Interview with Victoria Feinerman, professional voiceover talent in US English
and owner of "Victoria's Voice".
I've heard the word "voiceover", but could you
please tell me what it is exactly?
A voiceover is the recording of a person's voice, which is
used in a commercial, promotional video, tutorial, TV show, telephone system,
mobile app, etc.
What skills are needed for your profession?
Excellent diction, knowledge of when to use precise diction
versus imprecise, acting skills, knowledge of how to address a mic, willingness
to take direction, and ability to interpret a script.
In addition, voice talents who have a home studio need to
have technical skills to record themselves properly, edit the audio, etc.
Do you have a professional home studio?
Yes, I do, and it is equipped with all the necessities to
produce excellent audio. I record most of my work at my home studio, and I
sometimes visit outside studios, as well.
What
types of projects do you record?
I
record promotional videos, tutorials, mobile apps, telephone systems,
educational software, and I do dubbing.
Wow, that's a lot of different project types! Is there
one project type that you like better than the rest?
I particularly enjoy recording technical and medical
narrations, because it's fun to take complicated sentences and technical terms
and make them sound really simple and comprehendible.
I actually have over a decade of experience as a technical
writer, so I'm really comfortable with big words.
I hear that every other person is sticking egg cartons on
the wall and calling themselves a voice talent. How do you reassure your
clients that you're the real deal?
I started working in voiceover in 2001 and have garnered
extensive experience in everything from promotional videos to technical and
medical narrations to video games to online news, so clients know they are
getting a pro. My client list is long and illustrious, and I think it speaks
for itself.
What about audio quality at your home studio?
In general, people looking for a voiceover tend to worry
about audio quality – and rightly so. There are a lot of amateurs with cheap
equipment out there, just hoping that some poor soul will pay them a pile of
money for a sub-standard product.
When I built my home studio in 2008 I invested in quality
equipment, and I make sure to invest more in my studio each and every year. I
have received compliments from professional audio engineers on the quality of
audio coming out of my studio.
What would you say to people who order voiceovers only
from recording studios, not home studios?
Well, these clients often worry that it will take a while to
book a session at a studio, and the recording will not be ready on time.
When a client orders a voiceover from my home studio, there
is no need to find a time that suits both the studio and the voice talent,
because I perform both roles. The project is usually recorded within 1 business
day or less.
However, I'd like to point out that my home studio is not
set up for visitors, so if a client wants to present at a recording session, I
suggest hiring a recording studio and meeting me there. I would be happy to
recommend a number of quality studios in the Tel Aviv area.
I've heard a lot of Israeli-accented English voiceovers
on telephone systems, on TV, and more – but nobody seems to be bothered by the
accent. What do you make of that?
Having a native accent is not so crucial for TV voiceovers
heard only by Israelis. As for telephone voiceovers, the caller knows that they
are calling an Israeli company, so an accent is not the end of the world. However,
if you're producing a promotional video or commercial with the aim of selling a
product to an American customer base, or if you're creating a tutorial to be
watched by people around the globe, you don't want to distract viewers with a
foreign accent. You need a 100% pure, mother-tongue American accent.
I was born and raised in the American mid-west and am a
native speaker of US English, with a pure American accent. In contrast, some
local voice talents use the phrase "mother-tongue-level
English" to describe their English skills, and this misleading phrase
really just means that they can speak English as fluently as a native speaker,
but does not guarantee that their accent is clean.
Sometimes, the foreign accent is not detectable by
non-native speakers, but an American will hear it and immediately know that the
voice talent is not a native speaker of the language.
What about prices? Isn't voiceover expensive?
If you consider voiceover to be "just
talking", then you probably think it shouldn't cost very much. However,
voiceover is a lot more than talking – it involves skill, ability, and
financial investment – so, yes, voiceover can be pricey.
I make the price easier for clients to understand and
pay, by taking the following approaches:
1.
Charging per word, instead of
globally
This method is totally transparent, so that the client knows what they are
paying for, and can even calculate exactly how much their project will cost
them based on the script's word count.
2.
Charging separately for re-cuts
Recuts are when the voice talent re-records the all or part of the voiceover,
usually due to a change in the script or a requested change in the delivery
style. Many voice talents change a higher fee, so that they can then say that
the fee includes the original recording plus a "free" recut or two –
but the recuts aren't free, since the price was boosted to include them. I say,
why should you have to pay for a recut or two, when you may not need them? To
help lower costs for the client, I charge a lower fee for the original
recording, and if recuts are needed I charge for them separately.
3.
Choice of studio
I make my services available at my home studio or at a local third-party.
For short scripts, clients can save a lot of money when I record from my home
studio, because they don’t have to pay a separate fee for the studio; however,
with longer scripts, the total price may come out cheaper when I work at a
third-party studio.
How can a client, fan, or aspiring voice talent connect
with you?
Here's where you can visit, follow, or just drop me a line:
