Guide to Recording Voice Voice Over Script
Recording a person speaking is quite straightforward and getting good results shouldn’t be too hard, given the right environment and equipment.
If you are using a close-mic-ing technique, which is necessary with a cardioid condenser microphone, you will want to place a pop-shield between the mic and the person speaking. Pop-shields protect the microphone from bursts of air known as plosives, which occur when a person makes ‘puh’ and ‘buh’ sounds with their voice. Pop-shields are not necessary for boundary or lapel microphones, as they are not being spoken into directly.
Positioning of your microphone depends on the type of microphone you’re using and your environment. Recording should always be done in the quietest possible space, preferably far away from noisy computers and other electrical equipment. You will be surprised how much microphones can pick up. In an ideal world, this room should also be fairly spacious and filled with soft furnishings, which absorb reflected sound. This isn’t always realistic. Not everybody has a specially treated sound booth in their house!
To minimize the noise from errant pieces of equipment, start by positioning them as far away from the microphone as your space will allow. Secondly, cardioid microphones are directional, and will pick up most of their sound from the direction you point them in. Point your microphone away from any noisy equipment, and place some soft, absorbent material behind the subject you are recording to minimize reflections. This will go a long way to reducing the sound of the room in your recordings. Smaller rooms suffer greatly from these reflections. They feed back into the microphone and ‘color’ the sound of your voice, making the recording sound cheap and unprofessional. Taking these simple steps should go a long way to making sure you end up with a clean, professional sounding recording.
In terms of volume, people tend to stay at a fairly consistent level. Once you have your equipment set up and your presenter(s) in place, ask them to speak a few lines in order to get your levels set up correctly for each microphone. Aim to light up your level meter (either on your mixer or in your wave editing software) so that it peaks around -6db. This will ensure you get a healthy signal level. But leave enough room for unexpected rises in volume without ‘clipping’. Clipping occurs when the microphone detects a signal louder than the computer can record. This results in unpleasant-sounding distortion, which is to be avoided at all costs.
Once you have all your equipment set up and your levels set optimally, it’s time to hit record and get down to business!
Depending on the type of project you’re working on, you may be recording many separate parts of voice, which will be interspersed with music or other content. Thanks to the wonders of digital editing, you can record all these pieces back to back and simply position them where you want in the wave editor afterwards. The same goes for any mistakes you might make. Simply carry on recording and cut out the bits you don’t want in your editor later.
Additional Vocal Processing (chapter)
Once you have finished recording your vocal content, you may play it back and wonder why it doesn’t sound quite like your favorite presenter or DJ on the radio. This is because radio stations apply additional processing to their presenter’s voices to give it that rich, warm sound. The two most commonly used effects are Compression and EQ (equalization). Both of these work together to give that classic radio sound.
Most audio software such as Garageband and Audacity, have these effects built-in. But if your wave editor of choice does not feature these as standard, it is most likely possible to install them as VST plugins. Blockfish is a freeware VST compressor plugin compatible with both Mac and PC. And Pushtec EQ is a freeware EQ plugin.
Compression is basically an automated volume control that when applied to a recording, will turn down parts above a specified threshold by a certain specific amount. The end result is a sound that is smoother in terms of volume and has the perception of being subjectively louder and fuller. Not everybody (especially untrained amateur presenters or hobbyists) is able to speak at a fixed volume for an extended period. Naturally, the voice will vary slightly over time. Setting your compressor’s threshold just above the quietest parts of your recording will pull down anything louder to match that level. This smoothes out the recording and gives it more ‘body’. The lower you set the compressor’s threshold, the ‘fatter’ the sound will be. Be careful of setting it too low however, as over-compression can do more harm than good and will put off your listeners. As a starting point, I would suggest setting your compressor’s Ratio to 5:1, your Attack as fast as possible, Release to Auto (if it has that option) and dial in your Threshold until you get a sound you’re happy with.
One side-effect of using a lot of compression is that it will tend to emphasize the lower frequencies. This can make the recording sound overly ‘bassy’ and lacking in clarity. To compensate for this, people will often add a bit of top-end sparkle or ‘air’ back in with EQ. Typically this would be a small boost of a few dB at somewhere around 16kHz. This depends on the person’s voice and you will need to play around until you find the ideal setting. Once you’re finished you should end up with that rich, warm sound you’re after.
TOP-10 Scripts from Edge Studio's Voice Over Script Library
[Skyrim opens with an Imperial wagon driving four prisoners down a snowy mountain pass. All are seated and bound; the one dressed in finery is gagged.]
Ralof: Hey, you. You’re finally awake. You were trying to cross the border, right? Walked right into that Imperial ambush, same as us, and that thief over there.
Lokir: D**n you Stormcloaks. Skyrim was fine until you came along. Empire was nice and lazy. If they hadn’t been looking for you, I could’ve stolen that horse and been half way to Hammerfell. You there. You and me — we should be here. It’s these Stormcloaks the Empire wants.
Ralof: We’re all brothers and sisters in binds now, thief.
Imperial Soldier: Shut up back there!
[Lokir looks at the gagged man.]
Lokir: And what’s wrong with him?
Ralof: Watch your tongue! You’re speaking to Ulfric Stormcloak, the true High King.
Lokir: Ulfric? The Jarl of Windhelm? You’re the leader of the rebellion. But if they captured you… Oh gods, where are they taking us?
