10 Proven Tips For Hiring Professional Voice Overs Successfully
Identifying the right voice talent is very important, regardless of the project you want it for. But the challenge most people face is how they can go through the process of successfully signing the right artist.
The company you hire to provide voiceovers should not only be affordable, but also one that can guarantee quality work. In the following text we tell you the ten most important things to take into account when hiring a professional voice over artist. Read below for these tips.
1. Choose reliable and experienced talent from a reputable company
These days, there is very tough competition in the voiceover market. As long as a person has a microphone and a voice, they can venture into the industry and advertise on the internet as professional voice talent. As with any market that is easily accessible, having too many choices is not always good for consumers.
Rather, what’s important, much more important than having a million options to choose from, is getting professional quality voice over and recording with the ability to deliver on time. Because Google filters billions of website pages, it is important that you use a reputable provider that can deliver responsible and reliable voice over artists so that you can find gifted voice over artists who are capable of delivering the project on time.
An agent or provider with multiple voiceover professionals should be able to offer you a multitude of options. Plus, their experience when it comes to complex contracting means you not only have a professional but also a trusted company that you can hold accountable if something doesn’t go as expected.
2. Avoid Directories That Have Massive Groups Of Voiceover Experts
Although you might get a talented broadcaster to take on your project, it’s not a good idea to publish your project to multiple talents at the same time.
Because most large sites simply allow anyone to join and submit a job, they tend to have thousands of members. These sites allow as many members to sign up as possible because members pay some money before they are allowed. Credible and established voice over professionals will be quick to avoid sites that have thousands of amateur contenders.
You should also do the same when choosing a voice artist. Also, a directory with thousands of broadcasters makes it difficult for you to zero in on a suitable artist.
3. Cheap is often more expensive, so buyers should be careful
After receiving a quote in this industry for a professional job in this sector, you should not choose the cheapest quote. As I mentioned earlier, the market has been flooded with anyone with a voice and a microphone. Professionals who deliver quality work are likely to charge much more compared to upstarts who have not yet established themselves.
While upstarts may try to lure you in with their lower prices, it’s always a good idea to choose a reputable and professional company. As with many other things in life, when it comes to voiceovers, expect to get what you pay for. A reputable company will deliver higher quality work compared to one just starting out.
However, this does not mean that you should always choose the highest bidder. Professional companies will charge a price that falls in a certain range. If the price a company charges seems to be outside of this range, you should probably avoid this company.
4. Don’t base your decisions on the demo, as it’s just the starting point
It could be that at this point, you have identified a voiceover whose demo reel seems excellent and very well produced. However, this is not proof that his other works are great. This is because multiple studios may record and then produce reels of shows for upcoming dub artists.
These can then be manipulated to look like previous projects by the artist. This, however, is not a big problem sometimes. However, when your intent is to sign one of these talents, it’s important to note that they may produce on their own without the help of a producer and may be significantly lower in quality compared to their demo/demo reel.
For this, one must choose voice providers with an international reputation. In case you find that you are dealing directly with an artist, ask them to give you an example of their recent project that is not only similar but was also produced in their own recording studio.
For example, if your project involves recording an audiobook, insist that potential hosts provide you with a copy of their previous project. Your corporate narrations, messages on hold, and professionally produced announcements may not demonstrate your ability to narrate an audiobook.
5. Clarity and fairness are an absolute must
It is important when requesting voice over services that you ensure that you are as clear as possible about your budget, project requirements and expectations. One way to differentiate a great voiceover company from your average one is because a great company will explore the scope of your work and ask the right questions to get the most accurate quote on available vocal talent.
But you must understand that it is entirely your obligation to provide a clear overview and description of your work, as well as its exposure and distribution. If in the course of the project there is an increase in the scope as well as the participation in the announcement, the company could be forced to collect more money than initially budgeted. You need to have a transcript or script just for the reason of estimation or quote.
