You've found your voiceover talent and are ready to start producing your script, and the next step will be to create a professional recording. You may be working with a videographer or production team to create your voiceover script, but there are also several computer software programs and tools available to help you create the entire project from start to finish on your own.

There is a significant amount of preparation required to ensure that the environment in which you record the voice over will help you create a quality piece. Here are some essential tips when preparing the room for your voiceover recording:

• Test your equipments. Having your talents on standby waiting for a faulty equipment setup to be fixed will cost you time and even money if you book them by the hour. Make sure you get the right equipment for the job and test them well ahead of production day, says Jay Rose, the author of "Producing Great Sound for Digital Video". You have to go as far as testing them hours before your actual production to make sure your project goes without a hitch.

• Test a room for echoes. You can find out if a room creates an echo effect by doing some test records in it. Close all doors, windows and check all your equipments to eliminate or at least minimize echoes.

• Make use of a background music. A Narration should feel and sound like as if the narrator is having an intimate conversation with the audience. There should not be any 'white noise' to produce this effect. If you find that you're recording a lot of 'white noise' and can do nothing about it, I suggest you use a background music to somehow mask those noises.

• Find the best position in the room for the recording. There are no rules about where to position the microphone, so feel free to move the mic setup into different areas of the room to get the right sound. You don't want to record when the sounds seem hollow or filtered in any way. Move around to find the best fit.

• Don't stress on ambient noises. A lot of things produce ambient noises and most them are out of our control. Ambient noises, e.g. outside traffic and chatter, don't always go through your microphone. However, consider having a high-pass filter on your mic for a cleaner recording when these noises are gravely affecting your project.

• Quiet vents, air conditioners and computer fans. If you're working in a very small space, you may have left computers or an A/C on during the recording. Sounds from these machines can cause some turbulence for your recording, so it's a good idea to turn them off for as long as possible during each recording segment.

Also monitor always the recording session in real-time using your headphones. Utilize playback functions in a seperate room to ensure that all is in order. Doing this will allow you to solve problems real-time and spare you doing retakes.

About the Author: Terry Daniel is a Professional Voice Over Artist from Minneapolis, Minnesota and Has Been Providing the Voice Talent for Dozens of Projects and Advertisements Since 1991.