When you tell someone you’re a voice-over actor, they might picture you standing in a sleek, high-tech studio with glass windows, glowing lights, and racks of gear. For some, that is reality (or it used to be before the pandemic) – but for many working professionals, the studio started in a much humbler place. Closets, PVC pipes, moving blankets, and even makeshift forts have helped countless actors get their start. Building a booth isn’t about having the fanciest setup right away; it’s about creating a space that works for you. I’ve built five of them in my career and have gotten and recorded work in all of them.

The beauty of voice-over is that you can begin almost anywhere. Over time, your booth can grow with you – from a beginner’s closet setup or pillow fort to a mid-level PVC build or various industry ‘booth-to-go’ products, all the way up to a professional-grade studio. Let’s break down how that journey often looks.

Beginner Closet Booth

If you’re just starting out, the closet booth is practically a rite of passage. Picture a laptop perched on a small desk or shelf (or even a stool or a cardboard box), a desk mount placed backward on a few books to hold your mic at the right height, and your clothes hanging just inches away. The truth is, closets can sound pretty good. Hanging clothes act like natural sound absorbers, soaking up reflections and deadening the space. Many pros still use closets because they’re convenient and surprisingly effective. My first closet booth was unfortunately a bit too close to the bathroom, where an unseen fan that never seemed to stop ruined many of my takes – the perils of a small Manhattan one-bedroom apartment with only one small closet. I built another booth like this when I was in St. Petersburg, Florida, for two months during the winter – that booth cost surprisingly little money, and the quality was pretty spot on. But using a laptop in these booths was a means to an end; once it got too hot, the laptop fan kicked on, and I had to stop recording. So I had to get long cables and run them under the door… but I liked being able to edit on the fly, so that became an issue. For sessions, I used to put an icepack wrapped in paper towels underneath my computer to keep it cool. Ahh, the memories.

Acoustic foam panels and bass traps can make the setup stronger, and laying down a rug or multiple layers of carpet helps minimize floor reflections (and noisy downstairs neighbors). Is it glamorous? Mmm, no, not really. Will you sometimes laugh at the fact you’re wedged between winter coats, whispering ad copy into a USB microphone? Absolutely. But the closet booth has undoubtedly launched countless careers.

PVC Frame-and-Blanket Booth

As you start booking more work, or just advance in your training and find other resources to put into your career, you might find that the closet booth just isn’t cutting it. Maybe it’s too cramped, or maybe you need a space you can assemble in another room. Enter the DIY PVC booth. With a handful of PVC pipes and connectors from Lowe’s (and a little creativity), you can build a lightweight frame very quickly. This is what I did five years ago when I moved to Hawaii for six months without telling any of my clients – and since I was using my same microphone, they never knew the difference.

Drape moving blankets or heavy sound blankets over the frame, clip them if necessary, and you’ve got yourself a portable sound booth. Mine was 4’x4’x7’ – and I also had Lowe’s cut me a 5’x5’ wood ‘ceiling’ that I placed on top of the frame, with acoustic foam glued to it on the inside and moving blankets across the outside top. I got some thick shag carpeting for the floor to cut down on any reflective surfaces. Sure, it did not look fancy, but it had a vibe – and anyway, nobody saw it but me. Truthfully, these setups can get surprisingly close to professional isolation. It was no match for the Saturday morning suburban leaf blower or chainsaw, but it pretty much blocked everything else out. Many actors love the flexibility of this build – it can go in a spare bedroom, a basement, in a corner of any room, or even travel with you if you keep the connections small and you’re doing remote sessions or auditions consistently on the road.

Mid-Level Closet Upgrades

Somewhere between “clothes closet” and “PVC fort” lies a hybrid that works beautifully for many: upgrading the closet itself. Adding foam panels to the walls, using thicker bass traps in the corners, and investing in higher-density sound blankets can take the sound to the next level.

