The VOICE OVER MISTAKE CHART for Pros and New Talent

The VOICE OVER MISTAKE CHART
for Pros and New Talent

LISTEN. EVEN PROS MAKE MISTAKES.

The truth is, engineers, directors, casting professionals, and clients are used to mistakes. But only to a point. Too many mistakes can drag a session and/or result in too much editing.

So we figured a VOICE OVER MISTAKE CHART would be a good refresher (for you pros) or cheat-sheet (for you newbies) to ensure your clients are happy with your performance!

For you, every week, we'll complete another section of this VOICE OVER MISTAKE CHART.
For other readers, feel welcome to submit ideas to edge@edgestudio.com.



Added 2009.08.04 PRONUNCIATION MISTAKES

GENERAL
The BIGGEST mistake is NOT tailoring your pronunciation to the demographic of the listener and the intent of the script. So find out who the script is for, where it will be heard, and for what reason it will be heard.

WHEN CLARITY IS NECESSARY, ARTICULATE CLEARLY
(for language tutorials, museum guided tours, international airline videos, and so on)
“Internet” and “international” – pronounce the first “t”
example: “Welcome aboard our International flight to...”
“government” and “environment” – pronounce the “n”
example: “Click to learn more about our government.”
“mountain” – pronounce the “t”
example: “This is this mountain range known as K2. It peaks over...”

WHEN INFORMALITY IS PREFERABLE, SPEAK COLLOQUIALLY
“Internet” and “international” – do NOT pronounce the first “t”
example: “Want the fastest Internet? Then you gotta call us at...”
“government” and “environment” – do NOT pronounce the “n”
example: “Government shmovernment... let’s talk BK’s big beef burger!”
“mountain” – do NOT pronounce the “t”
example: “Up here in the mountains, we love Coors Beer.”

COMMON MISTAKES
“often” – do not pronounce the “t” (you wouldn’t say “soften”, would you?)
“probably” – pronounce the “ab” in the middle (“probly” is usually too slurred)
“February” – do not pronounce the “r” in the middle (“FebRUary” is usually too exact)
“comfortable” – do not pronounce the “or” in the middle (or it will sound too exact)
“particularly” – pronounce each syllable (rather than "par-tic-ally")
“where” – do not make the “h” sound at the beginning (that is an “old-school” style)

DON'T SOUND LIKE YOU'RE READING
“the” – pronounce this word with a soft “e” (unless the following word begins with a vowel)
“a” – pronounce this word with a soft “a" (or it will sound too exact)


Added 2009.08.11 BUSINESS ETIQUETTE MISTAKES

GENERAL
The BIGGEST mistake voice-talent make is NOT taking their career as seriously as they would another type of career. For example: Open a restaurant and many voice talent would put more effort into their menu selections rather than they do their demo selections… more into choosing their tablecloth colors than choosing their website colors… and more into marketing their restaurant than marketing their demo.

Why? Whether part-time or full-time, voice over IS a career. Take pride. Check for typos. Follow-up on time. Act professionally. Kick butt and make the world sound better!

DURING TRAINING
Talent don’t assess which niches of voice over they’re most marketable for
(e.g.: audiobooks, commercials,…) and never reach their potential
Talent make demos before they’re ready
Talent rely on digital enhancement to sound better on their demos
and subsequently misrepresent themselves when marketing

WHEN MARKETING
Talent don’t put enough care into their branding (website, CD graphics, logo,…) - help
Talent don’t provide clear/appropriate contact information - help
File names for MP3-demos are formatted incorrectly - help

WHEN HIRED/AUDITIONING
Talent don’t call back quickly
Talent don’t have calendar with them
Talent don’t have rates readily available
Talent don’t send out auditions on time
Talent don’t follow audition guidelines EXACTLY!

