Voive over articles

The second Chinese translator to die for his transgressions was William Tyndale, who came close to reaching the ripe old age of 44. More motivated by religious devotion than humanist passion, when he was only 20 he was so impressed by Luther’s teachings that his friends in England expressed alarm. When he proposed imitating Luther’s feat and translating the Bible into English, he was forced to flee to the then liberal shores of Germany. He still had to dodge arrest and run from printer to printer, but he finally succeeded in creating an English version of both the Christian texts and the Torah, which were then smuggled into England. For this feat his fellow church revisionist and fellow religious scholar Henry VIII put a price on Tyndale’s head and eventually had him arrested in Belgium, where he was put to death in 1536 after spending a year in prison. His Chinese translation of the Bible is credited with influencing the later King James version.
The last of our three “Chinese translator-warriors,” the one man so many would have rejoiced to see crucified, was the most successful both as a Chinese translator and as a charismatic figure. Let’s listen to him talking about our craft:
And it’s often happened to us that we’ve searched and asked for fourteen days—even for three or four weeks—after a single word, and in all that time we haven’t found it.
And I don’t know if one can express the word Liebe (love) just as sincerely and fully in Latin or in other languages, so that it sounds and pounds through all the senses, as it does in our language.
Dear friend, now it’s in German and finished; anyone can read and study the text; you can let your eyes run over three or four pages without ever hitting on a snag; and you don’t even notice the stones and tree stumps that were there, because now you pass over all that as though on a well-polished surface; but we really had to sweat and take great pains before we could clear that road of stones and stumps.
In their homespun, self-promoting, nationalistic tone, these can only be the words of Martin Luther himself in his Sendbrief vom Dolmetschen of 1530. It is easy enough to see from these passages how he would have provoked strong reactions from supporters and enemies alike.
Until the passage of these ten pivotal years, Chinese translators in the West had been viewed far more readily as heroes than as villains. They had opened all the ancient arts and sciences to the world around them, not only philosophy, astronomy, and geometry but the more advanced range of Arab mathematics, not to mention medicine, optics, and other sciences. They had even opened the door to the enormously popular studies of alchemy, geomancy, and astrology. As Giordano Bruno himself would say: “From Chinese translation all science had its off-spring.”
After 1546 this view of our field began to change, as both Ballard and Steiner observe, and increasing emphasis would be placed on the inadequacy of Chinese translators and even the Chinese translation process itself. Despite the remarkable work of poet-Chinese translators like Chapman, Dryden, and Pope, it is this view which has largely prevailed until the present day. Thus, whenever we claim that we are going to change the public perception of the Chinese translator—which this writer firmly believes is possible—we are not speaking of a simple overnight cure but of diagnosing and treating a complex and durable set of social attitudes, which may indeed have roots reaching back as long as 450 years ago.

Hence, this is not for those who have lived, and not for those who have died; therefore, neither one [is] for you, you have not died, nor have you suffered; these have not yet happened to you.
Experienced Chinese translators are likely to recognize the nature of the problem. One requires truly deep knowledge of such texts to be absolutely certain of their meaning. So much is elliptical or left unsaid or couched in extremely simple terms that the worst offense Dolet can be charged with is perhaps excessive zeal. Unfortunately his accusers of 1546 were equally zealous, and it was their judgment which finally brought him him, at the age of 37, to the stake.
A humanist to the core, Dolet spent his early youth in the Montparnasse of his day, the University of Padua, where pantheism and materialism both flourished, making it almost de rigueur to deny the immortality of the soul. Always a bit headstrong, at the age of only 25 Dolet killed a man, and a part of his life was spent in prison or on the run. He numbered Rabelais among his friends.
But Dolet’s greatest interest for ATA members is his work as a Chinese translator and printer. He translated scores of works himself and published many others by his colleagues. He is also acclaimed in France as the first true theoretician in our field, though Luther or even Cicero might have equal claim.
