Voiceover Archives - Arielle DeLisle

A Gift to Your Future Self

Arielle — Fri, 23 May 2025 17:54:13 +0000

A Gift to Your Future Self: One step to add to your audiobook narration workflow

How often are you considering your Future Self when looking at your project management? I’m all about systems and routines that make Future Arielle’s life a little easier. A little extra effort today can be a huge gift to yourself later!

To that end, I’ve added one, 5-minute step to my audiobook narration routine that has organized my narration life and makes me “series surprise-proof.”

First of all, this additional step assumes you’re already doing book prep and have good systems for managing your files.

Audiobook prep includes writing out details about character names, accents/dialects, age and physical descriptions, vocal descriptions and other details the author provides or infers. These sorts of things inform the voice that I give to that character and my understanding of how to embody them for their interactions and experiences.

Depending on the book, I sometimes note plot points and interactions, pivotal scenes, ways relationships and emotions change throughout the story, and revelations being discovered. These serve as acting cues to me as the story progresses, and the notes can come in handy for more complex novels.

I used to write this down in a journal, but realized the inconvenience of a physical book for my prep routine was prohibitive. I’d keep notes on my phone (Evernote, Keep, etc) but was inconsistent in format. Now, I track all of this using a spreadsheet and update it as I learn new information about the character through my prep read (before I start recording.) Some narrators swear by AirTable, but so far I’ve been content with Google Sheets, since my workflow involves a lot of Google products already.

Surely, the right notebook wil give me the organization I'm seeking.

A Little Time Spent Now is More Time Saved Later

During the recording of the book, I create character samples of every character who speaks. I do this within my DAW (ProTools), and name my audio files so the character refs are easy to find with a few keystrokes. I have a muted track in my session I keep for ease of creating these samples. I select conversational audio from my active recording track, duplicate it in the muted track, consolidate several sections of these conversation samples (as well as narrative samples from my main character) and create the reference audio for that character.

After I’ve completed my initial recording and turned in all of my raw audio files, I export all of my character audio references from my established named/known characters to a new standalone folder for that audiobook. That folder is nested inside my folder with my raw audio I’ve submitted to the producer, publisher or proofer (if it’s an indie project). I’ll review my prep file and make sure the info is complete for the book, including writing a short book summary, in case I hadn’t written chapter summaries, so at a glance I’ll know where the story left off.

I definitely haven’t always done this, so don’t feel bad if this sounds way more organized than what you’ve been doing! Having just turned in audio for my 161st book, I can finally say that I have a system that works and I’ll continue to refine my prep sheet. When any book comes back with a surprise sequel, I like knowing I’ll be prepared to jump right back into those characters and their story.

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The Best Advice for Starting out in Voiceover

Arielle — Mon, 12 May 2025 22:15:37 +0000

My Morning as a High School Guest Speaker

My friend, deeply talented media professional and inspirational public speaker Danielle Williams, has been supporting a high school film & TV class with her wealth of information, experience and connections. I was so honored when she asked me to come be a guest speaker last week for this class of mostly high school seniors (and a handful of juniors). The seniors have been studying different facets of media production for about 2 years, and the juniors are committed to returning to that class next year.

What a seriously fun and well-equipped classroom they had, lead by a great teacher. Steve Treguboff has the kind of energy you want in a creative educational environment – he can handle the chaos of many high schoolers doing different projects and diving into their own interests, while keeping the entirety of the class on-track with their agenda, all managed with a great sense of humor and mutual respect for his students.

Inside the Classroom

Mr. Treguboff’s students had enjoyed hearing from guest speakers that week about various careers in broadcasting, including from my former boss at KTAR who has run the commercial production department there for over 20 years. I was there to present an overview of the voiceover industry, as well as share some samples of my work, and answer a handful of questions: how I got started, what students could start doing today if they would like to get into VO, what training and education have been required to get to this point, and always of interest: how much money you can you make.

They asked some really good questions at the end and I managed to cover most of what I’d brought in to share. I also got to watch some of their TV commercials they wrote, shot and produced, and offer feedback on their work. It’s exciting to see what these students have created with the many tools available to them! It was wonderful to share some insights into the voiceover industry, as someone who started out 27 years ago and could point them in the right direction if anything I said sparked an interest for them.

Then vs Now

Preparing for that class gave me an opportunity to reflect deeply on how much things have changed since I first forged my path into radio and commercial production, before going freelance as a voiceover actor, audiobook narrator and on-camera actor. I can’t instruct someone to take the specific route that lead me here because it’s what worked for me and my particular goals, and everyone’s journey is different and unique to them.

The availability of information about “how to get into voiceover” is certainly more prevalent now than it had been then! There are so many websites, blogs, workshops, books and other resources available for someone interested in doing voiceover work to get a VO 101 overview. The industry has expanded and there are more opportunities than ever before, and with that, there are also so many more things to be aware of when pursuing voiceover work, and it’s important you’re not just focused on talent, but also on learning how to run a small business.

