Narration / Voice-Over

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Narration / Voice-Over

Postby petezamory » Sun Nov 18, 2007 5:29 am

Does anyone have a good example of a Proshow Gold show that uses narration? I have been asked to do a show for a company that makes weather-related software. They would like to hand out these DVDs at a trade show. Thanks.

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Voice overs

Postby Shaker » Sun Nov 18, 2007 6:55 am

TV or film documentaries are likely to provide the best examples of what to aim for.

The main difficulties are getting the right voice, and an appropriate style of script and delivery.

I have done a show with a non-professional voice over (not me) and it worked quite well. But it took several attempts. A big advantage was that the commentator had the confidence of really knowing his subject and was prepared to tear up several scripts in favour of speaking naturally from notes.

This might work for you if you are able to use say, a meteorologist or systems analyst who had been involved in the product. He/she might start by stating their background in the subject. This would give their commentary greater weight and make any lack of any "poshness" in their voice less important.

Hope his helps.
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Postby DickK » Sun Nov 18, 2007 6:59 am

There are a few in the "samples" section but I couldn't find the one that I was looking for which was a travelogue type show someone did that had good voice-over use. The tutorials often use voice overs tho' and here's one of those:

http://www.proshowenthusiasts.com/viewt ... ght=#22571

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Postby BarbaraC » Sun Nov 18, 2007 9:33 am

Something my son taught me (graduate of radio/TV school) is to imagine as strongly as possible that we're speaking to a real human being. It keeps us from sounding unnatural. I did a narrated show and thought I'd done a pretty good job of it until my son happened to overhear it when I was playing it back. He pointed out how artificial it sounded, how there was too much repeated rhythm in my voice, and how it actually sounded like a really bad actor reciting a poem. He was right. I tried the method he'd learned in school, and suddenly I sounded a whole lot better--not professional, but better.

Barbara

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Postby nannybear » Mon Nov 19, 2007 8:14 am

Our beloved Peter Frampton did narrations but I can't remember his username perhaps someone could help? Cheers Jan
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Postby DonM » Mon Nov 19, 2007 12:20 pm


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Thanks

Postby petezamory » Mon Nov 19, 2007 2:46 pm

I appreciate the assistance. Also, does anyone have a good recommendation for a computer microphone to record the narration?

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Postby BarbaraC » Mon Nov 19, 2007 3:54 pm

I got some of the most amazing sound from a telephone headset. The only thing I can figure is that it's made specifically for speech.

That aside, I just asked my son about it, and he suggested you go to the Guitar Center over on Wolf Road. They have a whole recording section, and someone there should be able to help you pick out the best mike for the job you want to do.

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Postby DonM » Mon Nov 19, 2007 3:57 pm

Try search for "microphone" I found thid mesasage from Peter Frampton

http://www.proshowenthusiasts.com/viewt ... phone#8812

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Postby BarbaraC » Mon Nov 19, 2007 4:44 pm

Peter was having the problem with "sensitivity" because, in most cases, it's better to have what's called a directional mike. Point it at your mouth, and it sucks in your words. This is why my telephone headset worked so well. It's just this little dot of a directional mike that you can adjust to a perfect distance from your mouth. It's a Radio Shack run-of-the-mill thing. Cheap.

Barbara

sam_sensei

Re: Narration / Voice-Over

Postby sam_sensei » Thu May 29, 2008 10:33 am

Hi guys,

I am trying to do a narration over a background sound (lowering the volume when the voice speaks). My problem is that sometimes the voice is not loud and the music in the background goes up and down in volume even though I set the background volume to 35% every time there is an overriding voice over in the slide. I set the voice to be 200%. But it still is not smooth. Any suggestions?

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Re: Narration / Voice-Over

Postby gpsmikey » Fri May 30, 2008 3:35 pm

If you are even a little bit serious about doing any voice over, you need a decent
audio editor. You can put the voice on one track, the audio on another track then
play the mix game in post and do what ever you want with it. Couple of books you
might want to check out -- "Producing Great sound for Digital Video" by Jay Rose,
Drat -- can't find the note I had on voice over stuff - they discussed good books
some time ago in rec.video.desktop if I remember correctly. Don't rule out the
free Audacity as an audio editor - many people use it and do some pretty good
stuff with it.

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Re: Narration / Voice-Over

Postby BarbaraC » Fri May 30, 2008 4:58 pm

An absolute ditto to what Mikey has said about using a sounding editing program. ProShow has the ability to switch you over to your sound editor for a very good reason: the software can do rudimentary sound editing, but to get really good stuff, you need software that's dedicated to sound.

Barbara
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jkarney

Re: Narration / Voice-Over

Postby jkarney » Fri May 30, 2008 7:10 pm

ATT makes an inexpensive telephone/computer headset that I use for voice recognition and phone calls. There is a doubled jack that lets you plug into the PC audio in. It works fine--as long as you have a quiet area to record in. You can find them at places like Staples, even some Walmarts.

Practice reading the script several times and get use to the wording. Then play the slides and repeat the process. It will help you set the timing.

When ready make the recording and edit as needed. I was the cinematographer on a set of commercials once and the voice talent came down with the flu..had to step in. The sound engineer waled me through this drill. Then he edited the track. Need it tighter, cut into the dead time between words (not too much) add some to stretch. You'll need an external editor for that part. Set it up in PSP preferences and you can round-trip it from inside PSP.

Don't forget that you can have ProShow match the slides to the audio. Set up a show with just the slides for the voice-over, add the sound and trim. Then add the other slides and add tracks to cover them.

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Re: Narration / Voice-Over

Postby BarbaraC » Sat May 31, 2008 2:54 am

To expand on what Jim has just said about cutting/expanding the "dead time" (area where nothing is being said), this is where a sound editor shines and where Producer falls down (because it was never built as a sound editor). You can even stretch a small portion that's anything but a "dead" area, making it last just a tad longer for any required, additional half second. Furthermore, it's in a sound editor where you clean up the track, taking out little anomalies like snaps, crackles, and pops. (Don't put a bowl of Rice Krispies anywhere near a mic. :D ) Beyond this, you can use an equalizer to make the whole thing sound a lot better.

Oh, and one more thing: Do NOT place the mic in direct line with your mouth unless you've spent a wad on that mic. It works best when you have it dropped down below your mouth. That way you don't get those nasty sounds produced when you speak words that, in particular, contain the letter "P".

Ken (Bighousedaddy) bought a cheap headset mic at Radio Shack at my urging, and he gets phenomenal voice overs with it.

Whoops...just remembered one more thing. When expanding areas where there's no speech, don't insert truly dead space (straight, flat line). You need to continue the ambience that's naturally there during a silence. My simple solution has been to copy and paste a small section of the silent area.

Barbara
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