The cost of a voice-over demo done in a recording studio starts from $1000 and could rise to $1500-$3000. You can hire a professional to make your demo for $300-$700. Or you can do it yourself for virtually no cost if you know how.
I never get tired of stressing out the importance of quality voice-over demo. How do I define the quality of the voice-over demo? Simply, quality voice-over demo selling performance drives new clients to you.
The difference between a demo and professionally crafted demo specifically for you is your success or failure in voice-over. You truly can’t put a price on it.
It is obvious that this message could be understood differently by the beginner and established voice actor. And their abilities to perceive and implement this idea are different. Not everyone can afford to pay the price for voice-over demo a few hundred dollars at the start of their career.
But hopefully, everyone agrees that the demo is your best representative and tireless agent. If done right and if used properly.
Studio voice-over demo production is expensive
The price for a voice-over demo of the highest production quality done in a recording studio can climb to $2000. And it is no surprise as there likely to be few people working with you. All are professionals and their time costs money.
At some point in voice acting career, you may need their services, but probably not in the first few years.
What voice-over demo are you getting for the money you pay to a recording studio?
- You have a good chance to receive an outstanding quality demo. And it’s expected because you have a team of people working with you.
- You will receive experience working in a production environment. You will get to know the process of working directly with the sound engineer. It is a great experience to be in such an environment and get support and attention from the professionals.
- Networking with many people you meet can bring new opportunities and leads. Definitely keep this in mind and use the chance to present yourself to people in the industry.
What are the concerns of studio demo production?
- The high cost which not everyone can afford. Especially at the beginning of a voice-over career, it is hard to justify thousands of dollars expense prior to seeing any results from VO work. Maybe later you find benefits from a studio-recorded demo worse the price, but probably not for your first demo.
- The process of making voice-over demo in a studio may consume more time than you would expect. You will not get in front of the mic right away. Firstly you are going to be interviewed, then your voice will be tested and the script should be written specifically to your voice. And once you ready to record, it can take a few hours, maybe a callback.
- Once the demo is done it is done. But what if you find the market did not respond to it as expected? Maybe you would like to tweak something to meet some new trends? Making revisions are expensive and take a long time as you need to book a studio again.
- And you have to work with them again because the quality and sound of the studio produced demo can be hardly matched from your home setup. You don’t want your demo to be like a Frankenstein sewed from pieces.
Even the cost of making a demo in a recording studio can be justified, it should be well thought through in advance.
Save money and make a demo yourself
You can make your own demo completely yourself from home and virtually at no cost. But there are few benefits and caveats which you are going to come across.
To make a good voice-over demo from home you need voice recording equipment and skills to process audio.
- You learn new skills and gain experience as you go making your own demo is part of learning.
- You save money momentarily by repurposing the equipment you have or about to buy. The equipment for making a voice-over demo is the same as you going to use for work for your clients. So there are no special expenses, you would be buying it anyways.
- Demo done on your own equipment will advertise the working quality of your future works. Your future customer will hear the same sounding audio production from your demo and from your recording.
What are the caveats of making demo at home?
- Lack of constructive criticism from unbiased professionals. Your voice acting performance and production needs a review. Someone from outside must listen to your demo and give you feedback. You can’t form a good enough opinion on your work as you can’t hear your voice the way others do.
- Designing and producing voice-over demo all by yourself will take a long time to prepare which delays your time to market. And thus you miss some opportunities.
- Making a voice-over demo is not a simple process of recording your voice saying different phrases. Making a voice-over demo is rather a multi-step process that involves many aspects of any skill and in-person cooperation.
Voice-over demo production is a very important and specific task. Think of it as it is your business card, it is your ticket to the sale, like it is your agent working for you tirelessly day and night all over the Internet. And if you think of it that way it will become obvious, you can’t underestimate the importance of it.
Any mistake on your demo will be taking work opportunities away from you and devalue your cost. If you don’t want it to happen to you, get professional help.
How do you do a professional voice over demo?
Getting help from someone who has experience in voice acting and demo production is what you need when starting your voice acting career.
Hiring a professional to make a voice-over demo seems to be a balanced option. You get the best balance of price/quality/time and it suits the most beginner voice actors.
See how hiring professionals to make voice-over demo benefits you.
- Balanced quality/price is the best option if you take a VO career seriously.
- Professionals will take you through the steps of making a demo process that you would miss or not able to perform properly. Like making script up to your personality, coaching and directing your performance, helping you to assemble the demo reel.
- A demo producer will make sure your demo is done right and done in a timely efficient fashion. So you are avoiding a long time project and what it can potentially become if you’d be working on it yourself. Remember the time to market is important.
Things to remember when choosing the right professional to work on your demo.
- You need to work with a proven professional, or you risk getting little to no benefit. Make sure you’ve seen previous records of successful work from this person.
- It is reasonable to pay some amount of money for professional help ahead of time. Normally payment is split and you should not pay all amounts ahead of time.
- Make sure you have revisions included in your agreement. It will serve you well if you notice some issues with the demo later on. Which can happen to everyone with a lack of experience. Or if you see demo is not performing as you expected. If a number of people listened to the demo fairly high, but you don’t see it bringing a new client to you. Then the market may want something else, that revision can be useful.
What is a voice-over demo to you?
Your demo is an investment in your career which for sure will pay back and many times.
For an affordable price, you get a professional with experience personally working on your demo reel. And you gain an important networking benefit to whom you can refer to in the future and get more help.
I would recommend you approach making demo responsibly and not underestimate that powerful tool of your future career in VO.