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I get asked all the time about producing voice over demos. I certainly have produced more than my share and its a lot of work for one minute’s worth of voiceover, job-getting magic. But you’re impatient and you want the golden ticket NOW.

Well to answer all the voiceover newbies, here’s the magic answer:

You’ve got 20 seconds, if you’re lucky!
Now get in line, cross your fingers and say a prayer.

You’ve just sent in your voice over demo for a possible voiceover job….along with anywhere from 5 to 200 other voice over talents.

In 20 seconds (usually less) a producer is going to toss your demo into the :

• “Keep for review pile” (which will get whittled down again until the producer picks “the” voice talent) or
• “Throw in the garbage” file.

Anyone in voice-overs (even the so-called “big names”) know a voice over talent is going to get rejected more often than they get hired…the numbers are not in the talent’s favor no matter how talented.

Since most times the voice actor is not likely to be auditioning in person (especially outside the big 3 U.S. markets) you (the talent) have only one tool at your disposal to represent your enormous talent, range, creativity, charming personality, client-friendly demeanor, multi-faceted character repertoire and stunning good looks (in the eyes of the listener). That tool is your voiceover demo.

And now you’re only getting 10 seconds…this better be good.

A 10 second demo?

No, I was just kidding. The industry standard is one minute for the length of your voice over demo with segments of spots ranging anywhere from about 6 seconds to 12 seconds depending on the content. The point is that whatever the producer hears in the first 10-15 seconds will determine whether your voice has the exact (or very close to exact) quality the producer is looking for.

What is that quality? Only the producer knows (it’s very subjective) so all you should worry now only about showing your best work as professionally as possible.

Generic or customized?

Every voice artist should have at least one strong generic demo to be able to present to a prospective client (at the moment, the most favored demo format is an MP3 for e-mail and a CD for snail mail….and yes, the CD should have a professional look to it, not a Sharpie scrawl of your name across it).

Some folks create generic demos based on category…a generic commercial demo, a generic narration demo, a generic character voice demo and so on. Tailored demos simply mean the producer has a demo script he/she wants you to voice; if you are asked, do it.

How do I determine voice over demo content?

Assuming here we’re talking about creating a strong generic demo (not a category voice demo) the recommendations here are:

• The best or most widely heard of any spots or narrations you’ve been paid to create (this should include straight reads as well as character voices). Preferably you want the fully produced cuts on your demo, not the dry reads unless that’s how they were produced.
• Any tailored commercial, narration or voice imaging demos that you felt really presented your talents well.
• Determine your best work from all your categories (commercials, narrations, voice imaging, on-hold, audio books etc.). Then consider the type of work you’re most often hired or considered for and include best of all those segments mixed as you think works best.

When you’re done producing your voiceover demo….you’re not. Play it for other people in the business, get their opinions, and tell them to be cruel, put it up on some voice over bulletin boards that encourage member-to-member critiques. Take all the info to heart (but not personally, the critiques are about “the voice”, not you) and make the changes that you think make the most sense.

What’s in that first 10 seconds?

Your money voice. Every voice artists has one, some have a few. The money voice is either:

• That voice that seems to bring you the most work/that you’re most known for OR
• The voice that you can do well that seems to be in vogue among those who are hiring (at the moment, it’s the sort of conversational, everyman voice as opposed to the big-balls announcer voice).

Now the truth.

Voice demos are close to the apex of and imperfect science. It is an ever-evolving tool and one for which your lively hood depends…but no matter how good it is, your demo is useless if no one hears it. That requires marketing.

And that’s a subject for another day.

Hope this helps.

Tags: character voices, commentary, commercials, marketing, narrations, podcasting, radio, technology, tv, voice actors, voice casting, voiceover advice by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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It’s funny how, not really so long ago, I was editing commercials, narrations and other voice over projects with a razor blade and tape on a beautiful Otari reel-to-reel machine. The digital age has made that skill obsolete.

While that’s not new news to most, take a moment to reflect on the time period of that change, how fast it took place, where technology is today and how in just a few future “blinks” we’re going to be producing audio and voice projects with even newer, faster technology.

ISDN (Integrated Service Digital Network) has always had many applications but ISDN’s application for voice over talent has been a standard for over a decade (and its been around longer than that). But the question in voice over circles has been is “ISDN’s usefulness to voiceover’s about to change?”

For many part-time voice talents, the benefits of having an ISDN studio was squelched by the significant start up and maintenance costs; basically if you didn’t have a regular client to foot the ISDN bill, why take the financial risk.

Entering the mainstream consciousness in the past 4-5 years has been Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP). Companies like Vonage and Skype have for a while now been promoted VOIP’s significant benefits over our traditional long distance telephone calls plans. But now the benefits are being noticed and exploited by voice over talents by combining it with ISDN technologies.

