The language heard in voice recordings!

When recording a voice some of the words and phrases bandied around the studio may seem a little strange to the uninitiated.  “Cold Voice” is a good example. It doesn’t mean the voice artist forgot to bring a pullover or needs to warm-up like an athlete prior to a run, although as with any activity involving muscles, warming-up is a good idea. “Cold Voice” simply means without music.

“Voice Over” might raise the question ‘over what’? This phrase comes from the film industry. When an actor is on screen the voice is described as “100% sound”.  When speaking off screen it is “Voice Over Film”. Later adapted in radio parlance to be Voice Over Music. Now abbreviated to V/O. Hence FVO for Female Voice Over and MVO (Even us guys should be able to work that out.)

A voice is said to be “Dry” when it has no echo or reverb added. So when the recording engineer is asked to “Wet it up” he doesn’t turn a hose on the voice artist. Although in some cases he might want to. Especially if the recording is running “Hot” a reference to the recording level being too high and so causing distortion.

Clients rarely attend studios these days as most voice recordings are organised via email. At Media Group studios clients have the option to record a “Telephone Directed Session”.  In this instance the client, the engineer and the voice talent are all connected in a 3-way telephone call. It’s the next best thing to being there.

 

Author: Maurice Ryall, Senior Writer at Media Group