Where can I find voice actors?

You might think that in a world where information, products, services, and much more are just a click away, it would be easy to find voice actors.  It is.

Using any of these search terms:

find voice actors online
where can I find voice actors
find voice over talent
find voice over artist
find voice over actors
voice actor website examples
voice over roster
voice actor roster

will throw up hundreds if not thousands of options in an instant.

And there lies the problem.

I have worked with many hundreds of clients over a 20-year period who were all looking to hire a voice actor and a very large proportion have told me that the experience was far from easy.

It is easy to find voice actors but NOT ones who are delivering the quality you need for your project.  Here’s why.

Using the search terms above or similar (booking a voice actor, voiceover talent, voiceover artists etc) will bring up 4 main routes to achieving your goal of getting a voice actor to record your copy.

WEBSITE OF A VO

In many cases and likely on the first couple of pages of search results you might find voiceover artists who have a strong online presence (ignoring paid ads of course).  The fact that they appear pretty high up in search rankings means that hopefully they have a track record and can deliver professional-sounding recordings.  It’s very unlikely that the voices you find on the first page or so will be the voice you are looking for, in terms of accent/language/style/tone/age etc.  If they have a really strong presence they might be out of your budget for your project or may not even be available to meet your deadline.  You may have to trawl through many pages of search results.

PROS – Strong presence online

CONS -They are unlikely to be the voice you are looking for

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VOICEOVER AGENTS

Whilst major voiceover agents are still very much important especially for high-budget and/or high-profile work, it is a fact that most VO work is just not that.  If you are here on Voiceover Profiles^®, reading this then although you are looking for pro VO talent and might have a decent budget, it is unlikely that you are booking worldwide campaigns for the latest Tesla car.  Like most folk booking voiceover artists today, the idea of going through an agent will often make little sense when you can connect with VOs direct through their website or on social media.  Working with an agent should give a sense of security; a feeling that you are only going to get ’the best’.  But in our post-pandemic world, with VOs setting up home-studios (which in the main are frankly of very poor quality) this means that you no longer benefit from the (costly) security of a city studio chosen by the voiceover agent.

PROS – The agent’s experience (hopefully), clear help with negotiation, budgeting and managing the project

CONS – A costly route with no guarantee of recording quality

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FREELANCING SITES

The bottom of the barrel.  As someone who has employed freelancers from these types of sites for quick design or tech jobs I have come to the firm conclusion that it is a false economy.  Even those who have a supposed high-rating rarely spend the time trying to understand the project, the goals or the brand.  You end up feeling like just another customer on a conveyor belt, which of course you are as these freelancers move swiftly from one job to the next charging very low rates.  This is not to say that all voiceover artists on these sites are incompetent but there is absolutely zero guarantee of quality as there is no benchmark for having a profile and offering your service as a ‘pro voiceover artist’.  You want to find voice actors and if you can afford the risk, then go ahead and look for freelance sites offering voiceover services.

Just to re-iterate, you might find voice actors on the freelance sites that can truly deliver but note that none of them have gone through any vetting process.  You, even with zero experience in the field, could set up on these sites today and offer your services as voice actor, web designer or psychic!

PROS – Cheap

CONS – An expensive gamble  (as you’ll probably have to get the job redone by a real professional)

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VOICEOVER TALENT DATABASES OR DIRECTORIES

(known to the voiceover artists as pay2plays or p2p as they pay to have a profile on them)

In the 21st century, if you are looking to hire voice talent then you cannot escape the voiceover directories.  They have come to dominate internet search results and give you access to thousands upon thousands of voiceover artists worldwide.  Useful eh?  In theory yes and for many types of work the systems (which draw scorn from some in the voiceover community) offer a very useful service enabling the searcher to narrow down their search, listen to example recordings and hopefully find the right voice.  Although it can certainly be time-consuming because of the almost endless choice of voices, you’ll probably get there in the end and complete your project.  But do be careful as most directories have zero quality checking or entry criteria.  For many, the only entrance criteria for the voiceover artists (after filling in a simple application form) is ‘are they prepared to pay the $400 annual fee to have a listing and access opportunities.

We have our own sister platform Voiceover Index which acts as a worldwide index for voiceover services, equipment and facilities.  These are unvetted listings but across a whole range of media production services.  I can’t, hand on heart, recommend specific services on there, apart from the ones I’ve actually worked with.

For you, the client, you risk wasting lots of time believe me.  As an example, I posted an opportunity on one of the largest p2p systems.  I was very clear in the brief and over half of the apparently professional voiceover artists ignored the brief.  Most were entirely unsuitable for the project in terms of accent or style or basic acting ability to bring the script to life.  In amongst the ones that I could have potentially booked, most delivered terrible recording quality.  Simply awful.  No care or attention.  Hissing, humming, popping, clicking, reverberant, too loud, too quiet…..and on and on.

Yes, of course you can find voiceover talents who are really offering a decent service using these platforms but you might end up wasting a great deal of time.  There is a more efficient way to find voice actors.

PROS – Masses of choice.  Custom auditions

CONS – Too much choice and wildly varying recording quality

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ANOTHER OPTION

Guy Michaels – September 2020