Finnish Accent Voice Over Recordings

If it speaks – we can record it!

We can record all types of voice-over, for all types of projects including: documentary, e-Learning and training, corporate, advertising, telephone messaging and IVR, computer games and broadcast.

There are six different ways of recording voice-over for video projects:

• wild voice-over narration – not recorded to picture and with no timing constraints
• time-synced voice-over narration – recorded to picture
• UN Style voice-over
• recorded to picture
• phrase-sync dubbing – the phrase is in sync with the mouth movements, but not exact
• lip-sync dubbing – the most complex option where the mouth movements are exactly synced to the audio.

The method you choose is a matter of budget, taste, and the audience’s preferences.

A WILD recording is where the script is read aloud by the voice artist at a natural pace. If the voice-over is being recorded WILD, there is no way to know its length, so any visuals within the video, animation or presentation will have to be edited to fit the timings of the voice-over. This could be very difficult and time-consuming if the editor does not understand the language involved.  In this case some preparatory work may be required to the scripts, to make it clear where transitions in the visuals take place.

Recording to strict time constraints (STC), is when the voice-over is recorded to picture, to ensure it synchronises to the the original audio of the video. This ensures that what is being said, matches the correct section of the video. Recording to STC takes about twice as long as a WILD recording, because the voice artist will have to retake sections to get the audio timed correctly to the video.

The original speaker can still be heard in the background so that the audience is aware that the translated voice-over is acting as an interpretation of what is being said.

A UN Style voice-over, is a perfect fit for films with a serious subject matter, and it’s often used in documentaries and in news broadcast, where interviews are conducted on camera, in a language the target audience does not understand.

The actors’ voices are replaced (dubbed) with those of foreign actors. Lip-sync dubbing is commonly used in video games, animations, and films, as well as corporate dramas and e-learning video.

Lip syncing requires extensive preparatory work to adapt the scripts to fit with the actor’s lip movements. Producing a lip-sync recording is a time consuming process, and it can take considerably longer than a standard voice-over to produce.

Western cinema goers generally prefer subtitles or closed captions instead of lip-sync dubbing, but lip-syncing is preferred by many other cultures, particularly if the literacy of the audience is low.

Phrase-sync dubbing is similar to lip-sync, but the new voice-over is not matched to lip movements, it’s simply matched phrase by phrase, so it is not as costly to produce as lip-sync.

This is primarily dependent on the availability of the selected voice artist. We have two recording studios so we can schedule projects at short notice.  Usually we can turn-around urgent projects in just 24 hours. Most projects will require two to three days to schedule, record and edit.

We can deliver the audio as a raw, unedited file, or we can clean, edit, name and deliver the audio in any format and resolution you require.

We can also re-integrate the audio back into the video, and encode the final video in any video file format and resolution you require.

To learn more about how we clean and edit our voice-over recordings, and why it makes for better sounding voice files, watch our video here.

Yes, we only ever work with voices native to the country or region required.

Yes, we welcome clients to our studio, where you can direct the recording in person. You can also direct the session over the phone or by using Zoom or Skype if preferred.

Usage fees (also sometimes called “buy-out” fees) are an additional fee payable to a voice artist for the use of their voice in TV, Radio, Website, in-flight or Cinema broadcast; Museums, Events, Exhibitions & in-stores; or video game, DVD, Film or a sell-through product. Every union has their own guidelines on usage rates. Typically we recommend allowing 100% of the voice artist recording fee for usage in your budget, but this is a guideline only and the actual cost is often dependent on the voice talent selected, and exact details of the usage. For more information about usage fees, take a look at this blog post.