Videotape a voiceover narrative
Documentaries
often have a voice telling you what’s going on and filling in the details, but
you never see the person talking. That’s a voiceover. You could add a voiceover
to your interviewed video to fill in missing gaps or add to a photo slideshow.
Many
video editing programs have a voiceover or narration feature. You hook up a
microphone to your computer and record the narrative. Your recording goes
directly into the video editing program. This is a convenient way to do the
narration, but computers are not exactly silent. We’re so used to electronic
noise that we often don’t hear it. You will, however notice it when you are
editing for sound.
Filter
out most of that background noise by making your own sound studio. It’s simple
and inexpensive to put together. Do your voiceover recording late at night or
very early in the morning when it’s the quietest (inside and outside). Distant
traffic can sneak into your audio. If you are recording someone else doing the
narration, use headphones to monitor the recording and listen for intrusive
noises.
Do-it-yourself sound studio
Here’s
what you’ll need 
-
Camcorder and tape
-
Hand-held microphone
-
Microphone stand
-
Pop filter—to smooth out the hisses in your speech. You can
make one out of an old pair of pantyhose, embroidery hoop, and a second
microphone stand. Stretch some of the nylon over the embroidery hoop and secure
to the stand with a 2 ½” screw and thumb nut.
-
Foam absorbing material—an egg-crate foam camping pad does a good job. You
can get one at Walmart for about $15.
-
Quiet place—away from the hum of your computer and other
household noises. (Your parked car, with the windows rolled up, is a good quiet
place. No need for the egg crate there).
Write
a script and practice it a bit.
The
set up: In your quiet place, set the microphone on a table with the pop filter
between the microphone and you. Arrange the foam pad in a semi-circle so that
it encloses as much of you and the microphone as possible. The opening will be
behind you. Lay your script on the table in front of you, and don’t touch it
while you are doing the voiceover. You don’t want to be hearing rustling paper.
Hook up the microphone to the camera and turn on the camcorder.
Narrate
small sections at a time. Redo a section until you are satisfied with it before
going on to the next section. That will make it easier for you to edit.
Remember to pause between takes to facilitate cutting narrative sections.
Record
30 seconds of ambient sound at the beginning and again at the end of a narration
session. Ambient sound is the unique sounds of a particular place at a
particular time. Your do-it-yourself sound studio will filter out the
noticeable sound, but will still sound alive. You may have to splice a pause in here
or there when editing. Dead audio (just leaving a gap in the audio) is as
noticeable as noise. The extra footage will also assure that you can capture
all of your narration.
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