VO-BB - 20 YEARS OLD!

[Darren Altman]

Hi all.

I've been approached by a guy in the States to voice 16-18 minute health and safety videos, but the majority of it will require me to overdub (lipsync) an American actor word for word.

Have you had experience in this? I've voiced to video before, using Garage Band and found it tricky, but do-able. I have a feeling that this will be a long and laborious task, as if I'm slightly out with the actor it will look ridiculous!

Please can you offer me the best way to lip-sync at home?

Also, do you have different rates for dubbing and can you let me have some idea on what I should charge? There will hopefully be lots more repeat work if I do a good job as they have tonnes of vids which will need the voice replacing. I have got the thread on E-Learning and corporate narrations bookmarked, but this is going to involve MUCH more work!

Many thanks in advance.
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[Philip Banks]

It is a two person job so price accordingly. You will do a terrible job if you try to do it on your own. You for one hour £180, studio for two hours around £300 +VAT. So, doing it cheaply but doing it well is around £500.

[Bruce]

If you have to literally lip sync, as in make your mouth move in time to an on-camera spokesman, that really is a major challenge at home alone. If you're just providing narration for an overdubbing of an OFF-camera narration, and you're just providing the raw voice work, then it's a relative piece of spotted dick.* You'll need to time the length of each paragraph or section of narration in the original and just make sure that your version of each section is of equal length or a bit shorter. You client's people can than lay each section in with ease in the revised video.

B

*for the uninitiated it's a common Brit desert; had some the other day at a local anglophile pub...nummers.
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VO-BB Member #31 Enlisted June, 2005

I'm not a Zoo, but over the years I've played one on radio/TV. .

[Darren Altman]

Phillip, thanks mate.

As I thought really, this won't be possible on my own. I have a studio that I have used in the past and they punlish their rate card on the site, so I'll quote using that.

Thanks for the prompt response.
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[Jacob Ekstroem]

Darren, are you sure the client really means "lip-syncing" and not simply "synced to video"? I've done numerous gigs for Metro where I had to dub the dialogue of a character, as close to but not neccesarily 100% lip-sync.
It is lots of fun and not as hard as it may sound, but it is extra work since you will be doing more retakes than usual, so it really helps if you have instant editing capabilities. I've found Sony Vegas to be a pleasure to work with doing dubbing.

Good luck!
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Regards,
Jacob - Danish Voice Overs (try it... it sounds really funny, too!)

[Claire Dodin]

Hi!
I agree with Jacob, you may not need to lip-synch but just time it.
I do it with the audio only. I play the English sentence, leave a blank for me to repeat in French and so on. I pretty much only need one take as I just copy the rythm and speed. Then I check the waves on the multitrack, I put the English wave on one track and the French underneath and check that they match (I just move the French track so the pauses and words look the same at the same time. It's nearly lip-synch if the translation is good.
Since you'll be doing English/English, you should get an excellent result this way. It won't be perfect, but nearly. And I find it much easier than time it to the video (when I am on my own). It just requires a good ear, the more you'll do it, the easier it'll get.
Good luck!
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[Darren Altman]

Thanks for the replies all. I'm gonna talk to the client and find out exactly what he needs from me and then factor in studio costs if necessary. Much apprerciated. I'll let you know what happen!
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