The best whiteboard animation videos make use of great voiceovers. That fact shouldn’t come was a surprise; even if you didn’t already know the importance of a great voice your subconscious absolutely does. Documentation on this topic is abundant, but just for one example, a 2015 study determined that the quality of a speaker’s voice is twice as important as their message. Go ahead and read that again: the speaker’s voice is twice as important as the message.

If statistics don’t convince you, perhaps a recent viral sensation will—remember Ted Williams? Mr. Williams was a onetime radio announcer who encountered severe financial difficulties and ended up homeless on the streets of Columbus, Ohio. Ted didn’t have much, but he still had his voice, and one day he decided to make a panhandling sign advertising his gift. The gambit worked; after being discovered in 2011 by a local reporter, Ted was quickly inundated with offers for lucrative voiceover work. A great speaking voice took Ted from homeless to fame and fortune virtually overnight. The power of the voice is absolute.

Professional voiceover artists are their own, very special niche of production. Most voiceover artists never achieve the kind of recognition that Ted Williams did because the nature of their work is behind the scenes. A typical company won’t even consider hiring a person without conducting an in-person interview first to get an idea of how a candidate presents themselves; their body language, eye contact, and so on. Hiring a voiceover artist flips that paradigm completely; it doesn’t matter what a voiceover artist looks like or what they wear. The only thing that matters is their voice. Does their voice command attention? Does it project authority? Is their voice both down-to-earth and relatable but also confident? If the answer to all of the above is yes, that’s the kind of voice you want for your whiteboard animation video.

Sometimes clients will consider recording their own voiceover, but this usually isn’t a good idea. The thing is, everyone has a voice, and some people have great voices, but not everyone can build an entire career around their voice. The voice, ultimately, is an instrument no different from the guitar or the piano. Remember the guy in your college dorm who had a guitar but never seemed to practice and could only play a limp version of “Wonderwall?” If you were recording a big-budget professional album would you choose to work with him or a seasoned musician who jams for twenty hours every day? That’s the difference.

Voiceover artists are the best at what they do because practice with a regularity and dedication that could only be matched by opera singers. Voiceover artists learn how to emphasize, how to exaggerate, and, crucially for whiteboard videos, they are acutely aware of timing. Imagine, for instance, that your whiteboard video is almost perfect, but both you and the production team know instinctively that it could be exponentially better by shaving off 6-7 seconds of run time. The problem is, you don’t want to delete anything from the script. Only a voiceover artist can help in a situation like that. Because they know their instrument intimately, a voiceover artist will be able to pace their speech in just the right way to make everything work without sacrificing the quality of their delivery.

And don’t worry about variety. Your whiteboard animation video company will have a roster of great voiceover artists that you can choose from. Whether you want someone with a “voice of God” like Morgan Freeman or a more everyman quality, they’ll be able to suggest someone who is a perfect match for your video!

Whether you want to sell, explain, or inspire, no matter how difficult, the best whiteboard animation company can help. Contact us today at 917-477-3282 to get started. We’re ready and eager to help!