Ralof: I don’t know where we’re going, but Sovngarde awaits.
Lokir: No, this can’t be happening. This isn’t happening.
Ralof: Hey, what village are you from, horse thief?
Lokir: Why do you care?
Ralof: A Nord’s last thoughts should be of home.
Lokir: Rorikstead. I’m…I’m from Rorikstead.
[They approach the village of Helgen. A soldier calls out to the lead wagon.]
Imperial Soldier: General Tullius, sir! The headsman is waiting!
General Tullius: Good. Let’s get this over with.
Lokir: Shor, Mara, Dibella, Kynareth, Akatosh. Divines, please help me.
Ralof: Look at him, General Tullius the Military Governor. And it looks like the Thalmor are with him. D**n elves. I bet they had something to do with this. This is Helgen. I used to be sweet on a girl from here. Wonder if Vilod is still making that mead with juniper berries mixed in. Funny…when I was a boy, Imperial walls and towers used to make me feel so safe.
[A man and son watch the prisoners pull into town.]
Haming: Who are they, daddy? Where are they going?
Torolf: You need to go inside, little cub.
Haming: Why? I want to watch the soldiers.
Torolf: Inside the house. Now.
Galadriel: (speaking partly in Elvish)
(I amar prestar aen.)
The world is changed.
(Han matho ne nen.)
I feel it in the water.
(Han mathon ned cae.)
I feel it in the earth.
(A han noston ned gwilith.)
I smell it in the air.
Much that once was is lost, for none now live who remember it.
It began with the forging of the Great Rings. Three were given to the Elves, immortal, wisest and fairest of all beings. Seven to the Dwarf-Lords, great miners and craftsmen of the mountain halls. And nine, nine rings were gifted to the race of Men, who above all else desire power. For within these rings was bound the strength and the will to govern each race. But they were all of them deceived, for another ring was made. Deep in the land of Mordor, in the Fires of Mount Doom, the Dark Lord Sauron forged a master ring, and into this ring he poured his cruelty, his malice and his will to dominate all life.
One ring to rule them all.
One by one, the free lands of Middle-Earth fell to the power of the Ring, but there were some who resisted. A last alliance of men and elves marched against the armies of Mordor, and on the very slopes of Mount Doom, they fought for the freedom of Middle-Earth. Victory was near, but the power of the ring could not be undone. It was in this moment, when all hope had faded, that Isildur, son of the king, took up his father’s sword.
Sauron, enemy of the free peoples of Middle-Earth, was defeated. The Ring passed to Isildur, who had this one chance to destroy evil forever, but the hearts of men are easily corrupted. And the ring of power has a will of its own. It betrayed Isildur, to his death.
And some things that should not have been forgotten were lost. History became legend. Legend became myth. And for two and a half thousand years, the ring passed out of all knowledge. Until, when chance came, it ensnared another bearer.
It came to the creature Gollum, who took it deep into the tunnels of the Misty Mountains. And there it consumed him. The ring gave to Gollum unnatural long life. For five hundred years it poisoned his mind, and in the gloom of Gollum’s cave, it waited. Darkness crept back into the forests of the world. Rumor grew of a shadow in the East, whispers of a nameless fear, and the Ring of Power perceived its time had come. It abandoned Gollum, but then something happened that the Ring did not intend. It was picked up by the most unlikely creature imaginable: a hobbit, Bilbo Baggins, of the Shire.
For the time will soon come when hobbits will shape the fortunes of all.
To sit in solemn silence in a dull, dark, dock,
In a pestilential prison, with a life-long lock,
Awaiting the sensation of a short, sharp, shock,
From a cheap and chippy chopper on a big black block!
Do I really look like a guy with a plan, Harvey?
I don’t have a plan …
The mob has plans. The cops have plans.
You know what I am, Harvey? I am a dog chasing cars… I wouldn’t know what to do with one if I caught it.
I just do things. I am just the wrench in the gears. I hate plans.
Yours, theirs, everyone’s. Maroni has plans. Gordon has plans.
Schemers trying to control their worlds.
I am not a schemer. I show the schemer how pathetic their attempts to control things really are.
So when I say that you and your girlfriend was nothing personal, you know I am telling the truth.
I just did what I do best. I took your plan and turned it on itself.
Look what I have done to this city with a few drums of gas and a couple of bullets.
Nobody panics when the expected people gets killed. Nobody panics when things go according to plan, even if the plan is horrifying.
If I tell the press that tomorrow a gangbanger will get shot or a truckload of soldiers will be blown up, nobody panics. – because it’s all part of the plan.
But when I say that one little old mayor will die, everybody lose their minds.
Introduce a little anarchy, you upset the established order and everything becomes chaos.
I am agent of chaos.
And you know the thing about chaos Harvey?
“IT is FAIR.”
Hello, ladies, look at your man, now back to me, now back at your man, now back to me. Sadly, he isn’t me, but if he stopped using ladies scented body wash and switched to Old Spice, he could smell like he’s me. Look down, back up, where are you? You’re on a boat with the man your man could smell like. What’s in your hand, back at me. I have it, it’s an oyster with two tickets to that thing you love. Look again, the tickets are now diamonds. Anything is possible when your man smells like Old Spice and not a lady. I’m on a horse.
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