Selecting Good Voice over Maker

In this article we will highlight some of the key facts for your success in hiring voice talents for your next voiceover project.

Not long ago, I was in search of true professional voice talents to promote my books, as well as develop audio versions of my books in several languages. Advancements in computer and software fields have made it easy for anyone to showcase themselves on the global market as Voice Talents. The result of it is a tremendous choice of voice talents and voice talents agents, all offering more or less the same thing – their voices. And they don’t come always with a comprehensive user manual! So, what do you need to know if you want to purchase voice talents services, how do you know who’s a genuine professional voice talent and who’s just a bluff?
To answer these questions, we’ve contacted voice talents expert and longtime professional, Cindy Books. According to Cindy, the voice talent needs to have the depth for the professionally done product. They must have the ability to interpret the script and apply appropriate tone and pace to the work.

The targeted audience plays a great role in the project beginning process. A radio advertisement needs a different voice than a public announcement. The voice talents you choose must know how to make these distinctions. Sometimes you have to choose voice over talent. Experts say “experienced voice talent will feel your script and touch your audience. They should visualize the audience and address them with sincerity. The ability to change their vocal quality should be high”.

The voice actor be must be able to record in a soundproof studio, even small disturbances can ruin the recording. Then, the voice actor must use the best audio equipment; a $50 microphone from a local office supply store may not be best option to produce a good quality voice recording. The better the mic is, the better the voice recording will be. The microphone does not make the end of catalogue for the desired equipment. Experts use a DBX mic preamp. They also use good sound editing software, such as Adobe Audition, Cubase or ProTools to improve the quality and parameters of the voice actor’s recording. Free software Audacity, although very popular among voice talent wannabes, does not offer the same sound control and reliability in the sound treatment.

Quality is very important factor when you choose the voice over talent. The voice talent should provide you with several options to choose the best out of all.

You can search for voice talents on specialized online marketplaces, but you need to look carefully and make a wise decision to make your project complete. The advantage of such marketplaces, like Voice123.com, Voices.com or Bodalgo.com is that you can find documented references about the talents featured, as well as voice demos which will help you to have an idea about the voice profile of each talent before casting your role.

Rates for hiring the services of a voice-talent will vary, based on the reputation, experience and talent of each voice actor.

Our “golden rule” when hiring a new voice-talent is simple: never go for the most expensive, never for the cheapest neither!!! The best deal for a good voice professionally recorded will always be within a reasonably priced range.

And forget about outsourcing your multilingual project in India or China. Yes, they will offer you the cheapest deal. Yes, you will think, well, the life is cheaper there, so this is how they can afford those rates. But let me ask you this: how many German, French, Italian, Greek, Russian voice talents do you reckon actually live in that very place where the bogus “studio” pretends to operate? I mean, in India or China! Probably none! What they will have to do, they will re-outsource that job in Europe or America, certainly at a fraction the price and get some nonprofessionals do the job for you in their back kitchen. Don’t even mention the word “quality”: that word will not even exist in their vocabulary at all…

More on more small and medium recording studios in Europe and America have now everything you need to get a state-of-the-art voice recording for your next multilingual corporate presentation: form translators specialists in translating voiceover scripts, to international voice-talents and professional recording facilities. We have come across one of those companies in Southampton (United Kingdom). Its name is art4art Voice Talents (www.art4art.info) and we came to know them simply by searching on Google for specific target key words such as: voice talents, voice over talents, voice actors, voice over studios…

If we made it, you can make it as well!