4 MORE TIPS to Work like a VO Pro!
The bulk of my career has been spent recording actors in-person at the studio for big brands and national ad campaigns. In a post-COVID world, that has changed to a more hybrid situation where I need to tap into actors who have moved away or are elsewhere in the world. While this benefits the actors, it often frustrates engineers and clients—not just on a technical level, but in terms of an actor’s capabilities and the overall pace of the session. I’ve written before highlighting tips to get voice actors who need to work remotely working like pros. You can read that post here. This post offers a few more insights based on issues that pop up during sessions.
Scripts Change- Be Ready like a VO PRO!
It is a truly rare thing to get through a session where the copy doesn’t change in some way. In commercial sessions, there are endless adjustments for timing, word-tightening, and legal copy tweaks. When actors come into the studio, we always have the scripts printed and waiting on a music stand along with some pencils at the ready for those inevitable changes. A lot of actors still work this way from home, and as basic as it seems, I highly recommend it. Not just for minor copy changes, but for comments like “underline that word” or “go up at the end of that sentence.” Taking pencil to paper to scribble in those adjustments for the next take is easy.
In the world of laptops and tablets, folks have gotten used to just pulling up the script and reading off the screen. While that’s totally fine, your options for making changes may be limited. I’ve had many sessions where the client runs down a list of adjustments, only to have the actor say, “Sorry… I’m reading off a PDF.” If you happen to be on a tablet like an iPad Pro, you can pretty quickly mark up a document, but I find that most people don’t. If the client has sent along an editable Word Doc or similar, you might be able to get in there and type some adjustments.
I have seen agencies sharing Google Docs that everyone is reading off screen and changes are added for everyone in real-time. This is awesome for copy adjustments, but still doesn’t give you the option to scribble inflection notes as needed.
No matter which way you choose to manage your script during a booking, make sure it can be done quickly and smoothly so you’re not keeping the client waiting.
Pay Attention
A counterpart to being able to mark up your script is paying attention so you know to do so! Our phones and devices have given us ALL ADD, but you need to stay laser-focused on the job at hand when you’ve been chosen to voice a commercial in a directed session. As an engineer, I’ve been so frustrated by this that I made a TikTok video about it. You’ve booked the job. You’re in the session. You did a take. The clients and/or agency folks discussed it and have feedback. And now when it’s time to incorporate all of their notes for the next take, you were goofing off looking at your phone or checking emails and didn’t get any of it. That really sucks!
When you’re working at home via Source Connect and Zoom, you have the unique advantage of getting to listen to and participate in the feedback given after a take. This is a big advantage over the days of having to wait for someone to press the talkback button in the control room while you waited in the booth for notes.
Close your social media windows. Put down your phone. Be present.
Be On Time
The best part of remote voice acting work is not having to commute. However, some of that time you’ve saved should be used to show up a little early and make sure everything is in working order and ready to connect to the studio and/or client. My daughter’s high school band director often uses the line “early is on time, on time is late, and late is unacceptable!”
Because there are so many issues with remote actors (from mic positioning to connection problems), engineers often like to get together a little before the session to make sure everything is up to snuff. If you’ve been asked to take time to get familiar with the method of connecting you’ve been given for a session, waiting for that session to start is NOT the time to do it. At that point, you’re wasting the client’s time and money. There are already other variables that can gum up the works unrelated to connecting to the actor—from last-minute client comments on the script to making sure everyone that needs to be on Zoom is there, etc.
Master Your Tech
Working from home is a privilege and gives actors access to major market work that they didn’t necessarily have previously. This does put a bit of a technical burden on the actor, so you need to be ready! If you still haven’t mastered remote connectivity, I strongly encourage you to grab the replay of my Critical Connectivity Class. You’ll be ready for anything!
If you’re using Source Connect Standard, you’ve got a plugin called Source Link. This connects your compatible DAW to Source Connect, allowing you to send a signal from your DAW and hear the clients through your DAW as well. This allows you to turn them down if they’re too loud and allows you to playback takes if there was a drop down the line from the backup you’re already rolling. If you’re using Audacity, Twisted Wave, or similar basic recording software, you won’t have this option. You want to be on something like Pro Tools Intro, Logic, and similar DAWs that allow for internal routing.
You should also know how to join and leave Zoom audio as needed. This is really important for sessions where you’re on Zoom for script updates and client engagement, but also on Source Connect to the studio. Most engineers will manage who hears what where, and if you’re in two places at once, it becomes echo chaos! Make sure you have this all worked out before your session starts if possible.
Be on top of these tips (and more to come) and every session will have you working like a VO PRO!
