What’s So Special About Professional Voice Talent?

Now that you are planning a voiceover project yourself, this may be the first time you've considered that guy with the TV promo voice. You know the one. He can make any product sound like a dream. He sure could make yours sound great. You know it would sell in a heartbeat if you had him - or someone just like him - telling the world about what you have to offer. You know somehow that doing your own commercial would be a bad idea. Or would it? You've seen homemade commercials and how bad they can be. But is this guy so much better that he's actually worth spending a bunch of money on? Or can you save so much money in the beginning by doing your own commercial that it will make up for not selling as much?

The answer is absolutely not. You can never make up for poor advertising, and that's exactly what you'll have if you make one of those laugh-a-minute commercials like Sal the Radio Man did last year with his Cousin Larry. People sure didn't remember Cousin Larry, but they forgot all about Sal's radios because they were too busy laughing at the commercial. It was a hit. Sal and Larry are stars. But they haven't sold any more radios since the commercial than they did after the commercial.

You want to make your voiceover project count. You're going to have to spend money to make a commercial anyway. Spending a little and selling a little is not anywhere near as good as spending a little more and selling a lot. It's all about percentages.

You're probably wondering why that's so. To put is simply, a professional - which is what a voice actor is - is going to lend your production an air of professionalism. They do this by enunciating their words, or speaking clearly, which is a lot harder to do consistently than you would think. Most people run things together, speak too fast or too slow, use filler words and sounds, and mumble, among other things. It's not that much of an issue when you're having a face-to-face conversation with someone because they can always ask you to repeat yourself. But they can't do that if you're talking to them over a radio.

Another reason sounding good in a commercial is more difficult than it looks is because sound equipment is not very forgiving. Whatever flaw you are exhibiting in your speech, sound equipment will amplify it tenfold. So someone speaking on air can't just be good - they have to be perfect. Better, if they can manage it.

While he's doing all of that, a voice actor is either delivering lines that he's memorized flawlessly, or reading a sheet of paper while making it sound natural. In fact, while he's enunciating and watching his timing and regulating any number of elements in his voice, he is making it sound perfectly natural. That is what's so special about professional voice talent.

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