A Beginner’s Guide to Writing, Recording, and Editing Narration, Part One
(for your next training project, or y’know…whatever)
“Did they record this audio in their bathroom?” I asked myself as a cacophony of echoes burst from my headphones and bounced around my skull.
“WELCOME (welcome) TO (to) THE (the) COURSE (course)!” said the narrator (and then said it again).
I groaned, turned the volume down and settled into my chair. “Hm…I sure hope there’s nothing in the audio I actually need to know.”
Maybe you’re like me and have encountered terrible voice-over audio after launching a seemingly innocuous training course. Maybe you were met with a narrator overeager to enlighten you about bed sores: “And remember to wash that open sore with a mild soap!” Why is she smiling, you wondered. (Yes, you can hear people smile as they talk.)
Over the years, I’ve noticed a great many training courses with subpar audio and narration. Low quality voice-over can be distracting, boring, uninformative, and can sound less-than-human. Take it from me, I was a pro at creating terrible audio in my early days—until research and experience finally started to mold my audio creation skills into something more palatable. But when you’re starting out, there are so many different considerations when crafting great audio, it can be difficult to know where to begin, and dizzying once you begin to dive a little deeper into the process.
So let’s make it simple and break things down into seven different vital components. These can make all the difference in how people perceive your audio and its effectiveness for engagement and teaching:
- Scripting / Writing for Voice-Over
- Choosing the Perfect Voice Talent
- Selecting Your Recording Equipment
- Recording with the Right Software
- Mastering the Recording Process
- Coaching Your Voice Talent
- Editing Audio
In the coming weeks, we’ll discuss each of these topics and what you need to do to ensure your audio is winning awards and your name is engraved in stone in the E-Learning Audio Hall of Fame.
(Yeah, so I made up the awards and hall of fame thing, but I do guarantee your audio will be at least be pretty good!)
And if you’re a time traveler, perhaps all these articles are available to you already…in which case, they’re links, so click them and enjoy! Otherwise, stay tuned for more! (Do people still say “stay tuned” these days?)
Sincerely,
Steve (from the past)
TLDR: You want to know how to make quality voice-over audio. I’ll tell you how in the upcoming articles.