VO-BB - 20 YEARS OLD!

[Tom Test]

I've been in the biz for 20 yrs, a full-time talent since 1996. I actually had a nice sideline producing VO demos myself in the mid to late-90s. So since 2000, I have been self-producing my own VO demos.

I finally realized that this is not the best way for me to get a great demo. I just can't be objective about myself, and frankly since I stopped producing demos in 2000 (after getting married and not wanting to work nights and weekends w students anymore), my "game" isn't as good.

So I finally broke down and hired someone else I totally respect to produce my new Commercial VO demo: Ray Fister of 5th Floor Recording in Milwaukee. Yeah, I live in Chicago and have worked with the top-flight engineers here, but I wanted a demo focused on the non-union market rather than the union, and I decided to pick Ray.

Here is the link to the first draft of my new demo.

I'd love to get some feedback on it. I know there is no such thing as a perfect demo, and there is no perfect strategy in creating one. To help you out, here is the lineup:

1 AG Edwards
2 Koehler
3 Harley
4 “Enough to worry about”
5 M & I Bank
6 Artifex
7 AeroMexico
8 “Great cause” – whimsical
9 Time Warner Business Class
10 “Not a strong swimmer” character
11 Duke Nukem
12 Heartland of America
13 Boston Market
14 Zamboni

Thanks very much for your time and opinions!
(EDIT: please don't look at the comments below until AFTER you have formed your own opinions! Thanks!!)
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Best regards,
Tom Test
"The Voice You Trust"
www.tomtest.com

[Bruce]

Tom, you're clearly a very fine voiceoverist. My only comment is almost all of the clips are too short in my opinion...little chance to show the arc of an idea on those that are worth doing that way. I'd go with 7 to 9 selections and not 14. You have some similarity in styles between some cuts, so in theory it should be "easy" to remove some and lengthen others. (yeah, like which children's photos do you leave out of the album?)

B
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VO-BB Member #31 Enlisted June, 2005

I'm not a Zoo, but over the years I've played one on radio/TV. .

[asnively]

You're awesome. I agree with Bruce--6-9 clips. 7-9 (10 max) seconds is, in my opinion, a nice target length per clip in a commercial demo.

You are clearly awesome, though!
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[Tom Test]

Thanks, Bruce and Amy!

There are different schools of thought about # and length of spots. No one strategy is gospel, IMHO. The strategy of my producer is to keep things moving along at a brisk pace, throw the listener a curve every so often, and perhaps they will actually listen to the entire demo rather than just the first 12 seconds.

As a listener, I agree with you two - but I realize that I am an interested observer, and I have to keep that fact well in mind. I'm not making my demo to please myself, I am making it to be the most effective it can be to promote myself to people who are part of the casting decision.

One part of my producer's overall strategy that I do have some differences with is that I would have narrowed my range. I would have focused on 3 or 4 types of reads I actually get cast for consistently and have 2-3 examples of each. Being typecast can be a wonderful thing for someone's career! A demo that is all over the place can confuse the listener. It might be best to be one of the first talent thought of for 1 or 2 types of reads, whereas a demo that shows versatility might result in not being thought of first for anything. "Jack of all trades, master of none."

But hey, I've been at this for a long time. This producer, who I trust very much and is a great director by the way, has taken me vocally to places I had forgotten I could go. He's opened me up quite a bit (guess this old dog is learning a few new tricks!). At this point, I'm inclined to trust his overall strategy for my demo. I expect that I might change to order a bit, *maybe* cut one clip and substitute another (we have plenty of material to work with).

Let me ask you - did the 2nd clip put you off at all?
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Best regards,
Tom Test
"The Voice You Trust"
www.tomtest.com

[asnively]

No, it didn't put me off, but the flush sfx struck me as being unnecessary.

Tom, I think you're an amazing talent. I just found the demo so hard to listen to. The clips are too short. I tried twice and only got about halfway each time. It's just feels frustrating, like I don't have enough time to wrap my brain around one thing before the next thing happens. I don't like this edit at all.
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[Philip Banks]

Most demos and the clips thereon tend to prompt the reaction "Glad that's over". In the case of the demo above it's too much of not enough. Fewer clips in total but each of longer duration.

Make a movie.

Establishing shot
Opening scene
Relationships
Conflict
Comedy
Resolution
Zebras*


*I lied about the Zebras.

