VOPlanet Blog

The creative industry moves at lightning speed and so should your voice over casting. You no longer have to book a voice over through an agent, schedule an in-person session in an LA studio and then wait days for your voice over to be recorded. Online voice casting has made it possible to quickly and easily tap into a worldwide network of freelance voice actors from the comfort of any device and get professional voice overs in minutes. Let’s take a look at how casting voice overs online can save you time and money and take your creative to the next level.

If you have a project that requires a voice over, it's best to hire a professional voice actor. A professional voice over can help you win and keep accounts, increase the effectiveness of your eLearning courses and give your project a professional edge. Read more to find out why you should you hire a professional voice talent instead trusting your creative to your co-worker Jerry with the "nice voice."

Nathan Lowe: Voice actor. Musician. Studio owner. Beardist. Yes, Nathan Lowe is a man of many talents and interests, and an esteemed member of the VOPlanet VO Team. Nathan took time to chat with us about his voice over journey and gave us insight into his storied career. Sit back, relax and wrap your mind around all things Nathan Lowe.

“I would never join a pay-to-play.” We hear it every day. Some voice actors have a negative opinion about pay-to-play voice over casting sites. While there are a few sites that deserve to be looked down on, the negative view of P2P sites in general, is largely based on misconceptions. And there is a particular set of voice actors who like to position themselves as too cool to join a P2P VO site. Face it, bashing P2P is popular. Everyone loves to jump on Facebook and post the latest P2P outrage. While there are actual issues on some sites, that does not hold true for all pay-to-play sites. And the idea that the only way to properly market your voice over business is by contacting clients directly simply isn’t true.

Are you frustrated that you keep getting auditions from the same voice actors when you cast a voice over? Do you know that you may be paying voice over sites thousands of dollars in unnecessary fees and commissions? Let's talk about why it's hard to find fresh voice talent on the corporate voice casting sites and what kinds of fees and commissions can affect your voice over budget. If you use a voice over casting site to find and hire voice actors, here are a few insights that might surprise you.

Professional voice actor and voice over coach Julie Williams answers questions about her career and offers advice for making the leap to working as a full-time professional voice actor. She talks about who can benefit from voice over coaching and shares useful tips for how to choose a voice over coach. And she offers valuable advice for up-and-coming voice talent.

Look up the word versatile and it’s quite possible that a photo of professional voice actor Maria Pendolino is right next to it. From slinky smooth commercial voice overs to highly technical medical jargon, Maria is a voice over chameleon. We are quite lucky to have Maria on the VOPlanet VO Team and even luckier that she had moment between all her awesome endeavors to sit down and answer a few questions about her career, favorite voice over jobs and the future of voice over casting.

The demand for a neutral international sound has popularized a voice over accent that is not quite American, British or European. Transatlantic voice overs, also known as Mid-Atlantic English, International English or Neutral English, are in demand and voice actors who have mastered the accent are being cast with increasing frequency. Voice buyers and voice actors are sometimes unsure of what exactly Neutral English is. To get a better idea we went to the experts. We talked to Juliette Gray and J. Michael Collins, two of the top professional voice actors who book Transatlantic voice over work, about what the accent is, how it’s being used and what exactly it sounds like.

Whether you are new to the voice over business or you are a veteran voice over director, insights from the voice actor’s side of the microphone are invaluable. Preparation before and guidance during a voice over session are vital to bringing out the best performance from voice talent. VOPlanet's Kevin West asked voice over session masters Debbie Grattan and Kelley Buttrick for tips on how to direct voice actors.

Many voice over recording sessions are now being recorded and directed remotely. The vast majority of voice actors now have home studios custom built with technology and sound quality that rival brick and mortar commercial studios. Of course being in the studio with the voice actor and directing the session in person is ideal. Luckily there is technology available that enables us to connect to remote studios and direct VO sessions from any where as if you were there in person. Let's take a look at the most popular methods top creatives are using to direct VO sessions remotely.