VO-BB - 20 YEARS OLD!

[Ghosthendrikson]

Good Evening everyone!

Quick words about me: I'm in Radio, have been for about a year. Started doing some production work for our advertising clients. I received some positive feedback on a couple of commercials, and decided I should expand my horizons and see what the possibilities (and my capabilities) are.

The link here is to the first demo Reel I have ever tried to produce, I followed the adage of " :60 or DIE!" and tried to include pieces that not only sounded decent (to me) but also gave at least some indication of my range. Which at this point being such a Green Horn I'm not sure if I even have much of a range.

I would be ecstatic to hear any thoughts or feedback any of the members of this fine community might have.

Of course I am fishing for a few of the obvious ones.

Do I even have a chance?
What can I improve, my voice, my production, etc. ?
Where should I go from here?
Practice makes perfect?


Thanks so much everyone for your time. I look forward to chatting with all of you in the future.

[Yonie]

Mandatory disclaimer, in case you're a crazy person: This is my personal opinion, coloured by spending endless hours listening and scrutinizing stuff. In a non-tone

Immediate first reaction: You've edited the speech so tightly, it's as if you're playing music with a new time signature for every measure, i.e. there's no natural rhythm to some of the spots. There's some announcery stuff going on in many of them, and the EQ/compression makes them sound fairly similar, with a distinct radio processing sound.

More people will chime in. These are my first impressions. Go to Voicebank and listen with an extremely objective ear to the top VO commercial demos out there. Think about the following:

Where's the voice placed in the spot? Is it the crown, or is it almost blending in with whatever sound and music that's present? You'll soon find that the voice is seldom the prime object, unless it's a radio ad, or a promo. It's one of many support structures for the story of the commercial.

Note: I don't really think you're a crazy person. Yet.

[Ghosthendrikson]

Thanks for the feedback!

I will look at it and see about loosening up the cuts.


EDIT: Listening to some Demos from Voicebank, I need to go back to the drawing board and work on some new production.

I've got a long way to go, and it could be too that I just don't have enough decent stuff to put an actual reel together yet.

[Philip Banks]

If you're any good then you could probably get VO work based on a phone conversation.

The great land of Smoke and Mirrors holds captive at its center "THE VO DEMO". Do not buy into it. Should you post a demo for feedback on here you are unlikely to get what you need but will certainly get what you deserve - Nonsense remarks from well intentioned, ill-informed pillocks! Complete and utter ....PILLOCKS. Most of whom I love very dearly.

Whilst I and others will spend our valuable ($3.45 per hour) time pointing out the howling errors in your demo, we know nothing and share that ignorance at the drop of a hat.

Your voice is very market friendly and will sell, everything you need to do as you travel the path to VO heaven will come clear in good time. Should you trip and fall from time to time, don't worry about it as that's part of the fun of life.

Gratuitous Feedback
The 3rd clip should go first after the second clip is cut to 4 seconds mixed into the 5th clip. The high levels are lower across the demo in comparison to the crossfaded uncompressed over-EQed clips so I'd normalise everything except the beginning, middle and end.

[DougVox]

[Philip Banks]

Iffin it don't ...It should.

[DougVox]

[Ghosthendrikson]

[Yonie]

I'm adding pillock into my "words used to describe me"-bin. It's almost created a true personality for me!