Professional voice talent services explained....
I've been a freelance voice talent for almost 20 years and I can tell you first hand that finding someone good is no small task! It's not easy to find experienced, professional voice talent experienced in advertising and audio recording.
These days, it's not expensive to set up a recording studio and there's plenty here in Toronto, Ontario. The trick is to find voice talent that can deliver broadcast quality recordings in a home studio - it's not as easy as it sounds! While the phone patch might sound good - the delivered mp3 (audio) might really suck! Always ask for a "dry voice" sample from their studio before you book voice talent for a recording session.
Inexperienced voice talent can cost you in Pre or Post production. Perhaps they're not "studio savvy" and send you the wrong file format or worse, botch the whole session because they didn't hit the record button!
Having someone who's worked on both sides of the microphone can go a long way in keeping your advertising budget in check. First, the voice talent should know the difference between 30 seconds and 32 seconds and adjust their timing, without multiple takes. Secondly, your voice talent should be able to take, and interpret direction, without telling you their life story or asking for some kind of "motivation." In other words, your voice talent should have script interpretation down cold.....giving you samples of the read you've already heard in your head.
Then there's the issue of variety. Good voice talent should be able to produce a variety of reads on the spot, just in case the client suddenly comes up with an idea during the session. This is where paying for experienced voice talent can "pay off". Whether your customer wants something friendly and natural, authoritative and firm, narration or a whacky character, your voice talent should be able to deliver on demand.
