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Voice-Over

You’ve shot your footage, cut your video, inserted your graphics - but you still need to tell your story.

Narration/Voice Over is an integral part of the story-telling process; guiding, clarifying, emoting, conveying the overall message you want your audience to understand.

How do you choose the right voice for the job? That’s up to you. You can bring your own voice talent, or we can let you screen some of the hundreds of voice samples we have on hand.

How do you capture the brilliant performance, the subtle inflections, the vast range of your talent?

Clear…Crystal Clear Audio

Whatever your project, you need crystal clear audio accompanying it. In one of our Narration suites, a completely isolated booth with industry-standard Neumann U87 microphones are used. If Neumann isn’t your preference then you also have a choice of Focusrite Red 6 or Avalon Vt 737 we well. 

Make the Most of Your Studio Time

Please be aware of the following session needs:

  1. Bring scripts for yourself, the talent, and the engineer
  2. Let us know the running time of your script, as well as how you plan to handle changes and approvals, before the session begins.
  3. We record a DAT backup of the entire session, and producers often want files on CDR—you can bring replacement stock if you wish.
  4. Let us know what type of file you want to output prior to the session—we output AIF, WAV, or Broadcast WAV files.  Also, note that standard video projects require 48k 16-bit audio, but the CD standard is 44.1k 16 bit.
  5. The spacious control rooms fit up to eight people (in addition to the engineer), but we have found that the most efficient workflow only has one or two voices producing.
  6. Remember this is a recording session, so plan on listening critically to get the exact read you want for your show.

Picture Reference? Lock to Picture? ADR?

What’s the difference?

Our digital workstations are engineered specifically for the post-production environment and will control professional video or audio tape transports or use a QuickTime movie for visual reference. This function allows a reference video track to be played in sync with the audio being recorded.
Picture Reference – Request this when you simply want to show the VO talent your video before or after recording. This would be used when timing of the script is not critical against on-screen actions. The resultant audio track may be segmented and spaced against the video before the mix.
Lock to Picture – Request this when you want to show rolling video for the VO talent while recording. Since you can hear and see your program all at once, this cuts down on editing time, but usually adds to setup and record time. This would be used for more critical voice timing against on-screen action.
ADR – Request this when you want to create foreign language voice tracks against on-screen speaking talent or to replace a voice completely while maintaining very close lip synchronization.

Remote Voice Sessions

Also available are industry standard ISDN voice transport systems. While the best results may be obtained by bringing voice talent to our booth, we recognize this is not always possible. We regularly connect with voice talent in other parts of the world for remote recording sessions.