I liked your waterpik read, though I feel like you could up the tempo in the beginning and the end of the commercial. The tempo in the middle sounded perfect to me.
ATTN SPANISH SPEAKERS// folks working in the Spanish/Spanglish commercial genre! Will you take a listen?
I’m a commercial genre kindergartner and basically an infant when it comes to doing any VO in Spanish, so any and all performance/technique notes are appreciated! Strongly considering adding some bilingual fun to my first demo.
Not looking for technical or sound quality notes today, just ~general~. always aiming at natural, conversational, and understandable.
I also ran the Ziploc piece a couple times for fun. Still trying to pin down what my signature voice is so, gonna keep trying a few different styles in the forum.
This reply was modified 2 years, 4 months ago by gigihernandezdoesit. Reason: forgot to upload!
Hello Feedback Forum,
I am working on my Audiobook Demo and wanted to share some of my practice recordings before a session next week. All input is appreciated!
Thanks,
-SuperLuke
Ziploc: Great understanding of the script and your voice is perfect for this spot. It got a bit staccato towards the end where the thought could be smoothed out. I did hear some sounds that sounded like bumping the mic… not sure what they’re from but they were distracting.
Lovely voice to listen to! I would like to hear more variety between your spots and within each spot. More connection to the script, perhaps? You have a very distinct “performing” voice that could sound more natural.
I like how you slated your name and then performed the copy. Maybe add some deeper tone, similar to the “Allstate” guy on TV. Anyway, it was a nice recording to listen to. Keep up the practice!
Hi Glen! I really liked your instinct to get soft and intimate in the potennix spot, but I think you have a distinct rhythm that you hit almost like a metronome, that makes it a lil monotonous. Definitely feel free to play around with your tempo more. I felt similarly about the mortgage holder piece. Jumping in on a phrase like “the cinema has no boundary,” is so epic ! maybe try to lead in slowly and then warm up as you get to recommendation part of the spot, just for some more dynamism. <3 good luck!
Hi Fellow Voice Actor’s must speak it into existence here I two recordings I did from the practice manual I would greatly appreciate your feedback hanks in advance
I like the variety between the two spots! The delivery for both spots felt fast. I think if you can slow the pacing down a bit it will help take these to the next level.
Hello everyone –
First time posting to the forum and looking for some feedback on my pacing as well as my tone. I’m definitely more comfortable with the eLearning and IVR, I also wanted to try my hand at something different from my preferred genre (Words Can Do Anything mp3) and would love to hear feedback on ways I can improve.
Note: I do not have my home studio fully set up yet, but if you have technical and/or creative input I’d appreciate it!
Hey Audrea
Great reads
Pitch to close had the right tone and tempo for my ear and was engaging to keep the listener moving
The spa telephony sounded just right
Words needs some more variety in tone and pitch. I wasn’t sure of the mood you were trying to set.
Hi Audrea.
I liked the copy of the eLearning. You have a nice voice. Maybe work on breath support so that you can perform the copy without unnecessary pauses in between the sentences. I could hear some breathiness and pauses between words at times. I think that can easily be fixed by trying the copy a couple of different ways, like having more emphasis on keywords that the listener of the ad needs to hear. Maybe sound more dynamic, adding some more energy to the copy that can be informative, interesting, and hold the listener’s attention. I’m sure you can find the right pace that works for you.
On your “Words Can Do Anything” read, I think your pitch was a little too narrow for the first 18 seconds. Once you got to “Like the human rights activist-“, your pitch range seemed to widen slightly, and it makes you sound more invested in what you’re saying, more authoritative. You sounded like you wanted us to take this stuff seriously, lest we find ourselves in a similar situation. The emphases on “human”, “journalist”, and “thousands” saw a gradual rise in your peak pitch for each one, like talking about these injustices was subtly getting to you.
Prior to that, I was having trouble getting a fix on what mood you were trying to set. You were talking about positive stuff like birthdays and friends with a lack of investment, like someone reading a grocery list aloud. What you might consider is, if not widening the pitch range in the first part, perhaps moving the highs and lows a little higher, so there’s a slightly more noticeable rug-pull as you down-shift along the route of, “Friends, birthdays, human rights violations.”
Thank you so much! Words Can Do Anything was challenging for me – I wasn’t sure what the mood “should” be and the “happy” things, in the beginning, were very confusing with the more somber things detailed at the end. I’m going to take your feedback to my Coach so I can work on the areas you pointed out. I definitely prefer eLearning and telephony but I want to improve in other areas and your comments were VERY helpful!
