Also known as off-camera or straight read, timed audio is a voice-over used when there are no “talking heads” in the video and pure narration is required. The audio should match each segment of the video, pictures, animation or titles, therefore the translated script should respect the timings of those elements. It takes one studio hour to record and post-produce 20 minutes of timed audio.

It’s used for radio and TV reports, news and documentaries especially for interviews. The voice onscreen speaks in his or her native language for up to 3 seconds , then the speech fades out and the translating voice takes over. The native language is still heard on the background, keeping both the authenticity and emotions of the original speaker. It takes one studio hour to record and post-produce 15 minutes of UN Voice-Over.

Close attention is still made to the original timing of the piece but there is no focus on mirroring lip movement of the characters onscreen. The original voice is muted and replaced by the foreign voice, who starts and ends his or her speech at the same time as the character. For a successful phrase-synch, translated dialogue lines should be as long as the original script, to allow that timing match. It’s used in e-learning, tutorials and corporate presentations. It takes one studio hour to record and post-produce 10 minutes of phrase-synch.

The translating voice-over artist matches the speed, tone and personality of the original character so that the two synch together. The result is that the onscreen person looks as if he was originally speaking that language. This requires a time consuming process of adapting the translation both to the length of the original phrases and the lip movements of the onscreen character. This technique is used in the movies as it requires an important budget. If the script is duly adapted for lip-synch it takes one studio hour to record and post-produce 5 minutes of lip-synch.