Do Journalists Need Voice Over Artists?

By Richard Aucock

I’m a motoring journalist. For the past 10 years, the written word has ruled. First, magazines, and now increasingly, websites account for the vast majority of my content. But, things are changing – fast!

Increasingly, it’s important to harness video, too. On many sites, video earns a huge number of hits; publishers love the ability for the right clip to go viral, and editors know the huge potential for the ultimate aim of the publishing world – reader engagement.

Budgets are no larger, though. In the past, professional video productions have been filmed, at four-figure expense. They look great but the cost-v-return just didn’t add up. Nowadays, motoring publications are looking to journalist-generated footage to up the video content.

The quality isn’t top notch but readers accept it because of the ‘inside track’ perspective. It’s a nice addition to a regular written road test that ticks many social media boxes.

Problem is, we’re writers for a reason! Presentation techniques are a mystery to us – we can write, but stick us in front of a camera and we go to stilted, stifled, stiff-arm’d pieces. Some of us are worse than others; it’s often possible to get a few pieces to camera out of us, but any more than that is tricky.

A lot of this can be rectified back at base, with a good voiceover of footage we’ve shot on location. But, again, we’ve had no training here: could this be almost as bad?

Thus, the questions – do we need to employ a professional voiceover artist, and if so, in what context? Should this be for all productions? Do readers accept a less polished approach for shorter films, if the imagery and message is worth it? For longer productions, is a pro voiceover a must – and how do we justify the cost to our publishers? Should we consider training from a pro (and would this help us in front of the camera, too?), or would they be averse to offering this?

The pressure on us to generate video will only increase in the future. Rather than worry about it, what can we do to make it easier – and how can voiceover artists help? Advice appreciated!

A link to an example of a journalist doing video…:

30 May 2010

Richard Heathcote, Voice Over Artist

Episode 5 – May 2010 - “Audio Marketing, a Podcast Special Edition” (24m 14s)

This is a recording of a talk I recently made at a 4Networking event in Sutton Coldfield. I talk about the importance of businesses utilising audio in their marketing strategies, how it can open up massive new avenues of audience, for the people that are auditory learners, i.e. they absorb information better in audio form. I talk about podcasting, the power of the human voice, branding your company with audio, the immense reach of the iTunes podcast directory, and how businesses can easily implement audio in their current marketing plan.

Richard Heathcote, Voice Over Artist

Hopefully destined for a Sky TV channel, this is a TV promo that I recently voiced.

Richard Heathcote, Voice Over Artist

Episode 4 – March 2010 - “Clarity In Your Communication, Succeeding With Social Media & PR On A Shoestring” (11m 42s)

I talk to Nigel Morgan from Morgan PR this month, looking at how small businesses (and large alike) can execute effective PR on an absolute shoestring budget. I’ve persuaded him to give us his top 5 tips to succeed with self-generated PR. We’ll also be looking at a massive Twitter success story this month which has opened up new opportunities for me, and how you can achieve similar results for yourself. The overriding message in this month’s episode is the importance of clarity in your communication, no matter what it is, online or offline.

Richard Heathcote, Voice Over Artist

Is It Worth Paying For A Voice Over Artist?

This may be a question that you’ve asked yourself before, or for a lot of you, it probably wouldn’t have even crossed your mind. But there is certainly a proportion of society that own businesses, or are in charge of high profile brands that must at times ask themselves this question. Is it worth paying for a professional voice over artist to promote their brand/company?

The simplest answer is of course, you get what you pay for. If you have a guy in the office who ‘has a pretty good speaking voice’, who you think should be the voice of your podcasts, or online/media/TV related promotional material, then fair play to you. Have you ever heard that person’s recorded material before? Do you trust them to be ‘the voice’ of the company/brand? Are you ok with the fact that when people hear that voice they’ll associate it with your company? These aren’t all negative points, far from. This counts as for better or indeed for worse. If they are for better, then excellent, give it a chance!

However, if they sound like a totally different person, which is actually more often the case, then you really should think about bringing in a professional; someone that is used to performing in front of a microphone. The thing is, when you put a regular person in a studio environment, in front of a professional studio microphone, it’s like sticking a big lens of a camera in someone’s face; it can be extremely off-putting. Some people tend to freeze, not know what to do or say, change the pattern of their speech, their tone, timbre, level, pitch, or worse, be completely monotone.

If this happens, you could have wasted time in the studio and need to rebook when the person has composed themself, or wait for a professional to take over!

The good thing with hiring a voice artist, is that we’re completely used to all this; We know how to handle a microphone, and chances are, we know exactly how to lift your script by performing the words that are on the page, rather than just simply ‘reading’ them. (A quality you don’t often get when audio tracks are home-made).

So, the next time you have a requirement for a voice track, be it a TV advert, a podcast, corporate video, web audio of any sort, the question you need to ask yourself is, in the long term, is it worth paying for a professional voice over artist? The answer is up to you.

