VO-BB - 20 YEARS OLD!

[XTREEMMAK]

Hi everyone,

After registering to this forum a while back, I thought it'd finally take the time to say hi and take advantage of the seemingly awesome community here; pleased to meet you

A little about me, I have my hand in many things entertainment wise. I'm a musician and web developer amongst many other things, but I also do some voice work. This community aside, I'm also a very active member on VoiceActingAlliance.com and VoiceActingClub.com (under the same user name). You can also find me on Voices.com though I haven't had much luck with getting work there.

I'm not new to the field as I have voice acted for a couple of online video games such as Wing Commander Saga (recently released free), Red Moon, flash animations, as well as a few sound libraries for Video game developers.

I'm constantly striving to move towards larger contracts and productions, and hope the feedback here will get me that much closer to this kind of work.

Enclosed is the link to my latest character demo that I would like reviewed if all possible. Had a lot more fun with it this time and hope that any insite or info at all can help tune it to a highly grabbing demo (if not already).

If you want, I also do highly detailed reviews as well (shown here: http://voiceactingalliance.com/board/showthread.php?76960-VodkaHaze-2012-Demo-Reel&p=1201872#post1201872) and if you want, I can review your demo as well in exchange.

I appreciate any and all help you can give and looking forward to your constructive critique.

Thanks again!

https://www.box.com/s/48c98e58f27cd953d087

If interested, here are some of my older demos and my commercial advertising demo reel:
http://keyjaycompound.com/standaloneplayer.html

[Bruce]

Let me just tackle a few items so others who wish can jump in.

- I couldn't understand what most of the first few characters are saying which makes it difficult for a producer to pick you.

- Someone with a Japanese accent is referring to (or is) Zeus, the Greek god?

- I hear you popping the mic from time to time, not terribly but noticeably and professional productions usually don't allow that.

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. .

[Philip Banks]

That was great, the only thing it lacked was the pictures. For a demo you need to produce something with greater clarity or post video clips.

Think narration for a documentary. TV doc you tell people what they don't know. Radio, you help people see what you see.

Hope that makes sense.

[Deirdre]

Jamaal—

I heard 9 elements in your demo:
1. Fall to your knees— deep and rough voice. lots of majestic music and swordplay
2. Panda Bears— high pitched old man voice, cartoon soundtrack music
3. Job for Yiz— higher pitch voice, with a London street accent? starts with silence behind, moves to modern music
4. "Do your country great justice"— rough laff, Asian accent? string music behind, sound effects of eating? blacksmith?
5. "I'm not saying that I will cure you" starts high and wavering and gets psycho. Tense music behind with footsteps
6. FAIL MAN! Big announcer voice with cartoon soundtrack and SFX.
7. Bat and Scorpion story— high pitched voice with squeaks, majestic music
8. These sacred swords— Old man voice, western cowboy type voice percussive music
9. Thank you for shopping— high pitched voice with sweeping range, whimsical music

First of all, I LOVE FAIL MAN.
I laffed out loud.
You have a fine ability to sound like completely different men in all of these tracks— you've got great range, and a grip on the methods necessary to change the placement and characteristic quality of your voice.

OK, nitty gritty:
I liked the character in the first element— I could see him very clearly in my mind's eye: a fine swordsman in armor in the heat of battle.
Some of what he is saying is difficult to understand in places. There is too much noise in the background, and it isn't specifically interacting with what the character is saying, and is only serving to muddy up the overall sound. This element is too long, and will benefit from some remixing to present your man as the most prominent "voice" in the mix.

2. The Old Man with the panda bears freak-out sounded clearly demented, but the words themselves weren't clear. I think this character deserves more thought and development— Right now he's just a voice, he needs a name and a life. The music for this piece was more distracting than helpful.

3. Young Thug— I liked the silence behind this voice at the start. Not every element needs a soundtrack! What was his accent? It sounded London "street" to me. I liked the sweet nature of the voice, in diabolical conflict with his threatening intent. I think this fellow has potential, and can use the same kind of development to find him a history and a name.

4. The Zeus element— I'm not sure what I was hearing here. It sounded like an Asian accent at the beginning. And I didn't understand the sounds in the background. I didn't get a sense of the scene.

5.Psycho Dude—What does this fellow say in the beginning? It sounded like "I'm not saying that I will cure you." This guy was all over the map with his range and characteristic style, from nervous to strong, high and wavering to deep and rough. If this is your psycho character, there needs to be some consistency with his delivery, right now he's everything but the kitchen sink.

6. FAIL MAN! A complete scream. I loved this.The big voice and sound effects, the voices of Fail Man off to stereo left and right— a fine comedic gem in the demo.

7. Bat and Scorpion— what is going on here? I wasn't able to get a sense of place with this, and the music was confounding. The vocal quality for this was similar to the Old Man in element 2, along with that nasty-sounding 2nd story voice which might be someone worth exploring. The Voice that says "sucka!" can turn into a real good BAD guy. Right now, I don't think this is a strong enough piece to include.

8. To be honest, I hear this man say "These sacred sores". I can't hear the D for SWORDS. This is a good strong voice— he reminds me of an old cowboy in a western! I could totally see this man, his face and his posture. The music is a bit distracting. I think this element could benefit from a bit of a tweak, but the gent is already a good arrow to have in your character quiver.

9. Thank You for Shopping— this goofy guy reminded me of your psycho from element 5 and the Bat and Scorpion guy. Not strong enough a finish. I'll bet you can come up with a real knockout punch for the ending of this demo.

Jamaal— you have a splendid grasp of your vocal instrument, and some really fine characters. What this demo needs is discipline— you might benefit from working with a director. It's always helpful to have a set of new ears help you tune "your guys".

Overall, this demo is a bit long. You can do a lot in a minute, and you're best off with a few AWESOME characters blowing the tops of people's heads off. The potential is here— I'm looking forward to hearing more.
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DBCooperVO.com
IMDB

[XTREEMMAK]

OMG Deirdre THANK YOU!

I've been waiting for a detailed break down review for the longest and yours was very detailed on what I can improve; I needed that more than an "awesome reel" or "it sucks" comment. Thank you very much!

I'll work out the kinks and keep you updated.