I’m working on finding and adding an explainer element to my upcoming narration demo. Any feedback would be appreciated! Also, my AC was running during this recording. I normally turn the air off when I record. I’m curious if anyone is able to pick up the sound of the AC and how distracting it ends up being.
Hi Mike T. These sounded great, I liked the Smarts Broadcasting spot for your friendly energy. One tiny thing I noticed is a couple diction things, but you’re so naturally moving through the sentence its not like it made it hard to follow, it was great!
Great job! I enjoyed each of these and could feel myself relaxing into your steps and envisioning myself following along. While I have a fan on at the moment, I didn’t notice the AC at all. If the sound was present it did not distract me from being able to focus on your directions.
It’s a good recording that is well-paced, I can hear your words clearly and understand what you are saying. Were you aiming to do a cold read for the toothpaste brand, practicing reading copies, or was this homework for pacing?
There are some moments when I hear you pause. I’m not sure if that’s because of the microphone or if there’s something in the background.
Anyway, keep up the great work!
I think it sounds super good! One thing I would say is that when hitting the key words, you might want to try blending them in a little more with the other words, if that makes sense. Other than that, you sounded great!
Absolutely loved listening to this, and truly felt I was immersed in an actual radio/tv commercial.
I would consider pausing ever so slightly longer (for half a second) between your transition from How do you get clean…to At RiseWell
The pacing/cadence on “as effective as a chemical clean” seems different from the rest of the recording; however; it works well with this product/advertisement.
That’s good to hear. I was afraid this would sound too much like a rough take rather than a final cut. I never got to do any last-minute re-recordings like I’d planned, on account of throat-related sickness.
Hello and Happy Tuesday to everyone!
This is my first time posting on this forum and I am very excited for the feedback to help me further and better my practice. I appreciate all of you and your feedback.
I have not yet set up a home studio, as I am in the early stages of my Voice Over journey, so my apologies for the sound quality.
I am focusing on the Narration genre at the moment and am looking to broaden my range and work on diction. I would love any feedback on the delivery and interpretation of the text and my diction.
Thanks so much for the help and I wish you all success on your journey as well.
I have included the text below, it is from the Edge Studio script library.
“Hey there new employee, or should we say, new family member. As a member of the Texicon family, we want to formally introduce you to your new home, but too formal because that’s just not our style. Now you’ve already got your new uniforms and met with our incredible CEO, or head of the family as we like to call him. Now it’s time for me to bring you up to speed on what your days are going to be filled in with. Make sure you grab some of the complimentary cake you have in front of you, we love cake here so you’re going to have to get used to that, and see what the rest of your time at the Texicon household has in store for you!”
Hey there Shae! you do have a wonderful sound and your read is very natural! I would say, if you’re hoping to increase your range, try to mix it up with pacing and adjusting your volume along the way. The cheerful tone works for the like, “character” in this copy, but in the long form of it all, adding those levels will really keep a listener engaged. great work though!
You have a great voice, but I feel like you’re taking a few too many long pauses for your lego land read. I agree with the “lead-in” strategy, it’s something I need to remind myself of too.
You’ve got a great voice! I think you can work a bit on the delivery. It sounded to me like you were reading instead of performing. The Home Depot spot was the best. It won’t take much to get that one to have a more natural delivery.
The Lego Land spot sounded to me like a radio live read, where the host is reading off a sheet of paper live. That’s not a total negative (I love radio and worked in the industry), but probably not the sound you want on your demo.
Also, watch your breathing. I didn’t notice this in the Home Depot spot, but you had some sharp in-breaths on the Lego Land spot. Some breaths are good, but I think those added to the sensation of it sounding like a radio live read vs a produced commercial.
Thank you so much for the feedback! Greatly appreciate it.
I agree with the breathing. I find it challenging sometimes to breath at certain times throughout the script without making the delivery sound so “choppy” (for lack of better words).
Maybe using more of the “lead-in” technique could help deliver a more conversational, natural delivery for the Lego Land spot?
I’ve found the lead-in technique definitely helps me keep things conversational, which I struggle with. There are breathing techniques that would probably be able to help as well. Unfortunately, I haven’t had a chance to research any yet myself, even though I need to. I also get sharp in-breaths at the beginning of some sentences.
Hello everyone, hope you are all having a great and productive start to the week! I am looking to get some feedback on my second practice read for narration as I am preparing to record my first official narration demo in a few weeks.
Very nice and textured voice. The pacing was great. I think you can bring a tad-bit more variety to it to give more “life” to the delivery. Other than that, it was really good. Keep up the good work!
It sounds good! Try to have a little more variety in your read. Even though this is only 25 seconds long, it still has a beginning, middle, and end. If you can vary your performance a bit, you can connect to the listener more and better tell the story.