Your chosen voice talent is responsible for providing an enticing tone that captivates the listener and permanently holds their attention.

A smooth tone will encourage comfort, reassurance and trust. If the subject matter is serious or suspenseful, your voiceover may be filled with gravitas to elicit an emotional connection. Perhaps you’re telling a crime story filled with drama and intrigue. That’s the perfect opportunity for your voice actor to increase the intensity and tempo of each word on the page.

They say timing is everything. A well-versed voiceover artist will identify operative words and adjust their pacing to a conversational flow which helps tell your story with a natural and relatable sound.

Perspective and how it is used is a trait unique to each voice actor. Every project allows a talent the opportunity to evoke their own opinion or point of view.

For instance, the journalistic read will call for an authoritative, fact based read. One that avoids the urge to over inform or over educate. This type of read may sound as if it is coming from a reporter with an unbiased opinion, leaving the viewer to form their own.

The observational read often has a softer, more reflective tone. In this case, the narrator exhibits patience in their descriptive phrasing. Another way to captivate a listener’s attention is the length of pauses during the reading of copy. The pauses should be judicious and never the same. For example, to pique interest, a connected storyteller will use methodical pauses with a childlike fascination.

A unique trait that differentiates many voice talent is the use of parenthetical expression. Though sometimes considered non-essential, these are separate thoughts or phrases which interrupt a sentence, but are in some way related to it. It permits the narrator to insert an opinion without deviating from the message.

How about a little attitude? Adding a hard hitting music bed to a production will give the voiceover artist permission to provide some edge that cuts through your soundtrack. Quick cuts and transitions of your visuals will have viewers awe struck and a glib voice artist can quicken the delivery of the text in your script.

Suspenseful, comical, chilling or dramatic. A cold opening at the beginning of your program which includes these and other elements will instantly arouse heightened feelings and emotions in the viewer.

When done well, this clever tactic immediately seizes the attention of your audience by diving right in to the thick of a story before the occurrence of opening credits or a title sequence. Once a viewer has seen and heard this juicier portion of your program, they will get reeled in and stay tuned through the commercial break.

Sometimes your cold open will have nothing to do with the upcoming story line. It’s merely a channel to introduce you to the characters and the world they live in. This background will offer a background or history and their tendencies in any given situation.

Here is an opportunity for the writer to craft a well thought out dialogue for the voice-over. One that will sprinkle details within the opening sequence which later may be relevant in the story.

Not all In-Show Narration is serious stuff. For example, think about those Do it Yourself shows which include step by step instructions for home improvement projects. Or a Reality Show with several story lines happening at the same time. The voice actor will be used to be piece these together for the viewer.

The conduit for this narrative between segments in these shows is the voice actor. Here you have someone who provides an account of what is happening to keep the audience connected and the show moving along quickly.

What about a documentary featuring amazing and rarely seen occurrences in nature? The production crew spends a great deal of time capturing images on video. It is the voiceover artist who will use delicate and subtle vocal nuances to describe in detail what is happening in front of you.

Voice over is more than just having someone read the copy you’ve brilliantly composed to educate or entertain your audience. This beautifully written story needs to be conveyed in an authentic and natural way. A voice talent needs to be more of a voice “artist” who can paint the canvas of the listener’s imagination.

The voice actor should tell them, not sell them on your product, idea or process. The character of the voice-over should sound warm, natural and connected to your copy in order to engage your listener in a pleasantly persuasive manner.

John Henry realizes the voice over is just one facet in the production process of your Documentary / In-Show Narration project.

With decades of B2B and B2C Sales and Marketing experience, he’s a professional who understands how businesses operate and what they expect from their service providers. You’ll receive responsive communication from a relatable partner on a regular basis.

As a fellow creative, John values the opportunity to initiate and build strong, lasting relationships with collaborators.

When you bring him on as a partner to your project, you’ll receive:

• An active participant who consistently offers authenticity, transparency, dependability and flexibility
• Ownership of the goals of your project and a commitment to achieve your expected result
• An accountable partner you can trust to work autonomously or independently when necessary
• A responsive communicator who honors the demands of your workflow

To get started, provide your project information in the Contact Form below