[Scott Pollak]

LOVE your voice. What a great sound.

And yes, I'm in agreement with all the comments above mine. Typically a :60 demo should have around 5-6 samples. I'd keep and expand on:

AG Edwards
Kohler (but yeah, lose the flush)
"Enough to worry about"
Artifex
Great Cause
Heartland of America

These, I feel, are your strongest bits; your 'signature sound'.

The others are good, but could go on another demo such as 'upbeat' or 'character voices'.

You're quite good, and a force to be reckoned with. Now, listen to the good - and non-biased - advice you're getting here. I don't look forward to having to compete against you!
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Scott R. Pollak
Clients include Pandora, NPR Atlanta, Wells Fargo, Cisco, Humana, Publix, UPS, AT&T, HP, Xerox and more.

www.voicebyscott.com

[Mark Weitzman]

I agree with the idea of fewer clips, a little longer of each. And a shorter demo overall. Also, many of the clips sound so similar. As an insider, I love all of the clips. But that's not the way the decision-makers listen. You know – the first 7-seconds and that's it.

[Oddio]

Hi Tom,
I couldn't resist jumping in with my two cents. I liked the cleverness of how the spots seemed to "answer" each other as if you were switching the channels of a TV and the words formed a sentence.
But I agree with the others...some of the clips move by so fast it's like getting a taste of something really good and then having the spoon pulled from your mouth. (Plus, we never got to hear the Zebra spot...)
Scott Pollak nailed your signature sound spots...AG, Enough to Worry About, Artifex, etc. You ARE good dang it.
The spots that contrast nicely with your "sig sound" and show a different range are the Koheler, Harley, Aero Mexico, Time Warner.
I don't mind the characters because I love em, but if you had to move them to another reel I'd choose (I can't read my handwritten note...the fifth one down, the 10th one and Zamboni)
The ONLY one that kind of stuck out like a sore thumb was Duke Nukem. But maybe if there was more to listen to...
Can't wait to hear the revised sample! Great voice, great job.
Thanks for inviting us to listen!
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Scott Burns
scott@bookscottburns.com
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[Mike Sommer]

Cramming ten pounds of mud in a five pound bag with funny little interplay edits is gimmicky. When i hear demos like this I question what it is they are trying to cover up, like someone who applies far too much cologne or perfume. You don't need to do this, you have a great sound and you seem to be a capable and confident talent.

All you need to do is demonstrate that you're a professional, reliable and trusted actor.

I don't understand your comment "I wanted a demo focused on the non-union market rather than the union" Wouldn't a finely crafted, well produced demo serve both? It seems to me any talent should try to produce the best product possible.
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Acoustics are counter-intuitive. If one thing is certain about acoustics, it is that if anything seems obvious it is probably wrong.

[Tom Test]

I've gotten a lot of opinions that have been quite helpful, and I very much appreciate those who have contributed.

About the issue of very short clips: my understanding is that the people who listen to a ton of demos - the people who can either hire me, or represent me - prefer brevity. Once they "get" what it is I am trying to show I can do, they are ready to move on. I don't need to finish a thought or mention a product. Also, a lot of these folks are of a younger generation than I am (and possibly the folks here too? I don't know), and grew up with the MTV-style frenzy of short attention spans. I have noticed this style on a lot of VO demos in the past decade.

This style does not please *me* as a listener, but that matters a lot less to me than pleasing the folks who are in a position to get me more work. If any of you have spoken with casting directors, producers, copy writers and agents - and they are telling you they want 8-12 second clips, that would truly surprise me. I've gotten feedback from one popular casting director in Chicago, and he made no mention of the short clips. I would like to hear more opinions about this issue from people like my casting director pal.

