VO-BB - 19 YEARS OLD!

[Philip Banks]

Good call!.

Ok. Moving away from "Y'know when I worked doing late swig breakfast drive at K-Mary AM country AOL rock talk gold in East Sheen, South Dakota a town so small the fire dept was an eight year old bed wetter"

Your NOW demo.

It's aboat (Canadian friendly) 18 months old and a mish-mash of a buncha stuff I've done since VJ Day. I was careful to select the stuff I was able to do standing on my head in the rain whilst being threatened by a passing Sous-Chef. It's an MCM production (Morning coffee mix). It says "This is Philip Banks. You want talent? Move along, nothing to see here!"

People will hear me, a tone, a sound, a mood, an attitude, an approach, flaps set to zero and 40 degrees. Everything, within reason, I am able to do is there. What is NOT there is the influence of a Pro Demo Producer who believes that his knowledge of the market is greater than my knowledge of what I am selling and why people buy me. Baseball bats must be taken to the pro-demo, VO Coach produced demo sessions or a VO will be subtly or otherwise bullied into paying good money for shite! ALWAYS. ALWAYS!

"Y'see Mike the market for ..." Cue blow to the back of head with Baseball bat.

"There exists, in here, this studio, NO MARKET. Just a VO demo in progress! let's progress."

Demos will show flexibility and will point to how the VO hears and interprets , makes eye contact, holds you close et al.

If a potential client is too dumb to hear if a VO is able to take direction or move their voice in a particular direction THAT is not the purpose of a demo. On a street corner in Brooklyn you open your case full of handmade, genuine, automatic Swiss watches, these are the watches you are selling.

"Dude, gotta iWatch?"

Still have that Baseball bat?

Demo - Golden Rule. No matter how long you and your team have spent working on it. Listen once at the end of the session for clicks, bumps pops and other technical issues. Get them fixed then walk away. You will likely think it is AWESOME. Say nothing. NOTHING. WALK AWAY. Sleep on it and listen in the morning. The so-called "morning after pill" was designed for mistakes made the night before. Listening over coffee a day or so post awesome demo session works in much the same way.

Did I book work directly from my demo? 36 jobs since August. Sessions since 1st August up to and including 28th October.around 150. Lowest paid job "UK union scale radio commercial" $32.58. Highest paid job $9975.09 and I visited all Ports south of the latter.

Yer man the pro demo producer will not be around when your partner yells at you.

"Congratulations on your crap $2,000 demo. Now try feeding it to the baby!"

[Dan-O]

Latest Demo: Affiliate
Date: Oct. 2017
Where: Home studio via Skype
Pro: Eric Romanowski @ www.earblowingaudio.com
Cost: $1500ish
Resulted in work: Yes, after an email marketing blitz through my agent and own efforts.

[Philip Banks]

Listen to the above for an important illustration of the Signals To Market. As usual it's not about the voice (in this case, Dan) it's about the aspirations of the stations. They want to sound like the big kids in school. They want to be as tall as the Basketball players, as wide as the Football players and to kick ass like the wrestling team. They want that NATIONAL sound! Nobody didn't never git no wheres tryin t'ski uphill!

[Bob Bergen]

OH! I thought based on the original answer this was about first demos. OK, my most recent:

Date? - 2017 and 2018 (the latter date was from the video version of the audio demo(s) produced)
Where? - LA
Pro Involved? - Both the audio and video had separate pros producing
Cost - $8000 for 2 audio/2 video demos (commercial and promo)
Resulted in work* - Same answer as before. Got me lots of auditions which did result in bookings. But I never heard from anyone that they heard/watched my demo and wanted to hire me without having me read for the job.

Long as we are on the topic I want to chime in on character/animation demos. Most actors who make them do so because they want to work in animation. Most think a great animation demo is all about vocal versatility and (or) how many different voices they can do.

But a character demo needs to be as relevant to the animation industry as a commercial, promo, narration, all demos need to be. Here are some things to think about when considering an animation demo:

- The characters need to be original. If you put together a montage of same ol same ol little kids, old men, elf, valley girl, gypsy woman, etc., you are wasting the listener's time. The agents already represent these and the buyers are already hiring tried and true reliable talent. All one has to do is hit the websites of the top agents and listen to their animation talent. Then make note of the characters you hear. That's what they DON'T need. And yes, it is indeed hard to come up with a demo worth of original characters. Which is why the majority of animation demos don't get much notice.

