Your Script and the Explainer Voice Over Artist

As a professional female voice over artist I have voiced thousands of scripts. In most cases the scripts are well written.

But what is a well-written script?

A well-written script understands its buyers. People are looking for information. They are looking to educate themselves, so you need to tell them something they don’t know or want to know to make a better decision in buying your product or service. Tell them a story and how your service or product can solve their problems. There is no golden rule to how long your explainer video should be. If the information is solid, to the point and well written you should be able to hold your potential clients attention and this where a professional, experienced voice artist can really be of help.

If you have multiple products and multiple services then it would probably be a good idea to make a few videos for each product or service. This breaks things down into chewable chunks and doesn’t overwhelm your audience. Each video can also add to your marketing rather than just have one video.

One way to make your Voice Artists Life a Living Hell

One more than one occasion I have had scripts sent to me with the following requests:

• Must be a Professional Female Voice Talent
• Must have at least 5 years of experience
• Must provide demos in both audio and video format
• Must be voiced in a professional voice over studio, no background noise
• Fully edited audio file in wav and mp3 format

Sounds pretty standard right?

Why yes it does, however on more than one occasion I have received scripts that were put straight through a translator that made literally no sense. I have even had scripts that had many words that did not exist in the English dictionary. How do I know this? Because I checked and rechecked!

Most professional voice artists will offer proof reading services for a fee but usually in the worst-case scenarios the client will decline the offer. This is where the talent of an experienced voice artist will be tested. I know many voice artists including myself, that have voiced the hell out of scripts that made absolutely no sense, but; and here’s the big BUT, it usually takes us many, many, many takes to get something that makes absolutely no sense to somehow sound like it should.

So if you’re going to spend the money on a well-put together explainer video and a professional voice artist, then make sure your script is well written.

The Explainer Voice Over Production Process

The process is very simple. All you do is send your scrip to the voice artist of your choice. Tell her what you want to relate to your audience and what kind of feel you are looking for by using key words like, quirky, funny, serious, professional, girl next good, office buddy, excited, high energy, sexy, you get the point.

But here is a money saver. You build your explainer video around your voice over.

Why?

Most professional videos makers know how to adjust the video accordingly, but sometimes clients don’t know how to adjust the video according to the voice over, so they require that the voice over to be timed according to the premade explainer video. In other words they need the voice over to sync to the video. The only problem with this is that most professional voice artists will charge a syncing fee per minute of audio. I’ve seen voice artists charge up to $20 a minute and this is because it is very time consuming to sync to a video. So if you haven’t built your video yet, great! Get your voice over first and then build your video to match the voice over. An experienced video make will be able to space out the voice over as needed. It’s more time and cost efficient.

More Tips for Helping your Explainer Voice Over Artist

To reiterate you already know you need a well-written script and important keywords to relate the type of feel you are looking for. If you’re not entirely sure how you want it to sound, that’s perfectly fine. If you’ve chosen to work with an experienced, professional voice over artist, they will understand just from the script what needs to be done.

I usually provide a few takes depending on how long the script is, and most of the time I’m able to nail exactly what the client is looking for. But on occasion the client will want slight tonal and emotional changes for certain parts of the script. Make sure that you are clear in your instructions and descriptions so that the voice artist understands your needs and requirements clearly. This will help save time.

Another important thing to remember is that we as humans comfortably voice up to 150 words in one minute. That said it is unrealistic to ask the voice artist to voice 400 words in 90 seconds.

Always let your voice over artist know your deadline to make sure you get your audio delivered on time!

What should you pay for an Explainer Voice Artist?

Rates truly vary from artist to artist. Standards industry rates if you are a large corporate business can be anywhere from $300-$525 for up to 90 second video.

However nothing is written in stone. Some voice over artists will charge $250-$400 for up to 5 minutes for an explainer video. Some artists will charge on per minute basis. When consulting with your professional voice talent for your explainer video let them know your budget right up front. This is probably one of the best ways to save time in terms of negotiations.