Conversational Voice Overs: a Useful Guide

It is what many clients want these days, but how do you achieve that conversational style of read? 

In this video I take you through a few steps that will help you achieve a more informal, relaxed style when performing voice overs.

Here is the video transcript:

Gary Terzza:	In the last few years in voiceovers, there's been a move towards a more conversational, chatty, informal style, which is fine, but how do you achieve it?
	Hello. Welcome along to my VO Master Class. It's the Holy Grail of a voiceover read. It is the conversational delivery. How do you achieve it? It's one of those elusive things that does escape some people, but other people seem to be able to do it, just like that. I want you today to listen to one of my students. It's Mark Thomas, and here he is doing a voiceover for Mathletics in association with UNICEF.
Mark Thomas:	Zimbabwe is home to over 30 million people. More than 72% of the population here live below the poverty line. At Mathletics, we believe no young person should go without an education. That's why we're proud to work in partners with UNICEF since 2014.
Gary Terzza:	It's a really natural, lovely read. Isn't it? It just seems to flow. It's as if Mark's chatting to us in a coffee bar somewhere, and he's just telling us all about Mathletics and about UNICEF, and I think that's very important. He's inhabiting the words, but he's also not hitting certain words too hard. Let's take a look at these words here. This is a corporate script, and I'm going to read it in a voiceovery way. These days, it's imperative to put your best digital foot forward by maintaining a positive online image. If you haven't thought about it before, perhaps it's time to take a hard, honest look at how you're managing your online reputation.
	In my opinion, that's far too overdone really, and I think I can make it a bit more natural, a bit more informal, a bit more conversational. These days, it's imperative to put your best digital foot forward by maintaining a positive online image. If you haven't thought about it before, perhaps it's time to take a hard, honest look at how you're managing your online reputation. I think that's a much better way of doing it. It's more natural. It's lighter. I'm not trying to be Voiceover Man, which in fact, in the early days, I always used to be, and it never worked, and you end up sounding a bit like a radio DJ really.
	It's getting to know the words and it's getting to know your voice, as well, and learning to relax into that voice and being comfortable with it, as well. Anyway, thanks very much for watching today. Look after your voice, and I'll see you next time.