Audio post house Sound Lounge, New York, has diversified with the launch of Sound Lounge Casting, a Web-based service that enables agency producers from anywhere in the country to cast voice talent for TV or radio spots without having to leave their offices.
Via their desktop computers, producers can work directly with leading casting directors and review audition tapes submitted by the top voice actors in New York and Los Angeles. Once casting is complete, producers have the option of having their voiceover project produced remotely by the Sound Lounge recording studio.
While the service potentially streamlines the casting process for agencies in all markets, it can be particularly advantageous for those ad shops outside the New York and Los Angeles areas that typically lack access to those talent pools due to time, budget and geographic restrictions.
Heading Sound Lounge Casting are creative director Tony Mennuto and veteran casting director and former ICM agent Erik Sanchez. “Sound Lounge Casting places everything you need to cast and record voice talent literally at your fingertips,” related Mennuto, whose experience includes a dozen years as an agency creative, as well as comedy writing stints for HBO, ABC and NBC.
Agencies subscribing to the service are provided with a secure and private Web site to serve as their “virtual casting room.” There they can log projects, post scripts and casting specifications, monitor the progress of those jobs and have direct access to play-on-demand audition tapes from hundreds of professional actors.
Sound Lounge casting directors are available to assist with casting choices. The studio can also produce audition tapes with selected talent using the agency’s script. An agency producer can review the recorded auditions at his or her convenience and at the click of a mouse create a discreet casting site that includes selected casting choices in order of the producer’s choosing. The producer can then share access to the casting site with colleagues and clients. Commentary can also be added.
Once a voice is selected, Sound Lounge can book the talent and set up the recording session. It also provides assistance in negotiating celebrity voice talent. Sessions can be listened to in real time through direct ISDN connection to a local studio or phone patch. Additionally, subscribers are able to store a full history of their auditions online. Voices involved in previous casting sessions are available for review instantaneously. Sanchez contended that his firm’s service “represents a new model for voice casting.”
