tone” or “gritty inspirational feeling” or “down to earth” or anything else specific you can identify and share. The same goes for anything in that sample you don’t like. “I like her attitude, but need more joy” or “a tone like this, but more serious.”

Voice actors are aces at unwrapping or unpacking content to dig for deeper meaning. If you already have sussed that meaning out, share it with them so they can bring you more accurate performances. That being said, every voice actor is unique and will bring their own storytelling talents to your message. 

 

Do You Know What You Don’t Want?

Just as important as knowing what you want, is knowing what you don’t want. Being able to articulate that can be helpful. Again be specific. Refer to tone (clear, gravelly), pitch (high or low), cadence (natural or formal).  If you’ve provided a reference sample, as I mentioned earlier, be sure to point out anything that you want your actor to avoid – “this pace, but not sarcastic,” “this pitch range, but NO vocal fry,” etc.  

It all boils down to specifics.  The more information and ideas you give your voice actor to “play” with, the more likely you are to get well-rounded performances that check your “unique sound” and “looking for something new and different” boxes and the better chance your actor has of nailing what you want.

 

Feedback Do’s

Whether you are live directing or sending direction electronically, feedback is critical to getting the best performance from your voice actor.  Good communication between actor and director will make your recording sessions more effective, bring out the best in your actor, and almost always save you time and money.  

Do tell your actor what is working for you. Knowing what you liked and want to keep in the performance is extremely important for the actor.  This will help shore up a foundation of elements to build their performance from.  For example, if you love their pacing, they can check off that box, keep it the same, and focus on the elements you’d like adjusted.

Do be specific.  I cannot say this enough.  Vague generalizations waste time and money. Speaking in vocal qualities can be more helpful for your actor than in qualities that may vary from person to person in interpretation – “the pitch is a little high to my ear, can you lower it” – is much more effective than “this sounds flighty, can you make her sound more interesting.” 

 

Feedback Don’ts

Also when giving feedback, let’s avoid the dreaded “robotic” word…it speaks to lack of knowledge about how to pull a better performance out of your voice actor. It’s also a sore spot for many voice actors (especially in light of the threat of AI VO). A better direction is to say the performance was “too measured,” meaning the rhythm was too predictable. 

Don’t be rude, instead be sensitive – it takes a lot of chutzpah to act and it also takes humility – a director’s words can crush. In my first Union job when I was a young thing, the director gave ambiguous feedback and after several devolutions, ranted “well, now that’s just all gone to rat sh*t.” I still recall my stomach dropping to my toes and a bitter taste in the back of my throat. How was a comment like that going to help me summon up a “positive, cheerful” delivery?  Shaken, but not stirred, I rallied, but the callous handling of my eager to please (and looking back, bonafide darn good) performance had me second-guessing my work during the rest of the session.  Eroding your actor’s confidence may momentarily ease your tension, but invariably result in the session taking much longer and perhaps not reaching your elusive desired end result.  Encouraging your actor and knowing how to help them bring their best work is just smart business.

Don’t give a “line read.” This is where you say the line how you hear it in your head and want that repeated back from your actor.   The problem with a line reading is that then the actor is concentrating on mimicry instead of acting.  This is compounded when the actor has a good ear and delivers the line the way it was said, which doesn’t match the sound that the director had in their head (the intention of which likely didn’t come out in their unschooled delivery). The actor spends time merely attempting to imitate what they hear rather than creating an organic performance. At this point, the connection with the script and any prior direction you may have given are lost.

 

Tips for Better Communications with Voice Actors

Good communication with your voice actor is the key to getting a performance you love out of any session (directed or not).  The better the communication, the easier it will be for your actor to digest your specifications and deliver their best work.  And ultimately, the less time it takes, the better for your bottom line as well.  Here are some tips to make your collaboration effective and profitable.

• Share with them what you want the listener to feel and remember
• Let them know what demographic(s) you’re targeting
• Describe WHY you’re providing the content – are you solving a problem for consumers, explaining a complex service, introducing a new brand – give your voice actor a reason they’re saying what they’re saying
• Lead with positive feedback before giving a correction – voice actors are human, and humans respond better when you lead with praise, even if you still want adjustments
• Avoid generalities and esoteric direction – “can you do that again, but with more blue tones” may lead to many more takes than “keep everything, but softer.”