Advertising – Sound Roles and job descriptions

What jobs are found in this sector?  Voice over; Its simple, you read a script and speak. They have to have a positive attitude and tone, and be able to convey the right type of message.  Audio advertising producer; They record and manipulate voices. This may allow them to make the person selling the product sound more positive and push the listener to buy this product more.  Sound technician; Very similar to audio advertising producers. Often change or edit voices to make a product more appealing to the targeted listener.  Radio marketing executive; They sell and persuade people to listen to a specific radio station or group of stations. This is obviously a part of advertising.  Audio-visual technician Focusing on using equipment, including projectors and sound systems along with various editing software programs.

Sound technician This job is split into two parts; production and post production. Production focuses on the sounds created on location, and post production involved the editing, enhancing and mixing the pre-recorded sounds. Within this job you will have to be able to operate the equipment, meet the quality of sounds which producers expect, and create audios appropriately. As well as being able to work well with the equipment after at least some experience, you should be able to communicate with the people around you and pick up new instructions quickly. Although there are no specific qualifications or requirements for this job, it is asked that you have at least a C grade GCSE within Mathematics and English. It is recommended that, to further your knowledge, skills and gain a better idea into this possible career, that you study a course related to this. For example, a Level 2 or Level 3 Certificate or Diploma in Sound and Music Technology and Sound Engineering, or a foundation degree in sound engineering, media or music technology, or technical theatre. The salaries are around £15,000 to £18,000 a year, full time work. This may rise to £24,000 or more with experience. Long term experience and advanced skills could even lead to roughly £35,000 a year.

Voice Over The main part of this job involves reading a script into a microphone, portraying yourself as a character or type of person in order to sell or positively describe a product, person, place, etc. The requirements of this job are not educational, but more about skills and experience; having a confident voice, experience in performing arts, are able to promote a product or deliver a message, and so on. Within this job role, the amount paid is very varied, simply because of the different types of jobs. For example, on a small community radio station, you could be paid around just £30 for speaking in the advertisement, whereas if the same as was played on a big radio station with many more listeners, up to £500 could be paid. This is not a career, but multiple jobs which means hours can vary depending on what kind of ad you are working with.

Audio-visual technician Being an audio-visual technician involved operating various types of equipment and focusing on how everything works, checking its all running smoothly. Again, the specific jobs which come with this career vary. The skills needed for this job are good IT skills, organization skills and the skill of working well under pressure and usually with a team. The starting salary is £16,000 a year, working hours per week. With experience this may rise to up to £30,000 a year. Similar to the others presented, there are no set requirements for this job, however certain courses and relevant experience is always something employers look for. Diploma’s in creative media production, photography, and media techniques are something that will stand out, along with foundation degrees in creative media production, multimedia, audio production and digital media production. An apprenticeship is also a great way to get into this job choice.