VoiceMap
I am a storyteller and a proud producer of walking tours for VoiceMap, and offer tourists in Northern Europe the opportunity to purchase guided tours.
Believe me – there is nothing that can replace good storytelling from a human guide, where you can also ask questions. But, sometimes it doesn’t fit… VoiceMap’s tours give you freedom, where you are not dependent on waiting for a time for shared guiding. You walk at your own pace, and you can walk alone – the only requirement is that you have a mobile phone.
To the right you will see an overview of my tours, and a link that gives you more information about the tour.
Below you can see the map of my VoiceMap tours, where you can see published tours with the VoiceMap logo, and blue markers by the tours I plan to create in the future.
How to create a VoiceMap tour?
Well, it’s quite easy if you take the time to do it. From the time I start a new tour until it’s finished I estimate it’s about three months – That means I produce 4 – 5 tours every year.
What I find to be the most fun and interesting part of production is when I do research.
Of course, I first have to decide on a place or area that I want to create the tour. Then I walk the route – first on a map, and then physically, so that I know the area I will create a guide for.
Then I sit down with my computer… Via maps, Google, searches and maybe also physical visits, I build a manuscript for the tour guide. I like to create tours of 40 minutes or more, and then it takes a while to build the manuscript. For me, who is not a native English speaker, it takes extra time to put together a manuscript that I can read in an easy way.
When the manuscript is ready, I sit down with VoiceMap’s MapMaker, and enter the route into the map, choose locations for my guiding, and then I enter the text for each location.
After this, it is VoiceMap’s editor who has a job to do. Read through, edit and finally approve the manuscript.
Aftert that….we are ready to record the script.
Recording the script is the part I like least. If it were in my own native language, it would have been easier, but since I read in English and/or German, it takes time. Based on the script and the listener’s walking speed when he listens to my guiding, I have a time limit for each audio file.
This makes it challenging, as my voiceover cannot be longer than the specified time – and, preferably, not shorter either..
I use a headset, an external hard drive for storage, and sound-deadening material when I record the audio. Previously, I read from paper, but now I read from a screen.
After the recording is done, I send the audio files to VoiceMap’s editor for correction, adding sound effects or music, and finally an approval.
After the editor has done his work and approved the audio files, he cuts it together in the app – and then it’s ready to go on a test tour.
Then I have to return to the city or area I’m creating the guide for, download the finished tour in the app on my mobile phone, and physically go on the tour, so that I can hear that everything is correct. Theory and practice should be right…
When it’s done, I give feedback to the editor, and only then is the tour published to the public.
As I told, You have to take good time..
VoiceMap now has guides in more than 70 countries worldwide, and I’m proud to be a part of this!