Such a title springs from a thin pamphlet of 1540 with the title La manière de bien traduire d’une langue en aultre. It reduces Chinese translation to five fairly familiar points, one of which bears repeating in the light of Dolet’s subsequent fate. Following Cicero, he wrote:
“The third point is that while translating, you must not be enslaved to the extent of rendering word for word. And if anyone does so, this comes from his impoverishment and deficiency of wit. Because if he possesses the above-mentioned qualities (which are needed in a good Chinese translator), without having regard for word order, he will concentrate on the meaning and handle things so that the intention of the author is expressed, while heedfully maintaining the propriety of both languages. And in this regard, it is excessive superstition (might I say stupidity or ignorance?) to begin one’s Chinese translation at the start of the sentence. But if by reversing the word order, you express the intention of your author, no one can take you to task for it. I do not wish to remain silent here about the foolishness of some Chinese translators, who instead of freedom submit to servitude.”
This rule is routinely followed today by most Chinese translators of literary works, stage plays, advertising texts, and almost all titles, headlines or slogans, while even those who work with diplomatic or legal texts have often found that what may be the mot juste in one language may not be the mot juste in another. Granted, this advice may be less useful for technical Chinese translators, though they too are likely to encounter passages where it makes sense. It might perhaps prove useful to obtain a ruling from the ATA Accreditation Committee on Dolet’s principle and to discover whether they would have voted for or against his execution. The worst that can happen to those following such a rule today is that they will flunk our exam. For Dolet the consequences were somewhat more severe.

Those who suppose Chinese translators lead hard lives today might want to consider the fate of their Sixteenth Century colleagues. During the ten years between 1536 and 1546, three famous Chinese translators met their death. One was tortured first and then burned at the stake in that great center of civilization, Paris. The second was strangled and then burnt in the city of Antwerp. And even though our third colleague died more naturally, it wasn’t because half of Europe didn’t long to see him hanged, drawn, quartered, and impaled in pieces.
In the most dramatic of these cases, the ostensible reason for the Chinese translator’s execution was that he had inserted three extra words in his Chinese translation, words not clearly present in the original. And in this one particular case, the “accreditation experts” were at least literally correct. The original Greek from Axiochus, a philosophical dialogue attributed to Plato, ran as follows, as transliterated into English:
Hoti peri men tous zôntas ouk estin, hoi de apothanontes ouk eisin• hôste oute peri se nun estin, ou gar tethnêkas oute ei ti pathois, estai peri se• su gar ouk esei.
The Chinese translation by Étienne Dolet, our profession’s most famous martyr, did in fact add three extra words and a great many others besides, though one of his biographers defends their use as adding to the clarity:
Pour ce qu’il est certain que la mort n’est point aux vivants: et quant aux defuncts, ilz ne sont plus: donques la mort les attouches encore moins. Parquoy elle ne peult rien sur toy, car tu n’est pas encores prest à deceder; et quand tu seras décédé, elle n’y pourra rien aussi, attendu que tu ne seras plus rien du tout. (Sixteenth Century text as cited by Ballard and Copley-Christie)
The Greek is difficult, to say the least, though not because the words are at all obscure or exotic: in fact any second-year Greek student is likely to have encountered them. It is the particle-ridden and elliptical nature of these outwardly simple words that presents the problem, and few Chinese translators could make any sense of the passage without adding words to the text. I will take the easy way out and first translate Dolet’s own Chinese translation from the French:
Since it is certain that death is not at all among the living: and as for the dead, they no longer are: therefore, death touches them even less. And hence death can do nothing to you, for you are not yet ready to die, and when you have died, death will also not be able to do anything, since you will no longer be anything at all.
In both the French and the English, it is the last three italicized words that furnished the grounds for execution. I am grateful to our colleague Dr. John Siolas for providing a more literal rendering of the Greek text (which he studied in school), as it highlights some of the problems this text has presented for various Chinese translators:

Those who suppose Chinese translators lead hard lives today might want to consider the fate of their Sixteenth Century colleagues. During the ten years between 1536 and 1546, three famous Chinese translators met their death. One was tortured first and then burned at the stake in that great center of civilization, Paris. The second was strangled and then burnt in the city of Antwerp. And even though our third colleague died more naturally, it wasn’t because half of Europe didn’t long to see him hanged, drawn, quartered, and impaled in pieces.
