What to Consider when Hiring a Voiceover Actor (and what actors should address)

Every now and again, regardless of the genre in which we work, it’s important to revisit the fundamentals of what the marketplace demands and what we as voiceover actors, must offer to maintain a competitive edge. Listed in no particular order, are these considerations:

Voice Quality and Range

For Clients: You’ll want to assess the actor's voice quality, tone, pitch, and range. This helps determine if the actor's voice fits your project's requirements, be it for commercials, audiobooks, animations, or other media. Listen to as many of their demos and work as you feel comfortable that allows for making an informed decision. When in doubt, have them record a demo script of your choice that’s designed to showcase an actor’s range. Have actors record the same demo script significantly facilitates comparison.

For Actors: Know what your range is and what you feel comfortable doing for the sake of rendering your best performances. On one hand, challenge yourself in the right way - preferably under the supervision of an experienced coach who can help you reach your full potential, but on the other hand, if anything hurts as you give voice to words, that’s a sign that should be heeded to preserve your vocal health.

Experience and Specialization

For Clients: You’ll want to understand an actor's experience and any particular areas of specialization, such as character voices or accents. Experience does speak volumes, but occasionally, an actor’s potential is clear even if they haven’t done the exact genre that you’re producing. As it’s said, there’s a first time for everything.

For Actors: Understand how to summarize your voiceover experience, and draft a one page VO resume that does the job for you. New talent may instead highlight their training (yes, that’s an absolute must) and transferrable skills.

Adaptability and Versatility

For Clients: The ability to adapt to different styles or script changes is highly valued, especially in dynamic project environments. In this context, an actor’s people’s skills and emotional intelligence also come into play which is why a brief call/online meeting may be in order - especially for long-form projects - when trying to work through a shortlist of candidates.

For Actors: Equally valuable is the ability to take direction and make small pivots to deliver nuanced performances and variations. Know how to ask clarifying questions that confirm to you what you’ll aim to deliver on your next take.

Consistency

For Clients: In part, this is an extension of a few things…ensuring that the voice actor’s home studio is of professional grade to reproduce acoustic performances and that an actor has the technical capability to produce deliverables with a consistent sound.

For Actors: In addition to the above, ensure that you know what allows you to perform consistently whether that means observing a healthy lifestyle, and/or making a record of the specs at which you recorded so these can be referenced and the sound quality replicated for subsequent sessions.

Clarity

For Clients: All words must be clearly enunciated while still preserving a sense of authenticity. The bottom line is that your actor should know how to communicate emotion with clarity whether that emotion is conveyed with cries, excitement or screams.

For Actors: To promote clarity, doing exercises to loosen up one’s jaw, mouth and tongue placement is recommended as well as observing good oral hygiene whether that’s imbibing warm water, brushing or using an oral rinse.

Availability and Turnaround Time

For Clients: Setting expectations upfront is key and that includes establishing the actor's availability, typical turnaround time and hard deadlines. 

For Actors: If possible, aim to complete work well ahead of deadlines. That way, you give yourself enough of a runway to produce a quality product while saving yourself unnecessary stress…which can express itself in tight vocal muscles that adversely impact your performance. Don’t get trapped in this vicious circe. Make life easier for yourself.

Recording Quality and Equipment

For Clients: Voiceover actors are expected to have their own remote studios and its quality, including that of the recording equipment, must be up to snuff. After all, high-quality recordings save time and money in post-production so it’s best to get it done right the first time around.

For Actors: Don’t assume that your studio is broadcast-ready because it sounds good to your ears. It will pay you to have a professional sound engineer assess your raw recordings and if necessary, provide feedback on what’s needed re hardware and/or software to ensure that you’re set up for success.

Rates and Payment Terms

For Clients: Understanding the cost, including how rates are calculated (e.g., per hour, per project), and the terms of payment is essential for budgeting.

For Actors: Everyone is different. Know what rates you’re comfortable turning on your mic for. Be clear on what terms you’re willing to engage e.g. if you’re comfortable lending your voice for machine learning or AI voices. Maintain sound operational practices such as ensuring terms are agreed on in advance (even if via email), flag possible overruns after assessing the script, and clarify names or pronunciations you’re not familiar with to avoid time-consuming retakes.

Professionalism and Reliability

For Clients: Professionalism, reliability, clarity of communication and attention to details - such as labeling files as requested - are basic expectations of any actor you hire. 

For Actors: Meet and ideally, surpass expectations so that in the mind of the client, there’s no doubt about using your services again.

Samples or Demo Reels

For Clients: Voiceover actors should have professionally produced demo reels to showcase their work and demonstrate their suitability for the project. 

For Actors: Shop around, get quotes and references from the VO community before you invest in demos. Both the price and quality can vary significantly so do your due diligence and minimize the risk of buyer’s remorse. Seeing that demos are your calling cards and should represent you for quite a while, make sure that you’re satisfied. If not, speak up.

Client Testimonials or References

For Clients: Taking on a new voiceover talent can be a gamble especially if the actor will be the voice of a brand or may be needed over a longer term. Positive reviews or testimonials from previous clients can greatly influence hiring decisions.

For Actors: Don’t be shy about approaching your clients for testimonials. Consider including a provision in your contract with future clients that allows you to showcase their logo on your site. And even if you have not yet built up a body of VO work, consider getting testimonials from those with whom you’ve worked on artistic endeavors since that experience is relevant.