So how did I go from recording a 100k book in 6 months to being able to record up to 20k words in a single day?
And that’s what this post is about so let’s bullet point this for ease:
1️⃣ FAMILIARITY
I was already familiar with the characters so that helped a huge amount. I have a spreadsheet of characters and voices which Chris Patterson, my author, helps me with and so can reference the voices quickly.
2️⃣ EXPERIENCE HELPS
After 6 years recording voice overs everyday you’ll learn to record fast. My process for long form has been to record with errors and click them in for easy identification. Each time I make a mistake, click my fingers before re-reading a phrase.
3️⃣ HAVE AN ASSISTANT
I have an assistant who edits my mistakes out. Cleans and then masters my audio. This saves a lot of time.
4️⃣ RECORDING ENVIRONMENT
I have a £90k recording studio with AC, meaning I no longer need to wait for the kids and neighbors to go to bed before I start recording.
I can record whatever the weather, and record for longer as I’m in a cool quiet environment.
No more sweaty reads which drain energy.
5️⃣ ACTING ABILITY
My ability as an actor has taken fruition after several years of coaching. I can snap into different characters faster switching from one to the other in dialogue scenes.
6️⃣ DEPTH OF CHARACTERS
This is more of a side note, but for the original books I developed themes for each main character. Like Vader has his. This is done in some movies. Because I’d already composed music for the main characters I had invested the time to think about them. So no need to spend time again there.
7️⃣ TEAM WORK
I share each chapter recorded on a spreadsheet with Chris unedited immediately after recording it. Meaning he is part of the process as it happens. And any changes or mistakes he’ll let me know of. This teamwork means I’m confident in moving forward and there’s no major mistakes in characters.
8️⃣ BELIEVE IN YOURSELF
Another Chris, Chris Tester massively helped guide me and helped me realize what I was capable of. Belief in self makes a huge difference.
9️⃣ INCREASED STAMINA
In the past I would only do up to 3-5k words at a time and get tired. My stamina has increased. I can do 20k words in a day, time permitting but I’m happy to stick to 10-12k and still work on other work coming in. And the days I don’t want to that’s fine too. As long as I hit my weekly target.
🔟 IN SUMMARY
In a nutshell I’m recording for longer times, making less mistakes and have developed characters I can jump into much quicker.
I’m sure there are a few other things too but that’s the gist of it I think.
How about you?
Have you managed to improve your performance on a task over the years?
What’s been your blocking point of achieving a task faster?
