Keep it Friendly with the Voiceover Engineers

While appealing to casting directors may get you the job, keeping it friendly with the voiceover engineers will ensure you keep it.  You want the voiceover engineers to speak in favor of you as a voiceover artist, but just as importantly, by keeping the peace with the engineers, you will better ensure that the time spent in the recording booth will be pleasant.  So, here are a few tips to make sure that you win over the engineers.

     
Don’t Touch the Mic Keep your hands away from the microphone. Once the recording starts, you absolutely shouldn’t touch the mic for any reason, or else you risk the wrath of the engineers. Each touch means more editing of the final recording.

Don’t Wear a Lot of Jewelry and Accessories This may sound silly, but jewelry often causes background noise. Wearing multiple bracelets can mean jangling every time you move your arm. Chunky rings can clink against various surfaces when you set your hand down. Even clothing like polyester can create unwanted noise while moving. Wear soft cotton, wool, etc... noiseless clothing.

Don’t Jump in Too Early Keep yourself cool and calm, and be sure to allow a little time between your lines and the lines of other voiceover actors. This is most important, obviously, when there are multiple speakers, but it is a good idea to always remain conscious of future editing that may occur.

Do Keep the Page Shuffling to a Minimum Flipping and re-stacking pages creates a lot of noise that must then be removed from the recording. If you've had time, transfer the script to your tablet device and read from that.

Do Silence Your Devices This one is obvious, but don’t stop at your phone. Be sure your smartwatch, any tablets or computers in your bag, or other such devices are silenced as well.

Do Give a Good Level When asked to provide a level, be sure that it is actually at the volume that you will be speaking throughout the recording. Just read a bit from the script ...in character.

Do Maintain a Good Distance from the Mic Too close and the microphone will pick up every mouth noise. Too far from the mic and the delicacies of your voice may be lost. Bring along mouth moistener to help eliminate dry mouth and clicks.

Do Bring a Bottle of Water A dry mouth is your enemy when working in voiceover. It’ll cause trouble for you, and it will also result in a lot more mouth noise – crackling, popping, etc. -- for the engineers to edit out of the recording. Green apples are also a good remedy for dry mouth. Just about every studio keeps them around.