How to record a voice-over

How do you prepare a voice-over script?

Read the whole script out loud before you mark anything. Sentences that look fine on the page but trip you up when spoken should be rewritten now, at the desk, and not in the middle of a take. Then mark it up:

1. Use a single slash for a short pause and a double slash for a long one.
2. Underline the one word in each sentence that carries the stress.
3. Mark where you will breathe in long sentences.
4. Write numbers, dates and abbreviations as they are spoken, so 30% becomes thirty per cent.
5. Spell names out phonetically and confirm the pronunciation with the client. In Latvian names and loanwords, mark the long vowels and the stress, which usually falls on the first syllable.
6. For video, add a timecode to each line or paragraph.

Time the script once with a stopwatch. If it has to fit into 30 seconds and runs over, cut words instead of reading faster.

Paper rustles, and the microphone hears it. Read from a tablet in aeroplane mode or from loose sheets, never a stapled script, and use a large font.

Videos made in Latvia often need Latvian, Russian and English versions. Each language should be read by a native or fluent speaker from its own script, with the pauses marked for the rhythm of that language. The guide to voice-over in other languages covers the translation side.

Where should you record: at home or in a studio?

A good spot at home is small and full of soft things:

• a wardrobe full of clothes, with you speaking into it;
• a small bedroom with curtains, a rug and a duvet hung behind the microphone;
• a blanket fort: a thick blanket draped over the mic and your head.

Stay away from kitchens, bathrooms, empty rooms, windows that face a street and humming computer fans. Record at the time of day when the neighbours and the traffic are at their quietest.

Professional voice work is often recorded in a booth: a small room built for voice, with treated walls and isolation from outside noise. Without a booth of your own, the realistic options compare like this:

For anything that will be heard widely, it is often simpler to record a voice-over in a studio and bring only the script.

How do you set up the microphone and the levels?

A condenser microphone suits a quiet, soft room, and a dynamic one is more forgiving in an ordinary home. Either way, place it about a hand's width from your mouth and angle it slightly to the side, so P and B sounds do not pop. With a condenser, add a pop filter as well. Then set the levels:

1. Read the loudest line in the script.
2. Set the gain so the peaks land around -12 to -6 dBFS.
3. Record WAV at 48 kHz / 24-bit.
4. Turn off any automatic gain.
5. Record 10 seconds of silence for the editor.
6. Do a test take and play it back on headphones.

On a phone, use a voice memo app in the best format it offers, switch to aeroplane mode and record in the wardrobe, about a hand's width from your mouth. If noise or echo still gets in, see how to remove background noise.

How do you perform and record good takes?

Warm up before you start; a 10-minute voice warm-up gives you a routine to follow. While you read:

• stand if you can, because you breathe more freely;
• smile on the friendly lines, because a smile can be heard;
• picture one listener and talk to them;
• keep the same distance from the mic all the way through.

A session usually runs like this:

1. Read the whole script once as a warm-up take.
2. Record section by section.
3. When you stumble, stop, leave a pause and read the whole sentence again. Clap or say "again" to mark the spot for the editor.
4. After each section, listen back to a few seconds.
5. Take a break about every half hour and drink some water.
6. Record two or three alternative reads of the most important lines, such as the slogan or the call to action.

Mouth clicks get worse as your mouth dries out. Sip water, and keep an apple nearby: a bite helps.

For audiobooks and other long projects, keep the same position, the same mic settings and, ideally, the same time of day, so your voice matches from one session to the next.

How do you edit and deliver the files?

Edit in this order:

1. Choose the best takes.
2. Cut out the mistakes.
3. Reduce the breaths, but leave some in, or the voice sounds unnatural.
4. Remove clicks.
5. Apply gentle noise reduction.
6. Shape the tone with EQ.
7. Add light compression.
8. Bring the loudness to what the brief asks for.

A studio recording comes with mastering, and the files can be delivered in whatever format you need (see the booking terms). If you would rather not edit it yourself, you can have the voice edited, billed by the hour separately from the recording.

Name the files by project, section, take and language, for example productvideo_s03_take2_LV, so nobody has to guess which file is which.

How do you add a voice-over to a video in an app?

Record the voice separately, in your quiet spot with the better microphone, then import the audio file into the editing app, whether that is CapCut on a phone or PowerPoint for a presentation. It will sound better than a recording made straight into the app through the device's built-in mic.

Line the voice up with the cuts. When a passage runs long, trim the pauses instead of speeding up the voice.

Lower the music under the voice, a technique called ducking, so the words always come through clearly.

For a presentation the idea is the same: record the narration as one file per slide, or as one clean take that you cut into pieces later.