Want more information? Check out my main website: www.richardheathcote.co.uk

Richard Heathcote, Voice Over Artist

I just thought I’d share with you one my latest projects – a national UK television advert for Autosport International. The advert is being broadcast currently, through Nov/Dec 09 up until middle of Jan 2010 on:

You can either catch it on those channels, or if you’d like to see it right away, you can view it below )

As a Voice Artist, it’s obviously of utmost importance that I look after my voice as best I possibly can. Technically of course, my voice should be insured, but I kind of haven’t got round to that yet. Ho hum.

Like with any business, you have tools of the trade; computers, phones, stationery; we all need them. My main tool happens to be my voice, and it’s the thing that gets used most often. Just like your favourite laptop, it needs some TLC every so often. The thing you may not realise is that your own voice is just as much an important part of your business life as well.

I make money from using my voice. But you know what? So do you. Maybe you’re a business owner, self employed, one-man-band – you’re the only person that can sell your business. If your voice is out of action, it’s just the same as when your computer fails; it needs to be looked after and treated with care. Your voice is your best asset in selling yourself. Just using email alone for the most part just won’t have the same effect.

On a day to day basis, I try and avoid situations that are going to overly tax my voice, like trying to talk in loud places for other people to try and hear, I don’t go karaoke’ing (!), and I try not to be in any situation that requires me to shout. When I’m working on voice projects, I always try and record material (not always possible due to client deadlines) in the afternoons/evenings, as it’s when my voice is warmed up properly.

Quite often, now I think  about it, my voice is often at it’s optimal late at night – I’ve always been a night owl, and if I was ever to do a movie trailer, that’s when I’d much prefer to do it! Bring on the ‘Don LaFontaine‘ voice!

If you’re the type of person who has to regularly speak and present in front of other businesses, maybe in a networking environment, then you really should be looking after your voice on a daily basis, by following the advice above, and also to make sure you keep your throat well hydrated. Drink plenty of water, get a good night’s sleep, and when you don’t need to use your voice, don’t use it – relaxation periods for it are just as important as exercising it. Just like a sportsperson, you should always warm up and cool down when using your voice; you wouldn’t get up in the morning and suddenly run a marathon (I know I wouldn’t, but for very different reasons!).

Now I’ve been following my own advice for about a year or so, (since I’ve become a voice artist), I’ve certainly found my voice is better off for it, and I think you will too. Even if you’re not someone who presents or speaks in public regularly, it’s still worth taking care of your voice, no matter what you do for a living.

Business Podcast Microphone

I had a conversation with someone the other day about various forms of marketing in today’s world, with all the technology we have nowadays compared to say 10 years ago. This person wasn’t too out of touch with what you could do now, but they certainly weren’t an uber-geek! We were on the subject of podcasts, and how they can benefit businesses within their existing marketing mix. This person thought, by the name podcast, that you needed an iPod to play it on! (Bless…)

This, naturally, isn’t the case at all. A podcast is usually just an mp3 file that is hosted online somewhere. Most businesses tend to have a dedicated page on their websites just for such a product, some choose to have them hosted elsewhere. Some also publish them through iTunes for ease of client/customer download. My method of choice at the moment is to have them hosted on a website, so that when the customer has gone to the relevant page to listen, they can still click through the site while they’re there, to hopefully find some other information of interest.

It’s all in the hook to get people to your website, to make them stay there; and for when they go, to make sure they come back. I’m a strong believer in having multiple devices to keep my audience entertained and interested in my website, who I am and what I do; and these days, it can get harder and harder to do so!

So what would you put in a podcast?

Well, it can be any number of things, information or news about your business for that month, new projects you’re working on, bits of music to keep attention; but one of the most popular ways is to give the listener something of great value either for them personally, or for their business. Useful tips on how they can improve things, promote themselves better, industry advice, new updates on regulations in whatever industry you’re in which could affect them. A marketing company for instance could do a ‘Top 5′ list of little things a business can do to get noticed more easily. The ideas really are only limited by your own imagination and creativity.

Most businesses send out mailshots or newsletters on a monthly basis, so you can even combine your podcast with that existing production; either replicating the content in audio form so the receiver can choose which one to take notice of – either read the newsletter or listen to the podcast while they carry on through their inbox.

How easy are podcasts to distribute?

Very. By hosting them on a dedicated page on your website or blog, you simply include the relevant link at the top of your existing newsletter for the recipient to click on. If you’re getting fancier, you can always insert a nice image to represent your podcast and hyperlink that to the page instead, so it looks even prettier!

So, my advice to you all is to try it, experiment with podcasting, and even get cracking yourself if you don’t want someone like me to do it for you. Shake up your marketing mix and see what podcasting can do for you and your business.