Story Highlights: - Listen to professional demos to know what’s expected.
- You can listen to other demos online or on CDs.
- Producers usually need one specific style: show a range.
- They also remember quality work: good pacing, tone, emotion.
Know The Market
You should listen to other demos to get a sense of what production houses might be looking for. It prepares you and you begin to learn expert techniques and tones. I have listened to a lot of demos. At one of the production houses I worked at, we had a stack of cassette tapes that we used as voices for projects. I would listen to those, and felt privileged to be able to listen to all these different voice-over demos, from men and women. We would receive tapes and CDs from many talent agents. This is another good thing about agencies: they’ll put together a CD or a website that has all of their talent on it. Instead of sending only one demo, they send all of the voices they represent. You can get really great exposure with this type of material. Listening to voice-over demos is extremely helpful. You can hear many online. Individual voice-over artists all have demo reels on their websites. I think that it is absolutely crucial. I usually listen for a variety because I want to know that the person has a range, that they can control their inflection, that they’re not too singsongy, etc.
Give Producers What They Want
Just remember, when listening to a script, a producer will have a range of things in mind. But they’re also usually looking for a very specific style. Most often the work is geared towards one particular production. Sometimes they’ll say they want a soft female voice, or a very conversational male voice, and they’re going to review a bunch of demo reels until they find that one exact voice, which might end up being one of the many voices you’ve practiced. The more styles you have, the better your chances. In your first three clips, it might not be there, but they find it in your 5th or 6th. Then they start to think you can be the voice for them. A producer’s main goal in listening to demos is to find the right voice for whatever particular project they are casting at the moment. However, as they are going through demos, they’re also tossing some aside that they know they will never hire and making a mental note of the good ones that might not work for this project, but deserve consideration. They want to hear variety, clarity, appropriate emotion and pace.
