Artificial voices are coming out and they're just using these machines to talk for us and do our voices. And it's like, well, I don't know if the technology will ever get as savvy as that it can replicate, replicate like what a what a human being sounds like just because there is emotion behind it
Hello friends and welcome to the block, the building learning and organizational culture podcast. I'm your host Heidi Kirby. On today's episode, I talked to the lovely Monique Danielle, about how she got started as a voiceover artist. She shares tips for those of you who have to record your own voiceover as well as why you should push your organization to hire professional voiceover artists for your learning project. I hope you enjoy this episode. I know I learned a lot. Hi,
Monique. How are you?
I'm good. How are you doing?
Good. So you are the first ever voice over artist here on the block. And the first Canadian, which is awesome to two firsts. Yes. And other than that, I just would like you to give a little bit of your background, you know, your career, how you got into voiceover and any fun facts you want to share.
Cool. Um, I if you visit my website, one of the first things you'll see is that I the left brain, right brain voiceover because I actually studied accounting before I got into voiceover. So I'm like a weird mix of like, Oh, I do taxes, but also make funny voices, which people can't always seem to wrap their head around, which is funny, but it works really well. Because VoiceOver is running your own business. And so it helps to
have accounting gigs. Sure. And then, actually, before getting into voice acting, specifically, I was trained in theater. So I'm a theatre actor first and then fell in love with VoiceOver and everything in between. So it's um, kind of a big, weird mixture soup.
So you could do tax commercials that are actually funny,
hopefully, would sound like I know what I'm talking about. Because I would so like, people that they know what they're
hearing. There you go. Yeah, for sure. So I wanted to bring you on the show to talk a little bit about a problem that a lot of people in learning and development have in that, that they get stuck doing their own voiceover? Yeah. Whether it's for budgetary reasons, probably nine times out of 10. It's for budgetary reasons.
Yeah. But I just wanted to pick your brain and find out like, what are some tips that you have for people who are like, forced into it, and despite wanting to be able to hire professional talent, have to, you know, climb into their closet and do their own voiceover work?
First thing would be keep fighting back, keep fighting to hire the Pro, like, Tell Tell whoever you're reporting to it's, it's not always as expensive as you think. And it's worth it in the long run to get someone who has that sound. Because I've spent a lot of money investing in my space and my training and this thing, the other thing, so when you pay my fee, you're getting a bunch of stuff in there, too. But it's funny, you mentioned the closet, because that's exactly probably one of the
places you might start. That's where I started, my first studio was in my closet. The reason for that is that you want to get that nice sound so that it doesn't sound like you're echoing or just that really kind of amateur sound that as soon as you listen to it, it takes the professionalism out of it. And you're like, Oh, what, this is really jarring. You have this beautiful elearning setup so nicely, and then you the mic comes on and it's all fuzzy or something. So your space right
away is key. So like a closet that maybe has some clothes in it like jackets, whatever. I have recorded an audition under a blanket in my hotel room. Because that's, that's really good at sound dampening. Be ready, it's gonna get warm really fast. So bring water also bring water to hydrate. Sure. And yeah, so the first thing is probably find a space that can sound as good as possible or you can kind of pat it and make it
sound good. And do what you can to get a good mic because you're not going to want to use the mic on your computer or even the one that comes in your well. You're not going to want to use the one on your computer or on your laptop or anything that's for sure. Maybe if you have a headset that has a mic on it, maybe next best thing is called a USB mic, which is pretty much a microphone that'll plug right
in. But the best thing to get is a microphone that goes through an interface that then goes into your system. And that'll allow the basically the interface kind of turns your words into a language that the computer understands. So then you get that digital file. It can be pricey. So if you're already not having the money to hire a voiceover, maybe you're looking at the USB mic option or something like that. Sure.
And I will say, this is totally an amateur Podcast. I'm just in a room with my little USB mic. And my USB mic has a little sweater. And that's about it. Yeah, so and but it still is way better than computer microphone. Absolutely. I would totally agree. Because I've had to do my own voice over through the years. And I've had to use a computer microphone. And that's probably like, if you can even just plug in your air pods. Use those instead, like, anything is better than it can be math.
