- In this video, I'm going to show you the best way
to hire a voice actor.
(calm music)
If you've never worked with voiceover talent before,
it can be a bit overwhelming to know where to start looking.
A lot will depend on your budget, your time frame,
and exactly what you need.
So it's important to keep these three things in mind
when you make a decision.
In the next minutes, I'm going to go over
the four main ways of hiring voiceover talent,
and the advantages and disadvantages to each option.
Throughout them all, I think it's useful
to keep in mind this diagram.
Any service lands at some point in this spectrum,
and the same is definitely true for voiceovers.
Option number one, voiceover agents.
If you go into Google, and type in "voiceover agents,"
then you'll get a list of the most high profile agencies
in your area.
Are all voiceover agencies created equal?
No, but they are typically the first stop
for the best high-profile talent
because the agencies themselves will have already
cherry picked the best in the field.
An agent's job is essentially to curate the best talent
from a diverse range of the industry.
Depending on the agency, a lot of the talent represented
might actually be actors who also do voiceover on the side,
so they might not have access
to recording facilities themselves,
but they'll either be able to use the agency's own studio
or an external one.
Especially since COVID, a lot of agency talent
have also moved to get home studios as well,
and these will all have been vetted
by the agents in advance.
Essentially, working with an agent
results in a high quality product
with a cost that reflects that.
As well as paying the talent,
the agent will also be taking a commission
of between of 15 and 20%,
so rates will be on the higher end.
Thanks to an agent's knowledge and expertise,
you'll be given a number of very credible options,
and the turnover time will be relatively quick.
But there is inherently an extra layer of correspondence
within the transaction,
which means it's not necessarily the fastest,
and it also means that you're often not talking
to the talent until the session itself.
Option two, pay to play sites.
Pay to play sites are essentially voiceover casting sites
where talent pay a subscription fee in order to play,
essentially, audition for your project.
As someone posting a job,
the fee for actually using the platform
is often conflated into the overall voiceover fee,
but there's often quite a difference from site to site
on how ethically that this is done.
Some are very ethical, and some really aren't.
Pay to plays are ostensibly fast
because you can set the deadline.
You can also set the budget,
which could be well below industry standards.
The barrier for entry into these sites is very variable.
Essentially, if you can pay, then you can play,
which means that you will be inundated with auditions
that you'll have to go through,
which will take a lot of time.
Listening to countless readings of the same script
can get very tiring very fast,
especially when the performance levels are very variable,
but also the actual quality of the recording itself.
It adds an unwelcome degree of technical uncertainty
into the mix, but if you do have the time
to trawl through everything,
then it can be a more budget-friendly option,
if time doesn't necessarily equate to money for you.
Option three, freelancing sites are something
that I'm just gonna touch on very briefly.
Imagine all of the complications and potential issues
of a pay to play site, but with no barrier to entry.
Pay to plays at least have the barrier to entry
of a subscription fee that the talent must pay,
whereas on a freelancing site, anyone can have a go.
So while turnaround times may be quick
and rates often extremely low,
finding anything that's actually usable
is like finding a needle in a hay stack
and will require a lot of patience on your behalf.
And finally, option four,
hiring freelance voiceovers directly.
Returning to Google again,
if you search for the type of voice you're looking for
and the word "voiceover," you'll be presented
with a huge range of talent to choose from.
Any voiceover artist who has spent time
building up their online presence,
recording a range of demos, done their SEO,
and constructed a clear brand
has to be dedicated to their job.
If they manage to get on the first or second page of Google,
then they likely know what they're doing.
They'll have invested in their own professional studio,
which means that they'll be to turn over recordings quickly
that you won't have to deal with a third party
in order to speak to them, and that you won't have
to wade through lost of duff auditions
in order to get what you want.
You'll be able to immediately check out their work,
find out where they're based, and make contact with them.
And as the whole process will be conducted directly,
there'll be no commission involved,
rates will be more competitive
while still respectful of the industry.
And just as a side note to that,
if you don't know what the proper going rates are
for a voiceover, then I recommend you check out
the Gravy for the Brain rate card.
If you've already got a pretty clear idea
of the voice that you want,
then you can find a few different talents,
ask them for a demo, and they'll usually turn over it
in a couple of hours.
If you've got much vaguer ideas about the talent
that you actually want to use,
then probably having somebody like an agent
to bounce ideas off will be more useful.
But another huge benefit of working with voiceovers directly
is that we're a community,
which is partly a result of us talking to ourselves all day.
The best voiceovers will be very clear
about what they can do and also what they can't
and be happy to recommend you if someone's more suitable.
I make personal recommendations to my clients
pretty much on a regular basis
because it's part of me building a relationship with them.
The best voiceovers want to be a resource to you,
not just book a job, and are in it for the long haul,
so don't be afraid to ask them.
So there you have it.
Each job is a balancing act, and no budget or timeline
is gonna be created equal.
But I've hopefully given you a clear idea
of the options available to you
and what their various pros and cons are.
If you enjoyed this video, please do take the time
to like, subscribe, and turn notifications on
so that you don't miss any of the future videos.
Thanks so much for watching.
And see you next time.