For this voice actor, releasing a new narration demo feels a lot like opening night must feel for a stage actor.

The anticipation, the butterflies, the second-guessing (and third and fourth-guessing), the sheer panic—it turns out voice actors and stage actors aren’t so different after all! Except voice actors get to have our meltdowns in the privacy of a voiceover booth. Same existential crisis, similar plot line, muuuuch smaller audience.

Oh, one other big difference? Stage actors work with a team on their plays and musicals—other actors, directors, musicians, lighting designers. I produce my own demos, so it’s just me, my producer’s ear and the mic having a very one-sided conversation.

I’ve spent hours selecting pieces that showcase my storytelling range—revisiting past projects, recording new segments, tweaking the edit until it flows. The goal is capturing not just what my voice can do, but the depth I bring to every narration project.

I hope you like what you hear.

I hope you hire what hear.

As Bugs and Daffy sang:

“Overture, curtain, lights, This is it, the night of nights. No more rehearsing and nursing a part, We know every part by heart. Overture, curtains, lights, This is it, you’ll hit the heights. And oh what heights we’ll hit. On with the show, this is it. Tonight what heights we’ll hit. On with the show, this is it.”

PLAY THE DEMO ABOVE

Tags: Demos, narrations, voice talent, voiceover, voiceover advice by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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When people hear I’ve done commercial voice over work for national brands like Duracell, Lowe’s Home Improvement, L.L.Bean, and Crest Toothpaste (among others), they often assume that’s all I do. And hey, I get it—big brands, big reach.

But here’s the thing: I genuinely love lending my voice to local commercials and regional commercials just as much. There’s something deeply rewarding about working with a local business and helping them sound like a national brand—without the national brand budget (but make no mistake, keep the national brand paychecks coming, national brands!) 🙂

A great local commercial example?

A recent TV commercial voice over project I voiced for Next Plumbing, a homegrown company in Lafayette, Louisiana. (You can watch the ad below—it turned out beautifully.)

The production team delivered top-tier visuals, so they wanted a voice over artist who could match that level of quality: warm, confident, and relatable without sounding too “salesy.” As a full-time professional voice actor, I brought the same polish and tone that I use for national campaigns, but with a local sensibility that helped the TV spot really shine.

Whether it’s a regional spot for Ford, Maaco, or even the Cleveland Browns, I approach every job—big or small—with the same attention to the voiceover performance detail. I treat every English language spot or narration the same.

As an experienced voice over talent, I know how to bring a message to life in a way that resonates with audiences. From radio voice over to marketing narrations and explainer videos, from YouTube ads to online promos, I offer dependable, high-quality voice over services that help brands connect with their audience. Business size doesn’t matter.

So if you’re in voice casting mode for your next local, regional, or national campaign, I’d love to help. Your project deserves a great voice—and I’d be honored if it were mine.

Tags: announcers, casting, commercials, narrations, radio, voice actors, voice talent, voiceover, voiceover advice by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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The hard reality for voice talents is that almost no one is as excited about the production and release of a new voiceover demo as the voice talent themselves. To us, it’s like a shiny new car.

Well maybe the demo producer – who earns his or her living off of producing voiceover demos – cares a lot…but the rest of the world doesn’t care quite as much as those two care.

Editor’s note: my new Narration demo is totally awesome (he said humbly) and you will totally love it (he noted demurely) and you’ll want to hire me on the spot (he said respectfully). I’m perfectly OK with that.

LISTEN TO PETER K. O’CONNELL’S NARRATION 2020 VOICEOVER DEMO:

It’s fun to listen to new voiceover demos when we come across them…hearing the read, gauging the performance, the script interpretation, the audio production and individually deciding if it all comes together in a finished voiceover sample that makes the voice talent shine.

From the talent and production side of the coin, it’s hard to reconcile the fact that the “shine” I mentioned is purely based on…the subjective opinion of the listener. That’s right, there is generally no right or wrong demo production answer, no perfect voiceover demo formula.

And that’s why even though I produced my last Narration demo about 6 months ago, I have now produced a new Narration demo. The last demo was great and I received work and compliments on it. But I decided to make what I feel was an important change.

On my past Narration demos, I included not only Corporate Narration clips but also E-learning voiceover samples and Explainer video voiceover samples. Maybe it was my stubbornness or my laziness (or something in between) but I believed at the time that one Narration demo with all three (3) genres included would serve the needs of producers.

