- Where do I start?
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I have a script I need narrated. Where do I start?
First thing to do is fill out the voice-over quote form. Be sure to send us a short portion of your script. I’ll record an audition featuring a few vocal styles and send you the audio right away.
You can hear for yourself whether my voice suits your project.
And please, feel free to give direction: My vocal range is 18-45 years of age. So, if you’d like a voice that’s younger, older, natural and laid-back or maybe a sound that’s very authoritative – the audition is yours to direct.
Here’s more information on auditioning voice talent.
- Is my script ready?
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I’m not sure if my script is ready for voiceover. Can you help?
There’s a lot more involved than simply writing a script and giving it to your voice talent to record, if you never done it before.
The script needs to be checked for “people speak” issues (in normal conversation we don’t say “It is over there” we say “It’s over there”, etc. (See Script Services for more information).
Also, there’s pronunciation issues IE: “Taelons Inc.” How would that be pronounced? Tay-lons Ink? Ty-luns Incorporated? How do you pronounce it? We need to know.
Don’t forget phonetics….is RDAT pronounced R-DAT or R-D-A-T? And phone numbers….”1-800″ – is that One Eight Hundred, or, One-Eight-Zero-Zero?
Basically, we look at your whole script and quickly point out the stuff you need to address before the recording process gets underway.
Checking your script before recording mitigates mistakes, avoids cost over-runs and it’s a free service.
- Casting Services?
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I need to cast additional voice talent, do you provide this service?
Yes, we’ve been providing this service for a very long time.
Perhaps you require a female voice, or an alternate male voice to fill a role or two. We can help. We mainly work with professional voice talent whom we’ve worked with before, so there’s no surprises.
There’s also a very deep talent pool of actors here in Toronto. Being active in the thespian community, we have access to an unprecedented number of very talented vocal actors, along with many pro VO talent who run their own studios locally.
Please keep in mind that the more voice talent you hire for your voice over project, the higher your rate will climb. This goes for anyone providing professional voice over services. The more talent you hire, the more people have to be paid.
Rates for additional talent vary, depending on who you choose and the amount of material that needs to be recorded.
Please feel free to ask us about our voiceover casting services.
- Audio quality?
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What kind of audio quality can I expect?
Our audio is as good or better than some of the finest recording studios around today.
Most people claiming to provide professional voiceover services are delivering sub-standard audio, especially the larger websites like Voices.com. Their “recording gear” is normally a $100 USB microphone set up in the bedroom closet.
This is why it’s so important for clients to critically assess the audio product they are purchasing. The custom audition mentioned earlier allows you to hear what our audio and studio sounds like.
It’s very good…..:-)!
Feel free to check out all our professional studio gear by visiting the studio link under “services”.
We have a long background in recording engineering and spent the money on the right audio equipment to properly record the human voice.
There’s no noise, just clean, clear audio, fully mastered, edited and ready to be inserted into your project as soon as you pick it up…..
- Audio pick up?
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How do I pick up my audio?
Our clients use our secure file server using the browser of their choice. 
Your download speed is roughly 20 mbps; a nice, high-speed connection to pick up your audio. This is especially handy if your project is of the “larger” variety.
When your audio is ready for pick-up, we’ll send you an e-mail with your account information along with the server address. Your personal, private account (including FTP and SFTP file transfer services) is there 24/7 and never expires. It’s also a free service.
A word about file delivery services such as DropBox, WeTransfer, etc. We prefer to refrain from using cloud-based services as we’ve found them to be unreliable, have security issues and can complicate the delivery process. They’re OK to use in a pinch; that’s about it.
Having everything in one central location and archived – in our experience – is the best way to go.
- What are your rates?
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What are your rates?
When we started providing professional voiceover services on the internet in 1998, it was a new service. So, we had to invent the rate structure for non-union voiceover services online.
Through our efforts over the years to educate the public on rates for voiceover, we established rate standards thousands have come to adopt. As we were the first, even sites like Voices.com and Voice123 followed our lead.
