I had been just updating my voice over website when I came across a posting by Voice Actor Clay St Thomas on Linked in. It caught my attention because it was about a form of wording used by many voice artists on their websites and LI profiles – including myself – which referred to “broadcast quality home studio”.

Clay took the view that we should stop using this wording because he says it’s meaningless – there is no definitive broadcast quality “standard” that can be measured. He also thinks the mere fact that you have a website or profile already says you are a professional and so it is a given that “noise free usable voice work is what you do”. As a result you are saying you are a professional twice or so he claims.  In the past I have had a similar conversation with my website designer who questioned why I needed to detail the equipment I was using on my website.

There were quite a few comments in reaction to Clay’s post including one by voice artist Tracey Linley who pointed out that referring to “broadcast quality” is often part of a client first strategy – anticipating their problems and questions.  Mentioning the audio quality upfront is a way of allaying fears that the potential client may have.

I think the pandemic had a lot to do with many people referring to “broadcast quality home studio” – there were so many new people piling into the VO industry armed with just a laptop and a usb microphone and clients were discovering that whilst remote home recording was easy in those “socially distanced” times – it was not always a guarantee of quality.  It was certainly at that time that I added the term to my own website to differentiate my set-up from others: as a professional studio that just happens to be at my home.

It was also recently pointed out by website specialist Helen Bee that from a website SEO point of view you should certainly use “home studio” in the text on your website as it’s a search term clients are likely to use when looking for voice talent.  Further – as she points out – using “broadcast quality” helps to “differentiate the professional from the hobbyist”.

I agree and so will be continuing to use the term on my website and other profiles.

Chris Radley – Voice Over