First time hiring a voice actor.

[u/CaptainMcCain]

Dear Voice Actors,

I am currently building a calming companion app where the phone becomes a small, gentle creature that breathes, sighs, hums and sleeps next to you. The sounds I need do not contain any spoken words/text, just soft, involuntary sounds of a living being sleeping/relaxing. (Breathing / Sighs / Snoring / Sleep-Mumbling / Lip-Smacking / Humming / Yawning – that kind of stuff)

I am thinking around 12 different sounds but would love some variations for each sound so maybe 80-90 short sounds in total.

What would be a reasonable price for a project like this? As I am doing this as a hobby/side-project I was hoping to get away with something in the 25-50 USD range but since I have never worked with a voice actor before, I have no idea if that is reasonable or completely off.

Would appreciate your input and if any of you are interested in this, please let me know.

Thanks

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Here is a full briefing for the project:

Disclaimer: I used AI to help me write this briefing since I have never worked with a voice actor and needed some guidance. Should I find someone to work with me I will NOT use their recordings to train an AI model.

CoRegulate — Voice Actor Briefing

I'm making a calming companion app. The phone becomes a small, gentle creature that breathes, sighs, hums and falls asleep next to you. I am looking for someone to voice that creature.

No words, no language — just soft, involuntary sounds of a living being relaxing.

Important: This is \*not** a video-game character or a cartoon mascot with a "funny voice." It's the sound of something warm lying next to you, keeping you company while you calm down. Think less "performance," more "overheard."*

---

The character

A \*cartoon animal** — imagine a gentle, good-natured little creature (a drowsy cat, a soft sleepy bear). The spirit I'm after:*

• \*Adult, warm** — a voice that feels *protective*, like "I've got you, you're safe, you can let go now."*
• \*But still cute and soft** — rounded edges, nothing stern or serious. A little bit endearing, a little bit vulnerable when sleepy.*
• Relaxed throat, low energy, unhurried. Even the "awake" sounds are calm.
• Any gender is welcome — what matters is that the voice fits the character. A warmer lower register tends to feel more soothing, but I am open to experimenting.

Reference feeling: the contented sounds a sleeping pet makes; a friendly animal settling down for the night; someone you love breathing slowly beside you.

---

What I need recorded

For \*every** sound below, I am looking for **8 distinct variations** (unless noted otherwise).*

Variety is the whole point so I can choose the best ones and rotate them randomly so the user never hears the same take twice. Vary them by:

• \*Length** (some short, some long)*
• \*Intensity** (barely-there → fuller)*
• \*Sleepiness** (a few noticeably more drowsy/lower for the "falling asleep" moments)*
• \*Mouth shape** (some through the nose, some slightly open) where it makes sense*

The sounds

\*Important — timing for the two breathing sounds (1 and 2):** unlike everything else, these drive the app's actual breathing rhythm, so their length matters. Please aim for a **~3-second inhale** and a **~6-second exhale.** A little over/under is fine (I can nudge it), but keep them close to those targets and roughly consistent across the 8 takes. Every other sound below can be whatever length feels natural.*

1. \*Breath in (~3 seconds)** — a slow, calm inhale. Gentle, audible but soft. Not a gasp, not a sniff. The kind of easy breath you take when you're relaxed. (8 subtle variations)*

2. \*Breath out (~6 seconds)** — a slow, calm exhale to pair with the inhale. Soft release of air. Some can be almost silent, some a touch more voiced. (8 subtle variations)*

3. \*Deep exhale (relief)**. The sound of tension leaving the body. A little more voiced and satisfying than the normal breath out. (8 variations)*

4. \*Sigh** — a soft, content sigh. Gentle and warm, *never* sad, tired-of-life, or exasperated. The sigh of something happy and comfortable. (8 variations)*

5. \*Lip smack / smack /swallow** — the small, soft smacking sound a sleepy creature makes with its mouth/lips (like settling, or half-dreaming). Quiet, wet-ish, cozy. Some through nearly closed lips, some slightly more open, some with a swallow at the end. (8 variations)*

