Looking for a new voice actor for your project?
A great voice actor can make all the difference in a project's success because they will create unique characters with their personalities, bringing your vision to life and connecting with the hearts of your audience.
To make the hiring process easier and more rewarding, these tips will ensure you find the perfect voice actor for your project.
How do I find the perfect voice actor for my project?
Are you looking for an answer to this question now?
First, it is important to choose the right voice because the actor you hire will represent your brand and its values. Choosing the right voice actor should grow your business, communicate your message, and complement your brand. With these tips, we are confident you'll be able to choose the best voice actors for any project.
10 Tips for Choosing the Right Voice Actor for Your Project
Determine the Required Tone: The tone is vital, especially when searching for a voice actor. Think about how your audience will feel and what message your brand, product, or project wants to convey when they hear the actor's voice, and consider whether you need a formal or informal style.
Consider the target audience's age: That's right, their age matters. Why? You want to hire a voice actor who will connect with and speak to the people in your target audience; you want to consider their age. So, if you're aiming for the older demographic, you'll want a more mature, experienced voice actor; if it's a younger audience, you'll want someone with a younger-sounding voice.
Know the regional dialect: To ensure you are working with the right person, choose someone with a neutral accent to increase project credibility. Or depending on your target audience, you may consider someone who has a similar accent, language, or jargon.
Ensure they're professional: Working with someone who takes their job seriously is invaluable. Ensuring your voice actor is professional in presentation, communication, and process is vital. Hiring a voice actor should not be complicated and cumbersome. Please don't settle for someone who isn't a true professional; remember, they are representing your product or project.
Consider the gender: Unless your project is gender-neutral, it's essential to keep in mind the gender of the intended audience because one gender might be better suited than another. Also, some projects may be gender specific to make your message more authentic and connected.
Listen to their work, demos, and reels: One of the best ways to get an idea of the voice actor's vocal style is through their demo or portfolio. This should give you a good sense of their past work, and you will be able to hear the voice actors' range, style, and tone for different projects. If the voice actor does not have a reel, that’s a sure sign they may not be a professional.
Recommended by LinkedIn
Know their availability: This is essential for projects requiring in-person recordings. Knowing their availability ahead of time ensures that you're selecting someone who can truly fulfill the requirements of your project. Remember, this should be easy, so you want scheduling to be simple and quick according to your project or personal deadline for your project.
Discuss Budget: All voice actors don’t charge the same; however, market rates should be the gauge. The rates for voice actors may differ depending on their experience, but most professional voice actors charge based on usage, terms, and a session fee. Usage means where this message will be heard/used: on your personal website, company page, social media feeds, TV, streaming radio platforms, etc. Term means how long the message will be heard: weeks, months, years, or forever. A session fee is for the time it takes for the voice actor to record your message in a studio or their professional home studio. (i.e., if you hire a voice actor for your product launch and it takes them an hour to record, a session fee will be added for their time and skill). It's like when you hire a plumber or electrician; there is usually a base rate for their time before they even look at your problem. The same thing applies to a voice actor.
Have a contract in place: It ensures alignment and mutual agreement that the expectations and deliverables are understood. This helps avoid potential disagreements and guarantees that both parties are on the same page. Make sure you both sign the agreement before beginning work. An agreement can range from a formal contract to an email with all the details of the project, such as the 5 W's: what to record, when to record, how much to pay, where to record, and why you want to record your message.
Provide a final script: The earlier you provide the script to the voice actor, the better. It can also be helpful to provide media assets for your project, such as audio samples or links to other voice actors you like, so your voice actor can better understand what you're looking for and the message, tone, and pace you want to convey.
While you look at these tips, remember to think long-term if you plan to build your brand using voice actors; make sure they will be available for future and ongoing projects. You wouldn't want to build trust between your company's voice and your audience only to lose it.
What other tips would you recommend? I'd be happy to get your thoughts in the comments. Additionally, I would love to hear about any topics you are passionate about and would like me to cover in future discussions.
If you haven’t already subscribed to my newsletter, click here, You can share it so others can join. I will be sharing more of my tips, tricks, and experience in voice acting.
Are you looking for a voice actor?
How can I help you?
At MyVoiceWorks Management, we specialize in providing excellent, quality, and professional service for any VO project, including commercial, radio, digital, e-learning, corporate narration, and audio description, among others, with a breadth of emotion that brings your script to life and connects to the heart and soul of your audience.
Whether you're a small business, a large corporation, or an independent producer, we take pride in understanding your projects and delivering high-quality recordings that go above and beyond expectations because our focus is on the outcome before the income.
Contact us today at mvw@myvoiceworksmanagment.com to learn more about our services and how we can help your project succeed.
If you haven't already, follow Saundi Harrison-Cooksey, voiceofsaundi.com owner and talent of MyVoiceWorks Management, LLC, click the link for samples, booked work, and more.
Head of Global Learning @Warner Bros. Discovery | Author | Women We Admire “Top 50 Women Leaders of Atlanta 2024”
1yVery nice Saundi Harrison-Cooksey, Voice Actor ! Love the tips! For the point you made about getting a demo, I would add to let others you trust also listen to the demo. You helped me out with my book project when you reviewed the demos I received and gave me your thoughts. This is a great checklist!