So October marked the two year anniversary of when Madison on the Air went into production. In four months, we had 5 episodes in the can, 4 premiering on February 1st. And currently we’re in post production for episode 27! I’ve worked with a wide variety of voice actors in this time, and thought I’d throw out some hints on what you can do as a V.A. that will make your producer/editor love you.
RECORDING SET UP/SOUND QUALITY
It’s not about the expense, it’s about creating a space that serves your recording. You can find hints all over the internet about deadening a room (room echo is death in audio drama!) So, what I’ll add is CONSISTENCY. That every time you set up to record, you are delivering the same sound quality from the last time. Firstly, your DEMO sound quality should represent what you can deliver. When I listen to a demo, I am not only evaluating the acting chops, but what I am to expect sound quality-wise from that actor. If you recorded a demo in a professional studio and then present me with a performance recorded at home with low sound quality… I will NOT be using you again.
Likewise, there will be times you are asked to do “pick ups” and rerecord something from the show you already turned in. You MUST recreate the same sound quality in your pick ups that you did for your first submission. I have spent MANY an hour trying to get the recordings to match and it’s dreadful when they can’t be fixed. I have literally cut lines from my scripts purely based on an actor giving me back unusable retakes. I get it. You’re not thrilled about having to go through the process of setting up your entire booth just for a two line pick up. But it REALLY matters. So don’t be lazy! Instead, work to streamline your set up so you can get your booth up to top quality quickly, rather than cutting corners and giving a bad recording.
MULTIPLE TAKES
“WHAT ARE LINES”
The industry standard is 2-3 takes of each line. Let’s discuss that in detail. A “line” is the entire piece of dialogue your character has between the last character to speak, and the next character to speak. This sounds obvious, but I am seeing a lot of voice actors taking the word “line” to mean “sentence.” As a creator, I want dialogue that sounds natural. Actors, you must speak the entire line together. Yes, in editing we can cut those sentences into one line, but the PERFORMANCE isn’t there. So it should be performed with 3 takes as “Hi, Suzy. How are you? Hi, Suzy. How are you? Hi, Suzy. How are you?” NOT “Hi, Suzy. Hi, Suzy. Hi, Suzy. How are you? How are you? How are you?” OBVIOUSLY if you stumble and want to do a pick up, great. But remember to serve the performance.
RECORD THE LINES ONE RIGHT AFTER THE OTHER
I have had some actors give me the entire scene in one take, then go back to line one and do a second take of the entire scene. I want to be sympathetic that some actors find it more conducive to their performance not to repeat the line 2-3 times in a row before continuing on. BUT I’ll argue this. Firstly, you’re killing your editor. The amount of extra time I have to put in to someone who has recorded that way is ten fold. It is an absolute hinderance to editing, which is already approximately one hour to every one minute of play time. Secondly, if you feel you can’t give a good performance the other way… PRACTICE. Friends, I work in Hollywood. I have been in scenes with some of the biggest name Oscar winning actors. And guess what? THEY can provide an Academy Award winning performance doing one disjointed line repeated over and over and still knock it out of the park. It’s a SKILL. You need to hone it. No. Audio dramas are NOT live theater. Many don’t record with the entire cast together. (and in Hollywood, the voice actors do it this way, too) So get good at it. BE professional and provide your editor a recording that doesn’t make their job more difficult.
FOLLOW DIRECTIONS
Overall, production by production, just make sure to follow their directions. Not everyone works the same way, so you need to pay attention and adapt. If you want to go to a professional level, casting ABSOLUTELY expects you to follow directions in the audition submission. Consider it part of the job as a voice actor to do what is asked of you, even if YOU don’t know why they’re asking for something a certain way. When I was in undergrad for acting, we all had to take classes in directing, costuming, set building, props, etc. so we would have a full understanding of everyone’s role and how they all fit together. If you aren’t aware of the other aspects of creating an audio drama, maybe try to produce your own short piece! Once you’ve been on the other side of the microphone, you will have a fuller understanding of why you, as an actor, are being asked to do things in a particular way.