- To the point of relevance, where do you fit into the animation industry today? Just like a commercial demo needs to feel relevant and reflect today's advertising trends, the animation demo needs to reflect today's animation content. From Cartoon Network to PBSKids, FOX and FX prime time, Nick and Nick Jr., and everything in between. The characters and reads/styles on the demo need to reflect today's animation content. Research current programming, and cross reference on IMDB. Know who casts/voice directs. Watch more of their current work on YouTube. Make sure your reads reflect what they are currently hiring. And the demo producer needs to understand and know current production trends in music and sound effects when it comes to the demo mix. Just like they need to know current trends in commercial music production. And the producer needs to appreciate it is the actor's demo, not theirs. The production should not compete with the actor, it should accentuate it.

- When it comes to the content of the demo, think scenes, not lines. A scene has a beginning, middle, and end. A scene also has a scene partner. The scene partner on the demo is silent, but each character voiced on the demo is still relating, acting, and reacting to the scene partner. Who are you talking to? What is your relationship? Where does this scene take place??? Even in a 5-10 second byte, without this acting 101 prep, all you are doing is reading a line in a funny voice.

- Not all cartoons are cartoony. Begin the demo with a character who happens to sound like you. Very real, yet still a character. The voice is yours, the personality is theirs. The second character should be as different from the first as possible, in voice, personality, cadence, etc., so the demo within 2 characters does indeed show off range.

- Stay away from impressions. Everyone has the right to judge an impression. But no one can tell you that your original character isn't dead on. If just one impression doesn't impress, that's what the listener will remember.

- Thirty seconds of brilliant is far better than an additional 30 seconds of mediocre. If all you have is 30 seconds of brilliance, that is all you need.

VO work in animation and games is fan based. Buyers and agents want to know you have a following. When researching IMDB for your demo, also make note of everyone involved in each and every current cartoon. From writers to background artists, connect with them on all social media platforms. Connect with working animation actors, producers, CDs, writers, network execs, etc. Connect with those who follow working animation voice actors. For fan based vo work social media is more important than the demo.

Studios, networks, and producers research actors on social media before making a hiring decision. It's not just the number of followers they are researching. They are also researching social media behavior. If the actor is political, confrontational, comes across as if they might not be fun in the room, all of this influences the decision to hire.

And I do not recommend doing an animation demo yourself. The listener wants to hear what you would sound like in a produced animated series or feature. One job will pay for this demo. Make the demo count! A bad demo closes more doors than a good one will open.

[Philip Banks]

[Tre M.]

Reckon I'll play along.

Latest Demo: Promo Demo
Date: October 17, 2017
Where: Home studio via Source Connect
Pro: Yup, but he's a VO first and foremost (he does promo for CW, ABC, and a few others) but as of late produces demos.
Cost: $1500
Resulted in work: Yup, my first promo gig with Comedy Central which I then parlayed into getting signed with Atlas, and gotten other gigs with it via personal marketing and whatnot.
_________________
Tre@trespeaksforyou.com
Www.trespeaksforyou.com
Skype: TKM32246

Source Connect: http://source-connect.com/tremovo

[Rick Riley]

ANSWER TO ORIGINAL QUESTION

Date? – 2009
Where? – My spare bedroom
Pro Involved? – Yes, me.**
Cost? – Zip
Resulted in work?* – If the asterisk remains as the definitive criteria for the question, I guess not.

*When I got into voiceover I didn’t ‘SEND’ auditions. I posted it on Voice 123. However I did send plenty of demos to perspective clients. They were ‘Air checks’ and got me hired at a variety of different radio stations, the last one landing me in Miami for the last 15 years of my 29 year radio a career.

**After producing so many air checks I became quite good at production, so I produced my own VO demo. When I first began coaching with Nancy Wolfson, I told her I produced my own demo, to which she spent a considerable amount of time telling me why VO people shouldn’t produce their own demo, and ‘don’t feel bad when I rip it apart’. She listened to it three times, took a long pause and said, “This is f***ing good Rick, do you do this for a living?” I replied 'no', but I’ve helped out a few friends along the way, to which she gave me a LONG lecture as to why I shouldn’t do that. But bottom line, it’s why I answered ‘me’ to ‘Pro Involved’
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Never do anything you wouldn't want to explain to the Paramedics

www.rickrileyvoice.com

[Philip Banks]

Radio production experience is "Pro involved". Knows about "the Iranian double pause", not so much!

[Rick Riley]

[Art]

Date? - Probably mostly summer last year.
Where? - Here at home.
Pro Involved? - In the eyes of the beholder.
Cost - $0. I did it myself. I also did my own HTML on my site.
Resulted in work* = Yes, and three agents.
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Art Howard.com

[Philip Banks]

MI5, MI6 and FSB. All strangely named Natasha and speak about Langley, a lot!

[Lance Blair]

Delete.
_________________
Skype: globalvoiceover
and now, http://lanceblairvo.com the blog is there now too!

[Dan-O]

[Art]