Because your computer microphone will get that weird, like echoey. Or like that distance that sounds like you're recording, you're talking to someone from the other side of the room. It'll sound weird. And the listener will might even be distracted, which is definitely not what you want. You want or just like
the fuzz, right, just the feedback, the noise. And that's or, you know, you get the i I've very rarely heard this, I will say but you get like the elearning that has like a background sound like that they didn't edit it out. Yeah.
And it's distracting. And you don't want your learners to be distracted from what they're learning, it's easy to get distracted. Yes,
spend all this time designing and developing something. You know, you don't want it to be you know, it to be unprofessional?
Totally, you want it as clean as possible. And just like you want it to sound as good as it looks basically,
for sure. What about people who just have trouble with the actual, like, reading the script, doing the voiceover part? What advice do you have about not doing? Like, or every other word?
Totally a great question. She says I'm writing it down having a script, I think is is number one will be the best way to get all those little ad libs out of there. Because I'm answering your question. Without a script, I'm going to have those arms and pauses and maybe stutter over myself. So write it down, make yourself a script, definitely. So that you know what you're
saying. And then the next step of that to make it sound to make it not sound like you're reading, I would recommend like picturing who you're talking to. So maybe that's picturing your student. Or maybe it's if it's like employer training picturing the employee, even a lot of times, I'll picture someone really personal to me, like my mom or a friend, because then it really gets that conversational reading. So that it doesn't sound like someone's talking at you, it sounds more like they're
talking to you. And you're going to learn better that way. So sometimes people even have like a little booth buddy, they'll have like a little stuffed animal or maybe like a picture of their mom or something in the gym, because it helps to talk to somebody, because it is a dialogue, even though you're the only one talking. You want it to sound like a dialogue so that the learner feels engaged.
For sure. That's totally why I use this is the sounds like a commercial and it's really not, but it could be. That's totally why I use squad cast to record these podcasts. Because while the video doesn't get recorded, there is video. So it's like I can actually have a conversation with you and see you and see your reaction, instead of just recording the audio piece.
Totally. And it's way better than just like tucking into the darkness or like, well, and it's really easy. If you're just gonna read something for someone to fall asleep real quick, just by like her gets a little bit sounds monotone and it sounds really whatever and then you fall asleep. So you want to keep them engaged. So talk to them.
Yeah, no, I think that's a really good point. Especially because one of the ways that I've tried to stop using so much and other fillers is by just like slowing down my speech. So what I have to be really careful of is that by slowing it down, I'm not turning into like Ben Stein, you know,
a totally, but you're absolutely right. And I am a fast talker and so at As a result, they get a lot of thumbs and likes and US A's, as we say in Canada. But you're right, if you slow it down it definitely it allows your brain to catch up with whatever you're saying. And then just make sure that it's not so slow. Exactly that it's monotone monotonous, right. It's Ben Bueller.
Yeah, exactly. If you didn't know who Ben Stein was. You just kind of started getting into elearning. In your voiceover journey. Is that right?
Yeah, I have done some elearning records. And I have an elearning clip on my demo, but it's one of the newer areas to me, I usually do like corporate or explainer, which is not
that far off. True.
From elearning. But yeah, I recently, like really wanted to get into it. And I, there's just so many more liberating things, I think in elearning, there's like, there can be characters, there can be sounds there can be and even just getting to read something and learn about a new thing really great. For me as the voice artist I get to. I sound like I know exactly what I'm talking about. But I didn't before I got your script. So thank you. I'm learning.
Yeah, well, no, I think that's true for instructional designers too. Like, I know way more about hazard analysis, then I need to, but absolutely no, whatever you're working on a course for whatever you learn, like, you know, depending on especially when some of these projects take six months or a year, you know, you're immersed in that topic, and you come out knowing like, I never thought I would know this much about whatever. Right, exactly.
It's really cool. Yeah, it's really cool. I like it.
Yeah. So what makes elearning different than like a corporate or explainer video?
Um, definitely elearning is longer is kind of the quickest answer. So an explainer might almost even be a mini elearning. Like, it's
usually 90 seconds. So whereas elearning would be longer, but the principles are similar, because you're teaching someone you're explaining to them how to use something, I find that corporate depending on what it is you're talking about, if it's like an inward like a business to business, or something, it might be a little bit more dynamic than an elearning read, which is because you're talking because you're gonna be talking for a long time, because you're you have to keep kind of a
steady tone, and like, you have to sound the same in one module, as you do in the next module, you don't want to be really dynamic. So just because I think that's mostly because just of the longer short Asian, is the first shot is a big difference.
