7 tips for selecting the perfect voice over talent for your video

The voice over in entertainment industry plays a significant part. Sound carries a rare form of beauty that complements pictures, it seems incomplete somehow; voice over helps us bind all the information and allows us to soak it better compared to seeing only visuals. Since the 1930s, when first talking movie was presented in Bollywood, it’s been growth in leaps and bounds for the voice over aspect of the entertainment industry. Because with ‘Alam Ara’, the first talking movie in India, we realised the difference of introducing the narratives and dialogues in a motion picture. It evolved and led to the development of various branches associated with voice overs. Now, we have narratives in a movie, we have such a wide range of radio channels, we have theatre voice overs, we have concerts (sometimes dependent on voice overs) and so many secondary or parallel industries utilizing the gift of human voice. They are extensively used in advertising. Voice overs serve as the soul of the animation industry as well. It is an essential part of recording audio books or materials particularly for blind students. Therefore, there is no shortage of platforms for a voice over artist. The only thing required is to flow with the tide (only if you have the required talent).Now, as the industry is evolving more and more people are trying to make a career out of it.This has resulted in a flood of voice over artists, making it all the more difficult to stand out amongst such a huge number of probable candidates. Auditions are carried out at a large scale; a single job attracting applications in thousands. However, all you need to focus on is to do well in the auditions, that being said, it is not a child’s play to excel in a voice over audition. In order to stand out, some key elements need to be taken care of while auditioning for a part. Basically, there are three key elements regarding a voice over tape/audition which need to be understood before you start or while you are in the process of recording your voice, which are Register, Accent and Expression.Register – there are three registers, which means the level or range of voice, the lower, the middle and the upper. Identifying the correct register is really important as characters are portrayed perfectly with the right kind of pitch.

Accent – the accent is integral to a character as it builds up the foundation of the role. It needs to considered for the kind of audience you are going to have, like the region where your work is going to be heard.

Expression – while going for an audition it is necessary to establish the base of the character that you are going to lend your voice to. The origins of the character, it’s behaviour, it’s emotional state, its entire journey should be reflected in the voice over.