6. Be realistic about the time scale
This may sound like common sense, but many times, people underestimate the time it should take to create a record-ready script. Remember that there are many things involved in the preparation of the script and they need enough time. For example, you should set a time to listen to the various voice demos, cover any re-recordings, and record the first draft.
There’s no need, for example, to rush through a completed script at the last minute when it should have been turned in ten days ago and expect to get a result the same day. To achieve this, it is important to set a time in advance and even book in advance. If you have a voice expert who can be called upon on short notice and is always ready to record your script, then you should know that he or she is not busy.
One attribute of good voice talent is that they are always busy and therefore not available on short notice. They tend to carefully manage their recording schedules.
7. Don’t be fooled by lies
So you may think this is easy money as it only involves talking into a microphone. Far from there! A professional artist has many years of experience and will always speak at the correct rate, speed and pitch. This professional also knows that in order to achieve the required professional voice, he must know how to position the microphone correctly.
While voice over experts can make speaking into a microphone sound easy, it never is. His is a professional skill nurtured and developed over many years.
Even the most established professionals have to do several takes before submitting the versions they are most proud of. Recording is just a process. Expert audio editing methods are needed to get rid of gaps, plosives, noticeable breaths, clicks, and spit noises.
This takes years of practice and may need to be done by a sound engineer at some point. In short, you can’t compare 10 minutes of speaking into a microphone with 10 minutes of speech being produced. For example, it is not possible for you to talk while wearing a permanent smile or a happy tone on your face all the time.
In most cases, voice over jobs require this to be done for longer periods of time. If you find this awesome, try reading this post through the microphone and listen to your efforts afterwards. You will realize that it is not as easy as it seems.
8. Rerecordings are time consuming, avoid them altogether
Rewrites can be very time consuming. If possible, avoid them as much as you can by double-checking your script right before you start recording. In case you miss even one word, it can mean that a line, sentence, or sometimes an entire paragraph needs to be re-recorded. It may not be easy for the voiceover to reconstruct the moment and hit the tone as well as the flow that was in the original piece.
On the other hand, there’s no way you can just record one and then fix it in the middle of the line. Another thing is that any new audio produced must be mixed well to fit the original recording. This may require complex audio editing. So, double check the script for errors to make sure you don’t have rewrites as they can be very time consuming.
9. Fees tend to vary from expert to expert
Professional voiceovers, like actors, get paid based on their fame and popularity. If you’re hoping to hire a broadcaster who’s gotten a series of spots on mainstream TV, you might not entertain the idea of having to work for a small fee.
Also, it’s important to understand that voice talents tend to have different career structures, and as such, they may be paid according to the current schedule and whatever suits their industry’s standing. Therefore, it is not possible to identify a uniform figure that can be applied to all speakers.
Rather, it is necessary for you to get quotes for individual jobs and this should be informed by specific details of a particular job. Good providers can efficiently get the details of the job and then choose the best voiceover according to your budget.
10. Always give feedback and appreciate if the job is done to your satisfaction
During the production and recording stage, clients are known to be communicative enough. But not many of them can come back after the end of the project to report that they got what they wanted and that it was a good job.
While there is nothing wrong with this, it is likely that a voiceover will tell the customer that they remember to show their appreciation and appreciation. It’s not something difficult. Just compose a simple email to thank them for doing a great job. Letting the provider know that you liked their work will encourage them to do even better next time.
Conclution
Hiring professional voice talents is not as easy as hiring other professionals. The challenge here is that there are so many so-called professionals out there and it becomes really hard to find the perfect one for you.
The above article explains ten things to keep in mind if you want to get the best quality voice over. They include knowing that the price one charges is likely to differ from the price another charges, remembering to call back and thank the artist for their excellent work, triple-checking to avoid reshoots, being realistic about the time scale, and being clear on what to do. regarding job requirements, among other things.
Adhering to the points above may not necessarily guarantee a flawless voiceover, but it can be the difference between a good job and a great one. Stick to the script and your chances of landing a top-notch professional voice over artist will greatly increase.