FAQ
Voiceover
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What is a sweeper?
In the 60's, 70's (way before I got into the business) a sweeper was defined as an element that swept between two songs. Usually this was just a quick identification of the station or the jock on the air and would only last a few seconds.
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Do sweepers make a sound?
Sweepers began with a sweeping sound or whoosh sound and ended that way as well. This allowed the sweeper to blend better with the music so as not to sound to abrupt on the air.
In later years, sweepers became more highly produced and were getting longer in length. They began to be more polished advertisements of certain elements of the station such as the morning show or afternoon drive as well as the station itself.
Sweepers became elements produced to get your attention rather than blend into the background. Explosions, Sine Waves, Hits, Zips, Zaps and more almost always made it into the final produced sweeper.
Today, sweepers are defined pretty much the same way only they're bundled with other elements that make up station imaging. These elements include, ID's, music beds, promos, liners and etc.
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What is a liner?
There's a big misconception that liners and sweepers are the same thing. They are not. Liners are type written ideas commonly found on 3x5 index cards or on a sheet of paper that relate to station events, programs, air talent, etc. These ideas are announced over the air during a LIVE break by the disc jockey. Liners are normally rotated along with similar liners in a category so as not to announce them too often which causes listener fatigue. Some examples include, "Don't miss The Morning Zoo tomorrow morning with live cattle in the studio.." or "It's the Top 5 Most Requested Jams for the drive home this afternoon at 5 with...". They can also include Public Service Announcements or PSA.
Liners, whilst a disc jockeys' friend can also make you too dependant or complacent on this structure. Spend a few years on the air at a well structured radio station complete with liners and toilet seat covers and you'll find yourself on the phone with your mother when you move up into the ranks of the big boys, "who don't need no stinkin' liners."
These days in radio, things are more structured than ever. It's not uncommon for a Program Director to type up everything he wants the air talent to convey on the air. This practice allows for a more consistent message to be delivered by the talent on the air about the station's identity, promotions, music and etc.
True, liners can be found in bigger market radio stations but they aren't read verbatim by the air talent. Air talent in those markets are personalities who have their own unique way of selling the ideas in front of them.
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How are a promo and commercial different?
Ah, this is probably the easiest to understand and yet most can't grasp it. I'll try once more in detail.
Promo or "promotional announcements" are nothing more than highly produced commercials that talk about one thing only, (drum roll here) the station. Promos come in different lengths and stations have 'carte blanche' to say whatever they'd care to in them. Since promos are produced for particular stations or programs on a station they are pretty much useless outside their respective entities.
Commercials on the other hand are written, voiced and produced to sell you a product. They are almost always a strict thirty or sixty seconds in length. And, they can be played on any station and that sets them apart from promos.
For these reasons, charges for Promos and Commercials are vastly different. A promo is played sometimes only a few times on the air on a particular station whereas a commercial can be played hundreds of times on many different stations at once.
I hope this explanation helps.
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If I send you a script in your email, will you produce it and send it back to me?
Uh..no. Never. This is not fair to all those clients who pay for my services with their hard-earned dollars.
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Will you produce a sample sweeper for me to hear so I can decide whether I like it before buying a package?
No. I'm sorry, I can't. You will find plenty of examples of my voiceover work on my site. Click here to listen to them now.
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What is a retainer?
A retainer is simply a fee paid to a talent for services rendered over a given period of time. This period of time can be whatever deemed necessary. In the voice-over industry retainer fees are commonly paid monthly over the period of a year. This allows the client to secure the talent for a years time while the talent can now count on the retainer fee monthly to figure into a budget.
Retainers are used throughout the world on a daily basis by Accountants, Lawyers, Consultants and etc.
So basically, retainer is a fancy way of saying, "You owe money monthly for my services."
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Do you also do voice announcements for answering systems, on-hold, mobile disc jockeys and etc?
I don't like to turn away any business no matter how small. If you have a need for any of these things please contact me. I will negotiate until we are both pleased with the arrangement.
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Do you ever perform any FREE voiceover work for charitable organizations?
Yes. Four times a year I solicit applications from charitable organizations to perform FREE voiceover work. You must subscribe to my newsletter to be informed of those times.
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Do you know who the voiceover talent is on (insert station here)?
Not often. This is a big business with many talented voiceover artists.
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Do you speak any other languages in your voiceover work?
No. I have a hard enough time speaking English properly.
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