What’s your communication style like? If you had to describe your voice in three words, what would they be? Oh, but here’s the catch – they have to be positive words!
As a blind voiceover artist, this is something I have been asked to do many times and I wanted to share some of what I’ve learnt about how you can use your voice most effectively to communicate in slightly different ways.
My two main voiceover jobs are advertising campaigns and audio description narration. On the surface, these may look like two completely opposite things.
An advert, you might reason is a sales pitch, whereas audio description is factual, practical and not flashy at all.
In an advert, you might imagine me saying something like, “This new car is sleek, powerful and absolutely, one-hundred percent going to change your life!” On the other hand, your experience of audio description may sound much more like, “A man walks into a kitchen.”
No fancy language, selling or persuasion and definitely no suggestion that this man’s kitchen will make you happier, thinner or in any way more likely to get a date!
Still, both have taught me a great deal about communication, confidence, technology, patience and not being too stubborn to ask for help. I’ve also learnt that when somebody tells me that “the microphone is just over there” I need to ask for clarification as to where “there’ is before automatically moving my face in any one direction. Yes, I learnt that one the hard way – a few times!
However, the advantage of a career in voiceover (whether it’s in advertising or audio description) is that once you’re all set up in your little booth, nobody particularly cares whether you can see. They only care about whether you can communicate. Sight comes second to expression, tone and energy.
For advertising, the question often becomes: can you sound enthusiastic without coming across as though you’ve just won a caravan? Can you exude reassurance, without implying you’re about to sign someone up to a pyramid scheme run by your Aunt Trisha? Or, to what degree can you make a sentence about financial software transform into something Pete on his drive-time home would actually be remotely interested to hear?!
When it comes to audio description (especially as a blind voiceover), I can’t help but notice the sheer amount of visual information which is normally left entirely unsaid.
For example, who is looking at whom? Which “gesture” did they make? Is that person smiling because they’re delighted about the present situation, or because they’ve just remembered what they’re having for dinner?!
Audio description has to make all of those moments meaningful, without hi-jacking the story. It is a skilful sort of storytelling, which doesn’t intrude, but guides and enhances.
Rather than standing out, you aim to seamlessly blend in, matching the tone of the media and slotting into place as a crucial piece of the puzzle.
Advertising often aims to command attention, while audio description seeks to hold attention.
What they very much have in common is that both are designed to make you feel something.
A commercial relies on you being emotionally invested. A show or film relies on you being emotionally engaged throughout. Both invite you into a story and it is my job as a voiceover artist to convince you to buy into it with your whole heart.
It’s made me realise that so often, people put far too much emphasis on things looking impressive and completely forget the importance of actually being able to connect to their audience in a way which will mean something to them and which will compel them to take action.
In business, presentations, on websites and in meetings, people are often obsessed with appearances but overlook the skill of communicating an idea or message effectively.
The reality is that if your message is shambolic, putting it in a very fancy font will never transform it into Shakespeare!
Getting feedback like that can be difficult to handle, even though it might be very helpful. I know because a big part of voiceover work (be it adverts or audio description) is feedback.
You can deliver what in your mind is the definitive version of the sentence you’ve been given and be met with someone asking you to do it SLIGHTLY differently, by which they generally mean reinvent the wheel!
I’ll be honest, for a long time, I found this frustrating at best and soul destroying at worst. What did these people want from me?! Why wasn’t that take good enough for them? Now, while this might sound as though I thought there was something wrong with them, the truth was that their doubts made me insecure about myself.
And, if nothing else, being a voiceover artist requires a certain level of confidence. If you are internally beating yourself up, your body will be impacted. Your throat will close up, your breathing might become shallow, your voice will likely become much wobblier than it ordinarily would. This can set off a vicious cycle, because the more you panic, the less you can physically do the job and the less you can physically do the job – guess what? Panic stations!
Over time, I’ve come to understand that retakes are just part of the process. It’s not about proving that your version was perfect but instead trying different things in order to get the best result.
This applies to everyone really. Feedback isn’t necessarily criticism. It might actually be very useful information arriving in a slightly uncomfortable package.
Finally, being a blind voiceover artist has taught me the importance of being an excellent listener. People are loyal to those who listen. Leaders who listen gain their team’s trust. Brands who listen grow their following. As a blind voiceover artist, I don’t see the microphone, so I build a picture in my mind of an actual person instead. I know that if I want my words to land and resonate with the people who will hear them, I need to stay very aware that while it might not look like it, ours is always a two-way conversation.
So, overall, I have a great fondness for all kinds of voiceover work. Perhaps my favourite kind is advertising on radio. In that case, I am kind of doing a bit of both. I am selling a product or service, while planting a clear picture in someone’s mind about what that might look like and telling them a story about it which they simply can’t put down! Commanding and containing attention, emotionally investable and engaging. I think that’s what they call a mic-drop moment!