If it’s crossed your mind that you need to book a Voiceover Artist, how do you make this happen?
If your business needs to speak to its customers or its staff, chances are it’s causing a bit of anxiety. Should I record the voiceover myself? Maybe I can get one of the team to record the script into their phone, they have a nice voice?
Well, maybe, but does the way you communicate with potential or existing clients really deserve so little thought?
What’s stopping you hiring a professional voiceover artist? Maybe you don’t want to spend any money or perhaps it’s that the whole world of Voiceover feels a bit perplexing and impenetrable and just “too difficult”? No problem, read on to find out how to hire a Voiceover Artist and get your words working for you!
Googling
There is a chance that you found this blog because you were googling this very question! The good thing about googling to find a Voiceover artist is that you will be able to make sure your search terms reflect what you want, for example “British female Voiceover” or “UK Voiceover with warm voice” could well land you with my info.
The downside, is that you could find yourself with just too many options. Also, who’s to say that the first 2 pages of search engine results will reveal your ideal voice for your project. There are many of us and it might be that your perfect voice just isn’t that hot on SEO. In short, it’s an illusion of choice that could just cost you time and yield either too many good options or too few.
Online casting sites
There are many online voiceover casting sites! What you need to know is that within the world of Voiceover Artists, some sites are viewed more favourably than others! Beware of Voiceover casting sites offering thousands of voices. This could be a sign of the lack of quality control of both the VO artist and or their studios. Also, do keep in mind when you are looking for a Voiceover artist that “cheaper” doesn’t mean better. Voiceover Artists who are experienced and therefore reliable, charge enough to make a living. Not £5.
Voiceover Agents
This might sound the most daunting way to go about finding a Voiceover for your production but actually it’s probably the easiest and most efficient use of your time and energy! Reputable Voiceover agencies will not have reams and reams of Voiceover Artists on their books as they are all known personally to the Agents. Voice agents will know the skills and sounds of their clients, how flexible they are time wise, if they have a professional voiceover studio at home and can narrow the choice down a bit by making some suggestions.
So you will end up with a short list of voice artists who all, ultimately, meet your brief and needs and then it’s just choosing the person who has exactly the right sound for your project.
You may pay slightly more for this level of service but the time and stress saved does make sense.
Voiceover Artists themselves
Sounds a bit strange as an option? Are you connected to any Voiceover artists on social media? Do you have friends who are actors? Maybe someone you work with has hired a male voiceover and he was great. What I’m getting at here is that Voiceover Artists know others in the business. In fact, it may surprise you to discover that many of us are very good friends and that it’s a strong community – complete with events, meet-ups, whatsapp groups and more. I really like being asked to recommend Voiceover artists. Many times a client needs, for example a male VO with, say, a northern accent. In my network I have many VO artists who I know and trust to deliver great work. After all, if I recommend someone not of the top quality standard then that reflects poorly on me. So, it’s a safe bet VO artists will only recommend the very best and you’ll get some brilliant voices to choose from.
You’ve found a voice – what next?
Assuming you now have the voice that fits your needs, you’ll want to be able to work with them.
The best way to do this is to make sure you have all of the information you know about the project in an email. This involves where the content is going (there will be a price difference between a hone system for a local business and a global TV commercial!) and if it has any paid social media campaigns behind it.
It’s helpful to know what style you would like and what it’s intention is – are you educating, selling, inspiring?
Chatting to your VO artist can help you with these decisions – we do this all of the time and we are here to help you!
You can usually choose if you would like to “be there” in the session via something like Zoom. This enables you to hear the VO artist as they record (and see us too, which can be a mixed blessing!) and most importunely it allows you to let the VO artist know about anything you’d like as regards tone, style pronunciation, or even change the odd word on the fly. Do expect to pay a bit extra to direct – it’s an Equity rate.
You can also ask us to self direct, most of my work is self directed. As you have a high quality voice artist, they will be able to record and edit your script following your guidance. We are very skilled at listening to ourselves objectively and making subtle changes as required.
The Voiceover recording
As part of your briefing, we will establish what sort of file you need. Maybe it’s a wav, an mp3 or something else? Just ask and we can help. Then you can expect your file to arrive via email.
You will then be able to start work on combining the VO with your project and start reaping the benefits of hiring a pro voiceover.
If you would like a bit more information on how you hire and work with a Voiceover artist then please do drop me a note hello@clarereevesvoiceovers.com