Thinking about hiring vocal talent for a voiceover project? The first thing you should do is consider exactly what your needs are, because you are going to have to choose between different types of voice talent and different types of personalities to make your voiceover production shine. For instance, a TV promo voice may be the best thing for one type of project, while theatrical skills may be essential for another. And when you are talking about something as creative as a project like this, you cannot discount the effects that personality will have on the outcome.

First, consider the types of projects that voice talent hires out for and what skills are involved. A TV promo voice, for instance, is a great thing if you have a short radio or TV spot and you need to get the attention of potential customers quickly, and quickly deliver a message. Time is limited. You may have as little as 60 seconds to get your point across. Therefore you need a voice that's going to cut right through whatever the listener is thinking about at the moment. This voice is going to have to make them stop thinking about whatever their boyfriend or boss or dog or boyfriend's boss's dog did that upset them so, and start thinking about your product or service.

But you don't want a voice like that to read your Gothic novel. Not that an announcer's voice wouldn't be great for some narration or audio book projects (business books, for instance), but you have to consider the possibility that your project requires a particular kind of voice, be that an announcer's voice or a more theatrical voice over.

For this type of project, a person has got to be able to hold people's attention for hours on end. He or she needs to be able to paint an audio picture using the voice as the brush and the paints. Silly image, yes, but you get the idea. This person has to have range, and has to be able to demonstrate it all in the same project, yet not exaggerate it. They should be able to sound warm or cold, and should be able to express a range of emotion believably.

The individual has to be considered when you are choosing vocal talent. It isn't a case of saying, “I want a blue one and a green one,” because each person—even if their skill sets read exactly the same—is going to take your project and make something different out of it. Of course, that is part of the excitement of going on creative ventures with other people. It just pays to adjust the basic requirements where you can.