Actually, what is a voice-over ?
Because it's not that obvious, and needs to be explained
If you’re going to be following me on my journey, it would be a good thing if you knew what I was actually talking about when I say that I do “voice-overs”. How is that a career ? How do you generate an income from this ? How do I plan to take this into a van ?
First things first. What is a voice-over ? If you know the answer don’t put your hand up please :) Turn on the radio - what do you hear ? if it’s not music or some other kind of sound, it will be a voice or several of them. If it’s not your presenter speaking from the top of his head, but someone trying to sell you something, or telling you a story from a script, then they’re doing you a voice-over.
Now you know this, you can never unknow it (sneaky little laugh follows). You’re going to be hearing voice-overs everywhere ! Just like that car model you’d never heard of or seen but now you have, you’re seeing it driving on every road every day, hahaha.
So a voice-over is basically a scripted voice you hear without seeing the person that is doing it. Make sense ? Now you’re going to hear the narrator in a film, the person reading you your lessons online, the one in the documentary or video you just watched on YouTube or a company’s website, the one telling you a story and making characters come to life in your next audiobook, all the little people in cartoons and animations, the ones in the video games you play, and of course the sultry smooth voices in adverts on the radio and television. Oh and also, the lovely one at the station and on the train you take every day to work ! Even Siri, Alexa, and the Google Maps voices, or the soft ones in your yoga and meditation apps. I could go on and keep finding more. Here, I forgot the voice you hear on the telephone when you’re patiently waiting to be put through to a real person you can actually speak to…
The possibilities are endless. Seemingly. Which is why it’s such an exciting thing to do! I’ve been reading scripts to my microphone for over five years and I’m still trying to decide which kind of work I like best. They are all so different, every project is a new challenge, every day holds new words and I learn something new all the time. Just the other day from my studio I travelled with pets on an aeroplane, reviewed different kinds of flanges and joints, told the world about the benefits of a pharmaceutical product, and assisted new employees to find their way around their new place of work.
So that explains how I’ve come to make a full-time occupation with voice-overs. There are projects to be found in every corner of the human universe. With so much happening online, and bandwidths getting bigger and bigger, the possibilities only seem to be expanding as time goes on. The only challenge there is to find the projects, the people who want your voice on their video, in their cafeteria, on their phone. It’s been said that a career as a voice-over freelancer is 20% recording fun, and 80% business marketing and networking. Well that’s all just part of the fun I reckon. If you don’t agree then freelancing of any kind isn’t for you.
How can I do this from the back of a van then ?
You can produce voice-overs in two main ways: as a hired talent visiting a professional sound recording studio, with sound engineers and creative directors, at a fixed address, whenever they need you to come in - or in your own personal studio whenever your voice is requested, either entirely self-directed or on a call with engineers, directors and project managers all getting together from around the world at the same time to hear you work. The latter is a relatively new form in the history of the art that has been spreading like wildfire since the pandemic forced us all into various lockdowns and made coming in to studios undesirable. Thank goodness the internet bandwidth available by then made this all possible. I imagine the equipment retailers experienced a big bang boom in their sales that year..
Yes, yes, I’m getting to the point. This brings me exactly where I can tell you - if I have been working all this time from the one room in my house, all padded and sounding lovely, with just my recording hardware, my computer and my internet connection, and hardly ever seeing anyone outside of Zoom and emails, then why couldn’t I just fix some wheels under that room and take it wherever I please ? Exactly. Why not. Now you see what I see. That’s how it’s going to work.
Turns out while I was travelling in France in 2021, I discovered that the very best place to record voice-overs, out of all the make-shift sound attenuating structures I attempted to build in hotel rooms and family cellars, from which to do work for my trusting clients, was the inside of a car. I have heard some die-hard pros scoff at the suggestion and dismiss such tomfoolery as unprofessional. But with technology improving constantly as it is, a good microphone appropriate for the circumstances can get you very far. Now, the inside of my van will have been designed with the sole purpose of being appropriate for recording (ok, and sleeping and generally living as well) so there really is no good reason why I can’t make a real success of this.
Anyway, anything is possible when you put your mind to it.
So I put my mind to it.
See you on the airwaves !
Gaelle, the voice heard on www.gaellegosselin.com
Now that you get what I’m trying to do, you might actually like to follow my upcoming adventures to see how it all pans out. I’d be grateful to share that all with you ! So come along, subscribe to my journey, and you’ll receive a post like this right to your inbox whenever I make one. Plus, I write them in both English and French, so you can either unsubscribe to the one you don’t want, or read both to improve your language :) Always multitasking, I know…
Pssst ! If you know voice artists or other humans who would be curious to see where this all goes, how about sharing my newsletter with them too ?
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And here I thought a voice over was the little voice in my head! LOL. I think it's awesome you've found a way to become nomadic!
Thanks for these insights into the life of a voiceover artist! I actually looked into doing this a few years ago, after I served as the voiceover for several courses for one of my former clients. I had a lot of fun doing it and also thought it was something I could do living on the road. Eventually other interests took over but I still find it intriguing!