At first glance, you might think a quality voice-over depends solely on the speaker. While this unquestionably plays a huge role in voice-over projects, that's not the end of the story.
Your voice over will be great if you successfully combine the three things below:
- The room you're recording at
- The equipment you're recording with
- You, your voice, and emotions
This blog post will give you voice-over tips that will help with any project, whether it’s a commercial, narration, or e-learning course. We'll also cover tips for preparing your room for voice recording and speaking more effectively. Last but not least, we’ll discuss using recording equipment like mics and software. So let's get started!
Voice-Over Tips Part 1: Where should you record?
One of the most critical voice-over tips for beginners is to record in a quiet room. This will help ensure that your recording is clear and free of background noise. If you don't have a quiet room, try using a closet or spare room. Just make sure to block out any gaps around doors and windows so that sound doesn't escape.
The importance of a quiet recording environment can't be underestimated, as removing noisy elements later from your voice recording might appear to be a complex task.
(Pro tip: If you, after all, happen to record your voice in a noisy environment, use Podcastle's FREE Magic Dust tool to soften the loud voices and amplify the low ones.)
Soundproof the recording room
First, identify the areas of your room where sound is escaping. Doors and windows are obvious culprits but pay attention to outlets, air vents, or light fixtures. These small openings can let a lot of noise in!
Once you've identified the problem areas, seal them off with weatherstripping or acoustic foam. This will help block out unwanted noise from outside and prevent sound from bouncing around the room.
Improve acoustics
Now that your room is soundproofed, it's time to focus on acoustics. This refers to the way sound waves reflect off surfaces in your room.
If your room has hard surfaces (like bare walls or a tile floor), the sound will bounce around and create an echo. To fix this, you can utilize one of the well-tried voice-over recording tips; add soft surfaces like rugs, curtains, or blankets. These will help absorb sound and create a more voice-over-friendly environment.
Voice-Over Tips Part 2: Use the necessary recording equipment
The essential piece of equipment is a good microphone. General requirements for mics are a low self-noise, wide frequency response, and high SPL (sound pressure level).
If you're not in the mood to research the hundreds of available mics to find the best one, we have prepared a list of the best budget-level microphones for you.
Once you have your microphone, you'll need to connect it to your computer. If you're using a USB mic, this is as simple as plugging it into an available USB port.
If you're using an XLR mic, you'll need an audio interface to connect it to your computer. The audio interface converts the XLR signal into a digital signal that your computer can use.
Once your microphone and audio interface are set up, you'll need recording software. This is what we suggest using to record your voice-over tracks.
Podcastle's recorder and editor
Podcastle provides you with the easiest-to-use recording and editing software, which will make your recording sound like a pro. In fact, if you use Podcastle's editing features wisely, you can even produce a quality voice-over without the need for a professional microphone.
With Podcastle, a quality voice-over recording takes a few clicks.
- Sign up for the Podcastle
- Choose the Record option
- Safely Export your high-quality audio file when you're done
Need editing?
If you want to split & cut the audio, add intro or outro music, change your recording speed, or anything else, head to Podcastle's FREE audio editor.
Editing is easy with Podcastle. Just press the Edit button on the recording project you want to work with, and use the intuitive editing tools.
Voice-Over Tips Part 3: Pay attention to how you speak
Now that you have your recording space and equipment set up, it's time to focus on the most important part of voice-over work: your performance!
You can do a few things to make sure you're speaking the right way.
No tension
First, take a deep breath and relax. This will help you speak more slowly and clearly. You should sound calm to convey the right message to your listeners. Here, every detail is important, starting from the proper posture. Stand up straight and tall with your shoulders back. This will help you project your voice and avoid vocal strain.
Have your script at hand
When you're recording voice-overs, you'll need to have your script in front of you. This will help you stay on track and avoid making mistakes. You can either print out your script or keep it on a tablet or laptop in front of you. Just make sure you're not reading it word for word. Instead, use it as a guide to help you stay on track.
Convey the right emotions
Finally, it's essential to be aware of how your voice sounds. This means paying attention to things like volume, pace, and inflection. You should also think about the emotions you want to convey with your voice-over. Are you trying to sound happy, sad, or angry? The way you speak will affect the emotions that your listeners feel.
Treasure voice-over tip
Now we will tell you the three magic words: AI-based voice-over!
This means you can skip all the daunting activities mentioned above and get Podcastle's text-to-speech tool to read any script for you. Yes, you've read it right! If you have your final script ready, you can upload it to Podcastle's editor and choose any of the available voices to voice your text.
- Press the text to podcast button at the bottom part of your project dashboard.
- Type the text in the Text editor section.
- Press the down arrow to choose from the available voices.
- Pick a voiceskin and press Generate.
You can listen to the automatically generated speech on the left side of your project dashboard seconds after generating it. Further, you can edit the voice-over the way you want it and export it with the highest quality.
Bottom line
Using AI-generated voice skins is one of the greatest voice-over tips of the modern tech era. It can save you hours or days of the re-recording struggle. Unless you need a highly-personalized voice-over project where appearing with your voice is necessary, Podcastle can help you out for any project!
You can start generating pro-quality audio times faster and easier starting now! Happy recording!
