Irish voice over, Hilary Rose, is currently featured in a Telegael cartoon (doing multiple voices) called Galactik Football. She’s also just done an AIB radio ad (testimonial style), a VSO ad that was on all channels and she’s voice over work for Republic of Telly (Neil Delameres show) on RTE(they are returning for a third series in Sept).
We get asked a lot about the standard rates for voice over work in Ireland. Below is an excerpt from our great guide to getting voiceover work. I hope you find it useful.
E-learning is a growing part of a professional voiceover’s repertoire. Siobhan Wells from Skillsoft has been using Piehole to source voices recently and she kindly agreed to answer a few questions about e-learning, what makes for a good VO and how to prepare yourself to get more of this type of work. (more…)
STEP 1: GET A SCRIPT
First, you need to figure out what goes in the script. You need to figure out - what is the one message that you want customers to remember from your radio ad? Bear in mind that people listening to the radio ad are often driving or cleaning the house or doing something else while they’re listening to the radio. It is not a captive audience. So you need something that someone can easily remember. Don’t be tempted to put too many facts and benefits of your product into your radio script. The simpler the better. What is the ONE thing you want to say about your product? Is it that there’s a half price sale on? Is it that you have great service? It can’t be both.
Once you’ve figured out what that one thing is, you need to dramatise it in the most memorable and interesting way possible. Think of all the drivel you hear on the radio. Your ad will be nestled in between a bunch of those other ads. You need to make your ad stand out from the crowd.
It has to be punchy, entertaining and creative. Don’t bother with the long phone numbers. If you have a web address you’d like people to go to, make it easy to remember and to spell.
If you’d like your ad to really stand out from the crowd, it’s best to source a professional freelance copywriter to write your script. You can do this buy googling “copywriter” or checking out Linked-In or Elance. Make sure when you brief them, to explain to them the ONE thing you want people to know about your product.
STEP 2: PRODUCE YOUR SCRIPT
Once you’ve got your script finalised, there are a few options available to you. You can contact a sound studio directly to produce your script (there’s a list of great Irish sound studios in our E-book). Their rates tend to be between €150 and €250 per hour. A 30 second radio ad shouldn’t take more than an hour to produce. They can advise you on which voiceovers to use, and they’ll sort it all our for you. The standard Equity voiceover rates are between €140 - €500 depending on which stations your ad is airing on. (For full rate card, you can download our ebook here).
If you like to be more hands-on, you can also manage the process yourself. You can source your own voiceovers online. We’ll arrange phone auditions, so you hear samples in advance of your script. Once you’ve chosen a voiceover, you can then approach a sound studio with your script and chosen voiceover/s.
The 3rd, easiest option is to get Piehole to do the whole shebang for you. We’ll arrange sound studios and voices for you. Here’s more info.
STEP 3: GO TO AIR
If you’ve already got media space booked, that’s great. You or the sound studio can simply email the final mp3 file to the station.
If you haven’t, you need to figure out what station to use. You don’t always need to go for the big breakfast slot on the massive national radio station. Sometimes your money will go further on a selection of smaller radio stations. Each slot on the radio station has a different audience, so be careful where you book. For example, if you are targeting house wives, there’s no need to buy the expensive “drive time” slots, because if you wait an hour or two, you can still reach the same housewives, but at cheaper rates. Ask the radio station to provide you with information regarding each of their shows and who listens to them. Then you’re able to make a more informed decision.
Relatively speaking, the production of the radio ad is very cheap in comparison to the cost of the media space. That’s why you need to stand out on air. What’s the point in spending so much money on media space - and then nobody listens or cares about your ad?
There will be a screening of the Short Film, Touched, in which Nicola Lindsay plays the lead role. The movie has been rocking out, and has been accepted into major film festivals in China, Europe and… Ireland!! It will take place in Filmbase in Temple Bar on the 29th of April, 18.30. Drinky poos and foodies afterwards.
In other news, Nicola has been keeping very busy. She was in the first episode of RTE Storyland’s Zombie Bashers… As well as 4 other short films in the last 3 months, playing the lead in all of them. She was also featured in the Bord Failte ad that’s running at the moment on the telly and in cinemas. Plus she’s just done a shoot for an ad for Fine Gael! So pretty busy stuff, long may it last! Or at least, till just before you get a stomach ulcer or drop dead from exhaustion! LISTEN TO NICOLA’S VOICE DEMO.
Our chief nerd has been nerding his little hiney off over the past few weeks and along with a spanking new look for Piehole, we also now have an exclusive iPhone version. If you’re down with the Apple kidz you can browse our entire collection of Voic overs from the comfort of your director’s chair, anywhere in the world.
To add Piehole to your home screen, open safari and browse to www.piehole.ie (or piehole.ca or piehole.co.uk) and then press the ‘+’ button and select ‘add to home screen’.
Hi - I just wanted to let you know about an Internet drama which I recently worked on called ‘Daily Strife’.It is being shown on the web as part of RTE’s ‘Storyland’ programme. How this works is that they show ‘Daily Strife on the RTE website at www.rte.ie/storyland along with four other films. The public can then vote and whoever gets the least vote doesn’t get to go on to make another episode. It’s all a little bit ‘Big Brother’ but I would really appreciate your support on this as I think that it’s a good strong piece of work and I would really like to work on it again!!! Anyway, to find out more about the film and to view a short trailer, visit http://www.dailystrife.com/ .
It goes live on 29th January. After which you’ll have a week to register your vote. Voting opens 5 feb. As Michael Collins might say, Vote Early and Vote Often! All and any support is much appreciated.
To listen to Jim’s voice over demo click here.
HOW AND WHEN DID YOU GET INTO VOICEOVER WORK?
I work as an actor and have been told many a time that my voice was perfect for voice over work.One female actor described my voice as ‘like chocolate’!Another saying ,”it vibrates through me and makes me feel weak at the knees”!
WHAT STYLES OF VOICE OVER DO YOU KICK ASS AT?
Dark and Seductive,straight talking,relaxed read,hard sell,narrator.
WHAT TYPE OF BRANDS HAVE YOU WORKED ON?
Phone companies, tesco brands,dark chocolate
ARE YOU PERFORMING IN ANY INTERESTING SHOWS LATELY?
Waiting on the release of a mini series called ‘Jack Taylor’ for the BBC and RTE , playing opposite Ralph Brown and Ian Glenn
YOUR CV, IN A NUTSHELL?
Everything from the Barbican to the Gate Theatre.The Abbey Theatre to the BBC.Panto to Shakespeare,RTE to Showtime USA, HBO and Major Cinema release with Oscar winning actors.
Dom will be appearing as “the waiter” in Episode 2 of the new comedy series “Val Falvey T.D”, the scent of a woman aired on RTE 1 at 19h30, Sunday 29 November. He is currently working on a new artistic portfolio to showcase some of his original characters. The pics were taken by Kamil Krawzcak. Photos will be sent to professionals in the film and TV industry, and will also be available on his website early in the new year. Also, Dom is busy looking for a superb agent to help him manage his film, TV and voiceover jobs for the next year.
LISTEN TO DOM’S VOICE OVER DEMO.
Tara Flynn’s running the NYC Marathon on the 1st of November, and raising funds for the Alzheimer’s Society. If you can spare 5 or 10 euro (you’ll go to heaven when you die)…. donate here.
