Narration Resource

Feb 16, 2011

I've put together a free resource for anyone who wants to try it out.  It's called "The eLearning Narration Tool Kit."  It contains a series of phrases that commonly pop-up in eLearning scripts, plus a few course-specific introductions that you may find useful.  The categories include introductions, scenarios, course review, and there's some quiz-specific verbiage as well.

It's a free download, and yours to use however you see fit.  Perhaps you'd like to add a different voice for various places within an existing narration, or maybe you want to experiment with adding narration to a course...or maybe you just like free stuff. 

Whatever your motivations, I hope you find this a useful resource.  You may download it here:


http://www.abvoices.com/elearning-narration-tool-kit/

Enjoy, and happy designing!

Andy

29 Replies
Rebecca Fleisch Cordeiro

Thanks, Andy. As the others have said, very generous of you.

Funny what you said about paying attention to talking on the phone. Several years ago I'd been hired to develop and narrate screencasts. The client liked my voice, diction, etc., but not my "presentation."  So he called me and said, "Put down the mic. Talk to me. Tell me how you'd do xyz. I began, and he said, "that's it. THAT'S how you should be recording it." And he's hired me back repeatedly

T. Travis

Hi Jill,

Andy's advice is spot-on.

I got the same lesson when I was working in radio, only by way of a mistake I made on the air.  I happened to be recording my on-the-air program at the time.  A gave the usual break announcement, and somehow  forgot to turn off the microphone as the next record (they were vinyl, then) started playing. I ended up answering the phone during the record and talked to the listener about a request they wanted.  When I played back the program I heard my usual rather-boring break, the record start, and then, over the record, I heard myself answer the phone.  Instead of the boring, not-very-good disc-jockey I usually seemed to be, suddenly this person, full of life and energy appeared out of nowhere.  It was a lesson I'll never forget. -Despite the embarassment of the mistake.

Like most artistic endeavors, (Yeah, VO is an art.) the things you would think are the easiest are the hardest.  In voiceover the two most importat things seem easy, but they are hard:

(1)  Mean what you say  (Tell the truth).

(2)  Practice, Practice, Practice.

Jill McNair

Thanks for the great advice.  I'll definitely start paying attention to my telephone voice.  I appreciate the stories too - sometimes we learn some of the best lessons accidentally!

I have a regular struggle of having to clear my throat, due (I think) mostly to minor allergies.  Any tips on clearing it up for a recording session?  Tea with honey?  Lemon juice?  

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