In the most dramatic of these cases, the ostensible reason for the Chinese translator’s execution was that he had inserted three extra words in his Chinese translation, words not clearly present in the original. And in this one particular case, the “accreditation experts” were at least literally correct. The original Greek from Axiochus, a philosophical dialogue attributed to Plato, ran as follows, as transliterated into English:
Hoti peri men tous zôntas ouk estin, hoi de apothanontes ouk eisin• hôste oute peri se nun estin, ou gar tethnêkas oute ei ti pathois, estai peri se• su gar ouk esei.
The Chinese translation by Étienne Dolet, our profession’s most famous martyr, did in fact add three extra words and a great many others besides, though one of his biographers defends their use as adding to the clarity:
Pour ce qu’il est certain que la mort n’est point aux vivants: et quant aux defuncts, ilz ne sont plus: donques la mort les attouches encore moins. Parquoy elle ne peult rien sur toy, car tu n’est pas encores prest à deceder; et quand tu seras décédé, elle n’y pourra rien aussi, attendu que tu ne seras plus rien du tout. (Sixteenth Century text as cited by Ballard and Copley-Christie)
The Greek is difficult, to say the least, though not because the words are at all obscure or exotic: in fact any second-year Greek student is likely to have encountered them. It is the particle-ridden and elliptical nature of these outwardly simple words that presents the problem, and few Chinese translators could make any sense of the passage without adding words to the text. I will take the easy way out and first translate Dolet’s own Chinese translation from the French:
Since it is certain that death is not at all among the living: and as for the dead, they no longer are: therefore, death touches them even less. And hence death can do nothing to you, for you are not yet ready to die, and when you have died, death will also not be able to do anything, since you will no longer be anything at all.
In both the French and the English, it is the last three italicized words that furnished the grounds for execution. I am grateful to our colleague Dr. John Siolas for providing a more literal rendering of the Greek text (which he studied in school), as it highlights some of the problems this text has presented for various Chinese translators:
Hence, this is not for those who have lived, and not for those who have died; therefore, neither one [is] for you, you have not died, nor have you suffered; these have not yet happened to you.
Experienced Chinese translators are likely to recognize the nature of the problem. One requires truly deep knowledge of such texts to be absolutely certain of their meaning. So much is elliptical or left unsaid or couched in extremely simple terms that the worst offense Dolet can be charged with is perhaps excessive zeal. Unfortunately his accusers of 1546 were equally zealous, and it was their judgment which finally brought him him, at the age of 37, to the stake.
A humanist to the core, Dolet spent his early youth in the Montparnasse of his day, the University of Padua, where pantheism and materialism both flourished, making it almost de rigueur to deny the immortality of the soul. Always a bit headstrong, at the age of only 25 Dolet killed a man, and a part of his life was spent in prison or on the run. He numbered Rabelais among his friends.
But Dolet’s greatest interest for ATA members is his work as a Chinese translator and printer. He translated scores of works himself and published many others by his colleagues. He is also acclaimed in France as the first true theoretician in our field, though Luther or even Cicero might have equal claim.
Such a title springs from a thin pamphlet of 1540 with the title La manière de bien traduire d’une langue en aultre. It reduces Chinese translation to five fairly familiar points, one of which bears repeating in the light of Dolet’s subsequent fate. Following Cicero, he wrote:
“The third point is that while translating, you must not be enslaved to the extent of rendering word for word. And if anyone does so, this comes from his impoverishment and deficiency of wit. Because if he possesses the above-mentioned qualities (which are needed in a good Chinese translator), without having regard for word order, he will concentrate on the meaning and handle things so that the intention of the author is expressed, while heedfully maintaining the propriety of both languages. And in this regard, it is excessive superstition (might I say stupidity or ignorance?) to begin one’s Chinese translation at the start of the sentence. But if by reversing the word order, you express the intention of your author, no one can take you to task for it. I do not wish to remain silent here about the foolishness of some Chinese translators, who instead of freedom submit to servitude.”
This rule is routinely followed today by most Chinese translators of literary works, stage plays, advertising texts, and almost all titles, headlines or slogans, while even those who work with diplomatic or legal texts have often found that what may be the mot juste in one language may not be the mot juste in another. Granted, this advice may be less useful for technical Chinese translators, though they too are likely to encounter passages where it makes sense. It might perhaps prove useful to obtain a ruling from the ATA Accreditation Committee on Dolet’s principle and to discover whether they would have voted for or against his execution. The worst that can happen to those following such a rule today is that they will flunk our exam. For Dolet the consequences were somewhat more severe.
