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sound

Virtual Reality Voiceover: where it’s going, how to do it

Technology, Voiceover Styles

shadow girl in nature Virtual realtity Kim Handysides voiceover
Credit: Catalyst music

Sound whether music, soundscape or voiceover narration, is critical to making virtual reality realistic. We are more forgiving of visual elements, be it animation, CGI, even imperfect video. But sound orients us to place and space and directs and manipulates emotional input. Sound becomes the anchor to the real. Looking at expanding applications of virtual reality, one thing is emerging in terms of voiceover. Realism is the key.

 

Break it Down – VR Sound

 

Like in film, a soundscape in virtual reality has multiple layers. There’s the ambient sound, the rain, wind, reflective surfaces, crickets, even. Sometimes a music score used to build tension and provide relief, give emotional cues to the one engaging with the VR. Orientation is also very important. Where is the noise coming from? Behind you? To the left on the ground? Speech, whether in the form of a scene the user participates in or a guide or narrator works best when it is compelling, convincing and enhances the realism the piece is trying to portray.

 

Voiceover in VR

 

mouth whisper in ear Virtual reality sound Kim Handysides voiceover
Credit: canddi.com

Narration and voiceover in virtual reality is the antithesis of announcer-speak. Because the sound is at furthest a surround sound system in a room, and more often coming through headphones tucked less than an inch away from an eardrum, the voice has to respect that proximity. The two positions we encounter most in narration are the immediate scene laid out before the player/user. A film type of vocal reference is most used for these dramatizations. The other voiceover position is the guide, friend, comrade at arms or occasionally, the intimate foe. The proximity and intimacy makes the voiceover very powerful. A light touch and a soft approach is an incredibly effective counterpoint to the rest of the stimulus being fed to the user. And with everything on the leading edge, conversational narration and a storytelling voiceover delivery is key

 

Voiceover Supported VR Applications

 

As costs decrease and technology becomes more accessible, VR is being envisioned in a myriad of applications. Here is a sampling of areas where VR is being produced. All of which feature voiceover.

 

Directories & guides to stores – marine, grocery, catalogues

 

Games – entertainment

 

Tour guides – Museums, cities

 

Education – recreating historical civilizations, science microscopic-astronomic explorations

 

Real Estate – sales, proposals, development

 

Surgery – simulation

 

Physical therapy – simulations

 

Flight & aerospace simulators

 

Military – safely replicate dangerous training situations

 

Car – engineers test safety applications in VR setting & sales letting customers test drive vehicles

 

Sports – training to streaming

 

Mental health – primary method for treating PTSD and phobias

 

Awareness – National Autistic Society made film on what it feels like to be autistic

 

Geography – Google Expeditions for kids or Marriot’s Travel Brilliantly i.e. to Hawaii

 

Language skills – Imperial College in China for Mandarin

 

Woman wearing VR glasses pixel fragmentation Kim Handysides voiceover
Credit: Dude Solutions

VR is still new, but expanding rapidly. Even though gaming is still a huge arm of its production, it’s fascinating to watch its early evolution unfold. What VR productions have you been part of? What style voiceover did you use? Do you see another area it’s being used that I haven’t mentioned here?

 

 

Kim Handysides is a female voiceover artist who has played character or narrators in over 3 dozen virtual reality productions in the last year.

 

 

Filed Under: Technology, Voiceover Styles Tagged With: character, conversational narration, headphones, narration, sound, soundscape, storytelling voiceover, virtual reality, virtual reality voiceover, voiceover in VR, VR, VR applications

eLearning Fail: Why Profs Should NOT Narrate

eLearning

Photo:videoblocks

An educational eLearning client recently asked me for referrals for sound studios builders. They’ve decided to build a place for their professors to record. This got me, the professional voice actor thinking…

Both of my university aged daughters have complained about monotone, boring, bad narration in the online courses they have taken which were narrated by their profs. Why is this happening? Why would a prof  risk everything they have worked so hard to achieve and turn it into something inferior. Is it because they don’t realize that unprofessional narration is worse than no narration, at all? That a monotone delivery negatively affects the brand of both the university and the professor. It makes them look and sound bad.

SOUND SEPARATES THE PROS FROM THE SIDESHOWS

In our uber connected world, our expectations of quality in infotainment, including our eLearning university courses are high. Studies show we will tolerate less than perfect graphic images before we accept bad audio narration. Think of screen recorded YouTube how-to’s.

Often professors believe they are best equipped to narrate their lessons for podcast or eLearning programs. After all, they intimately know the subject matter, wrote or had a hand in creating the content for the course and generally have years of experience lecturing to classrooms. But not hiring a professional voice actor to narrate their eLearning program is a big mistake.

THE PROFESSOR IS THE BEST TEACHER

Photo: Wisegeek

Intelligent people do explain things very well, and when asked a question can roll off the most palatable succinct response. They can engage in one on one discussions or lecture to several hundred and entrance and inspire. But performing material they’re familiar with or even wrote themselves aloud from a page is not the same.

When lecturing to a class, they have visual cues giving immediate feedback. It’s clear when students are following the prof and when they are not. So the prof adjusts their delivery. They are in the moment. This is real time vs pre-recording. The prof may be multi-tasking through the lecture, referring to notes, slides or a whiteboard. These cues all help bring their lecture alive.

However, in a studio in front of a microphone all that is eliminated. The untrained narrator almost automatically falls into reading in a flat, non-inspiring way that distracts the listener from the lesson rather than enhances the message. Not to mention distracting audio. Unclear diction. Irritating mouth noises.

THE VOICE ACTOR IS THE BEST NARRATOR

Photo: Jason Dipper

There is an enormous difference between a good speaking voice and a professional voice actor. An adept voice over actor sounds like the professor should sound. Confident, knowledgeable and engaging. He or she is able to explain the content like an expert even if s/he isn’t one. For over twenty years I have narrated medical and pharma eLearning chiefly because I sound like I know what I’m talking about in those areas, even though my background is not in science.

A good voice actor is a partner in the project. Gliding through the script, captivating the listener’s attention and helping make the lesson stick.

One colleague suggested the reason professors want to record their own lectures rather than hire a narrator is because of ego. A chance to shine in a new spotlight. But at what price to the end user, the student? Professors may be good communicators. But they are not professional voice actors.

THE GOAL: MAXIMUM RETENTION

For twenty five years, I have crafted a way of engaging listeners with the sound of my voice. It’s been the focus of my career and I work on it every day. Of course I sound better delivering their lectures than profs do. My craft is using the right inflections, intonations at the right times to maximize interest and enhance the material. The difference is clear.

Each one, the professor and the voice actor has their place. The professor is the fount of wisdom, research and knowledge about the subject. S/he has created the structure and content of the material. Has spent their life researching, publishing and lecturing about their specialty. But transmitting that material for maximum retention? That’s my specialty. Give me call or drop me a line to talk further about it.

 

Filed Under: eLearning Tagged With: audio, eLearning, elearning narration, eLearning program, female elearning voiceover, narration, narrator, online courses, professional, sound, voice actor

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