Over the past year the voiceover industry has adapted to make way for the ‘new-normal.’

With home studio facilities and remote recordings becoming more popular, it’s easy to see why an ever-increasing number of people have suddenly turned their hand to become a voice over artist (VOA).

Now we know that everyone has to start somewhere, but here’s some key things to consider when hiring a voiceover artist for your next corporate video or commercial.

1. It’s the voice of your brand. This is the voice your customers will hear; It’s advertising your business, so why would you wish to compromise the quality? This is how your audience will view you and if you don’t take pride in your business, why should they invest in you?

For example, within our team we have the voice of the Apple Store, the voice of Alexa and the voice of the IAMs dog.

Maybe as part of your campaign, you should consider having a celebrity voice who can effectively endorse your product or service by association. Maybe you’re even considering one of the nations top voices for your VO.

Working alongside our partner site Great British Speakers, we have a superb array of celebrities on hand, such as Alan Titchmarsh, Phil Spencer and Kirstie Allsopp , George Clarke and many many more. We even have a couple of the nation’s favourite voices too!

Ask us to come up with suggestions to really enhance the value of your video.

2. Home Studios – While defiantly not a requirement to be a professional, it’s well known that most established VOA’s will have a broadcast quality home studio, where they can edit/clean files and self-direct accordingly. Many talents will also be able to dial-in with clients who wish to direct them via platforms such as Zoom, Source Connect and Skype making the process a lot more straight forward.

And in these periods of restricted travel, this is only a bonus. Removing travel and studio hire also means that you’re likely to find this option more cost effective too!

Since our launch 8 years ago, we’ve only selected professional VOA’s with broadcast quality home studios’ – as our direct Jane Farnham explains below…

3. Experience – We all know expertise comes with experience and our artists have years of training, having invested both time and money into their craft. And this hard work shows, with many repeat clients!

4. Delivery – A professional VOA knows how to deliver with correct enunciation, turn scripts around quickly, and clean files efficiently. This may take a less experienced VOA more time, and while this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, if you’re under a tight deadline and haven’t got the time on your side, then an experienced artist is more likely to deliver quality quickly.

5. Rates – Would you be willing to slash your rates in half just to get a gig? Probably not – then why should you expect a professional voiceover artist to?

When it comes to rates, we appreciate that a client’s budget play a huge role in deciding on where to source their talent. At Great British Voices, we are always happy to negotiate on usage rates, providing that there is no ambiguity on the job and where the artists voice is being used – and most other professional voiceover artists work this way too!

However, some “non-professionals” (artists and clients alike) can take advantage of this ‘negotiation,’ and while perhaps unintentional, this unfortunately only discredits the industry and it’s talents when you offer/accept low paid work.

It’s important to remember that you’re not just hiring a VOA for a ‘a short 30 second read’ but that you’re booking them for; a studio session – which usually includes multiple reads, the cleaning of files and pickups if required. Plus their studio running costs, their training, and rights to use their voice.

At Great British Voices we adhere to the UK Rate Guide created by Equity and the voiceover experts at Gravy for the Brain. You can discover more about voiceover rates in our budgeting blog below.

Make an Enquiry.

Not only do we at Great British Voices pride ourselves on offering top quality voiceovers at fair (Equity-Standard) rates, but we also pride ourselves on our personal customer service.

Great British UK is a small team of 4, so when you make an enquiry we work 1-2-1 with you, to find you the perfect talent.

We have hundred of well-established, British & International voiceover artists, all with broadcast quality home studio facilities, and they can can dial-in too!

So, if you’re looking for a professional, then please look no further and pop your brief to Alex at alex@greatbritishvoices.co.uk along with your budget, or ask for a quote.

 – it couldn’t be simpler!