Your demo is your calling card. It showcases your voiceover work and what you are capable of doing. A voiceover demo is your pre-audition to an audition.
Many questions that I get asked are: How do I keep my demos current along the way to represent my new work and my expanded talents? How do I build a demo that represents me and will book me the most jobs?
Creating demos is an ongoing process, it is something that will need to be updated and kept current as you work on new jobs and projects. Here is some advice on creating a solid voiceover demo, or a set of demos to land jobs.
The Truth About Demos
Demos can be passed on in the first 15 seconds of listening because of simple mistakes. It is important to put the time in to ensure that your demo has the best quality and that you are showcasing the best of your work.
You want your demos to be fresh, contemporary, and relatable to the listener. A demo needs to reflect your skill and range. Consider replacing spots that are old, dated, and don’t sound like you anymore. You want to sound like the person showing up for the job.
Skip the intro music that will not get you the job. They want to hear your voice immediately when they listen.
A commercial demo is historically the type that agents expect above all others, so if you only make one demo this is the one to focus on. A commercial demo you can showcase multiple aspects of your talent.
The Length of a Voiceover Demo
Your voice over demo can range between 30 seconds to 5 minutes, depending on the type of demo. However, the ideal length for a demo that features multiple spots is 60 to 90 seconds, so that the listener gets a good sense of what you can do.
Different genres require different lengths of time, as do different markets.
A commercial demo that showcases your skills performing radio, TV and Web commercials should last around one minute. While an audiobook demo will be longer 4 to 5 minutes, so demonstrate your ability to stay in character for extended passages in a story, or to perform different voices from different characters. Narration demos (other than audio book demos) can fall in between but not much longer than
2:00 or so.
If you are uploading your demo to an online marketplace, you will want to keep it to a minute which will load fast and sound great to the listener.
Send the Correct Type of Demo
The industry standard is to streamline the genre of reads to target your listener. You want to send them the demo of the style you are trying to book. You are working with people who have a short attention span, so you want to make sure they hear what they need. You want your best work up front. If they like what they hear in the first 15 seconds they will keep listening, if they don’t then they move on. I even have demos aimed at specific industries that I regularly work for. Such as Agriculture, Finance and Health Care.
If you record your demo in a studio and have it sound perfect, be sure that the quality of the work later matches. Once you get hired, be sure that your actual work is as good as the demo, if not better.
Focus on Your Strengths
Knowing your strengths and the style of work that you are best suited for is going to get you more work. Don’t worry about typecasting. While showing range in a demo is great, you want to target the types of pieces that you are most likely to get called and booked for.
A quality demo will help you create a successful voiceover career. Having training and skills is the first step. The second step is a quality voiceover demo.
If you are uploading your demo to an online marketplace, you will want to keep it to a minute which will load fast and sound great to the listener.
Send the Correct Type of Demo
The industry standard is to streamline the genre of reads to target your listener. You want to send them the demo of the style you are trying to book. You are working with people who have a short attention span, so you want to make sure they hear what they need. You want your best work up front. If they like what they hear in the first 15 seconds they will keep listening, if they don’t then they move on. I even have demos aimed at specific industries that I regularly work for. Such as Agriculture, Finance and Health Care.
If you record your demo in a studio and have it sound perfect, be sure that the quality of the work later matches. Once you get hired, be sure that your actual work is as good as the demo, if not better.
Focus on Your Strengths
Knowing your strengths and the style of work that you are best suited for is going to get you more work. Don’t worry about typecasting. While showing range in a demo is great, you want to target the types of pieces that you are most likely to get called and booked for.
A quality demo will help you create a successful voiceover career. Having training and skills is the first step. The second step is a quality voiceover demo.
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