What do YOU look for in a VA when casting?

[R4v3nbr4in]

I'm just curious to know what people look for when they cast VA's for projects.

*Do you try and get someone who sounds like the original voice? Or, do you go for a more original take?

*What's more important? Voice sound, or acting ability?

I would love to hear peoples opinions (:

[kaybee613]

It depends on the type of work. If it's an original project, I look for someone who somewhat matches my vision of the character. If it's a dub over something, I'll go for someone who can put their own spin on it, and still sound a bit like the original (especially if it's something well-known)

[Xephon0930]

For my original project I was working on,people sort of came to me.

[AmyAnn]

Since you seemed to specifically ask about fandubbing going by how your questions were asked, here's my two cents.

There are certain points of a character I like to keep similar. For example, a specific texture or nasal quality in the voice or the vocal pitch itself. You don't want a character who should sound cute sounding like a middle-aged person, it just doesn't fit. I don't look for a complete soundalike, but someone who can pull off these qualities whilst keeping the character personality intact.
Probably one of the best examples to use is Mikuru Asahina from Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. In the original Japanese, her voice is considered "Helium" in my books. If I were to cast a Mikuru, I'd want her to sound cute and childish but not to the point that she sounds like a chipmunk so I would probably go for something just a tad lower. Going into English, those types of voices are just annoying and terrible to do.

How your voice sounds is just as important as your acting ability. Voice wise, you want to be able to make the character sound realistic and perfectly fitting. That's what I love about voice acting, it is alot more of a challenge than stage-acting considering there are no motions that you do, it is all in your voice. Also, if you slip from a character voice but your acting is good...people will still pick up and comment on it. You have to make sure that your voice is stable yet pull off those perfect emotions.

Other things I look for: How well someone follows instructions. If you can't follow simple instructions then how are you to be expected to follow direction?

[finalCrystine]

When I was casting for my fandub I had some people who sounded close to the characters, but they held in with acting, so it didn't get believable. So for me it's acting that's most important and if they sound just a little like the character than that's great, a nice bonus. But not the most important. As long as they can deliver that certain feeling of the character.

[topleka]

Acting is king. Matching a voice type is important, but I don't really think sounding exactly like the character is nearly as important as being able to convincingly play said character. There are a lot of voices in Japanese that don't translate well into English equivalents, anyway. For instance, a lot of pretty boys are voiced by females in Japanese, but giving them a female voice in English usually sounds strange.

[Sarifus]

It seems to me as though this question is broken into slightly different matters; what a fandub is for, and what requirements a person has to fill to play a character.
I think it's useful to always be aware that even if a character has been played before, there are always other ways to play them. Some of which possibly better, others worse. Even a character portrayal that has been incredibly distinctive and memorable - like Vic as Ed, or Crispin as Alucard - there are still new ways to approach those characters from both an acting and vocal standpoint. I find it's very useful to know actors and understand where they come from as a personality, and what sort of angles they're going to work best for. Keeping an open mind and not deifying original performances strikes me as a good idea.
Mimicking an actor, and playing a role in a new personal way are essentially two different activities and skills - one has the intent of matching an existing sound, essentially inflection for inflection. There's no real 'creation', only 're-creation'. I find when I play a character, I make a decision on where I'm going to draw the line between those two aspects; if I like the original actor a lot, I maybe want to play the character purely to get to work on an impression. If I want to play them a new way, I maybe want to emphasise or explore different facets of their personality. I used to be much more into impressions than I am now - they're a useful tool for expanding range but they only go so far in allowing a person to work on their own distinctive approach and create new characters. So in the interests of the actors I work with, I don't require them to do impressions. I prefer to encourage them to find their own sounds that work with the character, because that's information they can use to fuel their own distinctive sound and skills for original characters.

So, to more directly answer the question;
A voice works if it fits the physicality. So sounding different to the original doesn't really matter as long as you fit the design and character I would say. Unless your fandub is made with the intention of exactly replicating the original - though, I would say that only really serves any purpose to the people making it. To an audience perspective, if it's exactly the same as the original dub, nothing new has really been done with the material.

In terms of voice sound or acting ability...well, I think in the majority of cases, acting ability is what creates voice sound. If you're a good actor and know how to use your voice, chances are you can craft it to work with a character. But, get a 50 year old to play a 15 year old and it's not likely to work regardless. If an actor did an amazing acting job, but just sounded completely jarringly wrong for the age or physicality of a character, it wouldn't be a usable performance. So, voice sound will absolutely decide whether a person plays a role or not. But then so does acting ability; if they had the perfect voice but couldn't act, they wouldn't be any more useful. In fact, they'd be less useful. At least with the old guy I know I can cast him to another character. I can't cast someone who can't act, at all.

[Mrwest16]

Can you act and can you act well.

[SakuraAngel1]

Since I am casting for a fandub with original characters, I look for many different things in a VA.

For fandubs, I look for someone who sounds similar to the original dub or at least has the potential to. While I'm scouting, I listen to demo reels and usually if someone says a certain word the way an official VA say it, I go ahead and audition them. 9 out of 10 that I cast, sound very similar to the official VA.

For original characters, I look for a VA that has a lot of potential in acting and believability. I generally close my eyes and imagine the scene that the VA is portraying and I ask myself, "Do I truly believe this?".

Also, I tend go for a VA with a unique voice that is hardly utilized in roles or a VA that sounds "natural" because for some, if the voice isn't naturally suppose to go that high or you're trying too hard, some scouters can actually detect that in a voice and overlook the VA. So, that can also fall under the believability factor.

There are other things that I look for, but those are the basics.

[littletophatgal]

Oh, acting ability is definitely the bigger thing. I'm not much for making fandubs, but even with those, acting is key. I mean, haven't you ever watched an anime and just wanted to turn off the English dub because you hated the acting?