Do This One Thing, First

By far, the most important point I emphasized to the students was that finding voiceover community, either general or niche, is the best thing they could do for their future VO career.
Within voiceover community, people are generally kind and generous with information, whether it’s from their own experience or pointing you toward a reputable resource. Social media is an equalizer though, so you’ll learn over time in each group who may be more aligned with your values, and whose advice carries more weight.

People can give you personal recommendations for coaches, share lessons learned, help each other with gear, tech challenges and how to approach studio upgrades, and also, warn each other against scams. Depending on the connections you build, other voice actors may help cast you in projects, or point you towards someone looking for your characteristics. The thing you really want is to meet people across all stages of their careers.

I pointed out that the students, just by the nature of being in that classroom for film & TV, already had exactly what they would need for voiceover. In an elective class, you’ve got peers who wanted to be there and are interested in learning about the topic. You understand many of the same struggles and can relate about the work, getting along in the classroom can lead to becoming friends outside of it due to your mutual interests. Just the same, when finding community around voiceover, you can connect with people with similar goals and support each other, and you’ll build a group of people who understand the unique challenges you face. They may even become some of your dearest friends.

Having VO community is key to making a career in voiceover tolerable in the hard times, sustainable for the long-run, and far less baffling and lonely than it might otherwise be on your own.

So, where are they?

Community is more prevalent on traditional social media, namely all the Facebook groups someone could join to connect with fellow voice actors, and some LinkedIn discussion groups may prove helpful, as well. There are a handful of groups on Discord that I’ve heard good things about but haven’t personally explored. Clubhouse is another place where VOAs congregate for education, Q&As, accountability and audition opportunities, though I’d say it’s supplemental to a more text-based platform for growing your personal connections.

As in all things, diversifying and being involved to different levels in a few areas of community are going to benefit you more than being involved in just 1 space. All of those groups are free to join, though some have requirements of your career progress before you can become a member.

When you surround yourself with good people, with similarly aligned values and goals, the challenges you face along the way don’t feel impossible, because you’re not facing them alone. You have people you can turn to for support, commiseration, encouragement and understanding. Those a little farther along in their voiceover career may have been there before; someone even newer than you may have a fresh perspective from their lived experiences that helps you reframe a situation, problem solve, find silver linings or see an opportunity you’d missed.

In a place you might expect to find competitiveness since we’re all working in the same field, sometimes submitting for the same audition, you instead will be reminded that there is an abundance of work out there. Helping everyone be a little bit better makes us, as an industry, better as a whole. We generally work alone in our home studios, but ensuring that you aren’t doing this entirely on your own is the best advice I could offer to someone looking to get started in the voiceover industry.

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Non-Traditional Tools of the Trade

Arielle — Wed, 30 Apr 2025 18:21:23 +0000

A Voice Actor Walks into a Pet Store

Non-Traditional Tools of the Trade

I don’t have a dog and am not getting a dog, but yesterday I walked into a pet store and bought myself a dog training clicker. While checking out, I got to surprise the employee with the off-label use for this product.

First, you should know that when remote recording an audiobook with multiple narrators, there are 2 main styles of narration: dual and duet.

The orange button can be depressed to make a loud click to aid with dog training, or in this off-label usage, to indicate an area in the recording for the editor to insert other characters' wild lines into my character's chapters.

Dual Narration

Dual narration involves alternating chapters told from different characters’ POV. Each chapter or section of a chapter is narrated entirely by one narrator, which includes any characters who also speak within that section.

The narrators need to share character prep and samples so the characters can accurately be reflected by their co-narrator in each other’s narration, as well as pronunciations and other elements important to the storytelling. Each narrator will turn in their own POV’s chapter files and sections of full narration.

Duet Narration

Duet narration gives the listener a different experience, where each narrator follows their character(s) wherever they speak throughout the book. This requires more work on the production end, both prepping the script for multiple narrators, usually through colorful highlighting (seen above), and editing all the individual characters lines into each chapter.

The narrators still need to communicate about pronunciations, accents and other global elements of the book. Each narrator will turn in any chapters told from their characters’ POV, as well as “wild line” chapters, where they have characters who speak in someone else’s chapter. The editor and production team then have the task of audio assembly ahead of them, to piece together the audiobook with lines from multiple narrators working from different home studio environments.

Waveform audio from an audiobook that includes duet-style narration. My character narrates this part of the story, but anywhere that another character who I'm not voicing speaks, I've used a dog clicker to indicate the break as well as a few seconds of room tone before picking up after that character's lines.

