How to prepare for a studio session: Part 1

You’ve got a studio session coming up and the hard part is done. You’ve booked the job! It’s time to celebrate the win and start preparing for the studio session ahead.

In my experience jobs can get booked at the very last minute (like 2 hours before they want you in the studio… yes, it happens!) as well as weeks and weeks in advance, so it’s good to be prepared for both circumstances. 

Here are my fail-safe steps to preparing effectively to ensure the session goes as well as possible. I’ve divided it into things you need to prepare before the studio session (Part 1) and things to consider on the day to make it all run smoothly (the day of tips are coming in Part 2).

Leading up to the studio session…

Negotiate 

A word that makes most performers cringe. This can feel like a bit of a daunting task and something you need to get comfortable with if you don’t have an agent specifically for voiceover work. The first step to getting good at this is to know what other people are charging and understand if what you're offering is in the mid, high or low part of that cost compared to other voiceovers. Does your price match your experience? Is it inline with what other people are paying for these kinds of jobs. Find out! Ask around, research and read blogs/forums for voiceovers. 

Remember that you can always negotiate the price down, but once you’ve named your price, you can’t go back on that and suddenly decide you actually cost more. Clients, studios and agencies are well versed in negotiating and if they want your voice, you’ll be able to come to an agreement that both you and the client feels comfortable with before the studio session.    

Do your research

Look up the company, the book, the producers, the team, the director, the studio, the people you've been liaising with. What kind of work do they do? Is this genre their forte and are they specialised in the type of voiceover you are going to record? If you’re working for a brand, look them up and find out what industries they operate in and what markets they have. How big are they and what is their social media/advertising presence like? (This part is also valuable to research because it can help you understand whether or not you’re charging the right amount). 

Don’t ever go into a studio session to record a job for a company, book, game or brand you don’t know anything about. If you’re unsure or you can’t find information, ask! Doing the background work ahead of the studio session helps you be better prepared and engage in conversation about the work which will help you come across as professional and interested. 

Get familiar with the text

Read it, re-read it, re-re-read it. Re-re-re- … you get the point. In your head and out loud to find the flow of the writing and practise any difficult sections instead of glossing over them. Make notes of any words and names you’re unsure of how to pronounce. If it’s a commercial job then look up the company on Youtube and find videos of how the brand name is pronounced. If there are words in foreign languages, use online translators to find the meaning and hear the word out loud with the correct pronunciation. This isn’t always perfect, but it’s a good place to start to prepare for studio sessions. In essence, the better you know the script, the quicker you’ll find the flow and energy of it and the easier it will be to take direction. 

I’ve recorded jobs when I’ve received the script in the studio session, sometimes the client runs out of time or is rushing to get a job through. Sometimes you have to work with what you’ve got and just go with it, but on these occasions, I asked over and over again for the final text or some version of it to prepare with. Often if you tell the client that seeing even a draft before the session will save time and make the recording quicker they will prioritise sending over the script or a version of it. And if they don’t send anything, you just need to roll with what you have and give it your best shot in the studio session. Sometimes we just have to think on our feet and get comfortable with cold reading.   

Part 2 will look at the preparation you need to do the night before and day of the session to make sure you are putting your best foot forward. Stay tuned…