At this stage, you’re not just preventing reflections – you’re shaping the tone of your recordings. Carpeting or rugs underfoot, door seals to minimize outside noise, and careful placement of your mic and computer (sometimes outside the booth to reduce fan noise) can make a huge difference. When I moved into my latest apartment in Brooklyn, it had several 3.5’x3.5’ closets – I picked one and got to work – adding layers of professional rubber acoustic treatment on the floor, placing a perfectly cut piece of wood on top, then adding carpet mats and finally carpet so my ‘floor’ was probably 5” thick. I foamed out the inside completely, added bass traps in every corner from floor to ceiling, got a small desk, mounted my monitor on the wall, installed a boom arm with a shock mount to the back of my desk for my Sennheiser 416 (shotgun mics are fantastic for NYC apartments), added a few extra touches, and my new studio is considered ‘broadcast quality’. I did have to hire an electrician to put an outlet in there – you can’t trust running a professional studio with a bunch of extension cords after all. Also, the big step was buying a used Mac Mini to put in my booth – since it has no fan, there’s literally no sound in there but me. This booth was a bigger financial commitment to be sure, but I made the money back quickly and never looked back.

Actors often look back on this phase fondly. I certainly do. It’s the moment you start realizing, “Wow, I’m really building a studio!” There’s a sense of pride in creating a space that feels more polished and professional – even if at root, it’s still a closet with some acoustic upgrades.

Professional Builds

Eventually, you may want a fully isolated booth – something like a WhisperRoom, Studiobricks, or a custom-built studio. These booths provide top-notch sound isolation, meaning you can record even if your neighbor is mowing the lawn or your kids are watching TV down the hall (although honestly I’ve heard plenty of stories to the contrary – your location and outside environments will always be a factor) I haven’t had the need, or frankly the room, to make that investment and I’ve been a professional voice actor for 28 years.

These are major investments, and not every voice-over actor needs one. But for those who work full-time or live in noisy environments, they’re game changers. Professional booths also tend to offer more space, better airflow, and a cleaner aesthetic – all of which can make recording sessions more comfortable and client-friendly. I recently bought a house in the Pocono Mountains, and actually built a booth from scratch in my shed that’s about twice the size of my booth in Brooklyn. I consulted with a known professional booth-builder, but ultimately decided I was just going to stick with the method that had been working for me so far. This time, I had to replace the shed’s roof, build actual walls, add a door, and put up interior insulation and drywall to actually create a ‘room’ that was about 8’x4’. It was pretty exciting. I then once again foamed out the inside completely, added my bass traps to round out the corners and pointed ceiling, and even had to add a baseboard heater for those cold Pennsylvania winters. I did buy all new gear, including another Mac Mini, so with the construction, it was definitely a more sizeable investment. But when I bring my mic with me – again, no one can tell the difference. In fact, it’s even quieter than my Brooklyn studio since I only have to worry about deer and squirrels instead of noisy neighbors or illegal dirt bikes on my street.

The Big Picture

The journey from closet to pro booth isn’t just about equipment; it’s about growth. Each stage represents an actor investing in themselves and their craft. That first closet read, surrounded by clothes and whispering so the neighbors won’t hear, can feel awkward. But years later, standing in your custom studio, you’ll remember that moment as the start of something real.

And here’s the ugly truth: clients actually don’t care what your booth looks like! In fact, over Source Connect, ipDTL, etc, they can’t see it anyway. They only care how you sound. If your audio is clean, warm, dry, and free of distractions, then your booth is doing its job – whether it’s built from designer panels or hanging blankets.

Final Thoughts

Voice-over is one of the few industries where you can truly start from almost nothing. A closet, a mic, and some blankets are enough to get going. With time, experience, and success, you can upgrade your booth into something more advanced. The important part is that you start.

So don’t wait for the perfect setup. Use what you have, improve as you go, and take pride in every stage. Because in the end, building a booth anywhere isn’t just about soundproofing – it’s about carving out a creative space that belongs to you. Be positive and creative, and get excited – happy building!

