Good morning everyone:
I’m submitting a character read of an Edge Studio script and would love to get some feedback. Please be gentle! Thanks.
Regards,
Elizabeth
Here are two more recordings I would love feedback on.
The audience for “teacher_change” is teachers. The voice seeker provided an audio example of the vocal style they are looking for which is a slow read with long pauses so this is what I was going for.
Bill, good job on both of these reads. You have a good natural flow to the way you speak that sounds personable. For teacher, it’s hard to get an idea of what the voice seeker was going for by asking for a slow read. I think you followed the direction you were given but it seemed slow for my personal taste. I noticed a click sound or some other noise after “imagination” I believe. I was listening through computer speakers at a low volume so I’m sure a seasoned ear would pick that up on headphones. World voices once again showcased your conversational tone which is nice. I did pick up on a lot of “S” sounds throughout the read. I’m not sure if that is an equipment issue or you needing to pay a little more attention to your annunciation on certain words. Overall, great job.
Amazingly the sample audio from the voice seeker for the “teacher_change” script was actually slower than how I read. So I was actually concerned that the voice seeker will think I am speaking too fast. I too don’t understand why they want it so slow.
My home studio was recently evaluated by a sound engineer and he gave it very high marks so I can’t blame the clicks and “S’ sounds on the equipment. I made them myself. So it’s good that you brought these issues to my attention.
Bill, if you get a chance could you give me some feedback on my recordings? I submitted a couple late last month and 1 recently. I’d appreciate it. Thanks.
Hi! I listened a bunch of times to your recording. Here’s my 2 cents, and note that I’m not a coach…just a student at Edge in the midst of preparing my first Narration demo.
I love your smiling tone, particularly on the first sentence. You have a beautiful voice and it’s a nice clean recording. And I love Mexico, and really want to visit Guanajuato, so I was particularly attracted to your recording.
It sounds like you’re hitting a lot of words and syllables within words, it seems a little excessive and not as natural as it could be for that reason. For example, at the beginning, the word Guanajuato – sounds like you hitting “Guan” and “Jua”. Try just the first one, or hit the “Jua” with less gusto. For another example, listen to the sentence that begins “The 16th century…”, and note the number syllables you are hitting. Experiment with fewer hits and see if you like it.
Listen back for glottal stops. There are a lot of them here that you may want to smooth out or avoid.
Also a small thing, but your voice starts to fry when you say “built out of”. Not sure if that was intentional, but I think it would be better to avoid that.
I’m uploading a few homework scripts. Appreciate any feedback you may have, in particular on pace, naturalness, and diction. Scripts are below.
Thank you!
Jeff
Aetna/US Healthcare
No matter where we live–when it comes to something as important as health care, we all want the best. That’s why AETNA and US HEALTHCARE have joined forces to create a partnership that will set a new standard for quality and caring. AETNA and US HEALTHCARE. Raising a standard for your town, for your family, and for you.
Black Diamond
Here at Black Diamond it’s all about climbing and skiing. We share the same experiences that you do on rock, ice and snow and these experiences push us to make the best gear possible for our worldwide family of climbers and skiers.
What began with a backyard anvil and a hammer has now grown into a global company with offices on three continents. Black Diamond is a company that’s not just for rock climbers and skiers, but one that stands for the spirit of the sports we live, their values and goals, past, present and future. Since 1957, our innovative gear designs have set the standard in numerous areas. This is partly the result of dedication, desire and diligence on the part of an incredible team of people. It’s also a product of the fact that each of us are climbers and skiers ourselves.
Aetna/US Healthcare: Your pace, naturalness, and diction are excellent! Very nice job.
Black Diamond: To be blunt, you sound like you’re reading. You also sound like you’re trying a bit too hard to sound excited which makes it sound not entirely believable. If you could figure out a way apply the same style you used for the Aetna/US Healthcare script to the Black Diamond script you would probably get the end result you want.
Thank you Bill! I love blunt and honest feedback. It will help me improve. I was trying for a more excited tone in the Black Diamond script, and perhaps it came across as too unnatural, and I absolutely don’t want to sound as if I’m reading. I’m going to try it again, toned down a bit. If you (or anyone) has any commentary on the naturalness and flow of this take as compared to the original, i’d appreciate that.
The original version is “Take 1” and the new one is “Take 2”.
I hope my initial feedback on Black_Diamond didn’t sound overly harsh. It’s just that when I heard the Aetna read I felt like I was hearing a very polished professional voice talent. I just didn’t feel that I was hearing the same natural quality when I listened to the initial black_diamond read. However, I think Black_diamond_2 is definitely moving in the right direction. It sounds more authentic, and you sound like believe what you’re saying. Awesome!
1) Please, no technical feedback.
2) I’m intentionally pausing between lines since the script is associated with a video which is moving between different kinds of images.
3) I’m aware that you can hear breathing between lines. I could have edited these out but chose not to.
4) Seafoam makes products for engines so I see the target audience as people who are into cars, trucks, boats, motorcycles, etc.
This was a good read! Everything was clear, and your voice is nice and descriptive- perfect for this reading, in my opinion.
I have only two things that I’m at odds with: I feel that with every second line (evening cruises, fishing until dark, etc.) lacks variance, or rather that each second line sounds like every other second line, if that makes sense? Like, the first line has a good buildup, and then the second one falls a little flat.
My second issue isn’t too much, but I feel that ‘Seafoam,’ as a money word, could be better emphasized.
Hopefully you’re able to understand where I’m coming from through my rambling. An enjoyable job, nonetheless!
Hello everyone, I have a read I’d love some feedback on. Please let me know if you hear any issues with pace and diction as well as anything else. Thank you.
It sounded like you did what I do which is start at my regular talking speed, then remember I should slow down. Your energy is great. I think slowing down would help with the small diction issues and let you find more flow between the phrases.
A PSA and an ad for your feedback. Not looking for technical feedback. All other feedback welcome! Diction, conversational tone, glottal stops, pacing; hit me with it!
Shelly, I really liked the Special K read. I could feel your smile coming through on that one. On both reads there was some breaths and glottal stops that could be taken away with editing. Pacing was really good for Special K. I think the pacing for Asthma could have been a bit faster. Overall great natural voice and good job.
Hi All, I’m working on a couple scripts to use for my demos. I’m using a Blue Mic at home. Feedback on whether you hear different styles across the four scripts would be appreciated and if the energy/tone is consistent throughout each read. Thanks so much!
I listened to your copy and thought I’d give my two cents.
You have an excellent voice, I like it a lot. I think you could do with a bit more differentiation of tone between scripts.
A particular thing I noted that might help for some auditions: The Witcher 3. Careful of pronunciation – before recording, check the pronunciation of special words, in this case, the name Geralt, pronounced with a G as in Good, rather than a G as in Gentle, if that makes sense. I hope this helps!
I like these reads. I am going to disagree a bit with the two prior feedbacks you received. Your tone is a bit low key, but this may be OK depending on the direction as well as the visual associated with the scripts. There are low key voice overs I hear on TV commercials these days which work very well. You may want to experiment with different levels of energy just for the sake of practice, but otherwise I think these are very good reads. Keep up the good work!
Benn, good reads. I’d suggest trying them again with a bit more energy so that the listener’s FOMO is built up and they just have to check out the product especially since its free.
I can’t really come up with any constructive feedback regarding your vocal delivery since it’s a very good read. Some nitpicky feedback is that the background music is a bit loud and didn’t allow me to hear your voice as clearly as I would like.