Feedback Forum
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Silverado Commercial Practice – Looking for some feedback before my next coaching session! Things I was told to work on in the past include – Pacing – too fast, getting lazy with enunciation and pronunciation of multi syllable words, dreaded glottal stops.
Any feedback on this would be greatly appreciated. Edited with Audacity – noise reduction, compressed, amplified and exported to mp3.
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Acura Commercial Practice – Looking for some feedback before my next coaching session! Things I was told to work on in the past include – Pacing – too fast, getting lazy with enunciation and pronunciation of multi syllable words, dreaded glottal stops.
Any feedback on this would be greatly appreciated. Edited with Audacity – noise reduction, compressed, amplified and exported to mp3.
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Greetings fellow VOs. Looking for some feedback on this two-take 25-second como for Laramie Air that requested a “western read”. Thanks in advance. the pace of the read was as directed by client.
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Hi Dave. Daniel in San Diego. You’ve got a great voice for this! I hear the pace was directed by the client. That may be the case, but you may want to use one of your takes to let them hear what it would sound like a little faster and with shorter pauses. It seems a bit too slowed down. Just my impression. Pace aside, I think you could still vary your second take from the first even more than you have. You use somewhat more tonal range in the second one, but less than you could maybe? I hear the 2 “character” voices, which is good, but they’re still quite similar to my ear. The depth of your natural voice already suggests a “cowboy” quality so I don’t think you even need to put the character voice on. Just having the thought in your mind will bring it out enough. Otherwise, it can sound exaggerated in parts. My two cents, of course, and I’m splitting hairs because they’re already both very good reads that show lots of possibility. Excellent!
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I just came here to say this Acura commercial makes me want to buy one! Alas! maybe once I make it in the Voice-over world 😀 Really enjoy your voice and think it’s powerful and just right for this commercial. I did not notice glottal stops, which I’m just learning is a thing. The only thing I noticed is the script used a lot of the word, “future”, but I suppose that is not on you. Great job!
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I am currently renting a studio for my auditions that has a noise floor of about -30 dB before my fx chain brings it down below -60 dB. (I think the -30 dB roomtone doesn’t sound too bad in this instance). Is it seen as unprofessional if, when I hypothetically booked a job using this studio where the job was looking to have the booking recorded at a remote studio, I then opted to rent a higher end studio with better noise floor before processing? I’m not sure if they would have vetted the first studio in the audition, then would be upset if I wanted to change to have better raw audio. Attached are samples of my VO in the studio before and after processing with roomtone at the end.
Thanks
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Hi there. I’m working on becoming a narrator, medical narration, eLearning and similar-type genres. I’d like your overall impressions. Also would like to know if I sound conversational.
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Hi! I am by no means an expert here, but I know in order for us to improve, we have to also “learn” to hear others’ scripts and learn to be able to give feedback, so here I am! I will go by what my coach focused in my session with her. Firstly, I think you sound very clear and concise which is awesome. Secondly, one of the things I was told to think about is, pretend you have a friend sitting across from you at the table. So read your script in the way you would speak it to that person. Another tip she had for me was to use a word that leads in to the script (you can always cut that part out of your audio, but if it helps to make us feel like it’s a conversation, then it’s helpful!). It’s hard for me to think about it, I actually have to say the “lead in” word, like “So….” I also thought there was a bit of pausing in between words, so it seemed there was some hesitation. I downloaded the TwistedWave app on my phone and I use it to record and listen to myself and re-record a ton of times, but it’s great to be able to hear myself and notice what I like and don’t like. I hope this was somewhat helpful and do personally think narration is a great category for you!
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It has been sometime since I had posted and had been very busy, but with vacation time coming up I may need get the two recordings posted. They are both Commercial and Narration. Please give me any feedback I could use it to improve myself as I am considering to dive more into voice over and finally get more into it.
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Hello! I enjoyed listening to your reads – definitely felt like you connected more with the commercial one. Your tone, in my opinion, had the right amount of emotion for that type of commercial. I do think that you mispronounced Excedrin – take a listen again – it doesn’t sound the way it is pronounced. That was the only thing I caught and it’s easy to fix! For the narration – your voice is definitely friendly and not hard to listen to, but I thought there were points where there were pauses that perhaps were not needed. I mentioned to another fellow actor, to try to picture a good friend sitting across from you and you are telling them about it – read your script as if you are talking to them. I think that way, we develop a more conversational tone and our words have more variety in terms of pitch and tempo. My coach suggested I use my hands as a way to help me engage with the words better. Hope some of this makes sense and helps!
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Hi Dillon!
Amanda here, in Colorado. Thanks for sharing your recordings! You have a nice tone. You had more energy and were more “believable” in your second VO for Excedrin (also, do be careful of correct pronunciation in this one, with the word Excedrin, specifically). Your pace in the first read could be a little faster, and be sure to carefully enunciate each word. There were a few times I couldn’t quite understand a word here and there. I would also suggest practicing the scripts like you’re talking to someone you know, as well as use some natural body movement (hand gestures, upper body movement), that will help you accompany your words with more feeling as well as be able to pronounce them more clearly. When your energy went up in the Excedrin read, it was great – no more headache!! Hurray!!
