Has anyone done a Voice Over style video?

Skyd

Skyd

Wannabie Member
Hey guys,

So I'm thinking of doing a how-to/informational video and I kinda wanna try out just shooting video and then scripting a voice over for it.

I'm wondering if anyone has any experience with this, I can't wrap my head around how to get the video to line up with your script or visa versa. Is it just educated guess on timing and then play around in the editor? Edit the video and then do the audio, or the other way around.....

I'm probably WAY overthinking this - it's my superpower.
 
Skyd said:
Hey guys,

So I'm thinking of doing a how-to/informational video and I kinda wanna try out just shooting video and then scripting a voice over for it.

I'm wondering if anyone has any experience with this, I can't wrap my head around how to get the video to line up with your script or visa versa. Is it just educated guess on timing and then play around in the editor? Edit the video and then do the audio, or the other way around.....

I'm probably WAY overthinking this - it's my superpower.
Click to expand...
Are you talking (pun) about shooting footage and then recording the audio track separately? If so then having a script/outline handy when you shoot and record will help you out a lot.

I have not done many but those I have done involve me doing that and then watching the footage a few times to get my wording and timing right. Then I record the voiceover with the editing software.

Now if you are referring to redubbing the footage in studio of you talking on camera and your lips can be seen, that will be a little harder to be precise.

Of course you can embrace the flaws and run with a badly dubbed 1970's filmstrip for school style video. Shoot the footage in 4:3 and even go with low resolution. Find a projector sound to play very faintly and have fun with it. Nobody will know what as ironic and what was a mistake.
 
I have never done a full video with only voiceover. But the bits I do, I usually look at the footage, think what I want to say, Edit it together, and just try saying the lines, while playing back in the editor. If needed adjust the video. Then record, and cut the audio, where needed.
I would not do the whole audio in one take. That would probably be too much. Also you are bound to mess up words. Just do both video and audio in segments, cut everything together, adjusting stuff, as you go.
 
Theodor said:
I have never done a full video with only voiceover. But the bits I do, I usually look at the footage, think what I want to say, Edit it together, and just try saying the lines, while playing back in the editor. If needed adjust the video. Then record, and cut the audio, where needed.
I would not do the whole audio in one take. That would probably be too much. Also you are bound to mess up words. Just do both video and audio in segments, cut everything together, adjusting stuff, as you go.
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Yep, this is how I've done it in the past too.
 
Short Answer: I would edit the video and then use the editing software or OBS to record your audio while you play it back, so everything lines up.

Long Answer:
I am struggling with this right now. There's a vlog I filmed where after the fact I found out the mic wasn't plugged into my GoPro properly, so I got camera audio only, which is super windy. I've cut out all the talking bits from while I was riding but left the off-bike stuff since the audio there is fine. I decided to do a voiceover to explain this and give some context because it'll be needed for the off-bike bits.

What I did was edit the whole video into a rough cut and then I played it back while recording in OBS, stripped out the video, and edited the audio length to fit, cutting out blank spaces. I think this will work just fine, and is the way I'll do it in the future if it's required.

-John
 
Regardless of how you're using your voice over I would suggest recording it a soft and isolated environment as possible. Unless you have a recording studio in your home with sound dampening material on the walls and ceiling, I would record in a carpeted room, with the windows closed, while turning off any background utilities like AC, dishwashers, or washer machines/dryers.

That may be easier said than done, especially if you live with other people in your home. What I tend to do is find a clothes closet, step inside, close the door and record. The closed environment with the cloths will soften any sound that has a risk if bouncing off hard surfaces, making it sound like you're recording in a locker room or subway.

Using a Lavalier mic helps a lot too.

- Wolf
 
scooterwuf said:
Regardless of how you're using your voice over I would suggest recording it a soft and isolated environment as possible. Unless you have a recording studio in your home with sound dampening material on the walls and ceiling, I would record in a carpeted room, with the windows closed, while turning off any background utilities like AC, dishwashers, or washer machines/dryers.