Ultimately, rates vary depending on type of project, length, Commercial or Corporate usage……and many other variables. The more details you can provide us on our quote request form, the better.
We’ve done our best to explain rates for voice talent services here.
- What's included?
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What’s included with my purchase?
This is a question that’s not asked very often by people looking for professional voiceover services. 
Some voice talent include services, others charge hefty fees for extra stuff like revisions, etc. The problem is, there’s no standards in the professional voiceover services industry.
That said, we like to think that we’ve set the standard. We’ve included these services in our rate structure since 1998:
A) The buy-out (ownership) of the audio.
B) Studio time to record and edit the audio, using professional gear and software. (Additional studio time is calculated at $150.00 per hour, minimum 1 hour).
C) Minor revisions (up to 1 minute or 160 words per every 0-15 minutes of finished audio delivered, 30 days post-delivery).
D) Audio delivery and archive/backup services.
E) Project management (we actually have a staff, where most other voice talent do not). And yes….we answer the phone! Bonus!
F) Friendly, courteous service, the odd joke, mild ego-stroking, discussions about the weather, strange voices that come as if from nowhere…? And, an invite to the company X-mas party if we like you and you happen to be in the area… ;-)!
- Any guarantees?
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What about guarantees?
Rest assured, our work is guaranteed. We’ve been providing this service since 1998 – longer than anyone else on the Internet. In fact we’ve set the service and product standard for professional VO.
This is why we go through the audition process. What you have approved during the audition process will be what’s delivered, including pacing, vocal style, quality of audio, etc. In effect, when you hear the audition, you’re basically hearing your final product.
If you don’t like the final product, or need changes done for pacing, inflections and so on, these are done free of charge, within reason of course. However, if you come back and would like a different voicing style other than the approved audition, then revision fees apply.
Revision fees also apply to script changes on behalf of client, post-delivery. If revisions are minor (under one minute of finished audio per 15 minutes delivered) these are done free of charge.
If a client is being very particular about vocal performance, then we will insist on a phone patch recording session where, upon the end of the recording session, audio will be considered approved for the final time and any changes thereafter will result in additional revision fees.
We do understand that some things don’t translate well down a phone line so we’re flexible regarding minor changes after a phone patch session.
Obviously, it’s important that you’re educated on the importance of the audition approval process.
- Payment terms?
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What kind of payment terms do you offer?
There’s a few options. 
Interac (only if you deal with one of the major banks in Canada), all major credit cards via PayPal, International Bank Transfer, or “check in the mail” 30 day terms for clients we have an established relationship with for professional voiceover services.
First-time clients must pay for their audio up-front via PayPal – no exceptions.
At this time, we don’t do enough major credit card transactions to warrant their exorbitant fees for on-line transactions. PayPal is affordable, secure and actually provides far more payment options than the major credit card companies.
That said, PayPal is VO industry standard for international transactions, because it gives both parties recourse in the event something goes awry.
Indeed, if our first time international clients do not wish to use PayPal we simply don’t do business with them.
Again, you’ll find that’s standard policy for hiring male or female voiceover talent in general.
- What about discounts?
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I may have a lot of work. Do you have a discounted rate?
That depends. 
If it’s a number of smaller projects for a single company then yes, we can “bundle” your projects together, based on per minute finished audio, within 30 days only.
That is, you’d only pay the minimum fee once (within a 30 day period) and then your per minute rate would be based on the final total amount of finished audio.
However, if your projects are for different, unique clients (companies), then our standard rates apply, because each project for each client must include a buyout on usage.
Preferred (discounted) rates are available for clients with which we have worked for in the past and have a business relationship with.
We’re sure you can understand – the promise of more work does not constitute a “business relationship” with your company.
That said, depending on the volume of work we do for you, how smoothly those projects are executed, how promptly payment is made and subsequent satisfaction of process on behalf of both parties, will ultimately determine whether or not we’ll consider extending a preferred rate to your company.
For references, feel free to check our voice talent Testimonials page.
