We listen closely to more than we’re aware. Our brains are constantly blocking sounds that our ears pick up from reaching our conscious thoughts because if we did actually listen to all the sounds around us all the time we’d go quite mad. I listened to a fascinating podcast the other week that described this in detail. I’ve provided a link because it was so well explained and you might enjoy the listen too.

Back to audio production’s ebb and flow, and how it’s related to this post. Audio gets recorded. It gets passed through the production department. We listen to it as it arrives, as we process, as we edit, and once we’re done we listen to it one more time to ensure accuracy.

The sound changes each time.

First, it’s raw and imperfect, full of little noises and the occasional false start or complete mistake.

As audio editors we act like the brain does for the ear/mind connection, we find such sounds and remove them. No one wants to hear clicks, pops, static, or distortion in speech when they need to understand the content. We remove all the ‘noise’ and leave only the best bits.

We tighten up the speech here, we add a needed pause there, and we finely craft the perfect voice prompts by whittling down the recording of one of our many professional voice talents into small, precisely named nuggets. Most are .wav files, some are .mp3, and others are formatted for increasingly rare IVR systems that play VOX files.

The playback of each edited audio file is optimized for the system on which it will be used. Some take a 44.1 kHz, 16-bit, mono PCM wav file. Other systems prefer an ITU G.711 encoded wav file. These sound radically different in my headphones on my PC, but in use, as they are designed to be used, they sound just perfect alongside the other digital prompts in the library.

Sometimes I’ll get to hear the same speech in as many as 32 different languages on a given day. This is a fairly rare occurrence, to be sure, but it sure is neat when it happens. Which languages you might wonder? Why so many all at once you may ask? If you really want the details I’m happy to share, just comment below and I’ll let you know. By the way, we’ve worked with over 80 different languages in the past and always enjoy learning to work with a new one.

The post The Ebb and Flow of Audio Production appeared first on Marketing Messages.

Judie is a recent addition to our roster, but she’s been putting her abilities to work for quite a while already. Not only is she a news anchor at GBH Radio in Boston, but she’s also been a professional voice artist for over ten years. She broke into the field with work in the telephony industry, then continued onward into E-learning, long-form modules, and a whole variety of other genres.

When you get as much use out of your voice as Judie does, it quite literally pays to take special care of it.

“I start hydrating first thing in the morning, and I warm up with musical scales before getting into my booth,” she says. She credits friends in the voiceover industry who also have music experience with the advice. “My morning walk in the woods leaves me feeling great, and I want to bring that to my performance. Sometimes I’ll choose a tongue twister and play with the inflection. Lately I’ve been going to a classic from Mary Poppins, Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. It’s fun and there’s a brightness to it.”

That brightness is palpable in Judie’s performance. She once heard a radio fan compare her voice to silk, while a colleague once told Judie she heard bells in her voice after they collaborated on some audiobooks together.

You’ll Find Judie Outdoors

When she’s not busying herself in the vocal booth, you can often find Judie…well, actually, you have to put in some work to find her. A lifelong lover of the outdoors and a native New Englander, Judie loves being around the ocean, lakes, and mountains that decorate the landscape. Summers find her hiking every chance she gets, and spending hours in natural bodies of water.

As much as she enjoys nature, there’s nothing she’d rather be doing than hopping on the microphone for another round of recording. Voiceover isn’t just a job for Judie. No, it’s a passion and a mission.

“Communication is my calling,” she says. “I enjoy empowering people in ways that could be life-changing and helps them succeed in a personal or professional endeavor.”

Especially when it comes to E-learning and other educational assignments, there is no telling how great an impact Judie’s efforts might have on the listener.

“One of my favorite E-learning jobs was a module on overcoming gender stereotypes in a particular culture so girls could learn how to read,” she says. “I still think about an audio book I narrated that was full of practical tips for people to live a full life after losing their eyesight. Voiceover is about connection, and I get to be the person connecting with the caller on behalf of the client. Marketing Messages gives me a great opportunity as a VO artist, because the writing is so good and brand specific.”

Voice Talents Who Project Friendliness

It is no longer enough for an on-hold message to just be a voice. What customers want, what they respond to, is hearing from, and feeling they are heard by, a real person. Judie is one of our voice talents who project friendliness. She may be a new voice, but she has already proven herself to be an invaluable one.

You can hear Judie’s audio samples, along with samples from all our various available voice talents, on our website.

The post Voice Talent Spotlight – Judie appeared first on Marketing Messages.

