Posted on

Turnaround For eLearning and Long Form Narration

elearning is an area I specialize in. It’s a form of voice over I actually really enjoy. In fact, I’m taking a break from an eLearning project to write this blog. I’ve been plugging away at one for a few hours this evening.

One of the most common questions I’m asked by talent getting involved in eLearning and other long form narration projects is, “How much time do I request to deliver? What’s a fair turnaround?”

There are a lot of different variables that factor into answering this question.

Factors To Consider

* How experienced are you?

* How complex is the script?

* How good is your audio / studio?

* How much editing is required?

* How many files are required for delivery?

* How much time do you have? Are you full-time or part-time in VO?

All of these are factors, but there is one rule of thumb I generally follow for estimating delivery.

Turnaround For eLearning and Long Form Narration

In most cases, calculate a 3:1 or 4:1 ratio. What I mean by that is, anticipate 3-4 hours of work to complete 1 hour of finished narration. That includes the time required to record and edit deliverable audio.

Estimate 3-4 hours of work to deliver 1 hour of finished narration.

If you’re starting out at this type of work, or it’s a complex narration, go with 4:1. If you’re more experienced, or it’s a straightforward script, you could probably estimate 3:1.

Looking for some more tips? Watch this video: Pro Tips for eLearning and Long Form Narration Voice Over.

Posted on

Voice Over Mastery

In reading books on entrepreneurship, and more specifically, in learning about those who are very successful entrepreneurs (read: millionaires and billionaires) there’s one common thread that ties them all together.

Mastery.

Information Overload

In the internet age, information overload is a real problem. There’s somewhere in the neighbourhood of a hundred million, billion, trillion pieces of content vying for our attention each and every day. (not an actual statistic)

It’s tempting to want to read every last bit of it. Absorb as much as possible. That’s how you learn, after all. Isn’t it?

Well, yes. And no.

It’s how you learn a little about everything. It’s not how you become a master of one thing.

Aim For One Target

karate-kid-crane-kickIn 2013, I decided explainer video voice over was a great fit for me. In making this decision, I devoted my efforts almost exclusively to pursuing this line of voice over. An explainer video demo. An explainer video website. I marketed my services to every explainer video production company on the internet.

This is the difference between learning and mastery.

I chose one target, and dove in entirely.

Explainer videos have made up the bulk of my business ever since. Now that I fully understand the genre and feel as though I’ve mastered my explainer video voice over work, I’ve begun to devote more effort and energy into my eLearning voice over work.

You Can’t Do It All

Voice over offers many genres. Everything from commercials and video games to telephony and real estate virtual tours.

It’s easy to want to dabble in them all. Particularly when you’re starting out.

Commerical work is sexy work! Who doesn’t want to do that?

Everybody dreams of being an animated character of some form or fashion.

The video game industry is exploding. How do you get in?!

Pick A Genre. Aim To Master It

The reality is, you can’t do it all. Well, I suppose a few people can. Most of us can’t. That’s not a bad thing!

That’s where the idea of mastery comes in. Find a genre that suits you and do what you can to own it. Trust me, that’s a much quicker path to success than trying your hand at every option out there.

Have you ever heard talent complaining about submitting 100 auditions a day on Pay To Play sites and not booking any work? Those are the people trying their hand in every possible genre. The ones who try to absorb every piece of content on the internet, instead of focusing on content relevant to their goals.

If you want to win in this business, learn to become a master.

Thanks for sharing this post from Marc Scott's Voice Over Blog.