Help! Waaaaay too much copy for a :30! What to do?

Doug Parks · **Voice Talent** Joined: 06 Jul 2007 Posts: 227

J.S.,

On the contrary. OK, the post was long, so what? You had some great insights and I for one enjoyed reading it.

Maxine Dunn · **Voice Talent** Joined: 25 Apr 2004 Posts: 675

Hi everyone ~

J.S., not to worry from my standpoint. I love your posts, I don't care if they're short or long.

Just to clarify. This latest event took place in a recording studio in a radio station with me standing side-by-side with the client and the engineer. We read through the script a few times and it was obviously too long. So we cut it down a bit. Still too long. Cut it down a bit more. Still too long, but was told to “make it work.”

(Reminds me of fashion shows in the past when a designer would watch me try to squeeze my healthy-end-of-a-size-four-body, into a tiny-size-two-strapless-gown and barely be able to zip it up. Things were spilling out all over the place. Then they'd say, “make it work Max.”)

Then before we actually recorded the job the client had to leave so it was just me and the engineer, making it work. We didn't have the license to cut any more copy as the client had left. It would have helped a bit if he’d liberally taken out some breaths, but didn’t seem to want to. Darn. Possibly because the engineer I was working with usually always works with bands and is not that familiar with editing fast v/o tracks, or even v/o in general.

I did want to smooth it out at the beginning and end, but even the slightest pause anywhere made the rest even more of a speed read. Which I didn’t want to read TOO fast as there were a couple of monster LISTS of products to read. Everyone was nodding and smiling when we were done so I'm sure it'll end up fine. I was just grasping at straws for tips from other pros out there as to how to make fast copy reading, sound not-quite-so-fast.

Probably impossible, I know.

Thanks all, I appreciate everyone’s tips very much!

Xox

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J.S. Gilbert · Posted: Fri Apr 25, 2008, 02:00 (GMT) Post subject: one last thing

It helps to understand the circumstances. I guess patience and the desire to have anything you give voice to be as good as possible is the key.

"good as possible"

One thing I have done for most of my career is to study other people's cadences and inflections and I used to frequently record radio adn tv commercials wherethe read was quite different from my own. Then I would write out the copy and record myself doing it, trying to see where I was similar and where I was differnt and how I might make my instrument sound more like the original person recording the spot, but to make sure I could do it and still sound somewhat natural.

As for learning how to sound faster. I do have a trick. If you use sound forge there is a time stretch function. Other software has time machine, etc. Basically it's for speeding up or slowing down recordings. Very few people employ these time compression tricks or if they do, they use it very, very sparingly so that the sound doesn't get too artificial sounding.

What you can do is record yourself and then hit 90 or 92% on the time stretch and listen back. there will be parts where the speed increase does sound natural and you can get a sense from practicing doing this to get your natural read faster without it sounding too forced. You can also use this on other people's recordings as well, again to enable you to understand how and wherethis quick cadence can work.

Lance Blair · Posted: Fri Apr 25, 2008, 03:04 (GMT) Post subject:

JS...that is a great tip on analyzing why one's voice is different from others. It's a great way to expand technique and work the strengths and weaknesses of one's own voice.

As for time stretching, it works very well in my Cubase SE3, as in many programs. Earlier this year I did about ten minutes of VOG for a corporate event and everything was hunky dory. The original direction was rather slow paced. They came back to me the next day asking if I could do everything a bit faster. They were in a bind as they had to send the files to the show immediately, and I had no time available either. I asked them "What, like at 110% and 120% speed?" They said yes, (and I explained what I was going to do with processing the originals) so I processed the files with the time stretch at those rates in a few minutes and sent them off. Worked like a charm.

It's not a tool to use too often with voice, though unless you really know what you're doing.

Todd Ethridge · **Voice Talent** Joined: 13 Feb 2006 Posts: 214

I was just kidding about the "long post". Smile

I enjoy reading and learning from everyone here.

