Are you trying to find and cast voice over talent for your work? Whether you’ve got a promo piece, an audiobook, or another creative endeavor, choosing the right voice actor can make all the difference. But if you’re not in person, how can you find the very best voice talent? We’re going to help you here with some great strategies for finding the best voice talent to meet your needs, in person or not.
What exactly do you need?
When you are looking for voice over talent, you need an actor to fit the project and the character. You could find an amazing voice actor, but if the voice doesn’t match the project and the brand, you won’t be successful with it. There are a number of factors that go into what makes an ideal voice actor. When it comes time to cast voice over talent, think about how you envision the character. Do you want a voice that represents a middle-aged suburban dad or a gender-fluid teenager? Would an elderly voice be more trustworthy and a young adult one more exciting for your project? And what are you trying to portray? Trust or excitement? These are all things to think about.
Once you figure out the demographics of your voice actor, you need to think about other voice attributes. To cast the right voice over actor, it’s good to know how to discern and identify what you’re looking for. Some of this will be indicated with attributes like timber, pitch, rate and pacing, accents, and dialects. Do you want a sultry rich voice or a quick, authoritative one? The better you can identify what you need, the easier you’ll be able to find it.
Types of work for casting voice over artists
When you want to cast voice over talent, much of it depends on what you’re casting them for. Think about the difference between an audiobook or a short advertisement. The audiobook may be a one-time deal, and you can use a voice that sounds like it would represent the book genre. On the other hand, when you are looking at ads, you want a voice that will represent your brand and can be used multiple times. Think about your audience, and gear your voice talent search to that.
We can see from GravyfortheBrain.com that there is a wide variety of voice work. Let’s look at a list:
- Internet voice over
- radio voice over
- video game voice over
- anime voice over
- audiobook voice over
- telephone and IVR voice over
- animated voice over
- commercial voice over
So from voicing audiobooks to acting as animated characters to recording voicemail messages, there is tons of work for voice actors to do. Now let’s find them!
Casting the voice
Now you know what type of voice you want, so it’s time to find it. The beautiful thing is that there are so many places to find great voice work. Of course, we are partial to our Bunny Studio Pros who are highly skilled, professional voice actors.
One of the best ways to cast voice over talent these days is virtually. With the recent pandemic, we learned to do a lot of things virtually. Even though now we are slowly getting back face to face, we saw that not everything has to be face to face. Hiring voice actors is one thing that can easily be done virtually. So don’t worry if you can’t meet your voice talent in person, you can still listen to the voice, and that’s the most important thing, after all.
Casting the voice virtually
There are a few things to think about when casting voice talent virtually. One of these is contracts or simply trust. Say you find your voice actor on a random ad or website on the Internet. You’re going to have to do some negotiating and trust that if you pay beforehand they’ll deliver. That’s one reason a lot of people like to work with a platform, like Bunny Studio when hiring voice talent virtually. Here are some pros to doing that:
- You can trust your project will be on time and held to a high standard.
- Talent is already approved and vetted. No worries about ending up with nonprofessional voice actors here.
- Revisions are included. Look for a voice over platform that will work on revisions with you to make your end product just what you envisioned.
- Professional teams work together. When a voice actor is working solo, they wear all the hats. That includes editing, negotiating, delivery, quality control. When you work with a platform, a whole team is on your side checking that your product is going to be awesome.
- You can do it virtually. How great is it to log on to your computer and listen to different voice samples before choosing an actor? You can go through and filter what your needs are to narrow down the actors. This beats running around or requesting different demos one by one.
- You can also read reviews and see client ratings. Usually, platforms have some different price points, too, so you can pick and choose what works best for you.
- A company can help match you to a pro. They know the ins and outs and how to help. They take a lot of the hard work away from you.
As we mentioned, the past two years have taught us what works virtually and what is better face to face. Casting a voice actor is one of those things that is pretty easy to do virtually, and you can still get great results!
Casting voice over talent in multiple languages
Another big perk when it comes to virtual voice over casting is the variety of languages you can use. Consider this scenario – you have a website and want a voice over for a short promo video. Sure it’s great to have it in your native language, but what about producing it in a few more languages to broaden your market? The same holds true for voicemail recordings, audiobooks, video game voice overs, and so many other roles.
When you are working with a virtual platform, you have a wide variety of languages and dialects to choose from. As this article tells us, if businesses want to become effective global operations, they have to use not only translation but also localization services. Part of localization is adapting to other languages, and voice overs in multiple languages will bring global awareness and widen a market.
This kind of comes back around to our virtual world. As things become more and more virtual (like finding voice talent) we need to open up our businesses and brands to wider markets. That’s where localization comes into play. A professional service can also help you in this regard by supplying with you the appropriate dialects and talents for your needs in a language that you may not understand.
Putting it all together
When you are ready to outsource your talent needs, try to work with someone who can put it all together. One of the perks of outsourcing is that you can focus on other aspects of your daily life and work. So if you find a great voice actor and the platform they’re on takes care of all the details, it’s that much easier for you. You can cast the job online and be busy doing other things while you wait for your end result.
Outsourcing with a full-service content agency can put everything together for you, too. We already mentioned localization services to get your vocal content in more than one language, but what about other components. It’s nice to have one spot to get all of your content done, from the voice talent to the written content to video production and design. Let them put it all together, and you’ll have a final product that is cohesive, professional, and ready to wow!
A few more helpful tips…
Before you contact that voice actor or platform, do the work you need to do. The more details you can supply, the better the chance that you’ll get just the right voice actor the first time around. Here are some things you can do on your end.
- Make a detailed job description. Include as much as you can like a thorough description of the voice you want, including age range, gender, demographic, pitch, any dialect, and of course, the job it’s for.
- Break down the job. Let the potential voice over artist and platform know as much as possible about the job, like what is the duration, how many hours per week, how many recordings, and what the parameters are for the job. Is there a possibility of repeat work or other content that should be included?
- Be comfortable talking budget. Is your budget set? Is there a little room for fluctuation, say, could you pay more if the actor has a long resume of experience? Would you be willing to work with a less experienced pro to stay within your budget, or possibly extend your deadline?
All of these components will make it easier to cast the very best voice actor for your project.
The bottom line on how to cast voice over talent virtually
It may seem like a lot of work, but it’s really not. If you can be thorough on the front end, the rest will be easy peasy. Don’t be shy about casting your voice talent when you can’t meet face to face. Virtual is a great choice and may offer even more options for you.
We’d love to help with casting your voice over talent, and any other content needs you may have. Reach out to our exceptional Bunny Studio teams, and let’s get that voice for you. You’ll love it! Let’s turn your big ideas into a reality!