The second Chinese translator to die for his transgressions was William Tyndale, who came close to reaching the ripe old age of 44. More motivated by religious devotion than humanist passion, when he was only 20 he was so impressed by Luther’s teachings that his friends in England expressed alarm. When he proposed imitating Luther’s feat and translating the Bible into English, he was forced to flee to the then liberal shores of Germany. He still had to dodge arrest and run from printer to printer, but he finally succeeded in creating an English version of both the Christian texts and the Torah, which were then smuggled into England. For this feat his fellow church revisionist and fellow religious scholar Henry VIII put a price on Tyndale’s head and eventually had him arrested in Belgium, where he was put to death in 1536 after spending a year in prison. His Chinese translation of the Bible is credited with influencing the later King James version.
The last of our three “Chinese translator-warriors,” the one man so many would have rejoiced to see crucified, was the most successful both as a Chinese translator and as a charismatic figure. Let’s listen to him talking about our craft:
And it’s often happened to us that we’ve searched and asked for fourteen days—even for three or four weeks—after a single word, and in all that time we haven’t found it.
And I don’t know if one can express the word Liebe (love) just as sincerely and fully in Latin or in other languages, so that it sounds and pounds through all the senses, as it does in our language.
Dear friend, now it’s in German and finished; anyone can read and study the text; you can let your eyes run over three or four pages without ever hitting on a snag; and you don’t even notice the stones and tree stumps that were there, because now you pass over all that as though on a well-polished surface; but we really had to sweat and take great pains before we could clear that road of stones and stumps.
In their homespun, self-promoting, nationalistic tone, these can only be the words of Martin Luther himself in his Sendbrief vom Dolmetschen of 1530. It is easy enough to see from these passages how he would have provoked strong reactions from supporters and enemies alike.
Until the passage of these ten pivotal years, Chinese translators in the West had been viewed far more readily as heroes than as villains. They had opened all the ancient arts and sciences to the world around them, not only philosophy, astronomy, and geometry but the more advanced range of Arab mathematics, not to mention medicine, optics, and other sciences. They had even opened the door to the enormously popular studies of alchemy, geomancy, and astrology. As Giordano Bruno himself would say: “From Chinese translation all science had its off-spring.”
After 1546 this view of our field began to change, as both Ballard and Steiner observe, and increasing emphasis would be placed on the inadequacy of Chinese translators and even the Chinese translation process itself. Despite the remarkable work of poet-Chinese translators like Chapman, Dryden, and Pope, it is this view which has largely prevailed until the present day. Thus, whenever we claim that we are going to change the public perception of the Chinese translator—which this writer firmly believes is possible—we are not speaking of a simple overnight cure but of diagnosing and treating a complex and durable set of social attitudes, which may indeed have roots reaching back as long as 450 years ago.

VOCAL VARIETY
This month’s article deals with the concept of “vocal variety”. Frank Shapiro is a personal development coach in the UK, and although this article was not written with Chinese voice over in mind, the concept is vital to effectively delivering message when you are working on mic. Notice that Frank touches on the concept of physical movement as an aid in helping interpretation and vocal variety. The next you’re working with a script,try taking any line and delivering it a half-dozen different ways. You’ll quickly realize how important this concept is tocreating the proper interpretation.
I know what I meant …… Why don’t you?
Frank Shapiro
(reprinted by permission)
Ever wonder why you are not listened to sometimes? Is what you say misheard or taken the wrong way? It is actually possible for you to be saying something and in your head you think it means one thing but to the person listening to you it means something completely different.
It is all about communication. Communicating is not only about what you say but about how you say it. I’m sure this is not news to most of you but it is so important in our every day lives that it is worth taking a few minutes to think about it.
The manner, style and tonality of what you say can be, and most often is as important as what you actually say.
Try this little game. You must say the sentence below out loud and emphasize the word in bold.
