In order to get voice over work, you will need some experience. It can be a difficult path as the only way to get experience is to do work which needs you to have the experience in the first place. The simplest way to start is to either do free work or create your own projects. This way you can build up experience and also have samples which you can provide to potential clients.

There are very few people who can naturally become a voice artist without any training or experience. Most people, even if they have a great voice tone, will need to spend a lot of time, even years, to build their voice skills.

Many people begin by working at community radio stations to build up their experience and confidence.

There are also many online platforms that allow inexperienced people to build their experience and even make a little money. This is not as easy as it may seem though. If you make mistakes and don’t keep buyers happy, you could be thrown off these platforms. 

The best route is often to build some experience first. You can start by doing pod casts and online posts of your voice for a range of entertainment and educational broadcasts.

The recording of 1000 words can range from a few hours to a couple of days depending on the type of recording, the experience of the voice artist and the recording facilities.

A producer can also affect the time it takes.

Most voice artists can speak between 130 to 170 words per minute. This would imply that the recording should take less than 10 minutes.

This however does not happen. This is mostly because of mistakes. Also, the voice artist often will need to read and understand the script before-hand. The correct performance can also take a few tries to get right.

This time taken is only for the recording and does not include the time it takes to edit the recording. The complete recording and editing of a voice over can range from 1 to 3 days. It is also important to understand that each type of voice over also has a different level of difficulty. 

The level of difficulty will affect how long it takes to record 1000 words or, in fact, any length of recording. A marketing script of 80 words could take an hour to record while a 500 word training script could take 30 minutes. Then editing takes its own time too.

There are three main ways to hire a voice artist:

1. Through an agency

2. Directly with the voice artist

3. Through a voice recording company

Independent voice artists can often be hired directly but those registered with agencies will need to be booked through the voice agency. 

Agencies normally only provide you with the voice actor or artist but do not provide the rest of what is needed for the recording. These are the studio, engineer, producer etc. The independent voice artist often has facilities that they provide, or know of, that they can recommend, for the recording to be done at.

A voice recording company though, will provide everything you need from voice artist to studio, sound engineer and even script writers. There are even voice recording companies that provide the entire service online and simply send you the finished voice over product. You pay the recording company and they send you the recording.

If you have the budget for it, a marketing agency can book the voice artist for you along with the studio, engineer, producer, script writer and even concept creator. A marketing agency is more than a booking service though. They do market research, study demographics of target audiences, deal with airtime bookings and more. This is normally reserved for very large companies and corporations.

Small businesses, who do their own marketing, will often create their own script and marketing strategy then book a voice artist directly or use a voice recording company.

Companies don’t even need to book a voice artist in the area where they are. For example, a Johannesburg company can use a Cape Town voice over service to record the voice over and simply send it to the company online. Even a buyer, or company, that is not in South Africa can book a Johannesburg voice over company to make a recording, with their south African accent voice artist. This will then be broadcast across the country on radio and TV or online.

There are three main factors that affect the cost of a voice over.

1. The length of the script. This can be by words or time length

2. The use or purpose of the recording such as marketing or training or on-hold IVR

3. The experience or fame of the voice artist. A famous actor will be much more expensive.

There is also the addition of residual fees that many voice agencies charge, which are costs for the continued use of the recording, long after the recording was paid for.

There are also additional costs, which many voice-over companies charge, such as studio fees, sound engineer and editor fees.

There are, however, voice over companies who provide a complete recording service with voice artist, studio and editing included and even don’t charge residual fees.

It is important to check if there are any of these hidden costs before purchasing a voice recording.

If you go the route of speaking to a voice agency first, you will probably run into all of these hidden costs. On the other-hand independent voice artists and voice over recording companies will often provide a complete package with no residual fees and often at a lower cost as there are no agency fees.

There are no fixed fees and often no recommended prices for voice overs because the South African laws against price fixing do not allow it. However, you can find voice overs ranging from a thousand Rand to many tens of thousands or Rands. 

R 1000 will not get you much and R10 000 could be the cost of just the voice over actor for one session and nothing else. It really depends on the three factors listed above and many other factors too that don’t go directly to the voice artist.

Becoming a voice over artist is often a long and difficult path. It is not simply a matter being given a chance.

There is a lot of experience that is needed in voice recording. It is not just about talking like you would normally do. Voice overs are a form of voice acting.

Whether you will be reading a script for telephone system on-hold IVR recordings or for a commercial or advert, you will need to know how to project correctly. You will need to know how to pace and emphasize your words in the right way. It is not just character acting that requires voice performance. All forms of voice overs will need to be done in the style and performance quality that the buyer needs.

Some voice over artists, are in fact, actors on TV or on the stage. Others are radio presenters and DJs. Often voice overs are simply a side job to their main source of income. There are very few voice artists in South Africa who can survive only on their voice-over work income.

There are many routes to becoming a voice artist. These can range from formal education in acting to an apprenticeship at a community radio station. There are also sound engineers that have spent many years recording voice overs, so they pick up the skills. 

There is no official qualification available or even required to become a voice artist. You do however need to have a good voice, excellent control of your performance and need to build up as much experience as possible.

There are many industry routes to finding voice artists but this can be an expensive adventure. There also ways to find voice artists who are more affordable but require you to provide the studio and sound engineer. Another way is to find voice recording companies.

These are companies who provide the voice artist along with the complete service and facilities to be able to produce a voice over. There are even voice recording service who don’t require you to book a studio or engineer. You simply order your voice over online and they send that recording to you electronically after booking the voice artist themselves and completing the recording.

If you are a video producer and have the recording facilities, you can find many voice over artists by contacting a voice artist agency. These are often the more expensive voice artists and there are agency fees as well. Also, agencies tend to charge residual fees.

Independent voice artist often wont register with voice agencies. They prefer to market themselves through many social media and online services. They are often more affordable but it can take more effort to find one to suite your project. Agencies tend to provide a range of difference voice styles based on age, race, gender and accent or language. It does take time though, to go through all the sample recordings to choose one you like.

This is where a voice artist agency should be able to assist by suggesting voices that will suite your project brief. Independent voice artists who self-promote, often can do a range of styles and even different accents and languages.