I’ve been running Harvey Voices for twenty years now. In that time, I have worked with extraordinary human voice artists on everything from global ad campaigns to audiobooks, video games, corporate films, and everything in between. I’ve seen casting go beautifully right and I’ve watched it go spectacularly wrong. Voice casting is genuinely one of the most exciting parts of any production. The right voice can make a listener lean in, trust a brand, laugh out loud and even sob tears in a car park. So whether you’re a first-time producer, a seasoned creative director, or someone who has been handed a brief and is quietly panicking, this is (hopefully) for you.
THE 10 THINGS YOU SHOULD DO
1. Brief your agent properly. I cannot stress this enough. The more detail you give us upfront, the better. Tell us about the tone, the audience, the emotion you’re going for. Tell us what the recording is for. Give us a reference track if you have one, even if it’s just a clip you love from a film or an ad. We are not mind readers, wonderful as we are. A strong brief saves everyone time and almost always leads to a better result.
2. Know your audience before you brief anyone. Before you pick up the phone or drop us an email, sit with the question: who is actually listening to this? The clearer you are on who you are speaking to, the clearer the casting becomes.
3. Trust your voiceover agent. We have done this a lot. We know our talent roster inside out because we have worked with them, directed them, heard them across hundreds of projects. When we suggest someone who might not be the obvious choice, hear us out. Some of my favourite casting moments have come from a client taking a small leap of faith. A good agent is genuinely your secret weapon.
4. Ask for auditions when you genuinely need them. Auditions are brilliant for projects where the brief is unusual, the character is highly specific, or the client needs to hear a few different approaches before committing. They give you real options. Just be respectful of the voice actors’ time. If you already know from the demos that someone is perfect, go with them. Auditions are a tool, not a default.
5. Listen to demos with fresh ears and an open mind. When you are listening to demos, try to hear past the specific content and into the quality, character and warmth of the voice. A great demo will show you range and skill. Try not to be put off because the demo content isn’t in your sector. Focus on the storytelling, the pacing, the believability.
6. Be clear about usage and timescales upfront. Is this a one-off corporate video or a five-year global campaign? Will it run on one radio station or across every platform imaginable? These details matter because they affect everything from fees to scheduling. We need to know this at briefing stage, not after the recording is done. Nobody enjoys those conversations.
7. Schedule recording time properly. Voice acting takes focus, craft and presence. Book appropriate studio time so the artist isn’t rushed, the director has space to try different approaches, and nobody is clock-watching. Some of the best takes I’ve ever heard came from a session that had room to breathe. Squeezing a complex project into an hour to save money almost always costs you more in the end.
8. Direct during the session. This is your creative opportunity. You don’t need to use technical jargon or know how to operate a mixing desk. You just need to be able to communicate what you want emotionally. Bring your script and your instincts, actors are incredibly responsive to good direction.
9. Give clear and timely feedback. The more specific you are, the faster we can get you exactly what you need and the sooner you can get it signed off.
10. Build long-term relationships with your voice talent. When you find a voice that works brilliantly for your brand or project, hold onto that relationship. Consistency builds recognition. Your audience starts to associate that voice with your values and your story. Some of the most powerful brand voices I have worked on have been built over years, not weeks. Loyalty pays off on both sides.
The right voice does not just deliver words. It delivers a feeling. And feelings are what people remember.
PITFALLS TO AVOID
1. Don’t cast by committee. I have seen more perfectly good casting decisions unravel because twelve people with very different tastes all had to weigh in. Someone always wants to go back to the start. Someone else wants to try a completely different direction. Voice casting works best when there is a clear decision maker who understands the brief and has the confidence to make a call. Feedback from two or three people is helpful. Feedback from everyone is chaos.
2. Don’t cast based on how a voice sounds in everyday life. The way someone speaks in a meeting or down the phone is not how they sound when they perform. Equally, don’t assume that because someone is not a trained actor, they can voice your script. Professional voice actors bring skills you genuinely cannot replicate without training and experience. It is a craft, and it deserves to be treated as one.
3. Don’t use AI-generated voices for work that deserves a human touch. At Harvey Voices, we work exclusively with human voice talent. Full stop. I am aware that this is a strong stance and I am entirely comfortable with it. There is something irreplaceable about the nuance, the emotion, and the spontaneity that a skilled human voice actor brings to a recording. AI can mimic the surface of a voice. It cannot replicate the soul of a performance. If your brand or project means something, it deserves a real person behind the mic.
4. Don’t send a brief with no information and expect magic. “We need a warm, friendly, professional voice” tells us very little. Warm compared to what? Friendly in what context? Professional in which industry? Every word in a brief should be doing some work. The vaguer the brief, the more time we spend going back and forth, and the longer it takes to get to the good stuff. Put the effort in upfront. You will get much better results.
5. Don’t assume the cheapest option is fine. Good voice acting costs what it costs because there is genuine expertise behind it. You are paying for years of training, consistency across long sessions, the ability to take direction, the ability to self-direct, technical quality, and reliability. Cutting corners on your voice talent is a bit like cutting corners on your scriptwriter. People notice, even if they can’t articulate exactly why.
6. Don’t ignore the importance of accent and dialect. Casting a voice with the wrong regional accent for your audience can quietly undermine your message. Sometimes a neutral accent is right. Sometimes a specific regional voice is everything. This is where your agent earns their keep. Talk to us about where your audience is and who they respond to. Getting this right is not about stereotyping, it’s about genuine connection.
7. Don’t wait until the last minute. Good voice talent is busy. Sessions need to be booked. Studios need to be arranged. If you come to us on a Friday afternoon needing something recorded by Monday morning, we will absolutely do our very best for you because that is who we are. But your options are narrower and the pressure is higher for everyone involved. Build realistic timelines and your projects will be better for it.
8. Don’t forget to check your script is locked before the session. Sending a revised script five minutes before the recording starts, or worse, during it, is one of the most common avoidable problems in this industry. Every script change mid-session costs time and sometimes money. Get your copy approved internally before the session. Read it out loud yourself first. You will catch all sorts of things you would not notice reading silently.
9. Don’t underestimate the power of a great casting decision. The wrong voice for your project is quietly working against you every time someone hears it. The right voice is quietly building something. Trust, authority, warmth, excitement, whatever your brand needs. Voice casting is not an afterthought. It is one of the most impactful creative decisions you will make. Treat it that way, and I promise the results will show.
Final thoughts…
Twenty years in, I still get a buzz when the right voice lands for a project. There is nothing quite like a client message saying “that’s exactly it” or hearing a campaign go out into the world and knowing the voice just works. At Harvey Voices, we are passionate about the power of human performance. The talent we represent put in years of work to be brilliant at what they do. They deserve great briefs, fair treatment, and creative partners who genuinely care about the result. Give us a great brief, trust the process, and we will give you a voice that makes your project sing.