This is where the dog clicker comes in. The character recording the narration for the chapter will need to clap, snap or otherwise indicate a break in their narration and then leave a gap in their recording for the editors to see at a glance where audio gets inserted. The crisp, unmistakable visuals that a dog clicker offers are an ideal indicator for where the wild lines belong.

Much to the wide-eyed amusement of the guy at Pet Market, this noisy device is very much at home in a duet narrator’s tool kit, and far more practical than clapping for every wild line in your narration.

I love clever and surprising off-label uses for things, such as this. What other non-traditional tools have you found to be helpful or even necessary in your workflow?

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Hiring a Demo Producer to Create your Commercial Demo

Arielle — Tue, 08 Apr 2025 22:31:36 +0000

Hiring a Demo Producer to Create your Commercial Demo

Voice Demo Basics

A voiceover demo is an essential marketing tool for a voice actor, it demonstrates your acting skills and abilities for approaching a script. It can show off your bag of tricks, how dynamic your range is, your capabilities and what you can offer potential clients. It’s also a vehicle for putting your dreams out there, showing what you can do in the hopes of being hired to do that sort of thing – a legitimate way to “manifest” what you want by demonstrating your relevant skills.

It’s advised that voice talent do NOT produce their own demo, and should instead seek out a professional demo producer. There are some good reasons for this.

Demo Do’s and Don’ts

There is a standard for what constitutes a professional commercial demo, and demo producer pros know the do’s and don’ts:

DO use custom-written scripts that demonstrate multiple performance styles and show your range,
DO represent different industries – appropriate to what you might aspire to be cast for – in the copy,
DO have a clear reason for each selection to be included in your demo,
DO fully produce the commercial samples, with proper EQ, compression and licensed music or SFX, and
DO keep the demo well-under 2 minutes.

There are many more, and some personal guidelines individual producers may abide by, as well. There are other content, style and production choices that a reputable established pro is going to navigate in order to make you sound as good as your reads can deliver. Professional demo producers also know the things to avoid in making a commercial demo:

DON’T reuse audition copy,
DON’T include full-length spots,
DON’T rip copy from well-known commercials,
DON’T ignore the current campaign, advertising habits or well-known voice of a brand you want to include (ie. Flo from Progressive is established as the brand voice, so it’s currently not a strong choice of insurance company for your demo), and
DON’T try to make a your commercial demo multi-purpose (ie. don’t put animation characters or documentary reads on your commercial demo.

Vetting & the Demo Process

A legit producer will likely have a threshold for what level of training and coaching you’ve had coming into the demo production process. Brand new voice talent need training before they invest over $1500 on a demo so that the producer can create an honest and competitive demo for you. If you’re not currently coaching with anyone, they may recommend that you work with a coach to make the most out of the scripts for your demo.

While some coaches also produce demos, other coaches work closely with demo producers they’ve come to trust and recommend. Referrals and talking with past clients may help you find the right coach to support your skills in the demo process. There are several elite demo producers and coaches within each genre of voiceover, and then, there are “demo producers” and “coaches” – don’t rush to hand over your money until you’ve properly vetted them!

To that end, when you’re deciding who will produce your demo, you should be able to hear a collection of demos they’ve produced for other voice actors in the same genre. Listen to their work and take the opportunity to speak with their past clients about their experiences. It’s worth your time to look around and make sure you’re investing in this demo process, and your career, with someone you feel good about!

The producer should also have a clear process they can explain to you upfront, perhaps with a start to finish timeline to anticipate. Generally for this sort of work, you will make a deposit, investing in the process and committing calendar time to talk, possibly collaborate on the writing/editing and to record together. The producer can explain how the recording session is conducted and the time allocated for it, how requested edits may be handled before the demo is considered ‘final’ and the process for file release and paying the balance.

Your commercial demo should capture the best of you at the time you recorded it, show off your potential and demonstrate your skills. A professional demo producer not only has a solid background in audio production, but they’re also a student of the ever-evolving industry, and perhaps even a trendsetter for demo styles and sounds. Why wouldn’t you want your demo to benefit from all of their knowledge, skills and insights? Invest in a professional demo producer who will pour their creative energy into making you a kick-ass commercial demo.

https://arielledelisle.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/lv_0_20250408151132.mp4

Downloadable mp3 for casting purposes: Commercial Demo 2025

You know the feeling of a really great haircut, when you get out of the stylist’s chair and you feel lighter yet also more grounded, refreshed, energized, and somehow more authentically yourself than when you walked in the door?

It was time my commercial demo gave me that feeling and better represented my skills.

There’s no one better than Eric Romanowski to work his always on-trend commercial writing and production magic. Just as he did with my last demo, he’s knocked it out of the park again!

Truth be told, new hair energy can’t touch new demo energy.

The post Hiring a Demo Producer to Create your Commercial Demo appeared first on Arielle DeLisle.