Voiceover Technique for Radio

Voice over technique for radio commercials is simpler than you would think.  You must remember here the biggest thing that differentiates this performance from others is that you are not accompanying a picture of any kind.  You are IT, baby.  The beginning and end of the line.  You are all we (the listener) have that stands between us “getting” the message or not.  How will you ensure that we, the listener, receive the message in a way that makes sense?

                What this means is that you must start with the script and “hear” it from the listener’s perspective.  Words might make sense on paper after you have gotten to read it over a dozen times and stare at the words and their actual spelling and make sense out of their meaning.  When these same words are spoken out loud, and quickly, and with a certain personality, things can easily get lost in translation.  In a blog earlier this summer, actually two, I broke down the techniques for doing voice over script analysis, but I will highlight what’s important here:  To bring a script to life, the most important thing to do is connect with the copy.  Ask yourself what your “point” is in EACH sentence.  Assume each thing you say, like in real life, you say for a REASON.  You are making a point.  Let us know what each “point” is by emphasizing it.  When you start to connect to the points you are making, you start to “color” your words better, thus bringing them to life for someone who only hears them and needs a way to “feel” them and “see” them too.  Your own conviction in what you’re saying and why will be this clarity for the listener.  Your next step after understanding what you are explaining to people is the “how.”  How are you delivering this?  Are you friendly, sarcastic, warm?  Your biggest direction should come from the writer’s specs (specifications) which you will almost always get before the audition.  Your next move should be to look for clues in the writing that strengthen and further validate these specs and allow you to “be” this person even more.  Once you have a strong sense of “character” and a strong sense of the information you are conveying, you have your work cut out for you.