VO-BB - 20 YEARS OLD!

[JBurgess]

Hello All,

So I signed up for this board and have been lurking quite a bit, absorbing what I can and attempting to adjust various things in my career, reel, marketing, etc. accordingly.

I want to get better. There is little I love more than this (my wife, apple pie, a good back scratch, English bulldogs) and I open myself and my work up to critique and your collective knowledge and wisdom!

Here is my website with my current general reel and links to some of my credits thus far:
www.makewordshappen.com

And a link to my sound cloud where I am doing a weekly narration
https://soundcloud.com/capnxez

And thus, I put myself out there with humility and gratitude for your assistance and feedback. Thank you!
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I'm a Voice Actor. It is rumored I have a nice butt.
www.makewordshappen.com

[Bruce]

Welcome aboard Jacob. From your demo it sounds like you want to do straight commercial announcing as well as character work. I think you'll be much better served if you create two demos, one for each style as opposed to the potpourri you've got now.

For the commercial reel I'd say you need longer clips and even more work of the styles people are paying for today.

For the character reel I'd say toss that second voice as it doesn't serve you well, you can run some longer clips, and while many characters are quite good, be careful of adding any character that doesn't have your full commitment.

Both reels: tighten up the editing. The little bit of dead air between clips is uncommon and.... well, it doesn't help.

As for the site, I'm not one to encourage such a folksy style with phrases like "if you want to get to know more about me". You're a professional actor. The people who look at your site that you really care about are professional buyers of your service, not family and friends. A tone of "Here's what I can do for you" and/or "Here's what other say I have done for them" will work much better for you.

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. .

[JBurgess]

Bruce,

Thank you! I'm actually working on different demo reels right now. Interactive Entertainment (most of my work right now is in video games), Animation, Narration and Commercial, I want to be able to be as diverse as possible. Having trouble figuring out which samples to split between Animation and Interactive Entertainment. Very similar voices and characters for both. Any suggestions?

I will certainly tighten up the editing on any reel I make from here on out, Now I can't un-hear it.

The comments on my website are very helpful. I'm going for an approachable tone, but I like the "Here is what I can do for you." vibe you suggested. I'll see if I can get some quotes from some of my clients. Hadn't thought of doing that.

Again, thank you. Every bit of feedback helps.
_________________
I'm a Voice Actor. It is rumored I have a nice butt.
www.makewordshappen.com

[Bob Bergen]

Jacob, I don't love your demos or your site. But I think YOU rock, my friend!! Your sound bytes and piece meal demo(s) are a tad amateur. But what impressed me is your raw talent. I hear commitment to character rather than just a bunch of voices. And you are a natural for games. Games tend to be less charactry, more film like acting. Lots of accents and dialects. There's nothing wrong with having more charactery types on your game demo. And there's certainly nothing wrong with having more film like deliveries on your animation demo.

Research the top actors from the top LA agents on voicebank:
http://www.voicebank.net/cabinet/agency.do?id=1587
http://www.voicebank.net/cabinet/agency.do?id=3705
http://www.voicebank.net/cabinet/agency.do?id=1591
http://www.voicebank.net/cabinet/agency.do?id=1588
http://www.voicebank.net/cabinet/agency.do?id=1589
http://www.voicebank.net/cabinet/agency.do?id=1592
http://www.voicebank.net/cabinet/agency.do?id=1593
http://www.voicebank.net/cabinet/agency.do?id=1595

Research demos, websites, etc. Market yourself as those who are at the top of their game do. This will set you apart from everyone else who isn't.

Here are also some demo producers I like:
http://www.demosthatrock.com/portfolio.html
http://www.mmvoiceover.com/

You want your demos to reflect what sounds like real work. Not just wild sound bytes. I absolutely hear the talent in your sound bytes. But when you are competing with those who are more prepared and have more solid marketing, they will stand out. You don't want to me amongst the heard. You want to stand out in front of them.

[cyclometh]

Jacob,

You should listen to what Bob says- trust me when I say that he knows whereof he speaks.

He's absolutely correct about your demos being piecemeal; a demo should be focused in one area (commercial, animation, gaming, etc) and professionally-produced.

As to your website, here's some thoughts, in no specific order:

* I like the relatively spare design. Less is more.

* Light text on a dark background is not as pleasant to the eye as dark on light. Stare at your site for a few seconds, then switch to another window or tab to see what I mean.

* The text is a bit too "homey" for me. I'd suggest tightening it up, and don't spend precious screen estate telling people where they can find info- your site's design should convey that organically. Say what you bring to the table as a voice talent in that small space.

* I didn't check because I don't have my iPad to hand right now, but make certain your site works on every mobile device you can find- you want it to work right and look good on an iPad, Android, iPhone and so forth- in both portrait and landscape mode.

And welcome to the VO-BB!
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Corey "Vox Man" Snow
http://voxman.net

[JBurgess]

Oh, Guys! I cannot thank you enough for this. It's been difficult getting proper feedback on this. Most folks I ask just don't give feedback that seems genuine, or hits home. This completely did.

