English 
Deutsch Voice-over – FAQ
Do you require
- A classic professional recording in a recording studio by a professional speaker/voice-over artist, or
- A simple, good quality recording without a recording studio by a professional speaker?
- Is this project for e-learning modules, explainer videos, a book, a documentary, or a promotional video/commercial(s)?
- Is the voice-over narrative (without time constraints), time-sync (time-bound/synchronous to the video) or lip-sync?
- Do you require the recording for an audio or a video file?
Is the voice-over narrative (without time constraints), time-sync (time-bound/synchronous to the video) or lip-sync?
How many words/minutes does the script consist of?
Will you supply us with a voice-over script or would you like us to create such a script for you? An example of a voice-over script can be provided. (A script reads like a screenplay, only for sound instead of video, i.e. what is to be said, when, how, by whom, for how long. A simple transcript with time stamps is not a script).
What type of voice/which avatar do you require from the speaker? (Gender, age, volume, tone pitch, timbre, speaking rate, perhaps someone who sounds like a specific person.)
Are there any special pronunciation features to be considered?
(Proper names/trademarks, website names, full stops and punctuation, etc.) E.g. for websites: Full stop, minus/hyphen, underscore, etc.?) Ideally, you can supply an audio sample or the phonetic script (phonetic language).
Should the recording be cut into several tracks? If so, how many cuts will you require? (How many audio files will we supply)?
- Add-on, only for multi-language projects: Has the original version already been recorded? If so, we would like to be able to use the recording as a guide.
- Add-on, only if MSS Cape Town also does the translation for multi-language projects:
Should the length of the voice-over in the various languages be adapted and paraphrased to match the length of the original version?
Which technical requirements do you have?
- Data format: mp3, wma etc.
- Bit rate: Minimum 128kbit/s, standard 192, 256 kbit, etc.
- Sample rate: e.g. 48.000 Hz. Etc.
- Channel: Mono or stereo?
If you wish the audio files to be hardcoded into the video file(s):
- Do you want to replace the original soundtrack?
- Do you want one video containing multiple audio tracks (source language, plus target language 1, plus target language 2, etc.) or separate videos containing one audio track each?
- If there are existing subtitles in the source language, do you want them to be replaced, deleted or translated?
- Video resolution: e.g. 1920 x 1080 or 12080 x 720 pixel?
- Video compression codec (HEVC): H.264, H.265?
For larger volumes: What is your preferred processing time and expected delivery times/volumes per week/month?
Thank you for your enquiry.
Your team from MSS Cape Town - The Language Agency.
You have questions? Simply call us:
- Tel. Germany: +49 531 224593040
- Tel. South Africa: +27 21 4617452
- E-mail: info(at)msskapstadt.de or keyaccounts(at)msskapstadt.de
