How to Hire a Voiceover Artist or Voice Actor

The terms Voiceover Artist and Voice Actor are often interchanged online, although there is a differentiation that some talent might prefer.

• Voiceover Artist is more broad a title and a better fit for the entire industry. More common when talking about: commercials, e-learning, corporate training, youtube top 10 channels, etc.
• Voice Actor is typically more specific to talent work that involves a character of some kind. More common when talking about: cartoons, anime, video games, etc.
• Audiobooks and documentaries blur the line but this is a hair splitting conversation for another place. The acronyms: VO, VA, or VOA, are extremely common and we’ll understand what you’re talking about as long as the job pays for our time and professional investments.

Moving on.

Where can I hire voice talent?

There are a lot of places online to find voice talent, from eager beginners to seasoned professionals!

My succinct advice: Google it, browse the sources and platforms you find, and avoid the cheapest options for everyone’s sake.

You get what you pay for. The amount you are able to pay is directly parallel with what you receive in audio quality, reliability, professionalism, and so on.

Hire someone in this industry like you would a photographer for your wedding: avoid saying yes to that friend’s kid because they cost less, unless they audition and are objectively competent and provide the quality of service you actually want.

You get who you pay for. If you want a quick and cheap fix, you can find fast and subpar service providers who are using your venture as a way to not learn for free.

A simple search will bring up: Voices.com, Voices123, Fiverr, Upwork, and more.

There are various choices where good talent can be found. So, with your budget in mind, here are a few things to consider in your search.

Currently, online, the platforms I can find all take a 20% platform fee before the talent gets paid. This is for everyone’s convenience and mitigates the awkwardness people these days seem to have with signing simple contracts with each other. Essentially you agree to platform usage and they try to protect both parties, while streamlining the awkward money talk. It makes sense but keep this in mind, if you care about the person who you’re hiring.

Sites like Voice.com and Voices123 are known for their network of premium voice talent, however they are sites that the voice talent pay a premium yearly fee to simply access. Voices.com if $500 just to be on the platform as a voice talent. This does weed out a lot of the beginner talent and newbies who haven’t gained the confidence to pay-to-play and know they will get their money back, but also — it’s a “pay-to-play” site that still takes that additional 20% off per gig before the voice talent gets paid. That’s a lot of money to never see, before we even talk about taxes. This is why voice talent on these sites are generally charging more. And we have every right to.

Sites like Fiver and Upwork are well known for low cost and fast turnaround, but the quality of talent for those who work for under $100 per project can be disappointing, or at the very least burdensome to sift through.

These sites absolutely do not lack talent. However the vast majority of freelancers using these sites are trying to learn and they are using your gigs as their educational opportunity. Would you let a surgical student operate on your brain? There are pros and cons for all involved with this tier of site.

Can you find quality talent for reasonable prices on any of the sites above or sites like them? Absolutely! Professional VOs have many spokes in their wheel of job finding. I am a full-time VO and I have profiles on Voices.com, VoiceBunny.com, ACX, Upwork, and Fiverr. Beyond that, I am in a lot of Facebook groups, scour Reddit, Craigslist, and more. Email and cold calling are also a part of the routine.

That said, don’t just cling to the first thing you see, nor the first voice talent you see. Shop around and those who are right for your project will show up.

If you have any questions or simply want to chat about anything voiceover, feel free to get in touch.

-Kris