Different stages of Voice Over and Narration

Author

Master Editor
February 05, 2025

Voice-over and Audiobook Narration is actually straightforward. It follows a step-by-step process.

If you skip the steps, your process may not remain straightforward.

You need to assess your current situation and choose learning material that matches your stage. If you consume advanced concepts as a beginner, you will never reach your destination, as things will look much more complex.

On the other hand, if you do not consume advanced things when you are ready, you will miss out on better-quality audio.

Let’s talk about the 4 major stages:

  1. You are a beginner and struggle to put things together. You are learning how to recording and basic navigation around your editing software. People mainly rely on free tutorials at this stage. But if you take paid courses or consulting at this stage, you will get off the ground easily.

  2. You have to get past the beginner level and can enhance your recording. However, you don’t know why using certain effects improves your audio quality. You can spot issues like mouth clicks or sound reflection, but you don’t know the exact solution for those. For voice-over artists, this is the stage when you start sending auditions. For an audiobook narrator, this is the stage you start recording your audiobook. At this stage, you should make full use of the paid course you previously took. You should review the course materials at this stage and you will find many new things that you missed on earlier rounds.

  3. This is the last stage for many. You become comfortable with your software and understand which effects to use and when. Once you are at this stage, the only improvement you can get is consulting with other professionals. No one starts taking courses at this stage, so no one makes courses suited for this stage only. You can happily remain in this stage as it would help you with most jobs or you have to consult with professionals for the final stage.

  4. This is the final stage as a voice-over professional. At this stage, your editing skills are close to that of an audio engineer. However, when a voice-over professional reaches this stage, he can easily turn his voice-over job into a business. Because he knows everything he needs to know for stage 1-3 people.

You should assess your learning stage and explore appropriate learning options. I always recommend paid courses over free YouTube tutorials.

Because free YouTube tutorials always have some missing parts, they can be costly. In fact, I calculated that cost. You can read this blog to understand why: https://blog.master-editor.com/p/cost-free-youtube-tutorials

While I am in favor of taking courses from anyone, I would suggest taking from someone whose tutorial you understand.

Anyone making a course knows and reveals something from which you can benefit. Courses and Consulting is a fast-track route to success. You may learn everything on your own in 3 years, where proper training will get you there in 3-6 months.

If you like my YouTube tutorials, you can explore my courses and consulting from the following links: