Let Our Team Of Audio Experts Bring Your Voice Overs To Life
Voice-over is a production technique where a voice – part of the narrative – is used in radio, television production, film making, theater, or other presentations. The voice-over is read from a script and by a specialist voice talent.
Just as important as the skill and experience of our talent is the professionalism of our recording and editing equipment. We exercise strict quality control to ensure our audio meets the highest broadcast standards.
Our recording studio has been acoustically designed to provide the best possible recording quality. Both our mix room and vocal suite have been specifically designed to minimize sound reflections, ensuring that your recordings are clear and accurate. In addition, the recording studio is a comfortable space to work in, with ample room for artists and engineers to move around freely. We believe that the quality of our recording environment is second to none, and we are confident that you will be able to achieve great results in our studio.
Whether your voice over recording project is small or large, we’ll cater to your specific needs. Our turnaround time is second to none. Don’t hesitate to contact us for a quote.
Why Add a Voice Over?
We all know sounds and words elicit an emotional response in everyone. A voice-over helps your listeners relate to your production in the way you intend. When we hear a person speak, it adds another sense of connection to the experience. Achieving that increased depth – the ability to bring your audience closer to your message – is more difficult using images alone video.
The right words paired with the right voice create elevated intimacy between you and your audience. The tempo, gender, tone, and intonation of that voice help effectively communicate your message, whether it’s personable, serious, emotive, playful, or anything in between.
Need Help Selecting a Voice Over Artist For Your Production?
At Big Ears Audio our casting director works closely with you to cast and choose the right voice for the production. Once cast we take care of all the bookings and payments, making the process easy.
For over 22 years Big Ears Audio has worked with many of Australia’s leading advertising and marketing companies, as well as corporations spanning numerous industries. Our work can be heard in many forms of audio production including:
- Advertising
- TV and Radio Imaging
- Podcast Recordings
- Messages on Hold
- Documentaries / Documentary narration
- Audio Books
- Animation
- Promotions
- IVR
- Website presentation
- Corporate
- Multi-media
- GPS Navigation
- Computer games
- Character voices
- Every conceivable voice usage
How Does A Voice Over Session Work?
Here’s how it works.
- Once you’ve contacted us with the details of the voice over talent you require
- Our experienced producers cast the voice over talent you’d like to your brief
- Our team will suggest a selection of suitable talent for your approval
- We will then send you the selection of voice over talent we feel suits the brief
- Once the voice over talent is chosen we book and coordinate the voice over sessions
- Big Ears look after all the back end so you can focus what’s important, “the creative”
After many years of recording voice overs we have strong relationships with our talent and agents, carefully managing their daily availability.
From recording a narrator for your project to cleaning up a difficult production track to fully producing large and complex text-to-speech projects, we take your audio problems and turn them into assets. We can help you with casting, producing, directing, recording and editing your voice over session.
What is a Voice Over?
Voice-over (also known as off-camera or off-stage commentary) is a production technique where a voice – that is not part of the narrative – is used in a radio, television production, film making, theater, or other presentations. The voice-over is read from a script and may be spoken by someone who appears elsewhere in the production or by a specialist voice actor. Synchronous dialogue, where the voice-over is narrating the action that is taking place at the same time, remains the most common technique in voice-overs. Asynchronous, however, is also used in cinema. It is usually pre-recorded and placed over the top of a film or video and commonly used in documentaries or news reports to explain information.
Voice-overs are used in advertising, video games and on-hold messages, as well as for announcements and information at events and tourist destinations. It may also be read live for events such as award presentations. Voice-over is added in addition to any existing dialogue and is not to be confused with voice acting or the process of replacing dialogue with a translated version, the latter of which is called dubbing or re-voicing.
Voice Over FAQ
Why use a professional audio recording studio?
Using a professional studio to record your audio with an experienced engineer who knows what they’re doing guarantees you professional-grade results. There are individuals or services out there who will offer to get the job done quickly and on the cheap, but you really want your recordings to be produced by a studio with experienced engineers with a finely-tuned ear who do this for a living, a staff of helpful Account Managers who will ensure that the project is done to match your desired specifications, and top quality professional equipment in an exceptional, acoustically treated studio environment.
I have a voice over project I need recorded and produced, can you help?
Yes, we absolutely can! Big Ears Audio is a full-service voice recording studio that offers everything to facilitate the production of your project, from casting services and recording to every aspect of the post-production process, including editing, mixing, sound design, and dubbing/ADR. Our Account Managers and Engineers will work closely with you to ensure that your project meets the highest standards of quality. All you need to do is send us the script and we’ll do the rest.
How do I find voice talent for my project?
If you don’t have the voice over artist we can find the right voice for your project. Our casting director has over 22 years’ experience in matching the right voice with the right project. We have a network of trusted voice over actors that we work with as well as a number of highly respected agencies who can help to provide you with just the right voice/voices to make your project come alive.
