If you’ve been working in the voice-over industry in the last twenty years, but particularly in the last five, you know that rarely do you get the privilege of just “showing up and acting.” The transition from in-studio to home studio work has brought increased accessibility and flexibility, but this has also meant that in order to keep up, actors must acquire a myriad of other skills in addition to performing. Being the best actor for the part will get you the job, but home studio sessions also often require us to be engineers, editors, copywriters, localizers, and notetakers.
Most working actors today, especially those living outside of a major market, have accepted this plate-spinning as a reality of our current industry. But for newer folks, these supplemental duties often lurk in the shadows – until you’re in the midst of a session and a client says, “Can you play that back?”
Don’t panic! There are a few things you can prepare for ahead of time that will make you a rock star in any self-engineered session.
First and foremost, engineering!
Clients who cut out the middleman of an ad agency or audio production company will often expect you, the actor, to handle the recording of the audio on your end. (And it’s a good habit to get into even if they do record on their end – stuff happens.) In its simplest form, this means that you’ll hit “record” in the DAW (digital audio workstation) of your choosing, while simultaneously dialing in to a conferencing platform or phone call to receive your live direction from the client. Make sure to test this with a colleague ahead of time, if it’s your first session. I like to keep my DAW window visible while I’m reading the script, just so I can always have an eye on it to make sure it’s still recording. In between takes I’ll also periodically hit “save.”
Self-engineering also includes minding your gain – especially if you’re on a gaming or animation session, which tend to utilize a wide dynamic range (i.e. you might go from whispering in one line to shouting in the next). Get familiar with your setup so you can anticipate those changes and not waste any takes due to clipping or inaudibility.
You’ll also want to make sure to test your audio setup on all major conferencing platforms ahead of time (including Zoom, Google Hangouts, Microsoft Teams, and phone patch), so you understand the quirks of each, and ensure that your audio sounds great in all of them. None of these commonly-requested platforms allow for the client to capture your organic audio on their end, so you’ll be fully responsible for recording and delivering a high-quality product.
Slating
On a live session with an engineer, the engineer will usually slate the takes out loud before you begin to record. But since you’re the engineer in this situation, you’ll need to do that yourself. Slating – i.e., saying “here comes take one,” before reading the script – helps everyone stay organized. You can either just say the number of the take, or say the number and then follow it up with what you’re about to do. If the client asks for three versions of the line in a row, you can say, “Here’s take one, ABC,” then read the line three times. If the client asks for an alt (alternative) line, you could say, “This is gonna be take four, alt.” Slating is a unifier that helps prevent confusion when the client is searching for their favorite takes later. Which leads me to my next point…
Keeping track of takes and selects
Usually, the client will be taking notes as you read, but on occasion, they’ll ask you to track their “selects” for them. Selects are the client’s favorite takes that you’ve provided.
It’s advisable to confirm the client’s selects with them before you wrap. If the client is expecting you to put their selects together into one edited file for final delivery, having the slates that we talked about will make it much easier for you to find their favorites.
Timing
One of the most common asks is for you to time your takes and report that timing back to your client. This is especially common in commercial work, where ads have hard time limits; but it can also happen in any genre where the picture is already locked, and you only have a set amount of time to speak.
I don’t necessarily recommend that you run a stopwatch while you’re reading the script, unless that helps you. Instead, just record at the speed that feels natural, and then stop the recording and use your DAW’s tools to calculate the length of the last take. (You may need to edit out mistakes on the fly in order to get an accurate time.) Given enough time and practice, your brain will start to be able to deliver a 30-second read without much conscious effort.
Copy services
You may be asked to make script edits in the middle of a session. This can happen for several reasons:
- The spot is being translated or localized from another language or region, and the current translation sounds unnatural
- The writers realize they wrote too much copy for the time limit, or
- It just doesn’t sound as good as it looked on paper
Whatever the reason, be ready to notate the client’s changes on your script doc, and don’t be surprised if you’re asked, “What do YOU think would sound better here?”
Playback
The first and most common reason you may be asked for playback is that a client will want to hear back previous takes, in order to help them decide which is their favorite. If you’re not comfortable routing your DAW’s audio through your conferencing software just yet, you can often just play it back on your computer speakers.
The second reason is for you! When you work directly with an end client, they won’t often provide an audio reference (i.e. your audition that won you the job, or an example of your previous work together) so you can get back in the zone. You’re responsible for digging up that reference on your own, and playing it back before you start reading.
File preparation and delivery
Sometimes, when working directly with the end client, they won’t even have basic editing skills or software available to them. In that case, they may ask you to comp takes (compile their selects into one cleanly edited final file), edit out mistakes, split files, or clean up the audio quality. Make sure to clarify expectations so that the client leaves happy, and you deliver a product you can stand behind.
Bottom line: Make it easy for them
Of course, most of us would love to just show up and act. I do advocate for talent to adjust their session prices to account for these additional services, but if you can master these skills, being a full-service talent will keep folks coming back time and time again.
Alaina Wis is an award-winning voice actor specializing in commercial, corporate, and interactive work. She is a two-time nominee for Female Voiceover Artist of the Year (OneVoice® Awards), and took home the award for Best Automotive Performance – Female in 2025. Alaina completes nearly all her work from her home studio in Chicago and is an advocate for remote accessibility. She has voiced major campaigns for brands such as United Airlines, Toyota, SIX on Broadway, L.L. Bean, and Rocket Mortgage; and in the gaming world, is best known for her work in Starfield, Zenless Zone Zero, DC Dark Legion, Oxenfree II: Lost Signals, and Skyrim: Bard’s College. She’s also an award-winning screen actor, and a singer-songwriter.
Connect with her on Instagram, X, LinkedIn, IDMb, or on her website.
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