Ten Considerations On Hiring a Voice Over

Some professionals, looking to hire voiceover talent are very familiar with that environment. They understand the complexities of creating of an audio product and how market rates are set.

That’s the world maybe of a casting director, supervisor or producer. However, given that pretty much everything these days needs good marketing, many organisations find themselves needing the services of a VO that can lift their message and give it some sonic veneer, but maybe have questions around who to hire.

It can be hard to know whether you’re getting the best deal, a good deal, or what those deals look like.

This blog fills in the gaps for someone that may be new to hiring VOs, or just needs to re-familiarise with it. The first three in my list are a good summary for someone with experience of the sector and the remainder go over some fundamentals.

Want To Hire A Voiceover ?

I was once told there are essentially only three interview questions, so I’ll begin with these:

• Do they really, really want the job?
• Can they do the job?
• Would I be happy to eat my sandwiches next to them at lunchtime?

1.   Do they really want the job?  (Motivation).

This should be apparent from the level of effort that a VO has applied in their proposal or audition. The way they do this may vary, depending on the circumstances, (casting site vs engaging directly with a potential client).

Have they done their due diligence by researching you or your organisation? If yes, it suggests they’re focussed on how to best serve your needs, rather than on what you can do for them?

Are they following a given brief to the letter?

If they’ve provided a demo, is it at the professional level you’d expect to receive at the end?

2.  Can they do the job?  (Competence).

Here’s what to consider when judging this one:

Is it clear from the performance and production quality of the demo that they are up to the mark in terms of production and other technical skills? A custom demo can be a good way of judging. It shows how a talent works under real world constraints, rather than relying on something that’s been polished and perfected for many days or hours.

A voice artist masters multiple roles in their day-to-day business, from performer to self-director, to producer and business manager. The level of technical proficiency with the equipment being used should be high.

Do they have a website that show-cases previous work, with positive reviews from relevant clients?

Don’t get hung up on asking for a voiceover CV / resume, it’s not the thing that you should be basing your decision to hire talent from. Attending a prestigious college or working with house-hold brands previously is not an automatic indicator of how this talent can serve your needs.

It’s refreshing to hear casting directors say they hire talent based on what they hear at an audition, regardless of whether they have 20, or 2 years in the business.

Do they aim to exceed expectations, perhaps by offering multiple versions in different styles, or responding quicker than expected?

3.  Would I be happy to eat my sandwiches next to them at lunchtime?  (Likeability).

Is this someone that’s:

• polite.
• calm and patient.
• pleasant to work with.
• professional.
• confident enough to make suggestions.
• happy to be directed and able to adapt and flex to the needs of a client or production team.
• isn’t flustered by technical problems (which can happen).
• aware of their role in the wider production process.

A good VO talent will under promise and over deliver, knowing the greatest currency of a service industry is reputation. Sometimes, depending on where they are in their development as a talent, a good review can be just as important, maybe more so than the payment they receive. They turn up on time, or a little early to clarify something with the tech. They realise you’ve maybe argued and sweated over the detail of a script for days or weeks before the recording. They appreciate that nerves can be stretched and are a calming presence.

A good VO will give you the impression this is their space, this is where they operate professionally and where they give you the benefit of their experience. They are never arrogant, precious, bored and definitely never late.

4.  Directed Session or Self Directed? 

Since even before the Covid Pandemic, the trend has moved away from VOs travelling to studios to record with production teams. This is largely down to costs, improved home studios and remote recording technology, not to mention Covid 19.

That said, there’s still a strong demand for production companies, often accompanied by the client, to direct sessions virtually. The VO will be conversant with a multitude of ways this can be achieved. It falls into one of two camps usually:

1. The artist records, whilst being directed via Skype (or similar).
2. The production Team capture the audio remotely, whilst the talent narrates in their home studio. It requires the use of specialised programs like Source Connect or ipDTL, which both sides will be very familiar with. The VO usually records a back-up.

Those requiring the latter will know what they are about and so I won’t labour the point. However, the former approach is not that technically demanding and a good talent will be able to facilitate this.

The benefits of a directed session:

• Time efficiency. There’s no back and forth between the narrator, the agency and the client. Its all sorted out on the day.
• Creativity. Sometimes, just hearing the narration in progress can offer a context for the script that’s been over-looked. The text should be agreed in advance, but VOs understand it can be dynamic.
• Feedback. This works both ways. The talent finishes the session, knowing the client has what they want, so there’s unlikely to be requests for revisions. Equally, the VO may then offer an alternative delivery. There’s no harm in having a different perspective.

The disadvantages of a directed session:

• Cost. There’s usually an additional charge for booking a dedicated studio slot with the VO. It wont be as much as the hire of an external studio and team, but the they will factor in the costs of their studio and additional services to their quote.
• Time Pressure. There can be a sense that things have to be done within the allocated time and ‘we go with what we have’ at the end. Its not necessary though and reasonable revisions can be requested afterwards. Have a clear idea of what you want to achieve and stay focussed on it.
• Technical Glitches. The session relies on everything working as it should. A good VO wont be stressed when things start to trip, or will certainly not want to show it.
• Creative Freedom. Some jobs just benefit from the talent going free-form and interpreting with a few words of direction. They may feel more relaxed and give a better delivery when not directed.        

5.  Value Added.

A Voiceover Artist is focussed on two things:

1. Making sure you get exactly what you want and its their best quality.
2. Agreeing a fair fee for the services they provide.