I'm going to piece up my demo into 4 separate ones, Video games, Animation, Narration, and Commercials. I'm going to approach an audio engineer friend of mine to put them together for me in a work exchange (in order to cut down costs, gotta save for GDC) and incorporate the feedback you three have given me.

I'm going to tighten up the website, play around with the color choice and copy. It should already work on Mobile devices (with a Mobile specific layout), but I'll triple check. Be a bit more direct in my language, not quite as passive. I'm going for approachable, playing to my strengths. I'm about as non-threatening as one can get, but it could stand to be more business oriented and punchy? Yeah, punchy, we'll go with punchy.

Again, I cannot thank you enough! I look forward to meeting any and all of you in person. You've have made me feel most welcome and I'm glad to be here.

Time to keep plugging along and maybe come back to you about questions on agents, once I tighten up my web presence and get a few more gig's under my belt.

I'm certainly not done soliciting feedback, but man live, has this been helpful!
_________________
I'm a Voice Actor. It is rumored I have a nice butt.
www.makewordshappen.com

[JBurgess]

[Bob Bergen]

[heyguido]

I'd rather be hired than heard.
_________________
Don Brookshire
"Wait.... They wanna PAY me for this?"

[JBurgess]

I, personally, think we just discovered the collective noun of voice actors.

A Murder of Crows.

A Pride of Lions.

A Shrewdness of Apes.

A Heard of Voice Actors.
_________________
I'm a Voice Actor. It is rumored I have a nice butt.
www.makewordshappen.com

[JBurgess]

Alright, so I'm going to put this here as I don't think I need to start another thread. I'm taking the feedback to heart here and working on separate Demo Reels.

This is a long one, so here is the short version:

TL;DR - What makes a solid demo? I've listened to a bunch and there is a whole mess of conflicting information / examples, even from top talent.

Here is the Long Version:

I have a few questions about Demo Reel construction and the "rules" as I have gotten conflicting reports from a few sources and would like to get the opinions from this side of the fence, as it were. I understand this is subjective and that the "rules" are not hard and fast. However, I do believe there is value in aggregate data / opinions.

Also, I've searched around but didn't find much related on the board. If there is already a thread for this, point me at it and I will read it and shut my gob about this.

So, the conflicts in advice I have gotten is as follows:

"Don't put in Bed Audio. Just have it be your voice. If I hear bed audio, I toss the reel immediately." - This straight up seems a bit to strong to adhere to and conflicted by most reels of working VO.

"Don't process / add effects. Bed Audio is alright, and sometimes encouraged, but processing tells (me / them / us) that you don't have confidence in your performance / are hiding weakness in a piece." - Having listened to a whole mess of Demo's on Voicebank and top talents websites, I've heard quite a bit of processing. I understand if a bit if taken from work that they've done, but I've heard a l lot that isn't.

"Don't overlap pieces / voices on different reels." - Again, I've heard this conflicted on reels of high level, working talent. Is this just a case of "the name carries" and over lapping bits on different demos (animation and video games, seem to be where there is most cross over on one actors reels) is acceptable? Or is one or two pieces alright because if someone is looking for your VG demo, they probably won't listen to your Animation reel?

Again, thank you for taking the time to read this, the long or short version.
_________________
I'm a Voice Actor. It is rumored I have a nice butt.
www.makewordshappen.com

[vkuehn]

I'm probably the last person in this crowd.... or is that "this heard"... who should try to make sense while responding to your ... rant?

It appears we are not "One Big Heard".

Some people record and produce at home.
Some people only record in someone else's studio... in town... with the meter running.

Some people are dealing primarily with radio stations. (Go ahead with the music bed?)
Some people are dealing with agencies.
Some people are narrating books.
Some people are narrating "explainers" and e-learning.

As a 'newbie' I also observe that you can go crazy trying to adopt all the advice and instructions that are handed out to us.

Some 'advice-givers' assume the market where they play is THE ONLY market there is.

Advice does not always come with instructions like those that come with prescriptions that explain how and when the advice will be effective.

It's a journey. Have fun.

[Bruce]

[DougVox]

[Bob Bergen]

Jacob, I feel your pain in the confusion. It doesn't get any easier or less confusing.

A demo is never complete. It's always a work in progress. You wil hear crap demos from actors making 7 figures, and you will hear brilliant from those who haven't made a dime. An actor could send a demo to 2 different top agents where one loves the demo and one hates it.

That's show biz. It's all subjective.

The most important thing is to not do a demo until you are ready. When you are, know what it's for. Know where you want it used to market and sell you. If there is an agent or market you want to work with, it needs to live up to their standards. And the content doesn't need to be from real work. It needs to be really good. Often real work isn't mixed in the actor's favor, especially TV spots.

Know where you fit into vo, specifically where your personality and voice fit in. Your demo needs to drip of your personality. This is what will set you apart from the rest. B