Hello all! Looking for any and all feedback (recorded on my phone). Working on sounding trustworthy for this one. Let me know what you think. (oops, missed the word “with” in the first sentence – ug). Thanks!
Mary
United Bank and Trust
Ten years ago, you could walk into your bank and people called you by your first name. You’d sit down with someone you’d been working with for years, and you’d get the help you needed … and it was personal … one on one … you know what I mean. But now in most banks, you’re just a number … and unless you’re a big customer with a fat account, don’t look for any favors. Thank heaven there’s UNITED BANK AND TRUST, doing business the old-fashioned way.
This reply was modified 4 years, 1 month ago by mkell755.
This reply was modified 4 years, 1 month ago by mkell755.
You have a nice smooth voice and easy delivery. I think it might help you to have more “skin in the game” – really believing and picturing the things that you’re saying so that you sound invested without overselling.
Thanks for the feedback Robert! I’m glad you can hear improvement, that’s nice of you to say. And yes, trying to pay attention to the important words to get the intended meaning across. Thanks again!
Hi Robert, very impressive read and a good tone for this! In case you didn’t know you must have recorded in stereo not mono, only have your voice on left channel and music on right one.
Hi Robert! This was great, a really good fit for your voice. It flowed very casually and was a fun listen, very conversational. I like how the inflection varied at the end with “where all the cool kids go” and “it’s a winner”. Great job!
Narration for Vietnam War. Thanks for any feedback.
The Vietnam War was a long, costly armed conflict that pitted the communist regime of North Vietnam and its southern allies, known as the Viet Cong, against South Vietnam and its principal ally, the United States. The divisive war, increasingly unpopular at home, ended with the withdrawal of U.S. forces in 1973 and the unification of Vietnam under Communist control two years later. More than 3 million people served, including 58,000 plus Americans, were killed in action during the conflict. Over 303,704 were wounded in action, of these 75,000 were classified as 100% disabled. 5,283 lost limbs with 1,081 sustaining multiple amputations. Only 25% of the total forces in-country were draftees as opposed to WWII where 66% were drafted to serve in the U.S. Armed Forces.
Though relatively little official data exists about female Vietnam War veterans, the Vietnam Women’s Memorial Foundation estimates that approximately 11,000 military women were stationed in Vietnam during the conflict. Nearly all of them were volunteers, and 90 percent served as military nurses, though women also worked as physicians, air traffic controllers, intelligence officers, clerks and other positions in the U.S. Women’s Army Corps, U.S. Navy, Air Force and Marines and the Army Medical Specialist Corps. In addition to women in the armed forces, an unknown number of civilian women served in Vietnam on behalf of the Red Cross, United Service Organizations (USO), Catholic Relief Services and other humanitarian organizations, or as foreign correspondents for various news organizations.
Great job on the read! Great choice of music, too. With that said, the volume of the background music almost drowned out your voice, in my opinion. Minor suggestion.
Hi Robert! That sounded good, you have a good voice for this genre. It did seem to fade out in the ling with “…ended with the withdrawal of U.S. forces in 1973…” but then came back to the same volume later. I also heard “decisive” instead of “divisive” in the second line. Not a big deal. There are so many number stats in this read (concentrated in lines 3 and 4 mainly), I wonder if you could really emphasis those numbers when you come to them so that the listener can take a beat to understand how shocking the statistics of this war really are. The read overall flowed well. Good job!
Thanks Mary, I am using a Shure SMB7 mic. It is a dynamic mic. I am wondering if that happens when I move around and my distance from the mic may vary. I will have to work on that and hit key points.
Hi there. Here is a narration script. any feedback is appreciated 🙂
Born in Seattle, Washington, on October 28, 1955, William Henry Gates III is the only son of the three children of Mary and William Henry Gates, Jr.
A bright and active child, Bill began cutting classes to hang out at all hours at his private school‘s computer center.
When he was only 16, he and friend Paul Allen sold their computer-run system to monitor highway traffic and reportedly earned $20,000 –
but business fell off when customers found out that the entrepreneurs were still in high school.
This reply was modified 4 years, 1 month ago by katelyndawnvo.
This reply was modified 4 years, 1 month ago by katelyndawnvo.
Nice read! Good job with changing your pitch and tone. One suggestion: the script had the date as “28”, and that is how you read it (because we don’t want to change what is written), but in an audition you might want to check how they would want you to read it. It seems common to say “28th” when speaking, even when it’s not on paper. A minor detail, but important one. Keep it up!
Hi Katelyn! Good read! Your voice flowed really well throughout and made it interesting and informative to listen to. You have good clarity and variation in tone, sounded great!
Katelyn, the read is very good. I feel the volume of your voice is a little too high, but not much. Your tone and pace were very good. Your voice is also very well suited for this!
