Voiceovers aren’t always at home ready to record, a lot of the time voice talents find themselves abroad but still, make themselves available for work.
How are they able to do so? You may ask. Well, there are quite a few ways of going about it, we’ll cover some of them in this post on how voiceovers manage to record when abroad.
In the car
It may not look like so immediately, but the everyday car can work as a great starting point for a makeshift studio when out and about. Granted, you’d have to make alterations for this to be feasible.
For instance, lining your windshield with blankets to stop sound from reflecting, as well as putting a blanket over your head to dull the excess atmospheric sound around you is a good starting point. Needless to say, it’s also important to ensure that you don’t park anywhere excessively noisy.
If you’re in a bustling city, it’ll probably be best to record your audio in the early mornings or evenings, so as to prevent any unwanted background sound from coming through in your final product.
In the closet
Say you don’t have a car, the next best place to record your audio will be your nearest closet or wardrobe. Again, to ensure no unwanted sound reflections occur, make it so your closet is lined with fabric, whether this is curtains, coats, or other clothing.
If your closet is completely empty with you and your mic, then you’ll likely record a roomy sound. The fewer places that your sound can bounce off, the better for the final audio.
To be extra safe you can always take a duvet in there with you also, which will do the same job as it would in the car for dampening out the excess vibrations coming from elsewhere, enhancing the final sound.
In a portable booth
Though not everyone will have access to this, a portable recording booth is also a viable option for on-the-go voiceover. Portable recording booths are specially designed to help isolate sound, reducing the need for retakes.
When you have a proper recording booth on-hand, you don’t need to spend as much time on post-production, as your sound will already be crisp enough to an extent.
Granted, not everyone has the means to be able to travel with a portable booth, especially those with hand luggage, so this is one more for those who have the option available to them.
In a studio
Always a viable option for the busy voiceover is to hire a recording studio in the country they’re in. A recording studio will take care of the recording, and also production (if they include it in their package), the only caveat to this is that the costs of the studio may eat into the potential profits that the voice-over could be working towards.
If you’re fortunate enough to be in a country where the hourly studio rates are cheap, then this is a solid option for you. However, if you’re still starting out and only receive an average of one project a day, the costs may not cover the expenses!
Extra tips to consider when recording abroad
Despite the above tips on ways to get the best voice-over audio abroad, here are some key things to consider when recording your voice-over audio away from home:
- Be somewhere quiet (early morning or late night if that’s not possible)
- Use a pop filter/isolation ball (this will help cancel out extra sound)
- Cover yourself and the mic with a blanket to help dull excess noise
- Record a few extras takes for your producer to sift through and choose from
Hopefully, this post has provided you with some insight into how to record a voiceover when you’re away from home. For those starting out, these tips should work to help you achieve an ideal sound from wherever you are in the world.
It can be comforting to know that you won’t need to hire a whole studio for when you’re traveling, and even if so, there are always options available should you need them.
