Voiceover Production

Whether you have one narrator, a quarrelling but lovable duo, or hundreds of characters, casting is key to making the actors’ performances enhance the world you’re creating. Your budget will both dictate and be directed by a good character-to-actor ratio assessment. Having managed the cast for everything from the characterful tutorial narrator of LittleBigPlanet to the world of characters in The Witcher III: Wild Hunt, I can guide you through it.

We’ll also cover how to prepare useful casting assets — ‘basics+’ character bios and audition scripts — along with good casting director prep, so your auditions are genuinely useful and cast selection is easier, even if you don’t consider yourself an expert on acting.

Once your cast is selected, the actors need contracting — the legal step that secures your usage rights and commits actors to confidentiality. I can walk you through the points that should be covered for both parties.

As your script is finalised it needs formatting — ready for actor & director prep, use in session, and tracking — plus assessment of line and word counts and recording types (anything to video?) that impact scheduling. Let’s figure out the best way to format and track it.

Prepping your voice director ahead of recording saves time in session and helps the director draw informed performances that enhance the story. Timely studio asset prep keeps sessions running smoothly — a quick review of what’s needed, and when, gives you items for your timeline.

Recordings have started — but they’re live events where a lot can happen that affects your timeline and budget. Good production management keeps things on course. With a production company, your producer should handle much of this for you.

To prep you for this stage, we can discuss script management and how to handle updates, adjusting the schedule as recordings wrap, and troubleshooting if things fall behind. Found a mispronunciation, a name change, or need more lines for a design change? Pickups are almost inevitable — I’ll cover how to make them as painless as possible.

Whatever the size of your script, you’ll want everything not just recorded but recorded correctly. Who handles file management and QA depends on your pipeline — files from an actor’s home setup are very different to those that have gone through a full post process. Together we can build a plan your dev, post, and audio teams can all refer to.

Once everything’s wrapped, we close out with a short review: what worked, what to change next time, and any assets or templates you’ll want for the next production. You leave with a team that feels confident planning the next voiceover.

Now the game’s ready to go, the marketing begins. Dramatic voiceover or clever promotional items shared on social media can make a great impact in the right place. I can help you source a trailer voiceover artist and advise on the promotional package fee. And while the script is long wrapped, some game marketing shines through fun items including narrative mini-podcasts, online character diaries, or clipped articles from the in-game newspaper. A creative writer, either already involved or coming in with fresh eyes, can brainstorm with you on what’s possible next.

A great vendor brings expertise, guidance and support — they produce more voiceover in a year than you ever will. But don’t mistake a snazzy studio for a company that provides valuable casting and production support.

If you’ve determined you want to work with a studio or production company, I’ll prepare a custom audit for each pitch and quote. For larger productions, a site visit may provide important additional information; I can provide a visit checklist, and in some cases even accompany or represent you if you can’t travel before selecting your audio partner.