Did I mention the snowstorms? No, not yet. So there were snowstorms that dumped tons of the white stuff on our trees. So much so, and over so many days, that the branches started breaking. So many branches broke and fell that the powerlines were adversely affected. At 10:30 AM last Tuesday, the power went out. Well, back out actually, as it originally went out on Monday at 4:50 PM and stayed out until 8:30 AM on Tuesday. After such a long outage, once it returned I didn’t expect another issue. So when things blipped off at 10:30 AM, one of those things was the PC for the vocal booth.

But I had an on-hold message to record for one of our regular customers. I’ve been voicing Messages-On-Hold for them every month like clockwork for over 8 years, so I was determined to deliver when it was due that day. With no way to know when we’d have working electricity, I problem-solved and realized that my portable audio recording setup contained the solution. I used my 2-in-1 notebook PC as a fine, battery-powered substitute for most of the booth gear. I simply moved the USB connection from the desktop to the laptop and I was off to the races.

The session was flawless. My speech matched that of all my other recordings because it was recorded in the same space, on the same mic, and through the same digital audio converter. If anything, the noise floor of my powerless session was likely a little lower than normal since there wasn’t an appliance running anywhere for miles around! But you’d never know my speech was recorded during a power outage unless I told you it was possible. And now we all know how to make a professional voice recording during a power outage.

We have a great group of Voice Artists in addition to myself. Please listen to them all and think about which ones you’d like to use to represent your brand.

The post Professional Voice Recording During a Power Outage? Check! appeared first on Marketing Messages.

“I currently sit in a nice pocket age-wise because I can maneuver between sounding young, millennial, and bright, and sounding more professional, warm, and knowledgeable,” she explains. “I think customers respond well to my voice either way because I always make sure to be inviting and approachable. I’ve also been told I do well with subtle and cerebral copy – I do a chic British accent that has booked a handful of really cool spots!”

Originally from Colorado Springs, Rivka had to travel to the other side of the world to discover her calling. It was while she was living in Berlin that she found a new creative outlet after a lifetime of performing, a creative outlet that would steadily become a career.

“A mentor of mine in Berlin was involved in dubbing and he asked me to come voice some characters in various foreign film dubs he directed,” Rivka says. “My first job with him was four years ago, but I didn’t go full time VO until 2 years after that. VO turned out to be good fit for me was because I already had a BFA in acting, and, additionally, I’ve been a singer my whole life. So performance and vocal skills have always been a part of my portfolio.”

English German Bilingual Voice

During my time in Berlin, I became fluent in German. I enjoyed learning the language simply for the challenge, but it’s proven professionally useful, as well. It’s an asset in working with German or German-speaking production houses and companies because communication is easier – this is mostly where it comes in handy, and then I record for them in English. They also always appreciate a native English speaker’s ear when it comes to clunky parts of the script, which has often been translated. But for Marketing Messages and a couple of other US-based studios, I actually record for them in German. In both scenarios, it’s just a fun chance for me to speak it again!

As Rivka has steadily built her business over the last few years, she has developed her own system of preparation and care to keep her voice in peak condition.

“Doing a very light humming pattern is good for when the voice has been overworked,” she says. “And being hydrated is a big one – I chug a 48 oz of water first thing every morning to give myself a good head start in the day. The most demanding aspect of voiceover work for me, at least physically, is when I have to speak a lot of text with a lot of vocal fry. Vocal fry can be good for the cords in small amounts, but when I have a full two or three pages of copy to do in a very millennial sounding voice, it’s taxing. I try to split this up into two days so as to give my voice some rest in between.”

Another warm-up exercise that comes in handy: Tongue twisters!

“I always stretch my mouth and tongue out and then run through about five or six different tongue twisters,” Rivka says. “I flub words left and right if I don’t do my tongue twisters first!”

Rivka may have a career that keeps her inside and recording for long periods of time, but the girl from Colorado Springs still has an inexhaustible zest for the outdoors. It’s why she returned to the mountains after years away, unable to remain apart from the hiking, the rock climbing, the camping, or the backpacking.

And as a performer, Rivka has the same spirit of adventure and daring, leaping into every new project with energy and imagination, especially those jobs that allow more room for her as a performer.

“I do really enjoy dubbing,” she says. “It’s a chance to do some acting work (without having to memorize any lines!), so it feels more creative than traditional VO. It’s also more collaborative because you have the director on the line with you through the whole session, and you’re working together to get the best take. Most VO work is relatively solitary, so it’s a nice change of pace when a dubbing gig comes along. I am really hoping to just go to town in the commercial and corporate voice narration worlds.”

Whether she is exploring the great outdoors with her trusty Bernedoodle Zeb, or climbing into the recording booth for a new recording session, Rivka is excited by each new challenge, and all the potential inside of each challenge.