Okay, yeah, no, that totally makes sense. Because I had to do like a series of videos for one of my jobs. And I would find myself so as is, as you probably know, your voiceover voice is different than you're talking to mom on the phone voice. Like, and so I have like a different voice than I do voiceover for elearning. To that, like, I don't think it even sounds like me. So I literally had to go back and listen to like, how I
got into that voice. Before I would record another video because it was like, Okay, what voice did I use? And my voiceover voice? I don't think sounds like regular me at all. In fact, one of the girls who I worked with at the time, just randomly, this was like, a month after the training came out. I stopped at my desk one day when I was talking to somebody and I was like, what? She's like,
that's you in those videos. And I was like, Yeah, did you just now realize that she's like, Yeah, it doesn't really sound like you. I'm like, good. You know, because I'm normally so informal. And actually, the podcast is like, in between still. So it's not even you know, it's not as professional as a voiceover. But it's definitely not how I talk every day. There's like a third. So it's the amount of talent it must take you to do all those different kinds of voices like I can't even imagine.
Well, and it's, you're absolutely right. There are some things like so if I was doing elearning for a bank, I might have a an I might have a different voice, but it depends also who that bank is talking to. It also depends on the bank's brand. Because if you have maybe a bank that has that markets to Milan Danielle's are even Gen Z or whatever, and they want to be, oh, we're the cool bank anyway, they'll probably want you to do a different style than a formal bank or a
government or whatever. So you do get the elearning that wants it to be really casual, depending on who your audience is, depending on what their brand is. So, most of the time, I find it's reasonably close to my regular speaking voice, just your right not as maybe colloquial as like, sure I regularly talk. So exactly. He's like, a little bit elevated, but not so far that it's like, you're gonna think it's this weird, disembodied, like, fake voice or something like that.
Like, you want to still sound like a person. But yeah,
right. Right. Now that makes sense. A fake voice. I have heard some voiceover that was like a little too. What is it called uncanny valley, as they call it, where it's just like, seems like almost not a real person.
Right? And it's a little bit creepy. Because they because often it's used in like, maybe like a psychological thriller, or whatever. Like that weird.
Yeah. Motionless
voice is like, yeah, we have these weird associations with it. So totally. And then now one of the beans of voiceovers existence is that artificial voices are coming out. And they're just using these machines to talk for us and do our voices. And it's like, well, I don't know if the technology will ever get as savvy as that it can replicate, replicate, like what a what a human being sounds like, just because there is a motion behind it. And there's a real person
there. And so it's, it's, but it's really funny, you think it would be easy to go in and like just be yourself and be a real person. But it's actually harder to be a real conversational person than it is to go in there and sound really proper and be like, today in our elearning, we will be talking about like, it just sounds really weird. And you're like, you don't like that? And you're like, I know, but I'm reading this. Yeah, that I would never say
like you're Yeah, sound like you're reading like that? Yeah. Well, and in my experience, the fake robot auto, whatever you want to call it AI voices that I've heard that are attached to elearning products are not very good at all, like I would I what I said before, about, like computer mics being really horrible. My other piece of advice would be like, if you have a choice between you. And you sound like I don't know, if you say I'm every other word, whatever, whatever the case,
maybe. And you have a choice between that recording yourself and recording or using that fake voice. I would just record yourself. True. Yeah. Or maybe just have text on the slides.
Well, that's the thing. And like, you can you can add, like, maybe very gentle music or even sound effects. Like maybe if you have a person and there you can see that they're talking but they're just going like, or whatever. And then you have text and then yeah, our brains go like Oh, look, this person said that, like are getting creative in trying to get around. Yeah, not having a robot. Talk to your learners because they're
Yeah, they're gonna run for the hills. Yeah, nobody wants that. Nobody wants that. Sorry, guys, I hate to break it to you. So you also have a really good in my opinion, presence on LinkedIn. And you're super positive. And I just really like everything you post. Can you just give us a couple tips or tricks about how you kind of maintain that presence? And, you know, think of the things that you think of the post?
