Proud Voices

How to a Choose Voice Over Artist For Your Project

Every voice over artist has a unique voice and style. Certain “types” of voices may fit certain projects. A commercial voice usually has a straight-forward delivery, with a more monotone pitch. This type of voice is perfect for IVR prompts, auto attendant systems, and business voicemails. The point of a “commercial voiceover” is to project professionalism and clarity of the message. It conveys an idea to the listener in an straightforward manner. It generally has a friendly or upbeat delivery.

Male or female voices can be used for commercial projects. For jobs like business phone systems, many customers prefer a clear, friendly delivery from a female artist. But, others choose a serious, professional sounding delivery from a male artist. Every V.O. project is completely different. The customer must ask themselves three questions before choosing a V.O. artist:

1) What type of attitude or feeling am i trying to project?

2) Who is the customer that i’m trying to reach?

Many people in advertising try to speak to their customers, in the “customer’s own voice”. For example, a commercial for an auto parts store wouldn’t have an upbeat, friendly female voice, because that doesn’t fit with the demographic of their customers. They would have a gritty, tough sounding male voice, because that is the voice that would speak to their 18-35 year old male demo. A deep sounding, maybe funny, voiceover similar to what you would hear on Spike T.V.’s promo’s would be more appropriate.

Does the Artist Fit The Script?

Many customers a very choosy about the voiceover artist that they pick. Some are open to suggestions, but other really feel that they know exactly which voice they want. Unfortunately for us, many times we have to convince them that they might be wrong. Sometimes we are presented with a script that is calling out for one of our artists that “we know” would be perfect, but the customer has their mind set on another artist. We will always go with what the customer wants, BUT we try to deliver the best product possible and will attempt to steer them towards who we feel is the most appropriate.

Script Changes

Sometimes scripts are presented to us that are hastily put together and NEED to be fixed. The script is the most important part of the V.O.. The best artist in the world can’t fix a bad script, so it is important to get this right the first time. When presenting a script to us, re-read it and make sure it is grammatically correct, it flows well, and it gets the point across that you are looking to present.

Voice Over as a Brand

Sometimes companies look for voiceover artists that will come to represent their brand. For example, everbody knows the Aflac duck. This duck voice is voiced by comedian Gilbert Godfrey. Customers come to recognize this voice and will associate it with the brand Aflac. This type of “voice branding” can be a part of getting customers to remember and be familiar with the brand name. Gieco also uses a similar type of “voice branding” with their gecko.