Voice-Overs for Radio and Television
Why should you or your company use professional Voice-Overs?
- Your talent is busy enough getting ready for the show. Save them for the important messages and let Body Tone Multimedia take care of the rest.
- Add a new and different voice to your promo's. Keep them fresh for your listener and viewers.
Using Body Tone Multimedia will make a difference.
Why should you or your company use professional Voice-Overs?
- It may seem easy to read words into a cassette recorder, but subconsciously your audience is listening not only to the words, but also to the presentation. Ninety-four percent of our communication is nonverbal. It has been shown that if these nonverbal cues are missing in your Voice-Over, your listener can miss as much as seventy-five percent of the meaning.
- Listeners will associate an unprofessional Voice-Over with your company’s attention to detail.
- A professional talent is experienced in projecting these non-verbal cues.
See if you can tell what the talent is conveying by using non-verbal cues.
Click here for an example of non-verbal cues.
Body Tone Multimedia - Example of Non-Verbal Cues
- A professional studio records the voice of the Voice-Over talent at the correct frequencies that brings out the talents best sound with no background noise.
Example of a bad Voice-Over.
Body Tone Multimedia - Example of a bad Voice-Over
Voice-Overs for Radio and Television Commercials.
Voice-Overs for Television Identification and Promotions.
Voice-Overs for Radio Identification and Promotions.
Union rates for Voice-Overs
There are two unions which govern Voice-Over work: AFTRA (American Federation of TV and Radio Artists) and SAG (the Screen Actors Guild). The client must pay the talent scale and residuals and contribute to a pension and welfare fund on your behalf.
Here are the links to the minimum rates from these unions.
AFTRA (American Federation of TV and Radio Artists)
http://www.aftra.com/contract/pcontracts.htm
http://www.aftra.com/contract/nonbroadcast.htm
http://www.aftra.com/contract/ctvrates.htm
SAG (Screen Actors Guild)
http://www.sag.org/Content/Public/2005-08TVTheatrRates.pdf.
Industry standard Non-union rates for Voice-Overs.
http://www.voices.com/documents/Voices.com-Voice-Over-Rate-Sheet.pdf
Body Tone Multimedia’s Voice-Over rates
| Category |
Time |
Cost for Regular: turnaround time option |
Cost for Hot: turnaround time option |
Cost for Urgent: turnaround time option |
| Radio Commercial: Local / Regional |
:15, :30 or :60 |
$200 |
$300 |
$400 |
| Radio Commercial: New York, Los Angeles, Chicago |
:15, :30 or :60 |
$300 |
$400 |
$500 |
| Radio Commercial : National Network |
:15, :30 or :60 |
$1000 |
$1200 |
$1800 |
| Radio Station Promotion / Station Imaging |
:05, 15 or :30 |
$200 |
$300 |
$400 |
| Public Service Announcement on Radio |
:15, :30 or :60 |
$200 |
$300 |
$400 |
| Television: Local / Regional |
:15, :30 or :60 |
$300 |
$400 |
$500 |
| Television: New York, Los Angeles, Chicago |
:15, :30 or :60 |
$500 |
$600 |
$700 |
| Television: National Network |
:15, :30 or :60 |
$2000 |
$2200 |
$2800 |
| Television Station Promotion / Station Imaging |
:05, 15 or :30 |
$300 |
$400 |
$500 |
| Public Service Announcement on Television |
:15, :30 or :60 |
$300 |
$400 |
$500 |
| Television Animation |
1 hr recording session |
$300 |
$400 |
$500 |
| Per additional studio hour |
$100 |
$150 |
$200 |
| Individual outgoing message (OGM) consumer, business, and corporate. |
:15, :30 |
$60 |
$100 |
$160 |
| |
|
|
|
| :60 |
$120 |
$200 |
$300 |
| |
|
|
|
Note:
• Radio and television rates for unlimited airings in a 13-week cycle.
• Rates are in US Dollars.
Follow this link to order your Voice-Over for Radio and Television online now
Script and Direction
Setting the tone of your Voice-Over.
When deciding on your script for your Voice-Over, you must first decide what tone you want to project.
- A serious tone. Straight to the point. (Who, What, Where, When, Why, and How).
- A character acting out a skit. More relaxed. It brings the listener into the scene as if they were listening in on a conversation.
- A character acting out a funny skit. Comedy helps people remember.
- A serious voice tone acting out a funny skit. Everybody like the switch. A serious tone with a punch line at the end.
- Dynamics (Intensity). Relaxed or hard (“TUESDAY, TUESDAY, TUESDAY”)
Word Count
A calm, understandable rate of speed for reading your script is 2.5 words per second. That’s approximately 75 words total for 30 seconds. Remember, the pause is just as important to allow the listener to comprehend your message.
Faster is called a, “Hard sell”. The rate of speed for reading your script is 3.5 words per second, but that's pushing it. That’s approximately 105 words total for 30 seconds.
Always read your script aloud before you send it in.
Pronunciation
The most important item is pronunciation. In reviewing your script, be sure that any word that can be mispronounced is clearly notated. There are many names, words, phrases, and dialects (that are not in the dictionary) that may be very familiar to you in your part of the country, but will not be apparent to the talent. For example, Des Moines [duh-MOIN] can easily be incorrectly pronounced. In addition, be sure to include CAP-i-tal letters to denote syllable emphasis.
When in doubt notate.
All questionable pronunciations must have precise instructions of the desired diction. Body Tone Multimedia will not be held responsible for any mispronunciations that have not been specified prior to the recording session.
Script Formatting
Please specify if you want a three second count down, A three second pause at beginning, or the voice over to start right on the beginning. If you do not specify it will start at the beginning.
If music is selected with Voice-Over then a few seconds lead in of music will be played before Voice-Over will start.
Turnaround
Body Tone Multimedia has three turnaround options for your convenience.
- Urgent: 24 hours
- Hot: 72 hours
- Regular: five business days
Please confirm the turnaround time you need when placing your order.
Delivery
We offer two (2) methods of delivery: Email and USPS - Priority Mail
- When using email, we compress the file to MP3 or MPEG-4 (AAC). Please consider that most email services do not allow more than 10 Megabytes of data for one letter. This means that an average Voice-Over with music will be approximately 2 minutes long. If you need longer recordings it must burned on a CD and sent via priority mail.
- We can also ship your order on CD. Additional shipping cost will be applied to your order.
How to use your Voice-Over.
Once you get your Voice-Over from your email, you will want to play on a CD player at home or at your business.
- You will need software that will easily convert your MP3 and AAC files into a format that your CD player will recognize.
- You will want to burn your CD.
Follow this link for a free player and converter from Apple Computer, Inc. called
iTunes
Please note when using your new Voice-Over for answering machines, voicemail, and cell phones, you may need to turn the bass down or off depending on your equipment.
When recording your outgoing message (OGM) on your cell phone, you may need to use a landline phone to get a better quality message on your service.
Need help writing the script?
Don’t worry Body Tone Multimedia is here to help.
Follow the link below to learn
About Body Tone Multimedia Writing Services.
We can help.
