Some Tips for Recording a Voiceover

I have previously written about my experience working for the University of Limerick’s student radio station. Part of the work I did for the station included recording voiceovers for advertisements and pre-recording segments for the different shows I presented throughout the years. As you may imagine, a volunteer-led radio station does not have access to high-tech sound booths or the best professional equipment. As such, I feel I became quite adept at making my bedroom recordings sound as good as possible. In this post, I’d like to share a few tips which might help should you ever need to record a voiceover, be it for a podcast, an E-Learning course, a presentation or any other such application.

The most vital aspect of making your recordings pleasing to listen to is the environment in which you record. There are few things more distracting to a listener than irksome background noise or echoes which are reminiscent of a cave. It is impractical for most people to sound treat their homes appropriately for recording, but here are a few options which you can try:

• The Wardrobe: It may seem silly, but your wardrobe is a ready-made sound booth waiting to be discovered. Simply create a space in the middle of your rack of hanging clothes and place your microphone there. The clothes to either side will act as sound-dampening and significantly reduce echo.
• Rugs and Blankets: Another option is to surround your recording area with mats, blankets or even cushions. Echoes result from your voice reflecting off hard surfaces. This effect is particularly noticeable in rooms with tiles or wooden flooring. Soft, sound-absorbent materials like rugs, fabric couches, carpeted floors, etc., will all help to reduce reverberations and bring your recording to the next level.
• Under the Duvet: Perhaps the best approach I have used is to record underneath the bedcovers. This method is a simple way of reducing background noise and echo to the minimum. You will be surrounded by material which deadens the sound. If you can put up with the heat, it’s worth exploring this method!

Before you begin reading your script, you should record a sample of the ambient sound in the place you are working. Simply hit record in your application of choice and remain completely silent for 10 – 20 seconds. You can then begin to present your points to the audience. I will outline how to utilise this sample later in this post.

When recording your lines, it is essential to make the editing process which will follow as straight-forward as possible. I recommend breaking your script into a bulleted list of sentences that flow naturally and focus on recording these passages in isolation. If you try to record too much at once, your edits will sound clunky and forced. If you have clear pauses between sentences and paragraphs, it is a more manageable process to cut what didn’t work and choose the best takes to create a high-quality piece.

With your material committed to virtual-tape, now it’s time to edit. I only have experience using Audacity for this purpose, so my tips here will reflect that:

• Use Your Ambient Sample: Remember that 10 – 20 second recording of silence from earlier? Select only this section of your audio file in Audacity. Click on Effect > Noise Reduction… and complete the analysis step with which the software will present you. Next, select your entire recording and again click on Effect > Noise Reduction… and use the dialog box to remove background sound from the file. This method can eliminate elements like the hum of your laptop, the hiss of your microphone, even the wind outside your window. It is by no means a fix-all solution, but this technique can elevate your work without requiring much investment on your part.
• Normalise: If you are using multiple files in your project (a recording of your voice and a .mp3 of background music, for instance) make sure to normalise your sound levels. Essentially, to “Normalise” brings sounds from different sources to the same loudness level. Normalising will prevent your audience from being disturbed by one piece that is much louder or quieter than the other. To normalise your audio, select all of your tracks, click Effect > Normalize… in Audacity and follow the instructions.
• Pitch, Speed and Tempo: These settings, found in the Effect menu can dramatically change how your recording sounds and flows. You could use the Change Pitch option to deepen or lighten a piece of audio. Changing the speed allows you to shave some time off the clip if you’re struggling for time, though this will also increase the pitch, so it is not ideal for use with voiceovers. Changing the tempo, on the other hand, will allow you to speed up the clip while maintaining the pitch. This tool is invaluable if you have a strict time-limit to meet. The setting is particularly useful on music and sound effects, as changing the tempo will have minimal impact on the pacing of the delivery of the content of the work.

Recording and preparing a voiceover can appear to be a daunting task. But by following some simple tips such as these, I firmly believe anyone can generate a recording that sounds highly professional. Needless to say, there are many more ways to improve your output quality other than those I have detailed here, but hopefully what I have discussed will set you on the right path when working on your pieces.