“The most demanding aspect is constantly trying to be ahead of the curveball in securing work and not knowing what the next week or month may bring!” she says. “My business is still pretty young, so I’m still building it up, which takes most of my energy. Who knows where the wind will blow!”

Listen to Rivka on our Voices page

The post English German Bilingual Voice Talent Spotlight on Rivka appeared first on Marketing Messages.

From her earliest days growing up in New Mexico, Monci delighted in everything from recording herself reading book to any opportunity to do a reading during Sunday church services. But even as it was an area she wanted to pursue, life has a way of putting speedbumps in our plans and detours in our path. When Monci was pregnant with her second child, she knew that it was now or never. It was time to roll the dice and take her shot.

In 2018, she enrolled in courses to learn about the industry and what is expected of a professional voiceover talent, and in 2019 she booked her first job. Three years later, and business has only continued to grow.

“I love it all and enjoy aspects of different genres for certain reasons,” Monci says. “Commercials can be super fun! I got to voice a flavor-of-the-month campaign for an Arizona restaurant chain for several months, and that was a blast! Some projects are more fulfilling, like a mental health app for professionals I recently voiced for. E-learning projects are great as well because I often get to learn something new in the process, and I’m a lover of lifelong learning.”

One of the things she has quickly learned about her chosen field is that it pays to be prepared.

She explains, “Before recording, I like to prep my voice with vocal warm-ups, facial massage and sometimes tongue twisters. I also love to pump up my energy flow and get into a great mind set by listening to some loud, fun music and moving my body. Then when it feels right, I’ll fire up the studio, check all my connections and get at it!”

Like all voice talents, Monci has developed a system to protect her career in voiceover recordings and her most valuable instrument: her voice.

“Staying well hydrated and not straining my voice is key, as well as avoiding throat clearing. I use a gentle technique to clear my throat when needed. Warming up before a session is essential, and when I’m feeling a bit scratchy, I’ll drink ‘Throat Coat’ tea. I try not to yell/shout at all, which is really hard because my son is in soccer and I sometimes cheer a little too loudly!”

With a voice that is warm, friendly, and cheerful, Monci is quickly generating a great deal of interest among clients. As she continues to expand her business and live out her dream, she tries to make certain that she keeps her focus on the most important aspect of any business:
“At the end of the day, it’s all about people,” she says. “Whether serving up a voiceover just the way they imagined it, or laughing together in a live session. Happy clients are the icing on the cake! “

If you’d like to hear Monci for yourself, check out her audio samples available on our website. In fact, we have enjoyed taken advantage of her youthful, energetic delivery ourselves. Monci is the voice of the introduction to The Salon Insider Podcast, heard at the very beginning of every episode. Our sister company, ModPod, produces this excellent podcast. And she just might have the sound that you’ve been searching for your voice prompts or onhold messages needs.

The post Voice Talent Spotlight: Monci appeared first on Marketing Messages.

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Over the last 18 months, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs and related initiatives have touched all facets of business, and society. As a professional voiceover firm with a global reach and a large North American customer base serving a diverse set of customers, Marketing Messages is grappling with the implications of this movement on the relationship between call center recordings and the BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) community.

Just as changes in our social landscape have accelerated significantly over this period, so have attitudes towards which voices should be considered when evaluating how a diversified customer base interacts with call center applications, such as Interactive Voice Response (IVR prompts), Auto Attendant, and Messages-On-Hold systems – as well as for other media, such as web and radio.

I was talking to one of our most sought-after Voice Artists about broad trends in the voiceover industry in preparation for our Voices Carry podcast episodes. I asked her: “What is the most significant change you’re seeing in the use of voiceover for telephone and other media applications?” We ended up speaking at length on this topic, but the basic essence of her point was that many large corporations with well-known brands are now considering voices with accents that are representative of the racial make-up of their customers – Black voices and Hispanic voices in particular. (Click here for a fascinating elaboration on this point).

This makes total sense. If we are to believe that…

• All customers are valuable, and…
• A company’s success is predicated on a more intimate connection with their customers, and…
• These customers look different, think differently, and speak/hear differently…

…then we know why companies should employ professional voice talents that sound different?

What Values Do Your Voices Project for Your Brand?

For as long as voiceover professionals have been providing call center recordings, the preferred accent for North American English has been “neutral”. This is changing. Corporations are now considering the voices their customers hear as a reflection of their brand. In turn, corporations are tuning their brand messages to appeal to the BIPOC community. We believe this calls for Voice Diversity.

