Hiring Voice Talent on the Internet

A Guide on How To Hire Voice Talent

Working Directly

Working with voice talent directly

 

Working with voice talent directly and creating your own list of “go to” voices is a great way to support home-based voice talent. It’s a “win-win” scenario for both you and the talent.

Humor me for a second here….

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Let’s say you need to find some extra office chairs for a really big meeting in the boardroom next week.

So, you Google “office chairs” and voila! Look at all those chairs….and they deliver!

Tell me something…..when you find what you’re looking for on Google – do you whip out the company credit card and pay Google a fee for finding what you needed?

No.

Google has made their money long before you started searching.

In the same way, P2P sites (explained later) have collected money from all the talent listed on their sites long before you post a project. Any extra fees or services are exactly that – “extra.”

Unbeknownst to the general public, there’s rampant greed in the VO industry.

Many websites – Voices.com in particular – use fear tactics to collect money from both talent and clients. For instance, fear that a voice talent will make off with your money and vice versa.

They also want you to think that you’re obligated  to come back to their website every time you hire voice talent, fostering an illusion of exclusivity.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

Remember – like Google – P2P sites have already made their money. 

They are simply a tool to make your job easier, not expensive. In fact, you can actually make money using P2P voiceover websites to hire voice talent, which I’ll explain later on.

Audition Requests

Composing your post or audition request on a P2P site

 

Be respectful and professional.

Keep in mind that when you post a lead, you’re asking voice talent to do something for nothing; submit a custom audition and quote. So be courteous, professional and thorough.

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Here’s an example of a good custom audition request:

Hi everyone!

We’re developing a series of e-learning courses for our clients and we’re looking for both Male and Female voices for the role of narrator.

We don’t have a final word count just yet as our scripts are not completed, but we’re thinking it will come in around 5,000 words for each role.

Since we’re talking to teenagers, we want the voice to be young….but not as young as a teenager – someone who sounds older than 18 but younger than 30 if that makes sense.

We would like the talent to sound interested in the content, conversational and friendly with a nice smile.

Here’s a link to something that we liked: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SEYl-hWvlg

Please read a couple of versions of the script with a different approach on inflections and pacing, if you can.

We would like to know your policy on revisions along with your quote and also how long it would take you to edit and deliver 5,000 words (roughly 50 files in total).

Thanks for your time!

So, here we have:

• An excellent description of the scope of the project.
• A vocal “age” range.
• Detailed direction regarding how they want the voice talent to perform an audition.
• Reference to a preferred style of voiceover.
• A deadline and revisions information request, per your project schedule.
• A quote request.
• Posting is friendly, professional and succinct.

Create Your Shortlist

How to create short lists and favorites

 

Many people make the mistake of posting a new lead for every project.

Doing this wastes your time, the talent’s time (sometimes hundreds of people) and also the P2P site’s resources.

This is one reason why creating short lists of your favorite talent is important.

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Instead of posting project after project wasting everybody’s time, you can simply refer to the “short list” of talent your clients have historically approved in the past or talent whom you’ve gotten great feedback on.

Indeed, you may find a talent who didn’t hit the mark for a particular project from an “age range” standpoint, but otherwise nailed the script. You would then add that talent to your favorites for future consideration for other projects.

In this way, you’re creating a larger short list in less time, with fewer posts.

The goal is to build up a really solid Favorites list of go-to talent, get detailed contact information and work with them directly in the future. So, instead of sifting through 100 auditions every single time you post a project, you’ll simply refer to your short list of favorites whose voices are a great fit for the current project you’re working on.

If your list gets stale or you want to freshen it up for whatever reason, then go ahead and post another request for auditions. Besides, there may be some new talent that surfaced since the last time you posted.

As for getting custom auditions from talent directly, they’re used to sending off audio quickly via P2P sites. You can expect the same (if not better) response time. Plus, you can inform your talent how to submit auditions in a format that you prefer and/or is custom for your clientele.

For example….(Reader: You need to be listening to the audio in this segment to hear the example).

Adding voice talent to your short list

While this may seem like a no-brainer, it’s not. There are a number of things you need to keep in mind before you hit the “heart” icon next to the talent’s name.

Consider that while they may sound just perfect for your project, their audio might totally suck and their service as well, among other things.

A story comes to mind of a British talent I hired a few years ago. I needed to find an older sounding Brit voice and my client was really particular. I must have sent them 8 voices and all were rejected.

After my third post on multiple sites, I heard a guy who sounded like the perfect fit and I was right – the client approved his voice.

His audio was great….but I think this poor gentleman was suffering from dementia. Correspondence from him was really weird, unpredictable and convoluted. Add to that the time zone difference of six hours and I ended up with a major problem on my hands.

