When it comes to finding the right service provider, the three most important considerations are speed, quality and cost. On voice over marketplaces like Voices, because of the diversity of voice talent, it’s possible to get high-quality voice overs for a number of budgets, whether you need an exclusive celebrity voice for a national broadcast commercial campaign, or the right voice for your very first audio ad.
However, when it comes to cost, there are a number of variables that will influence the price of a voice over job. Understanding these variables that can help you estimate how much you should pay when hiring voice talent.
As you consider how to source the right voice for your project, read on in order to develop a firm grasp on how to determine a voice over budget that is reasonable for you and your team, as well as competitive enough to attract the best voice actors to fill the role.
Voice Over Rates: What Determines the Price of a Voice Over Job?
One of the foremost indicators of the cost of a voice over project is the length of its script. The length of a voice over script is generally calculated based on its word count, which, in turn, informs how many minutes of recorded voice over the final project will likely consist of.
Use the Words to Time Conversion Tool to estimate the run time of the final audio of your script when read aloud. The reading time of your script will greatly impact the amount of time a voice actor must take in order to provide you with polished audio files, which outght to influence what will be a fair and reasonable price for hiring a voice actor for your voice job.
But, as you’ll learn below, there are other factors to consider into the cost as well.
Broadcast vs. Non-Broadcast Pricing
Two major contributing factors to the way a voice over project is priced include which medium your voice actor’s recording will be disseminated through, and how many ears it is projected to reach.
Non-broadcast recordings are not transmitted to wide, public audiences through radio or television. Examples of non-broadcast recordings include audiobooks, video games, and internal training videos.
A non-broadcast project on the shorter side (with a reading time of 5 minutes or less) could have a suggested budget range anywhere between $100 – $249, while a project with a reading time that exceeds an hour can surpass $1250.
Broadcast recordings are circulated over TV, radio, or the internet for a particular period of time. Before you hire your voice actor, you must include details indicating how long you intend for their voice to be broadcast. The standard timeframes in the voice over industry are 13 weeks, one year, and perpetuity. The price of the voice over recording, as you can expect, is contingent upon the market the spot airs in and the amount of time it will air for.
In almost every case, a voice over job will be less expensive if it’s broadcast on a local scale, and more expensive on a national scale. When TV and radio spots are broadcast for a couple of months, they are less expensive than if you want to own the rights to broadcast their voice for perpetuity.
You can use Voices’s Rates Sheet as a guide to set your budget. It’s used and trusted by a multitude of industry professionals annually.
Other Factors That Influence Voice Over Cost
There are a number of other considerations that will impact voice over cost on a project-to-project basis, and relate directly to the skills you’re looking for in your voice actor or service provider. For instance, do you need someone who can edit their own audio and deliver a finished file that’s ready to go straight to broadcast? This will cost you more than hiring a voice actor with limited technical abilities who can only forward you the raw file of their voice performance. Another detail that you will want to iron out involves whether you will expect multiple readings of a script, including re-recordings in the event that you are not wholly satisfied with the actor’s first read.
You may also need translation or localization services, help with casting or managing your project, and other post-production services, all of which are possible through Voices’ Managed Services for a nominal fee.
Elements like these should be sorted out beforehand, so that you encounter as few surprises as possible.
Hiring Professional vs. Up-and-Coming Voice Actors
Just as in various other walks of life, voice talent rates will also be influenced by the actors’ level of experience and status in the industry. If a voice actor is capable of pulling off a niche or specialty vocal performance that is precisely what your project requires, it is possible that they will charge more than a popular vocal style that a surplus of actors call their signature voice.
Voice actors with less experience may not charge as much as ones with more experience. Once a voice actor has myriad jobs below their belt, they may decide that their value has gone up, and they will begin charging more. You will notice that this can reflect their rating and the number of client reviews on the voice talent’s Voices profile.
Online Marketplaces Offer the Best Value for Voice Over Cost
There are scores of reasons that casting directors and creative teams tasked with hiring voices are choosing to come to Voices to find the best voice actors, again and again.
Voices is equipped with proprietary technology that makes finding and hiring voice talent easy and secure.
For instance, Voices’s recommendation engine VoiceMatch™ connects the most qualified talent with your job posting, in addition to ranking the auditions you receive based on how qualified the talent are for your job.
Another benefit of using Voices is the option to invite specific talent to audition for your job with just the click of a button.
Plus, when you sign up for a client profile on Voices, you’ll automatically be paired with a dedicated account manager who can help you to manage your project from start to finish, including providing assistance with translation and post production.
Learn all about how Voices works, or sign-up for free today.
Talent Have Their Own Voice Over Cost Expectations
Remember that talent reserve the right to set their own voice over cost, and will do so based on their going rate and the budget range that you are offering.
Some clients harbor misconceptions about the best voice over service provider or voice actors to hire, according to which side of the budget range their quote falls on.
However, it’s worth noting that talent with the lowest quotes won’t necessarily provide the best value for your project. At the same time, talent who quote above the budget range won’t necessarily be the right fit for your project as well. The truth is, the best talent for your unique job will depend on your own unique needs.