Fan dubbing for beginners
By Buford Taylor, who runs Casting Call Club. Updated October 2026.
Fan dubs are how a lot of voice actors start. Somebody picks a scene from an anime, a cartoon or a game, casts fans to voice it, and posts it for free. They're short, fun, and easier to get cast in than almost anything else. Here's where to find them and how to land the role.
Where to find fan dub casting calls
- Casting Call Club. Fandubs are one of the biggest categories on the site, with around 3,000 fandub projects posted a year. You can see every open one on the fandub auditions page, and audition right there.
- Fandub Discord servers. Many fandub groups cast inside their own servers. They're good once you've found a group you like, but you have to join each one.
- YouTube. Fandub channels sometimes post open calls in videos or community posts. Follow the channels whose dubs you'd want to be in.
- Reddit and X. Voice acting subreddits and the #fandub and #castingcall tags turn up calls now and then, mixed in with everything else.
The upside of one place is that you can audition for five fandubs in an evening instead of hunting for one.
Why fandubs are a good place to start
On Casting Call Club, about 1 in 11 fandub auditions gets cast, the best odds of any of the big project categories. Across the whole site it's about 1 in 20. Fandub directors cast a lot of roles and usually finish quickly, because the animation already exists.
How to get cast
- Watch the original scene. The director wants that character. Match the energy and pacing, then make it yours.
- Mind the timing. Your lines have to fit the mouth movements on screen. If a line is two seconds long in the show, it should be about two seconds in your take.
- Clean audio beats a fancy mic. Record somewhere quiet, with no music and no effects. Directors add those.
- Follow the instructions. If they ask for one file with all lines, send one file. It's the easiest way to stand out, sadly.
- Audition early. Popular fandubs fill up fast, and directors often start listening right away.
The fine print
Fandubs are fan work, so they almost never pay and can't be sold. Do them for the practice, the credits and the fun. Never pay to join one, and be a little careful with dubs of very new shows, which sometimes get taken down.
Once you've got a few fandubs done, try original anime-style projects and indie animation, where the same skills apply.