P.S. If you haven’t yet taken our introductory voice-over class, where we go over everything one needs to know about getting started in the voice-over industry,  sign up here!

P.P.S If you want to learn more from VO experts and grow the knowledge you already have, join our VO Pro group!

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Assuming that you have finished with your voice-over training and your home studio is set up and working properly, here is a final checklist to make sure your voice-over auditions are of the highest quality. This checklist is for Audacity users, however, some of the items will also pertain to other recording programs.

1. Double check your Audacity software is connected to your Focusrite Scarlett home studio interface.
2. Check that your recording gain is not peaking past -12db to keep you from peaking past -0 and distorting the recording.
3. Record the script.
4. Save the project with a different file name than the original and create a new project folder inside of your master projects folder.
5. Copy the original recording and paste it into a new track. Never work from the original recording. That way, if you make a mistake you can go back and retrieve the original.
6. If you have done multiple takes (highly recommended), select the best take and copy and paste it into a new track below. If you want to use a different section from one of the other takes, you can simply copy and paste it over the old section, but make sure it matches with the rest of the take.
7. Remove all breaths, mouth noises, clicks, and pops.
8. Listen carefully to each edit. They should be smooth and not heard, invisible to the ear. Your goal is to make the read sound as if you read it without any breaths, mouth noises, or mistakes. If you can hear an edit, try Fade Out and Fade In on the words before and after the edit.
9. Highlight the track and normalize it to -1.0 db, unless otherwise instructed by client.
10. Look at the Normalize .wav pattern. Check for any radically taller peaks. (Often, some words or parts of words are recorded unintentionally much louder than the rest of the read). If you see any radically taller peaks, listen to that area. If you punched that word on purpose, leave it alone, but if there’s no reason for it to be that much louder, or taller, highlight the tall peak and go to Amplify in the Audacity Effect title bar. Slide the fader to -2.0 db and hit OK. If you need to bring it down a bit more, go back to Effect and hit  Repeat Amplify until it looks like the rest of the high peaks in the read. Always listen after each time you hit Repeat Amplify to make sure you haven’t turned it down too much. If you have, hit Undo.
11. Once all the radical peaks are corrected, then highlight the entire read again and Normalize it one more time.
12. Listen very carefully to the read. Sometimes when you normalize (raise up the volume), things you didn’t hear before can now be heard. Remove any unwanted noises.
13. Finally, save the project again. Once that is done, export the final read to mp3 and email it to the client.

When clients listen to your voice-over audition, they are listening for more than just the quality and sound of your voice, or how you read and interpreted the script. They are also listening to the overall technical quality of the recording. They need to know that if they select your voice for the job, you have the technical expertise with home studio equipment to actually give them the final read at the highest quality possible.

One last thing, if anything I mentioned on this list is foreign to you, or if you’re interested in learning more about your home studio setup, I recommend you book a session with me at this link: https://my.suchavoice.com/private-home-studio-review-sessions.

We always enjoy hearing your feedback, so join the conversation and see what’s being discussed about Such A Voice!

We’re also on YouTube. Check out our video for this article below:

                                      About the Author

Ben Marney has been a studio engineer, singer and musician for over 40 years. Over the last 8 years (as a full time voice-over talent) he has recorded literally thousands of radio and television commercials and has been the narrator for three national television shows airing on the Discovery, Destination America and Sportsman channels. He currently resides in Port St. John, Florida where he (with his wife’s permission) produces voice-overs out of his home studio.

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I’ve learned a trick or two, especially over the past few months that might just come in handy when building a “make do” home studio. Of course, you will always need a laptop, a travel mic (I have started traveling with my Sennheiser 416, which always gives me the very best sound), and it helps to have some spring clamps. They’re only $.99 at Home Depot!

