How to go about providing a voiceover gig and getting the right gear?

[alex_brown]

I’ve always wanted to provide voiceover services on fiverr. The problem for me is that I don’t have any kind of experience or gear. I was searching on online buying sites, and found 2 kinds of microphones: The good kind that studios use and that need a power adapter and the cheap kind that you straight connect to your computer. The good microphone costs about 3-4 times more than the cheap kind. The problem is that I don’t know the market and how saturated it is. I like getting decent gear, but if I don’t get any orders, it would all be a waste. What would you suggest me/What is the market condition about voiceovers on fiverr?

[mae_creativity]

I’ve also been thinking about this. My conclusion is that a good mic is about $100 which I could afford, even if I got no sales. The challenges are these - u need to professionaly edit, mix and master. that takes software and lots of time. And, it takes a lot of practice. so you need a lot of time to get good at this. When I started experimenting, (after so many people told me I should do voiceovers cuz i have a nice voice), I realized that I need to learn how to read a long text without making mistakes/ without coughing / without making smacking sounds/ need to learn breathing techniques, etc.
so in the meantime it is on hold cuz i just dont know where to learn all these things.

[mae_creativity]

Also, I don’t believe that saturation should be a problem in this specif area, because fresh voices are always being sought after. So that’s one good thing at least.

[alex_brown]

Well, if you ever get serious on this, maby we can help each-other 🙂

[misscrystal]

A good voiceover artist is an actor. They do not just read a script. It is not as easy as it sounds. There is a big difference between those who know how to do it and those who don’t.

Listen to some of the top rated voiceover artists and some of the others and you will be able to tell the difference.

[farqfish]

As time goes on, the USB mics are becoming more competetive with traditional dynamic and condensor mics. If you are just starting out, try to watch reviews of some well-reviewed mics in each category and feel out if it would work well for your voice. If you really have no idea about mic compatibility with your voice, talk to someone at Edge Studio for guidance, they also give great discounts and can point you in the right direction.

You can download Audacity for free to start experimenting with audio editing, and once you learn the basics of making your recordings sound clear in terms of your reads and your audio quality, you can put your stuff out there on websites to start looking for work!

Some people say work picks up for them super fast on Fiverr or other sites, some it takes a good while, so I don’t think it’s necessarily safe to expect an instant turnaround.