July 17th, 2020

3 Tips on Hiring a Voice Over Artist

A quality message deserves a quality sound. You're an industry-trusted professional so hire an industry-trusted professional. Do you cut corners with your video production? Of course not, so why cut corners with the audio? Here are some tips that will aid in finding the right voice for your project and investing in the long term.

As you know, voice over is used in many types of media such as explainer videos, radio and TV commercials, video games, eLearning modules, documentaries, on-hold messaging, audiobooks, and the list goes on. With so many voice over needs out there, it means there is even more voice over artists which creates a lot of noise when trying to choose the right talent for your project. It can take time, money and create stress when all you want is someone professional, that has the “right” sound and is easy to work with. 

This article published on publicwords.com, discusses the importance of vocal communication over visuals, and that someone is more likely to remember what was being said over what was displayed. It’s because there is so much wrapped up in a voice like emotion, pitch, inflection, and humanity. Even the best text-to-speech AI can’t replicate it. So, making sure the quality of your voice over is top-notch is imperative in your messaging.

Let’s dive into the 3 tips for hiring a professional voice over artist.

1)     What is the Voice Over For and What Should it Sound Like?

Consider what you need the voice over for. Is it for a video game, explainer video, product promo, eLearning module, documentary, podcast intro, etc.? A voice over can sound very different between an eLearning module and a product promo so it’s important to decide ahead of time what your goal is and to define your customer persona.
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This can be accomplished by understanding your audience. If you are looking for a voice for your eLearning module, you start with what it should sound like to your audience. Is my audience a group of 8-year old’s or a group of 30-50-year old’s. Now break it down further, are my 8-year old’s learning history or math, or are my 30-50-year old’s learning about a new sexual harassment policy or how to use a forklift? Now you’re getting closer. So now it’s time for the voice that fits. Would you want a deep commanding male voice to narrate the history of Napoleon Bonaparte to a group of 8-year old’s or something more soothing yet authoritative and friendly sounding? Sketching out verbs will help in finding the right talent for your project. 
Once you have down who your audience is and the sound you're looking for the next step is finding that voice.

2)     Finding the Right Voice

There are so many outlets for finding a voice. Try typing it into Google and you’ll see for yourself. Casting websites can be overwhelming and time-consuming listening to 100’s of auditions, most of which are bad audio quality, untrained performances, and people that clearly didn’t read your specs inadvertently wasting your time. Not only that but save your money for the talent, most of these sites charge extra fees to the talent and to the buyer. If you haven’t already developed your own company roster of talent now is the time. The world is cluttered with voice over noise that is unreliable, untrained, and unprofessional. Build a trusted network that you can go to time and time again. 

Certainly, typing into Google is still a good resource, just make sure you are doing your homework which means don’t stop at the first search results page. Most of what you are seeing are the casting sites and tons of “How To’s” for voice actors. Another resource is one that I stand by which is Voiceover.biz. This is a trusted and respected resource of professional vetted talent. This site is not in the game to make money off of talent or the buyer, it is just a platform to connect to voice over talent that other voice over talent and buyers trust. 
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Make sure you are listening to samples of the talent you are looking at. Jot down notes, flag them to come back later to and don’t be afraid to contact them and ask if they can produce the sound or delivery you are looking for. As a voice over talent we have multiple disciplines that we are suited for which means from the ability to voice a character in animation to being a friendly teacher in an eLearning module we’ve trained to gain these abilities that give us a dynamic range for multiple types of projects. And that’s good. Why use 5 or 6 voice actors when you can use one for 5 or 6 different types of projects.

3)     Building and Maintaining Your Relationship

I do business with people I know, like, and trust. For example, I have a shoe guy that I built a relationship with some years ago. In my first experience, he did a great job with my shoe-fitting and was personable, honest, and gave me some advice on how to take care of my shoes so they would last longer. I was in the market for another pair a few months down the road and went back to him because he left a great impression. Since then I barely have to do anything when I go back, just tell him I need a new pair of shoes and I trust he’ll find the right pair. He knows how to fit them exactly right. Over time there has been less learning about how each of us works which saves time and ensures a better experience for both of us. Just like building and maintaining a relationship with your voice over talent you can expect the same, except for the shoe thing. They get to know your company, how you work, what sort of clients you work with, and each time you work less trying to get what you want from them. Here’s an article from CIO.com providing tips on optimizing your vendor relationships. Give it a read, tons of great information.

In conclusion
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Knowing your audience helps determine what your voice over should sound like. Finding your ideal voice over talent isn’t as much of a headache as it could have been and forming a relationship with your talent is an investment for the future. If you're a voice over buyer and you agree, disagree, or have some insight I'd love to hear your comments below. After all, that's how we learn is through engagement.