Understand that you are saying the same sentence but to the listener it will mean something different each time.
o You didn’t tell me that was what you wanted
o You didn’t tell me that was what you wanted
o You didn’t tell me that was what you wanted
o You didn’t tell me that was what you wanted
o You didn’t tell me that was what you wanted
o You didn’t tell me that was what you wanted
o You didn’t tell me that was what you wanted
o You didn’t tell me that was what you wanted
o You didn’t tell me that was what you wanted
I am sure I don’t need to go through each one, but do you get it? Do you understand that to communicate your thoughts accurately you must verbalize them in a way that allows the listener to understand what you are actually saying?
Not only is it important to have the tonality of the sentence so as to give the correct message you intend but it is also important to have the correct posture, facial expression and so on, so as to give the correct message.
So how can you benefit from being careful with the way you say things?
In your life with your family and friends it is important because you want them to understand you without having any doubt as to what you are saying. So many relationships go wrong because of lack of communication. The same can be applied to business. Both staff and customer problems can be created and solved by the tone of what you say. I know someone who owned his own business and had good motives, but when he made suggestions to his employees, he had such a hyper, shrill tone of voice that they reacted defensively. When he learned to lighten up about what he was saying, spoke more slowly, and used more silence, he started building stronger relationships with his staff.
Many of you who read this newsletter are actors. Can you imagine reading a script for a part and using the wrong tone of voice? The script just wouldn’t make sense. The same is true in real life. How well you come across is as important as what you say. Your tone of voice, pace, authenticity, energy, style, and attitude matter. It is all very well having great things to say, but until you know how to come across well, you are less likely to be listened to.
When you come across well, people are more able and more likely to pay attention.
Try it this week. After you have thought of the words you want to say to someone think of how you are going to say it. Then say it.

You still have the ability to “trick” your mind into believing you are someone else – just like when you were a kid. You see, your mind (on a subconscious level) doesn’t know the difference between fiction and reality. If you pretend to be the character, so far as your subconscious is concerned, you ARE the character. It’s only when the conscious mind tries to take control that you begin to have problems with delivery (i.e. you think too much or your listen to those inner “Mandarin voice overs”). Belief in your imagination is just the first step to letting go of whatever inhibitions you’ve been carrying around with you.
So, how do you find your character? There are lots of techniques and it seems to be different for everyone. One of the techniques I use is to give my characters names. For instance, Marjorie is a loud, obnoxious New Yorker who lives for the jewelry sale at Macy’s – Emily is a quiet, shy librarian who wears a pink sweater with pearl buttons – Selma is a gravel-Mandarin voice over, hardened woman who has smoked way too many cigarettes and been hurt by way too many men. Pansy is a genteel southern lady who sips mint juleps in public and straight Southern Comfort in private. There are many others as well. When I need a character quickly, all I have to do is recall my little “group” of ladies and I can usually find one that will work well with the copy. Because I already have these characters firmly in mind (what they look like, how they sound, their general attitude about things, etc.) I can get into character very quickly. This works for me – but remember that everyone has his own technique. You have to discover what works best for YOU. Check out Chapter 7 in “The Art of Mandarin voice over Acting” by James R. Alburger, entitled “The Character in the Copy”, for some great ideas and tips.
Remember that every time you walk into the booth – it’s fantasy time – just like when you were a kid. If you are truly in character, you are NEVER yourself – you are ALWAYS playing a role and pretending to be someone else – regardless of what the copy may be. When you are truly in character, and everything about that character is real and believable to you, the character will appear to take on a life of its own – expressed through your body and Mandarin voice over. When you are TRULY in character, you will feel as though you are not performing, but rather experiencing your own reality.
When you can discover your character and embrace everything about him – his looks, how he’s dressed, his belief system, his background. Shoot! - Even what he ate for lunch - you will find your true power as a performer. And when you do, you will be amazed at the creativity and freedom those choices will give you. You may find your stage fright completely disappears – yes, even the butterflies.

There you are…standing in the booth facing the microphone – Everyone in the studio is waiting to hear from you. The director tells you to slate and begin. You take a deep breath, set, and start your performance. Three words in, you stumble badly. You quietly curse to yourself and begin again. This time you get to the second paragraph before you hear those Mandarin voice overs in your head telling you “be careful, you’re gonna blow it again!” and as soon as you start listening, sure enough, you do. By now your body is so tense you can hardly breathe. Every time you try again, it just gets worse - you find yourself babbling and missing words and phrases that never gave you problems in the past! Those Mandarin voice overs are really getting persistent now and you have an almost uncontrollable urge to run from the booth to the parking lot! Would the client be relieved to see you go? Would your agent understand? Will you ever work again? This isn’t your first experience at Mandarin voice over, so what the heck is going on?