Maxine Dunn · **Voice Talent** Joined: 25 Apr 2004 Posts: 675

Todd, I enjoy you! (And I know you were kidding…) And that red chair in the background harkens back to Jacob’s hot, red, chair-stool thingy he has in his studio, as depicted somewhere in the Geek section of these hallowed halls….

What is it with you cute voice-over guys and your sexy red chairs? Are you tryin’ to mess with us? Is it a sexy-voice-over-guy-rite-of-passage-thing to have some kind of interesting red chair?

xoxo

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Lee Gordon · **Voice Talent** Joined: 22 Oct 2004 Posts: 1549

A too-long spot, cut at a radio station, engineered by a guy who usually works with bands and who didn't seem to want to put in the effort to make it work, with the client sitting in but but bailing out before the work was finished or even sufficiently edited because he apparently didn't think it was important enough to stick around until the job was properly completed.

Sounds like Max was the only professional involved with this project.

Todd Ethridge · **Voice Talent** Joined: 13 Feb 2006 Posts: 214

Well Maxine, I dig cool retro furniture and yes, that is a cool red chair.

But you should see my 50's orange chair that swivels. Too cool for words. Smile

Melba Sibrel · Posted: Fri Apr 25, 2008, 15:14 (GMT) Post subject:

It should never take more than 15 minutes if everyone knows what they're doing.

Jacob Ekstroem · **Voice Talent** Joined: 23 Jul 2007 Posts: 721

Hi......

My name is Jacob... and I have a red chair fetish.

Scott Pollak · Posted: Fri Apr 25, 2008, 20:19 (GMT) Post subject:

Well, being in a studio and doing it with the producer and possibly the client there is one thing, and yet you still need to ask if they're aware of the general rules about copy (i.e.: 45 words for a :15, 90 words - or less - for a :30 and 160 to 180 words for a :60).

I occasionally get sent copy here at home from the radio station I do p/t work for and after I - yet AGAIN - remind them of audio clutter, I'll record the spot in a normal read, where it runs over, then I'll speed it up, either artificially using time compression, or via a very fast read and editing. And I'll say "Here, either cut it down to where it ought to be, or use the unusable, sped-up version". Almost without fail they cut the copy down. Here's a recent example, just for giggles.

By the way, they DID go back and drastically cut down the copy to make this into a MUCH more listenable spot. (And the RFF tag on the first one stand for "Real Freakin' Fast").
Wink

Maxine Dunn · **Voice Talent** Joined: 25 Apr 2004 Posts: 675

Well hi,

My name is Maxine and I have a red chair fetish too, I just don't own a red chair yet. But I like guys that do. Between you and Todd with his retro chair, I'm feelin' pretty good.

This red chair picture just made my day. I know my voice-overs would improve if I had one. Where on earth did you get such an....unusual one?

Silly question really as I know Scandinavia is known for its fabulous and avant-garde furniture.... Lucky you.

xoxox

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Maxine Dunn · **Voice Talent** Joined: 25 Apr 2004 Posts: 675

Scott, thank you so much for those two very eye-opening reads! They're great!

I don't know how to artificially speed up a read, (for the times I'm recording at home), with sound compression. I use Sound Forge software. Do you have any suggestions?

Thanks for all your wonderful posts,

Maxine

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Steve Royal · **Voice Talent** Joined: 17 Aug 2006 Posts: 167

Hi Maxine,
I use SoundForge too.
Go the the Process menu and select Time Stretch.
This opens a dialog box that lets you compress to 50% or stretch to 500% (though I don't really know why anyone would WANT to!)

It's a useful tool, but it starts clipping the read quite badly if you try to go over about 15% compression.
When I use it I usually stay well below 10%.

Cheers!
Steve

Maxine Dunn · **Voice Talent** Joined: 25 Apr 2004 Posts: 675

Steve, thank youuuuu!! I'll give it a try. When you slow it down and stretch it out, does it sound like one of those deep-gravelly-creepy-talking-in-slow-motion thingys? If my memory serves me well, Jim Carey does an especially stellar "walking and talking in slow motion" skit...

Thanks again!

Max

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