138. Kristina Vahvaselkä: The Fascinating World of Voiceovers

Kristina Vahvaselkä is a Finnish–Canadian coach on presentation skills, actress and voice over talent. She has worked on voice overs since 2003. Her works consist of commercial, informative and character voice overs for corporations, television, radio and social media. She also dubs children’s cartoons into Finnish.

What voiceover is

The recorded voice of an unseen narrator or commentator that we hear in commercials, documentaries, audio books, video games, corporate films, etc. We hear them nearly every day.

What makes a voiceover really good

* Match the tempo, mood, pitch, tone to the message of the voice over. Often you have to try and record a few times with different tempo, mood and then compare them or let the customer decide the best.

* Avoid clicks and other distractions. They are produced by several reasons: lack of water, poor voice techniques. Always do vocal warmups before recording.

* In the case of audio books, the type of voice must really match the book otherwise it can sound irritating.

The most demanding projects in voiceover

For Kristina, the most demanding projects are dubbing a film to another language. The biggest challenge is to synchronize the mouth’s movements with the words in the other language.

Related: Empowerment Through Voice

Favorite quotation

“Ideas, effectively packaged and delivered, can change the world” — Carmine Gallo

Recommended book

You Were Born to Speak by Richard Newman

Routine to Shine

Exercise that helps relax the diaphragm:

Long breath out, hold your breath, open your mouth and let the air flow back into your lungs. Repeat 3-5 times. You can do this sitting down while waiting your turn to speak.

The most important thing to remember is not to pull the air in, because it will cause the diaphragm to tense up.

Links

Kristina’s website

Kristina at LinkedIn

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