Voice Diversity is the practice of considering how employing different voice talents would impact and appeal to a broader constituency. It involves at least considering a voice talent who is a Person of Color as one of your choices for a given project, and/or employing multiple voice talents to expand your brand’s appeal.

What does Voiceover Diversity help companies do?

Appeal to a broader customer base. Rather than taking an approach that centers on having one kind of voice that appeals to one kind of customer, Voice Diversity allows you to make all customers feel that your company views them as equally valuable.

Project your brand as both progressive and inclusive. Marketing professionals want the customer to view a brand as always moving forward, not stuck in the past. Employing a voice talent who projects as a Person of Color, whether for a core system or as one of a portfolio of voice talents, signals this to customers. More inclusivity in a voiceover portfolio also demonstrates that the brand is equally meaningful for anyone in the target market – irrespective of race, creed, gender identity, or any other demographic dimension.

Support company diversity initiatives. DEI programs have proliferated across all educational, governmental, and business institutions at the most senior levels, where decisions are made. In the corporate world, DEI principles have been translated into specific marketing and technology initiatives. Incentives are also now in place to reward decisions that result in more equal treatment across all employees, customers, and other stakeholders. Employing Voice Diversity can be one way a company can reach its DEI objectives and other related goals.

Neutral or Diversity?

Back to “neutral” accents. There is a broad range of vocal variations that can be considered “neutral” for call center recordings. We find many voice talents across all races whose accents could be considered neutral. So, in considering voice talents for our roster, we welcome People of Color irrespective of whether their speaking voices would be recognized by callers/listeners as being of a particular race, creed, or sexual orientation.

Also, Voiceover Diversity includes deploying call center recordings in languages native to the countries from which calls are originating. We provide voice talents (all of whom can be heard on our Voices sample demo webpage) and voice translation in over 80 languages and dialects worldwide to ensure our customers can project their brand globally.

Listen to and consider our Hispanic and Black voiceover talents

We at Marketing Messaging invite you to take two actions here:

One: Listen to some of the new Hispanic and Black Voice Artists we’ve recently brought aboard.

Two: We now have a place to Comment on our Blogs. Please feel free to contribute your thoughts on this important topic in the space below. Feel free to email info@marketingmessages.com or call us at 617-527-3023 if you’d like to talk more about Voice Diversity and your voiceover needs.

The post Voiceover Diversity: Call Center Recordings Can Respond to the DEI Challenge appeared first on Marketing Messages.

One Voice Conference was a welcome change of pace for us voice actors who are usually isolated in our padded rooms. It was a vibrant gathering spot for fellow voice talents, coaches, demo producers, agents and casting directors. It was particularly special for me because I brought my 18 year old who also does voiceovers with me.

There was a LATAM component to this conference, which was beneficial to me because I’m bilingual. I spread my time between the English and Spanish sessions offered. Highlights of the conference were meeting Bill Farmer (voice of Disney’s Goofy) who gave a session with Mario Filio (Spanish voice of Goofy.)

I decided to try some new things at One Voice and stretch as an actor. I went to a dubbing class. Dubbing is an area of voiceover that I’ve never dabbled in and I found it fascinating. I attended a session with a panel of casting directors and agents, some of whom I work with daily by way of auditions, but whom I’d never seen or heard before. There were several take-aways from that session, including the importance of slating or not slating, how many takes they expect, and how they want their MP3s labeled.

One Voice Conference USA 2021 was the first conference I’ve attended since the pandemic. I was impressed with the preventive protocols, including a mask policy, at the elegant Hyatt Regency DFW Hotel. The conference floor was peppered with hand sanitizer stations, and socially distanced tables were in all of the breakout rooms. Organizers took every safety precaution, and I felt safe going into each session.

The event was organized by J. Michael Collins as well as Gravy for the Brain founders, Hugh Edwards and Peter Dickson. Kudos to them for forging ahead with the conference amidst all the obstacles that I would imagine Covid-19 hurled onto their path.

I applaud the production crew for making this first-of-its-kind hybrid conference a nearly seamless event. This monumental task consisted of hybrid sessions, where some panelists were in person on stage, while others were virtual, on a big screen above them. There were a lot of mics to pot up and down and many on screen participants. There were people walking around with mics during the Q&A portions of the sessions, so that those watching the session on-line could hear the questions. It was well thought out for both in-person and on-line attendees. The technical team deserves many props for their efforts.

I’m glad I attended. I’m looking forward to attending future conferences. Hopefully, the state of the world will have improved for the next one so the conference can become even better!

The post One Voice Conference USA 2021 Report by 2X Nominee Bilingual Voice Talent – Amy appeared first on Marketing Messages.

In the latest episode of the Voices Carry podcast, Jim and Janet welcome a very special guest to discuss voice talent recording and branding.

