Sometimes a voice can send the wrong message

When perusing a book or reading a print advertisement you can sometimes “read between the lines”. It is an interesting turn of phrase to describe instances where you might find some meaning in the prose or copy the author has intentionally or subconsciously hidden in the text.

You might be surprised to learn that similar things happen when you are listening to a Voice Over. You might watching a TV commercial or listening to a podcast. The announcer will be adhering to the words on the script, but slight nuances in the voice can detract or add meaning to the message your brain receives.

A trained voice talent knows a lot about skinning cats

When a professional Voice Over artist is handed a script to read they will usually look at any directions indicated by the scriptwriter or turn to the studio producer and ask “How do you want this read”?

Just as there are many ways to remove the feline epidermis, there is an endless variety in the way a script can be interpreted.

In recording advertising audio tracks, most scripts will fall into broad categories with shorthand names like “soft sell”, “hard sell”, “corporate” “friendly” “authoritative”.

To the Voice Over artist these categories are the start point. Immediately they will adopt the tone they know will fit the bill. For the soft sell they may inject more air into their voice. They may work close-in to the microphone to add an intimacy to the read.

For the hard sell they may step back a little from the microphone and adopt a full “parade ground voice”. Really hammering the price or any discount and using huge inflections to add excitement to key words.

If the script direction calls for a corporate read then the Voice Over will be delivered in fairly neutral tones with a slightly restrained feel.

There’s meaning in the length of the syllables

In each of the cases above, it’s the Voice Over artist who is injecting the desired impression or net take-away from the production.

He or she is more than capable of reading the same words yet have the listener react in a variety of ways. The intricacies of annunciation, timing, breathing, pausing, projection and tone are the unwritten devices available to the gifted reader.

Media Group, the business audio specialists, provide an enormous variety of professional male and female Voice Over talent. You can be sure whenever you need a particular style of voice, Media Group will heave the solution.

You can go online anytime to audition samples of the Voice Over talent at www.mediagroup.com.au