Voice overs

[Cogcog]

Has anybody had cause to use a voice artist company?

I have an audio file I need recording (in fact probably half a dozen versions of the same short script) and wanted an idea of cost for a 5-6 minute script to read and process for web site hosting.

[Funk]

An old friend of mine does voice work:

http://www.voicespro.com/uk/view.php?uid=107868

Let me know if you'd like me to put you in touch with him.

[Simpo Two]

Think about the kind of voice you want - it makes all the difference. When I wrote scripts I had the VO in mind so I could imagine it in my head while writing.

[Cogcog]

I think I will need a range of ethnic voices, and male/female.

[Stu R]

Depends what you're after. You'll be surprised at the quality of VO you can get somewhere like fiverr.com - plenty of people with decent mics and a pop screen.

If you want studio quality it varies massively. My wife has done some as she has a nice, fairly neutral american Midwestern accents which is great for narration, instruction, voicemails etc.

For simple / raw VO it's $150 for 15 seconds, add $50 per 15 seconds thereafter. For VO and post production it starts at $200 per hour, 1 hour minimum delivered in any format required.

I suspect you'll pay significantly less for ethnic voices with a bit of googling. If all else fails just fire some adds on Craigslist in a populous US city if you just need a few sound bytes.

[red_slr]

Use FIVERR!!!!!

We had our voice over stuff done for our phone system for the total cost of $15. ( 3 x $5 sessions)
Sent her the script - voice over done and dusted in less than 24 hours.
I then edited the MP3 files down so I could make several versions of the script for what we needed.. on hold script, sales script, opening hours script etc etc.

www.fiverr.com

[Ean218]

Perfect opportunity to use Toast!

[Simpo Two]

Cogcog said:

I think I will need a range of ethnic voices, and male/female.

There is a danger here that you will simply get an ethnic, and not a VO/presenter. It may sound the same to you, but you can easily tell the difference between a professional English voice and Joe Bloggs, and it's the same in other languages as well. You want someone who not only sounds professional but can make your script sound interesting/exciting. So, if you value your image, don't get a student for £5 'because they can speak Nigerian' etc.

If yo want to do it properly, head to London where there are proper studios and professional ethnics in easy distance.

[VEIGHT]

People per hour - £25 done in 30 mins from payment. Very happy.

[jonnydm]

As above depends on the level of quality that you need. The only one that I've had experience of was a few hundred £/hour for the VO artist + studio time. Recording 5-6 minutes worth could easily take over an hour.

[Simpo Two]

jonnydm said:

As above depends on the level of quality that you need. The only one that I've had experience of was a few hundred £/hour for the VO artist + studio time. Recording 5-6 minutes worth could easily take over an hour.

One benefit of using pros is that after a brief warm up they can read large chunks without problems and with the right inflections. Of course you also need a competent engineer who can get the levels right without faffing and needing retakes. What might take the time is editing the sections together so they flow nicely (we did this in video editing so it was effectively lost).

[jonnydm]

Simpo Two said:

jonnydm said:

As above depends on the level of quality that you need. The only one that I've had experience of was a few hundred £/hour for the VO artist + studio time. Recording 5-6 minutes worth could easily take over an hour.

One benefit of using pros is that after a brief warm up they can read large chunks without problems and with the right inflections. Of course you also need a competent engineer who can get the levels right without faffing and needing retakes. What might take the time is editing the sections together so they flow nicely (we did this in video editing so it was effectively lost).

Precisely. And will the engineer be doing the editing as part of studio time or dedicated editor?

The VO that I was present for, half the time he kept missing a word and swearing, which was great for outtakes!

[Simpo Two]

jonnydm said:

The VO that I was present for, half the time he kept missing a word and swearing, which was great for outtakes!

I did one with Tom Baker. My word he's a dirty bugger!

[Ginge R]

I used a pro (local BBC announcer) from Fiverr. Great value.