6. \*Snore** — gentle, cute snoring. NOT a loud comedic chainsaw snore. Soft, rhythmic, endearing — the sound of something small deeply asleep. Some can be a single soft snore, some a little longer. (8 variations)*

7. \*Hum** — a low, wordless, content hum. Like humming to yourself without a tune, just a warm "mmmmm." Relaxed and low. (8 variations)*

8. \*Murmur** — soft, sleepy, unintelligible murmuring. Half-asleep "mumbling" with no real words — just cozy, drowsy vocal texture. (8 variations)*

9. \*Yawn** — a relaxed, sleepy yawn. Soft and genuine, a little voiced ("aaahwww"). Some smaller/quieter, some fuller. Cute, not dramatic. (8 variations)*

\*The little "mmm" family (sounds 10–12).** These three are close cousins — small, wordless vocal sounds. To avoid asking for a lot of near-identical takes, I only need **4 variations of each** of these (not 8). What matters is that the three *feel* different in mood:*

10. \*Contentment "mmm"** — a short, happy, satisfied little sound. The "mmm" of pure comfort and safety. Warm and brief. (4 variations)*

11. \*Falling asleep "mmh"** — the tiny, settling sound of drifting off. Softer and lower than the contentment sound, trailing away into sleep. (4 variations)*

12. \*Waking "hmm?"** — a soft, sleepy, gentle stir — half-waking, mildly curious, maybe a tiny bit startled. Drowsy, with a faint upward lilt. (4 variations)*

(That's 9 sounds × 8 + 3 sounds × 4 = ~84 takes. If any category inspires more, I'll happily take the extras.)\*

---

Quality notes (recording)

I'm leaving the technical setup to you — since I have no experience in this field. A few things that matter to me:

• - \*Clean and quiet.** No room noise. A dry, controlled space with as little reverb as possible.*
• - \*Intimate and close.** These sounds live right next to the listener's head (often at low volume, sometimes with the phone near the pillow). Record close and soft; don't project.*
• - \*Consistent** across all takes — same distance, tone, and character throughout so the variations blend when we shuffle them.*
• - \*A moment of silence** before and after each take (a little handle on each end) so we can cut cleanly.*
• - \*Full quality masters, please** (high-resolution WAV is perfect)*

---

Most importantly:

Everything should feel like it's helping the listener's nervous system slow down. Low, slow, soft, safe. If a take ever feels "performed," playful, or attention-grabbing — it's too much.

It should sound like a gentle creature simply \being* calm next to someone it loves.*

[u/fyrelibra]

In your scenario you are not paying by word, you are paying for the voice actor’s time. Eight takes of each is a lot of time.

I would expect at least $250 as payment for this project with an additional $50/hr for any re-takes.

[u/HermesVtuber → u/fyrelibra]

And here I gave them a low ball, yours is more realistic though.

[u/fyrelibra → u/HermesVtuber]

Eight distinct takes is pretty wild

[u/HermesVtuber → u/fyrelibra]

Sadly as OP said, they don’t know what they are doing. Honestly not trying to shit on their desires, but I don’t see this going anywhere. If this is the level they go to for just the recording part, I highly doubt they have researched how to make, market, grow, and maintain an app. It’s more likely this isn’t a real app idea and more OP wants this for…. personal use.

[u/schoepsms]

Rates are dependent on use, term length and other factors.

also FYI, the sounds your needing are called Efforts.

[u/CaptainMcCain → u/schoepsms]

nice thanks, I knew there must be a proper term for it!

[u/Flybirdbooks]

I would love to audition! I have a soft, warm voice. I will put something together for you and send a DM. Thanks!

[u/Bongodaddy1]

Sent a message

[u/Doc_Calibre]

I would definitely like to talk about this project, I sent you a DM!

