Would you hire somebody with Brit accent for audios??

Phil,

A couple things came to mind as I read your post.

Firstly, as we know, no Brit has ever scammed, cheated or defrauded anyone, ever, online or offline. Ergo, a British accent is a plus.

Although I do wonder why the UK Government maintains the Serious Fraud Office(SFO)...

Typically voice over work is billed on a project rate relative to the length of the voice over. 15 second, 30 second, 1 minute, etc. as opposed to a "per word" rate.

Rates are based on the final recorded time of the work. Not on the time required to produce acceptable output.

The last voice-over I performed for pay was a 30 second job. It was a "dry" (no background music or other sound effects) job. It took close to two hours to get it "just right".

If you're seriously going to consider doing this work do some major research before offering to rent out your larynx.

One more thing to consider: Due to the major downsizing of broadcasting, at least in the States, there are increasing numbers of trained, experienced, voice actors coming on the market almost daily.

Just a few thoughts...

Elmer

Hi Elmer

Wow, great response. I do wonder now whether it's much more difficult than it sounds. I am an IT Trainer by trade, so that might help, I talk for a living ha ha, but like you say, needs more research I think.

Many thanks,
Phil

Maybe you can record a quick 15 second demo so that people can hear your voice.

I hate recording live screen capture videos. I always get tongue tied as I think too far ahead and usaully always end up messing up. In fact I rarely settle with either of the first 5 attempts. In fact someone even mentioned in a forum somewhere that I have a "weird 'tard accent"... Which was nice.

Hmmm... Think I may start outsourcing my videos from now on.

Hi Guys

Wow, thanks for all the feedback. haha, Mike, yeah, there are some crazy Brit accents, like Jordie (newcastle), Birmigham, Liverpool and good ol' london cockney. Yeah, if I go down this route, I'l shoot/record some demos.

Cheers Richard btw for the link!

Beers,
Phil

I'm running a VO WSO myself, and I've actually received a lot of interest from UK-based Warriors who prefer an American accent since they feel most of their sales are out of the US. In fact, Will Edwards is publishing the narration I did of one of his outstanding e-books on CD via Amazon.

That said, I think you might find some folks who would be interested in a bloke with a British accent to do some VO work.

I believe in using your own voice when selling if there is the slightest chance they will hear your real voice. Confuse the heck out of someone you need to call if all they know is you have a brit accent. LOL.

Nice voice. It would be better if you took up drinking whiskey and smoking, though.

Phil, this was debated before, think on the old forum, and one comment stuck firmly in my mind. People said they would never buy if a British accent is used. Now I know this isn't true across the board, but worth considering in the wider scheme of things.

Hollywood is always looking for British voices, but they tend to prefer female, any good for you

And if you get stuck Elmer is good at translating, should you say something which the Yanks have no idea what you're talking about .

The only UK voiceover talent that I'd ever be interested in would be like some hardcore, cockney Dominic Noonan kind of thing.

j/k

English is not my first language and even though I live in US, I have a hard time understanding any kind of british accent. I would say, if I bought an audio product and it had a brit accent I would have to return it.

I think with so many immigrants in US, a brit accent would only be useful for specific purposes, since I believe a plain "no accent" speech is more desirable for commercial products.

But I would say that there's probably a huge market out there for all kinds of accents and it's always a plus when your accent is natural.

I think at the end of the the day what matters most it's the quality of the product you offer which is defined by your voice and the equipment you have to record and edit it.

Funny you should mention this, I have only been learning IM for about 1 month. It seems like every IM video I listen to has a british accent. I am american, I love the british accent, yes you do sound more trustworthy, polite, friendly and generally classy....to me at least. But I do find it strangely coincidental?? that...that is all I am hearing.

Is IM more popular in UK than America? Or is this forum more popular in UK than America??

There is more "class" if that's how I'd describe it to a british accent.

It depends on how your voice sounds and if you can read well, but Americans do love a British accent, so I think your idea is great. I don't know if that equates to internet marketing, but only somebody testing it out can know for sure.

There are a lot of Americans targeting the UK crowd, and they may be interested in your kind of service.

I was once in the UK financial market, but that was before video marketing was popular. If I was still in that market today - I would have been interested in such a service.

One person that came to mind was...Lee Mcintyre
he records all his videos himself and doesn't mind having a British accent

Make Money Online With Lee McIntyre

I would say... why not? Just try it. Someone already mentioned that there is more class to a British accent and I agree.

It would be really funny if you tried to do a voice over in an American accent but everyone would be able to tell that you're from England!

Hey Phil,

I would definitely use a Brit accent... However it all comes down to what context it would be used in and how suitable it would be for the target market.

Here's a fantastic site to checkout for hiring/getting voice over work: http://www.voice123.com/

Sorry if someone's already mentioned it, I haven't had enough time to look through this whole thread.

Brent

Well I'm a Brit, but I prefer to hire someone with an American accent for promoting certain things. To me it sounds more dynamic, more Hollywood.....even Brit singers try to sound American so I think it works best.

Crikey aren't there some misconceptions on display here!

First off what is a "Brit" accent? As Britain (actually the United Kingdom) contains England (with lots of regional accents) plus Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, (all themselves with regional variations) there is actually is no such thing as a British accent.

It's like us saying That Americans and Canadians all sound the same - when clearly they do not. There is a vast array of regional variations.

What you guys are describing is a classic neutral, formal English accent, that actually rarely exists in the real world. Anyone who can understand English can understand it, as it is English language in its purest form.

Funnily enough the evidence I have is that my wife runs a company with a US client. She does the voiceovers for her company advertising as she has the ability to speak in that classic neutral English, and her American client has asked her if she will do some voice work for them. So clearly some American's see it as a marketable style of English.

However, research in her industry shows that the most trustworthy, likeable accent for any natural English speaker is a soft, clear lowland Scottish accent.

My personal experience of the Brit accent in America.

I have been to Canada and the USA (I know, two different countries) but I had similar experiences in each country.

I remember one New Years Eve in a bar, at the tender age of 20 spending some time with a girl on the dance floor, who, in a passionate embrace gripped me and said

"God, please just keep talking, I can't get enough of that accent"

She was six years older than me, and when she purred those words, I thought I was in love.

I never saw her again.

Point being, seems like some people over the pond enjoy the Brit accent.

I am not sure if I was contributing to this discussion or just telling a cool story I like repeating. Either way, hope it helped some one.

:-)

As someone who's worked in broadcasting in the States for many years, I have a few words of advice:

one - don't charge by the word. Charge by the length of the product.

two -- don't sell yourself too cheaply. U.S. voiceover artists earn a pretty penny, especially in union markets. (Large cities in the Northeast and West Coast)

three -- use a podcast and a separate microphone, if possible. Quality will be better.

four --on your "audition" recording, use different types of recordings to show a range of what you can do.

" there are some crazy Brit accents, like Jordie (newcastle)," --- Alreet...I feel fooking offended now.

Phil, I think you should give it a try. What do you have to lose? Who knows if this has been your real calling all along. There's lots of money to be made in "voice acting", MC, annoucements, etc. Could be a great part-time gig with lots of cash on the side.

So get your confidence up and GO FOR IT!

-C

PS
Personally, I like a british woman's accent. It's soothing and puts me at ease. ;-D

I used to work for an audio marketing company, i am also setting up a B2B audio based service.

The one thing that i notice in most peoples WSO's and other marketing videos is the poor standard of audio production; if you are planning on selling people your audio make sure it is produced to the HIGHEST of standards, Crapily produced audio impresses no one, and annoys anyone who knows anything about audio production