Directing tips for live, remote voiceover sessions.

How to get the best out of your VO talent when recording remotely.

tech nowadays makes it possible to be holed up to a mic literally anywhere. 

In the beginning, every Voiceover happened in a studio.

The human element was baked in to the whole enterprise. The coffee was free, it came out of a percolator and was handed to you in an IBM coffee mug. Clients, creatives, technicians, we were all there together, and part of your qualification to be in that room was a depth of experience in, or at least an instinct for, how to produce the best work from a voice actor in this communal setting.

This is no longer the case.

First, high spec remote recording software made it possible for clients to phone into studios. Then, the same sort of tech made it possible for VOs like me to be holed up to the mic literally anywhere. 

Cut to the 2020s and I find myself on live client recording sessions in my home studio with up to 10 different people in different roles on the line (this actually happened once). None of whom I can see, and ALL of whom have a stake in making the VO the perfect finishing touch to their product promotion or brand story. 

The room is rarely there anymore.

But the connection still can be. In this post I’m going to talk about the best way to run remote live sessions to get the best out of your chosen VO, how to prepare, how to direct them, and how to manage all the other relationships in the virtual room. 

preparation goes a long way

Before the session.

Good prep matters. And this starts with looking at your script. A lot of human behaviour is going to go on in this live session, so, starting with clear, and well considered material is crucial to make sure that during the recording you’re not burning time crossing out and rewriting. 

Having said this, plenty of times I’ve been in live VoiceOver sessions with creatives who’ve asked me to make changes now that they’ve heard it. Best case scenario this can actually be a really great creative experience. Disclaimer: If you’re the producer or technician running the session managing the extent of this creativity is also an important skill, us artsy types can get carried away and time is money… but more on that below. 

Here’s a pre- session checklist.

1- Proofread your script for typos and grammar. Punctuation especially has a huge effect on how something is read.

2- Check your script for speakability yourself. This really matters. Very often you’ll come across language structures that don’t flow. Or, and this is the prime culprit, sentences or phrases that are too long to allow breathing. Through your eyeballs it may work just fine, but out of your mouth you may find you’ve created an unmanageable word salad that will leave your VO gasping for breath. Here’s a really great resource on writing a script in spoken language. The other reason to test your script out loud beforehand is to have an experience yourself of where the emphasis is. This will be one of the main things you’ll discuss with your VO.

3- Time it. Read and time your script. Good VOs are masters of pace adjustment and techies can often do magic, but no matter what they do a text of 45 seconds just won’t fit into 20. It just won’t. I really recommend just reading and timing it yourself, if you’re a slow reader off the page though, a good formula is to divide the total number of words by 120 (this is reading at a fair clip) or by 150 (a more natural pace). A commercial of 20 seconds is pretty much maxed at around 50 words. 

4- Think creatively. The majority of VOs are also trained actors. Sparking their imagination is vital to getting the sound and the story that you’ve heard in your head. Actors also know (and study) other actors, and we’re all pretty good mimics. If you read your script and hear Sean Connery, tell them that. Qualified VOs are going to know how to interpret what you mean and have fun with it. Come to the session having imagined the emotional tone of your script, be ready to talk through examples that rhyme.

Ground your session with some pre-recording chat

In the voiceover recording session.

So this is where the quality of your VO talent matters. And it’s something you’ll need to have ensured in the casting process. A subject for another post. Good people can get on that call with 10 creative execs, producers, brand reps and god knows who else and be calm, be receptive, listen, and work at their best. For even the most experienced people though, everyone is grateful to be set at ease and to be empowered and oriented at the top of the session. 

Some Dos and Don’ts to establish your session. 

• DO make some grounding small talk. How’s the weather over there in London today? 

  
  

• DON'T get on the call talk about time constraints and tell the VO to start reading. 

  
  

• DO introduce absolutely everyone by name on the call and give them a chance to say hi. Spend some time gathering people. Honestly just talking about the weather everywhere is often enough to establish a calm virtual room. 

  
  

• DON'T tell your VO they’re there because the AI didn’t work for the client (even if this is true). Because… well… of course it didn’t.

