Cheaper alternatives to Voices.com
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Finding voiceover talents can be hard and get expensive fast. Here are some cheaper alternatives to Voices.com that might be perfect for your projects.
Cheaper alternatives to Voices.com
Voices.com is a website that provides voiceover content by utilizing the talents of professional voice actors. Essentially, this voiceover company, founded by David Ciccarelli, is a voiceover marketplace that allows users to find voiceover talent for video games, animation, podcasts, audiobooks, invoicing, social media projects, and so on. It also goes both ways, allowing clients to find voiceover providers and granting aspiring voice artists opportunities to find voiceover jobs.
And, frankly, it’s all rather professional. In fact, Voices.com is considered the best site for finding voiceover artists. However, these services are pretty expensive and are usually reserved for users who are planning big projects. So, if you’re trying to stay on a budget, you can opt for a less expensive voiceover service, or even a text to speech service, with natural-sounding voices. Let’s explore your options.
The overall cost of using Voices.com and challenges of using voiceover actors
Now, Voices.com can be great when it comes to finding voiceover artists for higher-budget projects, but when it comes to projects with a limited budget, it is rarely the best option. For example, even hiring a voice actor to do a 2-minute script could cost up to $499, while getting an hour of voiceover work can cost $2,499.
The pricing is where many problems arise. After all, the prices are pretty fair, considering real actors are doing the voiceover for you. However, voice acting isn’t the main focus of a project’s budget, so putting aside a few thousand dollars for an hour of voice work might not be an option.
Alternatives to Voices.com that are cheaper
Your budget might be limited, but your options don’t have to be. Ensuring you can still get quality voiceovers for your projects without using Voices.com is essential. Instead, you can check out less expensive voiceover sites or pick a high-quality AI voice generator.
The latter option might seem strange. However, many text to speech services have very natural-sounding voices and might be the perfect pick for a project with budget limitations. Also, a limited budget might not be the only reason to use this type of service. For time-sensitive projects, picking an AI voice generator is a no-brainer. You can get several hours of text in a very short amount of time. An AI voice generator is also a good option if you need full-time voiceover talent but don’t have the finances.
Additionally, you don’t have to go through the taxing process of trying to find a reasonably priced but fitting voice actor. Instead, you can pick from an array of different natural-sounding AI voices. AI-generated voices are also constantly improving thanks to e-learning, so it’s a win-win situation either way. Plus, some TTS services allow you to have a free account and offer occasional discounts. So, without further ado, let’s go over some Voices.com alternatives and hopefully aid you in choosing the best alternative for your project.
Speechify
Speechify is probably the best text to speech service currently available. It has many language options and various voices. The most important thing to note is that it has natural-sounding voices almost indistinguishable from actual human voices. It’s also easy to use, and there’s a great tutorial on the Speechify website if you need a quick run-down on how the program works.
Essentially, Speechify can turn your room into a voice-acting home studio, allowing you to work from home and have a more flexible schedule. It also liberates you from making casting calls or pondering which voice actor to choose for the gig. Most importantly, as we’ve already mentioned, it’s much less expensive than voiceover services that host professional voice actors.
Fiverr
Fiverr, on its own, isn’t a voiceover talent website or a TTS service. It provides services from all different types of freelancers. However, one of the most popular professional services it provides is voiceovers. On Fiverr, you can find plenty of freelance voice actors who are both versatile and professional and usually will work for prices much lower than those associated with Voices.com.
Mellostudio
Mellostudio is a recording studio that exclusively deals with sound and voiceovers. They also have a shop. Regarding their voiceover options, they have many different choices you can choose from, including a vast array of male and female voices, as well as children and teenager options too. Their services are also much more affordable than the ones offered by Voices.com.
Voicebunny.com
Voicebunny.com is a crowdsourcing site with many voiceover hires that can provide voiceover services. Voicebunny.com does have mixed reviews, but their services are affordable, and they’ve also invested a lot in their voice talent quality in the past year. The whole sign-up process is also straightforward.
Voice123.com
Voice123 is another notable voiceover marketplace. In fact, it’s the first of its kind. It has a vast selection of different professionals whose voiceover work you can browse and review before making your hiring decision. It also allows new voice actors to join every day.
Upwork
Similar to Fiverr, Upwork is also an online work marketplace, complete with various freelancers, from IT and development to design and architecture and much more. You can also find freelance voice actors there as well by simply using the search engine.
Play.ht
Play.ht is another TTS engine with AI-generated voices. It’s good for many things, such as audio articles, text to speech API, and voice generation that you can use for voiceover purposes.
How to choose the best AI voiceover generator for your specific needs
So, if you’ve decided to opt for an AI voice generator, here are a few tips you can use as a guide when trying to choose the best voice generator. First, you’ll need to compare the voice quality between different AI voice generators, as well as the language availability. For example, Speechify has more than a dozen languages and more than 130 different voices.
You’ll also want to look for quantity and quality since you probably don’t want to have limited choices. Additionally, you need to consider functionality, so you need to choose which voice generator is the easiest for you to use.
That might not seem that important, but if you’re using it for longer scripts, you’d want something simple and straight to the point.
Lastly, you’ll need to consider the price. You don’t want a voice generator with a price that’s too high. Also, you don’t want to save some cash if it means that the quality will be lacking. So, focus on something with a good price-to-quality ratio.
Try a free trial of Speechify to get the most natural-sounding voices for your next voiceover project.
FAQ
Do I have to pay to use voices.com?
You don’t have to pay to listen to the already existing voiceover demo reels. However, voiceover services require payment.
How can I use voices for free?
You can’t really use Voices.com for free. However, an AI voice generator such as Speechify is a way to get voiceovers for a minimal price.
How do I start a voiceover business?
Well, to start up a voiceover business, there are many different steps you need to take. First, you’ll need to compile a list of potential clients and research the companies and agencies they use. Then you can put some work into researching contacts and mutual connections. Next, you can try and get the contacts of people willing to buy voiceovers and connect with them socially. Finally, if everything goes well, you can make some connections and guaranteed startups for your new business.
Cliff Weitzman
Cliff Weitzman is a dyslexia advocate and the CEO and founder of Speechify, the #1 text-to-speech app in the world, totaling over 100,000 5-star reviews and ranking first place in the App Store for the News & Magazines category. In 2017, Weitzman was named to the Forbes 30 under 30 list for his work making the internet more accessible to people with learning disabilities. Cliff Weitzman has been featured in EdSurge, Inc., PC Mag, Entrepreneur, Mashable, among other leading outlets.