Sometimes life throws you something a little different. I was asked to do some voice-overs for some educational videos. On the face of it the gig was quite simple. I would be sent some scripts, I would record the voice-overs and then an animator would create the visuals to match what I was saying.
So far, so good.
But when I sat in front of the microphone I was confronted with a dilemma… which voice?
This may seem obvious, but the truth is we all have different voices depending on who we are talking to and the context. For example, we all talk differently to young children, our parents, animals, people in authority and vicars. After watching the local football team, my eldest son would return home with the broadest of Bristolian accents as this was the voice of the terraces. Hands up if you have a telephone voice. You can put them down now. We all annunciate our words properly on the phone, especially when talking to strangers, as we want to ensure that what we say is clear and easily understood.
The tone of voice that we use is really important especially when writing. The style and language used in a social media post or blog should be completely different to that in a brochure or formal letter.
Whether speaking or writing, we should always use the appropriate voice for the audience we are writing for or talking to. Of course, that does mean knowing our audience, but that’s a completely different topic.
For more help on copywriting and tone of voice, get in touch or check out this link. https://jabberwockycreative.co.uk/copywriting
So what voice did I use for the voice-overs? Telephone voice #2. The one that’s easily understood, yet encouraging, informative and takes no ‘crap’.