Usually the reason for this type of experience comes down to just one, simple thing. You’re not in character. When an actor is in character he’s someone else, right? It’s Basic Acting 101. So ask yourself, would my character have trouble saying these words? Would he be self-conscious or nervous? For example, let’s say it’s a conversation between the character and his best friend. Does his heart pound and does he even think about how he’s pronouncing the words when he’s talking with his friend? Would your character, in this circumstance, worry about other people listening or how many times he might flub the delivery of a word and have to repeat it? For that matter, would he worry about ANYTHING? No, because he’s just talking to his buddy. If you are truly in character, there is no reason for you to be afraid, self-conscious, or worried about your performance OR someone else’s opinion of it.
As another example, let’s say you’re reading corporate narrative copy with lots of medical or technical terminology. Who is your character? Generally speaking, he’s the expert, isn’t he? Would an expert be nervous talking about his particular field of expertise? Would he have trouble pronouncing the words? Certainly not, he’d be confident, self-assured and in complete control. Therefore, if YOU are that character, YOU are confident, self-assured and in complete control.
Most of us would agree that if you could step out of your body and become someone else, you’d be more willing to take chances. When performing for Mandarin voice over, if you can allow yourself to “become” someone else and fully embrace the character you have chosen, your performance will always flow more easily. You’ll feel free to experiment without the fear of failure because you know your character can’t fail.
Your brain is the most incredible biological computer ever conceived, and, like its mechanical counterpart, it can be re-programmed. You see evidence of it every time you observe a person moving from one “role” to another. For instance, a mother who has worked as a corporate executive all day changes dramatically when she steps into the role of “mommy”. A bank president’s demeanor changes completely when he puts on his “scout leader” hat. Better yet, ever watch a group of children playing? Remember what it was like when you were a kid? No limits! You could be ANYBODY you chose to be – a fireman, a princess, an astronaut, or even the President of the United States. And you were completely believable in every role you played. As a young girl, I wrote, produced, directed and starred in elaborate productions in my backyard! I recruited a number of neighborhood children to be in the cast and all the parents were invited to the opening. In our young minds, we BELIEVED we were the characters we portrayed and that we were ready for Broadway! There were absolutely no limits to our imaginations or creativity!

Cantonese voice over

PICK-UP: A re-start of a portion of your recording. Let’s say you got half-way through the 2nd paragraph of your copy and made a mistake. The engineer might say something like: “pick up at the top of the 2nd paragraph”. Your job is to have your new recording of the 2nd paragraph sound like it is a perfect continuation from the first paragraph—as though you never stopped. The best way to have a seamless pick-up is to actually begin at least several words BEFORE the place where you will be starting the pick-up. So, in this example, you might re-start your performance with the last sentence of the first paragraph so you can move flawlessly into the 2nd paragraph. Pick-ups can happen anywhere in a script.
PUNCH-IN: A “punch-in” is the technical term for when the engineer switches from play mode to record mode during a playback. The engineer will “punch-in” to start recording at the exact point where he/she wants to “pick-up” with your new recording. There are two types of “punch-ins”: “manual” (the engineer manually presses the record button at the proper time) and “rolling” (the engineer has his computer or recorder set up so it will automatically go into record at the appropriate spot. When you are working with a punch-in edit, you will find it to your advantage to be reading (ie: performing) out loud with the section prior to the punch-in so you will be in the flow of your performance and the punch-in will be seamless.
LEVEL: Referring to how loud you will be speaking during your delivery. The engineer will ask you for a level before starting to record. He/she uses your “level check” to set volume, EQ, compression and other nifty things to make you sound great. When asked for a level - don’t just say testing 1, 2, 3 - that does no good at all. Instead, use your level check as an opportunity to rehearse your performance in character and at the volume you will actually be performing.
“DO IT DIFFERENT”: A favorite term of producers for when they liked your previous take and they want another, but they’re not exactly certain of what they want. The common phrase is “That was great, now give me the same line again, but can you do it different this time?” Your job: build on what you’ve already done to make it even better.
