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By Guy Michaels
Voice Demos with Guy Michaels
A comprehensive Q&A for actors looking to record a voice demo to help get voiceover and voice acting work.
What are voice demos and how are they used?
Voiceover demos are short recorded samples of audio that demonstrate an actor’s voice acting abilities across different genres and styles or focusses just on one very specific style/genre. They serve as a showcase for casting directors, clients, media producers and other industry professionals to assess the actor’s vocal range and suitability for specific projects.
What is a Voicereel?
Many of the terms used to describe the recorded showcase are interchangeable but for me a voice reel is a compilation of pieces with a particular purpose, market or target audience. For example a commercial demo reel might include 3 or 4 adverts, a Public Service Announcement, a Charity Appeal and maybe a continuity piece for TV. Commercial demos are selling something: a product, service or concept. Although each of the individual tracks might be anywhere from 10 to 20 seconds each, a voicereel is a cut-down version compiling the best of the best into a sub 90-second track featuring small snippets of each individual track.
Why Voice Reels Are Not as Important as They Used to Be
A voiceover demo is definitely an important marketing tool for voice actors. It allows them to highlight their skills, versatility, and range in order to attract clients and secure voice over jobs. Casting directors often rely on voice over demos to assess an actor’s ability to perform various types of voice over work. However, it is now common and often preferred that a voiceover artist record a custom demo of the client’s own scripts. This is to help the casting director or producing team decide on whether you are indeed the right voice for the project. Therefore voicereels, when readily available on your website and social media etc, can work to illustrate your potential but hearing your performance of a client’s own scripts gives them a better understanding of your suitability. As a voiceover artist myself, I make it a rule that I won’t just take on a voiceover job without offering up a custom demo to the client first. I am the driving force in my own voice over business and I would recommend that you approach your own voice over career in a similar way.
Saying that, much as a photographer needs a portfolio, a voiceover artist needs a collection of voiceover demos and voicereels.
How Do I Create a Professional Voice Over Demo?
Creating a truly professional voice over demo involves several crucial steps. Sure, you can rock up to your local studio and they can just hit record but to capture your best performances that appeal to prospective clients takes some serious preparation! As a highly experienced audio engineer in addition to having voiced and produced thousands of projects in a 25 year career, rest assured I know what I’m doing. Each of the voice demos produced by me benefits from the triple-whammy of:
- Direction so useful it will feel like a coaching session. You get a perspective and techniques you can use in any future directed session.
- My experience, understanding of what casting directors want to hear and awareness of industry trends keeps you and your demo relevant and employable.
- Audio production at the highest level, meaning your demos give the best first impression and sound 100% professional – something you can be proud of as you move to the next level in voice overs!
What Makes My Voice Over Demo Production Service Unique?
I limit to working with just two voiceover artists each week on producing voice demos.
All of my VO demo production now takes place remotely. Although prior to COVID the majority of my sessions were recorded in my studio in North London, for some years I had offered a remote service for those voice actors who had a decent home recording facility. As the pandemic hit, the movement towards home-studios accelerated for voiceover production worldwide. These days 100% of the voice demos I produce are done so entirely remotely. It doesn’t matter where you are in the world, as long as you have a recording set-up that meets the requirements, I can produce your demo reels.
Your demos will be truly unique, reflecting you and your personality and make you stand out from the crowd. Not only that, but these demos are truly representative of what you can achieve as the recordings are captured using your home-studio – just like most pro voiceover work these days.
What Types of Voice Demos Do You Offer?
I offer 4 services:
- Commercial Demo
- Corporate Demo
- The Double – Commercial and Corporate
- Gaming
I no longer produce audiobook narration or audio drama demos.
What is the Process for Recording Voice Demos with You?
If you want to work with me on your voice over demo production, the first thing I ask is that you submit a short test recording so I can hear the quality of your set-up and environment. This must be the same environment (home or professional studio) that you intend to record in if we book a session. If the audio meets the standard I’d need to work with then the next stage is to have a short Zoom consultation at no charge and no obligation. I’ll talk you through the everything and answer any questions you may have. The process varies from demo to demo but ultimately the focus is on getting the scripts right for your voice in the preparation stage.
If you are unsure about your voice over skills or new to the industry then before booking a demo session, it’s worth setting up a full 60 minute voice over coaching Zoom in which we can cover anything from your vocal skills, style and suitability, career opportunities and the technical aspects of refining a recording studio for voice over. After the free consultation, if you choose to proceed we shall set a date and then you can pay the deposit to secure your session.
Before we record, we’ll have a rehearsal over Zoom to check we have the right material and to get some rough ‘direction ideas’ together ready for the recording session.
How Important are the Scripts for My Voiceover Demo?
Remember what I said above about just how important it is to have the right scripts to record? Well recently (and I can’t believe this still happens) but a voicereel client came to me after a very poor initial experience with a Soho based demo producer. They quite literally handed her a 146 page document of voiceover scripts and suggested that she just choose the ones she liked and then come in to record them. LUDICROUS! This voice over artist was relatively new to the industry, knew nothing about VO demo production and the voicereel company gave zero support or guidance on what is a serious financial and career investment!
In our consultation I will guide you through the everything you need to know in detail. For commercial and corporate demos it is very much a collaboration and for gaming demos I create all of the custom material for you. The aim is to produce something really special that will serve you for years to come. If you are looking for inspiration or just some voice over scripts to practise with then you can access my voice over script library for free. I would advise against using these scripts for your demos as they’ve all been used before.
What Happens During the Recording Session?
For the actual recording session we set up a simple Zoom call. You’ll be recording the audio your end, and as your personal voice demos producer I’ll be guiding you and directing your performances throughout the calm and unrushed recording session. Afterwards, you just need to send the files over to me using WeTransfer, Google Drive or DropBox. With the right set-up voice demos can be produced really effectively using remote tools.
What Happens After the Recording Session?
The production of your voice demos takes many hours and is a very intricate process. I purposefully don’t guarantee any quick turnaround as I will not rush the production. As your most important marketing tool, it’s worth me spending as much time as is needed to make your voicereel and all the individual tracks shine with the highest production quality.
The final stage is mastering. This is the extra polish that will optimise your demo reels for maximum effect. Professional voice over demo production takes time. Then when the produced demos are ready I’ll send them over and you can go full throttle to get them heard by potential clients, talent agents and plaster them all over your social media and your voice over website!
It’s worth noting here, that I don’t have a production team. It’s just me from start to finish. As a demo producer I work just with you – we are the team that creates your impactful voice over demos! From the consultation, through script preparation, recording session, direction, production and audio engineering through to mastering it’s just me. It is a very personal demo reel service and has resulted in hundreds of very happy voices.
