nobody cares as much about your voiceover demo as you do
Other than an actor’s voice and personality, there is probably no more important marketing tool a voice actor has than his/her voiceover demo.
It’s how all your training and talent manifests itself — shouting to the world that you are a professional voice actor. The well-produced voiceover demo is the audio personification of your performing abilities. Woot!!!
Oh, and nobody really cares about your voiceover demo.
Sure, people who hire you (producers & clients) will listen to it see if you have and can deliver the sound they want.
Of course agents will listen to see if you’re presenting what’s trending in the voiceover world so they can sell your voice with your demo.
But their interactions with your demo is likely very short….seconds rather than minutes. They listen, they make a decision, they move on.
And yet as voiceover talents, don’t we fret, stress and strain over every syllable uttered, every musical note played and every sound effect…effected. Don’t even get me started on the order of demo segments.
We have but brief seconds to make a great lasting impression.
As insurance, many folks reasonably decide that hiring an expert demo producer will make the process more professional and maybe less stressful. Sometimes that works and sometimes not.
All these thoughts came back to me as I completed production of my Commercial Voiceover Demo.
The demo production process is a little slice of purgatory really.
I fretted over voice types and scripts and intonation and pacing and music and industry trends and on and on as I self-produced my little heart out to create what I thought was a pretty great demo.
It was with that “pretty great demo” thought that I knew I must call on every performer’s greatest asset – if he or she will only ask for it and receive it – humility.
For demos, humility is about seeking and listening to honest feedback from trusted peers. This time, I got it and it saved me from myself.
By way of quick example, I had crafted a demo segment that I knew was perfect…from the voice to the inflection to the mix…this was going to be my lead piece. Heck, I’ve been doing this for 40+ years, right?
The unanimous feedback from my pro friends said that what I thought was a symphonic demo segment sounded to them more like variations of nails on a chalkboard. VERY glad I solicited opinions.
Stepping back further (with that feedback) I then asked one of my peers if he would direct me in a re-recording of the segment. Segment feedback after that said I made the right call. Grateful to all who helped me.
None of the people I solicited feedback from likely gave my demo another thought after we spoke – that’s perfectly fine. They cared but not like I cared about MY demo.
So if the professional feedback on your demo is really good but nobody seems as excited as you about your demo’s release…relax. That’s how it works in the pros. You’re good.
