VO sources?

[Mark Ahrens]

Does anyone have suggestions on good sites for Voice Over talent?

I need a pair of 30second spots VO'd with a 'motherly' and 'grandfatherly' talent.

Thanks.

[Jay Massengill]

Voice Talent | ProCommVoices - Find Top Voice Over Professionals

[Don Bloom]

Bill Elder. He's a member here. I've used him and he's great.

[Mark Williams]

Speedy Spots | Voice Talent | Voice Actors | Voice Over
Have used them on several occasions and was very satisfied.

[Allan Black]

Originally Posted by Mark Ahrens

Does anyone have suggestions on good sites for Voice Over talent?

I need a pair of 30second spots VO'd with a 'motherly' and 'grandfatherly' talent.

Thanks.

Hi Mark, have you done 30 seconders before?

If not, be careful you don't overwrite them, so when your talent gets their chops around the words they take longer than you do,
when you read them for timing.

Cheers.

[Brian P. Reynolds]

Its often good to use local talent as you are there on the spot to edit and 'massage' the script for good results.
Try your local radio station, talent agency or a local theatre company, for your needs think about the people around you they often can deliver great results.
My local fruit and veg merchant has a silky smooth voice and does a fantastic 'Discount Rug & Carpet' VO
The local TV station often uses a retiree living on a house boat about 200km away for 'powerful dramatic' movie trailers, they produce the track via a mobile phone and he records his voice to his laptop with a Neumann VO mic on the boat then emails the .WAV files a few minutes later, anything is possible these days.

As a guide work on 3 words per second (average),
30 sec video spot = 29 seconds of audio = 87 words / 90 words for radio .... a number or breath pause = one word.

[Mark Ahrens]

Thanks guys, good suggestions. I do, frequently, consider those around me for VO; matter of fact, had a friend give it a go, yesterday. Not grandfatherly enough at the age of 43. I had him put on his senior voice and it was a good laugh - Sean Connery-Cartoonish.

At 59 words, it's not a cramped script . . . but the subtle emotion needed does indeed require direction.
For a remote talent, I'm thinking that i'd need to be 'on the line' during the takes to monitor and save time and avoid a lot of back and forth / hit and miss.
Do you think it would be advantageous to nail a scratch version myself, and have the voice just parrot it?

What's the typical fee on this type of gig? I was thinking 100-150?
Time's ticking, due Friday.

[David Aronson]

Voices.com or RadioDaddy.com

[Brian P. Reynolds]

Originally Posted by Mark Ahrens

Thanks guys, good suggestions. I do, frequently, consider those around me for VO; matter of fact, had a friend give it a go, yesterday. Not grandfatherly enough at the age of 43. I had him put on his senior voice and it was a good laugh - Sean Connery-Cartoonish.

At 59 words, it's not a cramped script . . . but the subtle emotion needed does indeed require direction.
For a remote talent, I'm thinking that i'd need to be 'on the line' during the takes to monitor and save time and avoid a lot of back and forth / hit and miss.
Do you think it would be advantageous to nail a scratch version myself, and have the voice just parrot it?

What's the typical fee on this type of gig? I was thinking 100-150?
Time's ticking, due Friday.

When we do remote VO tracks the VO person wears an earphone plugged into his mobile underneath his 'Pro' headphones. And yes we are on the line the entire session to hear the track being recorded.

If your after specific inflections it's often a good idea to do a scratch track of what your after especially for non-pro VO talent. Don't be afraid to record it line by line if necessary.

Other places to try might be aged care nursing homes or lawn bowls clubs.... anywhere there are groups of older people.

The payment you mentioned would seem a ball park for non-pro tallent.

[Allan Black]

Email the scripts well in advance.

And after you record the 'take' you like and are happy with it, don't forget to ask the talent to give you a read that they like.

Some great ads have resulted from asking the voice talent .. 'how would you read it?'

One time I was doing some 15sec radio spots with Paul Hogan (Crocodile Dundee for those o/S) and his offsider, Strop.
They were for Fosters Beer UK, and the guys were at an equestrian event (horse show for those .. oh never mind)

Sfx: Crowd at equestrian show.

Hogan: 'Great show Strop?'
Strop: 'Yeah .. some good looking horses here today.'

Course announcer: 'The bar will now be raised to six feet'

Hogan: 'We'd better get another drink while we can still reach it'

Strop: 'Yeah quick!'

Announcer: Yes Fosters for etc etc.

The guys tried pucker accents then returned to their Oz sounds, but that led to other spots at fashion, car shows and more.
Lotta fun in the studio.

Cheers.