Why you need to hire voice over artists in the first place?
For we are not in the bygone era of Silent Films!
If you are making videos which speaks in visuals primarily ,you might want to hire Voice Over Artists who will hold it all together without distracting the story or message you are conveying .
To connect with an audience effectively, to make it more relatable, to be a guide, to nudge, to give the human touch!
To hire a voice over artist , whether it is first or last thing in the order, should be first in priority!
1.How to figure out the right voice for your project?
The simple answer is to imagine your target audience, put yourself in their shoes.
–Would they need a human interacting with them? or would they not mind an AI ?
–Does a male voice seamlessly merge into your narrative and help you convey the message effectively or is it a female voice?
–Do you think the audience will relate more with a naturally energetic young voice or a more calm and mature voice .
It has everything to do with your content and your audience.
Sometimes the voice must complement your video and music, sometimes it must draw attention, sometimes it should feel like a whisper inside the audience themselves!
By asking questions and contemplating on some of these points, you would already get an idea of how your artist would sound like.
Sounding good and sounding right are two different things!
So choose wisely based on your needs and most importantly your target audience!
2.Where to find Voice Over Artists?
Its highly possible that you already have a repository of voice over artists you have worked with or the ones who have contacted you for work.
If not, Google !
Most of us , that means all of us ,are working hard to make our presence felt strongly all over the digital space, including all social media, google search. Check me out for example!
If you need an Indian Voice Artist in English, Malayalam or Tamil there is always me, ready in my home studio always intimate with my microphone! And I am in Mumbai if you want to direct me live in a studio!
You rarely need to call up a studio to hire voice over artists these days. We are here, obsessing over our own audio gear!
3.How to pick the right one from the options?
1) Ask for a custom sample for your script.
Most of us will be happy to provide you with a custom sample for your script which will easily help you understand:
- how the voice will sound on your script.
- the artist’s intuitive take on your script without much instructions.
- and most importantly the audio quality they provide.
2) Ask for a quote and turn around time/availability
- Provide your script wordcount
- Specify Expected turnaround time
- Mention where and for what you will use the VO.
- Timeline/duration of usage .
- Mention possible script revisions from your client
Now that you know exactly how the voice sounds on your script and you know if it suits your budget, your choice should be much easier!
4.How much to pay them?
Its an open market place .You can find voices so cheap as a shampoo sachet and as pricey as a premium sedan.
It is totally up to you to decide what suits your budget.
Just don’t be surprised if you find a variety of pricing for the same job!
Because for some ,voice over might be like a data entry job!
Here are the variables which affects the pricing :
1) Experience
The price could be indicative of the years of experience in the field which has upgraded them into a creative artist rather than just being a voice which reads out loud your script. When you are doing creative work you could definitely use another creative mind to enhance your output!
2) Audio Quality
The basic requirement from a voice over service will be pristine quality audio.
Most of us work from home studios now which help us to give faster turnarounds and flexibility.
A voice artist is kind of a sound engineer and audio editor too these days, have to be! You are also paying for the efforts they have put into making sure that you get the best audio quality possible at par with high-end studios. It pays off to hire a voice over artist who knows at-least the basics of sound engineering.
This means investing in a recording space primarily, also the equipment . A good home studio setup costs at a minimum around 2-3 lakhs in INR (3-4k USD) to put together.
Check out my home studio here!
One thing to note here is , a basic setup in the hands of a professional could sound much better than even the best quality equipment in the hands of an amateur.
Always make sure the artist can deliver the audio quality he promises in his Demos.
Since sometimes these Demos are put together from studio recordings and doesn’t reflect their actual deliverable quality.
Asking for a custom sample may save you a lot of time and effort.
I always welcome requests for custom samples as this keeps everything transparent and instills confidence in the client.
Drop me a message at [email protected] if you need a sample for your project and I will glad to help!
More on Audio Quality here.
3) Service
To hire a voice over artist is not a one off transaction. It is actually a collaboration that involves an actual commitment.
Commitment is involved in treating the project as their own and your client’s requirements and tantrums with as much priority as you do. This could involve script revisions, quick turn arounds etc.
Remember that you are paying the artist to be involved in your team that is essential for the successful execution of this multidisciplinary project .
Clearly voice over is nothing like a Data Entry Job!
Its hard to motivate yourself to commit absolutely to the cause when you are underpaid. I make sure I don’t get involved in any project which I don’t feel motivated to work in.
Money is a major motivational factor and that is a fact.
Professionals do charge fair rates , they are never here to try and loot you. But like I said its an open market place and you will get a variety of rates quoted for the same work. Different people have different working models. But I can guarantee you , its cheap or expensive based on the variations in the above mentioned parameters.
5.How to ensure Audio Quality?
With the advancement of technology the sound recording equipment have become comparatively cheaper and more effective.
What you could earlier get only in a radio broadcast studio , now we can achieve in our home studios.
Most of us don’t go to the studios anymore and do majority of our work using remote delivery from home studios. Hire voice over artists who has a high quality home studio!
For the end product, what matters is to provide an audio that doesn’t have background noise or too much room tone or reverb.
To maintain the clarity and speech intelligibility. This is a must and no compromises should be made here!
Make sure you ask for dry audio samples from the artist and have a sound engineer evaluate it for quality.
Depending on the playback devices it is intended for ,some projects demand premium priced Neumann microphones / Avalon 737 pre amps etc. For Voice Over Recording ,it is definitely good to have them , but please note-these are more of a luxury . And if your video is for Youtube and social media and the only devices that are going to play them are laptops and mobile phones please do consider that the perceived quality difference will be negligible.
Always trust your sound engineer or own a good pair of studio monitors so that you can trust your ears!
That’s all folks! See you soon in another post.
Hire Voice Over Artist-Copyright : Sam’s Voices