Joining the couple is esteemed voice talent Liz, a bilingual specialist who has recorded countless projects for Marketing Messages. In her time with the company, Liz has proven herself to be adept at every kind of voice message imaginable, able to handle everything from a professional greeting to an IVR recording.

In this episode, Liz breaks down the ins and outs of life as a voice talent. She explains to Jim and Janet the importance of using a professional versus trying to build and record a message on your own. As a bilingual talent, Liz also explores the process of recording in French, and how crucial it is to make sure that the voice translation is correct before bringing it to the voicing stage.

As someone with a wealth of experience to pull from, Liz is able to illuminate the tricks of the trade from the perspective of the person voicing the voice over recordings. Part of being a voice talent is knowing that you are the last step in an often very complex and elaborate process, and that you are there to fulfill a customer’s stated needs.

In conversation, Liz explains just what sort of qualities a customer might use as criteria for selecting the voice for their voice messages, as well as outlining the work that a voice talent such as herself puts into delivering on those qualities with total consistency.

There are other intricacies and important details that Liz explains – everything from script prep to her own in-studio process for delivering the best audio possible every time out – but we’ll let you discover these things with your own ears.

So, get nice and cozy, and then join us for another fun chat with Jim and Janet, as Voices Carry takes you inside the voice talent recording and branding process.

The post Voice Talent Recording and Branding Interview appeared first on Marketing Messages.

Sam, who records in three different languages and who lives in Malaysia, is one of the most recent Voice Talents to join our roster. She took time out of her recording schedule to talk to us about her history with Mandarin, English, and the many names associated with her other primary language, Malay.

Like most Chinese Malaysians, I grow up speaking 3 languages: Mandarin (my mother tongue), Malay (my national language), and English (for obvious reasons). My uni years in the UK was a major factor in improving my fluency in English that now comes with a tad of a British accent.

I’m also exposed to other languages: My parents spoke different dialects (Hakka and HengHwa). I can’t speak both but I understand their conversations. Cantonese is the last language I tried to pick up just by conversing casually with my peers. I’ve never booked any jobs with these though, don’t think I ever will haha.

Can you talk about the many names used to refer to Malay?

Sure! They are more or less the same thing:
1. Malay = the English name for the Malay language
2. Bahasa Melayu = Bahasa means “language”, melayu is “malay”, so it’s the Malay translation of “the Malay language”.
3. Bahasa Malaysian = It’s usually “Bahasa Malaysia” rather than “Malaysian” because our country likes to think we are special and sometimes refer to our national language as Bahasa Malaysia, when it’s really just “Bahasa Melayu”.
4. Malaysian = Adjective I guess, like Malaysian food, Malaysians (ppl born in Malaysia), Malaysian culture, so then you have the Malaysian language, which is not actually defined by 1 language, even though our official language is Malay, we are too multicultural to conclude a single language as the “Malaysian language”.

What or who inspired you to take up the craft of voice recording and what are your goals?

2 years ago, I was unemployed. My music partner (from my duo band Seraphine) said that my voice was very suited for ASMR projects and suggested that I give it a go. Prior to that, it never occured to me that voice acting was even a thing. Since I already have all the recording equipment (thanks to my music ventures), I created a freelancing profile on Upwork and started from there. My first gig was a supporting role on VAST Horizon, a sci-fi audio drama by Fool and Scholar Production. I fell in love with voice acting and kept going, even after I secured a full-time position.

When I step in my tiny make-shift booth to do any type of voice overs, I feel happy and content that I get to temporarily step out of being myself, and be someone else.

Ready to listen to Sam and other Voice Talents in the Asia Pacific region? Listen to their custom audio samples and then let us know which Voice Talent you’d like to use for your next voice over recordings.

The post Voice Talent Spotlight – Sam’s Mandarin, Malay, and English Language Voiceovers appeared first on Marketing Messages.

In their premiere Voices Carry podcast episode, husband and wife hosts Jim Giebutowski and Janet Kraus interrupt their life of marital bliss to discuss the world of professional voiceover, and why cocktail parties are not the best place to find voice talents.

Jim, the CEO of Marketing Messages, is artfully cross-examined by Janet, a startup CEO and former professor of entrepreneurship at Harvard Business School. They talk about how to employ professional voice talents within phone applications to create brand-enhancing caller experiences, and what they can do that your daughter/son/best friend/nephew…or your Aunt Mary… cannot – no matter how “great” their voice is!

Click the round play button above to listen to an insider navigate the world of professional voiceover.

The post World of Professional Voiceover – New Podcast appeared first on Marketing Messages.