That may be easier said than done, especially if you live with other people in your home. What I tend to do is find a clothes closet, step inside, close the door and record. The closed environment with the cloths will soften any sound that has a risk if bouncing off hard surfaces, making it sound like you're recording in a locker room or subway.

Using a Lavalier mic helps a lot too.

- Wolf
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These are GREAT points! I've been super lucky in my "studio" audio lately - I found out that my laptop's mic does a really good job of noise cancellation without distorting my voice. Depending on your computing rig, that may be a viable option.

FWIW, I record in a glassed-in porch with no carpet, so lots of hard surfaces. It's really the only place in my house where I can record. I also have an exhaust fan in here, so there's noise from that as well as my laptop cooling pad directly beneath the laptop, not to mention the loud fans inside the laptop itself. If you watched my Sportster S reveal reaction video, the audio in that only had Alex Audio Butler applied to it.

Come to think of it, I wonder if my laptop will still do the noise cancellation if I plug my lav mic into it??? More testing to commence!

-John
 
I'm always doing voiceover on my vids. Simply because English is not my first language and just vlogging in English feels a bit odd to me. Davinci Resolve is a great tool to do voiceover. Using the fairlight tab you can preview and record your voice at the same time with plenty of filters and noise reduction and so on applied live.
 
Great tips guys, thanks! I've done a couple short voice overs in my videos but never an entire video. Surprisingly using my gaming headset produced some pretty good sound with no background noise...the house was quiet when I recorded, no screaming rugrats or AC's running.

This gives me a good starting place, although I do like that idea of overdubbing like a Godzilla movie, that could be fun. LOL
 
I have done it once or twice.

There are channels out there that only do "voice-over" style video's ;)
 
I re-dubbed the first part of a how to vid, it was too quiet so I added sound effects to all that was going on in the video(footsteps etc, lol). Turned out pretty good, I considered doing the whole thing.
 
So I just finished editing and uploading the video last night. I think it came out fine, I added some background music so there's no dead air.

I scripted the intro but after that it was basically off the cuff in 30-45 second sections and if I didn't like it I'd just do it again. The very end took me the longest for some reason, I did like 10 takes for the last 15 seconds of voice but also I was rushing it a bit because I ran out of video and still had more to say. I got it worked out though and I'm happy enough with it.

As for the actual voice, I tried it 3 different ways. Luckily my house was silent last night, a rarity. First I tried with my gaming headset but it was too harsh picking up alot of T and S sounds. So I tried my purple panda and it was decent and that's what I was gonna use until I accidentally forgot to plug it back in and recorded a clip right off the laptop mic and it actually came out the best of all 3. Go figure.

I will say the entire audio is a little...hmm, tinny maybe. Some softer material in the room probably would have helped. I have hardwood floors, a glass top desk. so lots of hard surfaces.
 
Skyd said:
I ran out of video and still had more to say
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Just make a follow-up podcast :P
Skyd said:
As for the actual voice, I tried it 3 different ways
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I was expecting this means what kind of voices you did. Like Donald Duck, Ronald Reagan etc.
Skyd said:
Some softer material in the room probably would have helped. I have hardwood floors, a glass top desk. so lots of hard surfaces.
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Try scattering pillows and cushions around larger flat surfaces
 
Theodor said:
Just make a follow-up podcast :p

I was expecting this means what kind of voices you did. Like Donald Duck, Ronald Reagan etc.

Try scattering pillows and cushions around larger flat surfaces
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Oh good idea, I'll have to try donald duck next time, LOL

Good tip on the pillows and stuff, I hadn't really thought anything about it until I was done and I was like hmm it's a tad harsh. But overall it's not bad.
 
UncleL said:
I'm always doing voiceover on my vids. Simply because English is not my first language and just vlogging in English feels a bit odd to me. Davinci Resolve is a great tool to do voiceover. Using the fairlight tab you can preview and record your voice at the same time with plenty of filters and noise reduction and so on applied live.
Click to expand...
Mate do you know of a good simple fairlight tutorial on YT telling how to do those things?
 
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