Oh, yeah, for sure. Well, thank you, I appreciate my LinkedIn. Oh, I try to post at least once a day, um, I've just kind of started getting getting more into LinkedIn recently, because I'm learning that that's where the folks that I want to work with are and it's and as more people are using it and posting and talking to one another, it's just it's a great platform to engage with. And in terms of like, positivity, that's kind of
part of my brand. I just would so much rather wish everyone a happy Friday then focus on there's a lot of negative stuff in our world and there's a lot of stuff that I just don't want to spend my day focusing. I tried to be directive and I it's led and it's nice because I love what I do. So it's easy to be positive when you're when you're really happy about what you do, which is great. In terms of coming up with like content and stuff. I do a lot of research. I
listen to a lot of blogs. And I look at what other people are posting. I am a big fan of alliteration. So things like Motivation Monday Feel Good Friday, I have this thing I do on Wednesdays which is want to work with you Wednesday, which I think is cool. Love that. Oh, thank you. I really just love all the w's I'm like, it's just easier to remember it flows
really easy. And so I find, and then if you kind of get into like a segment of Oh, want to work with you Wednesday, who do I want to work with or feel good Friday, what makes me feel good, the beach, the sun, whatever. And so then I kind of just, yeah, brainstorm in that way. And, and
it's half the work done for you, you just have to fill in the blank that way.
Yeah. And then go to like a stock photo. So I'm, I go to like a stock photo website. So I make sure that I'm not using someone's work that I don't have permission to and like find a cool photo that kind of fits. And then part of it is honestly kind of like how I talk about like, when you're, when you're voicing, you want to make sure you sound like a real
person. That's just really what I strive to do on social media, too, is like, and that's, I think, what a lot of listeners, and what a lot of clients are looking for is like, they just want to know that you're a person that you're not a corporate Gooner, like whatever, like, and so I just tried to be
really me really authentic. And because at the end of the day, like I'm building a business, I want to I want to know, my clients, I want to like my clients, I want them to be happy with the work that I do I want Sure. I don't just want to voice and have them go away and like never hear from them again. Like it's, it's just nice to build relationships, too.
For sure. Absolutely. So I have one last question for you. And it is if you could just pick one resource can be any type of resource book, movie, website, blog, VHS, video, whatever.
It's really great eight track that you guys.
Perfect. But to help an amateur who wants to either do their own voiceover or even get into the field of voiceover? What would it be? And why?
So I'll give two answers, because one is not free. So the free answer there's, it's called GVA or so the global Voice Actor Academy, there's a lot of stuff on there, it just about how the industry works, what are the kinds of norms, there's articles you can read, there's webinars you can register for and like there is paid content on there, definitely, that you can get. But I think there's a lot of resources on there that that are available freely. And then the other one that I'll say is
called gravy for the brain. And it's, they're out of the UK and but they have a US, Canadian of Latin America, they have a ton of they're all over the world, which is great. Okay, they're basically a kind of like a go to online school for voiceover. So you can sign up for a membership, I think it's something like 30 bucks a month
or something. And they have all these courses and webinars, and they have mentors who are on there who actually like so a real person who actually responds to your post, and you can say, could you have a look at my website? Could you take a listen to my sound and tell me if it sounds okay. And they'll actually respond to you. So even if you sign up for one month, and then you're like, I can't commit to doing this every month, but it just one month, like you could binge all sorts
of stuff on there. And it'll just kind of teach you the ins and outs of voiceover and what the industry is looking like and what you kind of need and stuff like that. So those are the two places. Sorry, I know you said one, but I gave you two.
You're not the first person. Like in a second one. But you, of course, but I'll share those websites. And of course, I will share the link to your website in the show notes. Thank you and so that everyone can connect with you on LinkedIn. And hopefully you can get a little business out of
this. I know I will certainly be pressing for professional voiceover from now on in my career, whether I get it or not, is another thing, but I think what you guys do is really amazing, especially after trying to do it myself.
Thank you Well, and I'm constantly amazed by the instructional designers like I follow a ton of instructional designers on LinkedIn and I love the stuff it was just kind of blows me away and I probably look like this, like nerdy person who doesn't know anything, but I'm like, Oh my gosh, have you seen that? And all the instructional designers are like, oh, yeah, like four years ago.
Hilarious. Yeah. But we feel the same way about you and what you do to sell. Thank
you. I appreciate it.
Yeah, well, thank you for coming on the show. It was great meeting you and talking Yeah
my pleasure thank you for having me it was wonderful to be on thanks again
for joining me on the blog if you enjoyed this episode please share it with friends and review us on your favorite podcast platform I hope you'll tune in again soon