Demo advice please

Christopher Mills · **Voice Talent** Joined: 12 Nov 2006 Posts: 2

Hi all,

I've been thinking about getting back into voiceover work after taking several years off. Since I've been out of the game for a while I was hoping people could listen to my character demo and offer advice, both on the voices and on the technical quality (i.e. is it good enough for a demo CD or should I re-record?)

Thanks!

-Chris

Scott Pollak · Posted: Sun Nov 12, 2006, 12:21 (GMT) Post subject:

HI Christopher...

Well, for starters, you have a good range of voices and I enjoyed the demo up to a point...
- It's about twice as long as it needs to be
- I personally, do not care for dry character voice demos (dry demos of ANY kind for that matter). It instantly implies that the v/o artist has no 'real' work to showcase and, instead, sat down and put something together out of thin air.

I'd rather hear about 1/2 dozen short (:08 - :10) snippets from some real work, or if you don't have any available, spend the time and money to have some short clips mixed into real-sounding bits.

I am by no means a character voice guru.... I get very few jobs to do character voices (although I HAVE gotten a couple actually from voice123), but I'm attaching my own demo as an example. The clips are from real spots, you get to hear just enough of each to make you want to hear a little bit more (at least, I hope!), and I tried to keep the demo's energy and momentum moving forward whereas in a dry one such as yours with so many little snippets it sort of stalled out for me.

Take your excellent voices, trim the demo down into a few real showcase pieces, keep the listener wanting to hear more, and you'll be there.

Best wishes.[/b]

Rajiv Hasan · **Voice Talent** Joined: 30 Sep 2006 Posts: 355

Hello Christopher,

Yes, I'd agree with Scott that a little music here, a few sound effects there would certainly enhance the demo. Still, your characterizations are very good, so you obviously have the raw materials - which ain't a bad starting point!

All the best,
Rajiv

Paxton Greene · **Voice Talent** Joined: 31 Oct 2005 Posts: 91

Hi Christopher,

You've got some great range! As mentioned above I would consider cutting this demo down. Bit too long right now. Best to you.
Pax

Christopher Mills · **Voice Talent** Joined: 12 Nov 2006 Posts: 2

Thank you all for the advice. What about the sound quality of the demo itself? This was fine back in Chicago, but I'm not sure if there is a different standard out here in LA.

Also, can anyone tell me how to reformat Real Audio files into mp3s?

Freddie Molina · Posted: Mon Dec 11, 2006, 18:54 (GMT) Post subject:

Hello Christopher,