Hi Kaitlin, I do enjoy your short commercials that you post that give a feeling of satisfaction and happiness about the product you’re promoting. I had been reading in the past regarding different genres of VoiceOver and one coach had mentioned online that we can’t be all things to all people. From what I know which is not much narration is a whole different animal than TV or radio spots, without in mind I only mentioned this to help that in your narration it sounds a little happy versus informative if that helps, thanks for sharing and good luck!
Thanks! Commercial does feel natural to me but I’ve been working with a coach on commercial since I think July. I’ve only been practicing narration for a week LOL it is very new and does feel very different for sure. It also spans like a few dozen different types – eLearning, bio, corporate, explainer, documentary, mobile apps etc. I just gotta find out what fits for me. Lots of work to do! Lots of trial and error. Thank you for listening!! 🙂
Wow that was wonderful! Your emphasis on key words is spot on. I noticed that the very beginning seemed a little slow, I would try tweaking the pace very slightly next time but otherwise great job!
Looking for performance feedback, thanks!
Script: “This lesson dedicated to snare drum rudiments introduces the Flams: Flam Accent, Flam Paradiddle, Flamacue and Flam Tap.
The Flam, in musical theory and writing, doesn’t have a definite value; it can be described as a double stroke made by a first-hand weak stroke closely followed by an accented, stronger second-hand stroke. It’s a grace note, represented in drum charts by a smaller note with a tie put just before the principal note. For a correct execution of a Flam, the stick that plays the weaker stroke starts from about one inch from the drumhead, and the stick that plays the principal stroke starts from a superior height.”
Hi Damian, good job on the read! Do you play? Nice enthusiastic tone throughout. Something to be mindful of: micro-pauses that like to sneak in when we are reading, that are not intended to be there. — Kathy
Hi Damian! I really like your voice for this genre! Good flow and clarity of the read with plenty of emphasis on key words to keep the listener’s attention. Very good!
Hi Damien my comment on your read seems to have gotten misplaced on someone else’s read. I do like your informative reads and your pacing and reflections sound great to me. Keep it up and thanks for sharing that!
Hi there, here is another commercial demo assignment, but this one is a long read. I really tried to sound natural or conversational yet have fun dispite the topic.
I could really use your feedback. Thanks in advance.
Hi ArWilliams! I really like this! Very conversational and authentic for your voice. You successfully created a visual in my head with anxiety as a physical character talking to someone, really nice emotion. Great emphasis on the appropriate words throughout. If you have not tried poetry, I think your voice would be great for that. This is also great, it just struck me when listening to this read. We want to hear more!
Danggg girl this is so nice! I love your voice it is so smooth and this felt so natural. I really liked it. I also relate because I have anxiety so it spoke to me. My bits of things to work on would be, the first word “I’ve” I had to replay a few times because I did not understand it. I thought maybe it was “eyes”, so that first word could be spoken a bit more clearly. I thought the call to action could have had a beat right before it. My little brain couldn’t quite keep up at that point. All in all a very nice read. I’d love to hear more from you.
Hi everyone! Here is my daily recording (done on my phone) for any and all feedback. Thank you all!
Mary
Stella Artois Beer
Of course Stella Artois tastes better than other beers. We’ve had over 600 years to get the recipe right. Since 1366 Stella Artois has been painstakingly brewed in a time-honored tradition using the choicest ingredients which is why our customers have kept coming back for more even after 600 years. Stella Artois. Perfection has it’s price.
Nice job Mary, I can tell you are really progressing at not sounding monotone. Good job! keep trying to hit certain words that you think are important to emphasize you message.
Hi I like this one a lot I think it captured some realistic sort of conversation. I would just go to that the words better in the beginning and brewed sounded off however minor that may be. Nice work on this one
Thanks for the feedback RYoung! I am trying for a realistic conversational tone, so hope I’m making some progress there. I will work on the weird-sounding words too. Thank you!
Hi Kathy – thanks for the feedback! Ok, will try more emphasis on what seems to be the punchline / point of this script (even after 600 years), good tip there. Thanks!
Hi Briane, you have a lovely voice for this kind of copy! I notice the breath and popping you mentioned, what is your set up? are you by chance using a noise gate? These can cause problems if the settings are not set to have a more natural setting. Noise gate is similar to noise reduction. Anyways, I’m a bit of a tech/editing geek so I’m just curious 🙂
Hey Katelyn! I live on the first floor of an urban apartment building, so background noise is a constant battle. I have some presets set up in Reaper, including a gate, but am still fiddling around with them to figure out what works for me. Any tips would be greatly appreciated 🙂
Hi Brianne! I really like this for your voice! I did not notice breathiness on my end. It was well-paced and you have a nice clear tone which made for a pleasant-sounding read. Good job!
Totally understand that Brianne as I’m working on that too! I think that every voice I’ve heard here is unique in its own way; there really is amazing variety and subtle textures in everyone’s voice. There is only one you, so be you! 🙂