Planning Your Voiceover Demo
Having a good Voiceover Demo is as beautiful as having honey in your tea. It serves as a lead or guide to prospective clients hiring you to do their jobs and also help you launch your voice acting career. Every professional Voice actor needs to have a high-quality Demo that shows their strength to establish their brand since that’s always the goal of a professional voice actor.
Demo Is the short form of the word “Demonstration” and it is used to show something to a group of people. A voiceover Demo is a short audio clip, that makes you showcase your capabilities to your prospective client. When a person wants to hire somebody to do a job for them, the first question they ask is “Do you have samples of previous jobs?” then the business owner begins to show them different works they have done in the past.
Your demo is what you show prospective clients, it is what they listen to before making their decisions whether to hire you or not. It is like your business cards, your CV, your graphic design etc. You need to record high-quality demos to attract prospective clients who are seeking the same vocal qualities that you have.
The Voice acting industry keeps getting competitive every day, your demo is what determines whether you will be hired or not after about 5-10 seconds of listening to your voice. You must pay crucial attention to every detail you give to your demo. Your demo is as important as a job interview. Your Demo helps you achieve 3 things:
- Your Demo makes you different from others.
- It gives prospective clients a sound to remember you.
- It demonstrates your versatility as a voiceover artist.
So if you are a voiceover artist and you properly don’t know how to plan your Demo, this article is here to set you on the right path.
A voice-over demo isn’t a piece of random thoughts glued together. Your demo will reflect your level of professionalism as well as four experience which makes it either for your client to trust you or not.
- Your Demo should be Precise and Concise: Don’t make a one hour demo, the director of that company doesn’t have the whole day listening to your Demo, you are not the subject matter of his day, he has other important meetings to attend to, he might still need to catch a flight. Therefore, you must make sense between 30 to 60 seconds. Record your demo in line with this time. You are fighting for space in the mind of your listener, ensure you do that in such a very short time.
When your Demo isn’t too long, you achieve a lot you gain the attention of your listener and you are also in the mind of your listener for the rest of that day. It is very easy for people to remember shorter points you made rather than a long point especially when they are boring.
- Ensure your Demo fits in: Your demo must fit into the potential client’s industry. Don’t bring a Demo that works well in the Animation industry for a Business industry. They might not accept it, the goal is to secure that voice acting job. You must give them, the way they will also find it in their jobs. You must convince them that you can do it.
- Research: When planning your Demo, research ensure you do loads of research about each industry. I will advise you to have different demos applicable to different industries. What is in vogue in that particular industry, what has been done, what has not been done, what inspires that industry, what are the likes and dislikes of that industry, who leads that industry and the list goes on and on.. Don’t copy other people’s work because you will certainly come across other people’s jobs. Those jobs can only inspire you, to do your own demo not solely base it entirely on that person’s work.
- Practice: Practice they say, makes a lot of perfection. Before you finally record your Demo, do a lot of practice. Don’t just do a wishy-washy kind of demo remember your Demo stands you out from other people. If your Demo isn’t well coordinated you stand a very huge chance to fail. Do enough practice, practice almost every time until it’s perfect.
- Use Good Equipments: Just like the saying goes, the way you lie your bed so shall you lie on it. Use bad equipment, you get bad jobs, use good equipment you get good jobs. Use good Microphones, you don’t have to set up an entire studio before you have a good job but ensure to invest in good equipment. Your prospective clients will trust you more rather than recording bad demos.
- Style: Have your own style, your style is what distinct you from others. Your style is what attracts other persons to you. Have your own style, discover that uniqueness in you that no one else has in the industry. Then you are ready to set the world on fire.
You might be satisfied at your career as a voiceover artist probably as a result of lack of proper planning. Now that you have these tips handy, put them to use and watch your voice acting game change.
iVoice Africa offers the very best quality of voice-overs services and we also help you plan your demos to fit your media needs. Our team of professional artists would be eager to get to work to bring your scripts to life. We also provide translation and localization services. Reach us via +234 7026276411 or email @ info@ivoiceafrica.com today
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