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4 Things to Know Before You Hire Cheap Voice Actors

Al Black

Al Black

22 March 2022

4 Things to Know Before You Hire Cheap Voice Actors - Voquent

Let's look at the top four considerations when hiring voice actors for any budget – large or small.

 

1. A synonym for a cheap voice actor is a boring voice-over

If you want to hire cheap voice actors, they are probably not charging much for their services because they haven't invested in their equipment or vocal training.

Most professional voice actors are qualified actors or performers and have spent many years honing their craft.

Experience and training make all the difference to how your message is delivered. Trained performers will inject a cadence and energy that keeps viewers engaged. In contrast, if you hire cheap voice actors, they will sound flat and monotone. Yep, boring.

At Voquent, we focus on casting by 'Tone' because tones work across various styles. For example, an Authoritative tone works equally well for a commercial about a market-leading tech product or a banking app. A Nurturing tone is ideal for educational material and charity promos alike. And a Conversational tone for social media promos, explainers, and radio adverts is frequently the best choice.

Trust me. Start casting by tone, and you won't look back!

Explore voice characteristics and tones >

 

2. Voices are NOT sound engineers

You may not be looking for cinema-quality sound for your website explainer video, but you still want it to be appealing, right?

Unfortunately, there is a vast swathe of voices on many platforms with very little audio engineering know-how. They get a USB microphone and Audacity and consider that 'enough'. It's not. Their audio will be noisy, and this will immediately impact product quality.

Even many experienced voice actors with home recording studios costing thousands won't know how to get the best sound out of their equipment.

Training as a qualified sound engineer takes years of practice.

So, if you're spending $1500+ on a video, allocate at least a third of that budget on the best sound quality possible. High-quality audio makes all the difference. Check out our promo to see what I mean:

At Voquent, our expert engineers verify home recording studios to offer a quality guarantee to our customers. Look out for the blue tick on profiles.

Choosing a voice with a blue tick proves that they're a professional, providing the best sound quality for your project. Our service also includes additional engineering time to clean, edit, and perfect the audio before delivery.

More about voice-over post-production >

 

3. To get noticed is to be distinct

If you want to hire cheap voice actors for a promo video or commercial, please, I urge you to reconsider.

Getting noticed is getting heard. And to generate engagement via more views or clicks, you need a vibrant video, succinct script, and a distinctive voice-over.

You could get lucky and find a cheap voice actor who sounds perfect for your project. But how many other scripts have they voiced that year if they are so cheap? Hundreds? Thousands?

You aren't memorable if your ads sound like everyone else's.

Focusing on a specific accent, voice characteristic, or pitch is easy with Voquent. There are tens of billions of combinations in 1700+ accents. Niche down and find a professional voice that gets your brand noticed. Even if it's a little more expensive than initially planned, the extra investment will provide a far superior product to the competition's efforts.

Find Commercial Voice-Overs >

 

4. The casting platform you choose matters (a lot)

With various freelancer sites offering cheap voice actors, how do you avoid amateurs with bad performances and poor-quality equipment?

Easy. Start with a dedicated voice-over platform. Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not saying you can't find a quality voice actor on more generalist freelancer sites like Fiverr or Upwork. Still, it's much easier to browse a platform specifically dedicated to hiring affordable voice actors. You'll save valuable time, and saving time = saving money.

But even dedicated voice-over platforms aren't all built equally. Some want you to 'post a job', so you'll have to do all the work yourself (yawn) and listen to countless bad auditions before finding the right voice. Many platforms also do not vet the voice talent, meaning you could end up with someone who sounds ok but working with them is a nightmare.

Here at Voquent, we've built our incredible search filter to make hiring the voice actor in your head easier. When you can search, favourite, and request a quote in the blink of an eye, you won't look back.

Search for Affordable Voices >

 

Do you wish there was a voice-over company that could take care of all your voice over needs no matter what they are?

There is. We're right here! Whether you're looking for e-learning narration or a commercial, affordable verified voices are our speciality.

 

Voice-Over Talent Search

Al Black

By Al Black

Al has over twenty years of experience in audiovisual translations. A Voquent co-founder, he has produced tens of thousands of voice-overs and translations for education, advertising and entertainment projects.

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