So, before you add talent to your short list, ask these questions:

• Is their audition audio clean, free of noise and properly edited?
• What kind of studio gear do they have?
• Do they have a professional website and brand?
• What do their demos sound like? Do they have a range of voices or just one style?
• Do they do voiceover full-time or do they have a “day job?” If so, get details on their avails Mon-Fri, because your hours of operation are the most important.
• Can they send a professional invoice in a timely manner?
• How do they correspond overall? Promptly and professionally…..or late and sloppy?
• Do they include minor revisions and other services like editing?

Taking a little bit of time to vet the talent on these basics will go a long way in avoiding service problems and headaches in the future.

In the end, trust your gut instincts.

Reviewing Audio

How to Review Audition Audio

 

Depending on which P2P site you use, you’ll have options on how many auditions you want to get and/or a deadline for auditions, etc. These settings will dictate how many auditions you’ll be reviewing.

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48 hours is a good window, if you can wait that long. This gives everyone interested a chance to respond with a custom audition. If your deadline is too tight, you’ll be limiting the amount of responses you’ll get and run the risk of hearing a lot of generic demos in lieu of something custom.

Resist the temptation to listen to the leads as they come in, unless you’re in a huge rush. Wait the full 48 hours, then find a nice quiet space to listen to everything at once.

Regardless of the number of auditions you get….be respectful and listen to every single one.

As mentioned earlier, you are asking a “favor” of these people. Most of them are doing something for nothing (only one talent will be chosen in most cases), so the very least you can do is listen to each submission.

Be aware that on P2P sites, the talent knows when their audio has been heard by the client (you). There’s nothing more depressing for a talent than looking at a list of 300 auditions and only half of them have been listened to.

Dig deep

Consider that while you may “think” that you found the voice you want in the first 20 auditions…..there may be an even better choice (for a better rate) waiting for you near the end of the list at #82.

Audio doesn’t take that long to review. For me, I take all of about 3 seconds to tell a pro from a rookie. So, if I get 100 auditions, it will take me 300 seconds or roughly 5 minutes.

Even if reviewing audio takes you twice as long, that’s still only ten minutes of your time for 100 auditions.

Listen carefully to what you like

As stated, I can tell a hack from a pro very quickly. Most people know what they like or don’t like in a very short period of time – usually 5 seconds or less.

I prefer to delete the crap, keep the “maybes” and listen attentively to stuff I like. If you like something, be sure to listen to the entire clip. The talent may have nailed the first 5 seconds, but performance issues may show up later on in the clip.

Good talent normally audition at least 20 seconds of content.

If talent submit a generic demo, delete them. They are being lazy & disrespectful of your time and therefore, don’t deserve your consideration.

After you’ve gone through all the submissions and deleted the crap, listen carefully to what you have left. Some talent may not be right for this project, but still worthy of adding to your favorites list for future consideration.

Tip: Create a playlist in your favorite audio player so you can listen to the auditions back-to-back, like you would on a P2P site. Place the auditions in a folder titled with the project name and simply add that folder to the player.

Rates vs. Quality

Rates for Voiceover versus Quality

 

Many people get burned and hire voice talent, because they were the lowest bidder.

Truth be told, I’ve made quite a bit of money off people who make this very mistake; “fixing” a bad voiceover. Whether it was a performance, service or technical issue.

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As with anything else, you get what you pay for.

Talent who bid super low is normally an indication that they are desperate for work. More to the point, they likely have a USB microphone set up in their closet.

The flip side of that coin is the professional talent bidding too low. Talent who do this are undercutting their peers to turn a dollar. While they are perfectly within their rights to do so, it’s not a morally ethical way to do business.

Indeed, in many cases these are Union talent masquerading as non-union and should be avoided for legal reasons. You may even find yourself getting dinged with hidden fees.

The rate you’re looking for is right in the pocket between those bidding too high and those bidding too low.

Normally, these people have a good handle on the business, proper recording gear, good service, a professional audition and demos.

While you’ll be paying slightly more than the bottom-feeders, in the end you’ll get a better quality product and service.

Educate yourself on rates for voiceover services by bookmarking this link and refer back to it frequently.

First Contact and Payment

First Contact

 

OK. I don’t want to say this, but feel that I have to.

Don’t feel bad about contacting talent you found on a P2P site directly. You’re not doing anything wrong.

Do you feel guilty when you find a recipe on Google?

No.

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If you’re feeling any guilt, then you’ve probably been brainwashed into thinking that way. Just….take a chill pill or something.

