Voice over
We’ve been recording and editing voice-overs for nearly 20 years for clients that include BBC, Channel 4, Experian, EA Sports and Strathmore publishing, working on many and varied projects.
An area of speciality for us is eLearning, having developed long standing relationships with market leaders Pearson Education and CAE Learning Solutions. Our established in-house network of voice talent and specialised voice-over recording facilities means we are well positioned to source, record and seemlessly edit together the multiple voices often needed for these large content projects.
Our depth of experience means we have a good understanding of the voice-over world and how it works. Let us guide you through the necessary steps to create the right voice-over for your project, whether it’s a short information video for your website, or a multi faceted eLearning script recording.
To get a quote, or just to see how we can help with your potential voice-over plans, please feel free to drop us a line.
Planning your project
Tackling a voice-over project for the first time can be a steep learning curve. There’s a lot of knowledge, information and planning for the uninitiated to get their heads round.To point you in the right direction we’ve compiled a list of the key questions to ask when planning your voice-over project.
To help you plan your voice-over project, here are what we have found to be the key questions to consider
FAQs
What are your rates?
Studio time – £60.00 for the first hour
Studio time – £40.00 per hour thereafter
Audio Editing time – £35.00 per hour
Voice-over artists – from £50.00 – £200.00 per hour
(depending on age, experience and end usage of the recording.)
We do not add any further taxes, VAT or hidden charges to our quotes.
Do you require a voice over artist?
We have a roster of talented voice artists we can match to your project. See below for examples (link to VO egs). Our voice-over artists rates will vary depending on their age and experience and also the end usage of the recording.
Clients are also welcome to supply their own voice over artists – sometimes the authenticity of a ‘real’ voice can be very effective. Or the client may well source their own voice-over professional.
What is the end purpose of the voice over recording?
Voice overs for Broadcast purposes e.g. TV, radio, or internet advertisements usually command a license fee (payable to the VO artist) typically 100% of the voice over artists fee.
Non Broadcast voice-overs such as eLearning, medical, instructional, and technical usually do not require a license fee.
How long do you need to book a voice artist for?
When working out how many hours you may need a voice-over artists services for, it’s important to be realistic about how long the reading may take. A good voice-over artist can record at a rate of 40 words (slow), to 70 words (Fast) per minute.
Will repeat takes be required? This can drastically reduce the words per minute count.
It’s also worth bearing in mind that voice artists generally round up when charging for their time, so a recording session lasting 1.5 hours would be charged as 2 hours.
Is the audio to be synced to video?
Voice recordings that are to be synced to picture require more time for the voice over session as well as the editing process. The reason being that there will usually be many more takes and as a consequence more in depth editing. Extra time also has to be allowed for the editing process so the audio timings can be matched to picture.
Do you require your Voice recording to be edited?
We are able to supply raw audio recordings without any editing of takes, de breathing of audio etc. More often than not though clients prefer us to do the editing, so it is important to factor this into the project when working out your budget.
Editing includes take selection and comping, de breathing, changing timings, signal processing, formatting and multiple file creation. Generally it requires more time than the recording element.
How would you like the final voice-over recording to be delivered?
For example if the audio is for an information video its often useful to ask for the audio to be split in separate files for each paragraph of the text. This makes it easier for the video editor to drop it into their project.
Educational content often requires many short audio files, especially language learning courses. This requires multiple file creation so bear in mind that it will effect the length of the editing time.
And then of course there is the format that you wish to receive the voice recordings in, .wav, mp3, aiff, and at what resolution. If this just sounds like technical jargon to you, don’t worry, we can advise you on the most suitable format for your end use.