Voiceover demos are your calling card and I can't stress enough how important it is to get them professionally produced by a demo producer who knows the industry well. It will be tempting to take shortcuts and do the demo yourself but mark my words, a talent agent or producer will be able to sniff a DIY your demo in five seconds flat.
When I first started in voiceovers, I attempted to do a demo myself. Unfortunately, I nearly got blacklisted by two high-profile talent agencies for wasting their time and not taking this seriously. Sure, you may get away with a DIY demo on a Fiverr profile but if you want the best chance at having a career in voiceovers, get plenty of coaching upfront and have your demos professionally produced. Talent agencies and high-level production companies will tell you the same thing.
Professional demos are highly recommended for your website as well. You don't want to post DIY demos and take a chance of losing a lifetime client who may find your website when searching for voice talents on Google! A professional presentation is a must. When you visit a professional photographer's site, you will see the best they offer. Not a couple of quick shots they took with their iPhone.
How does UVT produce voiceover demos?
After our students go through 2-3 months of coaching, we start writing original content for their demos. The content is based on their skillset, range and personal interests. We think recording scripts catering to the talents' hobbies is essential. Once the demo content is complete, we schedule both the rehearsal and demo recording sessions. These two sessions are only days apart.
I produce all of the demos for our students. The student or studio engineer will send me the recording files at the end of each demo session. Then, I start editing and producing. It is my job to make every clip on the demo sound like an actual television or radio commercial. If it's a video game character demo, it's my job to make each clip sound like it is coming from an actual video game! I also like to purchase different music tracks and sound effects for each demo I create. Demo production is a meticulous process but I love every second of it and take each demo very seriously. The end goal is to make the demo agency ready!
If you're interested in coaching and getting your voiceover demos professionally produced by the UVT team, please visit our voiceover coaching programs page on this site.