You’re never, ever going to run into a problem with a voice talent not wanting to work with you directly. Unless they’re total idiots, which some are….so I guess I shouldn’t say “never, ever”. 

Regardless, dismiss the notion that you’re doing anything wrong or underhanded, because you’re not.

Some websites can and will charge you $750 for a voiceover, pay the talent $150, flip you the bird and laugh all the way to the bank.

That’s wrong. 

What you’re doing is a good thing. If anything, you should give yourself a pat on the back.

Remember, talent have already paid money to the P2P website for the privilege to audition for your project.

To contact the talent, simply send them a note via the website, or get creative with a Google search if that makes you feel better.

Keep it short and sweet:

“Hi Todd,

Please drop me a line at biff@client.com regarding Job #1234567.

Thanks.”

The talent will contact you right away and you can start a dialog with them. Like hiring and working with any other vendor, mutual respect goes a long way in building trust.

It’s always a good idea to let the talent know a little bit about yourself or your company and get right into project details, rates, expectations and finally, payment.

Here’s an example:

Hi Todd,

Thanks for getting back to me.

I really like your sound and I’m going to add you to my list of go-to talent moving forward. I just wanted to touch base with you regarding working together in the future.

Our company has been in business since 2008 and we produce e-learning projects for the manufacturing sector. We churn out about 12 big projects a year, so turnover is somewhat important, along with a reasonable revisions policy and good quality audio.

I’d like to get your best quote on this latest project of 5300 words, edited into 20 files or so, minor revisions included.

Our normal payment terms are 30 days net. Considering this is a first for both of us, I’d like to get your thoughts on payment moving forward.

Thanks again for auditioning and I look forward to hearing from you soon!

Regards,

Biff.

So here we have:

• No mention whatsoever of a P2P site. You have found them on the internet and wish to do business with them. End of story.
• A brief description of your company (your email address or signature line should include your URL).
• Service expectations.
• Request for a quote (notice that the quote submitted on the P2P site is not addressed, nor mentioned).
• Your payment terms along with a request for theirs.

Hire Voice Talent Directly – Payment Terms

I personally have a “first time client” payment policy in place, where I request payment up front via PayPal, then 30 days net thereafter if everything goes well.

Note the word “request.”

I ask politely for the courtesy, but in some cases – as with large companies – this simply isn’t possible.

Sometimes there’s a vendor application process, we arrange a split where the client pays a percentage up front and the remainder on completion. Talent can hold back revisions until payment is received….there’s a myriad of ways to do it.

The bottom line is, working out a payment strategy that works for both parties isn’t rocket science. It’s easy!

Indeed, it’s the P2P sites who want you to think otherwise, charging you exorbitant fees by leveraging fear. Fear of the unknown. Fear that two people can’t negotiate a simple financial transaction.

Using fear to take money from someone is as old as time itself…..remember the bully in the school yard who stole your lunch money?

Brokering Talent

Brokering Talent

 

Here’s another advantage to working with voice talent directly – brokering.

Fundamentally, P2P sites represent the middleman. But remember – as mentioned earlier – most have collected money from talent long before you’ve posted your project.

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Considering that P2P sites are “bidding” based and the notion that pretty much any price is fair game for negotiation, working with voice talent directly opens the door for the freelancer to generate some revenue.

For instance, I have many clients who mark up my rate for services to their client and take a cut; the mark of a savvy entrepreneur.

The “fair” approach is to always endeavor to make sure the talent is being paid the bulk of the budget. After all, the talent really is doing all the work; recording, editing, delivering the audio and afterwards, revisions.

For example, let’s say you hire voice talent for a short narration gig, where the fee was $350.00 for 800 words or five minutes of finished audio. This talent was really good and is going to be one of your go-to voices moving forward.

You contact the talent and say:

“I really like your work and can foresee doing more projects with you of this variety. I was wondering if you’d be open to lowering your rate a little bit knowing this will be on-going work.”

The talent comes back and says:

“Sure! No problem. How does $325.00 sound?”

The talent lowers their rate a bit based on repeat work, and you make a few bucks on each VO, by charging your client a little more – perhaps something in the $350-$450 range.

Finally, I should mention here that – like myself – many voice talent have their own list of go-to talent,
people they hire for their clients.

It’s a small industry and most of the pros do have a small network of people they work exclusively with. We all have an “unwritten” agreement whereby one talent works for another for a lower rate, in the spirit of supporting one another.

This means – when you hire voice talent directly – you’ll benefit from their network of good talent and in doing so, support the independent voice talent industry holistically.

Summary

Summary

 

P2P sites have made it very easy for anyone to contact and hire voice talent directly.

