When someone intends to hire a voice actor, they usually have to choose from a variety of options. These include choosing from professional voice actors or amateurs. After narrowing down the options and creative directors come in to hire the voice actors, they need to be convinced that they made the right choice worthy of their money and time.
Hiring voice actors without doing due diligence usually doesn’t give the expected outcomes when it comes to communication, use of studio equipment, and many more. No wonder, many people opt for professional voice actors as they can communicate timely and ask the right questions to make sure the project needs are met. This article explains how to hire the best voice actors.
Things to do when hiring a voice actorÂ
The voice actor hiring process can be tough. But if you address the right questions and in question from the voice actor, then there can be professionalism and authenticity.
In most cases, producers usually hire voice actors with a working professional website, studio equipment and pictures, and voice-over demos of video and audio as it’s easy to contact them directly. Here are some factors you must do when hiring a voice actor:
Define the voice profile
Firstly, because you intend to utilize professional talent instead of recording your voice over, the biggest challenge is to find a talent whose voice quality and interpretation of the script represents your brand.
You can have a list of qualities, such as male or female, a certain accent, a childlike or mature voice, and many others. This becomes your profile, but it’s always a good idea to begin with this list to help you to narrow the results.
Therefore, once you define the voice profile, remember who your audience is. In other words, you need to figure out if the audience is looking for direction, or if your product or service is something that a friend would recommend.
Ideally, if your audience sees your brand as comforting, distinct, or other, then your voice should reflect this. Quite often, you may know your brand very well, so you can re-read your script, and try to listen for a character to reveal themself.
Finding talent
The good news is that you can use the internet to find voice over professionals. You can find some websites where you can search for the right talent and listen to their samples. It makes sense to narrow your results to between 5 and 10 candidates before you begin contacting them.
You may decide to send a script’s paragraph and ask the potential candidates to record an audition. This can give you an idea if they are a good match. It’s worth noting that you must set a budget for voice actors from the onset.
Most voice actors can give you their rate sheet, and the voice actors’ rates can be across the board. But if you find someone excited to work for you, their rates can be flexible. If you have a tight budget, be prepared to work with an inexperienced voice actor.
Managing a voice actor
Besides the rates, you must have expectations before you decide to hire a voice actor. You can also consider whether you intend to have a raw version of the script, want music edited in, or the type of audio file you want to put the resulting voice-over in.
Communication is also important when bringing a voice actor to your project. This is a video you have been working on for some time, so you can get the best results if you attempt to communicate the vision for your project. You should also give the background of your brand and details about your customers. A voice actor can utilize this information to represent your brand accurately.
When you get the audio file, try to listen to it carefully. If there are any concerns or decide to ask for reasonable fees, make sure you get back to the voice actor timely. Remember that voice actors create their portfolio based on their reputation, so they try to keep their clients happy.
Since the human voice can be a powerful and persuasive tool to express messages and bring emotional responses. The actor you choose for the project can usually be the first impression of the business and represent the brand. So you need to get an excellent voice actor with credibility and can resonate with the audience.
Places to get voice actors
Fortunately, you are spoiled for choice when it comes to places where you can get talented voice actors. Here are some of the sources:
Talent agents
The traditional way of finding a voice actor is by using the agents. Agents can act as a go-between between the client and voice actors. They negotiate fees for voice actors and get a percentage once the voice actor gets the role.
Good agents usually nurture talent for you, meaning you can get good options to choose from. You can find many great agents around who are knowledgeable and quite easy to work with.
Pay-to-play sites
It’s worth noting that not all pay-to-play websites are created equally. The best pay-to-play sites can vet their voice actors ahead of time to make sure that they have the right skills and studio sound are great.
That said, you can find other websites that are less reputable and they are there just to make quick money. So they tend to exploit voice actors by offering very low rates. With these sites, you may likely have to go through several auditions with beginners pretending to be professionals. Regardless of the site you go for, if you have a very low budget, you may find it hard to get the right voice actor who can deliver the high-quality work you want.
As you can see, you need to do several things to find the right voice actor. You are on the right path when you start by defining the voice profile. While there are many places where you can get voice actors, it makes sense to use the source that you are comfortable with.