VoIP over ISDN has real cost savings potential but for voice over talents and studios, there has not been the establishment of a leading product or services system for VoIP over ISDN, especially in using IP Telephony. There is no Telos Zephyr (the world-standard codecs for radio and television broadcasters) for VoIP over ISDN Systems. At present, VoIP over ISDN can be done technically,but the standard for Quality of Service is presently a bit…cumbersome.

My bet is that there will be even a faster, less expensive service that will include VoIP over ISDN or even surpass it as the technology of choice for cross country and international voice over hook ups. Wait until the market shakes out from that change!

Your thoughts?

Tags: commentary, isdn, radio, technology, tv, voiceover advice by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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As we saddle up for the fourth quarter of the year, a time when networks like MTV and Premiere Radio Networks start assembling their countdown shows, I thought it fitting that I would announce (with 60+ days still left in the year) the best performance by a voice over talent in 2006.

The rules of this award, created by me and owned by me state that I cannot give the award to myself (darn those rule makers!)

No, the 2006 award for best voiceover goes to a voice that’s known by many generations both from his (ok, first clue: it’s a guy) radio and television voice work (some of it on-camera). He is also one of the oldest (clue #2), living (clue #3) and occasionally working (clue #4) voices around. He also loves to sail (clue #5).

On September 5^th, like many Americans, I was watching the debut of the “new” CBS Evening News with Katie Couric opened the show with some headlines, read from her new multi-million dollar set inside her new multi-million dollar studio.

The new theme music was cued, the graphics came up and THAT voice intoned: “THIS is the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric.”

The voice wasn’t just perfect because of its own rich quality, nor was it simply the really well paced read.
With all that included, the reason THAT voice worked so well was because the CBS Evening News, a broadcast steep in journalistic history, reeling not so long ago from a costly news scandal and now introducing the first solo female news anchor (which shouldn’t have been such a big deal) needed to deftly combine all the news gathering technology and fanciful broadcast elements with its storied (and successful) journalistic past.

When Walter Conkrite, the broadcast’s most famous and beloved anchor, introduced this newest version of the CBS Evening News, he was also imparting his implied blessing on this new news show. Almost so far in the background as to be imperceptible (as many good voiceover talents are) but authoritative and certainly recognizable enough to impart a feeling of trust in the news show that was about to be unveiled.To Walter Cronkite, I bestow The Best Voiceover Performance of 2006 Award. And to the CBS staffer who came up with the idea to use Cronkite, like they say in the beer ads: Brilliant!

Tags: CBS News, commentary, narrations, tv, voice actors, voice casting by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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It’s really the car dealers’ fault.

Somewhere in a marketing meeting in Detroit long ago, a car maker’s resident ad guru came up with the brilliant (?) idea to present at the national dealer’s meeting – have the owner of the dealership appear in the radio and television ads. Other business owners took note of the trend and figured they’d do it too.

What do I think of the idea?

Two words: New Coke®. Yeah, bad, reeeeeaaaaalllly bad idea. Get past the usually unfair stereotype of a Car Dealer for a second (although that negative stereotype was indeed fostered by dealers appearing in bad commercials, often late at night), these folks are often good managers, good salesmen and good people but they are rarely good spokespeople.

Oh, it worked once in the eighties but even when Chrysler recently resurrected Lee Iacocca to pitch cars again, it was simply not good (Iacocca playing golf with Snoop Dog dressed in pastel argyle?! That’s brain numbing on so many levels that we’re all lucky our eyeballs didn’t roll up in our heads and stay put!)

But it’s memorable, you say? So is a kidney stone but, not in a good way.

It’s the same note of severe caution I would offer to any business person looking to appear in a radio or TV ad. No matter what your TV or radio account executive tells you, it might not be the best idea to be your own spokesperson if you really don’t have the performance skills to pull it off.

What do you have to lose, you ask? How about your professional credibility and your reputation?

Example one: You come up with a concept to appear in a television commercial for your company that features you either “acting”, or dressing up in a silly outfit or behaving in a way that is out of character for you. The spot may be funny and memorable but likely not in the way you intended and not in a way that builds sales (which is why most of us advertise anyway.)

Example two: The business owner decides that he wants to be the “announcer” for his own radio commercial. Fine, except he speaks in a low monotonous cadence or she has a squeaky nasally voice. Neither is likely to encourage listeners to stay tuned in to hear the message and buy the product or service. Yikes! Those folks should never be featured in commercial except in extenuating circumstances.