  
  

• DO check that the VO has the most up to date material. Especially with multiple stakeholders various drafts on the loose in different inboxes are your enemy.

  
  

• DON'T go for a take straight away.

  
  

• DO ask the VO if they have any questions, offer them an off tape read through to get warmed up (sneakily always record this, sometimes it’s the best one)

  
  

• DON'T forget to get them to record on their side if you need a back up. 

  
  

• DO ask if they have water nearby, give them a second to grab some if not.

  
  

know the hierarchy during a session

During the live voiceover session

Hierarchy. Matters. Especially with human presence out of the equation it’s vital to know ahead of time who is running the call. And make sure everyone else knows it too. Think film sets, which are tightly controlled in this way due to the amount of moving pieces, time and money constraints. 

Who is the anchor? For a virtual session the most important thing is for the VO to know who they are primarily listening to, and having this process (to which they are usually the last ones on board) interpreted to them by. In my experience the Producer or head creative is the anchor. This is the main person giving directions to the VO. 

What’s everyone else doing: technicians (if relevant) are normally shotgun, they control the product so are the natural second in command, and then lastly (and I do mean LASTLY) the client who is there mostly to observe and give feedback in allotted moments. Which leads me to….

With or Without the client: Interesting. I’ve known the light and dark of both options. On the one hand, with a client in the room very often a recording can get the ok immediately, thus saving you overall production time, and preventing small practical mistakes (like technical pronunciations for instance) that need to be redone which will cost you an additional session fee. However, recording WITHOUT them there can also be wonderful, especially if you know in advance that they may be a bit of a directorial diva, a stress merchant, or have trouble grasping the hierarchy of the process. Most VOs are totally fine to wait for 15 minutes at the end of the session for you to run the material past the client on a different call, and then interpret any feedback back to you. 

With or without video: I tend to say hello on camera at the top of the call, and then offer to switch off. This simplifies things as the voice is the crucial bit, and seeing lots of heads shaking or slumped disinterested listeners / difficult glances doesn’t help. In a lot of cases this is because stakeholders have realised that the language isn’t working, but it ain’t great to see while you’re delivering a performance. 

Ask the VO what they think: Us VOs have seen it all, we’ve normally done something like your VO in the past and we’re experienced at how to bring the most meaning out of your script. Give your VO some creative license.

Don’t be shy about line readings: remember, we’re great mimics, if there’s something you’re hearing in your head just demonstrate it, this can be a big time saver. You won’t hurt our feelings. 

Don’t hurt our feelings: We are people, not machines or jukeboxes, if you’re not get what you want, consider using language like “I feel like I may not be explaining myself properly” or “ perhaps we should take a quick break or reset.” 

Which leads me to….

VO with newbies may take some different strategies

First aid for inexperienced VOs in live sessions

So far I’ve talked all about what happens with experienced VOs. Here’s a few tips if you end up with someone who isn’t, and this includes kids! If you end up in a situation where you’re getting flat or rhythmically weird takes, the following can work:

Ask the VO to take off their headphones and to talk to you directly, don’t tell them you’re still recording. This often produces the most believable takes for inexperienced people. 

Physicalise. Tell them to use their hands when they talk. If they’re getting de-energised tell them to stand up and run around the room, or jump up and down before getting the next take.

Ask them to tell you a story: Something from their own life. For kids: what was the best Christmas present they ever got. For adults: tell me about your toddler. Tell me about your first driving test. Pick a topic that you know will energise their voice then go straight into the script afterwards.

And a final insider tip... shhhh

Ask for just one more take. At the end of your session, ask for another take from your VO and tell them to forget everything you’ve directed them to do during the session. You’d  be amazed at how often this last, low key stab is where the gold is. After all, by this point, you’ve now spent 45 minutes together in a creative process. Getting it wrong, talking it through, getting to know one another and making it together. Will this communal creative process between humans always produce the best results for VO?

… Of course it will.

Am I the right Human for your next live Voiceover session?

Could be! Find out by browsing the demos section of my website. I've got 20 years experience in live session voiceover recording with a global client base, got a project in mind? Let’s talk.