How to Hire a Voice Over
I understand the thought of hiring a voice actor can be overwhelming to many so I have written an article called “How To Hire a Voice Over” as a service to my clients and prospective clients.
I have done my best to explain the process as concisely as possible but the article does have a good amount of meat in it.
If you find the online version hard to read you may download the PDF version instead:
How to Hire a Voice Over by Brian Hart
Please leave a comment if you find “How to Hire a Voice Over” helpful, if you find that I need to clarify or correct any information, or if you have your own thoughts on the process you would like to add.
The article begins after the jump:
How to Hire a Voice Over
By Brian Hart 02/18/2010
Finding the right voiceover can be a daunting task. You may feel that it would better to enlist professional help and hire a marketing firm or talent agency when searching for voice talent. There are also times when you may want to manage a talent search on your own. In either case, by following these simple steps as you begin your search for that perfect VO will make the process much more efficient, increase the effectiveness of your project and contribute to its overall success.
Assess Your Needs
It is important to assess your needs at the beginning of your project. The first step is to define exactly why you need a voice over. Perhaps you are integrating an automated interactive voice response system, also known as IVR, into your company’s automated phone system. As part of your marketing strategy you might be crafting a radio or television commercial. You might be searching for a voice over for a business presentation, a video introduction to your website, or a narration for an audio book. Depending on your project it is possible you can do the voice over in house and may not need to hire a professional VO talent. If that is your decision the process ends here.
But you may decide that a professional voice actor would better serve your project. “The key to obtaining a successful voice over, regardless of application, is hiring the right voice over professional to record your message… in other words, finding the person whose voice and interpretation of your script best aligns with your brand,” says Stephanie Ciccarelli, Chief Marketing Officer and co-founder of Voices.com. “Remember, the talent chosen for this project will represent you and your company and may serve as the first impression prospective customers receive of who you are and what you stand for.” A professional voice talent can bring credibility to your project and engage your audience. Ciccarelli continues, “Their voice and artistic interpretation will also need to resonate with how current customers presently perceive your brand. The human voice is one of the most persuasive tools known to mankind for expressing messages because the voice, when used properly and effectively, can evoke emotional responses in a deeper, more personal and primal way than any other form of communication. “
Choosing the proper voice for your message is critical but how do you determine what type of voice best represents you?
Tags: actor, audition, Bob Souer, Brian Hart, Brian Mishkin, Caryn Clark, casting, DB Cooper, hire, professional, Stephanie Ciccarelli, talent, Todd Ellis, VO, voice, voiceover
This entry was posted on Thursday, February 18th, 2010 at 2:20 pm and is filed under General, Voice Over. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
February 19th, 2010 at 2:00 am
How to hire a professional voice | Voices Of Advertising says:[...] friend Brian Hart has prepared a superb article covering all the bases of hiring professional voice talent for your project. If you’d rather, you can download his article as a [...]
February 19th, 2010 at 9:26 am
Brian, thank you for this terrific reference. It answers all the important questions and makes the process of finding us and hiring us very doable.
I am sure I will be quoting you and sending this forward.
Jane Ingalls
February 19th, 2010 at 9:38 am
Jane, thank you very much for taking the time to read it and to post a comment.
February 19th, 2010 at 3:00 pm
uberVU - social comments says:Social comments and analytics for this post…
This post was mentioned on Twitter by DavidHoustonVO: RT @HartVoiceOvers How To Hire a Voice Over article is live. A must read if you have never cast VO talent… http://bit.ly/bEcxWw...
March 10th, 2010 at 8:21 pm
This was a great read even for a beginner who is looking to get into the industry on how the atual working-recording, marketing, getting hired, getting paid-works. Thanks for taking the time to write this comprehensive piece Mr. Hart!
March 10th, 2010 at 8:26 pm
uh wordpress thinks i’m spam. i didn’t even figure the comments or this site was built on wp, but now that i look around i can see the anti spam WP protection. seems like they got their back end secured. anyways i came over from the vo-bb where this piece was linked and i read through all 7 pages and felt like i had learned a lot just by taking the time to focus and read through your words of advice. thanks! i will be following the site
March 10th, 2010 at 9:00 pm
Lae, thank you very much for taking the time to comment. I’m glad you found the article helpful. Let me know if there’s every anything I can do for you.
September 4th, 2010 at 9:48 pm
My Blog Title says:Another Title…
I wish more folks would use professional VOs….
February 9th, 2011 at 3:02 pm
Hi Brian!
This should be mandatory reading for all those looking to hire a voice over talent.
Kudos for this awesome post!!!
February 11th, 2011 at 7:17 pm
Morgan, thanks very much for taking the time to read it.
February 23rd, 2011 at 2:50 am
This is indeed the best article I’ve ever read on voice over hiring. It will save me lots of time and money. Thanks Brian!