Here is another version of my demo, this one we're calling the "Edgy" version. (Frankly, I don't think it is very edgy, but I do think it might be a better starting place for my generic Commercial VO demo). There are 4 new clips here, different from the other version. I would make a few clips a bit longer, but I'd still have 11 or 12 clips in :60 Tom Test "Edgy" Demo

Here is the rundown of the clips, with my thoughts on each:

1. AG Edwards – I would either cut “For 118 years” or add the rest of the line, it’s too jarring of an edit as is. Switch places w "Heartland?"
2. Koehler – delete and replace with #10 clip, "Middle"?
3. Kawasaki - NEW
4. 73 Barracuda - NEW
5. Harley – this is a real spot from 2008, which I mention. Is it a problem if this dates my demo?
6. Conferencing – NEW this sounds a bit whiny to me – I will probably delete this and put a yet-to-be -recorded dialog here, or find a more cynical take
7. Artifex
8. Great Escape
9. AeroMexico – a bit too close to the similar Great Escape, need more distance between them; they both are fast-paced, so one should go up earlier to vary the pacing of the overall demo
10. Middle - NEW I really like this – I’m thinking of moving it to #2 to switch with Koheler
11. Heartland – I might like this better as an opener than AG Edwards
12. Great Cause – I really like this too, but it is very similar to “Middle” and “Koehler.” I’d like to keep 2 of these 3 on this demo.
13. Time Warner
14. Zamboni
_________________
Best regards,
Tom Test
"The Voice You Trust"
www.tomtest.com

[Mark Weitzman]

I'm having trouble discerning the different clients. I can't figure out all the sponsors, so here's how I refer to them:

1. AG Edwards - longer
2. Koehler – ok as-is
3. Kawasaki -delete (I don't think this is "you")
4. 73 Barracuda - delete
5. Harley – longer
6. Conferencing – delete
7. Artifex – delete
8. Great Escape - is this Summer Sale? If so, delete.
9. AeroMexico – (Again, I don't think this is "you")
10. Not sure which one this is
11. Heartland – longer
12. Great Cause – Not sure which one this is.
13. Time Warner - longer or delete
14. Zamboni - longer or delete

I still believe it's the first few seconds that people base their decision on.

[Don G.]

Tom,

I listened to the first demo (haven't had a chance to hear the "edgy" one yet), but I wanted to add to some previous comments.

I don't have an agent, so can't speak from the perspective of one. However, most (if not all) the folks on here have been in a position to hire other talent at one point or another. My first reaction to the demo was similar to others here in that there were too many, too short cuts. There's a fine line between "moving it along" and giving me audio whiplash. I'm of the camp who prefers something like 8-10 cuts of :06-:08 each...or more importantly, whatever it takes to show your best stuff. To my ears, :03 cuts are more annoying than helpful. When I was casting, and had a stack of demos to go through, I was almost looking for reasons to eliminate, as much as reasons to keep. You don't want o be in the camp of the former.

But that's just one guy's opinion. If your agent's getting you work, better to please him/her.

[Philip Banks]

Most people who are casting genuinely do the "Loser Sweep" first and they do it quickly. I'm certain that the first role of any demo is to survive.

Some directors, coaches, VOs and producers are making money talking complete nonsense about the science of THE demo, THE read, THE approach. One only has to stick to the basics and apply a bit of common sense in order to produce a demo that will get you work assuming you're any good.

[asnively]

Tom--

When snippets are too short, people tend to worry that the demo is hiding something. I don't know who your producer is, but he's doing you no favors at all. 6, 6.5, or 7 seconds is good, going on 8 if you need to find a good place to snip.

Voicebank.net offers a demo review service for $25, if you want an unbiased casting perspective. I'm sure you'll get the same advice you've already gotten here, though.

1. AG Edwards: longer, but there's a tapping in the background music that sounds like undesirable audio clicks to me. I'd change the bed or move it further back.

2. Koehler: The flush is amateurish.

3. Kawasaki: Forced

4. 73 Barracuda: I loved the first line. Second line, not so much. I'd need to hear more to get off the fence.

5. Harley: This could go longer.

6. Conferencing: Delete. This could've have been a good spot for you, but I thought "whiny" before I read your post!

7. Artifex: You can't delete this one fast enough to suit me.

8. Great Escape: I want a sale announcement on here, but I'd call for a do-over on this one.

9. AeroMexico: "February" and "San Francisco" are pronounced oddly. Other than that, I don't mind this one.

10. Creamy nougat: This should go closer to the top, like maybe #2. Could even work as #1.

11. Heartland: Longer and move up.

12. Great Cause: Longer or cut. Bad transition into Time Warner. The only way this tired gimmick works is if the two spots are so different in delivery that the listener can tell that it really isn't all one sentence while listening casually.

13. Time Warner: Longer. If the rest of the spot is a clean declaration like the start, it might be your opener or #2.

14. Zamboni: A little longer, or this could be the one super short clip on the demo.
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