The importance of the demo you can’t underestimate. It is your restless agent working 24/7 year-round representing you around the globe.
How would you advance your voice-over side hustle into a full-time career and not having professionally done demo? Would that be a smart move not to hire for non-stop representation the best possible restless virtual agent?
Many people make too much of and unnecessarily stress out way too much over developing a script for voice-over demo. It is understandable, especially when you’re just starting on a new path. You think you have to go somewhere or go to someone to help you build what you need.
Why get a professional to help with voice-over demo?
That can be good a good idea to have a script written specifically for your personality customized to emphasize your best voice qualities. But what if you don’t have enough funds to pay for professional services? Remember, you don’t necessarily have to pay for your demo, you can always try to do it yourself, including scriptwriting. I have nothing to hide from you, in another article, I am showing you how to do it How to make a voice-over demo that stands out.
The benefits of getting help from the professionals are also described in the article mentioned above. And here, I will tell you what to expect when working on a demo with the professionals. Like if I would work on your demo for you.
How the personalized voice demo made?
We start working on a personalized voice-over demo by finding out what matches your identity the best. Here what the process will look like.
- We will do a one-on-one conversation to find out your likes and dislikes, what motivates you, what are you passionate about. What are some of the brands you love. What are your favorite musical styles, favorite TV shows, or movies. Then we customize the script to fit the best your style and personality.
- We check your social media presence. No worries; we don’t need a background check. We look at your Facebook page and Twitter account, Linkedin profile, and your personal website if you already have one. BTW, remember to (read this post before you make your voice-over website). We then talk about what markets you want to target, what demographics is your target audience.
- I ask you for sample recordings to hear your voice in different scripts. Maybe you already have some voice-over recordings; we’ll use them to get a better idea of your sounding and to finalize where to put emphasis on the right emotions and to your audience.
- Once we did the recording, your raw audio will go through the clean up to make sure its sound is pristine as possible and plays a smooth to the demanding ear. Then if needed, the music and sound effects will be added around to fit the story plot full.
Personalized voice-over demo will show the dynamic ranges you are capable of. A listener will hear your voice popping up and going through the intimate passages, then bringing up with the energy read and maybe pull in with something more personal. That will give an understanding of what your voice can convey.
Where to record professional voice-over demo?
The demo recording will be done from your place. It would be best if you had an adequate setup with the XLR microphone. You can see the recommended equipment Microphone setup for beginners to voice-over from home.
Your recording place should be sound-treated to avoid echoing and background noises coming from the outside. That is sufficient to produce a quality recording for your demo. It is essential to get the best initial audio, so allow a sound engineer room for adjustments and balancing your voice.
How much voice-over demo cost?
How many people pay for a voice-over demo? I gave it a detailed overview in article How much does it cost to make voice-over demo. Regardless of your budget, you really should be considering getting help from a professional demo producer if you are serious about voice-over. If it is more than a hobby for you, if you want to build a substantial income stream, you need to hire a professional to produce your voice-over demo.
What is the benefit of a professionally done voice-over demo?
Whether you are just starting your career or looking for improvements to advance in voice-over, you need a quality demo that sells. You do not want to make your own demo, but let a professional do it. Because you are competing with the best people and if it is not top-notch, you missing on the best jobs.
If you are not sure or hesitating, consider this; the weaker your demo is, fewer VO jobs you are going thave, less prominent clients will invite you to the project, and more amazing opportunities will be missed.
What is the single most crucial marketing tool in the voice-over? It is your demo. It deserves a lot of attention and effort. You have to make sure that in this area, you are definitely doing right. Otherwise, all of your other marketing efforts won’t work out so well. The demo speaks for voice talent, and if the demo is working, nothing else will work.
The risks of DIY voice demo
If you want to make a demo on your own. Consider what can prevent your demo from being noticed.
Number one is your copy.
When the script is not right, it could be that it is not well written. It possibly can stage you to look local as opposed to national or otherwise. It could be that the copy does not stretch your voice enough in any direction to show the capability of your range.
Number two is production.
Production value goes beyond voice-over, although there is production value to the voice-over itself. But here we are talking specifically about the addition of other production elements. Such as music, sound effects. As well as how things like EQ and compression and other variabilities added or subtracted from your voice or from the production.
The overall demo should sound like this. When a person is listening, they should feel like they have heard you on a national TV commercial. That should be the impression that they have when they finish listening. So if the production value isn’t up to that level, then that’s a massive strike against you write upfront.
Number three is your performance.
And this is where people can trip even they have every other area done well. And the reason is simply this. It is nearly impossible to get your best performance by directing yourself. It is because we do not hear ourselves the way other people hear us.
So, therefore, when if you are doing self-directed demo session chances are you won’t be able to pull out of the performance what you need to showcase yourself in the light that you need to in terms of variability of your reads. And it takes somebody, a third party who can hear you and be able to stretch you in areas that perhaps you’re uncomfortable to go. Just because you simply haven’t done that before that is not comfortable for you.
Because we naturally gravitate to most pleasant for us. And the last thing you want after reading seven, eight, or nine scripts sounding precisely the same all over your demo.
Number four is formatting.
The length of your demo. How many sections you put in your demo. And it depends on what kind of demo is it. If generally speaking about a commercial demo, the expectations from casting directors and agencies are that demo becomes shorter and shorter. Now the general industry standards are about 60-75 seconds. And within that range, you certainly want to have anywhere from six to eight maybe nine scripts.
Of course, depending on how long is the text is or should be and how well you can perform within different styles and express your personality in various ways within different contexts. But it needs to be formatted correctly.
Professional demo made specifically for you!
A final thought on your voice-over demo
The demo is supposed to showcase your talent from every possible beneficial angle you can make. It is not a single rad of a text, but a combination of different scripts and post-production editing aimed to impress the listener.
That is why it is important to critically look at your demo production process and make sure all four of the major areas are followed through.
The earlier in your career you get a professional demo, the faster your career skyrocket, and you get more prominent clients with proud to be jobs instead of random small or hobby project orders from the websites.