Voice Actor Peter K. O’Connell Releases New Commercial Character Voice Demo
Truth be told, this new commercial character voice demo was a long time in the making.
A loooong time…like 18 years.
You read that right.
Why so long?
I kept getting hired off the 18 year old demo.
LISTEN TO PETER K. O’CONNELL’s 2024 COMMERCIAL CHARACTER VOICE DEMO BELOW:
Then the character voice demo evolved – there were character voice demos, then just animation character voice demos, then video game character demos. Then offshoots and collections mixing all that stuff. Oy!
I wasn’t sure how I should roll with these changes. I can do voices and voice acting for all those genres. Heck, I HAVE done voices in all those genres.
I even worked on one of the early famous video games (with a boatload of audio files) – Bioshock. But when I saw the game, I didn’t really like the story and visuals…they creeped me out, honestly. Clearly there was a huge audience for it but that audience didn’t include me.
Plus, I realized if I played in those video game voice acting waters…I’d likely be faced with that same gut/moral conundrum more than a few times. I don’t mind ceeding artistic control on most projects…but video games could get really weird really fast for my tastes. Not judging others but it was not for me.
I decided I was more of a commercial and animation character voice person. Plus there are a ton more talented than me video game voice actors in the world.
Then there was the paralyzing (for me) question of what to include in a new character voice demo. I can do and have done a ton of unique and familiar characters…I became overwhelmed.
It was a terrible but very real feeling about this inconsequential character voice demo (inconsequential when compared to the big picture of life).
I talked to some character voice producers (smart, talented folks) but I didn’t feel confident enough in my choices and the direction I wanted to go in for my demo to make it a worthwhile partnership to invest my money and their time.
Then a few weeks ago, I spent a Saturday doing a deep dive into the archive of ALL the character stuff I have voiced. I sensed a direction and felt a great confidence to begin assembling, writing, voicing, editing and mixing.
One of the great benefits of working professionally in voiceover for over 40 years is that you become friends with very talented people who opinions you respect and who you know will lend a helpful ear and thoughtful, smart feedback.
I am so grateful for the help of my friends Bruce Miles, Steve Pogatch and most especially Rowell Gormon – who together easily total a century’s worth of professional character voice performance and production – for their insights. If you love the demo, it’s in large part because of them. If you hate, that’s on me.
I hope you love it.
And I hope there was a wonderful reason in God’s big plan that I had to wait 18 years between character voice demos. Cause I’m not sure I still be around if I have to wait ANOTHER 18 years for the next one! 🙂
