What’s New With TOM TEST Spring 2021 is part of a series in which MVO: The Voice-Over Guys checks-in with one of our male voiceover talents to learn more about a recent media project he has voiced. Here’s what NAME shared with us.
1. You mentioned a really cool voiceover project in your recent MVO: The Voiceover Guys update. Can you talk about who the project was for and where it was heard or seen?
My project was a long series of e-Learning videos for General Electric, training US Navy sailors how to maintain the massive turbine engines that power Navy warships. These engines cost tens of millions of dollars, so it is absolutely imperative that they be maintained properly for long life, in order to respect tax-payer dollars.
2. What made the media production’s content interesting from your perspective?
I really appreciated that the producer I worked with requested that I NOT give this a standard spokesperson – narrator type read, which is so common in corporate training. That standard read has no personality, lacks a strong point of view, and sounds like I’m talking to a room full of people. Yeah, it can be pretty boring!
Instead, the producer asked my voice-over to sound like a guy who actually works on these engines, as if I’m talking one-on-one with the listener. I could make it more informal, add interjections, use contractions like normal people do when they talk (“can’t” vs “cannot”), that sort of thing. I added some gruff texture to my voice, and at times even a little humor.
This was a brilliant call, since the listener is MUCH more engaged when it sounds like a REAL person who knows his stuff is training them, rather than some anonymous drone. And if the listener is engaged, they are LEARNING.
3. As the voice talent in the media project, were there any technical or performance challenges during this voiceover recording session?
Oh yes! There was tons of jargon and acronyms that had to just roll off my tongue like I used them every day. Also, remembering to be consistent in my tone, remembering to keep that gruff texture to make me more of a real person and not slip back into “Corporate Spokesperson Guy.”
4. Is there anything else you would like us to know about this voiceover project?
I wish I could share a sample with you, but it is not allowed due to security concerns. If the Russkies know how we maintain our naval engines, they might get insider info that would make it easier for a spy to sabotage them – I suppose that was GE’s and the Navy’s concern, which makes sense. All I know is the tape I sent them dissolved in a cloud of smoke after it was played.
ABOUT TOM TEST
Tom Test has been one of the top voice-over talents in the Midwest since 1989. He created his “Hi-Fi, Sci-Fi, Broadcast-quality studio” in 2003, and has since voiced hundreds of projects from Explainer videos to national TV spots to eLearning to Corporate Image narrations. Tom has voiced quite a few Telly- and other industry award-winning spots in his career, and has also been a much-in-demand voice-over coach and demo producer.
Tom can provide 12 hours or less turnaround and is equipped with Source Connect Standard for remote recording. He also has access to several low-cost ISDN studios in Chicago. Tom’s partial list of clients include a who’s who of the Fortune 1000: Blue Cross/Blue Shield, USAA, Xfinity, Coca-Cola, Shell, Accenture, GE, Boeing, United Airlines, Kraft, Samsung, Snapper/Simplicity Mowers, Eli Lilly, World Book Encyclopedia, Mercury Marine, Walgreen’s, Morgan Stanley, Allstate, Kawasaki, and MANY more!
Tom’s specialties include his warm, authoritative read – especially popular with health-care clients, with whom he has voiced several award-winning campaigns. Tom is *not* a radio announcer – he sounds like a REAL person, talking to you, telling you a true story. His first read is spot-on from the get-go, and he works extremely quickly, being dubbed by several clients as “Two Take Tom.”