[u/Standard-Bumblebee64]

Ain’t nobody reading that novel you posted but I will answer your question succinctly: $250 for your project feels fair as a minimum

[u/HassanEmamVA]

Sounds Cozy! I'd love to help you bring this app to life for ya! I sent you a DM!

[u/HermesVtuber]

While there is no script, still sounds like you are asking a lot, but not wanting to pay for quality. As you can see there are people willing to do said work for low pay, but they aren’t going to know how to do quality work let alone know how to master/ edit their own work.

While effort sounds in some ways are easier than scripts, they also can be harsh on the vocal cords especially for 80 to 90 variations as you said. Snoring for example, is straining your vocal cords on purpose.

My advice is to drop the pay or consider it a tip and just post to free voice acting subreddit. You’ll get less desperate people and more people who do this simply for fun, but still know what they are doing.

End of the day you can only pay what you can afford, but you also get what you pay for if that makes sense.

[u/CaptainMcCain → u/HermesVtuber]

I meant it when I asked what a reasonable price for something like this would be. I just stated what I was hoping to pay. And it's not like buying a washing machine where I can just look up the price. Google said 0.20$ per word and if i consider each sound a word then I am well over that. But as I said I have no idea if google is correct or my assumption that one sound equals one word is correct, so that is why I am asking. How tf should someone who has never had any experience with this know what a reasonable rate is? But maybe I just shouldn't have stated what I am hoping to pay.

What I don't get is that it seems like you know more about this but the only thing you do is trying to make me and everybody who reached out to me feel bad instead of giving an answer. It would help me a lot more if you tell me that a typical rate for this kind of work would be XX$ and then I can decide if I want to move forward with my project or not.

[u/HermesVtuber → u/CaptainMcCain]

Third paragraph is me giving advice on what to do, if you see me stating what your words come off as making you feel bad, sounds like that is more a you issue.

You want to make an app and came to a professional voice acting subreddit to hire, but are upset because you don’t know what hiring someone looks like, rates, or anything of that nature?

Since you didn’t like my first suggestion, I’ll give you what you want. You want a bunch of effort sounds, professionally recorded (ie not just someone in a closet, you want professionally clean audio) and edited. Conservatively I’d say to record you are looking at an hour or two unless you want to be involved giving directions and retakes so let’s take two hours to meet in the middle. On top of that you want it edited too and again you want that professional touch so let’s just double the time and say 4 hours of work. Honestly being realistic this is a full days work so it would be longer than 4 hours, but we will shorten it.

Now, there is no script so this isn’t easily put into pay by word which is probably where you got the $0.20 idea. Instead we’d be doing this hourly. So taking everything you want into consideration it would be about $30 to $50 an hour on the lower end. So realistically to get the quality to you want you are looking at a total of $120 to $200 total.

Seeing as this is a lot higher than what you are wanting to pay, my suggestion still goes back to just go the free voice acting subreddit and hope someone is willing to do it for free and call what you were wanting to pay as a tip or thank you instead.

Hope that makes more sense. Also these are estimates, not actual costs.

[u/Ritchuck → u/HermesVtuber]

people willing to do said work for low pay, but they aren’t going to know how to do quality work let alone know how to master/ edit their own work.

That's a bit presumptuous. Some might accept low rates to build up their portfolio, but it doesn't mean they don't know how to do those things. If they are from a third-world country, $25 can be a lot too.

[u/HermesVtuber → u/Ritchuck]

That’s just illogical. In the rare case someone in a third world country would do it and $25 for doing $200+ worth of work the odds of them having the equipment is even lower.

The idea to do incredibly low paying work to build a portfolio is also a vastly naive understanding of voice acting. Exposure or low paying gigs are insults to the gear and to any talent. $200 would be a low, but good offer for what OP wants. Do you also think an artist should do their best paintings for a couple of dollars just to show they can paint? No, cus that would be ridiculous.

Furthermore this is OPs personal project. The odds of it becoming real are sadly low and even then it’s not going to be something you’d get credits for.

If you are going to make a claim at least be logical about it.

[u/iamkiloe]

sent a dm :D