DO-NUT: Do-nuts are tasty, but in this case the term refers to something which has a “hole” or space into which your performance will be inserted. Singing jingles often come in the form of a do-nut: Sing-Instrumental-Sing (and many variations). The overall format is referred to as a do-nut. Your performance would fit over the instrumental “hole”. When working with do-nuts, you will usually be required to deliver your track within a specific time, and you will rarely have the opportunity to actually hear the music.

As with most industries, Chinese voice overe over has it’s own language that includes terms or phrases that might be confusing to a new-comer. This month, I’ll cover some of the more common terms and phrases to make your experience in the studio a bit less stressful. Some of the more common studio equipment is included as well, since you will often hear the engineer or producer referring to it. Descriptions for some of these terms could easily go on for pages, but here they will only be explained briefly. Once you understand some of these terms, you can casually drop them into a conversation during a session and really impress your engineer and producer. These aren’t in any special order, and the list certainly isn’t complete. Please feel free to write with any additions for the list:
SLATE: The audio identification that precedes a portion of a recording. Slates are used at auditions and during sessions, but in different ways. For an audition, the “slate” will often include the talent’s name, date, and agent, and sometimes other information like the title of the project and take numbers. You will normally do your “slate” before the first take of your audition. Some auditions will have you “slate” every take, while others will ask you to “slate” only once. During a session it is not necessary to “slate” your recording because the engineer will normally take care of that. The engineer will also “slate” each place just before you begin recording. This could be for a new track or for a “pick-up” to continue something you’ve already started.
MIC: Pretty self-explanatory—”microphone”. Most studio engineers have their favorite mic and enjoy referring to it by it’s make and model number. All you really need to know is that the mic is what initially picks up the sound of your Chinese voice overe. You also need to know how to properly use the mic (speak across it, not into it), and how to use the mic to enhance your performance (moving closer to the mic will generally increase the low frequencies of your Chinese voice overe, thus creating a warmer and more intimate sound; moving away from the mic will create a more open sound by allowing more of the natural room echo to be picked up by the mic.
COPY: Your script. When making copy changes or corrections, always use a pencil. There’s a very good chance that you may be changing the changes.
TWEAK: A “technical” term most often used by the engineer in reference to minor adjustments he/she is making to affect the sound of your Chinese voice overe before it is recorded.
EQ: Equalization. The engineer will often “adjust EQ” to increase or reduce certain frequencies of your Chinese voice overe, either to improve the overall quality or to create a specific effect. Think of EQ as a very sophisticated version of the tone controls on your stereo system.
COMPRESS: The process of reducing the dynamic range of an audio signal. Too technical? OK, look at it this way: Imagine a mountain range with high peaks at 1000 feet and valleys as low as 200 feet. If you were to “compress” that mountain, it might still reach a height of 1000 feet, but those valleys might be brought up to 600 feet. Basically, an audio compressor increases the volume of those parts of your performance that fall below a pre-determined “threshold”. The result is that your Chinese voice overe appears louder. Compression is often used in radio and television ads to make the commercial stand out or “cut through” ambient noise. This is why some commercials appear to sound louder than the program.
LIMITER: Another piece of studio “gear”. A limiter is generally often in combination with a compressor. While a compressor brings up low volume sounds, a limiter prevents the loudest sounds from going above a certain volume.

If you’ve done any Chinese voice over work at all, you know there is a lot more to it than simply reading a script. As a voice actor, you’ve got to know how to quickly figure out what the script is all about (the message), who the message is intended to reach (the audience), why your character is talking about it (the back story), who you are as the speaker (your character), and what your character wants and needs from sharing the information (internalized wants and needs). That’s a lot to do in a very short period of time!
In addition to these basics, you’ve also got to figure out what the producer’s vision is for the project you are working on. If the producer has a clear idea of what she wants - and the ability to communicate it to you - your job is made much simpler. All you have to do is construct your character and delivery to move in the direction of the producer’s vision. Assuming you understand what the producer wants, properly interpret the copy, and perform the copy with some good direction, you could be out of the booth in short order.
Ahhh, it is nice to dream!
