This is a common and even popular thing to do these days. With audiences increasingly mobile and active, lives increasingly short on time, having text available to listen to, rather than read makes them far more likely to be absorbed.

With books, magazines and newspapers the reader must sit in one place and occupy their eyes and their limbs in order to hold, turn and read pages, for the purpose of simply absorbing the material at hand.

With audio copy, a consumer can be driving, working out, gardening or any other task using their eyes and body freely and, at the same time, take in the materials being presented in the audio format.

One of the most common products of our MP3-player generation are books on tape. Now individuals can 'read' their favorite authors new novel or learn the latest skills through their headset or car or home stereo. And with the popularity of theses audio products comes the popularity of the Voice Actor.

The Voice Talents of our generation can be seen repeatedly getting the staring rolls with the largest advertising companies of our day. Listen to commercials carefully & you will get to know the most popular voices very quickly!

When you begin to think of it logically, you know how important it is for your TV commercial or presentation to have the correct voice behind it. After all, voices are powerful. Even though they often take a backseat in our minds to the way a person looks, without the right voice, looks ain't nothin'. And if the voice is all a person has to go on - for instance, in a radio commercial - then the voice becomes the most important thing in the world.

A person who understands just how to use their vocal capabilities can control another person just by speaking. This is a startling concept the first time you consider it, but when you consider some of the most famous voices in the world, you will understand how true that is. Consider, for example, the actor Michael Wincott.

He's an attractive guy, but of course in the movie industry that doesn't mean a whole lot. Good-looking guys are a dime a dozen. But this guy gets role after role after role based on the power of his voice. He has a voice that can keep you up at night, long after the movie is over, because you're just a little worried that the latest Michael Wincott character may just be lurking in the shadows. Remember the movie, The Count of Monte Cristo? He was the warden with the whip and the gravelly voice. Fans of the movie weren't quite sure which was more frightening, the whip - or that voice. That voice is what gets him work.

Then there's Clint Eastwood. Of course, that unflinching, squinty stare of his is something to write home about. But what do people do when they're pulling off their best Eastwood impression? They give some love to the stare, but mostly they copy the way he said, "Come on punk. Make my day." Like Wincott, Eastwood has a gravelly characteristic in his voice. But once upon a time, he knew where all the pauses were supposed to happen, and that made him something worth watching. He was worth watching because he was worth hearing.

Another actor who understood the concept of using his voice was Marlon Brando. Now this actor had a nasally cotton-mouth voice that, untrained, would have grated on the ear. But he became an actor. He got training. He took something that stood out and made it a trademark. The rest, my friend, was timing. When he said, "I made him an offer he couldn't refuse," as the Godfather, he didn't just say a cleverly written line - he said it with emphasis. With weight. What we are responding to isn't something these guys do inherently. They've had training. Therefore, when they said those lines, the audience never knew what hit them. But they knew that it was important.

Of course Michael Wincott, Clint Eastwood and Marlon Brando won't be available for your project, but they make great models to study when you are studying about how voices affect listeners. You want to use some of the same principals in picking out your voice actor, or in determining whether to use one. You are not the only one with a message for the public. There are thousands of other messages out there in addition to yours. You will have to persuade listeners, and that means getting and holding on to their attention. A powerful voice over can do that.