How many takes should you submit for auditions?

GENERAL rule: Unless multiple takes are explicitly requested, only submit them if you have something significantly different to offer for each.

Many actors assume that more takes means automatically better odds of booking, but that’s not necessarily the case! Chances are, the casting director has hundreds of auditions to listen to. If you submit three takes, you’re asking them to spend triple the amount of time listening to your audition. And if each of those three takes sound virtually identical… well, you’ve just wasted a bit of their time.

Multiple takes can of course be beneficial for auditions—they offer a chance to show versatility and adaptability, and help cover your bases when the specs are vague or you’re not sure what style of reads they’re actually looking for. But if you’re going to voluntarily submit a second take, try to be reasonably confident it’ll be worth the casting director’s time to listen to.

If you’re submitting a second (or third) take, make sure each one is a thoughtfully different approach to the character.

Simply emphasizing a different word or taking a little pause on one line or making the voice pitch a half-step higher isn’t really grounds for a separate take—most directors know these are things that can easily be adjusted by any decent actor if they need it.

A second take doesn’t need to be in a wildly different voice, but it should feel like a distinctly different approach. Perhaps you read through the audition sides and have a couple of different directions you feel like you could take the character, but you’re not sure which one is closest to what they’d be looking for. Or, perhaps the specs indicate they want one thing, but your acting instincts are to do something a bit different. These are good excuses to submit an additional take.

You can still record multiple takes of course, but pick your best version of each.

It’s very common to record a few different takes of each line when doing an audition, then listen back and pick your best option for each to edit down into the final file you submit as your audition. (Be sure to edit smoothly if you’re putting different takes together so it doesn’t sound disjointed!)

If you’re feeling stuck or overwhelmed, try recording three different takes of each audition line, then listening back and picking the best. Your final audition file should ideally consist of your strongest take of each audition line. If something still catches your ear as being off, you can do a couple more takes of that line until you get it right, but try not to overthink—remember that chances are, your 30th take isn’t magically going to be better than your 3rd!

“Better to make a strong choice, even if it’s the wrong choice“

One reason some actors feel compelled to submit multiple takes is because they’re not sure how to interpret a certain audition line. Many audition sides are devoid of context and it may not be clear where you are, who you are talking to, or how you feel about that person. That’s okay—if context isn’t given, make it up yourself! Utilize the 5 Ws and H if you need to. Making a clear choice and sticking to it is more compelling than giving a lukewarm “safe” read or submitting multiple similar takes just to try to cover bases. A good director knows that if an actor is right for the part, all those details can be refined in the booth.

Consider using your “best and only” take to show nuance and variety rather than relying on separate takes to do it.

If an audition consists of five sample lines, try not to read all of those five lines on the same note. Find moments to play with aspects like dynamics, pacing, intensity, and vulnerability while still keeping within the general parameters of the character. Remember that our characters should be approached as three-dimensional (just as human beings are) rather than surface-level tropes. A “quieter version” for instance does not necessitate a whole second take—can you make use of one of the existing lines to showcase the character’s quieter side instead?

If you do decide to submit multiple options, make sure Take 1 is your strongest.

First impressions are important, but the other reality is that casting directors sometimes only listen to the first 5-10 seconds of a file before deciding whether to shortlist the actor or move the audition to the discard pile. In case they don’t bother to listen through to the second take, you want to make sure that the one they DO listen to is your best.

If specific instructions aren’t given for submitting multiple takes, how should they be labeled and formatted?

Some audition instructions will specify that each take be put in a separate file. Labeling instructions are usually provided in this case, but if not, you can simply amend your audition file with the take number at the end—for example, “Batman – John Doe – Take 2.mp3” or “Batman_JohnDoe_ABCAgency_02.mp3.”

If a separate file is not requested, then it’s generally acceptable to keep both takes in the same file per character. Some actors will slate “take 2” before going into their second take, but you can also just take a brief pause if you prefer.

Situations where multiple takes can be beneficial

While “submit only your best take unless asked otherwise” is a good general rule of thumb, situations do arise where sending multiple takes can actually be a smart idea. Here are some examples.

Accents and dialects

For example, let’s say your natural accent is British English. You think the director might want American accents, but they didn’t specify. In this case, it could be appropriate to send a take of each. Or, imagine the character is German and the director thinks they might want an accent, but they’re not sure. In that case you could send one take in a German accent and one take in your natural accent.

