How Voice Talent Online helps introduce a new generation to the wonders of the voice over industry
Remember, how exciting the last days of school were before breaking up for the holidays?
With the curriculum complete for the year it meant games, fun (no work!), and if we were really lucky, a movie in class! That end-of-year ‘break’ is very much a tradition in schools across the country, especially for children in younger age groups.
So, how did one of our local schools keep children entertained last term as the year was winding down?
Helping to give youth a voice
That’s a problem we helped North Kent’s Bronte School to solve, as we invited staff and 20 of their pupils to a voice over workshop at Voice Talent Online to:
- experience the incredible world of voice over acting;
- control the technology that powers our projects; and
- direct each other’s incredible vocal talents.
Over the course of a three-day workshop, the pupils aged 7-8, experienced three professional roles in an unusual, rewarding and exciting industry, learning how a professional voice over studio works.
Hosting two-to-three groups of students a day, we didn’t want to structure it like a tour of the studio and a lecture (every child’s nightmare!), so we decided on a more ‘hands-on’ experience.
At school, they had been studying the Mr Men & Little Miss series of books, as part of which each child had written their own original Mr. Men or Little Miss book. What better use of the voice workshop than to turn these stories into original audio books?!
To boost confidence in the creative process, they were put in small teams of four, and then sub-teams of two, with each child having a specific responsibility to help make sure that recording each other’s voice over session was a success.
Helping kids get creative with voice over
Two students would read and narrate their books together in the booth. The first typically narrating, with the second contributing character voices and other ‘different’ lines for which a second ‘voice’ worked well.
Outside the booth, a third child controlled recording and sound engineering, running the session on Mac-based digital workstation, Logic Audio. They would record, pause, re-rewind and re-record whenever necessary, as the voices went through their narrations, re-takes and corrections.
Finally, the fourth child in each group was project director (the boss!) – listening carefully to the session whilst checking it against the written script next to the sound engineer, listening for mistakes, stopping everyone, ordering re-dos, and demanding more expression! This was a very popular role!
Each pupil took it in turns to try each job associated with the voice over process, from recording to management and engineering as they recorded their audio books. They also got a great insight into the pressures that voice over talent have during the recording process, as they were bossed around (helped…) by their peers. They took it all in their stride.
Into the future
Overall it was an incredibly fun experience for all involved. Not only did our team really get involved, loving to show a new generation the fun of working in the voice over industry, but the children really engaged with the task and were fascinated with the process involved when recording content.
Since the workshop, many wonderful letters of thanks were received from the children, several of which expressed a wish to one day work in one of the roles experienced!
Why not pursue an exciting and rewarding career in the voice over industry!
We’re Voice Talent Online. We speak your language. Contact us today to find out more about our industry-leading multi-lingual voice over talents, casting, localization and audio production services today.