2 Questions You Must Ask When Hiring a Voiceover Professional

Ask any marketing guru about the power of video and you will get an earful.  Since the dawn of YouTube, the interest in video has been steadily growing.  The medium is now considered one of the most influential in the world of marketing, and most would suggest that it is a must for nearly every company.

The difficulty, of course, is that video generally requires more of a production process than images or text.  Part of that process, in many instances, is the finding and hiring of a voiceover professional.  When you need to have a video completed quickly and on a budget, you should hire me.  Alright, alright, that’s not the answer for everyone. You can’t blame me for trying, though, right?

Truly, you have to know what questions to ask, though, if you are going to try to hire a voiceover artist quickly. Ask the right questions, and you will generally be pleased with the outcome. Fail to do so, and you may just find that your time, your budget, and your patience are soon exhausted.

Does this person fit the character? This is a question that you can likely begin to answer before even listening to the demo.  If you want to have a voice for a motherly character, then you can rule out men and children immediately.  You can also create a target age range for the voiceover artist, because age does often come across in the voice.  Finally, listen to the demos not for the words being spoken, but for the pitch, tone, and emotion in the voice, until you have found one that suits the character that you had in mind.

How would you describe your voice? With this question, you can get two bits of information all at once. Firstly, you can learn how well the person reacts in the moment, which is important when in the recording studio. Secondly, you can better gauge how peppy that person will sound in a recording. If you are looking for a serious tone, then you’d probably be pleased with answers like “engaging”, “confident”, or “inspirational”.  On the other hand, you probably would want to stay away from voiceover artists who describe their voice as "exciting", "upbeat"and "energetic."