Very short scripts

If the audition consists of only a single line, then providing 2-3 variations – even if they aren’t wildly different – can help assure the casting director that you’re able to provide multiple read options if you were to book the job. This is especially common in commercial auditions that may consist of only a short tag line. Many times the breakdown will instruct you to submit a certain number of takes, but if not, it’s generally safe (and a good idea) to submit multiples on these.

You want to go off-script or do something wildly different from the specs, but aren’t sure whether it would be welcomed.

Common wisdom given in voiceover classes is “give one take with what you THINK they want, and one take doing what you actually want to do with it.” Sometimes, clients think they want a certain thing, but change their mind when hearing an audition that ends up better fitting what they have in their head. Sometimes clients aren’t great at describing what they want when writing specs. Or, they don’t know what they actually want until they hear it. If your instinct is telling you to go in a different direction, that can certainly be worth submitting as an additional take.

Another example is improv. Some actors are fantastic at improv and think that punching up a script a bit could help better their chances, but they’re not sure if the producers would be open to it. Ad-libbing a few filler words or nonverbals here and there is common and does not require a separate take, but if you want to significantly deviate from or add to the script provided, then it’s best to provide one take as-written (to show you can still perform effectively without changing up the words) and one take where you play around and do your own thing with it.

The style or genre of the project is unclear.

Particularly for video games, it’s common to get very little information during the auditioning stage. Projects are often codenamed for confidentiality reasons, you won’t receive any character art, and you may have no idea who the developer or publisher is or even the genre of the game! This can be challenging for actors to interpret, as a bright and colorful JRPG-style game is going to have a different overall acting approach than a cinematic horror game.

You can still utilize the various audition lines to show nuances in emotion and energy, but if you’re really feeling at a loss as to how “big” they want the performances to be overall, two takes can be an option: one with bolder character choices, and another that’s more pulled-back and conversational.

Voice matching, localization, or continuing a legacy role

At some point in your career, chances are you’ll get an audition where you are asked to closely match or at least reference an actor who already played the character before you. Sometimes the original actor may be unavailable to continue a role and clients wish to voice match them as seamlessly as possible, while other times the clients may wish to go in a new direction with the character but loosely reference the previous performance. In a case like this, you could try one take where you match the original actor as accurately as you can, but another where you keep the general voice print and “spirit” of the role the same but otherwise make the acting choices more your own. With ongoing voice match jobs, it’s common for the new actor to start out sounding as identical as possible to the previous one, but later being able to evolve the role a bit over time into choices they’d make more naturally.

This can be a factor for work localized from other languages, too. For example, if you’re reading for an anime and you are given a reference video showing the character’s original voice in Japanese, but you think you want to put your own spin on it, you can try one take where you try to closely match the original and another where you make it your own.

As always, if you are submitting multiple takes for this reason, make sure they don’t sound nearly identical!

How many takes should you submit for final work?

For independently recorded jobs, multiple takes are encouraged and expected.

Plenty of jobs require live-directed sessions to ensure the team gets what they’re looking for. But especially in the online/indie space, self-directed jobs can be fairly common too (meaning you record the lines on your own time and then send the files to the team for review.) In the case of a self-directed job, providing multiple takes is ideal as it allows the director options to pick from.

Some jobs will specify how many takes they’d like you to submit, but if not, 2-3 takes per line is the standard. Short nonverbal effort sounds may occasionally require more takes.

In contrast to your auditions which should be sent in “ABC ABC” format, final work should generally be sent as “AA BB CC” – in other words, giving multiple takes of the same line in a row so that the director can choose their preferred one to use for the project.

Benefits of submitting 2-3 takes per line

• Even though it may seem like more work up front, it helps minimize the need for retakes (which would result in more work for you down the line.)
• It allows for multiple interpretations of the line, bettering the odds that at least one of the takes will happen to align with what the director had in mind.
• Having two takes means there is a “safety take” in case one had a noise, slight flub or other technical issue.
• A director may choose to “comp” various takes together if they like the first half from one take and the second half from another take, for instance.
• Your second take is often slightly more informed/polished than your first (the A take can often be more of a “practice run”, while the B take becomes a little more dialed in.)

The variations do not need to be wildly different

In contrast to an audition where a separate take should truly be a different take on the character, once you’ve booked a job, you’ve already established the voice print and the place where that character “lives”. Your 2-3 takes can simply be a slightly different inflection or emphasis on the line…but you can also play with pacing, volume, intensity, breaths/nonverbals, etc. In some cases there’s only one real way a line can be interpreted, and that’s okay—it can still help just to have a safety take.

