Its so unfortunate that all the guides like this talk about starting in the closet, or blanket fort or whatever, and Im sitting here quite literally unable to even do the fort thing and I dont have a closet so Im just stuck in a loud box wishing I could isolate my voice.
hey! Thank you so much for the video! learned a ton of helpful stuff and i think its absolutely criminal how underrated your channel is! Definitely deserve more views!! New sub!
Thank you. I'm an aspiring voice over actor just starting out my journey and this sort of information is invaluable, especially something like starting with music, a task that would be so easily overlooked and yet could easily cause such delays. My difficulty is that i live in possibly the worst place in the world for this as my house is adjacent to both a trainline, with an industrial estate on the other side, a slip road for traffic bypassing main road lights and not far from here is a small light craft airport so noise pollution is an absolute nightmare. currently my set up is my corner desk with two heavy duty duvets over the top of my head and mic, needless to say the fact it is summer right now sucks.
Well, welcome to the world of voiceover! Oof, that's tough. External noise is always the hardest thing to control. When I first started I was in an apartment on a main roundabout with 3 sets of lights in the middle of London. There was a lot of 'hold for ambulance' and 'hold for noisey pub people' going on. I very much feel your pain. The good news RE duvets in summer is that saunas are supposed to be exceptionally good for you, so if you can keep that in mind while you're sweating it out, maybe it will be every so slightly less tedious :-)
Great info! How often do you redo your demo? I'm in the research phase and just bought a new laptop but I was wondering about this. If you get a job do you then add your new spot onto the demo or do you just keep the same demo and hope you keep getting new jobs?
It's hard to say. I redo them whenever I listen to them and think, 'oh dear, what was I doing.' It can range from every couple of months, to my current situation which is around a year. I don't necessarily redo all the spots but I'll redo certain reels or add different clips. I'll be redoing some of them soon because I know what I have isn't my best work and could more accurately reflect what is currently in demand. Now that I have very consistent work, I redo them less because what I have is clearly working to some extent, but when I first started I'd redo them more frequently because I was noticing improvements more consistently. I very rarely use actual jobs on my reels. Often you don't get the actual spots back after the client edits them. I find that by recording them myself I get more control over the scripts and the final edit, so I can make sure it's a very good fit for my voice and the current state of the market.
@@NatashaAranciniActor Thanks for the info. I'm now stuck trying to find somewhere to record my audio that sounds decent. I only have 1 closet and it's small and has a lot of echo despite me leaving a lot of the clothes in there. Where do you record in your house or apartment?
this video was such an encouragement especially after hearing from *some* people how you should never (ever ever ever ever) do your own demo. but yours sounded incredible. also your american accent is flawless! what an inspiration!
Thank you so much. The US accent has definitely come along in leaps and bounds now that I use it everyday. I think a lot of people say that because generally, beginners don't invest time in learning how to properly treat audio. Also by working on your own you don't have anyone to give you feedback on your reads which can be invaluable. Having someone who knows the industry and will give you honest feedback is a great help if you're doing your own demos. I'm a big fan of proving people wrong and saving money so if you put the work in, I don't see why you won't be able to come up with something fab! Good luck with it.
Where do i use DIY demos. Im uploading samples now to put together, but dont know where to use / send them. (Other than my own channel with 1 follower 😅)
There are so many places you can use them. If you're working on any pay to play sites, they will require demos (Voices.com, Voice123). You can give marketplaces a go (Fiverr, Upwork, etc). There are other sites that don't charge you to join that have a database of talet (Voquent, etc). If you find a voice agent (or multiple) they will ask for demos. There are a lot of companies that have their own roster of voice talent to show to their clients. I email people like this directly with some demos to try and get on their books. Over time, you'll find that people will seek you out as well from these online profiles and other work you've done.
Thank you! This video has been an amazing help and a confidence boost. I had cancelled getting a professional voice reel done because I felt I wasn't ready and thanks to your helpful videos I feel like I've made the right choice to do it DIY.
Glad I could help! Even though the learning curve can be steep when you first do your own demos, I think that it will help make you a better VO artist in the long run. Hope you've come up with some awesome clips (in the 2 months it's taken me to respond).
Thank you for this. I've had so many people tell me I should do it that I finally decided to start. I submitted an audition just the other day as a "yolo" move. Now I'm researching LOL
That was fantastic, thanks. Loved the way you demonstrated the progression of your pet food advt. I am brand new to VO, on the learning curve with the hills looming. I can see you will be a great help. Thanks again.
Welcome to the fold! It can definitely be a steep learning curve to start with, especially if you've never touched audio equipment or software, but once you get over that hurdle it's a rinse a repeat process.
This is such useful information! Although I will admit my situation is pretty hard mode, considering I live in a trailer 😅. But never say never, right?
Oof, a trailer. That may be dificult, but definitely not impossible. Depending on where you park it that is. I've seen people get pretty crafty with voiceover setups so I'm, sure you'll manage to come up with something genius.
I think Aussies are a set ahead of most because we've grown up watching US shows on TV. I don't think I watched much Aussie TV at all, so we know what the US accent sounds like. You can find a lot of materials online to help (sites like www.dialectsarchive.com/united-states-of-america). I personally think an accent coach is a great investment and I always try to look for someone who is a native speaker of the accent you're trying to learn. But I usually get my accents to 90% by myself using online resources and audio, and then spend the money to pay for a coach. One of the books I like the most is: Accents and Dialects for Stage and Screen by Paul Meier. It came with a lot of audio recordings and breaks a whole bunch of accents down into the basics so it's a good place to start.
This is good information. When you have a demo professionally done, there is quite a difference which is very noticeable from professionals looking for voice talent. Save your money and get it done right. You will book much more work, and you will then position yourself to get paid according to GVAA rates.
I definitely think there can be a difference if you're paying the big dogs $2500 per demo. That's personally where I noticed a difference. However to a lot of people that isn't affordable, especially when it doesn't guarantee you'll actually book work. That being said, my self produced demos have been more effective at booking me work. They have booked me multiple 6-figures worth of work, so I definitely think if you take the time to learn the skills, you can produce something just as effective to get you started.
Thank you! Everywhere and every group I ask always says the same thing that you shouldn't make your own voice demo reel and just focus on spending money to get a coach and letting the professionals handle making your demo reel. All I wanted was answers if I needed to add music and where to find it.
I've heard a lot of people say that too. And I think it can be a dicey area, because a lot of people don't have the audio capabilities to do a good job when they're starting out. But I don't think that should deter people. It's entirely possible to learn the skills and give it a go. If you can book some work off those self produced demos, then you are able to fund the higher end demos. That seems more logical to me than forking out $2500 for a single demo at the start of your journey that won't even necessarily lead to work. Royalty free music sites are the place you want to be. I personally use Artlist.io which I think I mentioned in the video. But that is subscription based, so if you're only looking for a single song or two, it may be more cost effective to look at sites that charge per song (Pond5, audio jungle, etc). Good luck!