Advertising agencies, production houses, television and radio networks, lean heavily on voiceovers to define their commercials and promotions for radio and television broadcast. As the term is industry specific, it appears to have become enveloped within the shadow of its own umbrella and closely mirrors the voiceover artist’s lot of being subject to an irony of occupational obscurity. That might not be so surprising considering that voiceover artists are often heard but rarely, if ever, seen.

When I entered the voiceover industry several years ago, I was initially under the impression that the term ‘voiceover’, referred to the voice artist’s skills to project their voice over and above competing influences. That was a semi-educated guess. The early history of the voiceover industry had been dominated by a liking for announcer-y read styles that were often notably pretentious, pompous, and assertively sales-like. Listeners were left feeling as if they were being spoken down to. It wasn’t too long before prospective consumers were learning to switch off to the perpetual ranting of the barrage of sales pitches that were being directed at them daily.

In more recent years, market players have determinedly veered away from employing this traditional announcer-y style delivery in favour of a natural read style that has come to be recognised as being more relevant, believable and compelling. This paradigm shift was certainly undertaken as an effort to make advertising more persuasive by circumnavigating growing consumer resistance.

The term voiceover was actually coined to describe the process of laying recorded voice over a background of picture frames, music or sound effects, not quite what I had originally imagined.

But to plunge the subject of voiceover into further obscurity, voiceover artists are also commonly referred to as voice artists, voice actors and voice talent. The terms are completely interchangeable. Then there are specialist titles such as ‘voice animator’ and ‘narrator.’ And if all that doesn’t add enough confusion to the matter, it remains equally grammatically correct to spell ‘voiceover’ as a single word or as its two separate component words juxtaposed as in, ‘voice over.’

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Voiceover is the fine art of interpreting and colouring a script according to its author’s intention and purpose. To accomplish this, an artist firstly needs to intimately familiarise with the script.

Once the author’s vision is perceived, the artist then chooses an appropriate method of execution from an acquired skill set – a skill set that comes from learning. Like with most areas of expertise, the best education ultimately comes from prominent professionals working within the industry.

The artist’s skill set is their bag of tricks that equips them to meet industry demands and expectations. Skills include the ability to act, to regulate vocal tension, the dynamics of accentuation, recognition of industry-specific grammatical patterns, the correct use of pause, rhythm, inflection, breathing, etc, etc. It’s surprisingly involved!

But a skill doesn’t infuse life into a read if it isn’t effectuated by some degree of natural talent. Talent is the magic that empowers the artist to perform within the spirit of the author’s imagination, the quintessential phenomenon that breathes life into copy.

Yet ironically, there remains a perpetual and often elusive challenge for the professional artist to bring something unique to the table, to every read. Such are the unrealistic demands of a highly competitive marketplace.

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Commercial voiceovers are used in the commercial advertisements we hear incessantly aired over our radio and television networks and the internet. This genre can be serviced by various read styles, one of which will usually be preselected by the author of the copy, according to the subject matter.

Corporate voiceovers are commonly used in video presentations for in-house training programs, instructional videos or pre-recorded directives for clientele.

Narration is typically used for voicing documentaries and e-books. Narrating for e-books can be challenging where it involves playing all character roles within a novel.

Promo is the genre employed for promotions of broadcasting networks or their forthcoming programs.

Trailer is a species of promo originating from the cinema industry. Its name depicts the traditional practice of trailing promotions for forthcoming films immediately after the viewing of a feature film. Ironically, trailers now typically precede the showing of the feature film and are often aired on television in promotion of cinema attendance.

Character is used within commercial advertising and involves acting out a specific character role. It may involve the use of acquired foreign accents.

Animation is specifically used for the voicing of a cartoons and video and computer games. It is a specialised form of voice acting not dissimilar in nature to the Character genre.

Artists entering the industry usually attempt to cover the entire gamut of genres as they search out their niche in the marketplace. But spreading oneself too broadly can eventually lead to an artist becoming seen as a Jack of all but master of none. Established artists will often specialise in a one or two genres in order to master the specific skill sets peculiar to that area of voiceover. Being a specialist raises the profile of the artist and furthers their likelihood of becoming known as the ‘go to’ person of choice within a particular field.

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