OK…in the old days…yeah, OK…not so long ago, when you decided to “Get into Voice Over,” you made a demo (a demonstration reel – demonstrating what you could do & the “sound” that you had). Years ago demos were on reel-to-reel tape, then audio cassette, then CDs and now, more and more they’re digital .mp3 files.
The world has changed.
It used to be that you got training, made a commercial demo and off you went to get an agent to get work.
I say again: the world has changed.
Now, more and more, although most VO talent start with a commercial demo, if you want to branch out into other areas of VO, you then start being asked for:
– a Promo demo
– a Narration demo
– an Audiobook demo
– a Telephony demo
– an E-learning/Online training demo
– an Animation/Character demo
…just to name a few!
And that’s not to mention all the custom demos you’re asked to create for potential clients on the online lead generating sites. Sure, those are more like auditions, but still…
And there’s more!
In the non-union world of VO, one of the ways many of us market ourselves, and generate repeat business, is to get on the roster of as many production studios, marketing companies, message on hold companies, audio book publishers….you get the idea…as you can.
That generally means creating custom demos for those companies as well. Whether it be the fact that these companies want all their talents voicing the same script, or having all the demos the exact same length or of the same genre.
Right now, I have 32 different demos floating out there on the Internet. That’s 32 different demos (there may be more, I stopped counting 😉 not counting my “generic” demos that are on many different rosters and my personal website. Now granted, that’s because I have both English & French demos out there, but still, even if I were a one-language talent, I’d still have about 16 demos out there!
Getting into voiceover these days is not just about having your commercial demo produced. Yes, that’s a very important step, but it’s only the first step.
