Consistency in voice recording is a hugely important aspect. I’m not talking about consistency in accent, pronunciations or character voices – that goes without saying – I’m talking about consistency in sound.
The physics of sound is a deep and complicated area and I can’t pretend to even understand half of it. Soundwaves bounce around doing things we don’t want them to, and good quality recording equipment knows it. The disappointing truth is that the better your equipment is, the harder you have to work to make it sound faultless.
It’s not only long eLearning scripts or audiobooks that require consistency of sound. Even a 2-minute explainer can be ruined by a noticeable edit point, for example if a client asks for an email address to be added after you’ve delivered. Sound matching is a tricky skill to master and if you’re not careful, recording and editing in an extra 3 words can take as much time as the original recording.
Five enemies of consistency
1. Pace
The problem: If you pick up a line with even a slight shift in pace, it’s enough to be noticed and make your edit point obvious. Of course, pace changes during a script and even within a line, but any pace changes should be intentional. Not just because you recorded part of the script after a run.
The solution: It’s not good enough to just remember the piece was slow or fast paced. In order to match the pace for an insert, best practice is to listen back the last few lines of the original recording and read along with yourself until you get the pace perfect. Punch and roll can be super helpful with this but you can also simply play the original through an earbud while you speak along.
2. Tone
The problem: We all have different colours to our voices at different times. You need to be careful to keep the same tone, even when voicing in your natural voice. Professional mics pick up all the subtle nuances in a voice and one day your ‘bright’ voice might sound, well, ‘brighter’ than the next.
The solution: As with pace, it’s helpful to listen back to a few lines of the original recording. But to match tone you also need to get into the right headspace – so that means reliving the emotion you used during the original recording. Was it a serious read that required you to feel sad? How sad? 7 out of 10? 9 out of 10? It makes a difference. It might only be a one line pick up, but you still need to take the same amount of time to get into the emotion of the script otherwise your insert can fall flat.
3. Vocal quality
The problem: You notice your voice takes on different qualities throughout the day – huskiness in the morning, smooth after a good vocal warm up, clarity after using a nebuliser. That’s of no interest to a client who needs 10,000 words for an eLearning course. You just need to keep the vocal quality the same.
The solution: Stick to a consistent voice care routine and warm up your body and voice for a set amount of time before stepping up to the mic. If you are splitting recording over a few days, try to record at a similar time each day. Heat and cold affect your voice too so be mindful of what you drink, and whether to take a hot shower or go out for an invigorating walk in the snow.
4. Technical
The problem: As hard as you tried to keep everything the same with your delivery, the result just sounds different when you play it back. Deeper, richer, thinner. Any slight movement of your equipment, positioning or surroundings can affect the acoustics in the recording space, meaning the recording sounds slightly off.
The solution: Aim to keep everything in your space as consistent as possible. Ideally you have a dedicated vocal booth or recording room which isn’t used for any other purpose. Measure the position of your mic from the wall, floor, your mouth – keep your script in the same place at all times and note the precise angle that you voice at. Sometimes differences can be fixed (or at least minimised) with fine processing afterwards, but if you are not sure how to achieve this you can hire an audio engineer to help.
5. Listening skills
The problem: You’ve recorded some additional lines and stitched it perfectly into the previous recording. You think it sounds perfect but the client says they can hear a change.
The solution: Make sure you are listening to your audio on high quality studio headphones and/or studio monitors, then check again on some cheaper earphones. It’s good to export and listen back as a lower quality MP3 – sometimes differences are more pronounced than by listening through your software. If you are relatively new to voiceover production then your ears just might not be attuned enough to hear what the client is hearing. If it’s a short job you may need to re-record but for longer jobs, see if an audio engineer can fix it for you.
If you’ve ever struggled to get a consistent sounding voiceover for your project, drop me a line for a free audition and quote today
Photo by Godfrey Nyangechi on Unsplash
British Female Voiceover Artist 