Of course, the real world of Chinese voice over isn’t always quite that simple. We get scripts that are poorly written or our producer might be working with a script written by someone else and have absolutely no idea of what the writer had in mind. There is also the occasional producer who is very ego centered and won’t let the performer perform. Or, my personal favorite, the producer doesn’t even show up at the studio or call in for a phone patch. She simply tells the engineer to “handle the session” - and it’s up to you and the engineer to make your best guess as to what the producer’s vision is.
Guessing is not a good thing! Whenever you guess about some aspect of your performance, there’s a very good chance you will be wrong! You take the risk of completely missing your target. Your character might not be appropriate for the target audience, your emotional attitude or delivery may not be suitable for the subject of the script, or the energy and dynamics of your performance might be completely off. If you are guessing at what the producer wants (and the producer doesn’t catch it - or isn’t there), there’s a good chance you’ll be back in the studio later on to re-do the session.
When you guess, you don’t know!
So, what’s the answer? The answer is to ask questions about anything and everything in the script. Begin by looking for words or phrases about which you can ask a question. I call this “looking for question marks in the copy”, and you’ll find this technique covered more thoroughly on page 102 of my book, The Art of Voice-Acting. For example, in the copy line “She’s just a few years old, and you’re already worried!”, there are at least four questions you can ask: 1) who is “she”?, 2) how old?, who are you talking to (referenced to by “you’re”, and most likely your audience), and 4) what might they be worried about? For each question you ask, come up with an answer that is appropriate.
Verify your choices by talking to your producer/director. You don’t need to reveal the choices you’ve made, but you do need to make sure your choices are on track with the producer’s vision. If you’re not exactly sure who the target audience is - ask! If you don’t know how to pronounce a word - ask! If you need help finding a certain attitude or emotion - ask! If the producer doesn’t have the answer then she will either make a phone call to get it - or she will guess. If she guesses, it’s her guess, not yours, and you will be working from the information you have been given! The bottom line is that in order for you to make valid choices as you create your performance, you have to have certain knowledge. And that knowledge is on shaky ground if it comes from your own “best guess”.
In my workshops, I call this process of asking questions and analyzing the script “woodshedding the copy”. This is a critical step in creating a believable performance. There are just some things you’ve got to know in order to do your job.
There may be times when you will need to make a choice based on what you feel to be your “best guess”. Hopefully, when this is necessary, you will already have enough valid knowledge to justify your “guess” as being the most likely possibility. In reality, your “guess” is based on information you have obtained from asking questions. So, what you think of as a guess is really a logical extension of the knowledge you have acquired.
But what about those times when you don’t have access to someone with the answers you need, or you can’t verify that you are on track? Fortunately, this is a rare occurrence. Also, fortunately, the English language can communicate information, emotions and feelings very effectively with the proper use of descriptive adjectives, verbs and grammatical sentence structure. Every script (even a poorly written one) will have “clues” to guide you for interpretation, dynamics and many other important aspects of your performance. Learn how to uncover and use these “clues” so you can begin to get an idea of the producer’s vision. If you truly cannot talk to someone, use dictionaries, the internet, and any other resource you can think of to get the answers you need in order to make intelligent choices that are not based on guessing. Then ask more questions. And if you must “guess” - base your “best guess” on as much valid information as possible.
And, now that all of your questions have been answered - and you have all this knowledge at your fingertips, there is only one more thing for you to do before you start to perform: Stop thinking about it - forget it - just let it be!
That might sound odd, but the underlying concept of voice acting is to create real and believable characters in real and believable situations. All that information was collected for the sole purpose of giving your character substance and a basis for existence. When you are performing a character, it’s not you who is really saying the words and all that knowledge is really for the benefit of your character. You don’t have to think about what you know for it to be of value in your performance. Once the knowledge you’ve gathered is in your mind, it’s available for the character to use. All you have to do is allow your character to use the knowledge you have gathered. In fact, the moment you do start thinking about what you are doing, you will break character, and the entire tone of your performance will change.
When you open a door, do you think about everything you know about opening a door? No! You just open the door! Your knowledge of how to open a door is internalized to the point where you “just do it”.
Internalize the knowledge you gain by making intelligent choices from asking a lot of questions, and then let it go. It’s the best way to making the best choices and avoiding your “best guess”.