Here are some tricks and tips about how to build a creative home studio on the road:

Use your car. If you are lucky enough to have your car (or a rental), the back seat is an ideal, sound dampened location to record. Bring some blankets from the hotel room and your spring clamps, so you can create a little more noise muffling.

Use the closet. Often times, the closet in the hotel room can offer you a lovely little recording studio, although you will need to make some adjustments. Make sure you have clothes hanging in there to muffle the noise. Be sure to pull pillows from the bed to put behind your mic or whatever direction you are talking in to, so that your voice doesn’t bounce off of a flat wall. While in your hotel room, be sure to turn off the air conditioning. You may also have a noisy refrigerator that you must unplug. Be hyper aware of ambient noise since hotel rooms can have some of the craziest noises and buzzes. If in a hotel, request a room away from an elevator, away from the ice machine, away from the pool and on a top floor.

Use what you got in the room. My friend and fellow voice-over actor, Steve Ket, taught me how to create a studio on the road. He showed me how some typical things that you use in a hotel room can create a great studio sound. The mini-ironing board makes a great frame for your home studio. You can set the board up on a table and adjust it to just the right height. If you are faced with a particularly noisy room, you can place pillows behind the legs of the ironing board. The piece that really creates the best sound muffling is a comforter placed over both the ironing board and your head and back as you record. It’s not super comfortable, but it works like a champ. The spring clamps can be used to help clamp your mic to the back of a chair or the ironing board leg. It can also keep the blankets or pillows in place.

No matter what, you probably won’t get the same sound that you typically get in your home studio. I really like to use the “noise reduction” effect in Audacity when I am recording on the road. It helps to fix ambient noise problems. To keep your clients happy, I suggest letting them know at least a month beforehand that you will be recording on your travel rig, then remind them again as you send it. If it sounds great, they think you are especially awesome. If it has some audio problems, they know what to attribute it to.

Here’s to your voice-over journey – whether it’s on the road or right at home!

Check out our VO Pro Membership and the Such A Voice blog for more content like this!

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About the Author

Jillian Nielsen is an expressive voice talent with over 14 years of experience in radio and television commercial and promotional voice-overs.

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Here are some reasons why you should upgrade your home studio and when it is the best time to upgrade it:

You’ve been auditioning without getting the results you’ve been expecting, understanding that the industry standard is a 2-3% conversion rate (that means that for every 100 auditions you do, you only actually book two or three jobs). It might be time to listen closely to the quality of your audio. It’s possible that you need to move out of your closet and build a whisper room. You can also add some acoustic treatment and blankets to your recording space. You can access my presentation about DIY studio building and soundproofing that I did as part of the Bi-Weekly Teleconference series through the Such A Voice Wistia page.

You’ve been working for a while and have managed to book a few gigs (yay you!). You’ve just found out about the Sennheiser MKH 416 or Neumann U87 microphone and you have some money to burn. This is a great time to upgrade your equipment. It took me seven years to upgrade my mic, but I wish I had done it sooner. My Sennheiser 416 allows me to have less concerns about popping my p’s (when a voice actor pushes too much air out of their mouths when they say words that begin with ‘p’ or ‘b’). Also, with my upgraded mic, there is a clarity to the sound that my clients and I appreciate.

You find that there is a software that cuts down your editing time and leaves you with more time to do voicing. Ultimately, we should all be spending the majority of our time using our voice since it’s the one thing that can make us the most money. If your editing software is clunky and it doesn’t offer you any shortcuts for your specific needs, it’s time for an upgrade.

The decision about your home studio upgrade should always be made based upon how it will affect your clients. Will your home studio upgrade make your product and audio quality noticeably better for your clients? Does the upgrade make it easier for you to spend more time doing what makes you the most money? Does the upgrade fit within your budget? If the answers to these questions are yes, then it’s time to upgrade!

I hope that these tips come in handy throughout your voice-over journey!

