Genres
Find a versatile voice actor for your project
Nourhan Magdi has voiced different types of projects for clients in her home country, Egypt, as well as abroad, including: United States, Spain, U.K., Dubai, South Africa among others. Being a versatile female voice actress, Nourhan can help your project sound relatable to your intended customers.
Here is a guide to different genres that she does:
Commercial
Commercial spots are usually meant to promote and highlight a product or service, and it is usually presented on TV, radio or social media.
The duration of the commercial spot is typically 15, 30 and 60 second formats. However, some clients who choose their ads to be digitally displayed, prefer to create a longer version that exceeds one minute.
The delivery of commercials changes by the change of the pace of life and industry trends. Announcery style of delivery was mainly adopted in the old days, and although they are not dead yet, other styles that are closer to the normal way of speaking (conversational) are trendier and highly requested these days.
Commercials are my favorite VoiceOver genre, and that’s because it allows you to send strong emotions and effective messages to the targeted audience in only a 30 second spot.
Narration
We understand that voiceovers are the production of voice that is not part of the narrative, in order to be added in radio, or on a video like in TV, film, presentations or social media. Speaking about narration, one of the famous and diverse genres in voice over, it is more about telling a story or adding commentary. It can be political, medical, warm, motivational…etc.
Hiring a skilled voice professional will help you target the audience you intend by adjusting the tone, speed and style of delivery of the narration, in order to address the topic in the script.
Narrations are one of my highly-booked genres, in which I have delivered different styles, like a political / formal one for the Egyptian government narrating a human development report, as well as a warm / soothing narration, where I was telling the story of kids struggling with Spinal muscular atrophy.
Versatile voice artists are plus, especially those delivering in more than one language, where they can be able to include nuances relevant to the targeted audience, which adds authenticity and help the project sound believable.
Announcements
I am sure you have heard a woman telling you to “stay clear of the door” at the subway, or a man asking you to “please remain in your seat as the show will begin shortly,” or even another one telling you in exciting tone how the new rides at a theme park.
I am lucky enough to have voiced all these announcers for theme parks, film festivals and events.
Voice artists delivering announcers, either pre-recorded or performing live, are usually described as having “Voice of God” or “VOGs;” the catch is because the voice artist is not seen by the audience, making the voice sound as if it is coming from heavens.
Explainer Videos
You want to do voice overs for your new product release for kitchen appliance? Explain how to run a dryer machine? Or list the best ever recipe for Mac n cheese? These are called explainer voice overs.
Explainers are short, easy to digest videos as they usually include lots of information, which makes the job of the voice artist important to engage with the audience so they don’t feel bored.
Whether a serious tone or a funny one is intended, explainers still can be cool spots that help your product penetrate the market, especially with animated videos prevailing
Promos
As you wait for the last episode of your favorite series, you must have heard “Coming up!” Or “Tonight on MBC2.”
A promo VoiceOver creates excitement promotion for a TV or radio programs, a film or an event. Doing promos, a voiceover artist in some cases becomes the voice of a TV network, doing the aired promos and links, which requires him/her to be skillful to convey, as well as maintain the authentic identity of the network.
Children Audiobooks
Audio books are one of the most popular VO genres, where many publishers and authors tend to transform their written drafts into audio.
Companies like Audible, Storytel and more have many books narrated on their apps. A 2021 study conducted by Professor Magdy Abdel Gawad at Faculty of Arts at Banha University in Egypt was applied to a random sample of 600 people (aged between 11-75 yrs), showed that 482 are listening to audio books.
The National Literacy Trust published a report exploring children and young people’s listening habits in U.K., showing that in 2022, 37.5% children and young people enjoyed listening to audio, while 39.7% listened to audiobooks or podcasts at least once a week.
Recording audiobooks for children in both Arabic and English, I benefited from getting live directions on how to approach children through changing nuances and tone to engage properly with different age groups.
Medical Narration
It is a specialized category that is highly recommended by different Pharma brands.
A medical narration usually includes scientific jargon and terms that are not used in our daily life. As I deliver medical narration, I believe that voice artists need to do good research to hit the correct pronunciation of the scientific words, familiarize themselves with the topic, as well as perform as if they are medical personnel, so that they sound credible and authentic to the audience.
Audio Guides
This genre can include virtual tour guides at museums, and also safety instructions on planes or ships. I had the experience of recording audio guides in both Arabic and English for a cruise ship in Saudi Arabia, and I find this genre to be very interesting, as a voice talent tends to re-assure the listeners and safely escort them till the end of the script.
Telephone IVR
Unlike what some think about phone systems, they are not boring. For many consumers who still prefer contacting buyers by phone, IVRs are their first gate towards knowing about the brand.
Voice artists doing IVRs need to sound relevant if delivering for a hospital, a restaurant or a financial app. Their voices need to express delight when welcoming the customer, sorrow for not being able available at the moment to help and promise for coming back during working hours.
I was lucky to have had the chance to deliver diverse IVRs in different accents, bringing the customer a glimpse of the brands’ values and services.
Singing
Everyone of us have memorable radio and TV commercials that were sung in jingles, which is the reason many brands some times tend to create jingles to advertise for the products, aiming to achieve wide spread.
I have attended singing classes in Cairo, Egypt, where I practiced vocalize, hitting high notes, knew more about my vocal range, and developed good posture.
Corporate
Businesses tend to hire voice artists to do corporate narration for their brand, internal trainings for the company’s employees, conferences and presentations.
Corporate voice over can be powerful to help the brand stand out in a distinctive and a unique way.
They do not have to sound formal; they can be engaging with subtle nuances and emotions, which differentiate VOs from AI and synthetic voices.
E-learning
E-learning voice over involves narrating educational curricula, financial explanations, or step by step instructions in a training program among others.
Looking for experienced voice actors for e-learning projects, you will need an engaging voice that sound well-informed and credible to help elevate the script, and create effective voice over.
You can direct the voice talent to the proper style of delivery that you need to address your audience in the e-learning spot, as it can range from casual to professional tone.
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