How to audition for voice acting
By Buford Taylor, who runs Casting Call Club. Updated October 2026.
Most auditions get skipped in the first few seconds. Usually the voice is fine. The file is noisy, late, or ignores what the director asked for. Here's how to audition for voice acting roles so yours gets a full listen, with numbers from Casting Call Club.
Audition early
Directors often start listening the day a role goes up, and many cast from the first good batch. On Casting Call Club over the past year:
| When the voice audition came in | Got cast |
|---|---|
| Within a day of the role going up | About 8.7% |
| Day 2 or 3 | About 6.7% |
| Day 4 to 7 | About 5.3% |
| Later than that | About 4% |
An audition on day one is more than twice as likely to be cast as one sent after the first week.
Read the whole casting call first
- Character description. Check the age, personality, accent and energy. If it says "gruff old pirate", don't send your best anime teen.
- Reference. Fan dubs and parodies usually link the original scene. Watch it.
- Instructions. Do they want one file or one per line? Should you slate your name? Follow them exactly. It sounds small and it's the easiest way to stand out.
Record it clean
- Find a quiet room and get close to the mic, about a hand's width away. A closet full of clothes is a fine booth. More in the best microphones for voice acting.
- No music, reverb or effects. Directors add those. They want your voice dry.
- Trim the dead air at the start and end, and keep the volume normal, not whisper-quiet or clipping.
Make the performance count
- Lead with your best take. If you send two reads of a line, put the strongest first.
- Make a choice. A specific, committed read beats a careful, neutral one every time.
- Don't overdo the range. Two contrasting takes can help. Six is a lot of listening.
- Mind the length if it's a dub. Your line has to fit the mouth movements on screen.
Then let it go
Most roles don't cast anyone you'll ever hear about, and plenty of projects stall. That's normal. The people who get cast are mostly the ones who keep sending good auditions: on the site, people who sent 20 or more voice auditions in a year were cast at least once about 72% of the time. There's more on that in how to become a voice actor.
Ready? Here are open voice acting roles, newest deadlines included.