If you continue to post on P2P sites for every project, you’re wasting your time and everyone else’s. Plus, you’re losing out on the opportunity to develop a good working relationship with your voiceover vendor.

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Consider that a post on a P2P site really is a crap-shoot. It goes without saying that, working with different vendors for every project brings with it more risk.

We all know that business is about developing relationships.

P2P sites allow you to do just that. However – by way of their “anyone can subscribe” business model – they tend to flood the market with vendors who aren’t worth your professional consideration.

This means, there’s a very small percentage of people on P2P sites providing a good product and service and the rest is garbage.

So, why wade through all the garbage every single time you need to hire voice talent and run the risk of getting poor service and product?

It’s like finding a great supplier and having a fantastic experience…..then the next time you need the same service, you flip a coin and try Google again.

Good voiceover talent, product and service are rare! When you find it, hang on to it.

More importantly, don’t support those who take advantage of the true professionals in the industry, by giving money to greedy websites claiming to “help” voice talent find work.

If you really want to “help” voice talent, do this:

• Develop a list of your favorite talent.
• Contact them directly.
• Check out their service.
• Agree on a rate for services and broker if you want to.
• Understand who are corrupt and who are not. Voice talent are normally not the ones looking to rip you off.

Note: Corruption resides primarily in the services-to-talent side of the industry, such as P2P sites, voice coaches and demo mills.

Below, you’ll find detailed information on P2P sites.

P2P Sites Explained

P2P Voice Talent Websites Explained

In keeping with the purpose of this article – hire voice talent directly – I’m going to focus on only one type of voice talent website – P2P.

P2P websites AKA “Pay to Play” are websites where the talent pay an annual subscription fee for the privilege to answer leads that come through the website.

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Talent or no talent, these websites will take money from anyone, so there’s a ton of garbage.

If you can view the full name of the voice talent and a personal profile, this is a P2P website. The talent has paid for the right to have that information visible to prospective clients – you.

It’s incredibly easy for clients to contact and hire voice talent through these websites to work with them directly. However, some P2P sites make it “look” like talent is somehow exclusive and proprietary.

Therefore, people get fooled into thinking that they have to continually patronize said website every time they need a voiceover.

For instance, there’s no e-mail address listed for the talent. You have to contact them through the website by way of going through their registration process.

Here’s a breakdown on the three major P2P websites. Each have pros and cons.

Bodalgo

Bodalgo

 

Based in Berlin, many consider Bodalgo the “underdog” compared to the two other major players.

Voice talent who subscribe pay $300.00 USD annually.

I’ve been listed on Bodalgo for about 10 years and IMHO, they are the best P2P site out there on the internet today to hire voice talent.

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I say this not because I make a ton of money off the site but rather, they are professional, transparent and honest, which is an incredibly rare thing in the VO industry.

Another great thing about Bodalgo is that they vet the talent. They don’t simply take money from anyone and everyone to make as much profit as they can.

In order to get listed on Bodalgo, voice talent must go through their vetting process. If you don’t pass, you don’t get in. It’s that simple.

Voices.com boasts 200,000 “professional” voice talent.

Bodalgo? 6900.

Trust me, that number is pretty accurate with respect to world-wide “professionals” in the industry – all languages.

Only 219 “USA-English” talents are listed on Bodalgo.

Voice123 and Voices.com list thousands in the same category. This alone will tell you that Bodalgo does in fact, exercise due diligence with respect to who they place on their roster.

If more people used this website to hire voice talent, the healthier our industry would be.

Pros:

• Talent is vetted, so you won’t be sifting through a bunch of garbage. Many of the talents on Bodalgo are listed on the other (big) P2P sites – but only the good ones – so half your work is done already.
• Posting is super easy. Clients simply pick a language, vocal age range, gender and write a simple description.
• No stupid algorithm or technology is used to distribute leads to talent.
  
• Site is free to use for those looking for talent.
• No hard sell on extra services.
• Clients work with talent directly.
• Auditions come in fast and furious.

Cons:

• Like other P2P websites, some talent will not submit a custom audition.
• Since there’s no limit to the amount of auditions you receive, numbers can climb into the hundreds within a few hours.
• Their “ratings” function is as close as you can get to a favorites list, which is a little funky.
• I’ve personally never been a big fan of its user interface – it is what it is.

Voice 123

Voice123

 

The first P2P voiceover website, V123 has been in operation since 2003.

Talent pay $400 a year for a subscription.

Registration for clients is pretty simple and easy.

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You need to have a proper website and/or business presence on the internet to hire voice talent and post a job.

Expect a phone call confirming your business information.

Voice123 uses an idiotic algorithm to distribute leads to talent. It’s old and useless. This (ahem) “algorithm” fundamentally limits the amount of leads talent will be invited to audition for.