Keep in mind there is still a limit!

Most directors do not have the time or patience to sit through six, seven or eight takes of each line, even for a finished job. Three is plenty—they can always ask for retakes at that point if they need them.

Always include at least one take “as-written”.

Perhaps the line feels awkwardly written and you want to alter a couple things to make it more conversational, or you want to improvise slightly, or make a grammar correction. That’s fine, but it’s smart to always include an “as written” take (using the exact words on the script) in case the client isn’t open to any changes. The exception for this is if the client explicitly invites you to change up anything that doesn’t feel natural.

Tips for producers

Especially if you’re new to holding voiceover auditions, it can be easy to go overboard with requesting too much from your potential cast members. Even on professional industry-level projects, actors have shared horror stories about animation auditions that required an 8-page script reading with multiple takes, or video game auditions that required 50 projected battle callouts. Remember that while auditions are an essential part of the job for voice actors, it’s still unpaid labor…and your project isn’t the only one they’re reading for that week or even that day. We have plenty of articles on general producer etiquette, but this section in particular will go into how to manage expectations regarding multiple takes.

Try not to require multiple takes for an audition unless there is a solid reason to do so.

If it’s a very short script, you think you might want an accent but aren’t sure, or the actor needs to be able to portray the character at multiple different ages? Sure, ask for that second take! But if you have no real reason other than you think you want to hear “variety”, stop and think about whether a second take is truly a necessity. For example, what if an actor is already able to show a variety of emotions and layers to the character in their first take alone?

Battle efforts are a notable exception—it is very common for games that will require a lot of battle efforts to ask for variations in an audition, as this will be a skill required of the actors who book. For example, you may ask the actors to provide 3 variations of attacking, 3 variations of taking damage, etc. Do try to limit the number of takes required for vocally stressful cues such as death screams.

Remember that the more takes people submit, the more time it will take you to review everything.

Let’s say 100 actors audition for your project and each audition averages one minute long, but you ask for two takes, bringing the average audition time to two minutes each. You’ve suddenly doubled your work time by over an hour!

If you require multiple takes, do you plan to actually sit through and listen to those multiple takes? It’s common knowledge that decision-makers often listen to only the first 10-20 seconds of an audition before deciding whether to shortlist or toss. Actors generally don’t mind doing a couple takes of a short script, but if your audition script is already quite lengthy and you’re still requesting multiple reads, it can be frustrating to actors knowing those 3-4 reads almost certainly won’t even get listened to.

If you do decide you require multiple takes, consider giving specific direction for each.

This is occasionally seen in commercial and narration auditions and it’s a fantastic way to make multiple takes be effective and meaningful rather than forcing an actor to do another take on vague specs “just because”.

Here is an example of beneficial direction for a commercial or narration audition script that requires multiple takes:

Take 1: Fun, bright, energetic. Enthusiastic without being over-the-top.
Take 2: Warm, thoughtful, inviting.
Take 3: Chill, conversational, talking to a friend in a casual setting about the latest news.

When you take the guesswork out of the multiple takes, it provides a clear roadmap for actors on what you might actually be looking for.

If you expect to be receiving submissions from a lot of newer actors, consider setting a limit on takes.

When actors have been in the game for a while, it’ll be rare for them to submit more than two or perhaps three takes for an audition. But for beginners especially in the online and hobby space, it can be easy for them to go overboard. Consider how many takes you’d realistically be willing to listen to from a single actor and set that as your limit.

If you’re open to multiple takes but don’t necessarily want everyone to send them unless they have a reason to, consider an instruction such as the following: “Please submit your best take for each character you are reading for. You are welcome to optionally submit a second take if you have something different to offer, but please limit to no more than two.”

Remember that you can always request a callback.

Some casting directors require multiple takes right off the bat because they want to know the actor can do something different if they need to. But remember that the callback process exists for a reason! If you like what an actor did in their audition but want them to take it in a slightly different direction, you can always ask for a re-read.

The ideal situation: Be open to multiple takes, but make it optional.

Allowing actors to submit a second take can be beneficial, particularly if the actor has another idea they’d like to try. But ideally, multiple takes shouldn’t be mandated unless there’s a logical reason for it. If you do require multiple takes, consider including notes on how you’d prefer the actors differentiate these takes.