For no particularly revolutionary reason and without a shocking epiphany, I decided that I might be wrong about that old reasoning.

It seemed to me that I wasn’t actually serving the producers of E-learning and Explainer videos very well with my “one-size-fits-all” Narration demo. So a new focused Narration demo has been produced as has a stand-alone E-learning voiceover demo and Explainer video demo. Each contains more specific examples of the categories, produced with element more appropriate to the production genre. Explainer video narrations sound different than E-learning narrations sound and Corporate Video narrations sound even more different than either of the other two.

Each demo now resides on its own web page as well, one for Narration, one for E-learning and one for Explainer videos.

I invite you to click on any of the links to hear any and all of them.

Tags: Demos, e-learning, explainer videos, narrations by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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OK, ok, I finally did it.

In my past narration voiceover demos, while I always included my corporate voiceover samples, I also included samples of voiceover work I have recorded that are known as e-learning and explainer voiceovers.

At last I have given my explainer voiceover work and my e-learning voiceover work their completely individual voiceover demos.

Now you might not know terms e-learning or explainer…but I am pretty sure you’ve heard these genres of voiceover in your professional lives.

LISTEN TO PETER K. O’CONNELL’S E-LEARNING VOICEOVER DEMO:

E-learning narration refers to the voiceover recording genre, often involving video and/or the internet that that helps students and professionals learn outside the standard classroom. E-learning has been long popular for training employees and teaching students at all levels of education but it’s popularity really spiked during the COVID-19 pandemic as part of distance learning process.

LISTEN TO PETER K. O’CONNELL’S EXPLAINER VOICEOVER DEMO:

Explainer voiceovers are the narrations that tell the story of Explainer Videos. Most often used for businesses, Explainer Videos communicate in a simple ang engaging way how a product or service works and why a user would benefit from that use. Although they can be produced in a variety of graphic styles, Explainer Videos are most often animated – which helps producers convey complex ideas into a more simple form with eye -catching visuals and, of course, ear-catching narration! That’s where I come in.

Producers of E-learning and Explainer videos prefer to hear voiceover samples of their specific genre now, so…that’s what I am gladly offering them. Enjoy!

Tags: Demos, e-learning, explainer videos, narrations, voiceover by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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My talented voiceover friend Karen Commins was nice enough send a very detailed email response to a marketing query I had posted to a social media voiceover page. As usual, she answered the questions I had perfectly and I was/am very appreciative.

She also told me of a new website she has started, in addition to her audiobook narration work. New voiceover talent and audiobook narrators (of any experience level) take note.

The informative site for new voiceover narrators is called Narrators Roadmap. Karen’s web site is devoted to the needs of audiobook narrators at all levels. It includes tips, resources and many stress relieving insights for voiceover narrators.

Karen has been helping new and experienced voiceover talent in their journeys for many years. This is just one more example of both her kindness and the generosity of so many folks in the voiceover industry.

Tags: narrations, voiceover advice by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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Ok, well there’s actually nothing to win but certainly check your mail!

And maybe you already have, which is why you’re checking out this page. Welcome to my voiceover blog.

If we haven’t properly met yet, hi, I’m Peter.

Yes, I sent out a new direct mail postcard this week to about 900 of my media production peers who work in audio production, TV and radio production, TV promo, explainer video production, documentaries and darn near every other kind of electronic production worldwide that uses voiceover.

I hadn’t done a mailer in a while, and with this year being my 35 anniversary in voiceover, I figured that’s something to talk about on a big postcard.

Why direct mail?

People still love getting unique stuff in the mail, even an oversized postcard. It’s a reminder to those I’ve worked with before that I’m still around (give me a call). It’s also an introduction to folks who may have heard of me (or may not have heard of me) but might need some professional voice talent help – the card is a friendly hello (give me a call) to them as well.

I’ll still do email blasts every now and again but I fear those don’t get read as much as they used to…my open rates are still good and I keep the message short and sweet!

So if you’re just finding me for the first time, hi (welcome!), and if you’re returning, hi again and thanks for coming back.

Oh and if you do need to call me, I’m on +01 716-572-1800.

Tags: advertising, audio production, branding, commercials, explainer videos, marketing, narrations, tv, TV promo, voiceover by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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