AT RECORDING SESSION
Talent show up late
Talent aren’t prepared (with pencil, water,…)
Talent don’t ask expected questions for a session with a difficult script
(e.g.: don’t ask pronunciation questions, don’t ask who the listener is)
Talent corrects/criticizes the copy in front of the client.
Talent wears too much perfume/cologne
and the scent gets stuck in the vocal booth
Talent doesn’t thank everyone for working with them

POST RECORDING SESSION
Talent doesn’t properly invoice, or forgets to invoice...
and then gets upset that they weren’t paid!!
Talent discusses pay in front of the client


Added 2009.08.19 DIRECTION TAKING MISTAKES

General
The BIGGEST mistake voice talent make is forgetting (or not realizing) how CRITICAL it is to do what your customer requests.... rather than doing it your way. Listen, they're paying, and they therefore have every right to be nit-picky. Would you EVER hire back a painter who did it their way, rather than yours?

WHEN MARKETING
A casting professional requests talent to keep in touch via email, but the talent calls instead. Or they specifically says “MP3 submissions by email only”….yet the talent mails a CD
A casting professional requests a follow up next Monday, but the talent finally calls a week after

WHEN AUDITIONING
Talent doesn’t follow audition guidelines. For example, the engineer says, "Please slate your first name only, the script title, and read the first three lines of the script." Yet the talent says, “Hi this is Jane Doe from Idaho. I'll now read a passage......"
Talent doesn’t name their files as requested
Client requests an MP3, yet the talent emails a WAV

WHEN HIRED
Talent is told to arrive early to go over the copy with the client before the session, but doesn’t show up until the session is scheduled to begin
Talent is told to bring a copy of the script with him/her, but doesn’t
Talent is asked to research pronunciations that he/she may not be familiar with, but doesn’t

AT RECORDING SESSION
Talent doesn't take direction (they're not listening, or not writing it down, or they're untrained,...)
Talent takes direction but messes up something else. For example, a client asks the talent to "Slow the read down". But then, when the talent reads more slowly, they also lose energy. Now the client has 2 bad takes!
Talent is told to read something very specific but doesn't. For example, a client asks the talent to "Please read the first three words." but the talent reads the entire sentence

POST RECORDING SESSION
Talent doesn’t follow directions of how, when, or who to invoice
Talent requests to hear the final recording, and is told to call back in 3 days, but doesn't for a week. By that time, it takes the engineer MORE time to get them a copy because they need to go back into their archives


Added 2009.08.26 TEMPO MISTAKES
GENERAL
The BIGGEST mistake voice talent have is NOT developing (practicing) a sense of timing

COPY WRITER’S INTENT
Talent doesn’t consider the tempo that will work best for the listener (e.g.: slow on a relaxation recording, mid-tempo on a telephony recording, fast on a zippy radio commercial)
Talent doesn’t consider the visual that will work best for the viewer (e.g.: slow on a self-guided tour of a fine art museum, mid-tempo on a travelogue, fast on a zippy promotional video)
Talent doesn’t consider the intended emotion that will work best for the listener (e.g.: slow on a sentimental script, mid-tempo on a “regular Joe” script, fast on an excited script)

VARIETY
Talent doesn’t use tempo change to add variety to a read – as we often do in normal conversation
Talent doesn’t use dramatic pauses to add emphasis to words – as we often do in normal conversation

NATURAL TIMING
Talent doesn’t have a natural sense of script-length. (It’s helpful to look at a script and have a sense of how long it would take to read at a given tempo.)
Talent doesn’t have a natural recording-tempo-gauge. (It’s helpful to know what tempo to read to hit an intended length. E.G.: When the director says, “Make this line 30-seconds.”, you should be close.)
Talent doesn’t have a natural playback-tempo-gauge. (It’s helpful to know how long a recording was by listening back. E.G.: You can impress a client by saying, Okay, let me try again- I was over time.”)

ELECTRONIC TIMING
Talent doesn’t have a stopwatch with them at all times (for practice and recording)

MIXED TEMPO
Talent increases tempo when asked to increase their energy. Or the reverse.
Talent cannot match the tempo of a previous day’s recording for continuation of the recording (as in: day 2 of an audiobook, or as in: a line pick-up).

RUSHING
Talent rushes the phrase “one of the” (as in, “The Giganotosaurus was one of the tallest dinosaurs.....”. Try reading this and extend the words “one” and “tallest”.)
Talent rushes key words, such as product names and client names