Recording E-learning

You can learn anything
Australian farm kids know it very well. Since the sixties they have used distance learning using short wave radio to communicate with their teachers and their classes, because it was the only possible alternative to have education when schools were hundreds of miles away. Now it's easier and you dont' need to be a kid or live in Australia, you can improve your skills in any area thanks to e-learning. All you need is a computer or even a smart phone and of course time and concentration. E-learning was invented in 1998 by Cisco Systems when it discovered that an effective way of training its employees all over the world was sending them e-learning modules. By means of simple animations, videos and diagrams, the student can improve his knowledge in topics like company ethics, effective customer service or safety rules. The beauty of e-learning is that it is a step by step process, in which you acquire skills through a series of tests. It's self study with a clear objective result, because with a multiple choice system you know and your company knows if you have really made progress. To make e-learning an effective tool in training, the animated modules have always a human voice, mostly a persuasive narrator who is talking to you in your own language. Sometimes it can be more than that, so a real conversation recorded with actors that give life to a particular scene. So recording e-learning is a must and this is what we do very regularly at PrimeVoices.

We select actors for their pedagogical skills, because they have to convey with their voices a series of drills or exercises that sometimes can be complex. A very atypical e-learning course we have recorded it was for Renault and the language involved was Slovenian. It wasn't easy to find the actors in that language, but then when we recorded it wasn't an easy task. They had to read a very technical texts with specific instructions on how to operate the machines that manufacture cars at a plant in Slovenia.
How effective can e-learning be ?. It is portable because the modules can be loaded on any digital device, smart-phone, computer or tablet. It is a self-contained training, with speaking e-teacher, the voice you hear, and a series of exercise that assess your level. It is objective and result drive. But what are the inconveniences? E-learning is useless if it is used alone, the user should be supported by a tutor, because self-study has limits. Normally the e-learning package is used by the subsidiary with the help of professional coach that provides general guidelines on how to use it by managers. Last but not least the final user should also have the time within the company to be able to follow the course.
At PrimeVoices we have recorded e-learning in over 30 languages, covering not just audio, voice-over on pictures, but also final post-production with captioning and subtitling. In some cases, we have localized the animations so that the embedded texts can also be adapted to the local language.

Voice it, but first understand what you are saying !

If you do voice-over for a living, because you are a radio or TV journalist, or a professional announcer, I'm sure you are confronted with a simple fact: you can't read properly if you don't understand what it's written. Well, you could argue, a real voice artist can read any text in any way you ask him to, and not just that: a real voice artist can do some magic too: a stupid or even fluffy text can sound interesting and even intelligent if you apply the right dose of salt and pepper tweaking your voice and applying the right pitch, rhythm and intonation. If you add to that the technical savvy of a good sound engineer and the latest digital sound recording technology the result can be impressive. So beware of nice sounding voices, they can just make you believe or buy almost anything. That explains why some artists get paid nicely because their persuasive voices get the message across to your mind and that is the goal of publicists, preachers and, yes, journalists. Some journalists believe that just reading the facts and showing the pictures is enough to communicate, well they are wrong. They have to put something more of themselves than just the vocal cords, or their news item will be just another boring piece of information.
Check out http://www.primevoices.com


FRENCH
Lisez au micro, mais aprés avoir bien compris le texte !
Si vous travaillez dans la voix off pour vous gagner votre vie, soit parce que vous êtes un journaliste de radio ou de télévision, ou bien un speaker / comédien professionnel, je suis sûr que vous êtes toujours confronté à un simple fait : vous ne pouvez pas lire correctement si vous ne comprenez pas ce que c'est écrit. Eh bien, on pourrait penser, un vrais comédien peut lire n'importe quel texte de quelque manière que vous le lui demandez, et pas seulement: une artiste vraie peut faire un tour de magie avec sa voix: un texte stupide, voire vide peut même paraître intéressant et intelligent, à condition d'appliquer la bonne dose de sel et de poivre dans la voix et ajuster rythme et l'intonation. 
Si vous ajoutez à cela le savoir faire technique d'un bon ingénieur du son et les dernières technologies numériques de l'enregistrement sonore, le résultat peut être impressionnant. Alors méfiez-vous des voix qui sonnent, ils peuvent tout simplement vous faire croire ou acheter presque n'importe quoi. Cela explique pourquoi certains comédiens sont très bien payés parce que leur voix persuasive fait passer le message à votre esprit et tel est l'objectif des publicistes, des prêtres et, oui, des journalistes. 
Certains journalistes estiment que la simple lecture des faits avec les images est suffisant pour bien communiquer, eh bien ils ont tort. Ils doivent mettre quelque chose de plus propre que seulement les cordes vocales, ou leurs infos seront juste une autre pièce ennuyeuse qui déclenchera l'indifférence et le zapping.
Jetez un coup d'oeil sur http://www.primevoices.fr