There are no doubt many talented business owners who have great communication skills and look good on camera and will serve as terrific company representatives.  But that’s NOT everybody and a truly smart business person will “know when to hold ’em and know when to fold ’em” when it comes to picking a spokesperson or talent for their spots

Tags: commentary, commercials, radio, tv, voice actors, voice casting, voiceover advice by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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Jack Nicholson
 
Michael Douglas
 
Demi Moore
 
Julia Roberts
 
The story goes that Jack was offered over a million dollars by a U.S. car company (or more properly, its ad agency) to simply do a voice over for a commercial some years back.  Supposedly he turned it down. Michael Douglas did not (although it seemed Douglas’ fee wasn’t so high).

She was an attractive actress as many were and are on soap operas but when Demi Moore was on General Hospital in the 80’s, what made her stand out more than her looks was her voice.  Keds noticed…so did Oscar Mayer.
 
And when America On-Line decided to slant their logo, round their typeface and freshen their post-merger image, they called on America’s most famous actress to help build membership. A fairly pregnant Julia Roberts surely covered the twins’ college expenses with her AOL voice over.
 
But bottom-line, what’s the value to the client paying the voice over bill?
 
Well, it depends.
 
And hadn’t commercials long ago become un-cool for A-List celebrities?
 
Um, sort of.
 
But what about the everyday announcer who doesn’t act in movies or television?
 
It’s just a few more swimmers in an already overcrowded pool, I guess.
 
The Value of Voice

There are no two ways about it; a celebrity endorsement can help build brand awareness…whether the celebrity is in front of the camera or behind the microphone. But for realistic brand and selling impact, the celebrity tie in must make sense…either by cutting through the clutter with a celebrity’s unique qualities (looks, sound, image, reputation, etc.) or by some sort of logical or direct tie-in with a product (a quick example would be a golfer endorsing and pitching golf products and/or apparel).
 
Does Demi Moore serving as voice talent for a TV spot for Keds women’s sneakers cut through the clutter? It did in my case…I didn’t think of her looks when I heard the spot…but her voice truly cut through the advertising clutter…it’s up to Madison Avenue to tell me whether women bought more sneakers because they “bought” Demi’s voice.
 
On the other hand, if the concept was that “America’s Sweetheart” would tie-in well voicing spots for America On-Line (America’s Sweetheart/America On-Line…get it?) it was lost on me after the initial “shock” value of having realized Julia Roberts provided the voice over. Somehow it made me think I was already paying too much for AOL’s service and now, if AOL had to pay Julia (a lot, I surmised), I was going to end up paying more for AOL. That didn’t make me want to stay an AOL subscriber. And I have nothing against Julia Roberts.
 
Are Actors Cool, Uncool or Just Trying to Pay Bill Via Voiceover?
In the old days, celebrities were expected to serve as pitchmen and women and accepted. Heck even newsmen did on-camera ads (Paul Harvey is the modern endorsement exception to what used to be a broadcasting news given).
 
More recently, it seemed un-cool for celebrities of any stature (fleeting as that stature always is) to appear in commercials…at least in the U.S. Brad Pitt has even done commercials recently….overseas. However, via voice over, celebrities can offer tacit endorsement of a product without actually being directly associated with it…it takes a trained ear to catch some of the relatively well known celebrities who are heard on commercials nowadays.
 
But hey, not all performers are really well known or always employed. When I hear David Duchovny pitching Pedigree Dog Food or Corbin Bernsen hawking Chryslers I think these are just folks trying to pay the mortgage between acting gigs…I bear no malice towards them for trying to make money.  But does such commercial work gel with their more artistic, less commercial endeavors? Should Fox Mulder really push puppy treats? I’m just asking!
 
The Poor Slobs Leftover

So what does the future hold for the rest of us (yes, me too) voice over artists in this growing circle of celebrity commercial voices? Well, whether or not we’ll need to wear shades, I see the voice over talents’ future as bright.
 
If a celebrity has the right voice for a spot then a producer will pick him/her…especially when it’s the voice and not the “celebrity” aspect that won the job. Kathleen Turner could easily become a voice over millionaire and there are fewer voices more recognizable or more listenable than the ageless Lauren Becall even when selling cat food (Fancy Feast) or discount retailers (Tuesday Morning). A great voice is a great voice and should be appreciated and enjoyed as such.
 
Better news is the new uses of the Internet for communication, marketing and advertising purposes…there’s lots of work for voice over artists who are sharp enough to embrace the opportunities the web presents. Plus, there are always plenty of reasonably well paying jobs around the world for aggressive, talented voice over artists.
 
Celebrities are taking some jobs because some companies need the extra push a celebrity voice can bring…initially. But whoa to a celebrity voice over that doesn’t positively impact sales and only results in a higher advertising expense lines…then even the most “in the moment” celebrity will become an “Apprentice” (i.e. “You’re Fired!”)

Tags: character voices, commentary, commercials, narrations, radio, tv, voice actors, voice casting by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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