I need to record a voice over but the talent can’t come to the studio, what can I do?
Big Ears Audio can accommodate you, no matter where the voice artists or clients are in the world. Not only do we have a first-rate recording studio, we can facilitate work at any recording studio in the world, even a talent’s home studio. We always vet our studios to make sure that the audio quality is up to our rigorous standards, and any recording time that you book with us will include one of our expert engineers, to ensure that your audio comes out of the session sounding the absolute best. We have worked with clients from all over Australia, as well as clients from New Zealand, USA, Italy, UK, Europe, and Asia. Our Studio is connected to a high speed dedicated Internet line, and we can connect to other studios using Source Connect.
What is Source Connect?
The technology allows the transmission, in real time, of very high-quality audio from one location to another via a high-speed internet connection. As such, it allows a commercial studio to receive and record the microphone feed of another studio in a different location. This is typically used when a voice actor can’t come to the commercial studio in person. There is no compromise in sound quality.
So if you booked a job that was meant to be recorded in New York, but you were in Melbourne , the client can now book you in to a studio in Melbourne so that the studio in New York can connect to it (via the SC app that both studios had). This way, the client in New York could record you as if you were in their studio, in person. The technology is quite amazing: you talk into a microphone in Melbourne, the high-quality audio signal gets transmitted via the internet, and the New York studio receives and records the performance as if you were talking into one of their microphones. The studio in New York has full control of your mic feed. In the voice over industry, we call this “recording remotely”.
I have voice over recording that I recorded elsewhere and I’m not happy with it. Can you make it better?
If the sound recording quality isn’t up to the standard you require, we’re happy for you to send the voice over recording in for one of our engineers to have a listen to at no obligation. It’s difficult to remove room noise and sounds that are embedded in the sound recording. But we would try our best with the sound that we are given. We would inform you of the fees before commencing any work. Sometimes it is better to re-record the voice over to the standard and quality required.
How much does a voice over cost to record?
The cost of studio time depends on the scope of your project as well as the suite of services that you might need to go along with the recording itself. For larger voice over projects you would receive a fixed price quote. You can also book the studio by the hour. Our hourly fee includes the engineer. Big Ears Audio is one of the most highly-regarded recording studios in the industry, and we will work with you to figure out which services are applicable to your project and provide you with a quote accordingly. Please feel free to contact us for a quote.
How much time should I allow for voice over recording?
The time it takes to record a voice in the studio depends on the length of the script. The greater the length, the longer the time it would take to record.
What happens after the audio is recorded?
Once the voice over is recorded, our engineer will mix and treat the voice to bring it up to the professional quality required. Whether the sound recording is for television, radio, online or live broadcast we’ll make sure your audio meets industry standards.
What audio file formats do you provide for voice over recordings?
We can supply audio solutions in many common formats including WAV, MP3, MP4, OGG, FLAC, and AIFF.
How do you deliver your voice over files?
You don’t have to worry about the security of your audio files, we deliver the files to you via secure transfer or if you are working out of our studios, we are happy to deliver them to you on a portable device like a hard drive or flash drive that you bring to the session.
What industries do you work with?
Big Ears Audio has worked with Advertising Agencies, Marketing Companies and Consultants, Radio and Television Stations, Promotional companies, Film Directors, Producers, Creatives, Account Managers, and Game Designers. We also work with individuals that need a voice over recording recorded. No audio job is too small or too big. The great thing is that you’ll be dealing directly with the studio owners, so you can be assured of great service and quality recording experience!
Can you supply the music to go with my Voice Over recording?
Once your voiceover is recorded, we can source and supply your voice recordings with a music backing track. How it works is you provide us with a brief that outlines the style of music, feel, and tempo. We would then search our many music libraries and present you with a selection of music. Once the music track is chosen we can edit the track to fit and stripe it up against the voice recording. If your budget extends to having a bespoke music track written, one of our many in-house music composers can help tailor a music track that suits.
What if I have a script that I’d like to record myself?
If you have a script you’re thinking of recording yourself, we are happy to have you in the studio. Our experienced engineers are there to give direction and guidance. So if it’s your first time in a sound studio you can be assured you’re in good hands. Just be mindful that booking a professional voice over artist could save you time and money in the long term.
Are you able to fully produce my project?
Once the voiceover is recorded and you need your project fully produced we can do that for you as well. Whether it’s a television commercial, radio ad, internal corporate communications, etc. we can add music and sound effects to really bring your project to life. Our sound engineers are experienced in editing and mixing all styles.
How do I become a voice over artist?
Do you hear voices on the radio or television and think you would like to get into voice work? Firstly you will need a demo. The demo will showcase your tone and style so when a studio is casting for voices for a production they will be able to present your demo to the client. We recommend you bring in some scripts that you think showcase your talent.
We also can supply scripts if needed. You’ll be guided by one of our in house producers and come out with a demo that you can send off to studios and agencies for work.