You can find some upgrade options for your microphone and software in the latest Such a Voice blog here.

Check out our VO Pro Membership and the Such A Voice blog for more content like this!

There are two other ways in which you can tune into our blog!

You can access the audio version of this article on the Such A Voice Soundcloud.

We’re also on YouTube. Check out the video for this post:

                                                                                                              About the Author

Jillian Nielsen is an expressive voice talent with over 14 years of experience in radio and television commercial and promotional voice-overs.

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1. A recording space that has no room reflection (echo) with a low noise floor (ambient background noise of -57 or lower),
2. A reliable computer,
3. A good recording software that records at 44100 hz at 24 bits,
4. A large diaphragm condenser microphone,
5. A quality USB audio interface and,
6. Professional flat response headphones,

then an upgrade most likely isn’t necessary. However, if you are lacking any of the above,it’s time for an upgrade..

Microphones:

A large diaphragm condenser microphone is the perfect choice for voice-over recording because it picks up the richness, texture and frequencies in your voice. There are many to choose from ranging in price from $100 to $3,000. I don’t recommend any particular one, because we all have unique frequencies in our voices and each microphone picks up those frequencies differently. Go to a music store near you and test out several before you buy one. Choose the one that sounds the most natural with your voice.

Here is a list of popular microphones for VO work:

• Neumann TLM 103 $1,300.00
• Rode NT 1-A $230.00
• Audio-Technica AT4040 $300.00
• Blue (baby bottle) $300.00
• Focusrite Scarlett SM 25 $150

USB Audio Interface:

I am not a fan of USB microphones. They lack the quality you get using an analog condenser microphone running through a USB audio interface. If you’re using a USB microphone, I highly recommend you upgrade to an analog large diaphragm condenser microphone and purchase a quality USB audio interface. There are several to choose from and they all work equally well.

Here is a list of popular USB Audio Interfaces:

• Scarlett Solo or 2i2  $100.00 – $150.00
• PreSonus Audiobox $100.00
• Tascam US 2×2  $150.00
• Steinberg UR22mkll  $150.00

Headphones:

It’s very important to use professional flat response headphones when mixing voice-over. Standard headphones for music have enhanced bass and treble to make the music sound bigger and better. Mixing through these headphones will fool you. Your voice may sound fabulous, but take away the enhanced bass and treble and what do you have? The producers you are sending your auditions to will usually be listening through flat response studio monitors or professional flat response headphones. and will not hear all the enhancements you heard. That’s why it’s important that you hear exactly the same thing they will hear. Most beginner voice-over talents use headphones.

Here is a list of popular brands:

• Sony MDR 7506 or MDR v6  $100.00
• AKG K 240 MK II  $130.00
• Audio-Technica ATH-M50x  $150.00
• Sennheiser HD25-1 II  $275.00
• Focusrite Scarlett  $100

Studio Monitors:

This is more for convenience than necessity. However, if you mix audiobooks or long narration reads, they’re more comfortable to work with. Just make sure you use professional flat response tuned studio monitors. They range in price by size from $150 to $500 each and are available at most large music stores. For voice-over mixing, you only need one because voice-over should always be recorded mono.

Recording Software:

Such A Voice recommends the use of Audacity because it’s a high quality recording software that’s easy to learn (from our Intro to Audacity videos) and it’s a free download. Unless you are planning on getting into full production, recording multitracks and music, there’s no need to upgrade from this software. However, if this is your goal, there are many other recording softwares out there to consider.

Here is a list of popular recording software:

• ProTools $900 or $400 per year lease.
• Pro logic $350
• Adobe Audition $350
• Sound Forge 10 (Windows only) $500

Studio Space:

Where you set up your home studio is just as important as having the right equipment. This physical space must be quiet without any consistent ambient background noises or hums, and must have non-reflective surfaces. The most obvious choice would be a walk-in closet because they’re usually an interior room with no ambient noises and filled with echo-preventing sound-absorbing material (your clothes). The biggest problem with this is that it’s a temporary setup. If you have an unused bedroom or home office with a closet large enough, this is a good option for a more permanent setup. If you don’t have any of the above, you can still find a way, you’ll just have to be more creative.