How stupid is it? I would get leads for a voiceover in Chinese.

Pros:

• Registration is cost-free and easy.
• Interface is old, but works well.
• You can create a favorites list.
• Voice123 doesn’t try to get money from you by getting in between you and the talent.
• You can list anonymously (talent won’t see your info) to avoid talent calling and/or contacting you directly.

Cons:

• Because of the algorithm, you don’t get the benefit of hearing all the talent the site has to offer. So, you may have to do multiple posts.
• English speaking people will be sent leads for Chinese VO and vice versa. The same can be said for all accents and ethnicities.
• There’s a ton of crap to sift through to find what you want.
• Many talent will not submit a custom audition.
• If you post your contact info, there’s a small chance talent will contact you looking for work (even though this is discouraged).

Voices.com

Voices.com

Don’t fall for the slick graphics, logos and testimonials – it’s all smoke and mirrors.

If anyone tells you personally how great they are, ask them how much “extra” they paid to hire voice talent.

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Ridiculous fees….for what?

Let’s say you decided to outsource accounting and you’re looking at candidates.

• One charges $25.00 an hour to handle invoicing, collections and accounting.
• The other wants to charge you 20% “per invoice” based on the amount of the invoice. So, if the invoice is for $1,200 you’d pay $240.00.

I think that it’s a safe bet you’d go with the hourly rate, right? I mean, if you paid someone 20% everytime you issued an invoice, you’d not only be broke – you’d be a broke idiot.

This is exactly how Voices.com charges their customers. 20% per invoice.

Ye Olde Cash Grab

Here’s how it works.

When a talent responds to your audition request, they must quote a rate or “bid” for the job. As they punch in the numbers, 20% is added on top of their fee.

On the other side, the client (you) just sees the one price, seemingly unaware of this hidden fee.

So, if your budget is $400.00, you pay $80.00. If your budget is $2,000 you pay $400.00 – for the same service (escrow).

What does all this mean?

Well, Voices.com – by way of their 20% mark-up – are forcing voice talent to work for less, to meet your budget guidelines.

You are paying for their lost revenue.

If talent bid higher than your budget? Then you’re really paying a lot more.

For an invoice. A PayPal transaction.

To answer your question – yes. Both talent and client are getting screwed….because guess what?

Talent pay Voices.com an annual subscription fee…..to work for 20% less.

Hard Line Hard Sell

Voices.com is basically a telephone soliciting call center. At some point post-registration, they’ll call you with a hard sell.

Expect a relentless stream of long, convoluted e-mails, composed to convince you they’re the “experts” at hiring voice talent.

The only thing they’re expert at is taking your money.

Many unknowns….

Voices.com offers talent “all access” to leads for $5,000 a year – using hard-sell tactics over the phone (I was one of many that got taken). Many believe this membership is no different than the $400 premium membership and I agree.

This means that talent responding to your lead may have paid to be at the front of the line – regardless of how good they are.

Or not. Nobody knows.

I do know of one guy who was called by Voices.com, offering him the $5,000 subscription. He declined the offer, saying that the $400.00 membership was working for him just fine.

The next day, his invitations for auditions dropped to almost nothing.

They have a “professional services” division, casting talent on behalf of clients. In doing so, they negotiate one price with the client and another with the talent.

Nobody knows who is getting paid what at Voices.com and this is well documented.

If talent complain about the website they are ignored, blacklisted or both. If a client wants a refund, they can expect to wait up to 6 months before they get their money back (my experience).

Unappealing as it is, Voices.com is a choice to hire voice talent.

Watch your back. My advice to you is to not deposit any money with them.

 

Pros:

• Voices.com delivers a good deal of responses from talent per post (though there’s a lot of crap).
  
• Talent can be easily contacted directly through the website, post-registration.
• Interface is fast and somewhat user-friendly.
• Clients can create a favorites list.

Cons:

• Clients are charged arbitrary fees for escrow services (20% of your budget).
• Registering with them can be a “telephone soliciting” can of worms.
• Some talent pay big money for leads. Who is invited to audition for your post remains a big question mark.
• “Professional (full) Services” is a total scam, IMHO. You can read more about it here.
• In my experience, customer service is horrific. You’ll deal with a different person all the time, each not knowing what the other is doing. (Think: Project “Mis-management”).
• Clients choose from a tedious list of adjectives to describe the voice they like (this limits the responses you get based on your choices).
• Smoke and mirrors all over the place (most of the content is erroneous).
• Using the site for on-going communication with talent is not recommended (to protect your personal privacy).

Audition / Quote Request