Hope this helps as you continue foward, Dillon!
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Hi Everyone, I’m new to voice-over and to posting, as well as, uploading audio of practice scripts. With the audio file below, I’m working on my narration style in corporate training. Currently, I don’t have equipment and am just using my phone, so for now, I’m looking for any feedback as it relates to my tempo, and tone or anything related to voice, not tech. I know what is sought after nowadays is a conversational tone and I’m trying to keep that in mind. This is just a short file to start with. I’m thinking of pursuing the narration genres of corporate and e-learning, non-profit and self-help. Thanks for any feedback 🙂
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Hi Lorraine!
You have a lovely, calming tone of voice that is easy to listen to :). Your pace is smooth, but a couple of the pauses might have been a half second to long, kind of leaving me to leeeean in waiting for the next sentence. Your pitch is pleasing, as well…I’d even suggest varying it just a bit more throughout the script, to put some more emphasis in some areas. Overall, very nice!
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Hi Lorraine.
Daniel in San Diego. Agree with Amanda, you have a very soothing, nice sounding voice, which is a gift. Also agree you could pick up the pace a bit and reduce pauses, which will definitely make it sound more authentic/conversational. I think because your voice is soothing (and considering that e-learning can at times be plodding), I think your take would also improve if you project more, with a slightly less soft tone, especially in the first part of the script. It might also encourage a wider tonal range and a more dynamic opening. Hope this helps. Good work. Thanks for sharing.
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Hi, Lorraine, your voice is smooth, pleasant, and clear. The pacing here is a bit slow, and it sounds like you’re reading the script carefully, but not necessarily paying attention to the words. I think if you speak with more energy and engagement, it will vary the dynamic range and sound more natural. Good to hear you!
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Thanks, Mel! Sorry for the delay – I haven’t been super active the last week. I appreciate the feedback and I’m working on improving my pace while sounding natural. I saw you posted scripts and I will make sure to take a listen. It is so helpful to listen to others and learn from you all. Looking forward to more interaction!
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Hi Everyone!
My name is Amanda, I live in Silverthorne, Colorado. I’m just getting started with my Edge Studio coaching and am excited about the possibility of a career in voice over work! I am focusing in the areas of narration and commercial. I’m currently working towards completing my narration demo, so am uploading two narration recordings here that I would love your input on. The first is Documentary and the second is a Corporate/Website Greeting. I would greatly appreciate your feedback, specifically: Is my pace easy to listen to? (Not too fast or choppy?); Am I emphasizing the right words? Am I conversational enough? Am I painting a clear picture for the reader?
Please provide only creative feedback, as I don’t have my home studio set up and am using my phone voice recorder.
Thank you! I look forward to your feedback and providing you with the same!
-Amanda
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Hi Amanda.
Daniel here, in San Diego. Nice work. My sense is that both takes improve in the second half of your delivery and become more conversational and relatable, which is great. You seem to have more energy as you go and more tonal/dynamic range, which ultimately sounds more natural. A suggestion I was given is to use a leader before launching into the script to help get to the right voice and energy. Your pace is very good overall. It might be 10% faster in the earlier parts that seem to display less range, which might help this. In the corporate narration, the pauses between the list of things might be a touch longer than necessary. I think you’re good on word emphasis. My two cents. Hope it helps. Best of luck!
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Hi Amanda! love the energy and overall tone in your voice, you seem to have a nice wide pitch range. I agree with Daniel on the lead-in; I learned about that recently and think it’s great to make us feel like it’s more of a conversation. For some reason, I lean towards the corporate read and I know you didn’t ask for a favorite! It seemed more natural – only thing I can think of to critique is the pausing in the listing – perhaps a little quicker. Thank you for sharing!
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Hi Everyone! I would like voice technique feedback on this. Does it sound conversational to you? Any feedback on the pronunciations?
p.s. I accidentally uploaded the recording twice. You only need to listen to one of them
Thank you!* Sorry I just realized I posted under your post!
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Hi Amanda,
I think the Narration script is a good one for a Demo. You don’t sound choppy to me. You also have a great voice that I can easily imagine in commercials and documentaries.
I think the pace should be a little faster, just to come off as conversational. It kind of comes off like you’re reading or like you’re projecting what you think the narration should sound like. That can remove the personality from the read and I’ve been told, you’re personality is really what sets you apart from other voice actors with similar skill and voice. I think visualizing a scene (specifying who you’re talking to, where you are, how you feel, etc.) could make the read more conversational and lively.For the documentary, funny enough I think you should be slower just because there are a lot of visuals in documentaries and you want to give the audience room to process what you say. You may want to exercise visualizing the images that will accompany your voiceover, so it’ll be like you’re responding to the visuals in front of you rather than speaking in a way that you think you should at any given time.
I love your energy towards the end of the read. Though sometimes you portrayed the same emotion for words that have very different connotations. You want the listener to hear the difference between these very emotive words; “Introspective, aloof, unpredictable, affectionate, comical and mischievous.” The difference between these words should be reflected in how you say each word so it sounds more genuine, and less like reading.
I’d also recommend listening to commercials and documentaries, just to understand their pacing and how the final product may look like.
I hope that helps!
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