Voice-Over and the Corporate Video Production Company

When producing a corporate video or promotional video for business, you’re trying to tell a story about your company: the story behind its people, its product(s), or its services. Often when telling that story, a script may resort to using a voice-over.

You’ve got a few options when actually recording the voice-over:

1) You can have the narrative culled from what is said by on-camera interviewees, a spokesperson, or company personnel. Client testimonials, for example, can essentially lead the script, and if they’re ‘complete’ in and of themselves, there may be no need for additional narration.
2) You can hire someone from your company to do the voice-over.
3) You can hire a professional voice-over artist.

The advantage of using a professional is that they are experienced in bringing even tired material to life; a large majority of VO artists come from radio, where voice is king. Their sense stress, modulation, and overall tone can immediately engage an audience, the same as a skilled actor can when performing. Additionally, using a VO artist means you don’t need to book studio time, as the vast majority of VO artists have their own recording sound booth, high-end vocal microphones, and recording systems.

Voice-over (VO) artists charge a fee for their service, and that fee can range from as low as $200 to as much $10,000, depending on the size of their experience, whether they belong to a performer’s union (like UBCP or ACTRA), and the potential market size of your audience. So, a VO artist with a lot of experience, who belongs to a union, and knows that the market size for the finished video will be all of North America during the Superbowl, would command a much higher rate than a person who doesn’t have the same credentials or is working on a production for a relatively small, local audience only.

A spokesperson who is a celebrity or well-known to your audience or community may require an additional fee.

In the end, what should you be looking for? Your script and its overall purpose and intended audience will help make it easy for you. Perhaps you need someone who’s confident and sincere, or maybe someone who’s authoritative and forceful when needed. Maybe your script screams for a female narration, or maybe the subject matter is one that lends itself to a male delivery.

Regardless of gender, VO artists can adjust their delivery to whatever tone or style the script requires, but there is still an ‘essence’ to their voice that can’t be faked or ignored. Consider, for example, the different vocal qualities of the 6 different VO artists that are heard in our productions of Odenza’s corporate video, Centaur Products’ TV commercial, Fibreco’s safety video, Telesteps’ TV spots, Leavitt’s 3D animation TV commercial, and our corporate promotional video for West Coast Fishing Club.

A good production company will give you a selection of samples from a variety of voice-over artists to choose from, and should make recommendations based on what you need or are looking for..

A good VO artist will offer some method for the client and producer to listen in during their recording. In today’s busy world, that usually doesn’t require everyone to actually be physically in attendance in the recording studio. Much can be done over a telephone patch, which allows a conference of listeners to hear the material as its being recorded and offer feedback in real time. The VO artist will ask for pronunciations of words that may be industry-specific, and the client and producer will give feedback on the overall tone and style of the narration, as well as particular words to stress, pace, intensity and, if it’s script-specific, timing. The production company should also show skill in giving the VO artist directions and leading them to the vision the client has for the project

Another method used by some VO artists, depending on their preference, is to take initial directions from the client and producer, record a few takes, and send them to the client or producer for review and approval. If there’s nothing to change, their work is done; if there are revisions to be made, the VO artist does so at no additional cost. However, once a voice-over is recorded and approved by the client, any revisions later on (e.g. due to a last-minute change in the script) that require more VO work to be done, are charged at an additional fee, sometimes as high as 50% of the original fee – even if the revisions are only a sentence or two… Which is another good reason to make sure your script is locked down and finalized before getting the VO (or any other element of production) done.

Ultimately, a voice-over is a single part of a multi-faceted production process. If you’re planning on creating a video for your business or organization, be sure to hire a production company whose experience and knowledge will save you headaches down the road.