Voice Acting - How Much Does It Generally Cost?

[Obscura]

Hey, so people are asking about putting voice acting into my game.

Is there a typical figure somewhere for every 10,000 words of dialogue or so, for professional voice actors and probably a voice director?

I doubt this will be ever be implemented given that I think 10 minutes of well-done voice acting will probably exceed my entire existing game budget XD.

But I just thought I'd ask.

Thanks!

[FatUnicornGames]

BLAGH!!! Congrats on your super successful kickstarter hun!!!

Edit: Sorry for the derail.

Edit edit: http://lemmasoft.renai.us/forums/viewto ... 38&t=15462

[Obscura]

Ahhhh thanks Crystal! I've emailed her.

[dramspringfeald]

Well that depends on whither or not they care about the product.

but a good place to start would be like

Voices.com
(Me I got lucky and scored Gendo from Eva // Joyrock from Slayers.)

[FatUnicornGames]

Ahhhh thanks Crystal! I've emailed her.

Let me know how your interaction with her goes. I was thinking of emailing her once we got to the right place in the writing process. Gah! I've been so slow lately. Stupid school. Ha!

[sake-bento]

Eep. Old thread, (and problem already handled), but I'll drop an answer here in case of future things.

The price of voice acting ranges quite a bit. If you're looking for studio time with union pros and the quality that you find in television, um...well, I'm not allowed to share the exact amount, but one hour is worth more than one month of rent at my place.

If you're talking about doing things online, you can probably find voice actors willing to work for free. The Voice Acting Alliance and Voice Acting Club tend to be the go-to places for that. The danger you run there is that you can't guarantee ability or quality. Talent ranges from beginners to experienced, and sound and mic quality will also run the gamut. On top of that, voice actors working for free are very likely to disappear from your project - especially if there are a lot of lines. If you have a small project, and you're willing to play cat herder, this is the place to go.

If you're looking to hire off the internet for money, you can post at places like Voice123, Voices.com, and the newly created VoiceBunny. VoiceBunny is a little bit different from the others, but it's probably the fastest. You're likely to get better quality of acting and mic if you work off one of these sites, and actors tend to be more reliable here. For 10,000 words, a (very rough, very low) estimate would be $500-1000 for an efficient actor.

The last option is finding a casting director. They will find and manage your actors for you, and make everything work together. Potentially more expensive than using a casting website, since you're paying someone to do the hard parts, but probably the best in between if you're looking for a good sound and a low cost. To be completely honest, all of these online casting groups basically pull from the same talent pool, so picking one is just a matter of negotiating cost and figuring out which director you like the most.

Here are the ones I know of as of this current date:

IUCasting - My casting group. I'm a jerk and I put this at the top of the list. >___> I do live direction with all the actors, and I think it sounds pretty good. Clients seem to agree, but you can check out our work and decide for yourself.
Works cast.

Voiceyuu - A nice group that does a lot to promote and encourage their voice actors, including interviews, contests, and other things.
Works cast.

Asynja Casting - Currently handling a few visual novels that I know of. They're very relaxed about cost, especially if you plan to release your game for free.

Azurous Studios - An asset production group that includes voice acting among other services they provide.

Shining Star Casting - A new group comprised mainly of online voice actors who have been doing this for a while.

[Obscura]

@ Crystal - It's gonna be a while if I ever decide to implement voice acting. But she seems really terrific every time we've interacted.

@ Sake-Bento - Thanks so much! These links are really good to have on file!