What is Parsing in Voice Over (And When Should You Use It)

A Parsing Tale of Two Sessions

Last week I recorded a new promo demo and it went great. Click here to check it out.

During the recording session, the director noticed that I was occasionally parsing some of my sentences but it was very subtle. Let's call it "micro-parsing". It was messing with my momentum as many of the promo spots required a lot of energy and speed. We worked on it for a bit and then kept on rolling.

After the demo recording session, I went to a nearby recording studio for an English as a Second Language (ESL) recording session with a regular client.

After chatting with the sound engineer and the producer, I settled into the booth and we started recording. After a couple of takes, the sound engineer told me I'm still in "promo mode". The producer said that this module is for entry-level ESL students and what's been working well for the other voice actors is to do a lot of parsing.

Of course.

So, I shifted gears from high-speed, high energy reads with no parsing to super-slow reads with tons of parsing.

Fortunately I was able to make the adjustment quickly and the rest of the recording session went fine.

What is Parsing?

This isn't a textbook definition, but in voice over circles parsing is when you break up a sentence where the written punctuation doesn't dictate that you should. Often it's done for dramatic effect and can enhance your narration, if you know how to use it.

But Tom, isn't parsing just a fancy word for pausing?

Not exactly. You're supposed to pause after commas, colons, semicolons, etc. not in some rando place in the script for no good reason.

Why Your Parsing Might Be Wrecking Your Auditions

Almost every student I've worked with has had an issue with parsing.

Parsing can also be what I call an "ism", a potentially bad habit.

For new voice actors, parsing happens when they take a breath in the middle of a sentence because they haven't fully developed their breath control skills.

Other times they pause in the middle of a sentence and can't explain why. This usually means they're not connected with the script and therefore can't effectively engage the listener.

How To Diagnose Your Parsing

Playback your last few auditions with the scripts in hand.

On the script, put a comma, colon, semicolon, or ellipse everywhere you parsed. Does the sentence still make sense? Did it make you feel something?

If it does, you likely made a strong acting choice to create suspense, drama, or stir a particular emotion in the listener.

If the sentence doesn't make sense anymore, that was poor parsing!

Why did you parse?

If it's because you ran out of breath, you need to develop your breath control with a great coach like one of these.

If you have no idea why your parsed, you need to develop your script interpretation skills, also with a great coach like one of these.

NEWS AND NOTES

• Wednesday, July 21st @8PM ET: The VO How-To Webinar "Direct Marketing". What is Direct Marketing? How can you use Direct Marketing to complement your Agents and use of Pay-to-Play sites? These and many more questions will be answered. Sign up here!

• Thursday, July 22nd @8PM ET: the Marketing 201 webinar, "4 Words that K*** your Marketing". In this 60-minute webinar, we will discuss how to think like an effective voiceover marketer and avoid self-destructive marketing strategies.

HAPPY HAPPYS

Happy Ice Cream Day and International Chess Day!

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

It's not the questions that get us in trouble - it's the answers... Tom Brokaw

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Tom Dheere is the VO Strategist, a voice over business & marketing coach since 2011. He is also a voice actor with over 20 years of experience who has narrated just about every type of voiceover you can think of. When not voicing or talking about voicing, he produces the sci-fi comic book Agent 1.22.