Hart Voice Overs

Audition the Talent

Now that you have defined your target, developed a voice profile, and set a budget it is time to go find that awesome voice talent you have been dreaming about but where do you look?  There are several options available:

Direct Contact

You may choose to search for talent directly.  Most professional voice artists have their own websites.  Type “female voice talent” or “male ISDN voiceover” into your favorite search engine and you’ll get a huge list of talent to peruse.  By contacting voice actors directly you have the opportunity to assess how well they will be able to adapt to your needs – think of it as a short interview process.  You will want to provide them with a description of the project, your desired budget and extra services you require.  Most professional VO talent will get back to you quickly with their availability and a quoted price.

If you like a voice but are not sure it is the right fit ask for a custom audition.  Caryn Clark, a nationally known female voice talent based in Fort Myers ,FL concurs, “Although voice over actors have demos of their work, most of the time we’re asked to audition for gigs by submitting a custom audition using the client’s script. I think it’s easier for the client to know if the voice is meant for their project if they can hear it reading their script. As talent, this is our time to shine!  And, at the very least, it’s good practice!” Send a short excerpt of your script, usually a paragraph will do, and be aware that some talent may change a key word or phrase for the audition.  No, they are not being unprofessional.  It is a measure some take to ensure their work is used only for audition purposes.

Marketing Firm or Ad Agency

You may decide at this point that you do in fact want to use a marketing firm or advertising agency. “There are so many advantages to using an ad or marketing agency – especially a local one,” said Brian Mishkin, President of Wolfe Media Group in Mobile, Al.  “This is what we do for a living and often times our relationships with talent can really help to mold your message into an effective message.  Anyone can put a script together and have someone read it, but a good agency makes that ‘every day message’ into an effective retention tool.”   An ad house or marketing firm will most likely have a list of preferred voice actors they recommend and like and will have a base rate sheet to work from when negotiating a price with voice talent.

They will also have a list of local voice actors if your project requires on site talent.  In some cases you may find their listed talent pool lacking the depth you need to work from.  Usually they will be able to accommodate you with outside sources if you discuss it with them.

Talent Agency

There are many talent agencies across the nation that represent voice actors. Most have demo tapes on their websites that you can listen to and choose a voice talent.  They will provide you with pricing information.

Online Casting

There are also voice casting sites available on the internet.  “One of the easiest and most practical ways to find the best candidate to record your voice over is to post a job via the online voice over marketplace and briefly detail your needs including how the voice over will be used, the kind of voice you are looking for and also your budget for the voice over,” according to Ciccarelli.  “Once your job is approved, responses and price quotes from qualified talent will arrive within minutes for your review online accompanied by recorded samples of your script demonstrating how they would sound representing your company.  You’ll be able to easily compare responses, shortlist by saving talent to Favorites and also award your job to the voice talent you want to work with.”

Voices.com, along with most other quality casting sites, have created a process for you that streamline the auditioning and hiring phases.  While some casting sites represent a broad range of voiceover categories others specialize in certain types of voice over work; broadcast for example.

Investigate your options and decide which method is right for you.  However you choose to search for voice talent, listen to each talent’s demo carefully and rate them based on the voice profile you designed. Create a short list of talent you would think best fits your project.   At this point you might be able to make a decision and find it time to move on to the hiring process.  Listen to the demos again carefully and compare each one to the voice profile you developed.   Re-create or revise your short list as needed and select a few of the voices that best fit your project.

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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.