The most important thing is to find the quietest place in your home that you can use permanently. You may have to turn off any fans or AC while you’re actually recording to lower your ambient background noise. To prevent room reflections or echo, figure out a way to surround your microphone with sound-absorbing material.You can also purchase a portable sound booth or build one.

Here is a list of portable sound booths:

• Harlan Hogan Porta Booth Pro $350

Here is an article showing you how to make one for less.   http://harlanhogan.com/portaboothArticle.shtml

• Kaotica Eyeball $200

For more choices google “portable voice-over sound booth.” For a walk-in sound booth:

• GretchKen Booth $4,000 to $8,000

• Whisper Room $4,500 to $7,500

• Vocal Booth $5,000 to $15,000

The bottom line is, if you purchased the Focusrite Scarlett Studio Package offered to you by Such A Voice, you have all the equipment you need to record high quality voice-over auditions. If you’re using this equipment in a room with no room reflection and a low noise floor there’s no need to upgrade. However, if you don’t have this kind of state-of-the-art equipment and are not recording at the highest quality, or if your space is a temporary setup, upgrade soon. It’s important to have your home studio setup and ready to go when that perfect job comes along.

Find this useful? Check out our VO Pro Membership to learn more about similar voice-over topics.

Ben Marney has been a studio engineer, singer and musician for over 40 years. Over the last 8 years (as a full time voice-over talent) he has recorded literally thousands of radio and television commercials and has been the narrator for three national television shows airing on the Discovery, Destination America and Sportsman channels. He currently resides in Port St. John, Florida where he (with his wife’s permission) produces voice-overs out of his home studio.

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Josh Mead has been the voice of companies like Lowes and Old Spice, and we LOVE his studio in Portland, Oregon!

See more of him by checking out his Website: TallJoshMead.com

Not everyone has a cush office studio. We at Such A Voice know that most of our students record from home, we do too, and you need to have a sound studio to do it properly.

Sometimes you’ve got to be a little creative to find the best place to record (we’re looking at you, bedroom closets!)

Here are some tips for your studio:

• Avoid sound reflections – Tiled floors, the presence of air ducts, and windows are biggies when it comes to sound reflection. Make sure to cover these with noise absorption or dampening materials. Always try to be in a room with carpet.
• Studio Foam panels and similar materials can be expensive. If you’re on a budget head down to your local department store and get some foam mattress liners. Or better, recycle egg cartons or old blankets!
• Instead of soundproofing entire rooms try throwing up some colorful soundproof panels that are easily removed.
• Make sure you have a comfortable chair! You don’t want to be readjusting constantly and risk noise or a hiccup in how you sound.
• Sometimes background noise can come from anywhere. Avoid ticking clocks, ceiling fans, or being near a high traffic room.
• If you are using a tower computer make sure the fans and low hums it can make aren’t filtering in. Try surrounding the wall and computer desk with padding. For laptops just make sure they are away from your mic (preferably there should be sound dampening between the mic and laptop).*
• A small, portable desktop booth is very handy. Ensure that it is covered from all sides though, including the top and the surface it is resting on.

Achieving a quality recording environment is paramount to recording a professional voice-over.  

*Warning: Ensure that you do not cover the fans and risk your computer overheating.*

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Over the last several years, the majority of the work I’ve done – both auditions and bookings – has been from my home studio. And for easily 90% of those recordings, there has been nobody on the other side of the glass or end of the phone directing me. Therefore, I have had to become not only the best voice actor I can be; but equally importantly, have had to become the best judge of my own talent and work. It’s not a simple thing to perform on one side and then critique and edit that performance on the other, but in order to book work and have happy clients who come back for more, learning how to self-direct is crucial.

