Audio & Video Localization Case Study

Nick Erickson, a Director/Producer in Los Angeles, contacted us for help with a multilingual voice-over project. He and his Executive Producer Ian Trueb, along with Producer Ricardo Granados, had just finished a high-end web promo with pro-gamer Mike Ross for Sound Blaster‘s flagship product line, the EVO Series gaming headsets.

Now SoundBlaster wanted to take the video around the world, and Ian and Nick needed high-quality voice-over (and subtitles) in ten languages, ranging from Japanese to Turkish to German. Specifically, Ian – who would edit the final foreign-language versions – was looking for voice talents who had the energy and professionalism of the original production, and, of course, who were native speakers of their respective languages.

Enter JBI, the project had a few complexities:

1. Wide-ranging language set

Ten languages overall, including:

Fortunately, JBI works regularly in these languages, and we have a large pool of talent in each one. We were able to send Nick and Ian pre-recorded voice talent samples matching their description, and they cast talents in each language who matched the English-language narrator but were also culturally-appropriate.

2. Sync to video

The final voice needed to synchronize perfectly with the video, just like the one in the English. Backyard Studios’ translators provided expertly timed scripts so that our professional talents only had to modulate their speed slightly to match the sync of the English. Likewise, the talents at JBI watched the video before recording to make sure that they maintained a pace consistent with the English video. Ian was able to cut the final recordings into the video seamlessly, and then mix each version taking into account the nuances of each language.

3. Additional on-screen voice-over for Mike Ross (at 15 seconds)

Several options were discussed, including UN-style.

In the end, Ian, Nick and Sound Blaster picked subtitles as the best option for covering Mike Ross’ line. Aside from being a cost-effective option, subtitles allowed Sound Blaster’s audience – many of them gaming fans and experts who would recognize Mr. Ross – to hear his voice. Also, because a third voice wasn’t added, Ian was able to keep the flow of the on-screen audio, which he’d already timed perfectly.

4. Matching the quality of the English-language original

During the recordings, the native-speaker language directors were tasked with matching the quality of the English as much as possible, while recording voice-over that was polished, professional, perfectly-timed, and of course, accurate and culturally-appropriate. No small feat, given the varied range of languages and the high quality of the English-language video.

However, JBI’s Project Manager oversaw the recordings and communicated Nick’s direction and voice description to the talents, directors and QA reviewers, to produce a video that is consistent as well as optimized for the individual locales.

5. The Final Videos

Finally, we present the videos. You can watch all the videos on the JBI Youtube channel.

JBI provides voice-over services in 50+ languages for various industries, from e-Learning audio to lip-sync dubbing to video games.