Holding A Casting
Blue Wave Voiceover is happy to coordinate a voiceover casting for you for free, with no obligation — send us your script, and our members will record short samples of your script as auditions for you to review.
To hold a voiceover casting, we just need some information — it’s helpful for us to know any preferences you have on gender, age or specific backgrounds, accents or dialects you need. Narrowing down your specs in advance, i.e., what kind of sound your looking for, is always helpful. We’ve got some handy tips here for you if you need them.
First… the script. After all, writing for voiceover — whether for commercial, narration, robocalls, or another form of voiceover — is entirely different from writing for reading.
Next, how long is the script? Try reading the script out loud to get an accurate timing. This will save you money later by having a realistic amount of words that can fit into your :15/:30/:60 spot. And if you’re unsure just how many words are too much (or not enough), check out our guide for Script Word Counts here.
Pro-tip: references for vocal styles (that you strongly like or dislike) can be very helpful guides for the talent, as well as any rough cut of the video and/or music you might have. Provide creative direction if you are clear on the sound, mood, tone and tempo you are trying to achieve — anything you can put forward as a guideline is extremely helpful.
Next, what’s your budget? This is key information to know going in, as it can affect exactly which talent you can afford to cast. Try to pinpoint your intended rate based on usage, editing, file separation, scratch tracks, and any other elements (casting other voices, hiring composers and managing the sound package).
Finally, some nitty-gritty tips that will make your voiceover audition process as smooth as possible:
- Indicate file naming that you prefer for the auditions, so that they can be well organized to your taste and easy to sort through — a good example would be something like, “CampaignVoice_FirstnameLastname.”
- Also, be clear on your key dates: this includes the deadline for submissions, as well as the anticipated record dates, so you can make sure your voice over talent will be available.
- And even better for clearing up any confusion, you can always indicate if you want to direct the session live, and whether or not you want raw or edited audio to be delivered to you.
Still confused? Need a hand? No worries, that’s why we’re here! Use the form below, or email us directly at casting@bluewavevoiceover.com. We’re more than happy to help.