Self-direction is an art, not a science. There are no objective standards which directing yourself can be measured by, but there are proven methods to maximize the quality and efficiency of recordings you produce from your home studio. As with developing voiceover technique, much of the skill set required for self-directing is based on experience. And as with anything, the more experience you have, the more you can trust your gut, and that is crucial when directing and producing yourself. But from the get-go, even before you have much experience, your gut reaction is important for good self-direction. Because every ear is different, and judging what’s good is so subjective, a huge part of good self-direction is your instinctual reaction. Once you determine from your immediate reaction if a take is good or bad, you can go from there.

When beginning a self-directed audition or recording session, recreate as closely as possible the physical environment of a real casting office or recording studio. That means shutting off any indoor noise that could distract from your work; close windows to limit outside noise and distractions. The last thing you want is your best take ruined by a child’s laugh, a dog’s bark or a car horn. Then read over the script specifications. When the copywriter wrote the script, he or she was sculpting a story – along with the kind of storyteller they had in mind for it. So it is our job as actors, as well as directors, to best divine from the copy itself and the specs, how to most effectively interpret the writer’s intentions.

When you hit record and get behind the mic it’s very important not to be wearing your director’s hat. You’ve done the preparation before and you will be able to evaluate your reads after, but while the red light is on you must be in character and present as much as possible. We’re human, so it’s natural to judge ourselves as we’re performing, but try to focus on bringing the words to life in the moment, and it’ll make your job of self-directing a lot easier. If you do make a mistake on a take then stop, regather and focus yourself, and either begin again from the top, or pick-up the line from a natural spot to ease right back into the story.

Once you’ve completed the take or takes it is time to take a seat in the director’s chair. Listen back to the recording and make some initial basic evaluations. Does it sound good to you? Does it match the specs the producer has called for? This is when you should trust your gut. If the take or takes work, great. You can proceed with editing and delivering the audio file or files. If not, determine what didn’t work, evaluate how to make effective adjustments, then go back and do it again. Alternatively, if you’ve recorded multiple takes, and have some good sections throughout them, you can edit those pieces together from the multiple takes to form one complete take that works. But often it’s just easier to record another take once you know better what will sound better. And if you’ve just started out and not yet cultivated much engineering acumen, this is the recommended route, as it’ll be the most timely and efficient strategy.

Once you are satisfied that the read is the best you can produce and comes closest to the specs detailed, put the audio together so that it snaps! That can be determined by how the copy is formatted in the script. So, if the script was a one paragraph block, it is probably intended to be a fluid take without too much space between lines. But, if it’s broken up into paragraphs or sections, you should interpret each separate one as a clearly delineated thought or point that needs to be spaced from one to the next accordingly. But that is not a hard and fast rule. Oftentimes, copy is formatted a certain way for reasons unrelated to how it should be read or flow in the final edit.

Specifically, when auditioning, keep these things in mind: if it’s a short spot, record and deliver a couple of takes. If there is less than ten seconds of copy, consider doing three different takes in a row on the same track (“three-in-a-row”) so the client can hear real range to each. A nice way to ensure the takes are distinct is to interpret each differently. Three interpretations that I learned to employ are: ponder, amuse and condescend.

With actual recording sessions, you can also deliver multiple takes of everything. The different takes can show off selections with great range from which the producer can select their favorite. Or they can just be slight variations with ‘safety’ takes that will also give the client options from which to choose. But you don’t want to deliver too many takes – part of being a good director is culling the takes down to only the best options. That means some good things may have to be left on the cutting room floor. With practice and repetition you’ll learn what to keep, what to cut, and how to do it quickly and confidently.

Alan Schwartz is a nationally recognized voice over talent who has served as the voice for Sprite, Verizon, Smirnoff Ice, and “Alex” from the Mac Operating System, among others. You can find more of his work at ajsvoiceover.com.

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