It’s no secret that writing for audio recording is a very specific kind of writing, and quite different than writing an essay for history class or a letter to send to a friend. Since we’ve been recording voice over scripts for more than 20 years here in Nashville, we’ve got some great tips on how to write so your professional voice over will be music to your audience’s ears:
1) Solidify the Voice
Consistency is key when it comes to writing for audio, particularly for e-learning. It’s important to have your voice over artist speak with confidence and as though they deeply understand the topic at hand. There are many ways to bring this across when writing your script, but the easiest is a simple formula to keep the voice of your piece consistent:
Cadence + Diction = Tone
When your sentences are rhythmically solid, and your verbiage precise, your professional voice over artist can easily digest the topic at hand, so they can sound smooth and confident when recording the script you’ve provided. Who says formulas are only for math!
2) Write Like You Speak
For the most part, the ear is a more informal learner than the eye and will often resonate a more positive response to colloquial language rather than tons of fancy words. The easiest way to solve this problem? Write like you speak. By using smaller words, and a more conversational tone, your voice over script can better highlight those specific and certain aspects you need to get across to your audience. Be sure to read the script out loud to yourself a few times through before you finalize it just to make sure it sounds like it should!
3) Keep it Short & Sweet
The last thing you want to do is lose your audience, and the easiest way to do that is have your script go on and on; by calculating the length of your voice over script, you’ll be able to time your segments effectively and keep your audience interested the entire duration of time. A good rule of thumb to keep is that the average narrator speaks about 100 words a minute, so get your stop watch and your word count on and get to the point!
If you have any questions about how our professional voice over studio can help your business, or how to become part of the Worldly Voices family, contact us! We’d love to give you a consultation.