The more information you can provide the better, as it will help the process along hugely. Good communication is the key and voice talent will probably request the following:

• A copy of the script (seems obvious), or confirmation that the script is final.
• If you have requirements with timings / sync points, or whether the voice will be mixed over music. Perhaps a copy of the track to be used could be provided for reference.
• If you require a directed session and then a discussion on the way ahead.
• What is the genre of the work? (Audiobook / e-learning / commercial / documentary or audioguide etc). The way that a fee is put together can be influenced by how it’s described.
• If you’d like to give direction on the style of the delivery, (formal / informal), (cheerful / serious), (grand / calming).
• Who the audience will be?
• How will the audio / video be heard / seen? The delivery can be tailored to cut through a large crowd, but this wouldn’t suit a corporate pitch.
• How long do you intend to use the audio, is it to be used as an advertisement and how large is the expected audience?
• What is your budget?  

6.  What are you paying for ? (Rate Guides)

The last item mentioned above was about your budget, which the professional voice artist will be keen to establish. I personally always say that I do my best to meet a client’s expectations, but it’s worth breaking out what factors an artist takes into account when proposing a fee.

Charges for services are best set out with industry approved guidance, which keeps everything above board and ensures a fair price is paid for professional services. Every quote should be specific to the job and a VO may use one of the two following rate guides:

1. GFTB Rate Guide
2. GVAA Rate Guide.

There are two commonly used terms that are often referred to:

• Basic Studio / Session Fee (BSF)
• Usage Fee

I cover both of these in some depth in the FAQ section, so I won’t go into this too much here. Some projects are charged on the basis of ‘per hour of studio time,’ which is the BSF. A usage fee can apply for instance for a broadcast commercial and a buy-out has not been negotiated.

It’s worth taking a look at the two Rate Guides above, as you’ll see that some types of project are charged in different ways to others. An e-learning script, is normally charged by the word. An audiobook, however would not include a BSF, but would be charged per hour of finished audio, plus any additional services.

Other things that are built into standard charges:

• The running and maintaining a professional studio.
• The cost and maintenance of studio equipment.
• The cost and upgrade of software.
• The cost of on-going professional development.
• The value added to your brand, product or service, of many years of VO experience and training.

7.  What does the ideal candidate look / sound like?

A good VO will only audition for projects that are a good fit. The scatter-gun approach is a complete time-waist, both for the artist and the client. Being specific in your requirements is a good way to avoid too many low-ballers.

8.  What about revisions and file formats? 

There are accepted norms for what constitutes a reasonable amount of revisions. I personally don’t favour setting limits on revisions, as it’s not the spirit that I like to go into a hopefully long term relationship with a client.

The VO will want to confirm the script is final before recording. Two or three revisions afterwards seems reasonable to me. They’ll do their best to give you exactly what you want, why wouldn’t they. Sometimes things are easy and that’s exactly what you get first time; if it goes much beyond that, then perhaps it’s not the best arrangement.

Any errors by the VO should be corrected gratis and any requests for re-reads, resulting from a change of the script later, normally incur a fee. That said, it comes down to the relationship you’ve built.

File formats are fairly standardised, but can vary depending on the needs of the production team. If not specified, the default is usually MP3. Asking for an audition to be delivered in a specific format is a good way of checking that the VO won’t complicate things for you later.

The VO should deliver exactly what is asked. If an MP3 file at 96 kHz is requested, then that’s exactly what they should give. Likewise, if files are requested to be delivered to a specific folder on Google Drive.

In some instances, audio can be requested to be chopped up into individual files. Once again, a reasonable amount of time and effort can be applied to this, but anything excessive would incur an additional charge.

9.  What are the contractual terms of the production?

This has cross over with usage fees mentioned above and it’s worth visiting the FAQ page for more on that.

It’s also worth having a clear handle on who owns what, how it can be used and for how long. You may have the copyright on the script, but the audio recording belongs to the VO (or production studio), who agrees to give you a mechanical license for its use, for an agreed time period.

A lot of clients misunderstand this and assume they need to negotiate a buy out, in perpetuity, which in most cases they don’t. They can be prohibitively expensive and the reason why VOs get in a twist about this, is that it can later restrict their ability to work on similar projects with other clients.

If a VO is the voice of a popular car commercial, which ends up being chopped up and used in a myriad of different ways, on different platforms and in different locations forever after, it may be a struggle to then get work on another car commercial for a different company.

10.  Does the talent offer other services that may be of use?

The final item in this list is something you may not have considered. It’s worth checking out whether the talent has any other skills up their sleeve that could be of service to you. It might prove financially beneficial to have one person doing several tasks that you would have tendered out to other people.

For example, I personally came into voice work with a number of different background skills, one of which was musical composition and production. I can offer these services to clients who may be looking to license a piece of music for their project, or to mix a piece of music beneath the voice.

VO wear many hats and are skilled in many areas, some may be skilled in copy writing for instance. It’s also worth taking a look at the biography if they have one, you might just be pleasantly surprised.

James Fowler is an experienced British Voiceover Artist, living and working in Hampshire, UK, offering a broad range of services. He has a rich and varied background thats worth taking a look at. If you have a VoiceOver project that you’d like to discuss, contact James here and he’ll be right onto it for you.

Cover photo by Glenn Carstens-Peters on Unsplash