Our On-Hold Production Process
Step 1 – Voice Over Recording
We hire the voice-over as soon as we have your final ready-to-record script and know which voice you would like. The voice-over will interpret your script and pronunciations based on any guidance you have provided in writing. Additionally, send any audio samples of pronunciations that you feel will help. Before the session, we will provide the voice-over with all of this information to aid them and ensure that we can get it recorded in a single session. The flow and feel of the voice recording should be similar to the voice talent’s sample on our website.
Step 2 – Audio Editing
After the recording session, the files are scheduled for audio production. This is a process where an audio producer goes through the audio and manually removes any breaths, background noise, pops, clicks, or spit noises. As the breaths are removed this can change the feel and pace of the audio so gaps between sections will be altered too to make the flow feel natural.
Step 3 – Audio Production
The final part of the audio process is to tweak it so that it sounds uniform and clear. The voice is a very dynamic instrument but the speakers in your telephone are very basic and only convey a limited number of frequencies. The sound characteristics of a voice are different over the phone so we use audio settings that aim to make the most of this.
We also mix the music at this point before creating all of the individual files needed for your telephone messages. These will be optimised for telephone use, named, and delivered as ready-to-use downloads.
Step 4 – Delivery
Audio is delivered as separate audio files for each section of your telephone audio, for example, auto-attendant/IVRs, On hold, out-of-hours message, voicemail, etc. within 3 to 5 working days. They are delivered via a cloud service with a link to a folder where you can download and play the telephone audio on your computer.
The file transfer is temporary so only lasts a few days but long enough for you to download everything you need. if you want us to keep the files available we do have a backup service.
Step 5 – Any amends
Typically we get it right the first time. However, on occasion, we can make a mistake. If this happens we re-record and re-edit at no cost to you. If the mistake is yours we usually have to charge a nominal fee to cover any re-record as we have to pay the voiceover again. This is the reason we recommend checking your script thoroughly in our guide to writing telephone scripts.
Audio format – We always produce a mono wave format as this is the full quality production and any other formats can be created from this. Sometimes clients realise that the file is not in the correct format for their phone system and in this case, we convert it to any format that’s required.
Music, Volumes & Gaps – When our producer mixes the audio, they will leave a gap between messages that feels appropriate based on judgement. They also mix the volume based on how they feel the music is interacting with the voice. Our audio is always mixed using a ‘ducking technique’ which means that regardless of the music volume, the music always appears quieter when the voiceover is speaking to avoid a voice/music clash.
Anything to do with music and audio is subjective, which means what one person thinks is perfect, may not sound right to another. For this reason, we are happy to accommodate you with changes in volume or length of gaps between dialogue if you feel it is not right for you. Also, it is sometimes possible to choose a track but realise later that it is not right for your dialogue. Although this is rare, we can swap the music out for another track if this happens.