A guide to hiring a professional voice-over artist

The rise of technology has changed the way voice artists or voiceovers work. This means that the services of some of the best voiceovers in the UK are more easily available to add that extra layer of gloss to your latest production, and it’s more affordable than you think.

For the purposes of this article, I’m going to concentrate on a scenario where a production company decides to engage the services of a professional voice artist, and have the script recorded independently and supplied by electronic means. In other words, rather than the voiceover turn up at your studio or hooking up via ISDN or VOIP, the voiceover records the script at his or her studio and emails or FTPs the recordings to you.

I’ve been voicing professionally for radio, TV and corporate films since 1992. In that time the technology has dramatically changed the way voiceovers work, and in my opinion it’s better for us and it’s better for you.

Of course, everyone thinks they could be a voiceover, or that’s what I’ve discovered over the years whenever I’ve mentioned what I do for a living. A favourite line is, “So and so says I have a marvellous voice – perfect for voiceovers! Frankly if it wasn’t for the investment banking job I think I might have really given it a go – what do you think….?” To which I want to reply “I’ve been told I have a real flare for borrowing huge amounts of money and then being bailed out by the government - frankly if it wasn’t for the voiceover career I’d seriously consider banking!”

Hiring a professional voiceover means that you’ll get your film sounding right but you’ll also take away the hassle of trying to do it yourself or perhaps getting the local “actor” to have a go! Voicing isn’t, and never will be, something that anyone can do straight away. As with most things it takes practice and experience to get the delivery right – and quickly.

With the developments in technology, many voice artists now have their own sophisticated studios, often based at home. Consequently, we have to know our stuff when it comes to the actual recording processes. That means having good microphone technique, optimising levels, understanding compressors and other signal processors, as well the necessary skills to edit and de-breath recordings and master the finished product in the required format. By using a professional you’ll be getting the benefit of not only an excellent voice but also receive recordings made with industry standard kit designed for the job in hand.

In my studio I have a purpose built voice booth equipped with my microphone of choice, a Neumann U87 condenser, powered by an Avalon 737 pre-amp/compressor. The signal is converted by an RME Fireface 400 and firewired into an Apple Mac Book Pro running either ProTools or Logic Studio. In the control room I also have a Prima 120 and Audio TX for ISDN and VOIP work. It all may sound geeky and it certainly is a dreadful chat-up line, but the point here is about the quality of the recordings you will receive.

Brief history of the technology
When I first started in commercial radio in the early 1990s voiceovers were recorded onto ¼” tape, with the voice artist there in the studio being instructed down the talkback by the producer. There might be an engineer as well to look after the reel-to-reel machines and of course make the tea. It was all very sociable but those days have long gone.

Enter the new remote world of ISDN and digital recording. With a couple of ISDN lines sync’d together to give 128kbps bandwith, plus a compatible codec at each end to crunch the numbers, suddenly studios could talk to other studios anywhere in the world and vice versa, with good quality and only a small time delay (approx 1/3 of a second). The snag of course is that a decent codec costs thousands of pounds, hiring a couple of ISDN lines is another overhead and the days of ISDN are under serious threat from broadband. However, the system does work exceptionally well and will continue to do so for a long while yet. Robin Peston often delivers his morning’s ever more bleak financial news for BBC Radio from his own home via ISDN.

Eventually broadband will take over, and companies like Source Connect and Audio TX are already established, supplying software that connects studios in high quality VOIP. The massive upside to this is that there’s no need to invest in an expensive codec, rent 2 ISDN lines and pay for the calls.

However, one of the fastest growing ways for voiceovers to be recorded is, as in our scenario, where they are recorded remotely and delivered to your email inbox, or via FTP, or even on CD/DVD through your letterbox. You supply the script to the chosen voice talent with clear instructions on the type and style of read you require, any important timing requirements and the pronunciation of any unusual words. I’m voicing more and more this way, and not just for things like website commentary and telephone hold messaging but also for radio and TV ads too.

Choosing a voice artist
There are many ways to do this, and a quick search on Google will have you convinced you’re the only person on Earth who isn’t a voiceover. A good example of a site worth looking at is www.voiceovers.co.uk. You can search for types of voices, accents, styles and listen to, and download, MP3 showreels of their work, as well as contact the voice directly. That’s important as a lot of sites you will come across act as agents for the artists they display and therefore charge an agency fee.

I’m always happy to supply a production company with a couple of test lines free of charge, so they can dub the voice and perhaps run it past the client. It’s worth asking your chosen voice to do this; some will, some won’t.

Let’s assume you have now decided on Joe Bloggs to record your script in their own studio at home. Along with the signed off script, it may be useful to let the VO see a part of the film and perhaps hear any music that you might be considering using. However too much instruction won’t necessarily mean you get a better result, in fact it can be counter productive. That’s because any decent professional VO should be able to get the read right just from the nature of the script and the type of product or service. After all you’ve chosen the voice because you like their tone and the way they read.

Other things to agree before recording are the costs for extra bits of script that might need recording at a later stage, plus it’s a good idea to let the VO know the sample frequency you require for the audio files e.g. 44.1kHz, 48kHz as well as the file type (Aiff, WAV, MP3 etc). As you’re not attending the actual recording it’s vital the script is finalised and the pronunciation of any unusual words made clear.

In terms of timescale, it of course depends to a large extent on the length of the script, but it’s often possible to get a VO back in a couple of days if not sooner.

Most importantly, pick a voice who you feel comfortable working with, and one that will be flexible in terms of re-doing anything that needs tweaking. Obviously if you have given the voice a script full of errors, there aren’t many who will happily re-record it all for you free of charge, but there should be a degree of flexibility to make sure you and your client are more than happy with the end result.

Costs
Here’s a guide to my prices for voicing - other voices may charge more or less. For corporate video/DVD productions a session fee is charged. Normally £200 per hour. If you only need a few paragraphs recording for a small project then many of us will be happy to negotiate a much lower fee. Other factors on cost include the scale of the distribution – from a worldwide DVD release to a local film to be broadcast on a company website. The best way to get a quote is to email a draft of the script along with a rough idea of the usage to the voice.

The rates for radio commercials vary from £20 for an ad to be broadcast on a small local station, to around £500 for an ad going out nationally on Classic FM. These rates are the Equity suggested minimum rates and are limited to 12 months usage.

Television commercials are more complicated in that they normally involve a session fee plus TVRs (television repeats) i.e. £200 session fee plus a fee based on the number of times the commercial is broadcast. Rates are determined by the audience figure of the station. The costs for TVRs can be worked out at http://www.usefee.tv. Again for short run ads on small local or satellite stations a lower “buy-out” fee can often be agreed.

So there we have it, a small insight into my world of voicing. I hope you have found a few bits helpful. If you would like any other details about my voiceover services please take a look at my website: www.jonoslatter.co.uk

Other useful sites:
List of UK voiceartists: www.voiceovers.co.uk
How to work out repeat fees for TV ads: www.usefee.tv
Jono Slatter – UK voiceover: www.jonoslatter.co.uk
Software for connecting to a VO over broadband: www.sourceelements.com & www.audiotx.com